so excited!!

 Have you noticed how it's the looking-forward-to-things that's the best part?  Maybe that's why I'm still so immature, because I haven't yet realized that the reality doesn't always match the anticipation.  

Or maybe I sort of know it, but choose to get so extremely excited anyway.

I noticed recently that my oldest daughter, Emily, has such a good attitude about things, always seeing the best in everything, being thankful, pointing out the little blessings.  I thought, oh my goodness, she's just like ME.  

Life is too short to grumble and mumble about everything that doesn't suit, and believe me, that's totally in me.  

But anyway, back to being excited:  tomorrow we're leaving for our 3 day Adirondack weekend, Paul and I and seven of our daughters.  The packing hasn't really begun, but it's not a rustic cabin (3 bathrooms!), so it's not like camping packing.  We don't need bedding or towels, just beach towels.  But have I started packing yet?  Of course not!

I have to go paint a second coat on the bathroom cabinet, then maybe I'll pack a bit.  This afternoon, I'm headed over to Ben and Ashley's house to play with the little girls for a bit.

Out and about all by my lonesome yesterday afternoon...it was rather nice.  Thrift store:  one nice pair of Tom's shoes, looked totally unworn, $2, and one book to read over the weekend.  

Bed, Bath, Beyond:  an over the door towel rack, $2.59, a few candles for $2 and $3, a king sized duvet cover set for $16 (regularly $99), a shelf for organizing things in the bathroom cabinet I'm painting, $5...but I got to wander and dawdle...

Aldi, where I got some special things for the weekend, like a loaf of cinnamon bread for French toast.

Then Walmart, because I needed to get charcoal and charcoal fluid.  I didn't even wander and meander there, because there always seems to be a point when I just want to get home.

Home...some ground beef in the frying pan, taco salad.  

Camille...

Charlotte Claire...

They made milk bread...Japanese milk bread, I believe.  They asked if they could make it, I left for shopping when they were in the thick of it, they did it all by themselves.  I took a pinch of a taste, and mmm, light and fluffy!

Last night I was thinking about how around five years ago, we still had 9 kids at home, and on a summer night, we'd do fun things, like go into town and get fountain drinks from the gas station, or ice cream from the ice cream place, or even a half gallon from the store, and maybe a movie from Redbox.  All the adventures with all those daughters of mine...now 3 daughters and one Jonathan still at home...and time is still flying by.  I do things with these kids knowing how temporary it all is.  

A parent's job is to nudge, cajole, shove, encourage...to get the child to their feet.  That child stands on his own two feet, pays his own way, forges his own path...that child is grown up.  That child doesn't NEED his mama anymore, not in the same way.  Of course I want them to grow up, and to stand on those feet.  But can I say that when you realize that you're not really needed anymore, you flounder around, and wonder what your purpose is?  Yes, I know, I still have a few who need me...

When they're all little, their neediness is overwhelming, and I often wished I could clone myself, have one me to do the dishes, one to clean their rooms, one to pick up and vacuum, one to make lunch, but the REAL me would read stories and rock the baby and go on adventures.  (Shh, that's what the real me chose to do, ha!)(Except I fed them lunch too...)

I am thankful for my adult "kids".  I can say that they truly are my friends.  I like having them around, and appreciate the grown ups they have become...

Hopefully, I'll get those cabinets done, the newly spray painted handles back on, and the new drawer pulls will arrive from Amazon, and I'll get some "after" pics...tomorrow, hopefully, before we leave for the cabin...(I think I like to either do everything at once and have chaos, or do nothing and let it all build up and try to do it all at the same time...hmm.)