My Plate Runneth Over

Hey y'all - 

The other day, I mentioned on facebook some new project I'd signed myself up for, and dear friend Clay Mercer e-mailed me and wrote something along the lines of, "Damn, woman - when your plate is full, you just go and get a bigger plate." It's true. My plate has become more of a serving platter. The kind a turkey'll fit on. 

So here's what's been going on in our house in October:

1) Grandma Sue has been in Sweden for the past two months. The sweet little family she works for moved to Sweden and invited Sue to come along and help the kids transition to their new home (and their new country), so she's been hanging out in Scandinavia, checking out the Ikea buffet and rocking out to some ABBA (probably). 

2) We attended Missoula's "Pray For Snow" party. Yes, southern relatives: this is really a thing.

There are lots of things I'd like to spend my time praying for in lieu of snow (world peace, the possibility of sleeping past 6am, no snow), but this party had a beer truck next to a bounce house, so we couldn't say no.

After the party, we walked down the block to the outdoor supply store. This is the look of two dudes walking into a gear store that's having a sale:

3). A friend invited me to participate in a black and white photography challenge, and I had a great time shooting some cool black and white photos, including a self-portrait.

4) Speaking of pictures, I don't know what it is about October (Christmas card season is approaching, maybe?) but I had lots of friends coming out of the woodwork wanting pictures done. I don't charge my friends, because I find that when money is going to change hands, people start having all kinds of unreasonable expectations, like that their pictures are going to be in focus. I don't need that kind of pressure. Besides, I really enjoy when they give me something fun or bizarre in return. So far this month, I've been paid for pictures with a massage, a set of plastic wine glasses, some free babysitting, and some homemade mayonnaise.

5) Speaking of mayonnaise - I'm just a segue machine, aren't I? - I did the Whole30 Challenge in October. It's 30 days of no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, and no legumes. Homemade mayonnaise is allowed, hence the gift. I lost some weight; I gained a lot of energy; I did not kill my husband. Obviously, I can't sustain that kind of eating forever, but it really opened my eyes to how much sugar is in everything we eat. In case you're wondering, your dad did not even pretend to participate. 

6) Laney is still obsessed with the trampoline.

7) Laney wanted to go to the Corn Maze, and wanted to ride the bus to make it a real adventure. So we went to the bus stop in our neighborhood at 9am, and waited for the bus that would take us to the transfer center downtown so we could ride a second bus way out to the Corn Maze. 

We made it downtown, and checked the schedule for the second bus, which is when we discovered that the second bus only comes once a day - at 3pm. So we walked all the way back home and started over. I think one of the reasons my marriage is going so well is because your dad and I make an effort not to assign blame. If he does something stupid, I try not to mention it, because rest assured I will do something even stupider two days later, and I will appreciate it when HE doesn't make a big deal out of it. This one was my fault. 

The walk home was even fun, except we had to tell Laney to quit pushing the street crossing buttons with her noggin. 

We finally made it to the maze, which started out super fun...

...but quickly turned nightmarish when we realized we really were lost in three acres of overgrown corn and stacks of hay bales and running teenagers, pursued by another mom with her huge stroller.

 

Laney had a sheet of clues that were supposed to help us navigate our way through the maze. She was super psyched out this, because she's been watching a lot of "Scooby Doo" lately, and she's all about solving mysteries. The clues were mostly worthless.

What DID help was when your brilliant dad noticed that the "right" path was usually a little narrower than the dead-end paths, since the maze-makers probably made the right path first and then filled in around it. He's not just pretty, folks.

8) We went for a hike on the hills above Missoula. Not much to report here, other than Hagen wants to do all his own hiking, even though it looks more like he's hurling himself down the mountain and it totally freaks me out. Ella the dog is in way better health and spirits, in case you needed an update on that. 

9) Hagen remains a great sport.

 

He's speaking in crazy-cute sentences these days, like "I put all de socks in da ditty cose basket." Yes, he put ALL the socks in the house in one dirty clothes basket. I got to wash two loads of nothing but socks. Fun, fun. 

10) Kindergarten rocks. Laney loves it. The recess, the cafeteria lunches, the coloring. Today, I went with her class on a field trip to the fire station. 

Laney is incredibly independent these days - she comes down the stairs dressed for school, and reminds us which day is PE and which day is music and when she needs to return her library book. I drop her off in the mornings and watch her walk away to join her class and I am shocked every morning by how grown up she's become in such a short period of time. 

Laney's teacher is possibly the sweetest woman ever to walk the earth, with the patience of a saint. She speaks in nothing but soothing tones when I would have long ago resorted to cussing and screaming and drinking under my desk. 

 She thought I was kidding.

11) Your dad and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Well, "celebrated" is a strong word. "Acknowledged" might be more appropriate. Right after we got married, we used money we'd been given to buy insulation for our house. I spent what would have been my honeymoon in a crawlspace under the house, lying on my back and stapling that awful rolled fluffy fiberglass stuff. I figured it was something you do when you're young and in love, even if it felt like something you do when you get convicted of a crime in Russia.

Six years pass, and your dad starts a new project in our new garage. He asks me on the morning of our anniversary, "Do you want to help me with the insulation?" It took me half a second to answer "Hell, no." Later that day, he came home from the grocery store with this card:

I just now noticed it's actually a birthday card, not an anniversary card. In any case, the magic is not dead, people.

So...all that, plus wrapping up the Nat Geo show and designing a website or two or three and pitching an ad campaign to a national gym franchise, even though I know nothing about advertising and work in my pajamas more often than not.

And that's October on my plate.

Love,
Mom