i n • p u r s u i t

Write a letter (two pages or so) to a “straw man,” someone who is not a friend or family member, but who was a significant figure in your life as a child or young person. This should be, for example, an elementary school teacher, a soccer coach, a piano teacher, etc.—someone associated with a specific period in your life, a period long enough ago that you would not have a clear sense of events occurring beyond your neighborhood or region. Addressing your writing to an adult who would have had the social consciousness then that you have now will help you to maintain a mature perspective as you explore the memory. In the letter, recount a specific personal event that had a notable impact on your life alone, and which occurred while you were, say, that teacher’s student. Incorporate references to what we’ll call a “global” event that made headlines in the newspapers at the time. Try to find a headline(s) as close to the date of the experience, as well as you can recall, as possible. If yo...

A couple of days last week I was on the major struggle bus. I told Mike that I was having a really hard time and he asked what I needed. "To be in the mountains!" I said. Well, actually, I probably whined and moaned. And my gracious husband told me to take one day this weekend to head up to the mountains. Its been ages since I've done a difficult hike or trail run...and I haven't exactly been running a lot either. So, naturally, I decided to do one of the most difficult hikes around (according to the reviews on AllTrails). The drive up to Caesar's Head State Park was the perfect way to start. I was already feeling better just listening to music, drinking my favorite tea, and driving up that winding road. After getting all my gear together and filling out the trail card, I hit the trail at 8:30. It was calling for thunderstorms around 1pm, so I knew I had four and a half hours to do the loop. After some quick math, I determined that I needed to keep my pace under 3...

"Choose a historical event of at least national significance that occurred during your childhood. What social and cultural conditions were directly impacting you and your family at that time? Without placing too much emphasis on the event, write two or three paragraphs about your life at that moment."

Lately, I've been feeling like a big ol' boring mom. I have a quarantine funk that comes and goes. (I don't mean a smell. I mean a mood.) It popped into my head the other day that I should look into signing up for one of those free online college courses. Something really interesting, though. See, a couple of years ago, I signed up for Intro to Psychology or something. However, it didn't hold my interest, so I didn't finish. After a few google searches for interesting Coursera/edx/etc courses, I came across a few creative writing courses that piqued my interest. And then! I found a specialization (on Coursera, a specialization is a series of courses) on memoir writing. Well, as a blogger, that is totally up my alley. Its 100% free to audit the course, so that it was I decided to do. I started last night, listening to the first couple lectures (just a few minutes each) and taking notes. I scrolled ahead to see what the first week's assignment was. It's about ...

Yesterday was a doozy. Someone on Facebook said that eLearning is like having a newborn again, in the sense that children need constant attention. And that's not an inaccurate statement.  I know that Jojo's teacher doesn't helicopter him at school; she has other children who also need her attentions. So, I'm trying to be better about letting him work independently. For independent reading, I've been sitting with him and listening to him read. Yesterday, however, I set him up with a stack of readers that were about his level, set the timer, and left the room. He did a great job! Today, instead of hovering over him while he did his work, I'm trying to give him some space. But, ugh, it's hard. For example, he tried to go to his Seesaw account but it signed him out! So I had to dig around in my email to find his code, blah blah blah. Anyway. Its our third day of eLearning and fourth day of school (he goes to school on Tuesdays). Trying to find the balance betwee...

Our official first day of school was an eLearning day. Not how I would choose, but again, I'm very grateful for our school district's chose path this year. (I may be alone in this.) The kiddos started the day with big bowls of cocoa pebbles (so healthy) and I started mine with my favorite tea. I've taken to calling it my happy tea (because it contains ashwagandha).  I want us to have some semblance of normalcy, so maintaining a rhythm, if not a strict schedule, is necessary. We started school around 8am. Everyone was fed, dressed, teeth and hair brushed. I even applied makeup. (What an overachiever!) We started with reading from Jesus Calling for kids and taking turns praying. Then, we said the pledge of allegiance--I found a little flag leftover from some past Fourth of July. After that, it was time for actual school. I set Ruthie up with her work book and helped Jojo with his Chromebook. He zoomed through his lessons! We did have a pretty serious hiccup when it came time ...

