a day

  Tonight was one of those nights that I need sometimes. Where I start a project and finish it, all in one fell swoop. A project that has an end and won't need to be done again, and again, and again, and probably again. I just needed it for me. To do something and be done. So I made a clothes pin holder. It is quite the sight. I wanted to make it pretty out of pretty fabric and then I got real. Where is it going to hang? Outside in the sun and heat so I went utilitarian. Duck clothe. Bright orange duck clothe mind you. The same orange duck clothe I used to make fishing pole lure covers (don't ask) for Joe. Oh and bean bags. So it should last. It may fade but it should last longer that the nifty pop up one I was given, whose strap frayed, no disintegrated from the harsh sun rays.I found a really cute hanger that has a metal hook and a cute little star and covered it with the newly made clothes pin bag and it's awesome. And it's done. I don't have to think about it anymore, except to bring it in from the rain, and use it. Maybe then my clothespins won't disappear and weather so badly, and stay in one place. Sometimes you just need to be able to check something off a list, somewhere.
   It really helped that the kids have been doing so much better at bedtime. I had a near breakdown a few weeks ago that coincided with the kids deciding that bedtime wasn't at 645 anymore, but more like 930. I was at wits end. I need, need, NEED those few hours at the end of the night to be kid free. When they are up at 615 every morning, and all five are at home all day, there needs to be an end to the chaos and loudness and the whys (which now will earn 5 push ups). I need to go shopping without kids at times, clean up the kitchen sometimes, sit down and read sometimes, go to the temple sometimes (okay more than sometimes, it's my therapist). It just needs to be me, sometimes with the chickens because they can be calming, sometimes with Joe, sometimes with other people, just without the kids.
   The last few nights that I have been out with the chickens I have felt and smelt the changing of the seasons and makes me so happy. I LOVE fall. I love the colors and the change in temperature. I love to wear sweaters and jackets and feel the cool air on my face. If we had one, I would want to curl up in front of the fireplace, with a cozy blanket and a good book. I just read one. The Unlikely Journey of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Except for the few swear words, I thought it was an amazing book. Made an impression on me. I hate having to qualify things, except for... aghh. If only I could push the edit button, they didn't add anything to the book. Swear words rarely do add anything anyway.
   Our chickens are doing a little better, there is still a definite pecking order, but number 3 has joined the "Mean Girl Group" and can be the most aggressive, she just seems to want to bother Whitey. But in whole the 2 Big Reds (the original Mean Girl Group) have mellowed a bit towards Whitey. That allows us to let them all out for 60-90 minutes at night. For a while it seemed like they would boot her out of the coop at night but no longer. Also, we are up to four laying hens out of the six. I am really hoping that Scout and Whitey start laying in the next month. That would really help with the egg production. Have you seen the price of eggs lately? Safeway is charging $7.50 for 18 eggs!!! That is nuts. I would not spend that much for eggs. Free range eggs go for $6 a dozen and we have a friend selling their eggs for $9 a dozen. A dozen. That is unreal. I can't believe anyone would spend that much for chicken eggs. I never would. I balk at spending $3.50 a dozen.
   My calling in our ward is Music Chairman. So I get to arrange all the special musical numbers. It awesome!! I get to pick the music and the songs and it's the best calling ever. This Sunday I am leading, conducting sounds to formal but it's the right word, a large group in singing "Come Thou Fount". I am so excited. I love that hymn (and am sad it's not in the hymn book anymore). We are going to change a bunch of things while still keeping the original beauty of the words and music. Oh I am excited. You know what sounds awesome to me? Having the primary sing "When He Comes Again" the Sunday AFTER Christmas. What a beautiful thought, having just celebrating His birth to think about preparing for Him to come again. Therein lies the awesomeness of my calling. I get to make that decision. :)


   Okay, I have a question for all you that read this post. Please give your response in a comment, please please please. I need feedback. This shows that I spend way too much time thinking up these special numbers, and well in advance.  Do you think that the primary should sing on Mother's Day, or is it okay to have a group that sings to the role of mothers and women? My thought is that Adam calls Eve "the mother of all living" before she is the mother of all living, before they are even married in fact. So the role of mothering and the attributes it describes are in use by many who aren't in fact "mothers". There was an amazing song about womanhood presented in the Relief Society general session a few years back. So please tell me what you think. I asked someone in my ward, and the response was an emphatic no way, primary must sing. But I still wonder. What do you think??