The Seed Finally Did Take Root

My MIL is an amazing woman. Dedicated to her family, she always inspires me with her example of charity, faith, devotion and love.

For AH's birthday this year she included a sweet little gem of an article that she originally cut out of the Seattle Times on October 14, 1973 by Erma Bombeck and was titled "The Seed Finally Did Take Root." (Originally published in 1971 under the title "The Green, Green Grass of Home") This humorous story brought several chuckles from me as I read it and realized how befitting it was for her third child (my husband).

Maybe you have one of these types in your family or perhaps you are married to one like I am; either way enjoy.

The seed finally did take root

When Mike was 3 he wanted a sandbox and his father said, “There goes the yard. We’ll have kids over here day and night and they’ll throw sand into the flower beds and cats will make a mess in it and it’ll kill the grass for sure.”

And Mike’s mother said, “It’ll come back.”

When Mike was 5, he wanted a jungle gym set with swings that would take his breath away and bars to take him to the summit and his father said, “Good grief, I’ve seen those things in back yards and do you know what they look like? Mud holes in a pasture. Kids digging their gym shoes into the ground. It’ll kill the grass.”

And Mike’s mother said, “It’ll come back.”

BETWEEN BREATHES when Daddy was blowing up the plastic swimming pool he warned, “You know that they’re going to do to this place? They’re going to condemn it and use it for a missile site. I hope you know what you’re doing. They’ll track water everywhere and you’ll have a million water fights and you won’t be able to take out the garbage without stepping in mud up to your neck and when we take this down we’ll have the only brown lawn on the block.”

“It’ll come back,” smiled Mike’s mother.

When mike was 12, he volunteered his yard for a camp out.

As they hoisted the tents and drove in the spikes his father stood at the window and observed. “Why don’t I just put the grass seed out in cereal bowls for the birds and save myself the trouble of spreading it around. You know for a fact that those tents and all those big feet are going to trample down every single blade of grass, don’t you? Don’t bother to answer," he said. "I know what you're going to say, “It'll come back?”

THE BASKETBALL hoop on the side of the garage attracted more crowds than the Winter Olympics. And a small patch of lawn that started out. With a barren spot the size of a garbage-can lid soon grew to encompass the entire side yard.

Just when it looked like the new seed might take root, the winter came and the sled runners beat it into ridges and Mike's father shook his head and said, "I never asked for much in this life. . . only a patch of grass.

And his wife smiled and said, "It'll come back."

The lawn this year was beautiful. It was green and alive and rolled out like a sponge carpet along the drive where gym shoes had trod . . . along the garage where bicycles used to fall . . . and around the flower beds where little boys used to dig with iced tea spoons.

But Mike’s father never saw it. He anxiously looked beyond the yard and asked with a catch in his voice, "He will come back, won't he?"

The NEW Encyclopedia of Handguns & Small Arms

Mr. B has always been obsessed with guns. AH has repeatedly assured me that this is perfectly natural for a boy (and yet I still feel uneasy about it). Today I put my foot down. I refused to let Mr. B take his latest library book into church to read:



I mean seriously what kind of mother would I be if I had let him? Of course AH noticed it on the front seat of his truck when we left. I told him it was a better theft deterrent than a car alarm (and cheaper too). Who on Earth would break into a car that is obviously owned by a gun fanatic?

Torchlight Run

Last night turned out to be a perfect night for the Torchlight Run. I joined several friends in this event and we all had a great time.

I was extremely anxious about this race due to the fact that I hadn't run at all since a race in early June. Having the kiddo's home all day has really put a damper on getting in the miles. Of course I could always wake up before the crack of dawn to run (yeah right!) or go in the evening after they go to bed (yeah right!) but my preferred running time of day is mid morning and it just hasn't been happening. I set my goal for this run to just finish without walking.

In the beginning I kept pace with my friend Ms. G. It was a bit frustrating because we started near the end of the pack of participants so we spent a good deal of time having to weave in and out, trying to get around the slower participants. That was really annoying and I think my time would have been significantly better had we not had to do this (I've never run in a race with 5000 participants before - lesson learned: get up near the front at all costs before the race starts).

Just before the halfway mark (my turn around point, Ms. G went on to do the 8K) I broke ahead of my friend and felt surprisingly good. My body felt loose and nicely warmed up and my feet felt fantastic, which was wonderful considering I haven't ran barefoot in over 6 weeks (I am paying for it a bit today, but not nearly as much as I had expected).

At the halfway turn things really got nice as the crowd of runners were significantly dispersed and it was much easier to maneuver around them. I generally stuck to the inside and even enjoyed jumping a few orange lane cones. I could feel the excitement of the run within myself. I really loved being out there and was cruising past everyone. There were a few people who tried to challenge me a bit but I had no problem increasing my tempo and the gap between us.

Toward the very end (last 1/2 mile) the air was semi-stagnant and I could feel a blister on my big toe forming. I looked over to my left and spotted another friend, Ms. S, cruising out of the tunnel that the 8K'ers route took them through. She looked great, we greeted each other and then she quickly passed me (I can't wait to see how she did for her overall time and within her age division - she's a quick one!). It was perfect timing, she inspired me keep it up and finish strong; just what I needed right then. Overall at this point I was still surprised at how good I felt and at how I was easily running several minutes faster than my normal pace despite the mild foot discomfort and no soothing breeze.

