Football Jersey and a Moustache

Alex has his first flag football game of the season today.  I was surprised to learn that he could wear his football jersey to school, in lieu of his regular school uniform.  So there went my son this morning, in his football jersey--I believe it's what he'll wear for the game, as I don't think they wear all that traditional padding.  I was quite fazed at the idea of my little boy wearing a football jersey, like a teenage jock in high school!
He is really the character lately, though.  I guess he's still in the in-between stage.  I declared last night with conviction, "Alex, you're two!"  The silly boy drew a moustache and goatee on his face with a marker--a permanent Sharpie marker!  He didn't realize it was permanent marker--but neither does a two-year-old!  Luckily, I realized what he was doing the moment it was done.  I'd seen him carrying that Sharpie into the restroom, and it hit me in a few moments, "Alex, that's a permanent marker!"  Fortunately, it mostly came off...  He thought it was quite hilarious.  I wondered if his behavior was due to some sort of strange food reaction...
I'll have to remember to take the camera today, to catch my boy in action--if he gets to play.  Not sure exactly what his role is...mostly because I know nothing about the game and don't attend practices.  I think he does the kick-off thing at the beginning of the game...

Hanoverian Line

My new passionate interest is actually quite an old one--in more than one way!  The most distant genealogical line in my family is that through the royal line--King George II of Hanover being the most recent monarch to grace the family tree.  From there, you know it goes wild with info.  Not that I think 'royalty' have greater inherent worth than commoners of the time--it's just that there simply aren't the same sorts of available records and histories of the commoners.  And the royalty does have the added benefit of hobnobbing with all sorts of other famous people from history--bringing history very much to life for me!  My ancestors rubbed elbows with and even employed famous philosophers, authors, and artists.  They associated and clashed with other European royalty. 

You know, there is some question regarding whether the line actually holds that far back.  The scandals go on and on for these folks (including multitudinous affairs) and I have somewhere in the vicinity of 10 SC generations before we even get back to William, Duke of Cumberland in England--that's 'Butcher' Cumberland, for those in the know!  Despite the very real skepticism of whether the blood lines hold, I'm going on the assumption that they do for now, as there's a very real excitement in thinking that I am descended directly from Mary, Queen of Scots.  Pretty fantastic, right?  And that my ancestors employed Liebniz, hosted Swift, elevated England to a super-power, etc., etc...  They may have a been louts and scoundrels, but they were notable louts and scoundrels--and, simply, the info is there and available and interesting!

So, as we learn more about these folks, more associations are being made, and Michael made one yesterday that was quite exciting for me.  We are looking into horseback riding lessons for Fiona (a couple of months of lessons were promised in lieu of a birthday party back in May!), and the stable that he'd been referred to specializes in Hanoverian horses.  He called to relate that tidbit.  Yep, folks...that's my gggggggggggggggggg(#?)-grandaddy's doin's!  King George I was known for his love of horses, and he bred the Hanoverians from thoroughbreds and Holsteins in Celle (his wife was Sophia Dorothea of Celle).  Know how I know?  Well, when Michael heard of the breed, I simply opened up a book I have on horses (that I also referenced for my Silk trilogy), and there was the bit about King George!  See how very available that info is?  And once you have the hooks, it just opens those doors wide...

Precious Water

"It's not fair!  Why does Alex get to wash his hands?" 

Not something I hear every day, right?  Yes, the fortunate, privileged Alex stood at the kitchen sink this morning luxuriating his paws in a stream of water (poured by yours truly).  We had bar soap and everything.

The children had been awake for less than a half hour and yet were already feeling the water crisis acutely, as the household water had to be shut off last night due to a kitchen leak.  Fortunately, the leak began while Michael and I were sitting at the kitchen table after the kids were already settled in bed.  If we'd gone to bed at the same time, we'd have woken to find the downstairs flooded, as the leak involved a steady pour of water from the icemaker dispenser.

As a sidenote, this is really quite the curious event, as an almost identical situation occurred last month at our home in SC (my grandparents' old place).  There, however, we didn't get to it in time, and the 'fix' included ripping up linoleum and dealing with fungal growth in the wall behind the leak.  Quite the awful experience--so, yes, I truly am very grateful that we were present when the water started pouring from the fridge last night!

