August 5th and more questions

Yes, I'm going to play the innane, "What were you doing this day x number of years ago" game again. I'm stuck in a rut, I'm sure.

What were you doing on this date in 1978? I'm not exactly sure what I was doing aside from sweating out the end of summer vacation in Austin, Texas. Friend Barb and her husband Mark, however, were taking their marriage vows. Happy anniversary from the other side of the 'Nati!

What were you doing on this day in 1992? I was getting my ears pierced with my late, great MIL and taking the pregnancy test that would reveal that Sarah was on her way.

What were you doing this day in 1994? I have no idea what I was doing, aside from being very sick and pregnant with Rachel. Friend Sherri, however, was giving birth to her youngest child, sweet Tabitha. Happy birthday, Beetha!

What were you doing on this day in 2002? Sweet Luci's mom was giving birth to her. You can go wish her happy birthday at her mom's blog.

What were you doing on this day in 2005? Friend Husband and I spent the entire day packing and waiting to get on the plane that would take us back home after a whirlwind five days in Ethiopia. We were both exhausted and I was already feeling overwhelmed, and very anxious to get back home.

And finally (and not at all in order), what were you doing on this day in 1989? At about this time, I was driving to the far north of Austin (from the southern suburbs) to have my hairdresser make my hair an impenetrable helmet for my wedding day. I would drive back to my parents' house, take a tepid bath after everyone else in the house (including my two aunts, two uncles, eight cousins, sister, and parents) had bathed, then get ready for the 7:30 ceremony. Somehow we got through it all and here we are, 19 years later.

I am so thankful that God brought us together and kept us together when both of us would probably have given up. Through the smiles and through the tears, we've hung together. I can honestly say that I'm more in love with Friend Husband than I was on our wedding day. He's an awesome guy and I'm blessed that he chose me all those years ago.

Happy anniversary, Doug! And I hope and pray that we have many many more happy years working together!

L

I was having a day yesterday. Y'all know what I'm talking about. A day where almost nothing went right and I was inconsolable about everything. It sort of started Wednesday afternoon.

You see, Wednesday afternoon was lovely. I had lunch with Friend Cindy, then went to the grocery. Alone. I decided that it was worth $2 to pay Rachel to watch the twins so that I could have peace in the grocery. (Anybody remember Elvis singing "Peace in the Valley"?) It was well worth it.

So I came home with a pile of groceries and a plan. I had a plan for dinner and I was going to attempt to make a couple of salads to go along with the cold chicken I had ready. Friend Husband, in particular, loves this broccoli-cauliflower salad that I bought the goodies for. So, when there were still two bags of groceries, my big bag, two gallons of milk, and my coupon folder left to carry in, I grabbed them all and went for it. Sarah closed the van door, opened the house door, and preceded me into the dining room with her own armful of groceries. I came in and slammed the door with a backward swipe of my foot.

This was a crucial mistake.

That swipe put me off-balance and when I tried to get myself into balance, I twisted my back. And I succeeded very well in doing that. Man did it hurt.

Sarah came and relieved me of my groceries and I sat down for a bit but any movement caused shriek-worthy pain. In the end, I gave in to the entreaties of my daughters and went to lie down on my heating pad. And to become unconscious for the rest of the afternoon and a great deal of the evening.

Yesterday I could move better but I had to move carefully. And slowly. Nothing in my life happens carefully or slowly. I guess that’s what started getting me down.

I had the usual tussles with twins and housework piling up that I couldn’t manage to do because I couldn’t bend, lift, or do anything worthwhile. I finally went outside with them. They swam and I picked squash for supper, kneeling carefully down to snap the squash off the vines. It was then that I noticed. The vine borers had killed some of the plants.

I remember that as the impetus for just wanting to brand an “L for Loser” on my forehead and be done with it. Here I had just assured Friend Gina that it looked as though we had escaped the dreaded borers for this year and they’d managed to tear up producing plants.

