Another Life

Fr 240
Originally uploaded by Russ Posegate

I was going through our 700+ photos from our five weeks in France. (in 2005....BC) I wanted to find some photos that I could print 8x10s of and frame for this vast expanse of empty wall in our bedroom.

As I wandered through the photos and all the memories of our time there I was just flat out amazed at all the amazing things we did and saw. Holy crap!

Unfortunately, most of our photos are too small to make anything bigger than a 4x6 so I'm not sure what to do about my empty wall and my desire to relive the memories from that time.

This is a photo of some very tiny cable cars in the French Alps. There were 2 lines of them so we took this photo from our own little cable car. Like I said...amazing!

Time to Myself

I am really starting to miss Russ and Evan a lot. I can't wait for them to get home this afternoon and give them big hugs. Despite worrying about them I've enjoyed the rest and freedom of this couple days of solitude. I feel like I've had a nice mix of relaxing and industry...and it seems like so much of both compared to my normal life. :)

Here's what I've been up to...Moms and Dads out there will be jealous of this list. Others may just scratch their heads as to why these things are worth bragging about.

1) Turn on music. I like and turn it up so loud that I wouldn't hear anything a toddler might be doing.
2) Unhurriedly wash and put away the greens from our CSA--unhurriedly!
3) Spend several hours in a row working on a project outside during which I made 4 trips out in the car whenever it felt convenient without telling anyone or taking anyone with me. These hours resulted in a nice new path and a new sitting area on our front stoop.
4) Then I sat in said sitting area and called a friend. I talked to that friend for a good long time while doing NOTHING! No folding laundry, no doing dishes, no interruptions. I needed a rest from all that yard work, after all. :)
5) I ate both my lunch and dinner outside by myself and have yet to need to run the dishwasher or wash a dish.
6) I took a bath without having to ask permission of my husband a la "Could you watch Evan so I could take a bath?" and all the imposition and guilt that a question like this brings (at least a little bit)
7) I left for my knitting class without having to say goodbye to anyone or feel like maybe I shouldn't go after all. And class was lovely as usual.
8) Watched a girly movie while knitting until midnight because I knew I wouldn't have to be on duty the next day.

And this is just Thursday!!!!

Practicing

Practicing
Originally uploaded by Russ Posegate

Something Russ likes to do.

Aren't they both just too cute??

Evan finally gave us a "fake" smile for the camera! Until now it's been a matter of catching him smiling and lately it's been "take his picture before he notices you are taking it" because he'll hide his face and protest the photo shoot.

Riding the pirate ship

Riding the pirate ship
Originally uploaded by Russ Posegate

Something Evan likes to do

Gratitude

I am part of a lovely little online group through my favorite website, Ravelry, which has a thread called "gratitude". Folks just post there whenever they are feeling grateful for things in their life. It seems to be the tradition of this thread to make a list of 4 or 5 things and start each with "I'm grateful for...". So...here goes:

I'm grateful for beautiful summer weather in Ithaca.

I'm grateful for some uninterrupted alone time at home...although I do miss my boys.

I'm grateful for a lovely yard around our house that is getting lovelier every day.

I'm grateful that Russ and Evan arrived in New Jersey safe and sound and that they had a good trip.

I'm grateful for Russell and Evan...so grateful.