« The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) | Main | a few more snapshots »

Friday, December 16, 2005

a snapshot of my life of late

• A few days ago I took my flute out of its case (to take a picture of it, not to play it, sigh, bad me). The flute is now on the piano tray and Mary has found that my open flute case, on top of the piano, is a fantastic place to hang out where that pesky new cat Elizabeth (who is really a darling, but you have to look at it from the big-sister point of view here) will leave her alone. If I ever do take up the flute again, I'll likely be finding cat hairs in it for the rest of its life.

• Sewing all night (well, till the wee sma's) + transcribing all day = one major crick in my back, right between my shoulder blades. (sympathy cards and backrubs can be sent to Rachel at 123 Pity Party Way.)

• I have been mulling over Psalm 4. I keep thinking that in between the cooking and cleaning and transcribing and sewing and picture-taking and cat-brushing and child-minding and home-schooling and just about every other hyphenated task you can think of, I would sit down and do a nice Kristen-style exegetical post about it. At the rate things are going, that might happen sometime in 2008. The parts that have been sticking in my brain like play-dough in the carpet (add play-dough-making to the list above) are: the bit about "in your anger, do not sin." I guess that would mean, "In your anger, do not go ballistic and frighten your children with the yelling," wouldn't it. Ouch. And also, on a more cheerful note:
  

  
  6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. 7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.
  8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
  

  
  Which means, in plain Rachel-ese: Sometime life seems really rough. But God, He's good. He gives us lots of joy if we know where to look, and also peace, if we know to whom to look. Easy to forget that, in all the stress, sometimes.

• I have discovered that December is a very, very bad time to decide that I want fresh green beans. You'd think a society that could put a man on the moon could grow green beans that didn't cost an arm and a leg, even off-season. But no.

• I found the bottom of my laundry hamper the other day. High fives all around! Unfortunately, I lost it again in short order. BUT I KNOW IT'S DOWN THERE. I might even find it again, when the kids are grown, or maybe when we go to move out of this house, whichever comes sooner.

• In the space of about a week, T acquired about ten hours of Mopar-related documentary programs on DVD. This means that even if I had time to watch a DVD, I couldn't, because it's always Mopar time.

• This is the two and a half weeks of the year when T is six years older than me. Funny how I thought he was so old and mature when I was twenty and he was 25. In four short years he'll be forty, which I thought was ripe middle age when my dad hit it. Obviously I was totally wrong.

• Speaking of T, he has the week after Christmas off work (his boss actually let him use his use or lose this year. Doesn't mean I have to start liking the man.) We are going to spend the time puttering around the house and maybe traveling as far as the zoo one day. In other words, we're going to have a truly relaxing (and truly cheap) vacation. Look at me trying to convince myself I don't want to go to the beach and spend our retirement. (Seriously, I am genuinely looking forward to ten days of having the family together with nothing pressing to do. Really I am.)

• I came home from grocery shopping yesterday evening and left a five-pound container of sour cream to sit on the counter till morning. Did I mention that thanks to our woodstove, the front part of our house is about 85 degrees at night? I am SO SMART. Sometimes I just amaze myself.

  
  
  

************EDITED TO ADD***********

While I was typing this entry, there was a lot of very secretive shuffling going on in our house. T and LT took off on a mysterious trip to the store and brought me back a bag of Jolly Ranchers (for transcribing, of course), but would not disclose their other purchases. Then there were many secretive looks and whispered conversations, and it was decided that C should take a bath. Meanwhile I'm whining and moaning about wasted sour cream, right? About the time I was starting to really know something was probably up, I was escorted into the bathroom where the three of them had set up a bubble bath (my husband bought Calgon at the grocery store. For that, if nothing else, he deserves a Husband of the Year medal, no?), complete with candles and a warm, neatly folded towel, and Chanticleer on the CD player. The kids came and sang Christmas carols outside the door, which, it later turned out, was a cover for the sound of the mixer, as T was making brownies to serve with my Dulce de Leche ice cream.

You are free to say 'awwww' now. (I am still smiling.)

Comments

Posted by: jenn at December 17, 2005 01:05 AM

Posted by: mary at December 17, 2005 07:49 AM

Posted by: Maria at December 18, 2005 12:04 AM

Posted by: Carol at December 18, 2005 01:01 PM

Posted by: Kristen at December 19, 2005 08:35 AM

Post a comment