Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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At the moment I am debating between:

doing a load of laundry
folding a load of laundry
putting away (see above)
sprucing the kitchen
planting some ferns that I dug out and are languishing
planting some peonies
sprucing (might need to upgrade that verb) my bedroom 
But what I really want to do is pull out a can of paint and slather a bit on a wall of my porch area, since we have pretty much given up on getting the exterior painted this season, and it would make another mess.  
I might compromise by sitting in the sun and looking at my gardens.
Will report back.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/09/389/

There are surprises and then there are SURPRISES…

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We have established a new chore system inspired by my good friend, Sherry.  It’s brilliant.  Work is completely voluntary and the payment is in poker chips which can be exchanged for money or screen time.  There is immediate feedback as well as positive peer pressure.  Since it is voluntary there is no coercion and since any computer, video or T.V. viewing depends on it, there is motivation.  One of my favorite aspects is that the kids can earn one chip a day just for keeping their rooms clean.  How brilliant that they are learning that a little work, every single day, pays off royally.  

Christopher is living paycheck to paycheck, but his room is neater than it has been in years with nary a nagging from me nor a bit of help.   Lydia’s room is always clean and now she is reaping the reward for that as well as her innate industry.  Most wonderful of all is that I am getting my house cleaned as my kids are developing a good work ethic.  The big kids have lots of options but it’s been a little harder finding jobs for Eden.  There are a couple that we reserve for her like picking up all of Jack’s toys at night and using the hand vacuum on the floors, but that’s about it.  Because of this, and frankly for my own sake, I’m not holding her to the limitations on screen time.  The other day I was exhausted and allowed her to watch a couple videos.  Again, there’s a payoff: normally the big kids would be fussing about her selections, but this time they were just thrilled that the viewing was free.
Despite her exemption from the general system, Eden is throwing herself right into it.  Last night I noticed her hustling off with the Swiffer but didn’t really think about it.  Later I heard her banging around near her bedroom and ignored that as well.  It was only when I heard a gush of water hitting a floor that I paid attention.  She was in the half bath with the door shut.  I opened it and quickly took in the sight of her shoving the Swiffer around – just the rubber, no pad – the floor swimming in puddles of water, dust and Jack’s fur.  Oh the humanity!
“I’m cleaning the bathroom,” she announced with pride, “to earn a chip!”
“Honey, you need to check with me before you start a job.”
“But I wanted to SURPRISE you!”
I sighed.  What do you say to that?  I grabbed a towel and told her to dry the floor.  As she lay down in a puddle to reach, I shuddered and checked out the rest of her work.  The sink looked very clean and tidy.  Her toothbrush and paste were carefully set on one side and on the other she had neatly arranged a bar of hand soap and some flossers on a floral plate.  Soon the towel and the mopper were sopping.  As I delivered it to the laundry room, Eden stretched out on my bed for a rest and soaked it down to the mattress. 
Not so cheerfully, I shooed her off to get fresh pajamas then fetched fresh sheets and the hair dryer.

Career Talk

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Tonight while I was tucking Eden into bed the subject of her future work came up.  Old time readers of the blog, might recall that Eden’s first career goal was to be a “Sample Lady at Meijer” (I’d link to it, but I’m tired.) which we all agreed would suit her to a T.  Now she wants to be a “Dog Vet.”  Although I am feeling for future Meijer shoppers, I think this is a good choice too.  

“And I will put bows on the dogs’ ears,” she said, “but just the girl dogs.”
“Oh, so you’re going to be a sort of canine stylist?”
She nodded, “And the boy dogs will get sweaters.” ( In the interest of full disclosure she mentioned a certain type of sweater, but I forgot what.  It was distinctly masculine.) “The girl dogs will get sweaters too, but their’s will be Hannah Montana and High School Musical.”
“Wow!”  I said and then pulled her in for a hug.  “You are going to be a great Dog Vet/Canine Stylist.”
She looked at me for a moment, “I’ll have to look for penises, to figure out if they’re girl dogs or boy dogs.”
“Of course you will.”  I agreed.

What I did today

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1.  Made coffee.

2.  Drove Paul to work since our van, Two Tone (known with affection as Two Tonie) is dead.
3.  Exercised.
4.  Drank coffee and ate breakfast.
5.  Decided to push back school in order to walk the dog and the children.
6.  Discovered that Lydia’s bike has a flat tire and took down two other bikes (mine and Christopher’s old one) from the rafters only to discover that they had flat tires too.  Fortunately Christopher agreed to share his bike with her.
 
