Laundry, Lists and Lessons

I wish I could report that my two week absence from blogging is due to some amazing trip or creative streak in the craft room.  However, my two week absence from blogging has been filled with dishes, laundry, homework, and yard work.  Sometimes the mundane act of keeping a family running takes over and you feel like you are swimming in tasks.  Lucy recently said to me "I don't want to do homework."  I answered her with "about 90% of the things I did today were things I didn't want to do".  Wow...really?  Is there really only 10% of my day that can be categorized as things I want to do?

Do I want to pack lunches, cook dinner, unload the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, check sentence structure, prod children to pick up toys, fold laundry, wipe counter tops, test med students, answer emails, answer phones, troubleshoot technology, train new employees, write checks, work on x and y graphs, explain character development, pick up toys, explain how grapes become raisins, make a grocery list, clean out the fridge, eat raisins, sniff expired yogurt, and shave my arm pits?  Not really.

So is this all?  Am I just stuck in a structured rut?  A rut that is so deep that I can't see the sun except when it is directly overhead?  (10% of the day)  I can't see the sunrise or sunset because I am so entrenched.  I wonder if everyone gets this feeling.  Trapped by chores.  Shackled by responsibility.  I was thinking about how we have moved from the needy toddler stage into the independent kid stage.  Then I realized that Emma and I are sitting down for 2 hours a night to work on homework.  Hmmmm...so I have traded a dependent Lucy for a dependent Emma?

Speaking of homework...  Emma Jane has to write a story about her family.  When I asked her what she was going to write about her family, she was stumped for a bit.  But then she said, "it's too bad we have not been through anything like the revolutionary war.  Now that would be something to write about!"  I apologized for not living in a different era.  She then asked if anyone we knew had been sold as a slave.  I said no and again apologized for not living in a more interesting time.  Then she asked if I knew that it was once illegal for black people to vote.  I said yes.  She then asked how they could ever gain the right to vote if they couldn't vote to change the law.  I told her that sometimes the Government will step in and right something that the voters won't fix.  Then she said "when will the Government fix it so Uncle Greg and Heath can get married?"  Soon, I hope.  And then I apologized a third time for the current era in which we live.

Ipoh White Coffee

Tonight I am thinking about Ipoh white coffee and the monkeys calling to us from the cliffs behind How King's house.  I am thinking of how the tile felt on my bare feet and the humidity of the jungle seeping through all the windows.  I am remembering the morning chants coming from houses and the smell of incense burning in the Aunt How King's Buddhist temple.  I am thinking that a year ago I was in my father's homeland.  I am thinking about how my Auntie was insistent that we eat and eat and eat. 

No thank you Auntie, I don't really eat breakfast.

Okay, Emily, you get shoes on, we go eat now.

No really Auntie, I am good with just this banana and coffee.  I'm not hungry.

Okay, Emily, you finish your banana, and we go eat.  Fetch Timothy!

(Enter Timothy from the staircase)  Good morning Timothy! We are going to eat now. 

Oh, I really just need a cup of coffee Auntie.

Okay, then we go eat.  You and Emily put shoes on, and we go eat... Come...  Robert?

I miss you cousins, aunts and uncles.  I loved getting to know your lives and culture.  I carry all of you with me every day.  And when I get out my tea kettle to boil water and drink Ipoh White Coffee out of my Ten-Good mug, I think of my brother Timothy and our great adventure last year.

It is my bedtime here in Oklahoma and my cousins are at work on a Wednesday morning (or school, Kin Kin).  The sun is bright on their side of the planet and my thoughts are with them.  I will dream of their flowers and rain and jungles and monkeys and food and cities and beaches...but most of all, I will dream of my family.

One year ago...

On September 7, 2011, I started a blog.  I started it the night before I left the country to go to Malaysia.  I wasn't sure if I would have much to say once I returned home, but it has been a prolific year.

What I envisioned when I started is different than what I have now.  I thought I would have more crafting posts and less technology posts.  I didn't think that photography would have a primary place on my blog.  I always knew that my girls would be the focus of my blog but I didn't realize how much time it would take to write down all the little stories.

On this one year anniversary, I was looking at my statistics and I wanted to share a few things with you in hopes that you will share with me.



I have had 16,440 page views in one year from 27 different countries.

Now I am going to ask you to share with me.  Will you please leave a comment here on my blog (not on Facebook for today) telling me where you are from and how you found me?  I am very interested to know how you came across my blog and where you are in this big old world.

Even if you just know me from school or work, would you leave a comment?  Please????