When you think they are sleeping...

Elie went to bed tonight and was quiet for a long time. It was a long, exhausting day so we figured she was asleep. When we went to go check on her a few hours later this is what we found...





Seriously, who gave this girl a feather pillow?

My Garden is Growing!!!!!!!

Finally!!!! Thanks in large part to Nick's diligence in watering. I really need one of those timed soaker hose thingys.

Wordless Wednesday... Summer

I love books

In case I haven't made that clear enough in previous posts. I started packing yesterday morning. We are moving in less than a week and I packed my first boxes yesterday morning. I have been in a bit of denial. And (as also established in a previous post) I do not think about things that are unpleasant until the last possible moment. For whatever reason, the first thing I decided to pack was my book shelf.



These SIX boxes contain only my books. These six boxes do not include Elie's books, the books I have collected for Elie to "grow into" or the books that I have set aside to not put in storage. AND I have more in storage already. I am definitely going to need that Library from "Beauty and the Beast" before too long.

I hope that I have instilled my passion (okay okay obsession) in my beautiful daughters...

On Self-Control

I have none. Not an ounce. I seriously should been enrolled in Karate when I was a kid to teach me some self discipline. If there are cookies/pie/chocolate anywhere in the vicinity I will eat them until they are gone. I frequently have been known to stay up all night reading until the book is finished. The whole time I tell myself "I need to stop" and yet I can rarely actually bring myself to do it. I am simply hopeless...

On tests and anxieties...

I do not worry. Rather, I pretend like I don't worry. As long as I can remember, if there was something that should cause me to be anxious- I ignored it. I push unpleasant things that I can't control to the back of my brain and think of something else. Why worry about something that I can't do anything about, right? This works for most situations. The only time it really doesn't help is if there really is something I can do- but it is hard or unpleasant and I still ignore it. For instance, this big test that I have to take TOMORROW. This big test that I have known about for two months. This big test that our entire future could very well rest on. This big test that I have not studied for in the slightest and have pretended like didn't exist.

This test is supposedly a comprehensive exam designed for teachers teaching Elementary School. The unfortunate thing for me is that I do not remember anything from Elementary School. And High School...? There is a whole section on Math and Science including Algebra, TRIGONOMETRY, Biology and Earth Science. Here is a flash back to what I remember from those subjects in High School.

Earth Science- well that was TEN years ago and all I remember is that my teacher said "um" every other (and occasionally more frequently than that) word. Biology- same teacher. By the time you could decipher the ums from the words- the content was lost.

Trig- still have no idea what this even is. Algebra- "If we shadows have offended /think but this and all is mended/. That while we slumbered here/ these visions did appear /this weak and idle theme/ no more yielding but dream." Shakespeare. Midsummer Night's Dream. Why is this all I remember from Math class? Because the guy who sat in front of me all year wore a shirt with this written on the back ALL the time. I have serious math anxiety. Like I see an equation and my palms start sweating and I can feel my blood pressure start to rise until I feel like the only way to release all the tension is to stand up and scream my head off. This creates serious issues when stuck in a classroom full of equations for 90 minutes at a time. So when the guy wore this shirt, I gladly welcomed the balm of words to have its effect. I read it almost constantly. Which is why 10 years later I remember that and not anything from the actual class.

So... now I fight with myself over whether to sit and actually study for the next 24 hours or read Anne of the Island.

A Dream Fulfilled?

I have always loved horses. Not the crazy-horse-girl-with-horse shirts-and-other-paraphernalia but a deep longing to ride a horse over an open field with the wind blowing my hair and not a house in sight. It goes along with my desire to own land and have chickens and eat vegetables out of my garden. My aunt always had horses and I rode them occasionally when I was little, but my own shyness prevented me from taking full advantage out of the opportunity.

Elie is afraid of animals. I am not kidding. We went to the fair and she wouldn't even touch the bunnies. She will not even be on the ground if there is a dog in the vicinity. Horses, for whatever reason, she doesn't mind. She has had a few opportunities to go on a pony ride and the enthusiasm she showed when sitting on that horses back renewed all the old west desires I had been harboring for years. The result? I gave my aunt a call. Elie not only rode my aunt's horse bareback, but she started learning how to make the horse stop and go. It was so cute to see her sitting up there so tall yelling "walk-on."



I don't know if my Aunt knew what she was getting into when she said we could come over anytime...