runlikejoy

Displaced Stay At Home Californian in rural N. Carolina

The Many Faces of Joy

The Many Faces of Joy

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Fruit Basket


The other day my youngest asked me what I wanted to be when I "growd up" and I told her I wanted to be a writer. She told me that was boring, she wanted to be a doctor. This is the same child that told me last year she wanted to be a fairy. I thought about all the things that I wanted to be when I was growing up and how I ended up doing some of them and how I ended up not doing some of them and I wondered how I had ended up being a Mom and staying home and sharing these years with my girls and how it would impact them down the road.

It is fall now, we woke up to sunshine today and by late afternoon the temperature had dropped by 15 degrees and it was rainy and miserable. We had soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and it was warm and toasty in the kitchen so we finished dinner up with chocolate ice cream cones.

My niece is here to stay and if I can swing it I am going to keep her for at least a couple of weeks, maybe even until Thanksgiving. While 14 year olds can be a challenge and can have attitude and can huff and puff and use the word "Whatever" an awful lot, they are also funny, inquisitive, very tech savvy, very very tech savvy and can change their moods in an instant. This can be good when you have a 4 year old that is crying one second and laughing another. This can also be good when you need to run a quick errand and you need the 14 year old to hold down the fort. It also gives me a little sneak peak into what 14 will look like someday.

My husband bikes to work and while he has generously done this so I can be the sole user of our one family car, it makes me nervous and skittish on cold winter nights when the light is gone and he is cycling an hour to work and an hour home. It is on nights like tonight that I wish we had a 2nd car and that we lived 2 minutes from his work. It is nights like tonight that I am reminded that he is one of the reasons I try to be less selfish on a daily basis. He is like Mother Theresa on a bicycle.

I have sent a huge bag of Halloween candy to work with my husband. He does this every year after the trick or treating in an effort to save my girlish figure from a slow descent into a flabby Thanksgiving and an even sloppier Christmas. I keep a little for the girls to snack on but they forget about it by November 4 which is tomorrow. So that means we are back to salads and veggies tomorrow - an occasional bowl of air popped popcorn.

I noticed that I lost a blog follower in the last couple of months. I'm not sure if it is because I made what might be considered some not so patriotic comments or because I have friends that are not US citizens living in the US. Whatever the case - if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, then get out!

And finally we are headed to Spokane Washington in a few short weeks to celebrate my birthday by visiting some friends. I used to go to Spokane each year or at least every couple of years but it has been a while. And in that while, my friends have built a new house and moved out into sticks and I can't wait to get away and see them and have some good wine and even better company. This is also the first trip my husband and I have made together since our honeymoon and so I hope my Spokane friends have some sturdy earplugs.

Happy Fall everyone!

3 comments:

hscopazzi said...

OMG... Study earplugs, Joy you kill me!!!!

joannecali said...

You lost a follower, but you've gained a GREAT one in their place! I promise to keep the profanity to a minimum.

Conchita said...

Me encanta todo lo que escribes..sobre todo lo de los tapones para los oidos...jajajaja...y lo de Gabe en la bicicleta como la Madre Teresa de Calcuta...