Grasshopper Days 5-16-11

Grasshopper Days

For today, May 16, 2011

 Outside my window... gray and wet.  Again.  This has got to be the coldest, wettest spring I can remember.  And our gas bill (heat with natural gas) bears that out.  Sheesh.

Still, trees are mostly leafed out, and the cherry and apple blossoms are blowing all over town.  One of the main streets we drive looks like there has been a pink snow.

I am thinking...  I missed church again yesterday, after being out of town last week for Mother's Day.  My in-laws were coming over and I was running behind, trying to get a roast in the crock-pot before we left for church.  Might have made it too but, being an idiot, I hurried to peel the spuds and... dang, that new peeler is sharp.

Yah.  Really sharp.

In fact, I cut a chunk of the pad right off my left pointer finger.  And it bled.  And bled.  And bled.  For about forty-five minutes.  I wrapped it up in gauze and squeezed until my fingers were tired of squeezing, and then put a clothes-pin on it.  Kept setting the timer.  Sit in a chair.  Be still.  Elevate it above my head, while squeezing.  Five minutes.  Still bleeding.  Ten minutes.  Still bleeding.  Ten more minutes.  Fifteen.  Give it another fifteen.  Until it finally slowed down enough that I could let go.

Well.  That was exciting.  But not the good kind.

So I missed you all at church.  Meanwhile, the end of my finger is wrapped and taped in a big white blob, which I keep raised a lot of the time.  Consequently, I appear to be perpetually about to break out in a chorus of This Little Light of Mine, and typing is a bit of a challenge.  Every time I put that finger down I get extra letters... lots of editing.  *sigh*

I am thankful for...  had a good visit yesterday, the boys enthusiastically pitched in with clearing up and doing dishes and did NOT break any of the nice ones, Kerry is improving (still coughing, but better), and we have just four more weeks of school.  And testing, but that's no biggie.

I am praying for...  a friend's husband, Dominic, who apparently fell from a height and has a brain injury.  His wife and toddler are shuttling back and forth between here and Seattle, to be with him.  And she's about to have another baby.

Always praying for my mom and the treatment she'll be having for her breast cancer.  Praying she will be healed.

I am creating...  nearly done with the baby quilt.  Just have to bind it.  Pics when it's done.

I am going...  stay-at-home Monday :D  No major plans this week, but the boys have dentist appointments on Saturday.  

I am reading...  James Herriott, with the boys, and between books for me.

I am hoping...  the quietness I'm hearing isn't a bad sign ;D

I am hearing...  yes, quietness, hmmmm.....  And rain dripping.

I am remembering...  very, very strange dreams.

From the learning rooms...  onward with Algebra, finding the area of irregular shapes, and multiplying two digit numbers, (Wyatt, Tate, and Gunnar, respectively), words with dict, courtesy in the car, India after partition and Pakistan, Iraq and Iran and the hostage crisis, creative writing with Harris Burdick, and winding up much of our language work - yay!

From the kitchen...  lots of leftovers, hurray!

Around the house...  relatively tidy, but I just noticed an Easter decoration I forgot to put away.  Oops.

On my mind...  hoping it will dry out.  The boys have a mowing job to do for a neighbor and it has been too wet.  The grass is getting pretty long...

Noticing that...  such a little injury is SO ANNOYING.  (Like some cheese with that whine?)

Pondering these words...  

saw this on a friend - Mike Edsall's - blog -

Marriage is like a mismatched couple in a three-legged race.

The winners have learned to run in sync,

each limiting their freedom to maximize the effort.

One of my favorite things...  all the spontaneous hugs I get from the boys :D

A few plans for the rest of the week...  not much, and I like it.

Here is a picture I am sharing...

Tate loves to set up what he calls an Arrange.