Monkey see monkey do

My almost 10 month old baby has learned a lot of fun things lately.  She's walking with a rolling toy, makes motor noises, and can now reach the table top and pull down whatever isn't hooked down.  "So Big" and clapping are still  crowd pleasers, but she's expanded to waving hello and goodbye, giving five, or knuckles, and her most recent gesture is wagging her finger and saying "no no no".  I did not realize I even did that. 

Catching that finger wag is harder than you would think.

 After I laughed at her starting something like that and wondering where she learned it from, I caught myself doing that very thing.  She spit her food at me and before I could even think, I was shaking my finger at her and saying "NO".  I wonder what else I do without realizing it?  I'll probably know before long, when she starts doing it.

In other news, my disposal decided to quit me.  It still works, but it fell away from the drain.  It's just hanging out down there until my husband comes home to fix it.  I guess it just couldn't handle grapefruit rinds.

I almost finished a peasant girl dress for my niece.  It took a little longer than it should have because I had a four year old helping for most of the time.  If I had some dark thread, it would be completely finished.  They are so simple, I can't believe I've never made one before.

We are still not decorated for Christmas.  We really aren't that busy, but we just haven't found a good time when we are all home.  Maybe I will just do it myself.  Not that we have much to put out anyway, but now that it's officially December, I want to feel Christmas-y.

Another failure and a lesson learned

After several rather rough days, I'm happy to say that today was a good day.  And I think I know why.  As I stood in the kitchen at 3:00 this morning, warming up a bottle, I had a thought.  First thought was, "why is my baby awake right now?", but my other thought was much more profound.  Because of a deadline, I was working on my projects like a mad woman.  When I'm so focused like that, I can't focus on anything else.  It does no good to have a plan, or lists, or anything else because I won't look at it.  The house was a mess, we didn't have good filling dinners, we ate fast food a few times... my entire household organization went to pot.  I became frazzled from the pressure of the deadline, but especially from the feelings of failing in everything else.  As I stood here early this morning, I realized that my priorities had gotten all out of whack.  I was allowing a project, which is important, and it will get done, take precedence over everything else. 

Have you ever seen the little object lesson where you try to fit rocks, sand and water into one jar?  The lesson being that if you put things in the jar in the right order, everything will fit, but if you start with the small things, it just won't work.

So, first things first.  Feed my spirit, feed my marriage, feed my family (physically and spiritually).  I read a post today at Give a Girl a Fig about being spiritually thirsty, and I realized that I am too.  First on my list... study scriptures and pray with more meaning.

Feeding my marriage is second on the list.  Someone gave me great advice before I married my husband.  He said to make sure my relationship with my husband is a priority, right after my relationship with God.  It is easy to allow children to take over everything and monopolize your energy and time, but if the marriage relationship is kept strong and sound, so much the better for those children. 

Third comes the children and house.  I let it fall apart and the kids were crazy as a result.  Which then made me more crazy, and the cycle continues.

Then, comes the extras, the projects for Christmas, the activities, etc.  And, as a side note, I did make the deadline for my book project (the buy one get one free sale was ending that night) BUT, as I was drifting off to sleep, I was brought straight out of bed by suddenly remembering that I had been messing with the page order and hadn't fixed it before I submitted it!  Too late to cancel the order, too late for the sale.  So much for that great idea, huh?  We'll just add that to that "failure" list.  I'm okay about it though.  I needed more time to work on it anyway and I should have been smart enough to just let it go, but I didn't because that would have been too easy and I like to do things as difficult as possible.  Or so it seems.  I am excited about that book though.  I'll post more about that soon.

No T.V.

Yup,  my kids are watching the Sound of Music.

When we moved here, I insisted that we not hook up the cable, or satellite or anything like it.  My husband looked at me a little funny, but he agreed, besides, we would have to go through our landlord and it would up the rent.  So we started our life here without the television.  We do have movies, but I was a little worried how things would go, as I have been known to use the TV in the mornings to keep the kids busy while I get things done.  I would love to say it's been perfect, but I have missed the kids shows a bit.  (I am a closet backyardigans fan)  But really, it's been tough filling that time for the kids without them being right under me.  I am pondering on getting one of those digital receptors so we can get a few local channels.  I kind of miss the news now and then, but really, with the internet, there's not much I need from TV.

I'll tell you what I absolutely don't miss though.  The commercials!  It has been so nice to not constantly hear my kids telling me that they want or need the latest toy they just saw on TV.  Nice to have them actually use their imaginations, instead of repeating what the commercial said.  Marketing works.  Last summer, my son told me I should get glad force flex garbage bags.  Seriously?  A five year old cares about garbage bags?  I realized just how nice it has been to be commercial free yesterday, when one of our new movies had an advertisement for a toy before the movie started.  My kids were suddenly unhappy without that toy.  It's all they ever wanted.  How could they go on without it?

I think I'll keep on being commercial free.  I'll take the kids under my feet.

Daylight savings time ended!

...As I'm sure you all know.  We knew too, but we were still late for church, even with the extra hour to prepare.  I really don't like that they keep pushing the date back.  We used to "fall back" at the beginning of October.  Now it's the beginning of November!  I wish they would just leave it one way or the other.

We have been a bit slow getting all the clocks changed, which has caused some confusion.  It's hard to run a house when every room is running in a different time zone.  I was so impressed yesterday with how early my husband got up and ready.  He didn't know he was so early though.  He was about to walk out the door, when he looked at his phone.  Oops, it's not 8:30, it's 7:30.  Got to get the bedroom clock set right!

Hope your change has been without incident!

There's no place like home.

I drove to my childhood home yesterday.  My home is a constant in my life.  It's always there, mostly the same.  Something I can always fall back to and count on.

I love this time of year on the ranch.  The air is so crisp and cool, but the sun is still warm.  The leaves are mostly gone, and the grass is yellow.  The willows along the ditches have dropped their leaves and the branches have turned bright red and orange.  The animals have become fluffy looking with their winter coats growing in.  The birds are gone and it's so quiet, like nature is coasting along before dropping off to sleep.  As I drove closer to home, I knew just what I would find when I got there.

My dad would be off doing some job with cattle in preparation for winter.  My mom would be at her desk, catching up on bills and letters.  There would be a fire burning in the fireplace to "take the chill off the house" as she says, and there would be a pot of soup on the stove, ready for whenever dad finishes his project and comes in. 

The same; comfortable, safe, welcoming, constant.