summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Friday, September 29, 2017

in the middle of the night...

I had to bring Kathryn to the airport. She is off to California for a bit, to start her new job. Her flight left at 5-something a.m., so she had to be there at 4 something a.m., so I had to get up at 3-something a.m. And as per usual, I kept waking up to make sure I wasn't oversleeping, so I finally just got out of bed at three.

I made a coffee to go, and the ride there wasn't too bad. Then I dropped Kap off, said goodbye, and wah. I hate goodbyes. Kathryn is such a joy to have around. So...the ride home. Uneventful, thankfully, but there's nothing like a long dark stretch of highway all alone to stir up the thoughts. In the middle of the night, life seems to know it's brevity. The time spent with the kids as they grow just slips away. I wanted to stop and text Kathryn immediately, tell her to stay away from strangers, and watch her bags, and and and. But she's growing up. She's traveled alone before.

Anyway....home I drove, into the house, and yay, back to bed! It was only 5-something a.m., still dark, and so yummy to climb back into bed. I had to change back into jammies though, I cannot just get into bed with jeans on.

So I slept in, until 8:30. It seemed late, until I started adding it up. I woke when Paul left, when the school bus backed up honking it's back-up warning with the three high school girls on it. I didn't get up to see them off this morning, but I did make them chocolate chip cookies yesterday and wrapped three each for today's lunches. Then at 8:00 I heard the little girls' door open, they set their alarm so they can have a free hour before school starts.

And, I went on my walk.

The scale is creeeeeeping down. Every so slowly. I saw a number I haven't seen in a while, this fine morning. I moved the scale to three different places on the floor, just to make sure it wasn't tricking me. See, yesterday I mixed up a triple batch of chocolate chip cookies...and the cookie dough...oh dang. I only had a few tastes, and I told myself that just because I did that doesn't mean I have to go hog wild and eat it all. Then, I broke off a piece of a cookie...the buttery brown sugar chewy goodness of that cookie, I could happily eat a dozen, but I put the brakes on. It will never get easy.

Dinner was in the crock pot, which makes me disproportionately, insanely happy. I feel accomplished all the live-long day, like, "Yeah, I know what I'm having for dinner tonight. I have my act together." It was in before seven a.m., a nice fatty piece of pork, simmered in lemon juice (it makes it so tender!), a splash of Mountain Dew, and lots of Jamaican Jerk seasoning. By afternoon, it was smelling good in here.

Baking cookies with Anne here was challenging, were my kids that curious? She delights in the doggies and kitties, too, and I have to make sure they are also delighting in her. Ashley came to visit with Anya, and we talked while I puttered around. When Anne's daddy came to get her, I was just about to change her diaper, but decided not to have him wait...then I peeked into it as I handed her over, and oops, it was a poopy one. He didn't have time to wait for me to change her, as Davian's bus was due soon, so he had to take her home like that, only five minutes down the road, but I still felt like the bad babysitter. I love her so, though, and take good care of her. I do love her, I love rocking her all cuddly when she's getting tired, and I love reading books with her. I love that she sings the first part of the ABC song, and that when I sing Twinkle Twinkle, she chimes in at the exact right part: Up above the world so high...she sings Up Above Da, every time the song is done, and I sing it again. :)

We gave away one kitten yesterday, to Suzanne's friend. Her mama came to pick it up, and she had a hard time choosing. She said she needs something small to love and take care of, so she chose the sweet little runt of the litter. She had a little bottle already, and special kitty milk to feed it, and kitten chow. That kitten is going to a happy home.

After she left, and Ashley left with Anya, and Anne was gone home...dinner time. Kathryn took the little girls to buy ice cream, then they had a mega Monopoly game, while I watched the last episode of the series on the Vietnam war with Paul. He massaged my sore shoulder, so it was all good. (Do not get me started on all the things our country didn't seem to learn about that war. Why oh why are men so stupid?)

Well, today I have to go pay the tax bill, and it's National Coffee Day, and my favorite place in the small city is selling medium iced or hot coffee for a dollar. I feel myself gravitating toward there today....but we'll see what the kids want to do.

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