Men

Sometimes I can't decide if I understand men so little or if I understand them more than I use to and the lack of mystery makes them less interesting. Maybe as opposite genders we should just stop trying to figure each other out. Maybe if we really understood one another we'd be so put off that we'd just rather stay on opposite ends of the dance floor. Maybe the mystery is the greatest blessing we are given.
As I laid out in the sun today and my wonderful hubby played in the pool with the boys my mind wandered as it almost constantly does. Now, there's no way I am going to let you all dive that deep into my mind by telling you all my strands of thought, but my thoughts often end in, "I wonder what Randall would think if he knew what went on in my head?"
Am I the only person that has constant embarrassing, degrading, creepy, sad, wistful, pleasant, futuristic, abstract, nostalgic, strange thoughts flawlessly braiding together, weaving along the neural pathways? Can you imagine if someone could actually hear every thought that skips across your deep inner mind?! If men could hear what women think about and women could hear what men would think about would we love each other more? Be more humble? Be too grossed out to even make contact? Or, bringing you two readers back to my original thought, would we just be turned off?
I like not understanding my spouse. I enjoy this aura of mystery or my own naivety. I think these things fuel a relationship with a constant sense of desire that helps us continuously propel ourselves toward the future, toward tomorrow. Always wondering, always guessing, arguing, battling, making up, being surprised, making goals, changing goals, changing desires, gives a momentum to a relationship that keeps it interesting.
I like interesting.

On Lawn mowers

Oh, lawn mower, how I love you. I remember when I was a teen helping out in the yard. No, I did not wake up every Saturday morning eager to do "outdoor chores". But I do believe as a teen I did a fair share of the work. I really did enjoy working out in the yard. I loved pulling weeds with my Dad. I really enjoyed shaping the bushes and cutting down unwanted trees. I liked mowing the lawn, though it was not a simple task. Mostly, though, I just liked the idea of helping out my Dad. (You'll find that I can easily do things for other people but have a hard time doing things for myself.)
How easy do people have it that own riding lawn mowers? Ok, so they end up sitting on a mower for like an hour because their yards are so large, wah wah wah. I have no sympathy for people with large yards. I think riding lawn movers are like parking it on a tortoise shell and going for a jaunt. And, for clarification, I think that's cool. Have you seen Marry Poppins? 'Nuff said. But pushing a lawn mower- that's a workout.
It's been a long time since I've had to mow a lawn, so I've been pretty anxious. But Randall works so hard all week and is away from the family that I think the more I can do while he is at work, the more time he'll have to be with myself and the children (mostly the children). I remember enjoying mowing the lawn, so this will be a good thing, right?

I've been able to put it off most of the week because the grass wasn't too high yet and I needed to get gas for the beastly machine. So today was the day! I got Peter off to school, put the boys in front of the TV and puzzles, etc. and set to go out and GET ER DONE!
My first sign that this wasn't going to go so well came when I went to get the gas can and there was a HUGE SPIDER! Ick. Ack. Yuck. After over twenty sprays with the bug killer, the magnificent creature gave up the fight. So the lawn mower was tanked up and ready to go. One, two, three- PULL! And... nothing. PULL. Nothing. Pull harder. Nothing. Pull faster. Nothing. Huh.

Ring, ring. "Hello?" "Hey Rand. I can't get the lawn mower started. Is there something I don't know?" "Yah, you need to push the button..." etc etc etc. So here I go. Press button 5 times. PULL. Nothing. Press button 1 time. Nothing. Press button two times. Nothing. You see where I'm going with this?

Nothing. No mowed lawn for me this morning. So sad. So frustrating. Am I just not strong enough to pull the start cable? Is it broken somehow? Shoulder shrug. I don't know. All I know is that it was a lot of built up anxiety, nostalgia, and spider confrontation, only to not be capable of starting my lawn mower.

STATUS UPDATE: Sara cannot start a lawn mower to save her life... or, at least to save the grass.

Better than Twitter

I often want to status update my Facebook page but realize I'd just updated my status only a few minutes before. Then I think, "Maybe I'd make a likely candidate for Twitter." Then I feel like puking. I mean, I guess Twitter is great and all, but there has to be a middle-of-the-road from Themeing your life in a status update once a day and telling everyone in the world what you do every two minutes. So, I guess I should just blog. This is suppose to be my families blog, but you all can tell how good I am at that... yikes. In conclusion, we're going to try this middle of the road where I can sit and vent and share a few times a day or just whenever I feel the need to chat. Randall should be happy, it'll help me not call him three times a day just to let him know what I've been up to and how I'm feeling about what I've been up to. Chicks.

I have a pulse

I feel really redundant posting pictures on here and on facebook but I realize there might be one person who doesn't use facebook so...
We are still alive, we did make it into our house, we are in heaven. My home life has changed a ton with all this added space, yard, and garage. All for the better. I find I enjoy cleaning my house (of course not all the time) because things look beautiful when they are clean.I definitely have pride in ownership. It's good to have a good sense of peace where I spend most of my life now.
In addition to the wonderful house, we have a community pool. The pool (not shown) is a lap pool about four lanes wide with large shallow platforms on either side. This pic below is a shallow kid area, covered, with a water feature. SO COOL!
We also have a beautiful cat. He produces far too much hair so I have to make sure to brush him every day to keep the free-fly down to a minimum. But that's the only downside. Randall and I are both cat lovers. It's fun when the kids can be entertained for a bit by the cat and I can get a moment to myself.
Most importantly, my kids love this home. We talked last night about whether they miss the old place and they are very pleased with the change. As a Mom, that's a great relief.
Good stuff.