Pieces of Mind
I realized something driving home from the grocery store in the fog a few minutes ago -- I think that I am losing my mind. Not all of it, just some parts that haven't had the chance to run around out in the world for a bit. And not "lost" them actually, but rather temporarily misplaced them for lack of use.
I have to say, I really do enjoy the "finding old friends I haven't seen for fifteen years" aspect of Facebook, but it has also led to a near total cessation of blogging. Add to that the time pressures of the past two semesters of graduate school (which I love, by the way) and you have a person who has not journaled or done creating writing pretty much at all for months. Given my particular textual proclivities, I'm shocked that I have only misplaced parts of my mind rather than lost it all out, as in all of it at once, in a rather loud and troublesome sort of way. The creative writing is still difficult to pull off, as I haven't actually had uninterrupted alone time for….. gosh, months. But blogging -- that I can do, especially now given that the baby is old enough to nurse on my lap without needing any assistance, as he is happily doing now as I type this.
I'm still at the farm, since it is just so much easier to take care of all of the kids out here -- the house is MUCH bigger and the "yard" encompasses about 150 acres. There is room to run, room to plant things, room to play indoors when it rains, a sandbox, a pool, a jungle gym, and kittens, not to mention extra hands to help out entertaining / feeding / bathing the kids. When M starts kindergarten in August, we'll be out here a lot less, so we're doing it while we can. Besides, I *hate* the pollution in the city in the summer -- this is sometimes our summer home anyway.
Soon, though, I *must* have my house back, at least one or two days a week. We need a couple of days to catch up on things around the house (like throwing away everything in the fridge and mowing the yard -- yikes!) but then we'll probably be back there two or three days a week -- just enough to have some alone time together. (Living with one's parents is not conducive to certain types of intimacy, IF you get my meaning.) I also look forward to some time alone to write -- even two or three hours a week would be really, really nice at this point.
On another note, my grandmother was very ill for several weeks recently. She is doing much better now and is out of the hospital, but this has meant that my mother has not been home (as in at the farm where we are) for the same amount of time. She is coming home for a few hours at a time, which is nice -- I really missed her, especially during finals week. (That was crazy! But I got everything done on time anyway.) My grandmother seems to have finally quit smoking with this past illness, which is one of the reasons she is feeling so much better -- 65+ years of smoking on top of pneumonia does not feel good. It also makes me so very grateful that I quit -- I can't imagine how my body would feel if I still smoked. Recovering from this pregnancy has been difficult enough; I'm glad that I don't have that to add to it.
School went very well -- I miss it SO MUCH when I'm not there! At the moment, I'm trying to get the $$$ together to do an independent study writing project over the summer. I didn't think it would happen, but as of just a couple of days ago, it looks like it probably will…. as long as the professor who agreed to supervise the project is still interested for the summer. I also have other projects I would like to do, mostly sending out things that are already written. Oh - and I'm working on writing several book reviews for a new book that has come out recently. I'll also be conducting the all faculty training for the college where I work (though I'm still on leave at the moment) on classroom applications of Nonviolent Communication -- that will be in a little less than a month. Then, sometime later (summer or fall, I'm not sure which) I may have the opportunity to teach my Compassionate Parenting workshop to parents who have been incarcerated but who are now trying to reacclimate to life outside of that. I am really excited about all of these upcoming opportunities!
My youngest daughter (typically referred to here as "A") just had her fourth birthday party this past Saturday. She had a princess theme, complete with the big castle cake. We had the party at Totter Otterville, which I highly recommend: No set up, no clean up, and the hostess ran the whole show. I only wish that they had a liquor license for the parents -- I was craving sangria the entire time for some reason. I had such a great time, as did she and all of the other kids. I just love that kid so much!!!! I can't believe she's four, but on the other hand, I can't believe she's ONLY four -- she knows an incredible amount, and has the most amazing mind.
M (my oldest daughter) will be starting kindergarten at a primary school that focuses on arts in August. This is wholly her decision, as anyone who knows me knows that I have very mixed feelings about institutionalized education, especially (gasp!) anything in the public school system. However, she chose this school herself and has never wavered in her desire to go there, so that looks like what we'll be doing, at least for now. She knows she doesn't have to stay there if she really doesn't like it, but at the moment she is looking so forward to harp, dance, percussion, chorus, violin, etc., lessons, that I think it may take quite some time before she becomes disenchanted.
The baby is HUGE and growing by the day -- he is already the size that our middle child was when she was about six months old. (M was a preemie, so she was probably nine months old before she was this size.) He is really interactive and smiley -- we all love him quite a bit, and his sisters are just as happy actually having him here as they thought they would be. He sometimes has some difficulty falling / staying asleep (my Hubby is walking him around right now) but once he's out, he's OUT. Last night he slept for about seven hours without waking up, which is unheard of for a baby in our family -- I had to get up and pump part way through it so that I didn't explode. :<) I can't believe how cute he is -- though it was very challenging to get him here (i.e. the pregnancy and the birth) I am so happy that he's here now.
