No Average Mom

My mother rarely takes my children anywhere. For whatever reason she isn’t interested in spending a great deal of one on one time with them. I think she is someone who just has never really been comfortable around children. I never realized this until I had children of my own. Today, my mother took my oldest son out with her for a couple of hours. They went to various garage sales and to pick blueberries. When my son came home he brought along a treasure trove of goodies from the various garage sales. I asked my Mom how the day went and she said that my son is too smart for his own good. She could not believe the big words he knew and was able to pronounce such as “spirometer” and “hyperbole”. She said that he read a book most of the time that they were out and would occasionally tell her about aspects of the book that really interested him. She seemed let down that he didn’t take more interest in the scenery as they drove but I assured her that it isn’t in his nature to do so. My child like to keep his brain challenged and looking at rolling fields just doesn’t do that for him.

For the last month I have been working to put away as much food as possible for the winter and spring. We have a couple of gardens from which we are getting the majority of our produce. In addition I am trying to buy as much as I can from the local farmer’s market and area places that offer pick your own produce. I took stock of my stash of food today and couldn’t believe my eyes! I have over 120 pints of green beans and numerous jars of other goodies too numerous to mention. I did realize that I don’t have nearly enough space in my freezers nor on my shelves for what I intend to put away in the coming weeks. It has been work to put all this food away but it has been entirely rewarding and fun at the same time. I cannot imagine at this point going back to buying flavorless foods from the grocery store again!

In my efforts to preserve food I have been experimenting with various methods of drying herbs, fruits, and vegetables. I have tried doing this in the oven and also in a dehydrator. Yesterday, I stumbled upon what may be the best method yet! I took a wire basket of fresh oregano and laid it on our car dashboard with the windows rolled up. By the end of the day I had perfectly dried oregano. My husband thinks that if I could just figure out a new idea for a product along the lines herbal phentermine or a good tea mix I would be in business! Growing herbs and vegetables is pretty straight forward and now so is preserving them. For the time being I am happy to at last have solved my drying dilemma in a cheap and simple way. I hate spending money on things like dehydrators that don’t work or take days to accomplish what the sun does in a matter of hours.

When it comes to camping I am not very picky. I don’t need a luxurious camp site and I don’t need tons of stuff to do. I do need to be clean. Even if it means a cold shower I need the feeling that I have at least tried to wipe the dirt and grime off my body. Dry camping has made this a particular issue this summer and I have had my share of cold water showers. We have been trying for a few weeks to get the outdoor hot shower we bought to work. We narrowed the problem down to a few likely sources and one by one eliminated them. As of 5 minutes ago it looks like I will indeed be enjoying a good hot shower this weekend! Apparently we did not have enough water pressure coming out of our shower to trigger the pump to activate the heater. Now that we have a pump with the right water pressure the water heater is working like a dream. It will be awesome to finally take a good hot shower while in the great outdoors.

This weekend we are getting together with some friends we haven’t seen in a while. The funny thing is that no matter how infrequently we see each other it never feels that way. These are the type of people that instantly make you feel comfortable. We see each other a few times a year and it is always a great time. I have to admit there is just one little thing I don’t get about them and that is their desire to have a huge family. I seriously think they could sell sign space on their van for some place like www.prenatalvitamins.net or something. I don’t recall a time in all the years I have known them that they haven’t been expecting another child. I love children and they are great parents but I have no clue how people parent so many children. It won’t surprise me one bit to hear that they are expecting yet again when we get together. It would actually surprise me more to hear they now consider their family complete and are done having more children.

For about a month now I have been trying to encourage our little guy to make independent trips to the toilet. He has been resisting up until this weekend and insisting that he have a spectator for his big “production”. For the last two days he has made a couple of trips a day without me. I have to say now I wish I hadn’t encourage his solo flights. When you have to clean poo off the toilet, the wall, and the child an hour or so after the feat it just isn’t a good time. Through in some 90 degree temperatures and it is even better. I like the independent streak but I think we need a few more joint trips to the bathroom to work out the wrinkles in the execution. At least he is trying… right?

We go camping just about every other weekend during the summer. This is something that we have done for as long as we have had children. This weekend will be no exception. The only thing I dislike about camping is the packing and unpacking. No matter how well I try to prepare for a weekend in the wild there is always something I forget. When you realize around ten o’clock at night that your power setup isn’t working in your RV it is no fun. It is even less fun when you realize that your maglite led flashlights are sitting on the kitchen counter at home where you left them. It really isn’t fun to try an crawl under the RV and work by the light of a propane lantern. Those things get really hot! I am earnestly trying to devise a means of setting up and tearing down that leaves everything in the camper but it has yet to come into total fruition. There is always one or two things that we don’t have spare sets of around the house such as flashlights and the like. Despite these small hangups each weekend never ceases to be a wonderful although brief getaway. Sometimes it is a dark getaway but fun nonetheless.

I hate having to be on the run. What I mean is having to constantly taxi the children from one place to another. I love my children but we function best when we are in a routine. I signed my older son up for way too many camps this summer. I schedule 3 different things on one day for several days. It is all my fault but I just thought the experiences would be good for him. I didn’t consider that none of us really likes to be up and out the door in the morning. My youngest son is absolutely guaranteed to be in a bad mood whenever he is woken up before he is ready in the morning. You can probably see why home schooling is perfect for us huh? Today was the last day of camp and I couldn’t be happier! The next six weeks of summer I intend to sleep in an relax. No more sitting in the car and waiting for one class or another to be over. I know we will do it all over again next year but for now it is good to be done. Really, really… good.