String

Around my finger to remember this.

Days when I melt down and cannot cope with the whining, lying, tattling, fighting, yelling or banging?

They are days when I have skipped my workout to go to the dentist, take kids to the doctor, catch up on home school, do the grocery shopping, clean up the house, or (!!!) rest.

I cannot skip workouts. They are my stubborn-girl Prozac. Who needs a clean house with a crazy mom? Nobody, that's who.

Symbiosis

The triumphant thrift store find makes a perfect place for pictures of the cute girl. The cute girl pictures make for an easy way to brag about the nifty wood-and-upholstery chair, redone in pale blue vinyl, that perfectly matches my living room. I think this house and I were MFEO.

.

Ring out

We live between one of many Catholic churches in town - St. Ann's parish, for which our street is named - and the beautiful, dome-topped Serbian Orthodox church at the top of our street. Bells ring out all around us on a Sunday morning, sounding clear through the pristine air of this old mining town. I can't wait until the weather warms up and we can open up the windows to hear them better - drifting in with the scent of cut grass or rain or pine needles or the flowers I will plant.

While they ring, we get ready for church.

No bells coming from an LDS chapel, but for me, the same feeling of holy clarity and peace. The same sense of easy homecoming.