Grateful Friday

It's July and I don't really like summer.

It's July and Adam was gone last week and this week and he will be gone an indeterminate time in July.

I think it would be easier if I was busy with school while Adam was traveling so much, because I feel adrift.  If I had school, I would be nose to the grindstone and then thanking my lucky stars for evenings to stare into nothing.

There are things I'm grateful about though.

Mark is being very sweet to me.  He realizes I'm in a ratty mood (and both my sisters have been at girls' camp) and I miss Adam.  He texted Adam that he should call me because it "seems like she misses you."

Also, Mark went to Emma's last night to swim and there was a thunderstorm here and I hate thunderstorms (but not rain!).

I think I equate lightning with fires and it isn't a winning combination.

I'm grateful Adam will be home sometime in the next two days (he's not sure).  That man is living a vagabond life.  He is cut out for that sort of thing though.  He can be spontaneous.

I'm grateful that I have finished some of my LETRS training.  We are supposed to do it during the next school year and I'm pre-crastinating because it makes me happy to pre-crastinate.  I like to not procrastinate like I like to not camp.

I'm grateful this is the lock screen of my work computer:

It's brings me more joy than a lock screen probably usually does.

Eleanor is dreamy and I'm her biggest fan (maybe--I have a lot of competition for biggest fan).

Braeden called her their "librarian baby" when he sent this.

I'm grateful that I can get pictures (and videos!) of her daily.  What a great time to be alive!

I'm grateful for good books and Netflix and that the gluten free pasta-pesto-grape tomato-garlic-spinach-chicken-parmesan cheese situation I made for dinner last night was well received.  I told Mark I'd kind of made it up.  He proceeded to tell me how I could have improved it.

I should have left well enough alone.

I'm grateful for air conditioning and ice and diet coke and cold water.  I'm grateful for grapes (and grape tomatoes) and a few rain storms in the past few days.  I'm grateful for grapefruit body butter from Trader Joe's.  I love that stuff!  

I'm grateful for text messages from Emma.  She sent this this morning:

Getting texts from Emma always make me happy.

I'm grateful that my flowers on the deck are living their best life and the ferns on the front porch are happy.  The chrysanthemums are thriving.  Felicia (the fiddle leaf fig) has never been happier.  

My plants love summer.

And I'm grateful.

Little rolltop desk

When I was a little girl, my grandma gave me a desk that had been hers when she was a little girl.  In the same way, Olivia got a rocking chair from our great grandma Olivia.  Sometimes being a namesake comes with advantages.

I loved the little rolltop desk and I stuffed the drawers and pigeon holes full of treasures.  The roll top never raised and lowered quite right and then the wood started coming apart so I stopped trying to raise and lower it.

I asked Enoch to fix the desk and he gamely took it for that purpose.  Life got in the way, like it does, and the desk ended up in storage.

When Enoch and his family recently moved, he gave my parents the desk to give to me.

My dad fixed it.  Because he's my dad.

He discovered that the reason the rolltop didn't work so well was because there was school work stuffed inside of it.  There was also a Snoopy ruler my mom thought maybe belonged to my aunt.

I said, "I think it's my ruler," because I remembered trying to maneuver the struggling rolltop with a ruler.  My dad gave me the contents of the desk in a ziplock bag and I put the desk in the corner of our family room for now.  I don't know where its permanent home will be, but for now it looks right at home between the old suitcases and the stump Ammon gave me from a tree he cut down in his yard.  

I like what I like.

I didn't recognize the ruler, but when I turned it over, it was indeed mine.

Here's a spelling book of my grandma's from sixth grade:

My grandma had much neater schoolgirl handwriting than I did.

I was fascinated by this math assignment because I guess the teacher wrote out the questions in longhand and used carbon paper to duplicate it.

(I was kind of horrified by the math assignment because it had mice teethmarks all over it.)

Altogether it makes me happy.  My grandma, my dad who fixes everything, my childhood desk, school work, a window into teachers in the past.  It all makes me happy.

