Month: May 2006

Plans successfully executed

By / May 6, 2006 / 10 Comments

My goal for this week was to get the veggie beds prepped and plants into the ground. I had to get it done because next week (and the week after and the week after that..) I’ll be busy prepping lists and mailing out books. Now I have neat rows of little bitty green things in the ground. They each have their own tomato cage as well. The cages are far too large for these baby plants and the effect is rather like a toddler clomping around in daddy’s shoes. BUT if I don’t put the cages on when the plants are babies, I will intend to do it until they are monsters far too large to be caged.

The other goal for this week was to plan and execute Kiki’s birthday/slumber party. That happened last night and a good time was had by all involved. Kiki invited two friends. Then Link’s friend showed up. I was okay with that since it would keep Link busy during this girly event. Then all four of my neighbor’s kids wandered over from their adjoining back yard. These kids are practically family since our yards are shared. Besides they all wandered downstairs to watch Barbie the Magic Pegasus with Gleek and were as quiet as angels. Link and is friend were playing pokemon on gameboys. Kiki and her two friends were playing The Queen’s Necklace and then doing a craft project on the table. All was peaceful until it came time to dish out ice cream. The words “ice cream” spoken softly have the ability to carry throughout the house and sometimes the entire neighborhood. As soon as I spoke them I had 10 children in my kitchen all clamoring to be served. (The neighbor’s toddler had been claimed and put to bed.) I quickly instituted a serving order. Birthday girl and friends first, then everyone else starting from the youngest. This worked well because it made Kiki and her friends feel special, fed the noisiest as quickly as possible, and even the last child to be served felt cool because she had the distinction of being oldest.

Thank you to everyone who sent gifts, they helped make Kiki’s birthday extra special.

Book preorders closed last night. I haven’t done a final count, but I’m pretty sure we had over 1800 books preordered. This is well into the “we can breathe easy now” range. Only I can’t breathe completely easy until I’ve actually mailed them all and we start getting delighted commentary from people who have recieved their books.

So, life is good today. I’m happy, I’m relaxed, and I’m trying to ignore the clouds of stress that are looming over the next few weeks.

Butter on too much bread

By / May 3, 2006 / 16 Comments

In The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins talks about feeling stretched or faded like butter that has been spread across too much bread. I know that feeling. I have four kids. Each of those kids has a whole loaf’s worth of wants and needs. It is the best I can do to cover the critical pieces. No matter how thin I spread myself I cannot butter all that bread. I cannot meet all the needs that my children have. This is why it takes a village to raise a child. I have to rely on friends, parents of friends, teachers, neighbors, and acquaintances to all help meet the needs of these developing people.

But oh how I wish there was more of me to go around. I wish I had more time/energy/desire to read stories to kids. I wish I could always be kind and cheerful while requiring chores. I wish I could spend time playing the piano with Gleek. I wish I could concentrate on helping Patches master potty training. I wish I could sit for 30 minutes each night and listend to Link reading aloud. I wish I could spend more time playing games with the kids. I wish I could always keep the kitchen clean. I wish I could be better at cooking healthy meals. I wish I could be better at controling all our diets. I wish I was smarter, better, faster, stronger.

It hurts to see things that they need which I can’t supply.

Hope of America

By / May 3, 2006

Ushering four children who are over excited and up past their bedtimes through a crowd of 20,000 people is not my idea of a good time. And yet I got to do this last night. I also got to coax Gleek and Patches up and down several sets of bleacher stairs in quest for a place to sit. Then I got to entertain Gleek and Patches during the moments that they got bored. It did not help that Patches has definitely entered a “pushing the limits” phase of development.

Why did I do all of this? Because our school district puts on an annual patriotic program and broadcasts it to troops in Iraq. Kiki and Link have been practicing songs for this program for months. Kiki even brought home a CD of the songs so she could practice at home. Gleek is a sponge for anything musical and so she’s learned the songs too. Even Patches knew that “hope of america” was a big deal and something to be excited about. I believe it is good for kids to learn the ideals our country is founded on. I think it is good for kids to learn to love our country. Then as they get older and learn how our country so often fails to meet it’s ideals, they may feel inspired to make this country into the place we all wish it could be.

