Category Archives: Uncategorized

Teaching Children

As a parent there are so many, many things we want to teach our children.

There are many more things that we should teach them.

And then there are all the tidbits that we accidentally (and often unfortunately) teach our kids.

Sitting down and putting to much thought into this parental responsibility can become overwhelming.

Personally, I find it helps to remember that so long as you hit upon the basics:

how to care for animals…Jane and chicken

…how to get along with others…Ivy and Clara in crick

…and how to build a good dam…sandles by dam … that they are likely to turn out just fine!

Oh No…

-A lady in the parking lot of our local grocery store walks up to John and the girls.-

Lady -Excuse me sir, is that a Brittany in your front seat?

John – Why yes it is.

Lady – Oh I thought so, they are wonderful dogs!

John – Mam, clearly you don’t know anything about Brittany Spaniels. This is an ill mannered, uncouth, chicken killer.

Lady – Oh I know Brittany’s, I have one. How old is he?

John – Two years.

Lady – Oh no… (looks at girls)… and these are your three girls?

John – Yes mam.

Lady- You must drink.

A Bad Day for the Lawnmower

It was the first mowing of the lawn and, in case you are unaware, I hate mowing the lawn.

After John did the requisite lawnmower maintenance,  (gas, oil, reattaching loose parts, and mouse nest removal) I went to work on the lawn.

I cruised around contemplating if I could not mow the lawn anymore because we might be moving this summer. Failing to come up with a legitimate reason to justify that line of thought I continued unhappily driving in circles.

Until I hit a fence post. (Which, in my defense, was lying flat on the ground under the grass – at least until I mowed over it.)

Then I stopped.

And swore.

And wondered why my list of things I’ve run over includes, wheelbarrows, tractor chains, logs,  dog toys, golf balls, giant holes (that’s really more of a fall into) and now fence posts, (but not dead cats so that’s something).

Then I wondered if in any other household someone with as terrible a record as mine would still be the preferred lawnmower – darn colorblind husband.fence post meets lawnmower blade

So, I removed the offending fence post, got back on and went back to work contemplating ways to avoid mowing.

Suddenly a six inch long, wiggly, black, object flew up in the air and landed on my lap.

After the initial shock, realization settled in.

I stopped.

And swore.

And wondered why I have never replaced my lawn with AstroTurf.

And bemoaned the fact that my least favorite chore now needs to happen on a weekly basis.

And mentally grumbled about a trip to the hardware store.

But then I realized that with one sleeping kid, one about to get on the bus to come home from school, two days of rain in the forecast and a shredded belt,  I had no time to make it to the hardware store. No time to mow any more lawn before the rains came and therefore no point in even attempting the lawn mower fix this afternoon.

It was a bad day for the lawnmower… a bad day for a lawnmower…but, I got to quit mowing for the afternoon.

And, no matter the condition of the lawnmower or how poorly the rest of the day went, I always consider not mowing the lawn to be a positive state of being.

Written in response to Prompts for the Promptless Episode 12 – Silver Linings hosted by Rarasaur.

I liked this prompt ,it is why I blog, to find the silver linings – well, that and to not become a ferret .

Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo…

Clara, Jane and I took advantage of the weather and headed to the zoo.zoo, clara & JaneWe weren’t the only ones happy to finally have warm weather, most all of the animals were also out soaking up the rays, including Ivy’s favorite lion Henry.Henry the lion

Jane was not only happy to be running outside but very excited to be at the zoo.

She looked for animals through all the fences she saw (even when they just contained flower gardens) and added a new word to her vocabulary: “See!”DSCN2628-(sm)

Otherwise known as “See, see, SEE, SEEEE!”

Otherwise known as a very slow trip through the zoo.

Fortunately I had my camera and, despite the look on her face, Clara was just as happy to hang around and watch prairie dogs for days  for hours  for a while as Jane was.

Clara zoo

Watching Jane’s excitement over everything today reminded me of one of the first trips Ivy took to the zoo when she was fully mobile and newly chatty.

Ivy was frantically running from animal to animal. Excited to the point of mania she had already seen the “LION!”, the “SEAL!” and we had just moved on from her current favorite the “GIRAFFE!” when she turned, stopped dead and shouted, “DINOSAUR!” rhinosaurI gently corrected her that while it did certainly look like a dinosaur it was actually a rhinoceros.  Ivy promptly called it a “rhinosaur” and continued to do so for at least the next two years.

