Hugging the Midline

Grateful for New Beginnings

235. I'm grateful for new beginnings:
     
     
     • A return to yoga class this week after a few weeks' break let me approach my practice with a beginner's mind (and body -- hello hamstrings!). That fresh perspective always helps me discover something new.
       
       
     • Chickadee's one-month anniversary was this week! We've worked so many kinks out, my "what-have-we-gotten-ourselves-into" meltdowns are lessening by the week, our sales are increasing by the week, we're really enjoying meeting new people, and we think we've made a great addition to our community.
       
       
     • I'm flying high over my visit yesterday to the beautiful Waldorf preschool that I hope J can attend in the fall. He's starting to get the hang of this potty training thing (hooray!), so I think it might happen.
       
       
     • The spring growth and spring walks and flung-open windows make me just so so so happy to be alive. And J is really turning into a little gardener: "Look mommy -- flowers! We need to water them to help them grow and grow!"
       
       
     • We're ready to head out to our first farmer's market of the season in a few minutes.
       
       
     • I wrote my first piece for a new collaborative Fairfield blog that I think is just about the coolest thing ever. Thanks for the opportunity, Will!

GratefulMo 3: I Need This

Not long ago a friend commented that she relates most to my blog when I seem a little off. Well, Renee must be LOVING this place the last couple months, because "off" has been rearing its little head more often than not around here.

I just realized that it has been six months (SIX MONTHS!) since I added to my gratitude list. That needs to be corrected. I've been so busy lately, which I know I've been saying pretty much non-stop for the last six months. I'm the kind of girl who likes my downtime, and when it's in short supply, I can start to bristle here and there. I guess it's when I feel like I have to be "on" every second of the day that I start to feel "off" inside. I've felt too busy to blog. Too busy to stop for five minutes and remind myself of the many reasons I have to be grateful.

But I know that when I DO take those few moments every day, I feel about a zillion times better. So I'm just going to go for it. GratefulMo 3 is in order, don't you think? Thirty days of gratitude to whip me into shape. I know you'll forgive me if my postings are a little rushed, maybe not always Pulitzer Prize material, maybe not even spell-checked, but heartfelt, for sure, and desperately needed.

Let's see if we can drum up five reasons to be grateful tonight:

222. I'm grateful that MY JURY DUTY WAS DEFERRED!
     
     
223. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've been given lately to learn and change and grow. Sometimes the way I go on and on, you would think I'm about to have a couple limbs amputated, for God's sake. Nope, just working really hard. And getting the PRIVILEGE to expand my career in exciting directions. Which will probably not kill me. Which is probably good for me when you get right down to it.
     
     Leading this project at work that is stretching me out of my comfort zone just a bit. Working with Glen to open this new business, which stretches me out of my comfort zone even a little bit more.
     
     It's good to learn how much strength I have within me, to push myself further and do more than I knew I could, to impress myself once in a while. It's good to learn where my limits are, when I need to ask for help, and when I need to ease up just a little bit. It's good to remember that I'm not perfect, to have the courage to say I'm sorry. Again. 
     
     
224. I'm grateful for the ease with which things have fallen into place to allow us to start our shop. The storefront immediately available in the perfect spot on our beloved town square. The trusted carpenter immediately available to renovate the space. The single e-mail that has resulted in enough beautiful merchandise to fill the shop and then some. The support and help from family and friends, especially from my dad who has now made four (or more?) six-hour round trips to come paint and polish and transport signs and serve as general moral support. The financial pieces that have lined up with almost eerily perfect precision to make this possible. Not that we're not WORKING HARD and encountering mini-obstacles, mind you, but overall this has the feeling of meant to be.
     
     
225. I'm grateful for my son's first smile of the morning. When he comes running into our room and climbs into our bed with a book for me to read, sunshine smile spreading across his happy little face, morning squeezes all around, nothing could feel better. I've never been a morning person, but those smiles are worth waking up for.
     
     
226. I'm equally grateful for Jack's bedtime routine, morning and evening quiet times the sweet bookends to our days often spent too long apart. Bath, PJs, books, cuddling. Graduating now from baby songs to Beatles songs, he can tell if I get the lyrics wrong, and he actually thinks I'm a great singer. Tonight when he thew his arm across me and asked me to cuddle "just a wittle bit more," I had a moment of thinking I couldn't feel happier.