I’ve known for months that I’d be attending this program with Gleek and Patches and sans Howard who had a conflicting event. So yesterday I packed appropriately with a backpack full of stuff. We had water bottles and sandwiches and snack food and blankets and a couple of stuffed animals and binoculars and a camera and wallet and keys. It was wise of me to pack as if for a backpack trip because the event started with a hike uphill from our parking place to the event center. Then we dropped Link and Kiki off to their separate rendezvous and went in quest for three seats. Usually the “harried mother with two small kids” persona nets me some help, but not in a crowd this size where everyone else is as harried as me.

Gleek and Patches loved the experience. They loved watching the dances and songs. Gleek loved singing along. True they did get bored at times, but mostly they loved it all. Kiki and Link loved participating. Gleek wished she could have been down there dancing and singing. So I definitely put this in the “Things I wouldn’t choose to do if left to myself, but definitely worth doing for the kids” category.

Spot the Tayler Child

By / May 3, 2006 / 2 Comments

Hope of America Hope of America
Our local school district sponsors a yearly patriotic event at an indoor stadium. 7000 children, 15,000 adults all in the same place. As you can see, our seats were about as far up as it was possible to go. Here is your chance to play “spot the Tayler child.” Link is on the floor in front of the letter ‘Q.’ Kiki is up next to the flag wearing a yellow shirt.

Why you should save

By / May 2, 2006 / 14 Comments

I recently heard a radio program which was lamenting the negative savings rate in America. The guest was an author of a book about saving for retirement and naturally had lots of opinions on the subject. As usual she was touting her book and was giving tips on how listeners could improve their financial situation and save money. Among the tips were: Setting up an automatic debit from paycheck into savings account. Only having one credit card. Using cash to purchase whenever possible. Impose a waiting period on purchases to avoid impulse spending. and doing the math on a purchase to figure out the final price with interest.

All of these tips are good, but I’ve heard them all before in many different iterations. Every book or expose or report I hear, watch, or read, gives tips such as these and emphasizes how important it is for people to save money. What none of these reports, or books, or exposes make clear is why people should save money. Well okay, they say “for retirement,” but what is “retirement” to the average 30 year old? It is forever away. People need to stop saving for “retirement” and instead save for something specific.

So ask yourself, what is your dream? Do you dream of owning a farm in the countryside? Figure out how much it will cost to buy and to run, then save money hand over fist to make it happen. Set a goal that by age 60 you’ll be able to afford that farm and have enough money to keep it running for the rest of your life. Do you dream of taking a trip around the world? Do some research. Figure how much it will cost and set a goal for when you’ll have that money saved. Do you dream of never having to work again? Figure out how much money you need to have saved so that you can live on the interest. Do you dream of making pottery and selling it? Figure out how much money you need to have saved so that you can live on it for two years while your pottery business gets off the ground. Do you dream of owning a fancy car? Figure how much it will cost to buy it and maintain it, then save for that.

The key here is to plan ahead. When Howard and I got married we had several goals. We wanted Howard to be able to earn his living creatively. We wanted to own a house. We wanted to have several children. We structured all of our spending to accomodate those goals. When Howard got a pay raise we wouldn’t raise our standard of living much, mostly we’d save it against a planned goal. Even when we had the house and the kids, we still spent carefully because we had the dream of Howard being able to make a living as a cartoonist. We did spend some money on luxuries like nice furniture and new cars, but each of these purchases was balanced against the larger goal. Each time we carefully considered whether the expense added more value to our lives than having Howard work from home would. Eventually we reached the day when Howard quit Novell. That was scary and I confess I did some second guessing about some of the things we’d chosen to spend money on. But we’ve scraped by and it looks like we’ll get to keep on going.

Don’t just save for “retirement” save for something specific. Know what your dreams are and take steps to make them reality.

worms and rocks

By / May 2, 2006 / 10 Comments

Today I began turning over the dirt in our soon-to-be vegetable garden. Gleek and Patches delightedly watched the process. Gleek declared “Oh! You are good at finding worms!”

I’m also good at finding large river rocks. Fortunately Gleek and Patches cheerfully carried these away for me and put them on a nearby rock pile. I had to stop for this morning, but later today I’ll be back out there digging up worms and rocks for the amusement of my children.