Category Archives: Personal

Sorry, nothing juicy.
Posts that are all about me.

by

Puppies

The kids and I went to North Pole to look at some whippets this afternoon.

If you didn’t know, I’ve been doing my homework on different breed types, looking for a good match for our family. There’s a lot of attractive things about the breed, but a couple drawbacks too…

But I found there was this lady with a half-dozen in her home (along with as many shelties!), so we went out to see what they were like in person. (The short conclusion is that they are just what I thought they’d be like, only softer.)

She also had a litter of 4-week-old puppies, and Natasha was just smitten. I wished I’d brought the camera. That first five minutes of her holding the little white dog was priceless. I’ve never seen that look on her face before. Here was a real, live baby that was the same size to her that Elisha is to me. She could hardly stand for me to hold him. She wriggled almost as much as he did, begging, “Can I have a turn now?” before I’d pet his soft head twice.

Very fun.
It never ceases to amaze me that puppies look like puppies no matter what breed they come from. No matter that the parents are long sharp and lean, these babies were still rounded. Maybe not as pudgy as some puppies I’ve seen, but I’d never have guessed their type looking at them.

by

I am such a *writer*

(Also posted at Untangling Tales)
Do you ever find (if you’re not a swear-er, especially) that certain words escape as if you were swearing?
My 87-year-old grandmother has been in the hospital via the emergency room since late Friday night. I spent most of Saturday at her bedside, keeping her company while folks tried to figure out how to “fix” her (she’d been ailing since Sunday, and it finally came to a head).The whole time I was juggling my Mama (10-week-old Elisha was with me) and Granddaughter hats, my mind, against all my attempts to ration my frazzled resources, continued to frame how best to put the experience into words.
by

Yellow roses. Special me.

Jay bought me yellow roses today. We were at the grocery store, and he was planning to buy them before I knew it and take them to the car. But I spoiled his surprise when I walked around the corner and saw him with his bundle.

I’ve been feeling not-myself for almost a week, and I think that had something to do with the timing. They’re on our desk now, and smell very nice. It is so uplifting to see a tangible reminder of Jay’s thoughtfulness. I am very thankful for him.

by

He did it again!

Another solid night last night!

After days of nursing for a growth-spurt (read: very frequently), Elisha zonked hard last night and (by our sleepy estimate) pulled-off 6-hours in a stretch. He also did more than three hours together for his morning nap. That combined with the girls’ morning movie made me feel very productive. Continue reading →

by

Help me. Please.

Do I sound pathetic yet?

I’ve got to say one of my biggest parenting struggles/challenges right now (don’t laugh– it’s right up there with tantrums) is maintaining/cycling clothes so the right amount of the right size is in the drawer/available for three kids at once.

Organizing was never my strong point, so boxes and boxes of clothes: Ugh. Continue reading →

by

Learning on the fly (and something about priorities)

Programs it would be useful for my to know intimately, and I haven’t taken/don’t have the time to learn:

*Adobe GoLive (the website software we own)
*Textpattern and/or WordPress (blogging software Jay wants me to learn to I can shift this over to the family website)
*Power Point (apparently what I feel aught to happen isn’t a part of Jay’s slap-it-together-it’s-easy experience)
*Ovusoft (a software designed to help with FAM charting– I bought it to have a “second opinion” when working with other women on interpreting their FAM charts)
*Adobe Illustrator (Not as necessary, but would be helpful for other projects if I could master it) Continue reading →

by

Plans

At this point I’m not planning to restart the storytelling group in the fall. We easily agreed to put it on-hold for the summer (there are very few members involved enough to “vote” anymore), and I expected we’d start again once school began, but now I think my focus has shifted.

I may have mentioned before (who remembers this?) that Jay wanted me to keep my GKP (Gordian Knot Productions) work limited to two things.

He said this earlier in the year (or late last year?) when I began expressing interest in pursuing some freelance writing projects. I didn’t feel ready to drop teaching or storytelling, so I chose not to pick up the new ball.

But now things are shifting again. I’ve been pulled back more and more to writing. It’s an aspect of my personality I’ve been aware of for a long time: the more time I spend on something, the more I love it/want to do it. (This does not, unfortunately, apply so much to the have-to-dos like housework.) Continue reading →

by

More life updates.

My body let me know at the beginning of the weekend that I pushed it too hard last week– the first week Jay was back at work full-time. I won’t belabor how, but I found it frustrating the same way I’ve found certain people frustrating. Two (maybe three?) jobs in a row I had as a teenager, I got in trouble/reprimanded for things, not when they happened, but when the boss/supervisor had collected enough other (also un-reprimanded) infractions to have a load to dump.

Very stressful, emotionally.

What I found so frustrating wasn’t that they were scolding me, but that they seemed to expect me to know certain things in advance of the correction. Continue reading →

by

Can we call this a schedule yet?

Currently Reading
The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers
By Elizabeth Pantley
see related

I’m so hopeful It’s only been 2-days in a row, but it bodes well for being alone in-charge of 3 little ones

I’ll know “for-real” starting next week, but we’ve had (what I hope are) some break-throughs in the last couple days. Elisha’s sleep-schedule (such as it is) is beginning to mesh well with the girls’. What I mean, is that he lets me put him to sleep before I have to put the girls to nap or to bed at night, so I only have to deal with two tired (potentially fussy) kids at a go. *Huge* blessing. I’m used to dealing with two. Continue reading →