apple doesn't fall far from the tree

I know, I know I'm so far behind on writing this thing.  But, I've been busy living life... and that's pretty good.  I did want to share  a photo with you all, and a promise I'll be back soon.

Ms L at the age of 7 holding a photo of me at the age of 8.

No denying what family she came from!

The Helper is in:

Help Desk $1.  No checks or change
The Helper is:
IN

I don't know what goes on around your house in the evenings.  But, around here you just never know what might happen.  There are evenings when Ms L can be found creating snowflakes or writing letters to her pen pals.  N can be found reading (Quelle Surprise!) or perhaps hunched over a Lego creature of some kinds.

And there there are evenings like tonight.   N set up a Help booth in the living room ala Lucy Van Pelt.    Not to be outdone Ms L sets up a help desk in her room.  N's is bar bones and overpriced  at one dollar a session.  Ms L's is lovely with mood lighting and bargain at 1 penny (fake only please).  
They are each other's best customers.  N's actually gotten L to pay two dollars for questions she needs no answers for,:

"Where's Feather (her invisible cat ) hiding, I can't find her anywhere?!!  "
"She's on top of my head!  One dollar please, " he replies.

"I forgot , Where did Daddy go again"
"He went to work"
"Oh, yeah.." she says, palm to forehead "Now I remember"
"One dollar, please," he says a little too gleefully.

Taking cash only

 Visiting Ms L's room is a different experience.  First she offers you a free pass for your first visit, after that you must pay in fake paper pennies, any size will do.  And when you ask your question she answers in the form of a riddle ala the Sphinx.

Me: "How am I going to pack for my kids super secret adventure, " I ask "when they are home and there's a light bulb out in my daughter's room?  Can I pack in the dark, when they are sleeping"

"Umm...you realize I am one of the kids, right?  Your daughter."  She replies with a slight eye roll (I swear it was there)

I assured her, yes, I was aware she was my daughter.

"Okay, then here's your help  When you are in the dark and all alone you should use 'blank' to help you pack"

"A lantern?"

"Yes!  Please hand over your free pass and have a great day."

Special mood lighting in Ms L's office

Help 1c
for fake pennys only
1c  IN

As I sit here now the help desks are closed.  (N closed for business when he realized he wasn't getting any $$ from me and Ms L said there were no more free passes for the day)  

Currently the kids are giving each other noogies.... I have a feeling I will be dispensing my own "help" in a few minutes.  

Never a dull moment. 

Pumpkins 2013

It was a rough year for pumpkins at our home this year.  We picked some out at a farm a couple of weeks ago, figured we'd keep them safe and cool on our front porch until Halloween week.  Well, out of the four we picked out one was smashed by vandals, and two went bad.  Luckily,  Ms. L got a "bonus" pumpkin went her class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  Whew...we still had two viable pumpkins.
Naturally the vandals smashed the largest pumpkin and the two that rotted were the smallest of the lot. So this left a couple of medium sized pumpkins to carve.  Oh, and there was one of those teeny tiny pumpkin/decorated gourds, too.  I decided to carve the teeny tiny pumpkin, much to Patrick's chagrin.

It's always a gamble on who's going to do what when it comes to pumpkins.  In past years neither kid has had any interest in the gutting process and much interest in the carving, but very little patience or skill in that arena.  So... I was curious to see who would do what this year.

Ms. L was totally into the gutting:

N, not so much:

However, when it came to the stencil and the actual carving, that was a different story:

There are no photos of Ms. L carving, because she didn't do any carving.  Now, in her defense the stencil was being stubborn and her pumpkin was very thick and hard to carve.  But, still I don't think it was really her thing this year.   So, I did the stencil and Patrick did the carving of her pumpkin:

You'll note that it originally said L and then it said Daddy.  When Patrick's pumpkin got smashed by vandals, L wanted Daddy to have her "bonus" pumpkin.