GratefulMo: More Play Room

Even though I'm tired and sore from a weekend spent painting the Play Room, I'm excited about the great progress we made and so grateful for:

205. The preschool teacher who gave up her weekend to babysit while the parents painted.
     
     
206. The high school students and Rotary members who showed up to help (I shudder to think where this project would be without the Rotary, who has donated the bulk of the cash to this project so far, and sent three guys to help paint yesterday; I realize how vital groups like the Rotary are to the vibrancy of a small town like Fairfield...).
     
     
207. My husband who perched high on a ladder for two days to scrape and paint the 12-foot ceilings, and has offered to head over to the room by himself this week to do the final touchups; I didn't intend for Glen to devote his whole weekend to my pet project, but I'm touched that he did.

208. My fellow committee members who helped keep my enthusiasm for this project going more than once over the past few months when things got tough and I considered giving up.
     
     
     
     
209. My personal sense of accomplishment - My volunteer efforts in the past have been more peripheral, so it's really exciting to be so intimately involved with a project that will make an important impact in my community.



210. Before the painting extravagnza on Saturday and Sunday, Jack and I had a blast on Friday playing in the leaves. Come winter I know we'll make great use of the Play Room, but I'm grateful that those harsh winter days are almost impossible to imagine on beautiful fall days like these:

 

GratefulMo: The Play Room

200. I'm grateful that after months of work the Play Room project is finally seeing some tangible results! A truck pulled up to the Rec Center today hauling about 3,700 pounds of floor tiles. Half a dozen of us were there to unload the truck and haul the tiles up to the room. Thank God for Glen, who could carry six tiles for my one.
     
     This Saturday we're having a volunteer painting party (you're welcome to join us, 9AM, Fairfield Rec Center, free babysitting is available), the contractor is on deck to remodel the bathroom, and we'll soon be installing the new floor tiles. So within a few weeks phase one will be in place and ready to use while we keep raising money for phase two (the big play structure).
     
     It's so rewarding to see all of our hard work finally come to fruition. And I can't wait to take Jack to the Play Room on cold days this fall and winter. 

I Heart Free Stuff

So, are you on Freecycle? If you're not, you really should be. It's an online message board in your community where you post things you're looking to give away or hoping to get. In the six months or so since I joined I've given away a couple breast pumps that were on their last legs, an ancient computer, and various odds and ends, all of which were just taking up space in my house, and would be doubtful to have much if any resale value.

Today a family hauled away the musty old shed that otherwise our contractor would have demolished and sent to the landfill as we're making way for our new garage. When I mentioned that I was going to give it away, our contractor was surprised that anyone would want it, but I actually had half a dozen people interested in it, and a couple of them had really compelling stories (this family lost three sheds full of recreation gear on their river lot during the recent Iowa flooding); I wish I had more than one shed to give away. 

Last week I posted a request for some purple coneflower, and ended up being invited to dig up my pick of plants from a local woman's beautiful but overcrowded perennial garden. I came home with a couple boxes full of transplants, an armful of fresh basil, and an invitation to attend a weekly summer garden tour in town.

Outside of Freecycle, of course there's the tried-and-true "leave-it-on-the-curb" method, which Glen and I used to amazing success after cleaning out the shed last night. It turns out there's a hot market for rusty lawn chairs and grody old camping equipment in Fairfield. 

And last but not even close to least, Jack is blessed by an amazing wardrobe made up almost entirely of his friend Theo's hand-me-downs, which he then passes on to his cousin Dane when he's done wearing them.

I love this sharing of stuff in every way. There's the thriftiness aspect, for sure. My head spins when I think of how much money we save on clothes for Jack, and how much I would have had to spend to buy those same flowers from a garden center. I love the mini-connections I've made with people I've shared with, the positive environmental impact, and the beautiful synchronicity when something I would have trashed turns out to be a real treasure to another family.

Fish Wishes and Ice Cream Dreams

There's a little gelato stand inside Small Planet in Fairfield, run as a separate business from the restaurant. Tonight for the second time Jack and I showed up during the posted business hours for a special gelato treat, and were told by the wait staff that the folks who run the stand weren't there. This is nutso, because there are signs up and down the street advertising the gelato; why are they working so hard to market the place if they aren't going to show up? Tonight they even had all of their supplies sitting out, including a tip jar full of coins that Jack tried to pilfer. And one of the flavors listed was fresh coconut sorbet; I would have paid double for a scoop of that. 