Just before the final turn a woman, who I had passed earlier, made a break to go around me. It took me by surprise and as she passed my old sprinting mentality/competitiveness kicked in. At this point I could hear one of the race volunteers encouraging us to take the turn "nice and wide" and I literally though, "Screw you. That is so stupid." I hit the corner hard and on the narrow inside and booked it to the end (easily passing the other woman before the turn). It wasn't my fastest sprint but it was solid and surprised me that I had that much energy left after not having trained in so long.

I don't know my final time, due to my timing chip falling off near the start of the run, but I know it was better than the race in June which really surprised me because I felt that race the entire time (running with a friend at a pace faster than I normally run) and this time I just felt great the whole way. I've emailed the race people to see if they can work a miracle on my behalf and figure out my time based on my bib number but I won't hold my breath.

Upon reflection I realized that my conditioning (what little I had) is all due to ultimate frisbee. AH and I started playing it every Thursday night with friends earlier this summer. I guess that 90 minutes of running even one day a week did pay off for me in the end. Imagine what I could do if I trained seriously?

The Rattlesnake Climb

I have some seriously fun friends and yet quite a few are also a little demented as well. Take my friend Ms. J (I have several by this name but "you" know who you are!) as an example. Ms. J had a baby just 8 weeks ago (that's 8 WEEKS AGO) and this week decided that she wanted to climb a small mountain with her 5 year old and 8 week old in tow. Somehow she persuaded me and another friend to come along with her and include our kids just to make the trip even more enjoyable (because you know how much my kids love to hike up mountains!).

The weather for the day turned out to be stunningly perfect and thanks to my GPS (see how I've already claimed AH's birthday present) the kids were so enthralled with the hunt for treasure at the top of the mountain that they did the climb beautifully and with minimal whining.

Note super cute picture of Ms. J and her kiddos smiling beautifully for the camera:


Note my kiddo's and their faces (and this was the best of 3 shots!):


The descent turned out to be much harder than the climb. Lots of tired, whining kids and lots of falling and getting scraped up, and a scary fly that tormented Beeb and Mr. B. Alas we made it to the bottom intact and exhausted and as a treat to ourselves we had a nice Thai lunch wherein Mr. B quickly ate his food and then proceeded to lay down and fall asleep in the restaurant!

It was a great day and a great hike with great friends.

On a side note my questionably sane friend, Ms. J, is running a 5K race with me tonight (that's 8 WEEKS after having a baby).

Geocaching

Earlier this month while vacationing with AH's family we took part in a couple of Geocache hunts with his brother. This isn't the first time we've done this fun technology treasure hunt but it is the first time it has occurred to us that it would be a fun way to hike with our family (because we are sharp like that, it only took a couple of years to sink in).

So for AH's birthday I bought him a gently used GPS and we've had a wonderful time trying it out (more to come on this subject as I update our July adventures). Today I downloaded the coordinates for some nearby caches and we took our neighbor and her girls with us on the hunt. We found 5 caches in all and my neighbor even found $100 lying on the ground until Mr. B confessed it was some money he took from me and it fell out of his pocket during a tantrum (probably no more on this but serious consequences to be had later today).

All in all I am totally hooked; just what I need another addicting hobby.

Beef Stew

Beeb requested a bath this morning. While washing her hair some mysterious bubbles floated up to the surface. Beeb announced that she had tooted (obviously). "Or sometimes I call it beef stew,", she told me, "because it is funny."

Indeed.

We're Home

Well we are home from a nice vacation. We got to enjoy the lake, sunshine, boating and playing with all of AH's family.

I am still so refreshed that I actually put all our trip gear away today, the day after we got home - not 2 week from now like I normally do, but within 24 hours of returning home! THAT is a sign of a good vacation.

The Beeb Turns 6

Well she made it to her 6th birthday. I think the anticipation nearly drover her batty but she survived (with only a little extra craziness remaining). We surely do love our Beeb.

These Make Me Happy

The sun came out this week and it made me happy. We've had a very raining end of spring but now the sun is out and all is bright and cheery again, a little like my flowers. These are the last two from my plant and they make me happy too. I love their delicate lacy edges and soft pink petals.

M.I.A.

My kids are out of school for the summer and home full time now. Enough said.

Beeb - The Concert

The elementary school had the kindergarten concert tonight. Beeb looked beautiful and loved all the attention. At certain intervals in the program each kindergarten class was asked a specific question and then each child answered. Beeb's class was asked, "What are you most looking forward to in 1st grade?" There were a plethora of "recesses", "lunch", "popcorn Fridays" and then there was Beeb who answered, "Homework!".

That Stinks!

A few weeks ago my SIL reported a hefty unexpected expense of a new furnace when hers went kaput. I sympathized as I know that exact pain in the rear and wallet at the most unexpected time. In hindsight what I should have been doing was knocking on wood. . . every where. . . all the time. Last Thursday, as I was folding laundry in preparation for our weekend away, AH told me the dreaded news. . . our septic tanks were nearly over flowing and the newer pump (we replaced it a few years back) wasn't coming on. Ouch!



We called the septic repair service and scheduled an appointment for tomorrow but in the mean time the tanks did not fix themselves over the long weekend (as I'd secretly hoped) and the problem persists. Now I am just hoping we only need another new pump and not a new system (or loan to pay for that system); I'll find out tomorrow.

In the interim, after lecturing the kids about not peeing and pooping in the yard recently (seriously, I had the talk to the neighbor kids too - apparently our yard has a huge sign that says Honeybucket somewhere on it) I've had to recant and give the big thumbs up. Okay, not really but it is starting to get that desperate when you aren't allowed to flush the toilets. Even with three bathrooms your options run out quick.