  I spent, like, an hour in the closet today planning out my week. I don't know why the closet, I just like hanging out in there! It feels so good to get my week out on paper, especially in a pretty way. I feel a little bit prepared for the days head. Also, I have a ton of Happy Planner stickers that need to be used up.  Often, I plan on Sundays and ignore my planner again until the following Sunday! What a waste! So, this week, I plan (ha!) to keep it open on the counter top so I can be reminded of the things I need to do.

Today was Jojo's first day back at school since March 13th. When school was canceled back in March, I had no idea that it would be for the remainder of the year. Maybe two weeks, at most, and then this whole pandemic thing would blow over and things would go back to normal. Then, in May, when I tearfully watched Jojo's virtual award ceremony, I was sure that August would come and school would be back to normal. Well, normal, whatever that means, isn't back. But he was at school anyway. One thing for which I am incredibly grateful, is the method of reopening that our school is using. For in-person, students will attend 0, 1, 2, or 5 days depending on the rate of spread and the number of cases. The remaining days, they will eLearn. I like that it wasn't a choice between totally virtual or totally present. We're cautiously working our way back to five days a week. There is a 100% virtual option for parents who didn't want to go back.  Next week, is the official sta...

It's a quarter to five. I just put up my hair and applied some fresh makeup.  It's a nice little afternoon pick-me-up. The aroma from a fresh cup of my favorite tea is also a nice pick-me-up.  The kiddos are playing in the living room. It's all one big room, so it's just on the other side of the counter. It's enough that I feel like we're together. But also enough that I don't feel like they're underfoot. I went to take this cute littler blogger mom photo. And I got photo bombed. I had ones without my daughter, but this one seemed most appropriate.

[This isn't my current planner setup. Its from 2018. I wanted a photo for this post, but I didn't feel like taking a current one.] My knees ache. I've been sitting on the floor, criss cross apple sauce, for the past hour working on my planner. It's been AGES since I've planned. That is to say, set up my weekly planner spread in the scrapbooking, stickering, color coding sense. I'm glad I did. It gives me a chance to get a good look at the upcoming week while have fun stickering. I love stickers. Always have. I spent way too much of my allowance on stickers when I was a kid. What I did with them, I can't even recall. Here I am, decades later, still a sticker hoarder. Well, wanting to actually use up the stickers that were bought with hard earned money was partially why I spent time planning tonight.  Also because I am not only a sticker addict; I am also a planner addict. I started the year committed to doing a bullet journal. I love bullet journaling. But so...

Remember times before "overgramming" was a thing? When I first started blogging, it didn't matter how many times a day I posted. It didn't have to be at a certain time for optimum exposure. I didn't worry about reach. Hashtags weren't even a thing. I thought of these things this afternoon. I was going to post again and my initial thought was that I have to wait until tomorrow. After all, I've already posted today! But this is a personal blog, right? And the '00 rules of personal blogs are that it doesn't matter when you post or if you post too much. Anyway. After that blah of a post from earlier today, I did indeed drink a caffeinated beverage (any other Mio fans?) and get off my behind. The kids hung out with me in the craft room. They played with kinetic sand while I sewed. We had a candle lit, filling the room with a lovely warm scent, and listened to the dreamy, melancholy sounds of folklore . I decided to start work on the doll carriers that I...

  Every part of me feels tired. My muscles feel physically tired. My heart is emotionally weary. I feel unable to be fully present. I just want to take a nap or snuggle into my quilt and zone out. But I also feel like I should be productive. Unload the dishwasher. Make my bed. Do a load of laundry...or three. I promised the kids we would make fossils later (modeling clay and an object for the mold. Plaster for the fossil. It is pretty fun.) We took the kids to get haircuts today and it felt like a waste of money. I'm going to have to take my son in somewhere else soon. He likes his hair long, but its needs style. They don't do style at Great Clips. They just cut. My daughter really wanted her first cut. She basically got a tiny bit trimmed off the bottom. I could have done that for free. She loved it and felt like a big girl, though. I've got this painful monster of a cystic zit coming in under my eyebrow. Let me repeat. Under. My. Eyebrow. What the heck. I can't do any...