Poor Alex had gotten blamed by me for prior hints and indications of the impending crisis, as he's our 'ice boy'.  Fiona and I rarely get ice, but Alex loves ice water.  In both locations, I'd been having repetitive occurences of puddled water in front of the fridge, and I assumed it was his fault--and I have often seen him drop pieces of ice on the floor, so the blame was not entirely without justification!   

So, until our personal handyman Michael (a.k.a. 'Pa', think Charles Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie) can get this leak fixed, we are without household running water.  It's not actually the horribly unpleasant experience it was when I was a girl, though, as we have a backup water supply.  No, not a couple of jugs stashed away.  We have two huge barrels of water outside!  Yes, Michael installed rain barrels a year ago or so, and this is the first time that we've actually really needed the water.  We've used the water for watering plants a bit, but today the gratitude sets in, for I have already brought in several loads of water--for handwashing, for the toilet...  It's nice to have water to wipe down the counters and all such.  Oh, and yes, Fiona did get to wash her hands! 

I'm not actually sure what the potability of the water is--and I don't think I'm going to find out either!  Not this go-round, anyway (though it looks and smells fine)!  Luckily, I'd already filled water bottles for the kids' lunches last night and put them in the fridge.  That actually doesn't often occur, but it was nice. Fiona asked, with big eyes, "Mom, could I have a sip of my lunch water?" this morning.  She was thrilled to have the water available. 

You know, I've always wanted to have a hand pump for water--just in case.  I often have worried about emergency scenarios--and, on the multiple occasions that we were briefly out of water in my childhood, I always thought how grateful I'd be for that alternate source of water.  Now, with two huge barrels of water, I feel pretty luxurious about it all!  Isn't that funny?  Oh, the things we normally take for granted!

Pecan Crackin'

We gathered some pecans this past weekend at my grandparent's place in SC.  Michael thinks the tree is over a hundred years old.  It is huge!  Anyhow, so fun to harvest something at last, as the pears and figs didn't make at all this year.  Or, if they did, the birds and squirrels got them!  This afternoon Alex helped me shell enough to make pesto--with our own basil plants, as well.  I toast them and use them instead of pine nuts, and we all approve of the switch-up!  After dinner, I suggested that we crack some more for cookies tomorrow, and Michael, now home from work, pulled out the Rocket Pecan-Cracker!  It's fantastic!  The pressure is applied at the ends so that you end up with far more whole nuts in the end, rather than all those little pieces.  We're not entirely sure who we inherited the device from, but we've had it for a while and I was fairly clueless as to its purpose.  Now I know!  Fiona played the piano--between dashing over to try out the rocket-cracker--and it was quite the lovely old-fashioned evening!

Sticking to all sorts of Budgets

Hello!  It's early October and absolutely beautiful weather.  Sound vague, don't I?  Yes, actually, I'm feeling rather vague these days...  It seems as though I'm sort of in my cycle of the same old, same old and simply am not bursting with any new insights...well, except for the insight that it's okay not to have new ideas and insights for a time!  Sometimes, I'm afraid, I tend to jump from one fascinating subject to another.  And that's alright, at times.  However, there's something to be said for simple tenacity and seeing things through--especially when you've found something good. 

You know, Alex is in his 9th year at Ellis Montessori.  Nine years is a long time, by pretty much anyone's standards--and he has yet another year there.  Fiona's in her fifth year there (she missed out on the pre-K lottery, so she'll have one year less than him there--a measly nine years when she's done!).  So, between the two of them, that's nineteen school years.  My point?  Well, I did my homework.  We visited schools and I talked with teachers, we looked at the fantastic public school funding and were satisfied.  We moved to Savannah and enrolled Alex.  Now, given the oft-precarious state of our finances, I am ever more convinced that the move was a good one.  No matter how I loved any of the fantastic Montessori or Waldorf schools in Washington--well, I'm not sure how we could have consistently afforded them.  That said, though, isn't it always that way?  Whenever a bill disappears--say you pay off your car, for instance--it's not like you have that extra $300 every month on hand.  Of course, we've never had a paycheck subsistence, so perhaps it is like that for some folks.  Maybe our income would have met our need.  That aside, though, I actually did think that Ellis Montessori compared quite favorably with the private schools I visited and was more beautiful, besides.

