Choices

Last week the kids spent hours playing with a set of nesting balls. Five sizes, ten halves with a rattly ball in the middle. The little guy watched, patiently, amused, as the elementary and middle school age kids were entertained by his baby toy.

They lined them up on the table, hiding the rattle ball under one half. "Guess which one the ball is under." Random guesses, sometimes getting it on the first try, sometimes on the very last option. The correct guesser hides it next. Close your eyes while the ball is hidden, then open them and make a guess.

Life can be like that.

Close your eyes, then make your best guess.

Should I take this job?
Should we move to this house?
Should we buy/rent/sell/stay?
What will happen if we go/don't go?
How can I know I am doing the right thing?
When will be a good time to take that step?

I did not take photos of their game, but we played Life also, with similar lessons in choice

As the kids played, they added levels of difficulty, hiding multiple alphabet blocks under some. The one with the most wins. Then, they added another little ball. The balls were subtracted from the number of blocks.

Choices.
Unknowns.
Subtractions.
Fear holds you back. What if? What if I don't?

Choices get more complex as you get older.
What do you want for lunch, macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jam, become career choices or how will we survive?

The best we can do is ask, pray, make the wisest choice we understand. Move forward. We'll never know what could have been. We do know where we are today.

Close your eyes. Make your choice, as best as you know. Life.

Two Cool Summer Fun Ideas

Need some fresh ideas for summer fun? Put together some creative people and ideas are bound to flow. One asks, instead of a water fight, how about a paint fight? The idea grows. I listen, wondering just how far these ideas will take flight.

A trip to the store for washable paints, squirt guns, face paint (for drama), cheap shorts and flip-flops. Dad's old t-shirts, destined for the rag bag will work as wearable paint targets.

They dilute the paint with water in soda bottles rescued from the recycling bin - next time, they will use more paint. Without funnels the squirt guns are tricky to fill, but they figure it out. (Need to put funnels on the list for such occasions). Cardboard pieces are set up as shelters, in theory anyway.

Ready. Set. Go!

Eventually, they escalate to bigger guns, the type that attach a small soda bottle to the high powered squirt gun. They aren't wet enough. Yet.

An afternoon made for memories.

The battle aftermath.

Another idea: the game, Qwirkle

Have you played this game? Good for a variety of ages and abilities - the brilliant and the not so brilliant. I have not managed to win - yet. What category does that put me in? Oh well, the game is fun without a victory.  Lots of color and a different look to each game as the blocks are combined in sets of color or shapes. A great game to build creative thinking skills. And have fun.
Amazon has Qwirkle, sometimes Target (not affiliate link, just FYI).

We Had a Blast Last Week

One daughter flew in from another state. Two daughters came to stay for days. When you live in an all guy household, some girl time is delightful. Don't get me wrong - I appreciate and enjoy all the guys, but the conversation topics are, well, different. I won't tell you how many times J rolled his eyes at our goofy conversations (because I lost count, or actually, didn't bother to count).

What do we do? Besides enjoy the rare minutes together...

We wander around the Scout Camp where one son works for the summer, appreciate the mountain air and scenery, inhale the resin smells of the pine trees, drink in the quiet.

We explore a hand-built castle, complete with a smoke breathing dragon when the huge fireplace is lit. They climb higher than I do, but are only half way up when they decide it is high enough for them.

We follow the path along the river, lush with cottonwoods and undergrowth, the desert moonscape like another planet just a few feet away. The desert becomes a close reality when one gal says, "Doesn't that stick over there look like a snake?" Another gal says, "Oh wait, it is a snake!" The snake poses for us, attempts to look inanimate, his head held high mid-air. We chase it away (I stand the farthest away) and find out later the Red Racer is known to have an aggressive attitude. Glad this guy decides we aren't worth the trouble.

We celebrate a birthday on the Fourth, with fireworks bursting over the roof of the house across the street, the city display a few blocks from our house. We have a burn ban after all the recent wildfires, and are grateful they can still do the fireworks - it is a birthday tradition for our July Fourth birthday girl.

