Could have been worse...

The chilli turned out well, in the end...although the glazed pan has completed screwed the dishwasher.

Much like the pan, I was a bit frazzled this morning, so I took a quick dip into SouleMama’s blog. It’s quite soothing for the soul, appropriately. She and her family live on a smallholding in Maine. Her family’s life is shaped (I was going to say governed, but I don’t think that word is right) by the rhythm of the seasons, by planting and sowing, sheep shearing, egg laying, fence building, and other activities so far from my family life in Edinburgh that reading her blog doesn’t just make it feel like she’s on the other side of the ocean, but on the other side of a century.

Sometimes, I envy them, but then I remember that I’m not built for early mornings, and livestock depending on me for food. I struggle to get two children ready for school, let along her 5. I like the idea of home schooling, but I wouldn’t be so excited by the reality – “what do you mean, I have to teach them maths?!”.

It is therefore with some pride that I report we all made it to school, and work, in good time and good order, despite a day that began something like this:

07:00: My alarm went off. I pressed snooze
07:10: It went off again. I pressed snooze again. Then remembered the New Year's Resolution I foolishly made and actually got up.
07:11: Opened the door to Josie and Lori’s bedroom, and said “Good Morning!”
07:12: Switched on my computer
07:15: Overheard the following conversation ongoing in the bedroom:
Josie: Lori, great news! It’s morning, and we’re going back to school!
Lori: Ummmggh.
Josie: Lori, you need to get up. Rise and shine!
Lori: Urrrrgh.
Josie: Lori, Mummy’s coming in, you’d better get up now!
Lori: Ummmgh.
07:17: Manhandle Lori from the bed.
07:20: Lori crawls through to the living room and deposits herself on sofa. I suppose that’s her equivalent of pressing the snooze button.

No idea who she gets that from...