Life is like a game of Tetris

If I were a superhero, my weakness would be Tetris. When my brain is fried, and it's the end of the day, and I can't read anything else, fold any more clothes, wash any more dishes, and I'm nursing Baby A to sleep, I find a game of Tetris is just the thing to keep me from falling asleep at nine o'clock.  Angry Birds was fun, for a while, but Tetris really appeals to me in a "won't get tired of it" kind of way.  I finally realized that it is so appealing because it's like a mini-metaphor for life. Some thoughts on this comparison, in no particular order:
1.  In life you have lots of "stuff" flying at you.  It's all about making it fit together well.  And sometimes it's about the overall board looking good and organized too, but mostly just about getting the pieces to fit well together.
2.  Sometimes you get dealt a piece that you really don't want.  You can't see how it fits in well ANYWHERE with what you have before you.  You get the luxury of putting it on hold for a minute.  You can take time to think about it.  But eventually you have to play that card you've been dealt.  The same one will come up again anyway.  It might fit better in a couple minutes, or it might not, but either way, you have to play your hand.

3.  No matter what, you will make a mistake in dealing with one of the things that is thrown your way. Hopefully not a huge mistake, which leaves a gaping hole in the board, but even so, you can always fix it.  It might take lots more pieces, especially if you've created a gaping hole, but it can be filled in eventually.  With time, thought, and deliberation, the holes go away.
4.  Rushing is never good.  When the pieces are flying at you quickly, it's much more difficult to deal with them.  Hard-to-place pieces feel even more insurmountable when they are moving fast.  It's often best to press pause for a minute, get your bearings, and then get back in the game.  At least then you get the three second lead-in before the pieces come flying at you again.  If you are really good, you will learn to look ahead at the list of pieces that are coming your way.  You can prepare for the future, which can make all the difference.
5.  If you are too focused on just amassing points, you are much more likely to lose sight of the big picture.  You end up with funny-shaped towers all over the place, and none of the correct pieces show up to help you get the Tetris.  And the longer you wait for exactly the piece you want, the worse it can be.  Refusing to play what you've been given can be a horrible mistake.  Eventually, you realize you threw the game away because the points were more important to you than keeping the board cleared of holes.  Slow and steady sometimes does win the race.
6.  It's best just to compete against yourself.  There is something exciting about trying to be your best, and then trying to go beyond that.  There is no pressure to be better than anyone else.  No comparing, no judging your ability against anyone else's.  And no one ever has to know your high score but you!
7.  There are good days, and there are bad days.  You win some, you lose some.  But at least you played the game.  :-)

The Test

Momentous occasion number one today: shopped at a Wal-Mart for the first time in my life.  I was really trying to go without ever having to do it, but the warm weather and the fact that I'm dying for a smoothie, was going grocery shopping RIGHT NEXT TO THE STORE....All these factors came together today.  I had to do it, but I still haven't recovered.  I tried to be fast.  I ran in.  Had complete sensory overload for 30 seconds.  Found the label that said something about "kitchen" over the top of the aisle.  Rushed quickly in that direction.  Picked the nicest blender they had.  Ran to check out.  Left store.  Phew.  Maybe it wasn't that bad, but I seriously couldn't tell you.  On a Saturday with all three kids in tow, there wasn't even a second to look around, or even an inkling of a desire to do so.  I had my mission.  Mission completed.  (Kristina and Alexis, consider me christened.)

And now the test begins.  We have had three blenders in the three years we've lived here.  Every summer, we blow out the motor on it and have to get a new one.  (Or we end up taking the not-being-used basement blender from friends and blowing out the motor on that too!)  What I'd really like to do is get a Vita-mix or something comparable.  But I just can't make that leap (cha-ching!) until I've tried a middle-of-the-road blender first.  We've had three cheap (we're talking the under $50 ones), we have a moderately priced one now, and if this one fails then I am totally giving up.  We will end up "doing the Dyson" on it.  If you don't know what "doing a Dyson" is, it is the new label I'm giving to the process of trying many, many cheap versions of something (in our case, it was vacuum cleaners), until you finally realize that by the time you've broken all of them, you could've spent the same money getting the higher end product and saving yourself the hassle.  (Yes, this did happen to us, and now I LOVE my Dyson, which we've had for three years!)  I have the sneaky suspicion that I am going to end up in the same situation about this blender, but I'm willing to give it one last shot.  Consider this the throw-down.  It's us vs. the "Ninja Professional" blender.  Stay tuned for the update.