We take hundreds of photos. No exaggeration. Of each other, of flowers, of trees, of clouds, of antics, of water, of the guys when they will cooperate, of whatever. Fun to watch what catches each other's eye, what captivates attention, what photo ops we create or notice. Lots of creativity at work, each an artist in her own way.

We play games, put puzzles together, attempt to cook healthy food (balanced with yummy desserts), watch old movies and a new one, relax and talk. Did I mention we eat?

Time with these adults, these children that once filled our house, makes me feel rich and full. Content. Grateful for who they are. Our unique history, our story as a family, written in the good times and the bad, built on memories and time, like this week, together.

thanks to G and H for great photos!

Ten Things I Learned in June

This post, linked with Chatting at the Sky, is sparked by an idea from Emily Freeman. She started it on her blog, a way to zero in on the random thoughts and lessons and challenges and growth from this month.



1. When a baby bunny is surprised or afraid, it hunkers down, motionless, lays its ears flat on its back and looks just like a pudgy rock. "You don't see me!" I was out front watering and it stayed perfectly quiet until I got too close - then it bounded off like a rock[et]. Fascinating to see how animals are equipped for survival.

2. On a home garden tour, I saw many of the same plants grown in each yard. Each yard, though, had a completely unique feel, attitude, look, character. You and I may plant the same plants, but each of us will create our own unique expression with it. This was a wonderful lesson in creative individuality. It is not the tools that make it unique, it is what we make with them.

3. Japanese Beetles are a destructive nuisance in my garden. Garlic juice (home brewed) helps, but I ended up pulling out the affected plants.

4. I can keep my desk cleared off - well, almost. The sticky note function on my computer is a great tool - keeps the papers from floating around my desk. Oh, and if my desk is cleared off, I have to dust it! Never had to do that before...Thanks to The Nester's challenge, I can keep an uncluttered desk.

5. "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."                            -Carl Bard
This quote, and a post by Allison Vesterfelt on the Storyline blog, really got me thinking. She says, "The smallest decisions I make during my day say a lot about me...I love the fact that the word for 'character' in a book, and the word we use in English to mean 'the essence of who we are,' is the same...Our character [is] the compilation of small actions and experiences over time...And of course we can't control all of our experiences, but the closer attention we pay to our 'character,' the more power we have to carve it into something we can be proud of in the end." My smallest actions, my choices, my attitudes, all tell the story that is my life. Life is not necessarily determined by heroics, but by the day in, day out small stuff.

6. I love having a dog in the house. Really missed her when she was gone for a week with her boy. (Missed her boy, too).

7. Letting go does not get any easier with the younger kids. You'd think I'd be used to it, would know how to do it by now. Nope. It still takes a calm effort to trust and quietly, confidently release them. To allow them to wing it on their own, trusting that their roots will not tether them, but give them security and self-confidence to fly on their own.

8. Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies are not a big hit. It's like I committed a horrible crime, mixing vegetables and chocolate. What was I thinking!

9. Pomodoros really do work when I am stalled or disoriented. Just 25 minutes. Just this. Now.
www.pomodorotechnique.com. A lesson I seem to need to re-learn repeatedly. I forget. Then learn it again.

10. I do not like novels with gut splattered relationships. I like happy endings, not novels that leave me depressed, discouraged. I want to be encouraged, to read of characters who make mistakes and mess up, but who learn and grow and develop hope and love. This is how I want to write. I also do not like bad language in books. Writers should use real words that mean real things. Do we really have to have bowel movements or male puppies of female canines mixed in character's conversations? I don't think so.

Seedlings and Hope

Traveling Light, for me, is about carrying today with an open hand.

Planting seeds for tomorrow, yes, part of today's work.

Look forward to tomorrow.

Live today. With a light footstep, walking lightly.

Which means I have to speak gently with the son who pushed all my buttons this morning and our words got all tangled and messy.

Which means I want to take today slowly, one limping, faltering step at a time.

Which means I plant seeds and water and keep the florescent light close over them, even if the chill of snow is predicted to fall tonight.

And I attempt to step quietly through the day, my hand open to today's work and tomorrow's hope.

