Into the future

 Time log 2023 

This blog has been moved - into the future. 

We are now at hosander.wordpress.com

same blog, new stuff? maybe? 

New Year, New Stuff

Since it is 2019 now, and blogging has been long dead, I have no fear of what I post. Nobody reads these anymore. There are no memes and I will almost always exceed 240 characters. This is ancient content. Blogger doesn't even have a viable app! I can't even add pictures anymore! It will all be lost to the ages. So I will continue on just as a way to empty my brain.

I know January is already half over, but I finally figured out what I want to do this year. I don't think of these as resolutions, more like projects in my mental queue. One of my mentors once told me she doesn't make resolutions, she just always tries to be a better person. Always. Not just in January or when the calendar refreshes. So that's the tack I have taken, it takes the pressure off of the new year for me, not having to be thinking of big change just because I get a new calendar, I can choose to be better any time I want.

So here are my goals and projects for 2019:

• Redecorate living room
• plant a garden- keep plants/orchard alive
• potty train Becca
• buy more DVD's for my kids
• lose 20 lbs and keep them off by eating real food
• knit a sweater
• read 40 books
• make bread 25 times
• do something about the sandbox - I saw the cat pooping in it today
• replace fence in Blossom Grove
• learn some graphic design
• keep up with the kids
• flute lessons
• karate lessons
• soccer practices
• swimming lessons
• guitar lessons
• homework
• activity days
• preschool
• library books
• play dates/birthday parties
• bike riding lessons
• haircuts
• prayer/scriptures

(While we were in Palm Springs a few weeks ago I thumbed thru one of those free local interest magazines, there was an article about how mom's are exhausted from trying to do it all themselves. Their suggestion was not to do less, just to outsource more. Not sure if this was an oversight, but to me, my first move is to just cut down on what isn't possible.) We clearly have a lot going on, but we will keep it up as long as we can. The kids do a lot on their own, they usually remember things that are important, so it's not all on me.

Maybe I will use the blog to update on this list of grand designs, that would be some motivation, and since I'm the only one here, it will be content the audience likes to see. It would be better with pictures though. Maybe I should figure out how to do that.

Summer wrap up

Today was Calvin's first day of Kindergarten, and in those 2 brief hours of relative quiet and peace, I realized that this summer nearly wrecked me.

I have come to realize that I am a mostly left-brained mostly introvert. Here are some things I enjoy:

• routine
• quiet
• schedules
• check off lists
• plans
• sleeping
• completing chores
• crafting quietly/alone

Here are some things that I don't totally enjoy:

• chaos
• arranging play dates every day
• repetitive whining
• continuously making snacks/doing dishes
• swimming
• nagging my kids about chores
• everyone talking to me at once

I will own up that I could do better about a lot of these things. I'm reading a book about the brain, and the author is continually pointing out that the brain can be taught to enjoy new things if it does it enough times. I could also be a more "with it" parent that can set a summer schedule and stick to it. Maybe that will be my goal for next summer.

Travel is often a summer time activity, Ben and I did some trips in the spring, and he took the older kids on some big trips this summer while I stayed home and completed chores. I did take the kids on a road trip to Wyoming and we ended the summer with a family road trip to Idaho.

June was spent at the city pool because we had a 1 month pass that we wanted to make the most of. July was spent traveling mostly, the annual pilgrimage to Boston for Ben and the girls was almost 2 weeks.

August was just really dragged out anticipation of our ID trip and back to school.

All this to say, I am not one who mourns back to school time.

RTDW Mystery

A devoted reader sent in this picture: She's been making banana bread for 40 years and doesn't know what went wrong! Leave your theories in the comments below!

Recent Projects with My Dad

As his time on this earth nears its end, I would like to make a tribute to my Dad, all the things he has helped me with lately. Meaning, apart from attentively raising me and teaching me everything I know. He has been our go-to handyman and construction guru, and he was always willing to help, he may have even enjoyed it.

He risked his job when we asked if he and mom would like to drive one of our cars back from CT. It was the end of the school year, but he didn't even hesitate to say yes. I didn't even get to come on that trip, but I bet it was memorable.

