Sunday, March 21, 2010

big news...camera making a comeback....photos to follow!

what a beautiful day!  we really accomplished a lot today.....we all raked up some of the leftover leaves from the fall...t.j. vacuumed the car, washed, simonized and helped with some other work outside, grace jumped in too...she put some good energy into getting the leaves cleared.

yesterday was the first day of spring....perfect timing for us to get to the leaves!  oh, we're on it....we work hard to get this far behind!  biff was out there raking and hauling those leaves bright and early....and everyone followed!

even daisy and fitzy!  and jinx and happy too!  by the warm sun of the afternoon, t.j. had put lots of elbow grease into the s.u.v. that totes the dogs to the beach, the family ski trips, beach jaunts, bike trips....accumulating enough gum wrappers, water bottles for every species,dog leashes, dog fur, dog fur, dog sand leftover from wet sandy paws.....and he was proud!

it really was fun!  i know, how pathetic is my life that i have to gather the family together to do yard work and house clean up and call it "fun"?  the fun-ny thing is that we all had a good time.  we were motivated...all of us...biff and i, grace and t.j.....even the dogs seemed content!

sometimes, it's more work to get everyone doing the work together.  sometimes one person resisting the work can cause enough frustration to toss in our rakes.  today was like a family on a television commercial.  smiles, eager to pitch in, "please may i go to the beach with my friends after we finish" and "will you please take me to the store to get something refreshing to drink?".....wow!

is this the way the perfect people do it?  i'd probably think of myself as perfect too....if this happened all the time!  only, it might seem surreal...it might feel like an alternate universe. no one with plans to go to a friend's house, no one complaining about how hard it is, dogs barking or needy. is this how the other half live?  i think i like it!

how do they do it?  do they pay their kids?  they must bribe them somehow.  i'm not even sure how we got everyone motivated and committed to the day of hard work!  i'll have to think that over and make a note of what we possibly did to arrive at this outcome.

biff and i were multitasking all day....passing each other as we completed a task, giving a helping hand to one another, laughing with one another, talking to the kids....and when biff came out on the deck looking dazed and confused at the end of the day.....he said thoughtfully,"now, what did i come out here foooor?" without missing a beat, i picked up a dog bowl and handed it to him.  he held it and said,"thanks for filling in the blanks!"

some days are like that.  we danced through the day with no one stepping on anyone's toes....it was as though the day had been choreographed by someone with way more talent and dance experience....who was leading?

towards the end of the day, t.j. asked if he could stop because he wanted to do his homework!  tell me that's not like a television commercial....grace called to ask if we'd pick her up in town. her friend stayed for dinner....

we had a barbeque which we haven't had in awhile. this was not a winter of many barbeques.  it was great to get in gear for the days to come. even that worked out well...timing wise.

no mixups. no more than normal, that is.  we had fun as a family...cleaning the yard, the garage, doing the laundry....i feel like june cleaver today...only my hands might be a tad dirtier. i realized at one point, biff was folding laundry and i was sweeping the garage....now that everything , almost everything , is where it's supposed to be....june cleever didn't get her hands that dirty!  and mr. cleever, i don't remember his name....ward cleever....i do remember....anyway, i don't recall mr. ward cleaver ever folding laundry!
i'm not sure i could have had as much fun and laughter if biff was like ward cleaver.  i think it might be a little too strange to have kids like the t.v. kids....and i don't think mrs. cleaver had any mixups. me like mrs. cleaver?  not quite.  except for the pearls!  for all occasions!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBWO1vWZXGY

 do you remember the beave and wally?