What a Life!

Ben likes to playing with the laundry basket. He loads it up with his toys and then pushes it around the basement. Here it is all loaded and ready to go:

This morning I was working on the computer and all of a sudden, I saw Ben playing with the laundry basket. The only problem…I knew that I had just filled it with clean diapers. So I went to investigate and this is what I found:

The diapers are in buckets that I cleaned out yesterday but ended up not using so they were just on the floor in the laundry room next to the dryer…waiting to be used by a very resourceful little boy.

Before Ben was born, I used to read. Fiction mostly. I read every night before I went to sleep. I would read during the day when I got a chance. When I went places, I often brought a book with me. I joined book discussion groups. In fact, I led a book discussion group when I was in Maryland. We read mostly contemporary literature – not cheesy fiction, but rather the new fiction that was a bit more literary.

Steve complains all the time about the shelves and shelves of book I have. “Do you ever read those books?” he asks. I read them once. And seeing those books on the shelves takes me back to the person I was when I had time to read them. That’s why I like looking at them. Plus I feel smart looking at them and thinking “I’ve read all those books.” There are some that stand out in my mind as being really good, others that I felt I didn’t quite understand and perhaps might re-read in hopes that I might “get it” this time.

But since Ben was born, I haven’t read anything other than a chapter or two here and there of a parenting book. The books that I bought that I was going to read got lost in the shuffle, and I no longer know which ones they are. I’ve started reading a book here and there, but have never gotten very far. At night when I go to bed, I’m to anxious to get to sleep, knowing that the clock is ticking and I will probably be roused in the morning before I wake on my own. Somebody will need me. And during the day, I am busy doing things. When Ben naps, I do things that are easier done without his “help.” The afternoons aren’t my prime time anyway.

For a time, I decided to get up early so that I could read every morning. The main purpose was to get a head-start on my day with Mary Kay so I read things like The Success Principles by Jack Canfield or If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg (both very good books, by the way). I got up at 5:30 so I could have an hour to myself every day when I had the energy to enjoy it. Oh, did I savor that time! But then Ben started getting up earlier and earlier – “Mommy’s up so it must be time for me to get up too.” It didn’t matter how quiet I was – somehow he knew that I was up. So my quiet time disappeared, and I was back to sleeping in until Steve got up at 6:35.

Last week Oprah announced her summer selection for her book club. Before Ben was born, I probably read about half of her book club selections. This time she selected Faulkner. I’ve tried reading Faulkner before, but didn’t get very far. This is my opportunity, I though. I can read Faulkner and have it explained to me as I go. So yesterday when I was in town, I bought the set for her book club with the reading guide. And today, I got up at 6:00 and read for a half hour.

This time I was smart. I went outside. The birds were singing, it wasn’t too humid, and the temperature was just right – the perfect backdrop for reading a good book. I read 34 pages, and I actually had the mental clarity to understand and enjoy it. Imagine that!

I feel like myself again, like I’ve found a person I used to know but haven’t seen for a couple years. It was like I picked up right where I left off. Amazing! I only have to read up through page 84 before next Monday, and I’m thinking I ought to be able to accomplish that. I feel like a real person again, and it feels so nice!

I was downstairs working on the computer and Steve was upstairs trying to study. Of course, Ben wanted to be with Daddy, but Daddy wasn’t getting much done with Ben’s help. Then it got quiet upstairs so I went upstairs to see what was happening. This is what I found:

My little boy who loves to read!

Note my knitting sitting next to him on the couch.

I snapped this picture this afternoon while I was outside knitting my Bucket Hat and Ben was playing. Isn’t he cute?

Last summer I bought the Bucket Hat pattern from Little Turtle Knits and knit myself a hat using Peaches & Cream yarn. Well, there was a small problem when I finished: the hat was too big. Theresa had sized the pattern for cotton yarn that would shrink. Peaches & Cream yarn is pre-shrunk. This was the result:

Yesterday we went up to Schon and Shannon’s (Steve’s brother and his wife) for a Memorial Day BBQ. I took along some knitting so I wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not I was having a good time (I did have fun, for the record). I had unraveled the original Bucket Hat and wound it into a ball. I started re-knitting the yarn on the way up (Steve drove). I didn’t think I would finish the hat because I was expecting us to leave sooner (should’ve known better…) and thus I didn’t bring my double-pointed needles. Needless to say, I did get that far and had to bring the project home almost finished.

I let Ben play outside while I finished it after lunch today and here is my hat:

As you can see, it is doing a very good job of shading my face so you can’t necessarily tell that I’m not wearing any makeup today. You can also see my garden and our yard shed (that Steve painted barn red the weekend before Ben was born) in the background.

And to my sister, who I am sure would tell me again that it is only because I live in the Midwest that I would wear such a thing…this hat is for wearing when I’m gardening. It keeps the sun off my face and out of my eyes. I wear it when I have on clunkly clothes and no makeup. I do not wear it when I leave the house. So be not alarmed!

Originally I had wanted to make a hat like this for Ben. It looks like a boating hat to me – all it needs is an anchor embroidered on the front. Needless to say, Steve put a stop to that idea. Theresa told me she originally designed the pattern for her boys, though, so you never know…