Now I Know...

...why my blogging has taken a nosedive.

It's because every night, I've been spending the gap of time between when my boys go to bed and when I do the same, cleaning up my kitchen. I've finally taken seriously FlyLady's "command" to shine your sink every night before you go to bed. During the past year and a half that I've been attempting to implement FlyLady's suggestions for home/life organization, I've never been remarkably consistent with shining my sink. But at last, eleven days ago, I decided that I'd been putting it off long enough; it was time to make that principle a habit for me. So, for ten out of the past eleven days, I have stayed at it in the kitchen and not allowed myself to wander off to the computer before finishing the job: putting away the left-overs from supper, clearing the table, loading and starting the dishwasher, washing by hand everything that didn't get put in the dishwasher, also drying and putting away those items, taking all recyclable items down to their storage space in the garage, cleaning the counters (that's probably my favorite part of the job), and then finally getting out the Windex to put a little shine in my sink. Ahhhhh! The satisfaction of a job well done! And then, I go over to our pie safe, open a drawer, take out a page of stickers, and put one on that day on the calendar. I have a nice row of happy face stickers on the calendar now; their smiles reflect my own as I look around at neatness and think about what I don't have to face in the morning.

All of this is GREAT for life, but not so good for the blog however. Eventually I'll find my equilibrium again when it comes to how I divvy up my time.

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...why we keep chickens (even though I have to scrub the poop off their eggs after they're gathered and even though their pen stinks terribly and attracts flies during summer's hot days).

It's so that I can turn these...

...into THESE!
I love a good deviled egg--"good," meaning "made according to my mother's recipe." Never sweet, a little zingy, with mustard, Worcestershire sauce, a little vinegar, and plenty of green olives. Scrumptious!!

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...why the Suzuki program emphasizes group lessons in addition to private ones.

It's so that the parents can sit there and think, "At least my child isn't the only one who manages to make horrendous sounds on the violin!" :)

To explain: after several years of hearing Josiah ask for violin lessons, we finally signed him up (the easy part) and wrote the check (the hard part). He started in September and is really doing well. I am extraordinarily proud of him and absolutely thrilled that he's carrying on the violin tradition in our family (both my mother and I played for several years, but didn't stick with it). However...

I had forgotten how scratchy a violin can sound when it's played by a beginner. I know my parents must have suffered through my early days with the violin, but I didn't realize the level of their sacrifice until now...now that it's my turn to escort my child to lessons, encourage him during practices, and smile a big smile at him even when I think my ears can't take anymore and I wonder whether he'll ever produce the sweet, clear sound that makes a violin my second favorite instrument in the world.

Today as I sat in his group lesson, holding David on my "wap" (he still slips into his habit of substituting "w" for "l"), I realized, "My child isn't the only one whose intonation is terrible. My child isn't the only one whose bow careens wildly over the strings, rather than staying in a straight controlled path. My child isn't the only one who sounds like a stray cat is screeching inside their violin. But I--I am not the only parent who sits here and watches and listens and BEAMS WITH JOYFUL PRIDE."

That's my boy. That's my Josiah.