Monday checkin

Hi. It's Monday, and I am down with some sort of flu yet again. This time it is body aches, a migraine-type headache, and severe dizziness. The Boy has the same symptoms. I will try to post later- it is hard to think enough to write at the moment. This has been a hard winter for me physically and I am looking forward to the warmth and health of spring.

I can tell you that the Girl did amazingly well at her adjudication on Thursday, and her Piano Teacher was just gushing with pride at Piano Girl's progress and her performance. Good stuff.

As Tigger says in the adulterated Disney versions of Pooh,
T.T.F.N.
LB

Tidbits: Birthday update, tournament news, housework,

Hi! I have so much to tell you! First off, The Fine Young Man came in in the top two at his debate on Saturday, and will be going to Nationals in Las Vegas in June! Yay!

Second, thank you for all the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. First off, when the Boy and I got home late Saturday night, waiting for me was a huge lemon meringue pie the Papa and Girl had made while we were at the tournament on Saturday.

On Sunday morning, I woke up before 8, lay in bed for a little bit, then headed down stairs. I was treated to breakfast in the bath, and took a nice long soak. The kids gave me my gifts, and then we headed to the East side. First stop- Gramma's, to share a lunch the Dude packed of ham, fresh homemade bread, bean salad, and pie. Delicious, tart, sweet, lemon pie. Mmmmm.

We then headed to the nursery, where we picked up some seeds (vines for the picket fence), some little plants to put in an old jar we have (it's terrarium time again), a hanging jasmine plant, and a beautiful miniature weeping willow tree. This is the first year in 5 years I haven't received blueberry plants for my birthday- I have been eyeing these little willows for a while now, so it is a wonderful gift!

We headed home, and Papa Dude packed- he had to drive down to Oregon Sunday night for work. Once we had kissed him goodbye, we put in a movie, and the kids and I folded laundry. I was in bed by 10 p.m., but it took me almost 2 hours to get to sleep. So hard to sleep when my Dude isn't snoring beside me and stealing the covers.

This morning, I got up early, and had my morning phone call with Papa, and a nice hot bath before I got the kids up, also early. We cleaned the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. By the time my doorbell rang at 11:00, my house was nicely clean- including mopping of floors (Thanks, Girl.), scrubbing of toilets (Thanks, Boy.), and sorting of much laundry. My sister had stopped by and picked up Mama, and brought her down to see me. She brought a beautiful homemade gift- it is a gorgeous piece of needle-felting. We four Girls (I dropped the Boy off for his classes) sat around the kitchen table, drinking tea and eating (more) lemon pie, and talking about art. It was wonderful.

The kids and I are going to work on the terrarium tonight, after they do a bit of school work. I plan on getting down to the studio tonight as well (as I most likely won't sleep well with the Dude gone) and am hoping to have some photos up soon.
T. T. F. N.
LB

This morning.

Update: tournaments, trees down, and spring fever win out over screen time.

Well, here we are- another week gone by with no blogging. I have to say, I don't even have any excuses this time. So what did I do last week? Piano Girl had her first piano competition, the Simon Fiset, last weekend. She didn't place, but enjoyed the experience, and learned a great deal. She is working up a description of her experience to post. I also was very sick last Friday- I won't go into details, but it was thyroid-related. I did a tiny bit of gardening, and some garden planning. I chopped and stacked wood till the cows came home, and supported the Dude while he chopped down the birch tree and our oldest plum tree. I have been cleaning the house, and doing more decluttering, slowly. We got some schooling in last week, too, but not as much as I would have liked. I have even been sleeping. That's been nice.

My break from the internet (I am really fighting an addiction, here folks. Sigh.) made for boring blogging, but it was nice to be a part of the world and get away from the screen to breathe fresh air, and engage in hard labor, and wear freshly-laundered pants and sweaters.


