Prodigal Hen Returns

Oh hey guys - Mo is home. FYI.  She just came back one day like nothing ever happened.  After weeks of being gone, with one appearance somewhere in the middle, she suddenly was standing at the watering hole chattering with the other ladies. We locked her in her coop and gave her food and water. We weren't risking her running off again for another week.  The next morning, when we let her out with the other girls - all was as it had always been. She's back to just being our girl Mo, laying light brown eggs in the nesting box, slipping out of the yard to visit the neighbors while we're away, and returning each night to fly on top of the coop and fall asleep, waiting for John and I to pick her up and tuck her into her safe coop for the night.

I just requested to own another project.  I walked up to my boss and explained that it made more sense for me to run both of our major pursuits right now, because they have the same leadership team, not to mention I ran the first part of this other pursuit and would do well to stay on it.  She asked what projects I could trade to the other coordinator if I took it on. I didn't have one, I'd be wrapping one project up today, the other would wrap up just in time to take on the one I was requesting, and then I'd circle back with the same leadership team for a final two days on the second project. It would be a whirwind couple of weeks, but it would run smoother with one coordinator across both projects. It did make sense actually.  But just as I saw her starting to agree - I realized what I'd just done. Why? Why Katrina? So I'm considering how to clear my weekends again.

Not this weekend, but likely next, I'll be here. And I think I just realized, that is Thanksgiving.  So wooo!  Nice job!

This weekend, I'm sure we'll want to just sleep in, relax, read books.  It's amazing - we've been having those moments lately!  We both teared up one evening when we found ourselves sitting next to each other at the kitchen counter happily working on our own projects. Just simple little things - I was painting my nails. It was sweet and perfect.  A little dream.

I hope we do find time for that this coming weekend, but like last, we'll also no doubt work on getting all moved out of upstairs.  We are so incredibly close!!  Just a handful of furniture to sell, boxes of clothes, extra dishes, mix-matched towels to donate and a lot of electronics. ;) We also have to figure out how to fit a pantry in our tiny new home so we can empty out the cupboards - and the bar.  The bar is a real conundrum.

It has been work.  It would be so much easier to just stay upstairs in the beautiful 3 bedroom apartment with more than enough space for us, granite counter-tops, (A BATHTUB!), fireplace and tons of windows.  Each time I walk in there I hear that in my head, this would be so easy. But we don't really want easy.  We don't want to be owned by our mortgage. We don't want to get used to living off so much more than we need. And we don't need three bedrooms. It's excessive. So while selling our old couches, donating half my wardrobe (actually, more), parting with some good old friends (my sweet shoes), and always having a little space heater running is not easy - it is freeing. It is doing the work now to free us from the stuff that has been drowning and distracting us. It will free us to take risks. And hopefully it will train us in our habits, behaviors, tastes and expectations.

The peptalk to myself being complete, I'm really hoping this is the weekend we are finished with moving out, if not completely finished with moving in. I'm excited about this new season and our new home. I'm excited to find new renters/neighbors to share our home. I'm excited for more evenings at the kitchen counter.

I felt a bit like a single mom this morning. To four baby chicks. Change their clothes (water), pack their lunch (pick the poop out of their food dish and replenish for the day), make sure the temperature in their coop is right. Bring the trash bins all up to the front of the drive (all four of them, Good Lord!). Water the plants sitting on my front porch (okay, I didn't because I ran out of time, but I should have and meant to). Get myself dressed and make myself a cup of coffee to go. Catch the bus. Catch up on email on my commute. Start work day.

Meanwhile, think of the laundry I need to finish when I get home, dishwasher I need to run, and other various errands to be accomplished before sleep. Including changing said water, food, and coop wood chips multiple times before sleep. And maybe cuddling my fluffy little babies and posting numerous photos of them to Instagram for Morgan. ;)

Did I mention I looked at puppies on Craigslist yesterday?

10 Days Until John's Closing Date!!!! 

And his apartment is folding up into boxes and zipties.

Dream Room. 

Leaving for the train in 3.5 hours.  Suffice to say, I'm having a hard time focusing at work today.  Two cups of coffee, a waterbottle and a plum later and one hour and 27 minutes have passed. 

....

My backpack is sitting behind my chair, my purse is tucked away in it, bus pass and wallet in the outside pocket.  I'm ready.  :) 

.....

Last night was full of laundry, cleaning and errands.  By 9pm we were dropping off my mom's vacuum and grabbing a few of my left behind belongings.  And then, we were standing with a flashlight and a giant pole picking plums from the yard.  I have a delicious bag to prove it.  My mom was laughing at us most of the time.  And I think John might have realized I'm crazy finally. But I love plums! I'm kind of greedy about them too. 

Have I already shared this?  If so, just skip to the next paragraph.  The house I was born in in Edmonds had a kid's dreamland backyard.  The perfect reading tree.  A sport court.  A green lawn that I always remember green.  And best yet, cherry trees, a huge apple tree and a number of dwarf plum trees.  The birds got the cherries before we ever had a chance, but the apples and plums were ours for the picking!  I wasn't much about the sour taste of the green apples.  Today, I'd probably love them for pies and glazes.  But plums are like candy!  They are so sweet, without being overwhelming.  And if just right, they have the tiniest tang of tart to surprise you.  When we moved my first grade year, I missed those trees.  Eventually, somewhere around high school, my mom planted me a plum tree at the new house.  I think she planted two actually.  :/  A few years ago, it finally started growing fruit.  And this year, it is dripping with deep red plums!  I keep getting giddy at the sight of it.  I think one more week and all lower fruit (reachable) will all be ready for the picking!

One day I wil have a house.  And it will have a plum tree.

.......

13 more minutes passed...

About this time of year everything begins to change about "coming home."

The car may be in the drive, but the house is empty.  I walk in the front door and can smell it - the back yard.  The kitchen door is open, the heat from mom's tea garden (our "beer garden") pouring into the kitchen like her tea into a porcelain cup.  The afternoon sun sneaks in through the lace curtains.  This is my home in the summer.  A peak down that dark stairway shows you the back door is wide open - always is.  Mom's hands are buried deep in dirt somewhere.  Dinner won't be ready until 9pm - or much later, once the sun has gone down and she's remembered herself.  By then, the frogs have come out.  I don't always remember there being so many frogs at night, it seems to have happened over the past few years.  Two nights ago I stood at my door and just listened.  It's spring and even the ponds have remembered how to sing. Me and the stars, we listened.

My dream home would be full of balconies (and fireplaces and windows, and have exposed brick and hardwood floors and be either designed by us, or remodeled by us).   It would be full of character and detail down to it's molding. :)

15. A Recipe: Mom's Honey Baked Chicken.  Picking just one recipe I'm grateful for?  That's terrible.  I hate "What's your favorite?" questions.  Truly.  Strong, strong dislike.  But, seeing as these questions aren't about favorites, they're about things I'm grateful for... I chose my mom's chicken.  It has always been a family favorite.  And it was the first recipe of hers I learned to make.  Come to think of it, it is a certain rights of passage in our home.  Katherine made it for her first time this past year.  Learning to bake mom's honey baked chicken is something simple, but special.  And it tastes amazing.  I chose it as the recipe I am grateful for, because it helped open up the culinary world to me.  And, because it's one of those meals that makes me feel at home.