(P.S.: so far, we've made a wonderful smoothie and a not-so-smoothly blended icy strawberry orange drink.  I'm sitting near 3.5 stars right now.  Could've been better at crushing the ice.)

What a Difference a Rain Makes

(Fair warning: This post turned out to be very long.  It is mostly a bunch of garden notes to myself.  If you could care less about the minutia, and I wouldn't blame you if that were the case, and just want the point, scroll down to "Lessons Learned So Far This Year.")

Time for a garden update!  What a difference all this rain is making!  I can't get over how plump and juicy everything looks.  I've had plenty of fresh salads by now, and even greens that I didn't expect to pop back after I cut them have done just that.  It's wonderful.  And more than anything, I'm looking forward to the savings on my next grocery bill!  We've also harvested our first strawberry, having lost only a couple to birds before I knew the berries were getting red!  I have put up the netting, and that should keep them at bay.  Now that we are getting nights consistently above 50 degrees, everything is really going to take off.  

Chores that I've already had to do in the garden:

1.  The aforementioned strawberry net has been put up.

2.  I've weeded, probably for a total of three hours, the one patch where I STUPIDLY let the rotten Sungold tomatoes fall off the vine last year.  Well, Sungolds have about a gazillion seeds in each little marble-sized orb of deliciousness.  And all of those seeds, from the hundreds of tomatoes that fell off the plant  have decided to RE-sprout in the garden.  I'm not kidding when I tell you I've pulled up hundreds of tiny tomato seedlings.  (Our Sungold plant last year was ridiculously prolific, to the point where by October, we just couldn't eat any more, and it was STILL producing.  That's why we just left a lot of them to rot...)  I am letting about two of these volunteer seedlings grow, and if they get big enough and survive, I will transplant them to a big pot and see if they produce fruit this year too.  Not sure, but like I said, this was the superman of tomato plants, and if there's any chance I can get another one this year, I'm taking it.  It was an organic plant, so I'm thinking it wasn't GMO'd to be sterile in the second year.  

3.  Compost has been continued in earnest.  We don't tend to do as much composting in the winter once the stack really gets cold and freezes together.  But we're back.  And now our coffee grinds, used tea leaves, and veggie/fruit matter of all sorts have a purpose in life.  Ah, reincarnation.

4.  Have done massive amounts of general weeding.  I completely failed to put the garden to sleep properly last year.  What I should've done in late fall, but before it got too too cold, was pull out all the dead plants, (everything that doesn't overwinter), cover the soil with black plastic, and say, "nighty night" to the garden.  This is VITAL for two reasons.  First, you don't have tons of "prep work" in the spring when you want to get planting.  You lift the black plastic, add some compost, and insert seeds or plants.  (Instead, we had to spend hours doing what should've already been done.)  Second, you don't have an entire fall and winter of weedy things falling in the beds.  Weedy things that will eventually sprout when it gets nice and warm.  

Enough about garden regrets (for now!)  Here is the updated garden plot document.  Some stuff didn't come up, so I've revised and edited things, along with adding the details of my second round of planting.

Garden Plan Round Two Early Season 2011

In case you can't tell the difference, and also to keep track of my own progress, here are my notes on what's been happening since I first planted.

-Tons of volunteer dill has erupted.  Everywhere.  I'm glad I like it, but wish the cucumbers had worked so I could have pickles.

-The cucumbers didn't so much as sprout one little measly seedling.  What a bummer.  I love cucumbers in my salad.  I think I might try to plant them one more time and see what happens.  (Abundance of dill also makes this sad!)

-My butternut squash seeds really didn't sprout either.  Normally they do well for me, but I bought cheapie seeds this year, not my usual organic ones.  I was trying not to be snobby about things, but I think I'm learning a lesson.  (Better to be a seed snob?)  I found seedlings at a local farm (thanks Lex!) and so they have been planted in the place where I had planted the seeds.

