Oh yeah, I have a blog!

Today I was thinking about all the great blogs I've looked at recently and wondered why I didn't do more with mine. Part of it is that no one follows it. It's depressing not to be interesting to anyone. I'm also very busy with my beautiful new baby and two lovely/crazy girls. And cleaning. And the constantly regenerating laundry. Add in attempts to sew and craft, fulfill my callings, and take a shower, and my day is full.
But wonderfully blessed, no matter how tired I am at the end of the (or for that matter the beginning of it) or how many times I've wanted to hit my head against a wall.

The girls haircuts

Caroline's Garden- Will she reap what she sewed?

Caroline had fun helping me put in the garden. She planted rocks, flowers she picked off my new plants, a ring pop and a lollipop. Holly took over her previous role: Stomping,tromping,picking, drowning, and generally destroying my tender new plants. Considering that along with Holly's efforts my garden has to contend with ravenous garden pests, encroaching crabgrass, an Arkansas summer, and my lack of motivation in the most crucial time (when all previously mentioned plagues are at their peak) everything I harvest will be a miracle of mother natures tenacity. Judging from previous years, I'm sure that Caroline's harvest will put mine to shame. I think rocks are as determined to multiply and replenish as the aphids and squash vine borrers. Why do I bother? Because I inherited my Dad's gardening bug without his skill, green thumb, or work ethic. But if I get one tomato, it will be worth it. Expensive, but you can't put a price on self-fulfillment!

Look what I made!

I actually made this. It's small, but it was easy! I can think of all kinds of uses for it. I used a tutorial that I found on line. Girls, let me know if you want one. I can make it longer and leave it flat and it would make a pencil keeper.

Unhinged!

I'm trying to complete my latest home renovation project without going crazy - painting my kitchen cabinets. There were plenty of good reasons to do this. (I keep reminding myself of them.) I started on Saturday March 21st with prep work. I had Monday and Tuesday free of little girls tanks to my mom,Diana, and Ethan. I worked two 15 hour days, got sick on Wednesday and kept working. After a couple days at my mom's house with family that helped me recuperate, Ethan and I began putting doors back on. I have not given all of the monotonous and frustrating moments of this process - you've been spared where I wasn't. What straw broke this camel's back? Eight of the hinges are missing! How? Where? When? One working theory is that someone who walks their dog in my neighborhood between 5:oo p.m. and 6:30 p.m. collects hinges and couldn't resist taking some from my driveway where the new paint on them was drying! I'm seriously beginning to doubt they are still on my property. If it was one, I wouldn't have been that surprised, but eight? Looks like I'll be buying more hinges. I'll post pictures when it's done. But don't hold your breath!

Holly is finding it hard to be patient on a long drive in the car.

A smile a day keeps frustration away.

I decided that if everyone else in the family was going to have a blog, I needed to join the club. Mom jumped at the chance and started setting it up for me. The only problem was that I couldn't think of a title for it. Since I am an aspiring writer I felt that it needed to be something creative. Now, if you've looked back at my title to see what I came up with, you may be thinking, "Uh, Michelle, I don't think you quite got there." Well, at some point in my desperate pursuit of a meaningful, memorable, and painfully alliterative title, I realized that I just needed to have one that meant something to me. At this point, I was sitting under my parent's pecan tree watching my two girls jumping on the trampoline while I did some hand stitching on a skirt I was finishing for Caroline. I looked up and both girls were treacherously circling the trampoline outside of the enclosure. Caroline is four and as nimble as a mountain goat. Holly however, though daring and determined to follow, at nearly two does not have such finely developed motor skills. I told them to get back in the enclosure, but of course they were determined to continue on their chosen course. Before I got up to wrestle them back to safety, I glanced toward the skies and muttered, "Give Me Patience!" And so was born my title.

You see, it wasn't by a long shot the first time I had so pled to heaven. Everyday, my patience is tested in numerous and challenging ways. If you build patience like you build muscle, by the constant exercising of it, I should be ready to jump in a bathing suit, slather myself with oil, and pose for a body building calendar. (Remember this is a metaphor only!) Instead I feel more like a flabby, overweight mother of two who is dreading the swiftly nearing start of swimsuit season. (Ok, the metaphor is too accurately mirroring reality so I'll move on now.) Not only do I need patience for parenting, but in marriage, gardening, self-improvement, and in waiting for that promised someday when whatever I can't have or do or be today will finally dawn and fulfill all my desires. And so everyday, throughout the day, I say, "Give me patience," summon a smile, and press on. And that smile, if I can find it, is my salvation.