Twilight Zone Day

So Yippie I can Jump For Joy Because Hubby is HOME!!! He's HOME!  Yes my Knight in Shining Armor is back from his support trip and my single parenting days are at an end.  All I can hear from the girls bed room is a male voice "pick it up, put it away, a tornado hit this room" type comments and noises of shutting drawers and crumpled papers going in the trash can. It was partially clean this afternoon. Glad I'm in here and not out there. You know how they name hurricanes I think this tornado can  be named as well :-) I know exactly who messed up that room.  Little Miss had a play date today with J.

You see I let Little Miss go back in time to the 1970's today. You know the good old days where children can ride their bikes over to a friends house on the spur of the moment, knock on the door and asked that age old question... "Can you come out and play?"  I wonder when did this simple question transform into emails and phone calls from mom to mom. When did we start planning play dates for our children like they are orthodontist appointments that need to be scheduled 1 month in advance?  Really?  J. rode her bike back here and they had a great time pretending to be a tornado and scattering toys, doll clothing and Legos to the 4 winds.  I could hear them having so much fun and giggling and acting NORMAL... Wow Little M acting normal!!! (do do do dooo twilight zone music is playing in the back ground).


The whole "play date" thing was started because Little Miss Sunshine was over at a friends and Little M was lonely.  Playing Laura Ingalls by yourself at the store is pretty boring. Ok Ok I did let her talk to me because she is not the one who pulls or tugs on me.  If she wants something she may ask, but she takes No for an answer (in the store at least).  I just realized this today. Little M takes disappointment so much better than Little Miss Sunshine. The tears, the emotional blackmail was not present. Oh the drama of not getting what I ask for Oh oh I'm dying here... I know she feels things so deeply maybe too deeply. When told "No." Little M. may say "But I want it!, Or  "Pullllleeese" in a joking tone Or best of all "O.K." in a already reconciled to it tone.  A hey I tried, got a no, Didn't think I would get it, but it never hurts to ask additude.

School today was topsy turvy! I'm flabbergasted could the kids sleeping in the same bed while Daddy was gone caused them to rub off on each other??? Little Miss Sunshine could not do Math, Could not do her research project, horribly mixed up narration, but did great on dictation (spelling).  Little M. Did a fine narration, breezed though her math, got all her school work done and did her chores without being reminded.  (do do do dooo twilight zone music is playing in the back ground again).   


Sometimes I tell my friend C. I wish I could mix up and stir my children to give them equal parts of what they both have too much of and to level out those areas of difficultly they each have.  How odd today it looks like something in that direction was achieved. It was not at all as I envisioned it!

Icing on the cake was I had a whole 20 minutes to myself!!! alone!!! in the house. It was pure bliss!!! 

Seen But Not Heard

School went well for Little Miss Sunshine and horribly for DD1. Same old story one good day for DD1 means she has to have a few bad days after wards to make up for it.  She is still working on her school work.

Little Miss Sunshine did the cartouche  project... Very fun even I joined in and made a tiny one.  We even looked up a Egyptian alphabet and Little Miss Sunshine wrote everyones names in hieroglyphics.  She decided it was hard work to be a scribe.  When her project is finished I'll post it some where :-).  We started 2 part word problems in math today.  Guess who figured it out in one sitting... Sigh.. I should be happy right I got one that gets math and one that we need to do everything rote rote rote who just after 4 years of trying... just figured out her first 2 part word problem on her own  like 2 weeks ago.  I should not compare but Oh some days I wish they were both neurotypical.

Well today is Wednesday which means Sprouts double flyer day woo hoo.  But the store is usually packed with shoppers and I'm deluged with questions, and requests for special treats.  Now we've been doing the Dave Ramsey thing for a while. So my response to the treat requests is always "Did you bring your own money?"  Answer is always no. I keep saying "If I don't have a coupon for it and its not on the list I'm not buying it."   Considering our cars can only be described as Missionary Mobiles, still running by faith.  Even tho we got debt free (but the house) this spring. were still in austerity mode b/c those cars will not last for ever.  Oh I'm digressing again...

Back on track:  My kids have made up this game called Laura Ingalls.  They wander around the house doing things like: hand washing their sheets, hand washing the dishes, at dinner some times they decided to be seen but not heard, speak only when spoken to.  Its hysterical!  I mean if I had put this game together I would be the BBMM  (Big Bad Mean Mommy).  When my DD's (wearing a bonnet, an apron and 3 skirts... you need petticoats you know) asked if they could go to the grocery story dressed up as Laura and Mary... I had a brain storm! I said "Of course but you have to keep playing the whole time I am in the store... and you will be seen but not heard." Muhahahahahah!!!!!    I even said "Get in the wagon girls" when it was time to go.


I have to say I want this to be the NORM! I did my shopping in 45 minutes.. yes ladies I stuck to my list! I came home with left over money! I was able to do math in my head and calculate the best deal.  My silent children trailed behind me. Strangers told them how adorably cute they looked. The check out lady was astonished at how well behaved they were.   I shared the game they were playing with her and she said I wish I had thought that up when I had my girls. I had to confess it was not my game but theirs.  She just started to giggle.   Then I told her I walked into the store 40 minutes before. She looked at my pile of groceries on the counter and at me. *astonished* "That is amazing." she said.

It is amazing! Who knew I spent 45 minutes answering questions and being distracted. I think we will continue to play Laura Ingalls when ever we go shopping.. silence oh the blessed silence.

God is so good too because I normally wouldn't shop till 4:00 pm but today I really felt the need to do it earlier in the day.  Now that it is done when my work out partner called to put back our work out time I can do it instead of saying "No, I can't wait that long." Instead I got my blog written :-) We might even be able to go to the library later on! whooo hoooo!

Everything I needed to know about Psychology, I could have learned from Little House on the Prairie.

I’ve been reading articles written by Laura Ingalls Widler in the years before she was the famous author of the Little House books.   I’m beginning to feel like Anne of the “Green Gables” in that here is a woman who thinks like I think, feels like I feel, and hopes like I hope.  In a phrase “A kindred spirit.”    Who knew I could feel so connected to someone writing in the early 1900’s.  She is forthright, not afraid to be a woman and not afraid of man’s heavy labor if called upon to do it.  She appears to be a bit of a feminist but not so far gone as to be annoying.   

I love how she sees the good in people.  Also like her,  I do not like being beholden to someone.  When she talks about how strangers came to a barn raising (Rocky Ridge Farm) she did not know how she was to pay them back. She inevitably accepted the help but in her heart she was dismayed at having to!  I so get that.  But in a similar turn of her heart she realizes this is just how it is in this community and she accepts and eventually embraces the way this community functions.

One article was devoted to understanding.  Long before I ever went to college and learned about Jung and paradigm shifts... Laura Ingalls had it all worked out.   In this article she expounds our need as humans to seek understanding. How when we do not understand what is going on. We can fall into gossip about our neighbor.  To us they look as if they are doing nothing! Or to us they look like they are being too hard on the child. When in reality, what our understanding is,  is nothing near the truth of the matter.  

She uses an example and shows outside looking in and inside looking out.  The motivation and reasons behind the actions were innocent and pure. Yet from the outside it looked harsh and unreasonable. Then she talks about how once we understood the reasoning behind the action we no longer though as we once did.  What I learned in college as the Paradigm Shift. 

I love how she reminds us to mind our own beeswax, and think the best in people, not assume the worst, and above all to not gossip.