Okay, so this blog is about tenacity and not finances, right?  Except that finances have very much been on my mind lately.  Deep breath....whew.  My sister posted a youtube rant on FB about the federal government's deficit this morning, and I found it absolutely hilarious--especially after I'd just been paying bills.  The fellow was right, though.  How ridiculous is it that we tout capitalism as the model, and yet we borrow all our money from the Communists?  We're proving ourselves stupid.  And the fact that us normal folks have to qualify for car loans and mortgages, but our hoity-toity government folks don't think they have to look at their own 'credit score' and stop borrowing money?  Anyhow, I'm just repeating his rant here, but it struck a chord, especially when each of us as individuals is worriedly scanning our own bank account in the meantime, trying to stay within our means.

And that, my dears, along with a subsequent conversation with said sister about her dissatisfaction with the local elementary school in her area, is where the little love note about Ellis came from.  I love the fact that my children can go there without concerns about having to withdraw due to insufficient finances.  We've been blessed with, hmm, about 14 years cumulatively thus far of zero tuition there.  Heavens!  Can you even begin to do the math?  Don't forget interest!

So...see?  You haven't been missing anything with my lack of postings lately, as they would have all been along this vein.  This appreciation for Ellis is occasioning me the thought to pat myself on the back a bit for finding it--and to remind myself of the benefits of sticking with things.  

I've been struck with a new inspiration for a book, actually.  Mind you, I'm not certain about it all, but it came on in a burst and I've had a little of that will-o'-the-wisp feeling of following that notion.  I've been gathering some reading materials and researching on-line in that vein.  However, I'm in the midst of my French study and still need to finish book #3 of the Silk trilogy.  I've also been trying to deal with my grandparents' home that we've inherited.  I hesitate to say 'remodeling', as I'm not structurally altering anything, really.  It's amazing what bleach, primers and paints can do for a room--along with some basic furnishings (used, of course!) and decorations.  

Between kids and all these things and my own regular home maintenance and daily chores and general inclination towards somnolence :), well, I've just been finding it difficult to structure myself and find that right balance.  Balancing time, balancing checkbook...yep, I guess those are my issues right now.  And this blog generally helps me to clarify what it is that I want to focus on, for you know how OCD I can be, when I get the inclination.  Today, I'm reminding myself of the importance and power of tenacity. 

We should make our decisions with great care and deliberation and then stick to them--unless, of course, some unexpected factor arises that really does cause things to weigh in differently.  I've had a couple of friends who have driven me absolutely mad with their constant wondering, even after they'd begun a course of action.  As much as we'd like to think that there's one right answer, though, it sometimes just becomes a matter of sticking with the decision we've made.  Not that the other decision was wrong or that we've chosen the 'one' path that fate deemed correct--simply that we need to function and move forward.  I'm not saying that we can't change our minds--only that there should be a reason to do so, and not simply a whim based on momentary capriciousness.

So, yes...I have quite the capricious mind at times.  I found a language course in Spanish that I've had in the garage and was quite excited about it.  Alex and Fiona are taking Spanish, and I had years of Spanish in school.  It would be easy, right?  I could set aside French for a little while and refresh my Spanish, right?  Yes, that's the sort of whim that takes hold of me.  And I have dusted off the course and brought it upstairs...oh so tempting to deviate from my French study.  And, frankly, there is perfectly good reason and value in doing so.  Except that I am reminding myself that I'm studying French now.  The Spanish course can wait.

I do allow a certain amount of capriciousness, especially with regards to things that don't matter and are simply for entertainment.  I've started tons of books and not finished them.  I never used to be like that.  I wasted countless hours in tenaciously finishing books with no real worth--simply because I'd started them.  However, I'm finding the converse to be true now.  I'm not finishing books that I really do enjoy.  And I find it a little unsettling and unsatisfactory.  I think that I need to strike a balance there--to show some tenacity for tenacity's sake--for stability's sake--unless there's good reason not to do so.  For instance, the boring books should be chucked, but I should try to finish those that I think are worth finishing before starting another based on the slightest whim.

So, at this moment, on a broader level, that means sticking with French, listening to the rest of those 'intellectual devotionals', and finishing my trilogy this fall.  Fascinating and inspiring future work, which may include researching/writing the new Hanoverian novels and refreshing my Spanish, can hold.  It's kind of like sticking to a budget...and I suppose it is a sort of 'time budget', right?    

Alrighty, now that that's settled, I'll get back to it!