He was our 1-man moving crew as we moved out of our first home. He and Ben filled the truck themselves. While he didn't help us move into our current home, it was only because he and mom had taken our kids to the family reunion so that we could get moved in without them underfoot.

Last spring he helped me plant 28 trees to start my new "orchard." He was pretty excited about this one. He also installed a sprinkling system when I was out of town.

We borrowed a tractor to move some railroad ties around in the orchard. I think he enjoyed it quite a bit, this was a very similar tractor to those he had once owned.

2 summers ago he and Jan spent a month building me a new deck.

This was the last of about 10 trees that he cut down for me at this house and our first house. He liked an excuse to whip out his chain saw.

He built us this sandbox in our backyard, he was so patient and encouraging to let the girls help out.

One warm February I asked him to come build a new floor for our playhouse. He and Thad worked all morning installing a floor in a playhouse.

When I had a truckload of gravel delivered, he bought me a wheelbarrow for an early birthday present, then helped me spread it out on the side of the road.



He helped Beetle and Russell build this pergola in our backyard while Ben and I sat on a beach on vacation.

Above all else, the best thing he did was love us and love our kids unconditionally. They may not remember him much, but I will miss him every stinkin' day.

Bike Repair

I have four active kids, that enjoy independence and self-reliance. At least, I would like them to enjoy those things. So we invested in some new bikes this summer. Unfortunately on our property we can't hardly go outside without getting goatheads stuck in our shoes/feet.

goatheads

goat heads

These are basically death for bike tires. I was constantly dealing with flat bike tires on their bikes, my bike or my jogging stroller. It made going for a bike ride miserable, because we would have to check every tire, and pump or fix multiple tires before we set off.

So this afternoon I spent 2.5 hours finally putting an end to the whole affair. 



These are called Stop A Flat tires. They are a styrofoam core that replaces bike tires altogether. We're not messing around anymore! We can run over as many goatheads as we want and not be slowed down a bit. This is a game changer. They are pricey, but can you really put a price on your own sanity?

August and September photo dump

We finished out the summer with a whimper but started school with a bang! So here was our happenings:

 Highland Fling Parade! Anna was in the parade with her Karate studio, Calvin and Eliza and I watched the parade and collected a lot of candy! It was my first parade with kids, and it was pretty good. I forgot to take a pic of Anna on the trailer - too excited living the moment.

 Calvin turned 5! We had a crazy day,  we went to the museum, then

family bowling - arcade - pizza night

Cake and presents with Gramma and Grampa.
He's a cute 5 year old, very busy. He got Blockus Trigon, a puzzle, a maze cube, and a wiggle car.

 Eliza competed in the olympics.
Her gymnastics coach does an olympic games at the end of every summer. Eliza has been talking about it all year. She didn't get a medal but she is progressing pretty well.

 Spencer Family Reunion in Green River.
Camping. with 4 kids. in a tent.
That part wasn't my favorite, but seeing family was wonderful.

 Shave ice was a popular treat.

 Gramma watched the babies at the campsite so we could go down to Goblin Valley to play. The kids loved playing hide and seek and clambering around.

 This is the result of trying to camp for 2 nights.

School finally started for these girls. Eliza is in 1st grade and rocking it.

 Anna is in 4th grade and growing much too fast.

 While the girls were at school, Calvin and I had a lesson on how to make Mac n Cheese. He was pretty into it.
The sooner I teach my kids to cook, the sooner I can be relieved from that duty.

Calvin had a gymnastics class in the summer, the showcase at the end was a lot of fun. A big obstacle course for all the kids and plenty of popsicles. This is his "ta-da" pose.

 Dress up day with cousins. It's halloween research.

 just, come on. so cute.

 All these girls and I rode bikes to the park and hiked to the waterfall. A fun Saturday morning, I wish we could do more of this.

 Calvin FINALLY started preschool 2 weeks after the girls. He's going 3 days a week, and enjoying it.

 Becca accessorizes while I exercise. She was trying to put on that doll boot.

 The next 3 pictures are from the State Fair. It was a great state fair. We talked the kids out of riding any of the rides (!) but there was plenty to do without them.

We saw all the animals and there was a great multi-stationed activity from FFA that they had a lot of fun with.

 this is how many hands high they are - like measuring a horse.

she's just the best.