Anyway….. that is my update in a nutshell. I plan to be back here more often doing this, as it is one of the ways that I keep track of what I do when; it is a diary, it just happens to be public. I'll be back…. SOON.
I have to say, I really do enjoy the "finding old friends I haven't seen for fifteen years" aspect of Facebook, but it has also led to a near total cessation of blogging. Add to that the time pressures of the past two semesters of graduate school (which I love, by the way) and you have a person who has not journaled or done creating writing pretty much at all for months. Given my particular textual proclivities, I'm shocked that I have only misplaced parts of my mind rather than lost it all out, as in all of it at once, in a rather loud and troublesome sort of way. The creative writing is still difficult to pull off, as I haven't actually had uninterrupted alone time for….. gosh, months. But blogging -- that I can do, especially now given that the baby is old enough to nurse on my lap without needing any assistance, as he is happily doing now as I type this.
I'm still at the farm, since it is just so much easier to take care of all of the kids out here -- the house is MUCH bigger and the "yard" encompasses about 150 acres. There is room to run, room to plant things, room to play indoors when it rains, a sandbox, a pool, a jungle gym, and kittens, not to mention extra hands to help out entertaining / feeding / bathing the kids. When M starts kindergarten in August, we'll be out here a lot less, so we're doing it while we can. Besides, I *hate* the pollution in the city in the summer -- this is sometimes our summer home anyway.
Soon, though, I *must* have my house back, at least one or two days a week. We need a couple of days to catch up on things around the house (like throwing away everything in the fridge and mowing the yard -- yikes!) but then we'll probably be back there two or three days a week -- just enough to have some alone time together. (Living with one's parents is not conducive to certain types of intimacy, IF you get my meaning.) I also look forward to some time alone to write -- even two or three hours a week would be really, really nice at this point.
On another note, my grandmother was very ill for several weeks recently. She is doing much better now and is out of the hospital, but this has meant that my mother has not been home (as in at the farm where we are) for the same amount of time. She is coming home for a few hours at a time, which is nice -- I really missed her, especially during finals week. (That was crazy! But I got everything done on time anyway.) My grandmother seems to have finally quit smoking with this past illness, which is one of the reasons she is feeling so much better -- 65+ years of smoking on top of pneumonia does not feel good. It also makes me so very grateful that I quit -- I can't imagine how my body would feel if I still smoked. Recovering from this pregnancy has been difficult enough; I'm glad that I don't have that to add to it.
School went very well -- I miss it SO MUCH when I'm not there! At the moment, I'm trying to get the $$$ together to do an independent study writing project over the summer. I didn't think it would happen, but as of just a couple of days ago, it looks like it probably will…. as long as the professor who agreed to supervise the project is still interested for the summer. I also have other projects I would like to do, mostly sending out things that are already written. Oh - and I'm working on writing several book reviews for a new book that has come out recently. I'll also be conducting the all faculty training for the college where I work (though I'm still on leave at the moment) on classroom applications of Nonviolent Communication -- that will be in a little less than a month. Then, sometime later (summer or fall, I'm not sure which) I may have the opportunity to teach my Compassionate Parenting workshop to parents who have been incarcerated but who are now trying to reacclimate to life outside of that. I am really excited about all of these upcoming opportunities!
My youngest daughter (typically referred to here as "A") just had her fourth birthday party this past Saturday. She had a princess theme, complete with the big castle cake. We had the party at Totter Otterville, which I highly recommend: No set up, no clean up, and the hostess ran the whole show. I only wish that they had a liquor license for the parents -- I was craving sangria the entire time for some reason. I had such a great time, as did she and all of the other kids. I just love that kid so much!!!! I can't believe she's four, but on the other hand, I can't believe she's ONLY four -- she knows an incredible amount, and has the most amazing mind.
M (my oldest daughter) will be starting kindergarten at a primary school that focuses on arts in August. This is wholly her decision, as anyone who knows me knows that I have very mixed feelings about institutionalized education, especially (gasp!) anything in the public school system. However, she chose this school herself and has never wavered in her desire to go there, so that looks like what we'll be doing, at least for now. She knows she doesn't have to stay there if she really doesn't like it, but at the moment she is looking so forward to harp, dance, percussion, chorus, violin, etc., lessons, that I think it may take quite some time before she becomes disenchanted.
The baby is HUGE and growing by the day -- he is already the size that our middle child was when she was about six months old. (M was a preemie, so she was probably nine months old before she was this size.) He is really interactive and smiley -- we all love him quite a bit, and his sisters are just as happy actually having him here as they thought they would be. He sometimes has some difficulty falling / staying asleep (my Hubby is walking him around right now) but once he's out, he's OUT. Last night he slept for about seven hours without waking up, which is unheard of for a baby in our family -- I had to get up and pump part way through it so that I didn't explode. :<) I can't believe how cute he is -- though it was very challenging to get him here (i.e. the pregnancy and the birth) I am so happy that he's here now.
Anyway….. that is my update in a nutshell. I plan to be back here more often doing this, as it is one of the ways that I keep track of what I do when; it is a diary, it just happens to be public. I'll be back…. SOON.