There's nowhere else in town to get gelato, so we headed to the Sweet Spot for soft serve. Mama loves her gelato and wishes it were more easily available in Fairfield. Which got me thinking about some other treats I crave, but can't get around here. Fairfield is known for its entrepreneurial spirit, so maybe if I put my hopes out there, some ambitious soul will make them come true. A girl can dream, can't she?

Here's hoping for:

• The aforementioned gelato, available at regular hours
  
  
• Real sushi, bonus points for a sushi-go-round where the plates circle the room on a conveyor belt and you grab what you want
  
  
• A place to enjoy a free-range hamburger and a cold beer outdoors
  
  
• Flavorful Thai food
  
  
• Tapas

Double bonus points if these treats are all made available all at one restaurant with efficient service. Super triple bonus points if you set up shop in the old gas station/restaurant near our house (the building previously known as Checkers; the windows have been covered with brown paper for months now, so it looks like something super secret is going on inside; hopefully they're perfecting their recipes for spicy tuna rolls and dark chocolate gelato).

****

Finally, a pciture of Jack and friends that showed up on the front page of the local paper last week. This isn't related to the post, but I couldn't resist sharing. How cute is this?

Sweet Sweet Summer

Grateful for a sweet summer weekend:

184. The Social Event of the Year — The first Friday of every month in Fairfield is the Art Walk just a quick walk from our house on the square. This Friday's Art Walk was the annual Italian night put on by the local Italian American group. The highlight for me is the FOOD and I pretty much fasted all day in preparation: a piece of four-cheese lasagne as big as my head, TO-DIE-FOR cannoli, and chocolate gelato. An opera singer that had Jack dancing and clapping like it was a rock show, bocce ball for Jo and her friends, sidewalk chalk and bubbles for Jack, lots of friends and neighbors to chat with, good people watching — so much diversity in Fairfield and really a suprising amount of great fashion and an abundance of attractive people in our little town. We're lucky to have such a great event to look forward to every year.
     
     
185. Our First Swim of the Season — We're definitely a pool-loving family, and yesterday was our first trip of the summer to our favorite pool in Mount Pleasant. I'm declaring the trip a success for two reasons; JoEllen proclaimed an afternoon hanging out at the pool with only her family for company "not as boring as I thought it would be," and Jack played so hard that he was a sleeping little bobble head in his car seat before we hit the highway.
     
     
186. More than a Bag of Lettuce — After my neighbor Christi and I went on our walk this morning, I stopped at their house to admire their vegetable garden. Her husband Terrell was outside working in the garden and sent me home with some lettuce and radishes and a huge start of lemon basil for my own garden. I love eating what's in season, especially when I know it's organic. And I love having neighbors who will share their garden's bounty (call me when you make that first batch of salsa, guys, and I'll be right over with the tequila!).
     
     
187. Summer Curls — Although I'm not thrilled with the humidity's affect on my hairstyle, it does wonders for Jack's sweet little ringlets. How can you not love those curls! In this picture, our little curlyhead chose to eat his breakfast on the floor in front of the fridge so he could admire the painting he brought home from daycare last week.

More Moby

In case you missed it in the comments, Heather gave me a couple links to articles about last weekend in Fairfield:

Moby's guitarist describing his experience in the Men's Vogue blog; here's a snippet from the article:

Despite the out and out weirdness of these events, I must say without any irony that the citizens of Fairfield are seriously on to something. Not only did these people know how to have a good time, but they were some of the nicest, smartest, and most vibrant folks I've met in a very long time. And whether or not it has anything to do with Transcendental Meditation, an outsize portion of them just happened to be conspicuously good looking. Deserving of further investigation? I think so.

Thank you, universe, for allowing us to get to Fairfield. Something tells me the journey has only just begun...

A play-by-play of the free Sunday night concert (we went Saturday night); here's a pretty funny quote:

Next up was Moby. He is a very funny guy. He publicly apologized to Mayor Malloy for missing lunch on Sunday because he was out 'partying with the locals' on Saturday night and then, at four a.m., he went to a house party. He simply wasn't awake for his luncheon date.

Don't Nobody Know My Troubles But God

Today I'm especially grateful that:

109. I am, at the moment, not painting, scraping, taping, cleaning paintbrushes, running to the hardware store for the 197th time, or doing anything even remotely related to painting.



