Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Sundays are the messy days at our house. I've talked this over with other friends & we all agree it's because we take the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy as permission to not spend all day cleaning up after our munchkins. Despite that, though, Sundays are often also extremely busy days, especially this past Sunday. Church in the morning (so much nicer than afternoon -- Graham actually wants to go to nursery when he isn't exhausted), lunch with friends, and then a visit from our home teachers about mid-afternoon. Since our little family had been gone most of the day, the house wasn't too bad -- definitely presentable in the living room. Until Graham decided it was time to toss two rows of books off a rather large bookcase. It took about a minute-and-an-half for about forty books to occupy the floor. At which point he looks down at the pile he's standing in (and on) and observes, "What a mess!"

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Downsizing

As I was putting together our most-common Jason's-not-home-for-supper (chicken nuggets fried in the fondue pot for the kids & something else for me) supper, Graham somehow managed to break a Pyrex storage bowl. He must have inherited my gene for breaking indestructible cookware, because I was famous in college for shattering Correll & I shattered a big Pyrex mixing/serving bowl last week. Ah, well, one less thing to move.

I drive my childhood family a bit nuts with my tendency to walk into a room & say "Why is this here?" My parents are collectors of anything that might ever be useful to themselves or anyone they might ever meet. Both my elder sister (who claims I'm more ruthless about this, but has the MUCH TIDIER HOUSE) and I have rebelled by finding it liberating to get rid of things we don't need.

And so we come to the stage in life where I am once again moving. In the six-and-an-half years that Jason and I have been married, we have had four residences in three states. And now, about the time we hit wedding anniversary #7, we'll add another residence to that list, but this time on a different continent! So, my let's-get-rid-of-it tendencies are in overdrive. But, instead of just the typical "we aren't moving this piece of furniture/clothing item/kitchen tool/etc, I'm opening up boxes of old photos & finally putting together a family photo album. It's a really good thing. Cami came across a DIY lifestory book that had never been even touched, except for some unknown giver to write "Happy Birthday 1981" in the front cover. She's been filling it it pretty regularly for the last two weeks & yesterday she completed it. With luck, that means I won't have more of the photos that I wanted to put in the family album stolen for her "Rememory Book."

But now we come to the list of furniture and appliances that I know won't go with us: an antique baby grand piano that never got refinished (or professionally tuned, for that matter), a futon, a small end table or two, a chest of drawer/changing table, two or three bookcases, a clothes washer that's about to die & a dryer that's only a year old and three window-unit air conditioners. Some items are free, others not. Anybody want to claim anything?

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Parts Unknown

Hearken & Hear! The years of unknowing have concluded. . .we're going to England. Surprisingly, I'm feeling remarkably calm about it all. And liberated. After four years of living in New Jersey, knowing we wouldn't stay, I can answer the question of "What next?"

Still, it's an unknown move for me. Jason was only in Leeds for a few days, during which he was wooed & interviewed by the philosophy department. We don't know precisely where we will live, which school Cami will attend, what accent Cami, Graham & Rose will have, or how I'm going to make friends. Or if I'm going to walk around for nine months of the year staring at a full-spectrum light bracelet.

But we know it's a good move for us. So, cheerio!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

iCaved

iCaved is the name I wanted to give the blog, but it's already taken. Reasons: (1)
Blogging is so trendy. (2) A number of people have told me that they think I need to be telling the world about my kids, the funny things they do, say, etc. (3) I feel like I'm publicizing personal information -- and I tend to only share with really close friends. (4) I expect that despite this self-promotion of my life, I'll be ignored. (5) But I finally have created a blog for myself. So, we'll see if anybody bothers to enter the cave with me.