Five Things Friday

• Caedmon is turning four on Sunday.  I'm sure I'll be doing a squishy post all about him next week, but until then, I'll just share this:  His superhero obsession continues unabated, but he has decided that he is not, in fact, Batman.  He is now a superhero of his own design who operates under the alias "The Helper."  According to Caedmon, "The Helper" helps people who are in trouble by fighting bad guys and eating any food they can't finish by themselves.  

• This book:

Oy.  It was fantastic.  More than fantastic; it was magical and clever and endearing and the ending made me gasp.  I mean that quite literally, my jaw dropped open and I took a swift and deep involuntary breath.  I loved it.  Reading about September in September was exactly what this September needed.  

• Truth:

• Running has been going suspiciously well this week.  My long run tomorrow is ten miles, and I've made a little deal with myself:  If I can get through that run without my ankle turning into a moody teenage girl on me, I'll sign up for the race.  The humidity is supposed to be right around 95% tomorrow morning.  Double-oy.

• Mr. Bean and I both heartily wish you a Happy Weekend.

This is what I look like when I wave.  Waving is hard.

Five Things Friday

• It's been one of those weeks, hasn't it?  Everywhere you turn, terrible, terrible things are happening, and then, when you're still reeling from the news, people start saying the most moronic, the most utterly hateful things and then have the gall to call it capital-T Truth, because apparently you get to do that when you're a Christian blogger and there is no end to your finger-pointing and your ugly, disturbing pride.  I see this man's blog shared and liked by well-meaning Christian acquaintances all over social media, and even though I know it's going to make me so angry stars bust across my vision, I do it.  I click through and I read.  Then I go on and on and on about it to Derek who eventually asks, "Why were you reading this guy's blog again?" and I have to say "I DON'T KNOW."  

I ended up spending waaaay too much mental energy on the whole thing, but thankfully I had the two Ann's to pull me out of the fury twister I was riding; both wrote beautiful pieces on mental illness and Christ and suicide and compassion.  (Actually it's Anne and Ann- I think I've made it clear how important spelling is to me.)  I encourage you to click on their correctly spelled names and read what they had to say.

• I have seen one, I repeat, ONE, Japanese beetle this year.  According to the Iowa Gardener, this is because of our last brutally cold winter; it killed most of the larvae happily sleeping in our soil (now millions of tiny corpses, MUAHAHAHA), and the large amounts of rain we got in the spring drowned out the rest.  Hal-lay-loo-yer and pass the basil that hasn't been eaten alive by beetles this year.

• This was our last full week of summer vacation.  School begins next Wednesday.  Adelaide is mostly ready.  Atticus is pensive.  I am saying what I say every summer:  "Hmm.  Homeschooling is suddenly very, very attractive."  Caedmon still believes he will soon be attending preschool, because he's three and when he says, "I am Batman," in his mind he is Batman, so why shouldn't "Adelaide's going to third grade, Atticus is going to Kindergarten, and I'm going to preschool!" likewise work?  Never mind that I've spent the last four months telling him he has a whole 'nother year before preschool- I'm just the Mother, what do I know?

• This week has been a good running week.  Not too hot, not too humid, and my various injuries have finally shut themselves up enough for me to run, run, run. 

I appreciate this all the more because this summer was the summer that I realized I'm not 21 anymore, and when my old lower back injury flares or my shin splints make themselves known I don't just get to elevate a foot or apply a heating pad for an evening; nooo, I have to rest and ice and coddle these high maintenance body parts for days on end before they'll give me so much as a couple miles.  Let's not forget about the asthma attacks, either, one that started to hit me when I was four miles from home and turned legitimately scary- and honestly, I don't scare easy when it comes to these two divas that I call lungs- I imagine the home that they have made in my rib cage to be some sort of Liberace-meets- the creator of the Bedazzler monstrosity, and they have one whole wall with different velvet knotted ropes hanging, each with each own placard:  "the gut," "the throat," "the skin," and on and on, and when they pull on each they make its subsequent organ break out in hives or swell or do a peristaltic boogie and Dance, Monkey, Dance.  I realize that it's my immune system that's really the problem, here; it's just that I've long thought of my lungs as my own personal mental whipping boy.  They're not to be trusted, and I'm sure they feel the same way about me.
I do try to keep in mind that even when All The Parts are hurting All at The Same Time, I still don't feel as bad as I did in my third trimester of my pregnancy with Caedmon, when my body said, "You want another pregnancy?  Okay, lady, I'm going to pregnancy symptom you TO DEATH."  This is why I laughed so hard when I first saw this on Pinterest a couple weeks ago:

I feel like that cat's face is the mental face I'm making half my waking hours.  Somehow Derek didn't find this photo as funny as I did (I roar every time I see it)- but then, he's never been pregnant.

• I couldn't think of a fifth thing in the three minutes I have to finish this post, so I called upon Adelaide in my hour of need, and here's what she's happy about right this second:

"Back To School Night is only three days from today, and school is only five days from today."  It's almost like she wants to leave me.  

