The Day - July 14...

Ech, today, it was out of balance. Started off alright - a smiling girl waking when I did, to keep me company through coffee and toast as I made my way towards a doctor's appointment and a car tune-up. Another morning of Eliza sleeping 'till 11:00. I had agreed to watch a friend's child, which was lovely...

(a bunny, a tiger, and a ghost)

...until it wasn't, when we suddenly had too many kids in the mix (adding in the neighbors) and I had to shoo some home. Balance is a fragile thing in our house these days.

There were moments of peace, like this one...
...and this one...

...and I think I can guess at what will be waiting for us in the morning. I mean, WHY IS IT GOLD???? Where does that come from? Where does it go? Neither the caterpillar or the monarch have gold like that...I just don't get it. And why? I mean, it hangs, unnoticed, from a leaf or a twig, or in our case, an old pickle jar...why the beautiful dots of gold? Sigh.

Eating: avocado and chips

Listening to: crickets and the small yippy of whines of the puppies from next door - I haven't seen them with my own peepers yet, but rumor has it that the two meanest dogs in the history of dogs (they are Beagle/Jack Russel Terrier mixes, and mean mean mean the both of them) - Apollo and Zeus - have made babies. Apollo and Zeus. I know, it confuses me too.

Feeling: a bit of satisfaction - my house is getting close to clean. Like wipe-the-dust-from-the-photos clean, with some large piles of clutter left to...um...decorate the corners. My mom and my sister are coming and though they have adored me when I lived in the filth and grime of my college years, I would so love for them to be comfortable here.

Wishing: I knew what to "do" with Anika. Large sigh. I had a friend tell me today that she thought of me because they designated a "naughty chair" for their six year old for when she is physically mean with her sister. I'm not certain if she was meaning that I should consider that for our house, but I just tried to be supportive...and not take it personally...and actually, it's funny, because in the car the other day the girls told me they thought maybe we should have an "uncooperative chair". I'm not exactly sure how they meant for it to work, but it was interesting to be in the position of trying to be convinced to create a punishment that doesn't yet exist in our house...hmmmm...I do need to come up with something that keeps me calm and non-reactive, because I spend a lot of breath in a day telling that girl to be gentle, put the kitty down when she meows like that!, to please not touch her sister when she's angry...aw, heck, it's all out of whack, big girl, little girl...I'm looking forward to the opening of Oliver, and the resuming of some of the normal in our lives.