Sanding musings...

I was proud of myself this morning. I got Carrie to school early and I remembered to pick her up at the right time! I know most are thinking....HOW can you forget to pick up someone!!! But believe you me...it happens here a LOT! Mostly I get lost in my own little internet world, or get busy doing a task and time is flying by unobserved. It's SO embarrassing to get a call from the kid you've forgotten or the adult who's in charge of them, that's ticked off because they want to go home and can't because...YOU FORGOT YOUR KID!!!! Then as you walk in, you see them shaking their heads with their thoughts right on their face....That woman has too many kids to take care of!!! Look! She forgot her kid! I think I'd forget a kid even if I only had ONE of them. My mom always used to say....you'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on your shoulders! (gee, hadn't thought of that thought in a long time)

After "school" was done for Carrie I just piddled around the house for a bit. Finally I got the gumption to get to work on the picnic table. FIRST I wanted to take a before picture of it...but NOooooooooooooo! Patrick informs me I can't because MY camera is at DAVE's house. WHAT is it doing there???? Oh well, I don't want to wait any longer. We need a place to sit and eat comfortably out back. I also want to finish it so it can be moved from the front yard to the back. It looks terrible out there. So I got to work, I restained the new boards, stripped and sanded the paint off the legs. I tried to take the top boards off the table but I think I'm going to need some HE MAN power to do that. So I'm at the mercy of Tom and his ongoing projects now. Who knows...maybe I'll get so sick of waiting I'll just rip them off with my teeth! LOL

After that was done I then moved on with the sander. I became a sanding fool!!! I started sanding the front porch. I painted the front porch one year only to find, Tom was NOT happy!!! He wanted to stain it and didn't like the color I used...even if it did match my front door! Well fooling around with the sander I started taking whatever paint the weather hadn't gotten to already. It's slow going and dirty work but I actually like it!

I like seeing the gross looking piece of wood turn into a beautiful piece of wood. I can see my progress which is always a good thing for me. I used to NOT clean one square of our kitchen floor just so I could see how clean I was actually making the rest of the floor while I mopped. Anyways...back to the sanding. I also like how the noise of the sander leaves me in my own little world. Don't get me wrong...the outside world comes into my sanding world....but it takes a bit. I couldn't do this job if I didn't have older kids around to help keep an eye on things or alert me to when something needs my attention. I think the kids might like it also because I tend to let them do more themselves...have snacks for lunch so I don't have to make it, etc.

While in my sanding world I found myself thinking about a lot of different things. About my family and how it's one unit one second and 10 individuals with 10 unique needs another second later. How I've had to do what I felt was right in terms of my family size...even if those that I care about the most were telling me it was wrong. How those people now think I made some great decisions and enjoy showing off my brood and seeing people's reactions when they hear the number of kids I have. LOL

I thought about the different phases of raising them....chaos with tons of little ones needing me left and right...total chaos with older kids needing help with homework and little ones needing me...utter chaos with teens needing to be driven, kids needing help with homework, and little ones needing me...now we have some semblance of reigning in the chaos...with no more real little ones, older kids to drive and babysit, still other kids needing help with homework though. LOL

I thought of those older kids. How they've got some tough decisions to make now...I was thankful it wasn't ME who had to make them. I wondered why none of them really know what they want to do in the coming years (ok...Pat MIGHT know...but the other two have no clue). I thought about how different an 18yo is now compared to when my dad was 18. I wondered what being 18 would be like for my grandkids....WOULD I get grandkids? I know that quite a few of my kids have mentioned having a ton of kids...but will their spouse agree to go along for the crazy ride too?

I thought of Tom and I and how we've changed. From immature individuals always butting heads, trying to find our common ground. To individuals with so much on our plate we didn't take the time for each other and became bedsharing strangers. How as the kids got older, we found a little extra time for each other and took the opportunities to get to know each other again. How I look forward to being alone with him in our old age when before it scared me to death.

I thought of a lot of other things but I can't keep my eyes open to type them and this is alreay long enough.