Our up and coming rest of the week: The kids don't get to go to Youth Group tonight, as the Boy has a band concert. Piano lessons all day Thursday, and then I have a Mom's Night Out Thursday night. Looking forward to that. The Boy has his National Qualifiers on Sat. It looks like I will end up driving, and being there all day, even though the Boy's events aren't until the afternoon. I seem to have become a speech-team-mom-lady. I do love the Coach, and this fine bunch of kids. ( I am finding that winter is extremely busy to keep up with all the kids events in the winter. Speech and piano competitions both happen during Feb and March.) My birthday is Sunday. Not sure what plans are for that day. I think it might rain. We shall see. A visit to Gramma at the very least.

I haven't been doing any art- I go and sit down there, but nothing is happening right now. I feel a bit pressured to create, and feel the "blockage" of all the creative ideas floating in my head, but not coming out of my hands. There are so many areas of my life I am trying to pull together right now, all the juggling of dirty floors, and dirty clothes, dirty dishes, food to cook, gardens to plan, kids to teach, etc. It is so easy for me to jump into the "I'm overwhelmed" story, and to just get locked up. Winter is not a great time of year for me.

I have been experiencing a bit of Spring Fever lately. The kids played outside a great deal last week- I felt bad that we weren't schooling, but they had such a great time running, playing, using their imagination- up in the treehouse, out in the back yard........ You know- these are teens I am talking about, still actively playing. How cool is that? Gotta make time for that.

I do have some photos to post, but gotta get going right now. Kids are still sleeping, sigh. They'd sleep till noon if'n I didn't wake them.
LB

Hi. I'm here.

Hi. I am not even going to apologize for not blogging for the last while. It has been crazy busy here, and I have been feeling quite overwhelmed. I have been dealing with grief-induced panic attacks, a wet basement (We are so blessed- The flooding was mild, and the basement is dry again, but we are actively praying for no more storms!), crabby teens, a hardworking Dude who is struggling with his work company's lack of moral ethics, and three toddler-cats who cannot seem to be in my studio space without barfing up hairballs on my newest works. Sigh. I won't even mention the decluttering and organizing that hasn't happened, the cookies that haven't been baked, the gifts that have not been yet made. Sigh.

But the deal is, I am here. I am blogging today, and I will try to retrain myself here to post daily. I need to get back into the rhythms and routines of our life. I do feel quite lost, lately, but I know I will feel better if I am expressing myself here and through art.

For now, I will sign off- I have three tween girls all down in the basement with me, all working on making Christmas gifts. Now to get *me* going on the homemade gifts!

Thanks go out to those of you who still come and check out the blog- I do appreciate you, but you also fill me with blogger-guilt when I go for long times without writing!
TTFN,
LB

Okay. Okay. Fine. I will blog already.

I am here, and I am alive. Thanks for thinking of me. I was depressed, and I dug myself a hole (or actually a warm bed) and stayed there awhile. My neck going out didn't help at all. I had no use of my right arm and severe upper back spasms most of this week.

I haven't created, I am behind in every facet of my multi-faced life. I promise to blog. Again. Soon. But right now, I need to go climb the laundry mountain (Note to self to ask Papa Dude if a laundry-chute is a possibility.), and be available for the kids. The Girl has a friend coming over who has an oilstick painting in progress, so I will most likely be decluttering both the basement, as well as the studio.
Say hi if you want, and I will be in the comments soon.
And if you want to, it is ok to call- I am here and trying to get back into integrity, so a kick in the pants (ha- I accidentally typed paints!) now and again is most useful.
LB

Hi. I'm here.

Hi! Piano Girl and I are sitting on my bed with laptops, listening to this wonderful article.

Having a girl's night in. Orange juice and a Cherry Tootsie Roll. Aroma Therapy: Patcouli Lime Shea Butter. Refueling and resting. Asked the Fine Young Man to get a ride home from his class tonight, so crossing my fingers I won't have to get out of bed.

Family is good, funeral planning in process. Meals delivered, flowers arriving. Navy supposed to be there tonight (been waiting all day). Long day. But we're good.

Thanks to MomBob and Rover, that was a recharging visit, for both of us. Thanks for being there.

Thanks for all the phone calls Dy, the emails Andie, and everyone who has dropped by and sent me love today. I will address comments tomorrow. My Girly is waiting for me. :-)

Back at ya' with the hugs.
LB