The other day, I came across this old post: What's Your Story? As I was read it, I couldn't help but think, Man! I used to really be able to write. And now, here I am, struggling to string two words together. I don't have to, however, go back to the 2004 archives to remind myself of how bad those posts are. I remember them well enough! If I was able to write about an evening so eloquently, it is the product of practice. Like I tell my six year old all the time, no one is good at something the first time they try. (Which is false, of course, some people are good beginners. But they are outliers.) I really would like to be a better writer again. I have a hankering to pick blogging back up. Not for the sake of blogs today. I have no desire to be monetized. No, I just want to write like I used to. I feel like my blogging started to go to crap when I compared my blog to others. I wanted consistent features. I wanted to be a beauty or fashion blogger. I definitely wanted to be ...

i've been listening to this album on repeat and i am obsessed

I snapped at my kids this morning. I was trying to video chat and my kids kept interrupting me. And y'all. Is it too much to ask to just get a couple of sentences in? And after snapping at my kids. I was both frustrated with myself and with them. I should speak to them kindly. But also, they should not be interrupting me. I feel guilty for snapping at them. Especially when I see those puppy dog eyes. I feel guilty that I haven't done more to teach them respect. I feel annoyed because, oh my gosh, just go clean your room like I have asked you one million times in the past ten minutes. I'm reminded of why I usually video chat in a different room. I'm torn between feeling like I should be the ever present mom and knowing that it is perfectly okay for my kids to entertain themselves. (Drink of choice this morning: Tazo Perfect Energy Vanilla Spice tea + Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice tea + Coffee mate Funfetti creamer.)

Quarantine log: day 26 Distance learning has been going well. Jojo actually says he likes being more than school because he likes being home with family. However, he added that it is harder that school. I think because all the worksheets. When he said that, that made me realize we need to diversify his learning. I can go off the worksheets (because I am NO lesson planner) and make learning a little more hands on. For example, he was supposed to fill out a worksheet with all the parts of a flower. There were, like, four worksheets that were the same thing. So, instead, we looked at plants and talked about them. We also planted out Venus fly trap and started a science journal. He has video chats with his class once or twice a week. His teacher does a good job making it fun! They've had show and tell, talking about their favorite books, or a rainbow scavenger hunt. I also had a video conference with his teachers to talk about what to expect for the rest of the year. Sch...

Quarantine log: day 12 I felt convicted last night about my exercise during this pandemic. Up until this moment, I haven't really felt that I've been doing anything wrong with my actions. But last night, I thought about the massive crowds that have been at local parks. (More crowds than the Fourth of July. Which, I guess, is significant.) I mean, even on that rainy day, I passed quite a few people on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. (Normally, I'd see maybe one or two people on a rainy day.) By being another body on a high-traffic trail, am I being part of the problem? For a while, my thought has been that I am not part of the problem. They. All the others. All those people who never go outside who are suddenly on MY trails. They are the problem. But the outdoors belongs to everyone. I don't have a greater ownership in it because I am a frequent user. I am, indeed, part of the problem. By being another body, when the problem is ALL THE BODIES...

Quarantine log day 10 Felt blah yesterday. Woke up feeling more blah. Just down. A little depressed. Emotional. Overwhelmed. Negative. My husband had a period of no meetings in the morning, so he encouraged me to go for a run. After having J complete his english & language arts, and math for the day, I let the kids watch Pete The Cat (or Pete and the Cat, as Ruthie calls it!) and got ready to go. I drove to three parking lots on the trail before I found one with open spots. Then I sat in the car for several minutes because I just didn't want to get out. It was cold and dreary outside. I knew I should just go. I knew I'd feel better. But sometimes, it's just hard to get out of the car. It's funny how ten miles can seem way to short somedays and others, three miles seems impossible. Today, was obviously one of the days that three miles seemed impossible. I visualized my turn-around point in my mind and it just seemed so. far. away. I decided t...