The pumpkins turned out great and both carvers were proud of the results:

What's that?  You're wondering how the teeny tiny jack-o-lantern turned out?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  Despite the doubters in the room, I did indeed manage it:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Writing

I took a break from my normal day to day activites today and I took a writing workshop.  It wasn't quite as dynamic as I hoped it would be.  It was me and a bunch of 70+ year old women.  Now, let me tell you these women were great and they all had their own stories to tell.  And I enjoyed my time with them.  But, most of them will be back at the community center tomorrow taking another workshop on batiking (is this 1978??)   They were there for the fellowship and the chance to do something different.  I was there to get a good kick in the motivation department and maybe pick up a new writing buddy.

Good news is I got a good kick in the motiviation department and I cranked out about 9 pages of writing today.  Most of it will end up in the recylcing can one day.  But, if one paragraph or even one gem of a sentence is a keeper then it was a day well spent.

She held me in her arms and helped me off the ledge by singing songs of long ago chuch campfires.  She sang to me of bullfrogs on the banks of the Hanky Panky and of Fire and Rain.

A Few of my favorite (Autumnal) things

Canning.  Look at all that Apple Butter and Apple Pie filling.  It's gonna be a good winter.  Who knew all those years of canning tomatoes in 100 degree Iowa summers would yield the know how to do this?

Someday I'm going to go on a trip and all I'm going to do is take photos of trees.  Live trees, dead trees, tall trees, short trees...but for now I'll settle for a random tri-color tree.

Pumkins.  Let's be clear about this, I don't like  pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars.  Don't give me pumpkin scented candles or pumpkin flavored ANYTHING.  But, if you wanna see me smile, give me a pile of pumpkins for carving.  

Corn maizes.  They remind me of Iowa.  It's that simple.  

Hairy Eyeball

I'm not sure you've really lived until you spend an evening practicing your hairy eyeball  looks:

This is his Fierce Hairy Eyeball

Her Tough Girl Hairy Eyeball

The Classic, "hmmm"

The ever popular Squint!

Summer 2013

It's Summertime and the livin' is easy.   Why, you might ask, is the livin' so easy?  Because it's just a  NORMAL summer.  I mean, okay sure, we did buy our first house at the beginning of the summer and I started a new job, but other than that it's been pretty normal.  And it's been lovely.

We could be stressing out about the new house and the fact that we have basically only unpacked the essentials.  There are still piles of boxes in the garage awaiting our attention.  We could be stressing about the fact that with my new job came a few less hours and the college libraries (yes, there are two) that Patrick works for are on summer hiatus at the same time.  We could be stressing about those things.  But, for the most part we are not. (I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind, from time to time...but generally we are just living)

It's been a refreshing change from the past several summers, no one is in grad school, no one is in the hospital or cleaning out a hoarder's house.  We are all here, under one roof, laughing, loving, teasing, tickling, bickering and bemoaning like normal families.  

When asked N will say his favorite part of summer break has been the chance to stay up past dark most nights (and later than that if the pile of books and stashed book lights I find in his bed are any indication).  L will simply say, 'Everything!"

I'm telling you, it's been a good summer so far.

What have we been doing you ask?  Well there have been:

 swimming lessons

And hikes

Face Painting

Game Nights

Reading

boating

Reading

Dressing Up

S'mores!

 And more S'mores

Popsicles

reading

Time at the beach

We have had so much fun and it's only the end of July.  We have had friends and family come and help us "Break in" our new home.  Bar-b-q's and wine on the new back patio.  (Haven't been invited yet, you should just come over, we'd love to see you!)

As I look forward to the long dog days of August I wonder what's ahead?  I know what's on the calender, camping trips, and play dates.  N has a week of "Zombie Survival Camp" to look forward to and L will be attending her first sleep over.  We've got staff parties and birthday parties to attend.  It's going to be a good month.

In the back of my head I hear a tiny voice reminding me that the end of the summer gets tough ,"I'm bored" comes out of every one's mouth a bit quicker, tempers flare a little faster and tears flow more often.  I know that rehearsals and back to school meetings are just around the corner.  I know that the pile of boxes will no longer be easy to ignore and I know that rainy season will come roaring back.

But for tonight I am content to ignore all that and just enjoy the cool breeze wafting in the bedroom window, enjoy the sounds of Patrick baking a pie in the kitchen and the kids chattering back and forth (tapping out code on their common bedroom wall) despite the fact that lights out was awhile ago.

Tonight I remember it is summer, and the livin' is easy.

See you soon?