This morning as Benson and I were walking to school he was telling me about one time when he crashed on his bike and KJ came running to help him. He said that any time he had a scratched up knee or any problem, really, KJ was always there to help him. Then he made a little loving sound and said "I just remember him as the kindest brother." That put a tear in my eye. What an amazing thing, to have a brother you can love and trust so absolutely. I'm proud of KJ and thankful to him for creating that for his little brother. Benson will grow up and be the best friend that he can count on, too. Too lovely.
The wind was blowing and it was a little cool and I thought it was delightful weather. Benson didn't agree. He thought it was too cold. I tried to make him feel better about things by enthusiastically calling it "a spring zephyr!" That didn't seem to change his mind. Weird.
I finally caught up on the things I was falling a little behind on today. Those bathrooms got a good scrubbing. I hadn't wiped them down in just a couple of days and that's all it took for them to get weird. Why do bathrooms have that superpower? It's like a point of pride for them or something.
Last year I had a time period where I was leaving the kids bathroom to their own devices, hoping it would teach them to be a little more responsible and help them want things to be a little tidier (spoiler alert: it didn't). Then one day a repair man came and needed to use the restroom and it was... a call to repentance for Marie, let's call it that. They might not have learned their lesson, but I sure did! Anyhow, if I give the bathrooms a good wipe down every day, no problem. Then I just do a deep clean on Mondays since I don't wipe them down on Sundays, and we're good! Except this week, I just wasn't feeling it, and I didn't wipe them down twice in a row. So they got a bonus deep cleaning. No clorox wipes were going to win in that battle.
Do any of us really care to listen to Marie pontificate about bathroom cleanings? Not really. No. Collectively, we don't. I'm here to acknowledge that. But I'm trying to write a little more. I keep getting the prompting lately that this is what I should be doing, writing, so I'm going to write all of my current thoughts about bathroom upkeep and we'll all just nod politely. (To be clear -- you don't have to nod politely. You're not my prisoner. If this is not doing it for you, feel free to come back later. But personally, I'm having a nice time.)
I finished listening to the cutest book while I was cleaning, etc. It's one of my Dad's very favorites, it's called The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man. I've been relistening to loved books lately, and this one is such a delight. It's cute and funny and colorful in the best way. I kind of want to start it back over, but I have a lot of books on my library app bookshelf I need to get through. I'm like 30-50% through several books that are making me a little smarter, potentially, but I needed a nice story as a break. I think I'll be rereading a lot this year. It's just such a nice feeling for me. My bestie, T-Bomb, does not like to reread books. I like that about her. But for me, it's so comforting and nice. So it's a little form of self care that I'm now giving myself out of the clear blue sky. For those of you that read my book club reports on the Insta, you'll see lots of repeats this year, I suspect. This month I've read 6 books so far and 4 are repeats. So looks like I'm leaning in.
Liv wanted to do some shopping on her way home from school and kindly went and picked up the kids for me on the way home from her errands. That was nice! 'Cause I was, in fact, in my bathroom scrubbing at that time, so I really appreciated that. She has had her eye on this adorable outfit at Target and decided to go and get it. It is simply too cute! She looks cute as can be. Her fashion show was really making me smile.
Benson called me on Liv's phone on the way home from school to ask me to take him to the park for an emergency meeting he had with his friends. They had found a bone at school that they suspected was a dinosaur bone. The emergency meeting was to find a way to make some money off of this finding, apparently, but sadly no one was able to make it to the emergency meeting. I still had a nice time taking him. Anything for an emergency meeting!
Liv came with me on this chauffering adventure, and we were talking about her wrapping up her finals for school. She just casually mentioned her grades and I about fell out of the vehicle! At this point she is heading towards her associate degree with some seriously impressive grades. I said in total amazement that if she graduates with her associates with those grades, she could pretty much go to any university she wanted to for her bachelor's degree. She just cheerfully said "that's what my college counselor said!" My gosh. My heart went boom boom. I am so proud of this girl. Wow.
I sent her a text tonight to see if I could post her pic and she had me cracking up.
Being a Mom is fun.
Tomorrow is our last vacation day for this school year and that is wild. This year has absolutely zoomed by. After that, only three weeks left of school. One week for KJ. That's crazy.
Kate the Great is feeling pretty good about that fact. She and her friends are planning on getting together at the park for a picnic, doesn't that sound like such a great plan? Sounds just right to me.
KJ is feeling pretty good about that fact, too. If we can just get him to survive through finals, we'll be happy! He finished his piano final this morning and when he sent me a Marco Polo about it, it just really hit me that he has almost completed two years of college -- because he had to get through two years of piano. And he's done it. Wow. What an amazing human. He was telling me all about Vivaldi tonight and I informed him that Vivaldi was his favorite Baby Einstein video when he was a baby. The Double B asked me how I possibly remembered that, but of course I do! It was just me and my little buddha baby, watching Baby Einstein. Of course I knew his favorite! Those were happy days. The happiest little guy and our happy little home and building a happy little life together. I'm thankful for those memories.
I should probably send a testimonial to the makers of Baby Einstein and tell them that their business plan worked, because that kid is, in fact, a musician. And he is, in fact, crazy about classical music. Their diabolical plan worked!
Dad brought home Frank's barbecue for dinner tonight. None of us were sad about that! Yum yum yum.
I am teaching young women's on Sunday so I've been thinking a lot about the first three chapters of The Book of Mosiah. Mosiah is one of my all time fave books of scripture. I love The Book of Mormon. I've just really been thinking that this afternoon, after reading through those chapters again and listening to a podcast about them. The scriptures have been a really important resource in my life. Certainly the beginning of wisdom for me, so often a comfort, and utilized so often by the Holy Ghost to communicate with me and help answer my most important prayers. I really have a testimony that the Lord has given us sacred records as such a gift and a tender mercy.
Tonight BTS was keeping me company while I was walking on my little walking pad and bouncing on my little trampoline. Great fun. The time passed quickly and honestly my aging back felt a little better afterwards, so what a happy surprise. Then as I went into the kitchen to load the dishwasher I was reciting the presidents backwards in my mind, because I am determined to know all the presidents now. Because of course I would become obsessed with that. I got stuck on Calvin Coolidge, even though I totally know where he goes, so I had to go in to the Double B to ask him to give me a clue. Then I got stuck again for a minute on Chester Arthur! But I can now get to the truly wonderful (and I mean that) James Garfield. The Double B just shook his head at my antics. I couldn't be too confident, because of the whole Coolidge incident, but I told him "Once I get this down, we'll have it available at parties. If we're at a party and things get a little awkward, you can say 'wanna see a weird party thing that my wife can do?' That'll be handy!" He nodded along, humoring me. Then quipped "We just have to figure out how to get to a party first." Oh my goodness. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Truer words have never been spoken. Two introverts united in holy matrimony!! Not a lot of parties being attended around these parts.
Okay, do you feel like I really gave it a good old college try in the writing department? I feel like I did pretty well. I've written for an hour and 15 minutes! That's gotta count for something.
I love you, bye.
1 comment:
Beautiful
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