Hurricane Elska

History is no stranger to tiny tyrants. Folks with a fuse to match their height are scattered throughout time.....Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Stalin, and more. We add to the list the Oncoming Storm of a certain little girl who will stomp her foot and pound on your chest with her tiny little fists if you do not move fast enough to fulfill her every whim. (We're pretty sure that she's yelling "peasants, I want a clean diaper and dinner" on a regular basis, and she even pulled on a whole handful of Daddy's chest hair last night. I couldn't stop laughing - he almost had tears in his eyes she had pulled so hard.) She has started to spread out the time between her diva tantrums though, so there is hope that the balance of power will shift someday.

We have been very thankful for those stretches of quiet the last few days since we have had to spend a bigger chunk of time out and about in public. Last week, the fuel pump went out on the car (the power steering has already been giving us issues for a couple of months now), so we have stepped up the time frame for getting a new to us vehicle. Amazingly enough, we have had zero meltdowns so far while at the dealerships or doing test drives. We are praying that this continues for us through the rest of the purchase process since it makes things a lot quicker and easier for us.

Also to note is that we are getting ready for outdoor gardening. This week I'll be starting seeds indoors for later transplant, and we have a couple of friends who will be joining our fun this summer with either vegetable swapping or help in the garden in exchange for a share of what's produced. Basically, we're planning to go all hippie co-op with the gardening this year. (We're also going to go über-hippie with plans for foraging too. I want to do a few batches of blackberry jam this year if we can find some good patches, and I've got a delicious sounding recipe for dandelion jelly. As much as we want to do wine as well, we are going to wait until the basement is in better shape, so we have enough space.)

Other than that, the only "news" to report is that we are continuing to work on the daily routines that will keep the household from falling apart. Charlie has had clean clothes for work every day, and dinner plans have been figured out with enough time to have stuff thawed in time to eat at a reasonable hour. We're still a long way from where we were six weeks ago, but we're making progress. Maybe if I'm feeling REALLY adventurous, I'll bake some cookies. If anyone would like to help with cleaning, cooking, or baking, feel free to let me know. I am totally not too proud to have y'all take care of some of this....

Peace and God Bless!