-The stringless snap bush beans and the yellow wax beans all really struggled to get started and the seed leaves of both plants were very "holey" when they came through.  I forgot to inoculate the seeds this year (okay, I was just too lazy to search the Stinkbug infested shed for the inoculant) and I wonder if this isn't why.  I hope the final crops are not affected, but if so, I kick myself again for being lazy and stupid.  

-The cantaloupe plant is struggling.  Not a shocker.  Apparently melons are hard to grow, which is such a shame because the girls LOVE melon.  I'd love to get just ONE this year.  Please???!!!

-The direct-seeded celery never came up, so a butternut squash seedling went in its place.  I have celery also planted as seedlings, so no big loss there.

-Mesculun was replanted.

-New variety of lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson) planted.

Pictures!

This is the "Before" shot of the garden as it looked in April.  I think this is the same picture as the one in my first garden post.  But I put it here so the next picture will be like, "WOW!"  Get ready...

I told you the rain makes a difference!  And the higher temps do too, of course!

 Greens!!!!

Check out that beautiful broccoli and cauliflower in the back box.  Not getting excited though.  As I said before, it happens every year.  I get gorgeous LEAVES.  No vegetables.  Just leaves.  Stay tuned.   

In the front box the chard is coming in nicely.  I was worried because they were ugly little seedlings, but they are making a come-back.  Maybe I will call it my NKOTB Chard.

My cut-flower bed is going crazy.  Sunflowers, Cosmos, Zinnias, etc.  I can't wait to beautify the house all summer with flowers.

Lessons learned so far this year:

-Don't be lazy and stupid.  Gardening isn't for lazy and stupid people.  If you are lazy NOW, you will pay later.  (Remember to inoculate, pick up the rotting veggies, and put the garden to sleep properly in the fall!  

-Maybe it's okay to be a seed snob.  Go ahead, buy organic seeds.  Even if it means you have to order online or that your selection in real life will be more limited.  It might not seem like a huge deal, but in previous years, I've NEVER had a plant not come up at all, and to have the celery and cucumbers not even make a single appearance makes me wonder if it is due to seed quality.  I'm not a master gardener, of course, but simply based on my experience, seed quality seems to matter.  (Note: I have had plants not do well once established, of course, but I've always had stuff at least SPROUT.)

Okay, there's a break in the rain.  I think I will go weed.

      

Blessings

Today was nothing spectacular.  We didn't just come back from some fancy vacation.  We made no new exciting purchases.  I have no huge news to share that would really be considered worthy of a blog post at all.  I just wanted to make a note of some things to remember.  Just the little details of my day that I took the time to thank God for,  because lately I'm finding that those are the details that are giving me the most joy.

Things that have given me such joy today:
1. Watching Caeley still enjoy blowing bubbles so much. Now she has TWO people to catch them.

2. Listening to Ailin say, "WOW!" as she watches the rain pelting down while we sit on the back porch during a storm.
3. Ailin calling my beer a "bah-bah."  From a kid that has never had a bottle, it was just funny.
4. Getting to visit with our favorite nun at the Visitation convent in Georgetown.  She is such a joy to us, and we miss her since she left the area.
5. Watching the girls head out into the driving storm with bright pink rain coats and boots on.
6. Receiving the coolest cookbook EVER from my mom.  (It's part chicken-owning memoir, part seasonally organized recipes with simple ingredients featuring you guessed it-eggs!  But also chicken, too!  I can't wait to cook from it this week!  Doesn't it sound PERFECT for me???!!!)
7. Listening to my veritable Tin Man talk about how emotional he got saying goodbye to some of his special seniors today. Wish I had been there to see him cry!  (Even knowing he got all mushy made my day!)
8. Watching a movie about the International Space Station with the family and realizing we ALL learned something.
9. Making it almost all the way through mass this morning without resorting to the cry room.  (I said almost.)

10. Opening my just-cleaned-out homeschool room closet.  And the two little girls who voluntarily decided to put away some of their toys for a while to help me declutter it.  Order is happiness.  At least for me.

