Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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Lydia is on a baking kick and has earned the nickname, “Birdie Crocker” from her Aunt Torey. A batch of chocolate chip cookie bars is being whipped up as I write. Eden is shuffling through recipes in a mini baking kit she received for her birthday and Christopher is bobbing around, avoiding some schoolwork and getting in the way of the young Ms. Crocker.

“You know Mom,” he said to me, “one of my joys in life is eating cookie dough before it is baked.”

Since his other joys seem to be teasing his sisters, shrieking loudly, staying up late and then sleeping in to all hours, I’m glad (the risk of salmonella aside) that this is a joy we all share.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/05/459/

A little of this, not much of that

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We’ve been gardening today.  Lydia took over on a small plot outside our deck with Eden assisting and I began to clean up the 80 foot long bed that borders our back yard.  Christopher hauled the leaves and weeds in the wheelbarrow.  We got about 30 feet into it before Christopher took a promised computer break and I collapsed on a blanket with head rush.  Now we’re twenty minutes from needing to take Lydia to the dentist, so there isn’t enough time to get back at it.

Christopher is slumped at the table overcome by boredom.  It’s tough being a kid, sometimes.
I would love to pass out, for a few minutes as I awoke at three this morning because I was too warm.  I’m only 37, but that waking in the middle of the night has an ominous ring, as any middle aged woman would tell you.  I don’t know what to do with myself.   
I’m making headway with my whole “inch by inch…” while it hasn’t exactly been a cinch, it’s better than trolling the internet avoiding my work.  Paul has been a champ taking over on laundry while the kids and I are cleaning up all of the yards.
No fires, no explosions, no calls to government agencies…a good day.

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Last night Eden was singing and dancing on my bed while I read a book.  She wasn’t putting on a show, just doing her thing, so I wasn’t being a neglectful mother.  Some of her lyrics penetrated my brain and I looked up to catch her number as Mary, the mother of Jesus, singing about him, 

“They took him and whipped him.
They whipped him 31 times.
And that’s not fuuuuuuuuun.
It huuuurt.”
Wow.
Eden’s musical styling could usually be described as “High School Musical meets praise music” but last night I think HSM met the Passion of Christ.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/04/461/

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The words verdure and verdant are constantly running through my head.

Paul and I walked Jack this morning.  There is one point where we come out of the woods and walk along the fields of a horse farm.  The sun was fresh in the sky and shining across a small pond in the distance.  All we could see was the lush green of the fields surrounded in the distance by woods.  I almost couldn’t take the beauty.
It’s that time of year where I realize that I failed to get the indoors completely ship shape and now it’s time to do yard work and gardening, not to mention the ongoing of school, cooking and laundry.  I am trying to break things down into manageable tasks, choosing to work indoors on crummy days and outdoors on sunny ones.  Saturday I hit some sort of sweet spot of energy and will and worked the entire day organizing closets and drawers.  I haven’t hit it since which is terribly disappointing.
We are also planning a couple of renovation projects and have contacted the contractor who did our kitchen three years ago.  We are trying to budget and prioritize.  One thing I am debating is cutting a door from our dining room into our mud room which also leads to our upstairs.  The idea would be letting western light into the dining room as well as creating flow, as the mud room goes into the living room.  I have only lived in houses with dead ends and would love to have a  circle.  I’ll try to post pictures.  
The main excitement is that we are adding two windows to our kitchen.  This will necessitate the removal of our largest cupboard, which has raised the question a few times, “Are you sure you want to lose all that storage?” To which I reply, “If it means I keep my mind?  Yes.”  Why a claustrophobic who gets depressed from a lack of light bought a home without a lot of windows in a valley surrounded by wooded hills is the question.  I don’t have a reason, but my answer has been to keep cutting holes and putting in windows.
I’m feeling a little dull.  I went to bed quite early last night, but then awoke at one, because the leg swipe I do to establish Paul’s presence came up empty.  Lights were on in the living room and he was playing Wii golf.  His story is that he had been working for a couple of hours and then couldn’t sleep.  He, wisely, turned off the game and we both went to bed, but I awoke again at four because the clock wasn’t face down.  I was not pleased.
I passed out again after we walked Jack, but only slept so we started school slightly behind schedule.  We still finished early – a good day.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/04/462/

First Things

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Eden and I have been reading “Little House in the Big Woods” before bed.  It is her first chapter book.  She wasn’t sure about it, but I enticed her with the few illustrations and we were off.  She is loving it and I am loving cuddling with her and sharing this wonderful story.  I was given this set the Christmas I was seven and devoured them.   I remember the feeling of lying on the dining room floor in a patch of sunlight reading and reading and reading,  feeling so rich to have so many books.
Tonight she was fresh from a bath and it was such a deep pleasure to sit quietly, her wet head on my shoulder, and read together.