By their very nature, these posts have to happen during brief lulls, which makes it seem I'm permanently at the computer, the kids in the other room, baby on blanket, crafts this morning, et cetera. And I'm not. Honestly. If there's any one secret about parenting four kids, it's this: it's a lot of work! Prepare to have your life completely overtaken by work. Prepare to have laundry permanently in all stages of done to undone: dirty and piled on the basement floor, in the machine, on the clothesline or drying rack, in the basket waiting to be folded, folded in the basket and waiting to be put into drawers. It's never ending. And that's the laundry part. Consider the food part. The scheduling part. The hygiene part. Eighty nails to clip each week, my own not included. And through it all the breathing and the genuine calm which I find (most of the time) to get us all up and over the bumps and falls and unexpected turns.
Every day is an adventure. I feel myself constantly called on to excel, to dig into depths of strength previously untapped. It's full-body and full-mind exhausting, and empowering. Just to make it through the day.
This morning we had friends over to play. Next up: lunch (leftovers? something on just-thawed loaf of bread?). Then dance camp for AB, 5 years, and so in love with dancing. This afternoon is her special last-day performance. I'm taking the other kids to spend the time in between drop-off and recital to Grandma's house to play (me too). Grandma's coming to the recital too. Then we pick up our weekly installment of food from the buying club, an amazing weekly event conceived and organized by my friend and neighbour, Nina, who is obsessed with local food and farming and farmers and has a total calling for this work. We are endlessly blessed by her obsession, and it has made eating local very easy. Her latest success is arranging for local pasta to be made with local wheat. She even has local farmers growing hard wheat so we can make almost completely local bread. I'm thawing a package of local hamburger for our supper tonight; again, from Nina's buying club. Sometimes our fridge runs a little low on supplies, but I'm trying to make do till the next buying club or CSA box.
Still watching the Olympics. Canada has yet to medal, but I don't really care. It seems so pleasantly Canadian, somehow. All these hard-working dedicated athletes breaking personal bests ... how could I possibly be disappointed by their efforts? It feels like I'm not alone in that support, and that's what I LOVE about Canada.
Okay, time to heat up leftovers, slice bread, call children to eat!Labels: kids, local food, Nina's buying club, Olympics