Seedlings in the basement

Want to Hunt for Treasure?

Drive to the end of Purcel. As you pull in, park on the right side of the parking lot.

 From the last big boulder on the right, step off thirty paces toward the north across the field. Under a juniper tree, you will find a SPOR. Look under the SPOR. I asked, "What is a SPOR?" Sounded risky to me. Our daughter-in-law googled it - a Suspicious Pile Of Rocks.

One of the girls stepped on a cactus and she had to sit down and pull off her shoe to pull out the spine. Somehow I managed to get cactus prickles in the elbow of my jacket and had to pull those out (there were still some in my sleeve several days later). The first direction we headed was off, so the kids spread out down the canyon to explore. We had to call them back. It couldn't be that far. We re-traced to the parking lot and tried again.

the SPOR

What are we doing? Letterboxing. Have you heard of it? It is a form of friendly treasure hunt, begun in England in 1854, now with boxes in the United States and around the world. On the website, www.letterboxing.org/, you put in the location near your home or anywhere as you travel to find nearby locations. Another website is www.atlasquest.com/. Directions are given to find the letterbox. The letterbox is usually a plastic container to withstand the weather, which holds a log book, a stamp and a stamp pad. You take along your personal log book, stamp and pad (a marker also works to ink the stamp). Their stamp is stamped into your log book along with the date, location and any comments. Your stamp is stamped into their log book, with a comment if you want. Then, you seal it all back up and discreetly re-hide it for the next letterboxer. Some searchers hand make their stamps, coming up with a code name. Others find a stamp that reflects something of their personality or interests.

Over spring break, when our son and daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were visiting from out of state, we searched for several letterboxes in our area. Before, when they lived in Houston, they searched many letterboxes and discovered interesting, pretty places and parks that they returned to other times for family outings.

This letterbox was a similar discovery, a place we didn't know existed, a beautiful spot overlooking the reservoir. On the other side of the parking lot is a 9-11 memorial. We walked out to the point to take photos of the sunset and appreciate the scenery. Another trail drops off the backside of the hill. We will have to go back again to see where that leads.

Another website is kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/stories/peopleplaces/letterboxing/

A different version of letterboxing is geocaching. For that, you need a GPS or a smart phone. The actual coordinates are given, look up www.geocaching.com

No actual treasure is found, at least by the common meaning of "treasure." The treasure is the fun of the search, in the time together, in memories made, and in the discovery of new places. Do you have any in your area?

Tootsie Rolls

I had a longer post planned for today, but it will have to wait. While I was out front weeding and picking up trash from the high winds we had in the recent storm, I found this tootsie roll wrapper. It reminded me of one of our classic family stories.

At that time, we did our grocery shopping in three week marathons. We went to three different stores: a regular grocery store, Trader Joe's (at that time, they were just a local store - now you probably all know what they are), and a bulk type store. At the bulk store, one of the boys, with his own money (because I would never buy it for him) bought a huge package of tootsie rolls. Huge, maybe two pounds of them. Ugh.

When we got home, we relayed all the grocery bags to the table and the kitchen floor. For the next half hour or so I worked to find places for all the too big bags and multiples of everything. The kids had scattered.

From the boys' bedroom, I hear, "Mom, I have a stomach ache." I walked back to the bedroom. On the top bunk, he sat next to a pile - no, a foot high mountain, of empty tootsie roll wrappers. I was speechless. All the wrappers were scrunched and empty. There was no way he could have eaten all of those. It had only been a few minutes. But he held his stomach and groaned.

I don't remember exactly what happened next. Whether I said anything, or just stood there dazed, I'm not sure. Laughter came from the other room, and they all came in. He grinned and showed me a zip-lock bag of all the unwrapped tootsie rolls. While I was busy in the kitchen, they had all quietly worked together to unwrap them and make the paper mountain. They thought it was hysterical. Yes, it was funny. In hindsight. And I didn't have to make him throw it all up. Which might have served him right. Instead, we all laughed, enjoyed the joke on mom, and shared a few tootsie rolls.

He has a son of his own, now. And I just chuckle.