ordinary-ness
from where i sit i can see a lavender, orange and grey sky. i hear the rustling of tree branches as my husband gathers the ones he has cut and stacks them in the back of one of the trucks to take to the dump. the rain came. and then it stopped. we are expecting more tomorrow, but i hope it goes away. who ever heard of rain in october. in california.
the cold makes me slow. i just want to bundle up on the couch and read stories. 1/2 of my children would be fine with this. the other two are overflowing with testosterone. both are itching to go out and explore. riding bikes around the block is enough for one but the other isn’t content unless he is doing things like making appointments with the department of motor vehicles so he can get his driver’s license. complaining that he wants a job. money. to go to public school. blah. blah. blah.sometimes i just ignore him. hoping all of it will just go away. hoping i’ll wake up in the morning and they’ll be small again. life will be less complicated. and that the ordinary-ness will once again outweigh all of these other things that make things not so ordinary.
so to make my heart a little lighter i am sharing with you some favorite vintage pillow cases. in fall colors. on my favorite bed. and a yummy dish i made the other night: fluffy jasmine rice and sauteed shrimp with red bell peppers, zucchini and garlic (fresh garlic, butter, olive oil and lemon pepper and red pepper seasonings). hardly anyone complained about the red bell peppers.
ironically, we had an early dinner at mcdonald’s tonight. and it was nice and cozy. not necessarily very healthy. but we got out of the house for a bit. and for about an hour the muddy footprints in the kitchen and this muddy mood of mine didn’t matter. i sat next to my sweetheart and we chatted about things and smiled at each other while the littlest boy sporting a red beanie and pea coat on fiddled instead of eating, our girl, with rosy cheeks pouted because she couldn’t have a mocha latte and the big boys scratched all of the monopoly game pieces to see if we’d leave the restaurant millionaires. it was sort of like a date. but not. we weren’t alone by any means. and really we are already millionaires.
i don’t know what’s up with school. the plans are there. tons of them. but i feel sort of in a daze, like it is too much information and i don’t know how to disperse it all. to so many students. at so many grade levels. i am hating the high school plans from charter and i was wrong about which explorers we are reading about. magellan. cortes. vespucci. columbus. and not necessarily in that order. i guess you could say they are the first explorers. not counting the vikings.
i am waiting for an order of story of the world to come and making my way through the ordinary parent’s guide to teaching reading and the first writing with ease (which is way too easy for the middles).
on one of our million trips to the library i picked up this book. i read the first few chapters and now i can’t find it. it is light reading. kind of sad. i don’t know why i gravitate towards sad books. i finished my chapter on st. therese in this book and have started the one on st. teresa of avila since her feast is just around the corner. i figure in a year’s time i will have read the whole book if i read the chapter on each saint when their feast comes around.
i started some light grey wool fingerless handwarmers for myself last night. i am almost done with the second one. and since i only have two hands that means i am really almost done!
i didn’t care for that pumpkin rice pudding i made. the kids ate every last bit. but i swear there are times when i follow recipes and then i could kick myself because i did. and then there are other times when i don’t and then i could kick myself for that too.
well that’s all. just a hodge-podge of ordinary-ness. which really isn’t so bad.
andeverythinginitsplace.wordpress.com 
I had my first pumpkin spiced latte today . . . I kept seeing that many bloggers were lovin’ theirs enough to say so on their blogs so I jumped ship and ordered one at Target’s Starbucks counter. I’m so glad I did. It was sweeter ‘cos I shared it with Crickles, who was with me . . . and something was up that blocked traffic on the bridge going home so we sipped it and cranked the CD’s while we waited. He’s such a good boy.
You know, SB can’t get his learner’s permit until he proves to his dad he’s responsible enough with his grades at school (he’s getting there; just not all the way yet – he can’t explain why he has a few F marks and why his final test he got a D even though his class grade was a B; that sort of thing needs to be changed) and that his attitude around here is better (and, it has been for the most part). He’s exactly able to get his permit on my birthday – I’m exactly 24.5 years older than him. SO he knows all this . . . incentive is everything. They don’t get that we have to control them until they can control themselves. Driving is not a right, a convenience for me (errand running etc.), a right of passage, a right of anyone, but only a responsibility. Kids can “know” these things in their heads, but they can’t really know them until they grow up some more.
I hope you’ll come by the blog tomorrow and enter my give away. I’ll only be 40 once. HUGS!!
THe jasmine rice dish looks wonderful. Jasmine & basmati rice are my favorite. It doesn’t look like fall/winter at all – I like that feature! I make a dish with tri-colored peppers and make sure the kids at least try some of each color. Red, yellow & orange are sweet … I tell them!
Funny you should talk about driver’s tests & such. The resident 12yo is already on that line of thinking … when he can get his permit, etc. THing is, it will be a big help because he can help in the fields. I asked my hubby if he was responsible enough – he is more so with his dad, apparently. Either that or we have different standards!
Love the ordinary world you live in. Sounds wonderful. You are such a good writer and I can picture myself right in your world.
love those vintage pillow cases. and that bed. i want a wrought iron bed. ahh…but there hasn’t been a sigthting of one anywhere dropping out of the sky!
and your rice looks delicious. except for the shrimp. and everyone REFUSES to eat zucchini here (except me) why is that?
i don’t even want to think of the drivers ed days yet.