Nan's Bites from the Block: About five for February 28

After many nights (more than I care to remember) with less than eight hours sleep, I finally slept through the night until my alarm went off. I'm never sure what the proper combination of events is for me to fall asleep and stay asleep, but in any case when I do, I'm always relieved. Did you see the light bulb over my head turn on? Doh! Good sleep translates into an effortless morning run, which I had today for the first time in about a week. Running is important for me: among other things it gives me clarity and provides time alone to plan my day and sometimes my week. These are some of the things that I thought about this morning while running through my neighborhood.

--6--
Children benefit from having two parents. I absolutely mean two parents, any combination: two mothers, two fathers, a mother and a father. I cannot stress enough that it doesn't matter what two, all that matters is that it's two loving, caring people. I have found over the years that depending on the circumstances, that I am not always the right one to parent, sometimes Don does a better job. Over time I have come to realize that I did the young years better (than these years) and Don does better (than me) with the older years. There was a time when that would have bothered the hell out of me but not any more. I am relieved that he's here to do the heavy lifting because sometimes I don't have what it takes.
--5--
I spent much of the last two days cleaning the dead out of flower beds, mowing and edging for the first time in months and moving plants back out to the yard from the garage where they've been housed since the first frost. This is one of my favorite things to do after winter and before spring, probably because it satisfies two of my needs: organizing and cleaning. Before you get the wrong idea, I am not one of those women that compulsively cleans the inside of my house. Our house is straight and relatively uncluttered but my mother set me straight on that years ago. One day when I was stressing out about needing to clean my house, she reminded me that I had something way more important to take care of: two children. She was right: the mess, the dirt, the cleaning could wait. The kids on the other hand, could not wait. My favorite thing that I did in the yard? Organizing my cacti.

--4--
I didn't much care for being without a computer. It's not that I'm addicted, it's more that I became aware of how much of my life is stored on my computer. Other than the fact that a great amount of information is concentrated in one place, therefore easy to access, I haven't decided if it's a good thing or not. Any thoughts?
--3--
I did rediscover some things that I had been neglecting up until recently, not only due to time I spend on the computer. Books. I finally put down the magazines which require little concentration and I picked up a book that I asked for and received for Christmas. I began the organization of my pantry which, because it had been haphazardly organized previously, is beginning to take shape. It will always be a work in progress, if only because my theory is that you can always make it better. Best part? It's clean, orderly and has my *butt* mark on it, not the previous occupants'! :-)
--2--

Of the many things that I love about Apple computers is the way that it keeps track of photographs. I have so many photos. So many photos. I don't carry my camera around as much as I did when the kids were little but I always know where it is. Before we had kids, I took pictures of the cats. I notice now that the kids are older and less willing to be still for a picture, I am taking more pictures of Bubba than I used to. I still try to take pictures of the kids, but they are bigger than me now so if they protest, I don't fight it. This afternoon I took a few minutes to organize some old photos that I scanned a while back. I have always loved taking pictures of Sarah and Mikey when they sleep. It goes back to the time when they were infants and I would stand next to the cradle and watch them sleep. I was totally smitten and in love, as well as being grateful that we finally managed to pull this whole baby thing off. Every once in a while I manage to get a picture of Mikey sleeping (only because Sarah sleeps on an entirely different schedule than most humans) and I have observed that he still sleeps like he did when he was a baby. This will always be one of my favorites:

Sarah 4yrs. & Mikey 19mths. - 1/94

--1--
Dinner. I usually think about what to cook for dinner soon after I start my day. I'm not sure why, probably because I'm just ADD enough to be concerned that I will forget that I need to come up with something before I've forgotten to defrost something I might want to use. I love cooking as long as there is someone else around to eat. Most days I come up with something tasty based on what I have on hand. This morning we went to Canino's where I picked a few vegetables. Those, along with pork and a few other veggies I had on hand, ended up as an Asian stir fry over brown rice. Dessert? Leftover Gooey Cake that I baked for a bake sale.