Ten Tidbits

Every time I sit down at the computer, I'm struck with amnesia.

I check email, look at the new header on my blog, open my Google Reader, flit here and there; and after a while, I walk away from the computer...and suddenly realize that I didn't accomplish anything that I had intended to do when I sat down in front of the computer.

I usually have a plan--i.e. I need to send an email to our homeschool group, respond to Sally's question, and look up some info about volcanoes for Josiah--and then somehow, I don't remember to do ANY of it...until five minutes AFTER I leave the computer.

What's wrong with my brain?  I think I lose brain cells every minute I sit in front of this screen.  ;-)

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I just finished reading Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss, and I discovered many gems in it.  But tonight I'm thinking of these lines in particular.  This, in a nutshell, is why I blog:
"How thankful I am that I kept this journal and that I have almost as charming ones about most of my other children!  What I speedily forgot amid the pressure of cares and of new events is safely written down and will be the source of endless pleasures to them long after the hand that wrote has ceased from its labors and lies inactive and at rest.
Ah, it is a blessed thing to be a mother!"

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Josiah read six books today.  In one day.  Six books.  He's a wild man.  :)

His latest love when it comes to reading is Boxcar Children books, and we check out piles and piles of them from the library.  If we didn't have the library, we wouldn't be able to afford all the books that boy goes through!

He's so into it when he reads.  I love to hear his laughter in the funny parts, his anxiety in the suspenseful parts, his exclamations in the "now I get it" parts.  He LOVES trying to figure out the mystery before the author reveals it.

I don't know what books are going to capture his attention when he finishes reading the Boxcar Children ones.  Suggestions?

As far as movies go, he's really enjoyed Scooby Doo movies recently.  He's at the stage of getting a huge kick out of the silly humor in them, and I smile when I hear his peals of laughter float up the stairs as he cracks up at Scooby and Shaggy.

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After having some cooler, suggestive-of-fall weather, we're back to hot, hot days again.  Fortunately, the nights cool down, and there's easily a 30-degree difference between high and low temps these days.

I have been extraordinarily grateful for our air conditioning this summer--more so than any other summer since we've been back.  Last summer, I thought I was going to be SO hot because of being so far along in my pregnancy; but it wasn't bad at all.  This summer, the heat has been far more bothersome to me, even though I'm not carrying an internal heater around with me!  :)

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Speaking of summer, I've been grateful that we haven't had as many flies as we did last year (which seemed to be a record-breaker as far as the abundance of flies).  And speaking of record-breaking, we have not had ants in the kitchen once this summer.  Not once.  I'm flabbergasted.

It's certainly not due to the immaculate condition in which I've continually kept my kitchen because that - sigh - hasn't happened.  Nevertheless, I'm very thankful for whatever unknown factor has kept the ants away this year.

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This was the scene in our front yard a few weeks ago:

The rabbit watched something.
The cat watched the rabbit.
I watched them both.

Fortunately, for the rabbit, he is fast; and the cat never got to do more than look.

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This is what flexibility looks like for me these days:  I work in whatever room of the house Shav is happy in.

I might start the day with a plan to focus on my pile of paperwork by the telephone and to clean the refrigerator; but if Shav is playing happily in the laundry room, that is where I'll end up spending my time!  Or maybe I think I'll work in my room and finally get ALL the laundry folded and put away; but then I hear how well Shav and David are playing together in the living room, and I don't want to disturb that by moving Shav upstairs.  We all know the saying, "Don't wake a sleeping baby," but I'm adding a new one:

Don't move a content baby!

I can be flexible.  I can work wherever Shav is happy.  And goodness knows that I can always find something to do in each room of the house!!!

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Josiah loves paper, and he uses plenty of it.  Because I can't save every single precious scrap that he touches with a pencil, I've snapped these pictures instead:

~ a retelling of the parable of the man who found great treasure in a field

~ directions for how make "jewels" - I especially love the last step of the process, "Have fun."  That's an important step, yes?  So important that People Who Write Directions for Children's Activities often include it as their final instruction.  Ever noticed that?  Josiah did--and imitated it perfectly.  :)

~ Josiah's "What to do when I grow up list" - and then he didn't write anything - not one single career ambition - but that's OK: his career goals change almost daily, so it really would be too much trouble to write them all down!

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You might be a country doctor if...

...your patients cry when they visit you for the last time before you retire, claim that you're a part of their family - and then hand you a bag of eggplants from their garden as a parting gift!

I surely am glad Dulcimer just posted a recipe using eggplants, because I had never cooked eggplants before and had no idea what to do with them when Dad handed me the eggplants that his patient handed him.

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A quote that struck me:

My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him.

~ Derek Loux

seen at Living to Love