Friday bullets - March 12, 2021

If there are more typos than usual in this post, it's because Nefertiti has decided to grace me with her presence and is now on my lap, in between my body and the laptop. She alternates between lying on top of one arm and sitting up so that I cannot see the screen. It makes typing difficult. And like all cat owners, no, it has never occurred to me to actually move the cat.

• With the warmer weather, there are more and more birds. I'm pretty sure I saw a blue heron flying over our yard on its way to the nesting area in the forest preserve behind us. It also means there is a lot more bird song in the mornings, which is a nice way to great the day. While I am doing the barn in the morning, being able to hear the birds singing is also a good indication of whether I am brooding or paying attention to my surroundings. If I focus on listening to the birds it means that my brain is occupied and the worry hamster cannot run on its wheel.
• Sometimes I feel as though I live in a sitcom. There are multiple moments throughout the week that listening to my children you would think someone had scripted their conversations. All they need is a laugh track accompanying them.
• D. heard back from another college this past week. He had the good news that he was accepted to Denison University. Even better, his scholarship package was substantial; even more substantial than Valparaiso. He still has several schools to hear from, but most likely not until the end of the month. 
• My riding lesson earlier this week was... exciting. There was a lot of commotion in the barn that afternoon with horses arriving home after having been at a show. The horse I was riding was a little all over the place. Then my horse tripped on top of that. No, I didn't go over her head, which I felt pretty proud about. Later, my horse decides to completely refuse a jump, to the point she got her feet tangled up in the poles. once again, I didn't come off. Even better, I felt confident enough to take her back and try again. Where she balked again! This time, I got her forced over and then next time over she behaved herself. It was both a rotten lesson and a good one, since my seat must be developing. I will also add that I was pretty dang sore for the next couple of days as a result.
• With the nice weather, children have been playing outside a lot. This means that by dinner and bedtime, they are totally wiped out. 
• TM has been the fun brother and has taken people on adventures twice this past week. The first time he took them on a long hike through a local forest preserve. Today he took them on a long bike ride through another forest preserve. Then they all came back with special drinks as well. They are going to miss him when he heads off to boot camp.
• B. came over today and he and I spent the afternoon finally getting my seeds planted. I'm a couple of weeks late. I decided that I am a pessimistic gardener. I cannot quite believe that the seeds I am planting are actually going to germinate, so I plant quite a few more than I should. Then, when they do sprout, I cannot bring myself to just thin them by cutting all but one because I am so happy that all the little seeds sprouted. Instead, I carefully separate all the tiny seedlings and transplant them into their own containers. It's kind of time consuming and I end up with ~1000 plants... or so it seems.

• Not only did B. get to help me with seeds, but as we were finishing up, a truck with a trailer full of hay pulls into my driveway. It takes a moment for everything to click together and I suddenly remember that earlier in the day I had arranged for more hay to be delivered. (Yes, between this morning and late afternoon I had completely forgotten about it.) I was glad J., B., and D. were home or it would have been me and the hay guy loading hay into my barn.
• Yesterday was W.'s birthday, but we are celebrating as a family on Sunday.
• We have one more week of school until Easter break, which I made two weeks long when I was planning. I'm really glad I planned in a lot of breaks in the second half of the year. Once spring hits, my motivation for doing school plummets. Knowing I have a break coming up is just the motivation I need to plow through.
• The snow has all melted and the pastures are starting to dry out. Anyone who wants to share negative weather reports with me can just keep them to themselves.
• I love it when a new spinning magazine arrives in the mail.
• I absolutely cannot read a thing without reading glasses. 
• For teatime we are now reading The 68 Rooms by Marianne Malone. It is about children who discover that they can shrink down small enough to enter the Thorne Rooms in the Art Institute of Chicago. It sounded like a great premise and I love the Thorne rooms, so we started it. The children are enjoying. Me? Not so much. Maybe it is because we just finished reading The Picts and the Martyrs, a book in the Swallows and Amazons series, but it just seems thin. It's a book that skates along on the surface, but without any real depth. This is how it seems to me at least, but I am having difficulty putting my finger on exactly why I feel this way. Does anyone else know what I mean... the difference between a really good book and an average one? 
• While it will be nice to have it stay light later, I really do not enjoy changing the clocks. I grew up in Arizona where they do not practice such foolishness. When I first lived in Illinois, I didn't actually believe everyone just did it and life went on. I thought for sure it would take several days of craziness for everyone to get changed to the correct time. The whole thing is silly. Let's just pick a time a stick with it. 

That cat is still snoozing on my lap, but I'm afraid that is going to have to end soon, as I need to go say good-night to people. A cat snoozing on your lap is such a cozy thing.