From there I went to wondering what in the world it was all for. Why bother planting seeds and spending all those hours out in the hot sun weeding and taking care of the plants? What was I thinking, thinking that I’d actually make some difference in my family’s grocery bill this summer? I was obviously deluded and, what was worse, I was deluded in the face of people who knew better. I was convinced that everyone had just been jollying me along, saying, “Sure, Lori, you can grow enough food for y’all to eat plus can. Sure ya can.”

I was in a pretty good rage by this time. Friend Husband came home and I don’t think he was totally aware of my bubbling internal fury. He took some of the children to the library and I waited for my turn to use the computer so I could vent some of my irritation in my blog. My turn never came.

I made tilapia, garlic rice, yellow squash, and fresh green beans for dinner last night. When I’d finished the prep and was just waiting for the rest of the family to get home, I finished reading my Sophie Kinsella novel and still stewed. I grumpily served the twins their suppers when they came in and finally sat down to eat my own supper. It was then that my unhappiness was dealt a summary blow.

Do you know what did it? I’d like to say that I conquered my negative attitudes by force of will but it would be a big lie. What made me feel better and pretty quick too was the garlic rice. After a bowl of that, I was wondering why I’d been so grumpy before. Clearly, the world was right when such yummyness was available in the world.

I was totally gobsmacked. Rice! All I needed was a rise in blood sugar? What kind of an imbecile am I anyway?

Ok, I’m totally not recommending that you treat your unhappiness with food, but I was amazed at how thoroughly and quickly that worked last night. And I’m sharing it with you and laughing at myself. I may be a big loser with an L on my forehead but at least I can laugh at myself so it must not be too bad.

Thursday Thirteen # 83

Thirteen Things I did yesterday (which was actually Thursday) Yes, I know I'm stretching, but I figured I'd better get back into the Thursday Thirteen habit again. So here goes: 1. Planned but did not go to the gym. The girls had too much to do for me to feel that I could reasonably ask them to watch the twins and I slept through the morning alarm. 2. 2. Did an impromptu nature study with the twins (and Abby, inadvertantly). We have scores of mushrooms in the front yard and we spent time looking at them (and telling David NOT to eat them again). Then I took one bigger one from the yard and we dissected it on the driveway. To my surprise, there were little worms in the stem. When I looked them up, I found that they were some sort of fungus gnat maggot. Lovely! I feel so earthy all of a sudden. 3. Took Sarah to the orthodontist for a checkup, then went to the market. David chose a sticky eyeball toy at the ortho, which he proceeded to destroy as we went through the store. Gross. 4. Planned to have BLTs for dinner. 5. Friend Husband decided that we should take advantage of Rachel's desire to babysit and go out to eat so we went out to have Mexican food, which was wonderful. 6. Attempted to do math with a daughter who was, at the time, in the pool (her brilliant idea, not mine). (No, it was not a successful attempt.) 7. Contemplated when I would be able to take the animals to the vet for their annual checkups. 8. Read a hilarious book that Hannah recommended to me. Letters from a Nut is a collection of letters written by a man to various businesses, government entities, etc. and their responses to them. Naturally, they all had some odd observation or request but sometimes the responses to them were even more hilarious than the letters that Ted Nancy wrote. Or allegedly wrote. Sometimes I'm not certain that that's an actual person, but they were funny letters anyway. 9. Helped Sarah with her math. She is now finished with her math book! Yay! 10. Failed to reread the chapter on Ancient Chinese Civilization so I could write Sarah's test. Bad homeschool mother! 11. Mopped the floor or part of it 6 times before midnight. No, I was not particularly happy about this. 12. Washed the walls of the hallway. (Aren't you proud of me, Gina?) 13. After dinner out with Friend Husband, we went out into the vegetable garden to pull weeds along the trellis that used to hold peas. It was wonderful, peaceful, and I sure appreciated the help with weeding! Abby came out and gave us a lecture on what's romantic to do on a date (and going to the library and pulling weeds weren't on the list!). I asked her where she got her information and she said, "From movies and books. And also from Rachel." I informed her that I thought that pulling weeds was an exceptionally romantic thing to do and she rolled her eyes and left us to it. Ha.

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