I have no motivation to write or type today but I do have some cute pictures.
We decided to take out the window in our downstairs bedroom and put in French Doors. It's going to be a pool/mud room. We're planning on putting down tile so this will be the access to and from the pool.
This is "our" Coopers Hawk. I say ours because he is always on the light post outside our house or on the back fence or roof. He's quite a handsome fellow. I know, I know he's scoping out the bird feeders. He also likes mouse though and that's a good thing.
This is my San Onofre Nuclear Plant affected tomato plant. This is it's second growth. I cut it way back after it's first harvest of literally hundreds of tomatoes over the summer. It's not that impressive unless you take into consideration that the fence panel directly behind it is 6' x 8'
wide.
One days harvest!
Here is my second try at Kendra's hair. She had 54 Soft Spikes in her hair the first time. This time I got 71 spikes in. A wig is looking better and better.
Poor thing she got the Condon/McCafferty billboard forehead. Their pediatrician says it was used for breaking through ice thousands of years ago. And this is why I wear bangs.
We went to the Harvest Festival at the Del Mar Fairgrounds yesterday just to get out. It was so crowded. And there was way too much fragile stuff for 6 little hands. I think I said, "Don't touch" about a gazillion times. Cool stuff but without the six-armed Octopus it would have been easier. Then again it would have been more expensive too if I could have concentrated.
Kyle lost one tooth a long time ago and it's already grown in. He's not happy about all the baby teeth. Kendra only has one space. Kieran on the other hand is going to be eating gruel soon. The silver in his mouth is not a filling. It's a space maintainer where he had a tooth pulled. It makes hole number four.
This is a great story. We are all Charlotte.
"I'm invisible. It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?" Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going... she's gone!One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a banana clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it.I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become."At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table." That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're going to love it there."As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.Live Simply.Love Generously.Care Deeply.Speak Kindly.Leave the rest to God.
Kendra was away for the weekend. She got to spend time in Big Bear in my sister's cabin. Auntie is tired. She did crafts and manicures/pedicures, baked cookies, collected pine cones, walked the dogs, went shopping, roasted marshmallows and raked leaves.
So we had twin boys this weekend. It was kind of fun although there was a lot of scratching, burping and orifice emissions. We went into Fallbrook today to look at the fire damage. Is one still considered a lookie-loo if the outing is headed by a firefighter? We started by checking out Live Oak Park and found it untouched by the fire. All of the barbecues were covered though so they couldn't be used. We drove past the Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park. That was devastated. It looked like the streets of Baghdad. Kieran has had a little cold and cough. He's been doing a lot of snuffling and swallowing. It gave him an upset stomach so he tossed his cookies on the way home. It could have been disastrous since Kendra gets carsick and took the official barf bucket with her for the ride up to Big Bear. The Mommy instinct grabbed a bucket right before we got in the truck this morning, "just in case". He was fine after that and we ended the day with a Rite-Aid ice cream. Chocolate Malted Crunch-Mmmm.
Daddy got to come home at 4:00 pm on Halloween. Then he went back to work the next morning for 48 more hours. He'll be home tomorrow. We've been promised 8 days of no going to work. I barely have the motivation to breath. When that comes back I'll post Halloween pictures.
Tomorrow morning is a big day for Kieran. He will start taking Concerta. It's an ADHD med. He's finally been diagnosed with ADHD. I've know he's had it for at least 3 or 4 years. His teachers have always said, "No he doesn't have it". The reason is because he doesn't have the inattentive type that affects school. He has the hyperactive-impulsive type. Kieran is excited about starting the medication because he knows he can't calm himself without help anymore. Concerta is quick acting so hopefully we'll see results right away.
Edit 11/03/07
Halloween Ghoulies
Yes, it's Day 10 of no Daddy. Paul was on the list to start demobilizing to come home. And then "something happened" and they are now on their way to Corona to protect homes there from fire. He has no idea when this will end. I also heard the weather dude say that there is a chance for slight Santa Ana conditions to come back. I think I'm going to lose my mind.
Trick or Treating at the Animal Park
We went to the Wild Animal Park yesterday. They were re-opened and doing things for Halloween. The kids did a scavenger hunt all over the park and then got a handful of candy for their prize. They also made bats and ghosts in the new Discover Station area. The park was very empty. That was great. We wandered around slowly and lunch there. We watched the elephant show. Sunita didn't want to do the show the trainer was asking her to do. She made up her own. She walked along the balance beam and got up on the big tree stump all on her own. The trainers didn't know why she was doing this but it was fun to watch how her mind was working. We saw the Cheetah sisters being fed and then relaxing.
I like the new tram better. It's not as long but it's much closer to the animals. We got to see the devastation from the fire too. They literally stopped at the fence lines. The Animal Park has an amazing fire prevention system.
It looks like a cool fogged in "June Gloom" morning but it's all smoke. This is horrible and so scary. My friends are scattered to the wind (that would be the Santa Anas), I don't know where my husband is, my neighborhood is lined with evacuees. San Diego has 250,000 people evacuated, lost 750 homes so far and 145,000 acres. I think we still have only 1 fatality. We are waiting and wondering if the Rice fire will make it into the San Luis River bed and down into Oceanside. No doubt the Marines will try to stop it at Pendleton-Hurah! We haven't heard much about it because the Rancho Santa Fe area is so bad right now. Smoke woke me at about 2:00 am. I watched the news for awhile then and there is now a fire burning in Temecula.
The weather man is saying the wind is calm right now. Pray that it stays that way so they can get the tankers in the air.
