Way, way, WAY too much.

1. Today for lunch my kids had chicken nuggets. I had them too.

2. Tonight for dinner we are having homemade pizza made from all the ingredients I have leftover from my meal at the Christmas cabin. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are making pizza for 22 people and you are wondering how much pizza sauce you will need let me assure that two six pound cans in way too much. Way, way, WAY too much.

3. Speaking of Christmas I am usually a very strict adherer to the no Christmas music, decorations, etc. before Thanksgiving rule. I just like to keep Christmas Christmas to keep it feeling as special as it is. This year I cheated, though. I started a week early. I had swine flu about a week and a half before Thanksgiving and it was a pretty gloomy place around here. I decided to brighten it up by busting out the Christmas music early. I feel like it really got us through. Still the day Christmas was over I was over it. Couldn't bear to hear another fa la la. That has never happened to me in my life. So I think I will stick to the not before Thanksgiving rule from now on. No regrets about this year though. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

4. Speaking of swine flu. It wasn't so bad. The fear of it before it hit was worse than the actual sickness. Two out of four of us got it. Those two were the two in the high risk categories. Me'n Ponder. (A child under two and a pregnant lady.) I mean I definitely don't want it again and it was sad seeing my baby so sick but in comparison to what so many people suffer we were lucky. I am trying to find a balance between not taking my children's health for granted and realizing what a gift it is (I know there are parents all over the world with truly sick children who would love to trade places with me on my children's sickest days.) and not fretting over it in a fruitless and faithless way....worrying. I think the happy medium between complaisance and worry is gratitude and I think that is where we are meant to live as Christians. May God give us the grace to do so.

and hear the angels sing!

And ye, beneath life's crushing load

Whose forms are bending low,


Who toil along the climbing way


With painful steps and slow,


Look, now! for glad and golden hours


Come swiftly on the wing


O rest beside the weary load


and hear the angels sing!



IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR
Edmund H. Sears

Afton's Dictionary

Afton is getting more and more words everyday. When she says things wrong it is way to adorable to correct her so I never do. I want her to keep talking like this forever! I know someday soon she will speak plain English and I will miss trying to decipher Aftonese! So I will never forget her delightful little language here is a small sampling of some of my favorites:

A - coloring, drawing, or writing; crayons
ahh ahh - music
amen - (uh MEN) amen; the church building; the end of a song
baby - anyone Afton's age or younger, baby dolls, stuffed animals
bey - obey (usually said as she is getting caught disobeying)
bite - (bi -eet) all food
blanks - her special blanket
bondt - bonked or got hurt in anyway
call - phone
cat - cats or rabbits
come - take me with you
cup - (cu-pah) all cups and drinks and anything resembling a cup
dog - (dohg) all animals besides ducks, cats, and rabbits
dut - ducks
eres - where is (as in eres daddy? eres Scout?)
eyes - eyes, glasses, sunglasses
go - the stroller
happy day you - happy birthday to you
keese - kiss 0r keys
moosh - spoon
nates - naked
natz - snack
nigh nigh - bedtime; bed; sleeping; i'm tired; all blankets except blanks
pay - pray or play
pooze - pillows
potty!! - anything having to do with potty, always said with lots of enthusiasm
telp - (also pronounced yelp) help
toss - apple sauce
un - I want (as in un bite! un cup!
watie - bath; water; rain; swimming pool
wotz - I want to watch a cartoon
wotnews - cartoons
yehrios - cheerios
yotes - yogurt
yous? - shoes
yous! - juice

"Mates" is a word she has been saying for the past several days and I still haven't figured out what it means. Anyone have a guess?

My Apple Pie Baking Playlist

When I baked my first apple pie last week my husband said, "That's not usually your style to bake a pie from scratch in the middle of the afternoon. Mmm. But maybe it should be." I wouldn't mind afternoon pie baking to become "my style" and so with the baking of my second ever apple pie a few days later I created this play list. Anything I am going to do repeatedly has to have its own playlist, right? For me it created the perfect apple pie baking atmosphere.

Another Day In Paradise ~ Phil Collins
Just Like A Woman ~ Bob Dylan
Born Country ~ Alabama
Coal Miner's Daughter ~ Loretta Lynn
Kiss An Angel Good Morning ~ Charley Pride
Elevator Love Letter ~ Stars
Once You've Loved Somebody ~ Dixie Chicks
Today My World Slipped Away ~ George Strait
Let's Embrace ~ Joseph Arthur
Mountain Music ~ Alabama
New Soul ~ Yael Naim
If You Ask Me To ~ Celine Dion
Forever Young ~ Rod Stewart
That's The Way Love Goes ~ Merle Haggard
The Good Stuff ~ Kenny Chesney
Time After Time ~ Cyndi Lauper
Too Busy Being In Love ~ Doug Stone
Tubthumping ~ Chumbawamba
Something Happened On The Way To Heave ~ Phil Collins

Happy Fall!

Whistle While You Work

We are on our third day in a row of intense separation anxiety around here. It is the kind where even the simple act of carrying my coffee cup from the living room to the kitchen sink is met with huge tears and terrified, heartbroken wails of protest. Excusing myself to use the bathroom is, of course, much, much worse. It is also a variety of separation that is not particularly particular. It doesn't seem that separation from me personally is what causes distress (that would be kind of flattering and precious) but separation from people in general. If anyone else is here I am completely dispensable, but when it is just me and Afton here my presence seems to rank in necessity right up there with oxygen. What makes this kind of separation anxiety (aloneness anxiety I think describes it better)so trying for me is that it lasts for most of the day, because for most of the day it is just us around here, and it vanishes as soon as Daddy gets home. He never really gets to see it and so of necessity it is a burden I carry alone.

But this post is not really about that. Another post will be soon. I have a theory that separation anxiety is much like puppy love, and will perhaps elaborate on that when I have more time. This post is to be about music, so let me get to that. This morning my frazzled nerves and I visited a sweet blog that asked its reader's what they were thankful for today. The most honest answer I could come up with at the time was easily summed up in two words. Nap Time. I have tons and tons and tons upon tons of things to be thankful for but today, at least at that moment, nap time was topping the list. I wished I had an answer that would be more profound and heartwarming, but if I was being honest that was what I had to say.

Later on, at the commencement of blessed nap time number two, I looked around at the state of my house, which has become an innocent victim of our aloneness anxiety crisis, and felt I had so very much to do before tomorrow, when all I wanted to do was sit down and soak up some silence. I knew that wasn't the best option, that I would feel much better if I reclaimed my living room from its occupiers (toys, pajamas, old magazines, and yes, more than a couple dirty diapers). Before I tackled this I turned on my iPod, something I usually do while cleaning but have neglected in the past few days of survival mode. As soon as I did that everything changed. Birds started chirping, the sunshine poured through my windows, a tangible peace settled upon my living room. I was going to make it and cleaning was going to be fun!

I am so amazed by and so thankful for the transforming power of music! It does many things, but what I am most thankful for today is its power to make mundane tasks more pleasant. Its power to get you through what you've got to do. God didn't have to bless us with it, but I am so glad he did. So to nap time, I add music as the things I am most aware of being thankful for today.