Life threw me a curve ball!

There are piles of folded laundry to be put away, the aftermath of a play date in the living room, stacks of dishes piled high in the kitchen, several large bins of tomatoes on the counter and canned goods ready to be wiped off, labeled and tucked away and here I am sitting with my foot up.  Mind you, just one foot!  This is not normal behavior for me in late August and not chosen behavior.  I'm trying to keep in mind some of the sayings I heard quite frequently from my mother's lips: "Your attitude writes the script of your life" or "There is no great loss without some small gain."

The great loss is my mobility.  The small gain is that I might catch up on the blog this weekend (Kali is 10 after all and I've yet to share some visuals from our county fair adventures).  So for any faithful readers out there you might benefit from this hopefully minor and brief set back...

In short, yesterday morning I could walk just fine.  Last night I was using crutches.  The reason: I do not know.  That's right, I have no idea why a very minor dull ache yesterday morning intensified throughout the day to the point that I could not bear any weight on my right foot by bedtime.  I felt rather ridiculous showing up at work this morning with my foot wrapped and crutches and was grateful for my office move which took me to the back hall with very little traffic.  So I just tucked my "bum foot" (I just learned that Jason is calling it that when Alida said to me, "you can't pick ground cherries with me because of your bum foot?") on top of a box under my desk with a bag of ice wrapped around it .  I only left that spot when I had to pee so bad I couldn't think and then I managed with a combination of hopping, hobbling and using the crutches (which I've determined I don't have a knack for).

But let's not use all my precious blog time talking about my inability to move at even a fraction of the pace I'm accustomed to! I'll share some more enjoyable tidbits of news.  Here are three Alida stories:

• The other day out of the blue Alida informed me, "I like peppermint patties better than squash patties."
• She asked Jason to make her a cheese toast the other day and he resisted, telling her that he didn't want to do that because she always just peels the cheese off and doesn't eat the bread.  She thought and then in a very earnest and animated way informed him, "That's my job."
• While my mom was with us Alida wanted grandma to reveal her belly button.  Grandma, as she well as the right to do, decided she wasn't in the mood and told Alida so, to which she responded, "Don't say no when I say yes."

Here are a series of videos that all kind of fit together - we've got food processing with kiddos (both helping and hindering) and kiddos enjoying non-food processing fun and providing entertainment through background music.

I've been drafting a "tribute to my mother" post in my head ever since her departure on Monday.  She came and spent orientation week with us and she has admitted to feeling very "useful" during her stay - she did not put her feet up very much!  What a difference an extra set of competent, caring hands made around the place.  I didn't realize until our first landing home after she had left how very, very, very much I missed her.  It was not only a huge assistance in very practical terms but a big morale boost to have her positive helpful spirit in our home for the week. Thanks Mom!  As you can see in the first video, she got to practice some serious multi-tasking (weight lifting and canning and granddaughter entertainment simultaneously).  



Impressive!  When Alida was not hanging on Grandma's leg or talking one of our ears off, she could often be found in the loving care of her big sister.  Sometimes it is hard to focus on getting tasks done in those uninterrupted moments because the girls are so precious to watch.  Kali is sharing all sorts of tidbits of information with Alida upon request, including little piano tips.



And here's Alida taking her piano lessons and adding her own twist!



Both girls are expanding their knowledge of and competence in household tasks, which hits me like a breath of fresh air sometimes.  Alida is very insistent on her capabilities and dislikes very much when I say she isn't quite ready for something.  The other day, I relented and let her stir the seeds she had so carefully extracted from a winter squash.  I was impressed, and as you will hear, she thought she was doing a pretty good job too!




Okay, I've used up my time (at least in which I will be able to concentrate). The girls are making me all kinds of soups and breads and being asked to guess the secret ingredients.  So I'll end with two pictures of food - surprise, surprise!

Nothing makes me feel wealthier than a bowlful of raspberries!

We are deep into tomato season - salsa and sauce simmering!