7.  Had a very nice walk…on the way out.  The day was quite brisk, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so it felt invigorating.  The big kids happily went back and forth with Christopher’s bike and Eden sailed along on her new big girl bike.  Our half way point was a stream where they all threw sticks and pebbles into the water.  Jack waded in and dragged me around.  It was on the way home where the wheels started to come off.  Eden hit a wall of exhaustion and wanted me to carry her.  She settled for holding my hand and whining all the way home while Lydia and Christopher took turns pushing her bike.
8.  Made lunch.
9.  Taught school.
10.  Drove everyone to our local botanical gardens.  It has a huge conservatory where they release butterflies every spring.  The butterflies are the most active on sunny days and it has always been overcast when I have visited in the past.  The sun was shining and the butterflies were everywhere.  We had a very nice time.
11.  Went to the store to buy a bicycle pump.  Ended up with a cart full of groceries.
12.  Picked up Paul.
13.  Made dinner.
14.  Picked up the living room.
15.  Tucked the girls into bed.
16.  Shopped around the internet for another van.
17.  Retucked Eden.
18.  Retucked Eden.
19.  Crawled in with Eden who wanted me to snuggle for a little bit.
20.  Passed out.
21.  Woke to Paul trying to pull me up.  
22.  Checked e-mail.
23.  Blogged.
I still need to brush my teeth, set the alarm and pray.
I’ll probably read too.
Just realized that the first thing I did today was read my Bible and prayed, but I am too lazy to change everything.  
Good night.

Sweetness

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Most people, I think, were raised on cookies or bars.  I was raised on cookies.  It would be interesting to consider the sort of people who are attracted to making bars.  There is much to be said for them, they are certainly quicker and, if you crave it, there is the option of uniformity.  It must be pleasing, for some, to be able to cut perfectly square or rectangular bars, leaving the curled up edges to be eaten in private by the baker.  This is all conjecture since, as I mentioned, my experience and expertise is with cookies.

And yet,the other day, it was chocolate chip cookie bars for which I had a craving.  I didn’t do anything about it until Lydia fell upon me crying because Eden was driving her crazy.  Eden, who can be quite a pill, wasn’t really doing anything.  I diagnosed cabin fever of the deadliest kind and, as I held my sobbing girl close, tried to think what might be a good occupation for someone who is sick and tired and generally feeling fragile.  Baking seemed a possibility.  I suggested making some bars and Lydia agreed.   That it could hit the second bird of my own craving was a bonus.   
Once we had settled on the recipe and she had begun to measure ingredients, Lydia came back and sweetly apologized for her earlier fit.  This is always her way, given a little room and some compassion  her conscience invariably pricks and she makes things right.  
Today Lydia made the bars again.  She wanted to do it herself and with the help of her sister and one of our visiting friends she measured out the wet ingredients and mixed them.  It looked strange and so she called me to check.  It was easy to see that she hadn’t fully creamed the butter and sugar before adding the eggs and vanilla.  She was worried.
I told her to start measuring the flour and I got the mixer going strong.  It soon beat everything into a creamy mixture.  It wasn’t what it would have been, but it was fine.  
“Is it going to be OK?”  Lydia asked after we stirred in the dry ingredients.
I assured her it would be and then asked, “What if it wasn’t fine, what if it was ruined?”
She thought for a moment, “We could start over.”
And in most cases we can.  Today we have plenty of butter and sugar and eggs, it only would have taken time to measure them again.
I poured in the chocolate chips and we both leaned forward to hear them hitting each other as they landed.  This is one of my favorites sounds in the world and I have taught Lydia to appreciate it too.  We mixed them into the dough and then carefully spread it in the pan.
I put the bowl in the sink and filled it with water to wash.  “Sweetie, you know if you try anything, odds are -“
“You’re going to make mistakes?”
“Yep.  And the sooner you figure out they’re nothing to be afraid of, the happier you’re going to be.”
The bars have baked and been cooled on a rack.  Lydia is cutting pieces for everyone as I type.
If you had a bird’s eye view of our kitchen today you would have probably been able to figure out I was teaching my daughter how to bake.  But you might not have known, what I am coming to understand I get to do day after day, in the most mundane situations, is that I was teaching her how to live.