Five Things Friday

Here's this week's five wonderful things, from me to you:

• About a year ago I came across a superb idea on Pinterest for a better way to fold t-shirts.  This sounds drab and dreary and boring, I know, but just hang on, now, because this may not transform your entire life, but it will transform a couple of your dresser drawers, which sounds trivial, but I swear to you I feel happy every time I open my t-shirt drawer.

We live in an old house that's short on storage space, most notably closets, but thankfully soon after we moved in Derek's grandpa built us a pair of built-in dressers for our bedroom.  Now I had a place for my clothes, but for some reason folding them the traditional way (why does this make me laugh?  like, "ah, yes, the folding methods of yore") created a slop pile of shirts within the drawer.  Enter this new, rolling way of folding!  (Click on the link above for specific instructions.)  It keeps wrinkles to a minimum, I can fit more clothing in each drawer, and I can see each item of clothing with no digging.  Perfect.

• This post on Ann Voskamp's blog about procrastination.  Listen, I'm a seasoned procrastinator.  Why do today what you can put off 'til tomorrow, and all that.  If there's something specific I'm putting off, my house will be clean, my books get read, I'll find all manner of things to do to put that loathsome activity off for as long as humanly possible.  I have gotten loads better in recent years (growing up and maturing and all that necessary junk), but still- I'm a procrastinator at heart.  This post helped me to fold a formidable mountain of laundry and shampoo the carpets and do a couple other things I'd been meaning to do for a day or two (WEEKS, OKAY?  I'd been putting off shampooing the carpets for weeks.).  My brain has already supplied some perfectly acceptable reasons not to wash the sheets and clean out the fridge this afternoon, so it looks like I'll be re-reading this post every other day until it sticks.  Hey, change takes time, right?

• Thunderstorms.  This is one of the things I missed most while living in Connecticut, although Derek and I did share some gleeful chortling on the rare occasion a smallish clap of thunder would boom in the Connecticut skies, causing the natives to flinch while casting fearful looks toward the heavens.  Oh, New England.  We've had tons of rain over the past week (and by "tons" I obviously mean 3 and 5/8 inches), but I've decided not to complain about it, because that rain has been accompanied by thunder and a smidgen of lightning- nothing really severe, just fun.  

• This book:

The woman describes what it's like to grow up lovingly ensconced in a small midwestern town with total accuracy, and does it with such humor that I had to lay my head down on the table a few times, I was laughing so hard.  This book made a rough day better.  I loved it so much I may have to get my own copy (gasp!).

• The eggs hatched!  Last Sunday evening I went to check the robins' nest, and behold:

See it?  Sweet little Ugly there, on the left?  

Based on my highly exact method of zooming in as much as possible and stretching my arm way up to snap a picture, I think there are three hideous baby robins in there.  Perhaps four.  Their mama's gone most of the time, no doubt hunting up tasty morsels for which they'll no doubt be completely ungrateful.  I should note that even when taking photos, I try not to get too close to the nest; I don't want to scare the mother off or leave my objectionable human scent all over the place.  Babies!

Five Things Friday

I need everyone to do me a favor and pretend that today is Friday.  So we're all in agreement, then?  Today is Friday!  Happy Friday, everyone!  That means today is Five Things Friday!  Here's what's great this week.

• Adelaide + Hair.  Adelaide has been working on her braiding skillz; having mastered various random triplicate strands made out of things like plastic and wax, she has moved on to human hair.  As I am the only other person in the house with a long, braidable mane, she has been working on my hair frequently, which is great because

• Air conditioning.  I am beyond thankful for AC this week.  It's been hot, and it's been humid, and it makes me think of a couple summers ago when we didn't have a functioning AC, and I was third trimester pregnant with Caedmon and wanted to die.  I say a prayer of thanks every time the AC kicks on, every time I walk into our house which doesn't feel like a Native American sweat lodge, and at random times throughout the day when I'm not at risk for heat stroke in my own home.  I'm not sure that I'll ever take air conditioning for granted again.  Amen.

• Librarians.  This time it's because of a great resource one of our favorite librarians directed me toward- see, I've been trying to incorporate daily math into our schedule over the summer, and while Adelaide has been great about reminding me about her daily multiplication flash cards, aside from that I kind of suck at remembering things, especially things that I don't really like to begin with, like math.  Enter bedtimemath.org!  They send you an email every day with a fun math problem for your kiddos to complete, or if you have one of those fancy smart phones, they also have an app.  Here's today's (because today is Friday, remember?) daily math problem to give you an idea- I really like the fact that I can read the same problem to all three kids, but there are different questions for each age group.  We do not, however, do these at bedtime.  I do not need one more thing to do that close to the finish line.

• Dots.  If you value your productivity or your sanity, do not, I repeat, DO NOT start playing this game.  Derek downloaded it to our tablet for Adelaide.  She played it a few times and enjoyed it.  I decided I'd see what all the fuss was about, especially when I heard it described as "like Tetris or Bejeweled."  What I'd forgotten was Carl Jung's tidbit of wisdom:  "Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine, or idealism or Dots."  I may have paraphrased a bit there.  This game.  Gaaah.