I could do worse

I am maybe becoming my grandma.  When my sisters and I were younger (much younger), we'd go stay with her for a week in the summer.  One of the days we would go to a movie, which was always exciting for me.  We would pore over the newspaper, trying to decide which movie to see and when.  My grandma inevitably had seen everything.  She regularly went to "the show" as she called it, with her friend and cousin, Genevieve.  

I met Nola at Water Gardens yesterday for "the show" and I thought (hoped) maybe I was becoming my grandma.

We went to Elvis.  Emma asked me if it was good, if she should go see it.  I said yes, if you want to be depressed.

It showcased a tragic waste of a very talented life.

It wasn't about the movie as much as slipping into a cool dark theater on a hot summer afternoon.  We each had our small popcorn and small Diet Dr. Pepper which along with our ticket, set us back $5.  

I love Water Gardens.  They don't show any R rated movies; they aren't open on Sunday.  Also, more often than not, no one is there to take tickets after you purchase them at the counter.  

Sometimes I just remember how much I love living in Pleasant Grove.

Just another summer Monday

Yesterday I watched a mother quail and her babies in our yard.   They followed her around until they didn't, then she'd gather them up and they'd follow her again.  I felt mother quail vibes inside the house too.  Mark started his new job at WGU.  He is doing the training at home and every time I'd walk by the closed office door, I'd strain my ears to listen.  I don't know what I was listening for and I never heard anything anyway except soft murmuring voices.  It's weird to have your child start a new job, but at home.  It was different when Emma started working there, also at home.  Emma's been scarily independent since she was a toddler and I hardly ever worry about her.  

During Mark's lunch break, I was whining about all the un-fun errands I had to run.  He said, "Well, the only way through is through."

Fine.

So I did all my errands.  Oil change, post office, Costco.  

When you get your oil changed at Grease Monkey in Pleasant Grove, expect something fancy.

I swung by my school to pick up some things and I saw two of my favorites:  Emily and Jamie.  Emily and I chatted a minute and then I saw Jamie and we were so happy to see each other.  I said, "I need to talk to you!"  

She said, "I have time."

We talked about all the things and the seismic changes that are stressing me out. She both commiserated with and calmed me.  She is the type of person you always want on your team.

I ordered a new teacher planner last week and it was on the doorstep when I got home, having been delivered by your friend and mine, Amazon.  It felt like a reward for being a good girl and getting my oil changed.

Is there anything better than a new planner?  

Maybe air conditioning.  It's hot.

It wasn't quite hot enough for me to swim though.  We went to the Provo Rec. Center after Adam got home.  Adam and Mark swam and I read Gone with the Wind.  Man, that's a long book.  I'm about halfway done and the war just ended.  I wish I could say it's smooth sailing from here, but I know the story.

Weekend

Saturday morning, Adam and I helped clean the church.  We were there with the Palmers and Walkers and you could do a lot worse.  We got breakfast at McDonald's afterward, like you do.

Saturday Adam and I also spent a certain amount of time preparing for Sunday.  He was speaking in sacrament meeting and I was teaching Relief Society.  We also did our grocery shopping and one thing I love about this time of year are the fruits and vegetables to buy. For the past few weeks, strawberries have been $.98/pound!  Don't the strawberries know about the pandemic/supply chain/inflation?  I don't know.  

Don't tell them.

We discovered a new show on Netflix Man vs. Bee.  We have watched two episodes so far and it is very stressful.  Each episode is around 10 minutes long, which is honestly all I can take.

Adam's talk was very good and my lesson was survived.  

We were both relieved when it was over.  Then we had more meetings all afternoon.  

Emma ended up not coming to dinner because she had a head-ache so we ate vegetarian food without her.  (Mark was nonplussed.)  I loved our dinner though.  We made brown rice and had black beans and roasted sweet potatoes, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and red pepper.  Then we had fresh cucumber and grape tomatoes and pesto ranch dressing.  I put salted peanuts on mine for good measure.

I loved it!

Maybe this will become a recipe blog, but I doubt it.

We went to a park and played Mölkky, which is a Finnish game and Adam beat us in both games which I guess just goes to show his mission gave him an advantage.  

He is also the only one who can say Mölkky correctly.

