Yellow Wallpaper

The kids spend almost every Friday night at their dad's house, and every other weekend they stay through until Sunday morning. The other day I told a friend this and he asked "wow, don't you think that's so great?" Yes, it is great for me to get a break and it is great that they get to spend time with their dad. I still don't always completely enjoy their time away because they really should get to spend every day of their lives in their own home with two parents. But I still enjoy the fact that I get some time for myself every weekend and I try to make the most of it. However, I have realized that no matter what I do, I will never have enough time to do all the things I want to. This is an interesting development in my life because for a number of years I felt content with my life and I felt like I had enough time for the things I needed and wanted to do. Spending forty hours of my week working has a way of throwing a wrench into things. Yesterday was a typ...

Here in Utah it is peach season. Everyone I know is eating peaches, canning peaches, blogging about peaches, talking about peaches on Facebook, and so on. My little peach tree in the backyard has unfortunately not gotten much bigger in the last three summers and still only produces five fruits at a time (they were pretty tasty). I love fresh peaches, but I also really love home-canned (bottled?) peaches in the winter. Two years ago I did a bunch of canning but I didn't do any last year and my pantry is looking sparse. I optimistically thought that I could can a batch or two fairly easily. I was a bit wrong. I first thought of doing the canning last Saturday. However, that plan was hampered by the fact that the peaches needed to be purchased a few days in advance and running errands on weeknights is tricky for me. I also needed time on Saturday to mow the lawn, do shopping, clean the house, and run a few other errands that don't get done during the week. So last Saturday I pur...

The other day I read an article on the internet about communication with kids and one of the commenters suggested a game they play at dinner called "Mad, Sad, Glad" with their kids. Each person at the table has to share something that made them mad, something that made them sad, and something that made them glad for that day. I tried it tonight with the kids and I really liked it; we will definitely be trying it again in the future. At first Little Dude responding grumpily with "everything made me mad and nothing made me glad." That's pretty much his first response to anything. But then he talked about some good things he did at school. Even P. Bibby shared with us that she was sad when she hurt her toes (that happened while I was making dinner and I'm still not sure what happened--I think she was closing a door and it grazed her toes) and that she was glad when she ate lunch at a restaurant with her auntie today. I was mad and sad this morning when Little...

Today was a good day. I woke up on time, got the kids up on time, made them eggs and toast for breakfast, and even had time for scripture study before we left for work and school. I left work a bit early so I could go with Little Dude to his music class. He is going to a class called "Let's Play Music" that my neighbor does. They learn music theory through play, and they have a parent come with them every other week. I will take a bit of time off work to go with Little Dude once a month. It was fun--he was a bit squirrely and likes to do things backwards on purpose, but he knew all the right answers to the questions faster than most kids in class. We got done with his class in time for me to come home and make a decent dinner and do some cleaning and other chores. I even cleaned the bathroom tonight while Little Dude and P.Bibby were in the tub. Now the kids are all in bed and I'm baking chocolate chip cookies. ---- A small part of me feels a bit of guilt about ha...

The Hunger Games , Catching Fire , and Mockingjay  by Suzanne Collins I decided to re-read all three of these books in quick succession simply because I had read them quickly before and with a lot of space in between. I also recently saw the movie and it made me want to go back and revisit the book. This time I was actually even more impressed by the first book than I was the last time I read it. It holds up well to re-reading and I think it is really well-done as far as plot, writing, and characters go. I also think it could have held up on its own as a stand-alone novel, but at the same time the way the ending goes it is nearly impossible to resist the urge to continue the story to its end. That last sentence sums up how I feel about the other two books. The second book is decent, but it feels like a middle-trilogy book. I really dislike the third book, even more on a second reading than I did the first time. At the same time, it is so clearly the natural end of a trajectory st...

Saturday morning I drove up to my friend's house to pick up the kitties. She had a cardboard carrier I could put them in, so we loaded them up and I put them on the floor on the front passenger side of the car. I could tell that they were unhappy while we drove home, but thankfully they didn't make any messes and they didn't freak out. They just cried off and on during the drive. I had a bit of adventure when I realized that my gas tank was almost empty and the first time I got off the freeway the gas station turned out to be closed and there wasn't another option besides getting back on the freeway and driving some more. I had a brief vision of myself stranded and out of gas at Point of the Mountain with two angry kitties in a box, until I drove a few more exits and found a working gas station. When we got home I brought the kitties in and took them down to the basement since I decided to put their litterbox in the bathroom down there. That's the least-used bathr...