110. If I so choose, I could go the rest of my life without painting again. (For the record, there's a much-needed exterior painting project planned for the weekend, but let's not think about that for a day or two.)



111. Although there were a couple questionable moments after about 36 hours spent painting the kitchen together, Glen and I are still happily married, and still friends.



112. I purposely got paint on the ugly blinds and light fixture so I would have no choice but to get new ones.



113. Our paint job KICKS ASS.



114. We forced ourselves to go to the Chrysta Bell/Moby/Donovan concert on Saturday night (part of a big annual TM weekend in Fairfield funded by David Lynch) even though we were dead tired and had paint splatters in our hair. And I'm so glad. It was so worth it. Chrysta Bell did a cool cover of Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home, and Donovan's Mellow Yellow singalong was fun. But Moby was definitely the highlight for us. A short acoustic set with Moby and a friend on guitar, and an awesome female vocalist (this post's title references their beautiful rendition of Natural Blues). Moby was very funny with a self-deprecating sense of humor that was kind of unexpected. Chrysta Bell and Donovan are both big-time TM'ers, but Moby was just at the conference for the weekend to learn about TM.
     
     It turns out that after the concert the whole gang showed up at the Maharishi School prom, where they all performed, and David Lynch crowned the prom king and queen (which I later heard were chosen by being drawn out of a hat; how cool is that?).
     
     Then it turns out that Moby was out and about in little ol' Fairfield bars and parties until the wee hours. Yesterday I saw pictures of him posing at a party with Glen's co-worker. Then we heard that he was at a party at OUR NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS' place late Saturday night. Next door! While Glen and I painted with Moby cranked on the stereo (after the concert, we are now big fans), he was partying just a stone's throw from our house. (Small-town rumor mill has it that they wouldn't actually teach Moby TM because you need to be free from drugs and alcohol first.)
     
     This item on the list is veering slightly away from the topic of gratitude, but I guess when you live in a small town, you can't help but be grateful when something helps to break the routine a bit.



115. Jack had a great time with his grandparents over the weekend, while Glen and I got a nice little breather.

P.S.  Thanks for the comments on my last post -- a few regulars and a few people I hadn't heard from before. With 12 commenters causing me to send a buck each to the Play Room, I'm not quite in danger of breaking the bank yet, so I'll keep it up through the end of the weekend, a dollar for the Play Room in honor of each commenter. And proceeds from my Amazon or iTunes links through the weekend will also go to the Play Room. Between my small donation on behalf of my commenters, a couple donations through the link on this site, and a couple Amazon purchases, I've raised about $60 bucks for the Play Room as a result of my last post. Thanks for your help so far!

P.P.S.  I mentioned that I can tell from my blog stats that I have visitors other than my mom, hubby, and sisters. I should clarify that even if they were the whole of my audience, I would keep writing this blog; who else but my devoted family would be as delighted as Jack's mama by his progress with the potty and the ABCs?

P.P.P.S. My blog stats tell me that a few people stop by my site from outside the U.S. It would be fun to hear from you. :-)

The Play Room

My stats tell me more people actually do read this blog than just my mom, sisters, and hubby, and I'd like to know more about who's stopping by. To encourage you to say hi, I'm going to kill two birds with one stone and give a buck to the Play Room for every person who comments on my blog between now and Wednesday. (If folks forward this to every person they know and I'm inundated with comments, I of course reserve the right to pull the plug when the kids' college savings are in jeopardy!)

I haven't written much about the Play Room here (although friends and family have heard me go on and on about it), but it's my pet project these days. I'm part of the Fairfield/Vedic City Mom's Group which is raising money to build an indoor play center at the Fairfield Rec Center.

We have lots of great outdoor playgrounds in Fairfield, but when it's rainy or cold outside, there's really no public space for kids to run and play (unless you want to take them to the playland at one of the local fast food restaurants!). An added bonus is that the Play Room will be at the Rec Center, making it easier for moms and dads to sneak in a workout.

So drop by to say hey, and help the Play Room while you're at it. If you're really motivated to give to the Play Room, you can donate online through the link above or through the permanent link on the right side of this page. And if you buy anything using my Amazon or iTunes links or search between now and Wednesday, I'll donate that cash to the Play Room, too. (Can you tell how badly Jack and I want this thing to be built?)

By the way, mucho money was raised last night at Fairfield's annual Rotary auction, and the Play Room is one of the recipients this year. When they release the official tally, I'll update the total on the right.