Creature Bug

Bullet Points

What's the story morning glory?

What's the word hummingbird?

How about some bullet points for this Sunday evening?

• I do not know why I can't get back into the swing of blogging. My mind seems to be filled to the brim with all the stuff I need to get done, and complete sentences are hard to come by.
• Sydney started piano lessons a week ago. She's been wanting to do piano for awhile now--she plays a lot of songs by ear, and I've given her some basics since I took six+ years myself--so we finally coordinated with the music teacher at her school for lessons. So far the novelty of practicing hasn't worn off. She would practice six hours a day if we let her. I'm happy about it. She doesn't know that starting lessons means I'm not letting her give it up for a few years, unlike some of her other extra-curricular activities.
• I started classes a couple weeks ago. Some people might get tired of teaching the same stuff over and over again--this is my seventh year teaching speech--but I enjoy it a great deal. I like change in my house, change in my wardrobe, change in my foods. I do not like a lot of change in my teaching content other than updating some methods and exercises.
• We are back to weekly visits with the naturopath for Jules. We had taken a break for the last couple months, but needed to get back to some treatments. Even though I love the place we go, the 45 minute drive makes Jules so fussy. Perhaps it's time to see if we can find someone a little closer...
• We had some snow last week, so Sydney's school was cancelled Tuesday and Wednesday. Then after the snow, the weather warmed up and it rained. And rained. And rained. We were fortunate to escape any local damage since we were smack-dab in the geographical middle of two serious weather issues. Up north was snow and ice. Down south was flooding. It was ugly.
• Any day now the Family Farm is getting a new cousin! We are all very excited to meet her, and it's a bit crazy to think about there being TEN Family Farm cousins hanging out around here. Eight kids under the age of nine? Five kids under the age of five? Oh boy, oh boy. Or, rather, since most of those kids are girls, oh girl, oh girl.
• And that's all I got. See? My brain is definitely NOT getting enough sleep.

 

Mountain climbing the new year

I love new beginnings. New day. New week. New month. New school year. New season. I just love that feeling of starting over, however small. The feeling of anything is possible. But a new year? Especially this new year that was a new day, a new week, a new month, and (for me) a new school semester all wrapped up in ONE DAY? It's like the Mt. Everest of new beginnings. There are your backyard-variety hills of beginnings, and there is the oxygen-depriving hallucination-inducing mountains of beginnings.

That's where I am.

I am at the top of this huge mountain looking out over 366 days just waiting for me. Maybe I could really climb Mt. Everest.

(No. Not really. Would not even make it on the top 5000 things to do before I die list. It's freaking cold at Mt. Everest. I hate cold.)

But you know what I am going to do this year? I'm going to run a marathon. I am. I'm telling you. And I told Jason. He got me running stuff for Christmas (I do actually own a fair amount of running stuff since I have, in fact, been a runner before). And now I have nine months to get myself ready for the Portland Marathon. I have no doubt that I can do it. I just have to make sure that my knees hold up, and--according to my athlete brother who is training for the Boston Marathon--my hips (like his hips) are prone to injury. Adding to his words of encouragement, Jake said, "And you've had three babies, so who knows what your hips will do to you."

I told my hips this morning to watch out because three babies or not, they are going to get in marathon running shape.

I have big dreams for the year, although I just did small things today. What is it about a new year that makes you want to go out and do something? Get outside. Organize the junk drawer. Meticulously apply lemon juice to all your wood cutting boards and wood countertops to kill all those pesky 2011 germs.

I know some folks might think that there's nothing special about starting a new year. That it's just another day, following yesterday, and will almost certainly be followed by another day. Zip a dee doo dah.

But I think starting a new year is amazing. It's not just buying a new calendar. It's buying into the psychology of starting over. When else do you get the chance to wake up and say, "Today I'll start something new. I'll do something new. I will CLIMB MT. EVEREST" and have the whole world behind you cheering you on to accomplish your goals? Yes, indeed. I like the new year. It brings out the optimism in me.

So 2012.

Things to look forward to this year:

• Going to Scotland. We bought the tickets. Jason and I are going, and the children are not going. My sister and I text almost every day about it. Spring break. SO EXCITED.
• Completing a marathon. Even if I have to walk part of it. I have no time goals.
• Getting new flooring throughout the whole house.
• Reading more. I have long-term borrowed my mom's Kindle DX (she doesn't use it), and already I'm reading more. I was not going to love a Kindle. But it turns out I do love it. Sydney loves it too. We have to share it.
• Finishing up photo books for a few years that I'm still missing.
• Planting a garden in the raised garden beds that Jason built me last fall.
• Taking another family trip to San Francisco and Reno.
• Celebrating 15 years of marriage. (yes, by going to Scotland. awesome.)

I have some personal resolutions in mind too--beyond the resolution of running--and those I will share later this week.

For now, I just want to enjoy my moment on top of the year. The view is spectacular.