We talked to Lady Eleanor (as Adam calls her) on the drive home.  (And also Braeden and Anna.)  Anna sent a video of her giggling and she has a fancy new crib so she is growing up before our eyes.

We ate strawberries and whipped cream on bread pudding when we got home (except Mark skipped the bread pudding, which he doesn't like anyway so that was convenient).

Anytime a weekend ends in strawberries and whipped cream, I will call it a success.

Grateful Friday

In no particular order, here's what I'm grateful for today:

• staying up a little later
• sleeping a little later
• being home on slow mornings, watering a plant there, reading something interesting there
• summer sunsets
• Adam's home
• my classroom--I've been going for a few hours here and there to work on projects.  It feels unsettling because summer school is happening in my classroom and another teacher's stuff is all over my desk and students I don't know have name tags on desks.  It is still my classroom though.  And I get excited for school to start, as much as I am enjoying summer.
• I am still basking in the happiness of last week.  I am so grateful that we got to go to the temple with Emma.  It was a glimpse of heaven.  And I keep looking at pictures.

How it went

Overall, Mark and I had a good time.  We had a pleasant drive in the morning, listening to music and talking.  We picked up our two cute workers, Ammon and Omar.  Ammon is serious and capable and reminds me of his dad.  Omar is chatty and fearless and reminds me of his mom.  I loved spending a little time with them.  Mark used the string trimmer and Ammon mowed and I attacked overgrown bushes and Omar was my charming assistant.  He gathered up the trimmings and took them to "Mt. Crumpit to dump it."

(I designated a spot behind the house as Mt. Crumpit.)

We saw three snakes and baby birds in a nest but zero mice so I was glad about that.

Very minimal progress has happened inside the house, but I guess we should be grateful we aren't waiting for a place to live.  

As I dug and clipped in the flower beds, I felt a little like Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden.  It was exciting to find things like hens and chicks underneath everything.  I texted Olivia a picture of a plant and asked her if it was a friend or foe.  She said probably a weed.  I asked Ammon's and Omar's opinions a few times and they'd tell me things like, "Our mom has a lot of that, I don't think it's a weed."  Olivia told me the plants on the side of the garage are goldenrod and will bloom in August.

I have a lot to learn.

But I like it.  I loved working in flowerbeds my grandma planted.  

Olivia had us for lunch.  My parents were there as well as Marianne and Mason (who is doing a little work for them this week).  It was a lovely time sitting in the shade on Olivia's front porch, chatting about our elementary teachers.  My parents didn't love one of my favorite teachers because we did a lot of art projects and not as much school work.  She was one of my favorite teachers because we did a lot of art projects.

I took my crew back to work.  After a few hours, Mark and Omar were both struggling with allergies (they're both allergic to grass so it wasn't a fabulous activity for them) so I decided to call it good for the day. 

We dropped off the boys and then stopped at my parents' in hopes my dad could sharpen the clippers that were sort of a mess.  I said, "Is that fixable?"

He said, "There's nothing I can't do."

I said, "I know.  That's why I am here."

He went to his shop with the clippers and I chatted with my mom and Mark fell asleep on the living room floor.  He had had enough benadryl to knock him out cold.

My dad took me on the front porch and we rocked on the swing and he said he was going to "overstep."  He didn't though.  He gave me advice and we had a good chat.

I'm so grateful for my good parents.  They are my anchors and fix a lot more in my life than just my clippers. 

Mark and I drove home and Mark was either asleep or grouchy most of the way home.  When we neared Salt Lake, he perked up a little--I think the benadryl wore off--and we listened to a few episodes of a podcast about Watergate.  We pushed on for a late dinner at Apollo burger in Lehi (they have gluten free buns).  I assessed that we looked pretty rough rolling into there.  Mark was a little sunburned (he didn't need me to put sunscreen on for him because he could do it--why are children always a little bit like toddlers?), we were both covered in dust, our eyes were sort of bloodshot from allergies, and I had cuts and scratches all over my hands and arms. 

We made it home finally and after showering, we were both none worse for the wear.  My only regret for the day is that I didn't take before and after pictures because I want something to show for it!