When I grow up...

I keep thinking of all of the things I want to do when I grow up. I am not sure at what point I will consider myself a grown up but here are a few of my ponderings on the subject....

When I grow up I will...

• wake up effortlessly every morning without the repetitive shrilling of my alarm clock because I arise before the sun with out hitting snooze so I can start my day right.
• want to look for opportunities to do the laundry and dust to keep out little hovel clean.
  
• find the motivation and self-discipline to go work out everyday.
• stop falling down or dropping things more often than my three year old.
• stop dreaming about afternoon nap time, even at my office... I can fit under my desk.
• rather drink a glass of water than a Coke product.
  
• stop secretly wishing I was eating what my toddler is eating off of the kids meal at most dinning out experiences.

Maybe one day...
tomorrow, I think...
but there seems to be a great deal of work to be done in growing up....

Swimming lessons in a land locked state....

There is something ironic in the fact that we waited to for my little one to take swim lessons until we lived in a place with no water... well, there is water but it seems to be limited to concrete pools.

It saddens me that my own flesh and blood does not love the ocean like her Mama. She thinks the waves are TOO BIG, and from the perspective of a three year old I can see her point. But having just gotten back from the white sands of the Gulf, I am reaffirmed in my belief that those rhythmic waves are important to my peace of mind. Unfortunately, since my handsome redheaded husband shares our girl's disdain for the ocean I don't see many family vacations to the coast in my future.

So tonight I will head out to our first swimming lesson with our girl knowing that I am only preparing her for fun days at the pool or maybe a small lake that is reasonable in size. Perhaps when she grows up and digs her own toes into the sand she will love the beach like her Mama. At least she will be tall enough to hold her own in the waves.

A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter...

Background: Kevin and I have given up TV for lent. We have done it before and we really enjoy the kind of time no TV creates for us.

Issue: No TV equals no news.... and I am really ok with this fact. I stay in the loop online, which is what I prefer to do anyway. However, last night our internet was not working and we missed the "Great Storm" forecast. So when I awoke this morning to snow flurries I felt the need to hurry, to rush somewhere. But where?

Realization: Why is it those of born and raised in the South have a compulsion-- a need to scurry to the grocery store for winter storms? How bad does it really get that we need to 'stock up' 'just in case'? Remember the great storm of ... '82?
I can hear Glen Burns in my head.... Action 2 weather.... stay tuned!

I must say I was shocked the first time I rushed to Kroger to stock up during our first Kentucky snow...there were parking places, milk was on the shelves, and there was no line in the beer isle. Different.

But I am not a local, so off to Kroger I will go.... 6-8 inches of snow...
what do we need?

A loaf of bread....
A container of milk...
and a stick of butter.....

or something like that.

It is too cold to wear pajamas to school... or is it?

Today it is cold.

Very cold.

I have said, " This is the coldest I have ever been" at least twice today and I think five times in one day is my record. That day involved ice.

So it is cold. I feel like I really have to establish this fact.

I am ready for spring. I am formally protesting the late arrival of spring in Kentucky by already switching to spring footwear. This small but important willful act has indeed increased my feeling of walking around on blocks of ice. Yet, sock-less and frozen my claustrophobic feet are proclaiming it is time for sunshine and warm weather and I feel good about the claim.

Maybe, just maybe, it will flip-flop weather by the weekend... at least in the house.

Today is pajama day!
Did you know this? Or as Cavender says, "How do you know this mama?" Cavender's school calendar has it clearly labeled on March 5th, Pajama Day. I have been attending or teaching in schools for most of my life and I do not recall an official pajama day until today. What was I missing?
Perhaps all those things that a pre-schooler does in a day at school will be better-- a little more pleasurable because it is pajama day.
I know nap time should be better.

The Seed

Is it a seed of thought that grounds us, roots us to those around us?
Or is growth the sequence of actions that are produced from something urging to be born from within us?

I wanted a tomato sandwich-- the seed of thought was planted. But will it fall on untended soil like so many of my thoughts. Will it bear fruit?

So I have been planning a garden this spring.
I have decided on tomatoes.

The work of gardening will have to be done... or I will have to fill myself on the empty thoughts of good intentions.

I know the smell of those sticky vines will make me sick for home. But the joy of tomato sandwiches- the delightful combination of the freshest of white bread, mayonnaise, tomatoes, salt and pepper- packed onto the roof of my mouth will make it worth the sadness that smelly vine will produce.

Tomatoes.... grow little seeds.