A pronunciation I never corrected, because really, just look at it…

Ivy was right they should be called rhinosaurs!

Ultimate Insult

Near the end of a long and difficult evening Clara looked up at me with a face full of frustration, pulled herself up tall, swelled up her chest and said:

“Well, Dad makes better pancakes than you!”

Please note this is NOT the look Clara was giving me this evening!

Please note, this is NOT the look Clara was giving me this evening!

Which is true.

Once we were done with our “pancake discussion” I laughed my way downstairs and made a batch of this (http://ourladyofsecondhelpings.com/2012/02/02/super-bowl-snacks-sugar-and-spice-popcorn/) Sugar and Spice popcorn.

I’m planning on saving her some.

Any girl who can make me laugh (though she certainly didn’t intend to) after such an evening is worthy of a popcorn treat tomorrow.

sugar and spice popcorn

Who needs pancakes?

Besides, when Clara is “discussing” things with her Dad she might need to know that her Mom makes way better popcorn than he does!

Still Here

She’s still here.

I catch glimpses of her happily bounding through the field with the other dogs.

Her gawky, grass stained, adolescent face makes grin when I see the chew marks on the counter tops.Piper looking down

Out of the corner of my eye I see her flopping down on the bed with a giant sigh.

When I walk by the apple trees, she’s still overseeing the planting operation.Piper by apple tree

The sound of running paws on the porch finds me bracing myself for the crash against the door that doesn’t come.

She’s still here.

But now, as we make plans to move, I wonder, once we are gone, where will I see her then?

Written in response to Prompts for the Promptless Episode 10 – Saudade hosted by Rarasaur.

If like me you have no idea what Saudade means here is Rarasaur’s definition:

“Saudade is a Portuguese word that describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something/someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing will never return.”

Eating Out

As I was going through drafts of posts that had been started and then abandoned I found this one from back in February all written up and ready to go. I’m not sure why I passed it over the first time but it made me laugh when I read it now. I hope you enjoy it as well.

So…

We were headed home on Sunday and the weather and roads were, shall we say, less than ideal. After about two hours of driving we made a stop for dinner. While all five of us got out of the truck and went into eat for the purposes of describing what life with a three year old is like I’m going to ignore them all (sorry guys) and just tell you what Clara was up to.

First, she needed to be carried in, but not by Dad, by Mom. She did ask very politely – so I carried her inside.

When it came time to order it required physically holding of her face in front of mine to get her to focus and discuss with me what she might possibly eat for dinner.

While we waited for our food in the empty (remember the roads) restaurant we let the kids go nuts over in our corner and Clara careened around tables and ran into chairs (and I do mean that literally)  until it was time to sit down.

Dinner came and it was great.

Until the star of our story tried it, deemed it icky, bad and too spicy as she chewed and spit back out multiple bites.

“Done” with her dinner Clara moved on to her ice water and promptly spilled it down the front of herself.

All of it.

Since Clara’s reaction to spilled water is akin to that of the Wicked Witch of the West I decided we were going back to the truck for pajamas (we still had a few hours of driving left) and made a pit stop at the bathroom on the way out.

In the bathroom she refused to use the toilet while managing to pull the Koala Kare changing table down and bonking herself in the head at least three times before I got her back out, grabbed her hand and told her we were going to the truck.

Frustrated and tired from the circus that was dinner I was doing my best to stay pleasant walking hand in hand with the anarchist. As Clara happily approached the truck my mentally planning of how I was going to get some sort of chocolate fix for the rest of the drive home was interrupted as she piped up with:

“Yeah, I was gettin’ bored here.”

Clara

The face that results from asking Clara to “smile.”

I did a mental head slap, stuffed her in her p.j.’s and braced myself for the rest of the “boring” ride home.

Did I Just Say What I Thought I Said? IX

This week the weather has mostly looked like this:rain

and Jane’s good moments have looked like this:DSCN1316-(2sm)

So, perhaps without too much trouble you can imagine that my own mood is dipping south of Merry Poppins territory and headed more toward Evil Monster Mom land.

Unsurprisingly Evil Monster Mom lost her cool this afternoon shouted at Clara during lunch:

“Clara, get that pork chop off your head and sit back down at the table!”

Fortunately, though I didn’t let Clara know it, the humor in it struck me enough that instead of implementing my plan to run away from home to someplace childless and sunny I have instead decided to eat all the chocolate in the house.

… for now….