Buddha In June

I wanted to explain my new header, because I love what's in it but it's not completely clear what IS in it.

This is a Buddha garden that Kaia made in school. This is the Buddha sitting under a tree. (I think he gained enlightenment here? showing my lack of knowledge...)

Kaia learned about Buddha a couple weeks ago, and had a surprisingly clear memory of what they taught. I can't remember all of it, but parts of her explanation go as such:

"Buddha was a prince, and he was rich, but he hated to see so much suffering so he gave up all of his possessions."

"He sat under a tree like this (shows lotus position, or a 6 year old's idea of it) and was very still"

She actually remembered a lot more than that, but sadly, I do not.

blah blah blah and oh! BLAH!

Sometimes I sit down to write a post and I have so much rushing around in my head. Words of insecurity, words of pride. Stories of my kids. Harsh rants about government or the environment or my dryer. Exultant babblings about blueberries or Kaia's school or Trader Joe's.

And I can't get them out. I can't write it coherently enough for public consumption. Or I start to, and it's whiny, or braggy, or some other such thing I don't really want to publish. So I close it, or delete it, or change the subject.

So here I am, writing a post about not writing several other posts. Exciting, yes? no? hmm....how about an abbreviated version of a few of them in the form of unsatisfyingly short bullets? mmkay.

• insecurity: I am tired of "making friends"here. I want to HAVE friends here. I am tired of being unsure of how others think of me. Unsure of how I am seen by others. I am tired of caring, but I can't stop. Also? I want a darn talent! something, anything, that sets me apart.
  
• pride: I have made a lot of progress in my non-spending of money. My kids are both happy and healthy. I am very secure in my marriage.
• kids: actually, I have nothing in this category right now, but this is one area I feel I cover pretty often.
• rants: for the first time, I am nervous about who will become our new president. We need major change, and fast. our country needs to wake up and start making other changes too. We use THIRTY percent of the world's resources. and my dryer needs to be looked at. the damn lint thing doesn't catch all the lint and I'm worried it'll build up inside.
• babblings: I'm still excited about my blueberries. There will only be a couple handfuls, but I am growing blueberries. Nothing specific really about Kaia's school, I just still really love it. I can do an entire grocery shopping at Trader Joe's in half an hour, thanks to the small size of the store. Since that is also about the length of time Ben will sit in a cart, it's a wonderful thing.

There is so much more. and right now, since I am tired, it's mostly in the insecure category. I don't really want to write an entire post about it all, because it will give the impression I am unhappy, which really isn't the case. I am content with so much of my life. I find new things about my husband every day that make me gloriously happy to be with him. I look at my kids and almost fall over with amazement that I am so lucky to have them.

and I'd write more, but gotta go pick up Kaia! Thanks for reading, please come again!

gardening (I feel I need quotes around that) update

Here is how my herbs and strawberries are doing. The basil on the left is obviously on its last legs, though I have no idea why...below you will see my NEW basil, bought today at Trader Joe's!

I realized I have still not even looked into recipes that have purple sage (second one on the left) and thyme (second on the right) At least they look pretty!

Here are two of the strawberry plants, showing off their blossoms and berries! I won't get more than a handful this year, but it's a start! Not bad for my first year, and with the only care I give them is sending Kaia out with water a few times a week....

Doesn't this basil look scrumptious?! It made the car smell awesome on the way home. This I have no doubts how to use, and no doubts about how often!! I love basil, mozzarella and tomato sandwiches...mmmmmmmmm...I just have to remember to plant it. Tomorrow, if I have time.

Do you know what this means?!?

This means BLUEBERRIES!!!!

These are blossoms on my blueberry bush!!!

So, if all goes well, blueberries will be next!

to sum up....

I am tired, so you get a bulleted post....

• We had a great time down in Vancouver. We really wish we could have seen Mike's sister and step-mom, but there simply wasn't time.
• Thank you Mick, for my Trader Joe's gift card, and thank you Kate for my shoes! Both are awesome birthday presents.
• Thank you mom and dad for the humor book, amber (!) pendant, bracelets, cd, and framed cross stitch. I didn't get one thing this year that I feel is breaking my rule of nothing in my house that I don't love!
• I am so glad we got to hang out at Tania and Simon's. I can't WAIT to see that darling little baby girl of theirs, and I really wish I could go to Canada next month. :-(
• I am fighting desire for a Wii.
• We discovered when we got back that one of our cats let out anger at our disappearance by peeing repeatedly on our bed. The futon mattress is ruined.
  
• However, we are possibly getting some money soon, and I have some birthday money, so we are getting a new, king size Japanese-style futon to replace it.
• This means we can sell our old bed frame, which will also help pay for the new bed.
• Kaia and my dad took my parents' dogs for a walk. They tried to run away while Kaia was holding both leashes. She knew that one of them would be hard to catch if she got away, so HELD the leashes, even though she was DRAGGED several feet! I am proud of her for that, though she would not have gotten in trouble had she let go.
• Ben is getting easier to travel with! The car trip both ways went very smoothly.
  

She's thix, about to turn theven...

Ben's On The Move

So he has a strange way of crawling, you'll notice. He kinda sits with one leg, and just moves it forward while crawling normally on the other knee. This is as fast as he can go right now, but I'm sure he'll increase in speed in no time!