The "uptight me" (I really should give her a name so I can just refer to her in a nicer way when I'm posting about her...) wants to stop listing things at number ten because that's a nice number to end on.  So I won't mention the delicious sushi or chocolate chip cookies I had today. :-)  Or the 2.5 hours spent in the car with a baby that didn't fuss once!  That would make my list 12.  And that's not as nice a number to end on.  Still even, but just not as nice.

I hope your day was also filled with "little things" that brought you much joy!

Pett Peaves

I wasn't going to do it.  I wasn't going to use my blog as a soap box, or a place to vent about all the admittedly neurotic things that make me crazy.  (Also prefacing this with a disclaimer: I am easily annoyed by dumb things and not as easily annoyed by things that should be more annoying.)  But here it is:  I just can't stand how misspelled words have become a completely accepted in our culture.  I realize that part of this stems from the technological revolution, where texts, tweets, Facebook posts, etc. contain acronyms like LOL, or BTW, etc.  This is different though.  I'm talking about blatant misspellings of an entire word, often the entire name of a company or a brand name because it's "cool" or will somehow sell more product.  I don't get it, and I'm definitely not going to jump on board with the idea.  (Okay, I suppose I understand why this might be done from an advertising standpoint...but I still think it's a dumb idea.  If you have a good product, you have a good product.  You could have a good product AND also be modeling correct use of the English language...)

Let me provide a few of the myriad examples that are out there.  The water bottles that the girls and I drink from daily are made by a company called Kleen Kanteen.  Were I not so tuned into this particular issue, my children would grow up thinking "clean" is spelled "kleen."  It most certainly is NOT.  And then there are the numerous other commonly misspelled words we take for granted every day:  "quick" spelled "kwik" (See, even my blog puts a red underline under it because it's spelled WRONG!)  Then there's Reddi-Whip (Ready? Reddi?  What are they really trying to say?  If the company was started by Mr. Reddi, fine.  But if they mean that the whip will be "ready" when I want it, and I don't need to whip it up myself, why can't they just use the correct word?)  Chick Fil-A.  Really?  Not even going to discuss that one.

Worst of all are gross misspellings on items marketed specifically to children.  Huge toy companies whose very names are misspelled.  WHAT??  Playskool for instance.  (Clearly their founder missed a couple days of it, because if he/she hadn't, he/she would know how to spell SCHOOL.) And Kool-Aid.  I can't abide this trend/marketing scheme/whatever it is.  As a society, we are already in grave danger of killing traditional literacy as we know it.  (See note about technological revolution above.)  So much of our beautiful language has become denigrated to three letter abbreviations that fit on a small screen.  But I find this particular issue, the misspelling one, an almost worse offender.  It is so pervasive, and transcends the technological sphere.  It's everywhere!  The more we dumb down the language, the more dumbed down we will become as a whole society.

I'd rather believe in proper spelling!

I know it doesn't seem like a huge deal.  Perhaps I'm making mountains out of molehills.  But darn it if there aren't just too many misspelled molehills out there, and it seems to me they are starting to add up to at least a little mountain.  I'm also willing to admit that as a homeschooler  maybe I take the issue even more to heart.  I am working so hard to teach the girls to read, to know a wrongly spelled word when they see it, and it just tans my hide to be driving down the highway, and there on some gigantic billboard along the side of the road is a advertisement for the Kwik-Mart.  Usually Caeley is pretty good at spotting the mistakes, and often asks why the words are not spelled correctly.  Good question!  I feel like answering, "To advertise how stupid they are!"  Do they think they will make more money?  Well, not in my case.  My first thought was not, "Hey, let's stop there to get some fried pork rinds!"  My first thought was, "Someone needs to learn how to spell!  Kwikly!"

Unplanning

It's that time of year (the brief period between curriculum shopping and the official beginning of summer) when the questions start rolling in about "summer plans."  I have to say, I kinda cringe at this one.  When someone asks, "What are you doing this summer," I'm tempted beyond all belief to answer, "Hopefully, absolutely nothing."  (Okay, we all know that I CAN'T ever do nothing, but I wouldn't really bore anyone with my list of "summer to-do's" like making book lists, cleaning out closets, writing a Spanish curriculum, etc.)  What they usually mean is "What are you planning to keep the kids busy this summer?"  And honestly, I'm not planning anything.  It's the one time of year when I don't have to PLAN ANYTHING.  I spend months and months and months planning every subject, from religion to art and music study, to math, science, etc.  During the year I plan our play dates, our meals, our visits with friends and family...It's planning, planning, planning for a large portion of the year.  And last summer we had a super short summer because of all the time we took off when a certain little girl was born.  