• Robins.  There's a nest that's been on a branch that overhangs our sidewalk for a few years now, and this spring a couple robins moved in.  As it turns out robins are the HGTV of birds and now instead of boring old twigs and grass for furnishings, they've gone for the modern look and weaved duct tape into their nest.  A nice long strand even hangs down from their newly remodeled dwelling, dangling in your face should you happen down our sidewalk.  We noticed what I assume is the mama sitting in the nest for a couple weeks straight, only leaving for short times a couple times a day.  But today both parents are present, which caused perhaps uncalled-for levels excitement amongst the Crisler offspring.  (And who hollered them out of the house with "YOU GUYS, GET OUT HERE!  IT'S MAMA AND PAPA ROBIN!"?  Um... yeah.  Me.)  

Staring at birds.  It's an exciting life we lead around here.

Anyone know when I can be expecting grand-birdies?  My knowledge of the life cycle of the American Robin is nil.

Maybe Five Things Fridays?

A while back I stumbled across a blog who regularly has posts entitled "5 Things"- if I remember right, five things she currently loves.  I did not bookmark or otherwise write the name of this site down in any way, assuring myself that I would remember, because it would appear that I will never learn.  I loved the idea of this "5 Things," because it's in a list format (lists!) and encourages gratitude, something I can always use to combat my inner cranky old woman.  Because I can't find this blog now, if anyone has any idea what blog originally had this idea, I would like to know so I can give credit where it's due.

So!  Onward!

Five Things For Which I'm Currently Grateful:

• T-shirt Capes!  I found this idea on Pinterest, and I loooove it because it was cheap (Goodwill t-shirts) and took right about a minute per shirt.  Our boys are currently in the grip of an all-consuming passion for superheroes, which means I'm asked to tie their beach towels around their necks as makeshift capes approximately four dozen times a day.  But no more- these slip on and off easily without my help, praise the good Lord.  

Adelaide also got to pick a shirt out at Goodwill, and she chose the red cardigan, which is 1000x sparklier than the above photo lets on.  Once we were home, she instructed me to cut off the sleeves (which you also can't see in the photo), so that the cardigan became a vest with detachable sleeves, which naturally allowed her to become Firegirl, who appears to shoot fire at any and all ne'er-do-wells.  

• Mild summer weather.  We're enjoying 70-degree days, which makes it criminal to spend any time indoors at all- matter of fact, I'm typing this on the front porch.  The Japanese beetles have yet to appear, the humidity has finally gone down, and it is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.  This is the type of weather and time of year I try to keep in mind when I spend day after frozen, snowy day trapped in the house and staring forlornly out my kitchen window throughout our long Iowa winters.  

No, Adelaide is not engaged in an impressive-looking yoga pose; she's coloring with chalk while I type on the porch and Viktor watches over us all (see him there, in the background on the left?  Our ever-vigilant viking Viktor).  

Speaking of Adelaide, she just found out her name means "noble, kind," and she is pissed, not to mention royally jealous of Derek and Atticus's shared middle name, simply because it means "dark warrior."  I'm grateful for her, too, so I can include it in this list.

• This book:

One Thousand Gifts:  A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp.  I've spoken to a number of women who couldn't really get into it because of claims like "it's too flowery" and "just not really my style."  While I can certainly see what they're saying, I am loving this book, possibly because I'm treating it like a devotional, so I only read two to three pages per day.  I'm finding more meaning and connection to God in the smallest moments of my day because of this book, and where some have called Voskamp's style of writing "flowery," I think it's poetic and beautiful.  I'm only about halfway through because I've been taking it soooo slooooowly, which is really hard for me- I've had to bank several urges to race ahead- but I think it's definitely the way to read this book, at least one time through- maybe after you speed-read it the first time, if you just can't help yourself.

• Flowers.  (OF COURSE.)  The peonies are just about done, but the blue delphinium and various colors of poppies I just planted are blooming already (every time I see the poppies I have no choice but to croon, "Poppies.  Poppies will put them sleep," a la everyone's favorite wicked witch) and the yarrow is just starting to show its colors.  I also had one of the iris my grandma dug up for me last summer finally bloom:

She described them as "bronze-colored," which pegs their color just about perfectly, although they look a little more peachy in this photo.

• We finally got rid of the ants that have been plaguing our house for weeks now.  They do their level best to invade our living space every spring, but this year they just wouldn't go away.  I finally found this recipe for homemade ant-killer via a google search (ten spoonfuls of jelly plus half a spoonful of borax- which we already had; it's one of our laundry soap ingredients- mix well, spoon into bottle caps and set around your house wherever you've seen ants), and it was one of those things that, while I was doing it, I was just sure that it was a mindless prank that some idiot with too much time on his hands put on the internet just to see who'd fall for it and put blobs of jelly all over their house to drive away sugar-loving insects.  But it worked!  I did it two days ago, and have only seen one ant in that time, as opposed to the entire ant families who were not-so-subtly trying to claim some kind of squatter's rights.  I'm super grateful for this one.