A Boastful Post

A friend of mine is always looking for fun things for her kids to do. Unlike me. I don’t actively seek extra-curricular activities for my off-spring.  She usually calls me and invites one of my children to join, even offering to drive every time. Great friend, wouldn’t you say?

I’m surprised she keeps asking because we usually politely decline or I am my typical flakey self and never get back to her.  A couple weeks ago, she called and asked if Tyler would like to do a pottery class. For some reason (divine inspiration?) I didn’t consult Randy on this and I just said yes. Come to think of it, I committed before I even asked Tyler if he was interested.

It is held on the one free night we have each week, the price is right, and a ride is provided. What’s not to love?

Last week, as we were going about our usual pre-dinner chaos there was a knock at the door. His ride was here. (Oh yeah….that’s tonight!) So without dinner, I rushed him out the door with a scribbled check in hand. Off he went, and on I went with my night. It was a particularly busy Thursday and I was headed out. I didn’t return until after he was in bed.

The next morning, he couldn’t wait to tell me all about class. He was able to successfully center his clay and throw a bowl. On his first night.

He was so excited to show me and asked all week if I could watch him. So tonight I did. And boy does he have skills. I was so impressed with both of the kids (a third friend was home with a fever.) Mind you, the class is mostly adults. I mean look at him, he’s not even watching.

His teacher proclaimed him Student of the Week after he successfully threw another bowl, trimmed last week’s bowl, and made a cup. He loves it. And I won’t lie- I do, too. I can’t wait to see the final products.

In the meantime, you might find me on Ebay. Bidding on a pottery wheel.

Aging Appliances

We’ve been in our home 11 years. Which means nearly every appliance in our home is at least that old. I knew this day was inevitable and we were living on borrowed time. In the past year, we have seen several appliances in our home fail. First it was the microwave. Next was the fridge, then the computer hard drive, and last, the dryer. Intermixed with these large failings were the food processor, flat iron, toaster and problems with the blender. 

Handy Randy does a fantastic job fixing things, but sometimes needs parts or tools he doesn’t have access to. However, he has had good luck extending the life of most of these useful gadgets. Except one.

Our poor dryer has seen too many loads of jeans in its day and simply had no more to give. But before giving up on it altogether, Randy thought he’d work his magic. He opened it up to give it a good cleaning and see what else might be wrong with it. Mind you, we have vacuumed out the dryer hose in the past and I am religious about cleaning the lint trap after each load. But apparently, a good deal of lint gets caught in the gut of the dryer.

We even found some lost treasure. How the harmonica got past the lint trap, I will never know.

Resurrection was not in the cards this time and the dryer drum is now used as a kid-size hamster wheel around our house.

Luckily, our friends were upgrading to a newer pair and gave us their old dryer. It will get us by just fine until we can save for our own.

Perhaps my favorite part of this long story is what Emma told me yesterday. As I was doing her hair, she said, “All the dryers in our house are old.”

“Yep, they are,” I replied.

“And so are the wetters.”

No comment.

Happy Groundbeaver Day!

Emma came home from preschool very excited about all she had learned today. She had me close her eyes as she pulled each masterpiece from her little bag. Until finally…

“Ta da! Mom, did you know today is Groundbeaver Day?“

I had no idea.

Missing This…

As a surprise for Christmas, Randy had the first year of my blog made into a book. Like so many other things in my life, I had meant to do it for a long time. Seeing it there, in print, made me miss blogging more than ever. I cherish the stories told, the memories shared, and even the hard times recorded.

My life is busy, and I can’t see that changing any time soon. So I will have to make a more conscious effort to sit down and take the time to write. I enjoy knowing that somebody out there is reading my blog, and I feel an immediate reward when someone comments. Selfish? Yes. But knowing that I have so many memories of my growing family recorded forever makes me happy. Looking through the printed pages of my blog is the most rewarding of all. Cheesy? Yes.

Earlier this year, I had a lot of computer problems that were very discouraging. I had been working on a lengthy post about our fun trip to the Oregon coast when my computer crashed and I lost it all. Combine that with the busiest summer in the history of our family, and I really lost my blogging touch. I am not going to fool myself into thinking I can go back and post it all, but from here on out, I will try to capture the blog-worthy events in out home. And from time to time, maybe I’ll throw in a  little flash-back from 2010.

Just for my sake, you know.