This summer, I would like just a wee break.  And I think the girls want a break, too.  That isn't to say that I'm not considering anything fun for the girls.  I have peeked at some of the brochures that offer summer camps and stuff in the area.  A nice idea in theory, but one that presents two problems.  The first being that most camps for Caeley's age are ALL DAY.  From some ridiculously early hour to late in the afternoon.  If I really wanted my kid in a situation like that, even if just for a week, do you think I'd be a homeschooler?  Nope.  So I resort to looking at some of the little half-day things, some of which sound downright wonderful.  But then there's the second problem.  She has a sister three years her junior, and NONE of the camps have an age range that can include both girls.  That means that no matter what, the girls would have to be in two different camps on two different weeks of the summer, and mom would be stuck living those two weeks out of the car, or else spending a ridiculous amount of gas money driving all over Timbuktu doing the shuttling.  (We are in the middle of nothing, by the way.)  I'm sure this is the reality that most parents face most of the time, but it is with a certain intention that I DON'T live in that reality, and the idea of entering it during the time of year that I'm supposed to be "off" is really not appealing to me.  I feel a little guilty about it, sometimes.  But then I think about the things I do what to do with/for the girls this summer, and "then I don't feel SOOOOOO bad...." (name that movie):

1.  Go to the lake.  (Sit in the sand.  Build sand castles.  Wade in the minnow-filled water.  Order the delicious fries from the little stand.  Be home before nap time.)

2.  Read books.  On the picnic blanket.  In the sun.  With lemonade.  Or iced coffee.  (Wind in the Willows is on the list for this summer.)

3.  Visit the museums in DC.  (National Gallery to do a "treasure hunt" for all the paintings we studied this year in school that may or not be there.  Air and Space to finish our year long study of astronomy.)

4.  Maybe visit friends in Boston.  Always wanted to go there.  Never been.  Do some early U.S. history curriculum connecting.

5.  Give special attention to middle child.  Listen to her words, her ideas.  Read the stories she wants just because she wants them, not because she thinks big sister wants them.  Mondays with Meara?  Hmmm...

6.  Explore our own state.  We're learning about our lovely state during our last term, and it astounds me how little I've seen of it.  Go to capital.  Go to Bay.  This is our home, let's really see it!

7.  Play dates with friends.  At any hour.  In the morning, even, since there won't be SCHOOL to do!  Catch up on all the half-conversations we've had all year.

8.  Eat Will's sausage.  (Okay, this may seem lame to most of you, but my farmer Will has incredible sausage and it won't be ready until late May or June.   Many many dinners of grilled sausage are in my future.)

9.  Learn to do something new or pick up an old hobby.  Girls could learn to knit.  I could take out that cross-stitch Noah's Ark that I was doing for CAELEY'S BIRTH.  (oops.)

10.  Go to daily mass.  No time constraints.  No excuses.  I miss it so much.

11.  Read my Bible study materials with more devotion.  Maybe find a kids Bible study for the girls to do.

12.  Build forts on rainy days.

13.  Paint, sculpt, and do all the art projects that got pushed aside during the year.

14.  Bake together.  Scones.  Brownies.  Cookies.  We miss baking.  We will have the TIME.

15.  Sleep in.  (Okay, this is me being hopeful for them!)

16.  Start exercising in the morning.  For me.  For family: more walks, hikes, bike rides, etc.

17.  Pamper husband.  He'll be home more.  We can all shower him with the love he deserves.

Phew.  I'm tired already.  It looks like I've found what I'm doing this summer.

Just Joy

There is just joy today.  Caeley made her First Communion and it's another milestone, another precious memory we will always have as a family.  There really are no words for how special this day was, so I leave you with few of them, but many pictures.

Looking to Heaven

Godmother Colleen

(Will it ever be possible to get a good family picture again?)

Friends in Christ: Caeley and Isabelle

Godfather Double D (Dan)

God is so good.