Paint Therapy

I love decorating. Along with puppeteer, nurse, teacher, gelato shop owner and motivational speaker, I could have become an interior designer - or maybe a professional painter. I love to paint. I love the rhythm and concentration. Next to yoga, it's the most calming thing I can do. Yesterday, we painted our bedroom a very vibrant color. I want our bedroom to be a bright, cheerful and peaceful retreat from the world. I want to feel as if we've just arrived at our destination every time we go to bed. I want to wake up in a room that feels like it's in another world before we have to get on with life in the real one. That's my goal. To reach that goal, I needed a very passionate color to take us there. I chose Dragon Fruit. Dragon Fruit is an actual fruit and it's gorgeous. Basically, this is what my room should look like when we're all done:

Baxter says it's pink. I keep reminding him that it's called Dragon Fruit. He says I'm turning him into a metrosexual - but I told him to trust me. Thankfully, he does.

Change Is A Comin'

So, change is happening around here. I'm going to start painting and cleaning up the new house next week and we should start moving stuff in that weekend. I hope that once we actually get settled in, I can think of things less shallow than paint colors and to-do lists. That's partly why I'm blogging right now instead of writing for Skip. I need to process the fullness of all that's going on around me.

Have any of you noticed the recession going on? How about the inflation too? It's bad out there, people. What better time for me to decide to go back to work? Yes, I have decided to go back to work. What does this mean? I already work now. I freelance and do okay with that - but I need more money. I guess I'm really not going back to work so much as I've agreed to be someone else's slave again. Sounds fun. I have very mixed feelings about this. I'm okay with not homeschooling anymore, really. All those feelings of abandoning my children - I've let them go - and I think my kids are going to be on a serious adventure in public school this year.

I'm not really scared of being out there in the workplace. I guess it's more a feeling of uncertainty about the caliber of job I can find right now and my own ability to do everything required by my family in addition to working full time. I'll go ahead and tell you, Baxter is not going to be doing laundry. I've known him since 1999 and he has never done laundry once so I'm sure that he won't be starting now. Dishes? Maybe. Other household chores? Possibly. Consistently? Definitely not. Now I'm not on here to talk bad about my hubby - he contributes so much to our family in other ways. I'm just not sure I can do it all myself. So, does that mean I need a housekeeper? Can I justify that? Should I just do it all and continue cutting corners so that we can leapfrog ourselves into financial security? Of course I should. Will I? I don't envision myself having the energy to work 9-5, drive to pick up the kids, go home, tend to the animals, take in the mail, start dinner, escort kids to practice of some kind, eat dinner, clean up, put kids in bed, do laundry, chores, etc... and collapse. I need some downtime too. There's a lot I don't know about working full time and managing a family, like, I don't know if I can actually do it.

Besides that, I'm excited about the possibility of going back full time. I have so much to offer the right company if I can find it. I have about 6 weeks to get my ducks in a row before I really heat up my job search. There's no sense in starting something until the kids are in school. I will cherish this time. Time to get moved, settled, decorated, and have some semblance of routine before I embark on this new journey. I guess my main concern in today's world is to find a job period. Let's hope I can!

The Drought of 2008

Do you ever wonder what stuff will leave a lasting impact on your kids? I've been thinking about this a lot lately as I am realizing my oldest is at the age to remember most everything into adulthood. She is old enough to make lifelong friends and carry scars around when people mistreat her. I need to be wary of letting them hear things on the news and when I'm being candid with a friend over the phone about problems within the family. Little minds are being shaped here!

I have also been thinking about The Gulf oil spill. It has to be the worst disaster ever, or at least in our lifetime. The vastness of its' impact is hard to comprehend. I wonder if this will make my kids more sensitive to environmental issues, more concerned for animals, or turn them into members of E.L.F. You just never know. A little thing can have a huge impact. I overheard a teacher telling my mom that I'd be a writer when I grew up and it's all I ever wanted to do after that. What are we telling our kids that will impact them as adults? Are we telling them they're beautiful or scolding them for being bratty? Are we telling them they are kind or are we rolling our eyes and being sarcastic to them when they don't listen the first time? Are we helping them become the best they can be or are we stunting their spiritual growth?

We had a drought in 2008 and had to really watch how much water we used. Driving past the local lakes would make you want to cry, seeing docks standing there in clay, dust flying around in the morning instead of dew. We caught every drop of water we could in the shower to water plants with. I used bathwater from the kids to keep my lilies alive. Don't worry, I used a biodegradable soap. It was so bad, we watched how many times we flushed the toilet and only flushed after it was really necessary. I know this sounds gross, but it was the worst drought in state history. At the time, Abby was 5 and Ford was 3 and this has apparently left a huge mark on them because they still can't remember to flush the toilet! Twice a day, I smell something and I find a present in there from one of them. They remember to wash their hands. They remember to wipe well, but they cannot remember to flush. If this one thing so easily molded their behavior, it does make me wonder what else will stick. I hope it's mostly the good stuff.

I'd Like To Kill A Mockingbird

We have crazy mockingbirds near my house. My poor cat is being terrorized by them! First, she got trapped in the park near our house for two days. The pair was guarding the entrance in and out of the park and she had to wait for us to find her. Well, she never came home last night and so today I had to go around the street shaking food. When I turned the corner, I heard her and then saw her under a bushy tree in my neighbor's yard. She wouldn't come to me, only sat there meowing at me to rescue her. I scooped her up and she started eating right there in my arms. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see one of these crazed birds coming right at me!! Thankfully, I had the dogs with me and I think that scared it off last second or it would have pecked my hair! Baxter now tells me there was a third incident a few days ago when he saw Pumpkin being chased by two birds around the other corner. Well, they've really got it in for us! So what do I do about that? I really hate birds anyway. I mean, I love to hear them sing and I think they're really REALLY pretty and all - but I have never been one of those bird-people who want to keep them in cages, train them to talk, and have a personal relationship with them. Birds always seem a little aggressive to me - they can fly, they have pointy beaks. I'm just now realizing that chickens are birds and I do want chickens. They're different - maybe it's the flying thing. This is what I thought of today...