When Its All Worth It

Its funny when you become a parent.....

(Not "Ha Ha" funny)

....You enter the hospital empty handed and you leave with your bundle of joy and an open can of welcome to your entirely new life.  Preparation time's up....Let's do this!  Don't bother dodging the punches that will be thrown at you in the coming years.  Its best just to allow them to hit you square.

SLAM......welcome to worry-ville.  Your address will be 102 Worst Case Scenario Lane for at least another 30 years....maybe forever.   You will NEVER EVER look at a coffee table,  crowded grocery store, or carrot the same way again.

POW.... Say goodbye to privacy, un-ending amounts of leisure time, and self-centered motivation.  Give a not-so-warm welcome to self denial and more confinement than you ever thought you could handle.

KA-BLAM....You 're responsible for feeding someone besides yourself three meals a day plus snacks and drinks.  You're also responsible for cleaning up their poop.

WHACK..... No sleep for you.... Try coping with your new reality while surviving on cat-naps.

...Oh yeah and be prepared to wash twice as many dishes and double the number of loads of laundry.

Hey, you're getting the hang of this so lets change up everything you thought you knew about your child.  RIGHT NOW!

The first years are one perpetual shock to your formerly you-centered systen.


The biggest WHAM-O, however is the key your child holds in his chubby little hand that reaches down deep into your heart and unlocks a door to an infinite, uninterrupted flood of love and devotion.  You thought you knew exactly who you were until.....him, until her, until them.

You step into a phone booth for a moment and reemerge, magically transformed into your child's super protector, booster club, teacher and character mold.  It's scary and overwhelming and yet you've never felt so honored or so up to task. 

You're going to need a ton of help from your fellow Super Friends.  Sometimes you feel like you're clinging to their invisible jets for dear life.

You and your spouse realize you are each other's wonder twin, can of spinach, and Castle Grayskull.  He is the only other being in this universe who understands exactly what the two of you have gotten yourselves into. 

But just you wait....

wait until you and your FAMILY are all snuggled under blankeys on the couch watching TV together. 

or

you and your FAMILY are around the dinner table laughing hysterically at something somebody said or did

or

you can see your whole FAMILY framed by the black plastic of your rear-view mirror

or

you are the last one to get in bed and you realize that everyone in your FAMILY is tucked in tight under the same roof.....

you are grateful

you are content

you are filled with peace and joy

you are beyond sure that it is all so worth it.



thanks for reading,

 jenny rosie

Finger Lakes Fridays

On Fridays I'll be postings pictures of one of my favorite things...the place where I live.

The Finger Lakes region is located in central NY....

most of its residents haven’t even been to New York City.  

There are eleven lakes in all, some as long as 40 miles, none wider than 3 miles across, and each boasting its own unique beauty. The region is dotted with small cities, quaint villages and tiny crossroads called hamlets.

I love that we're relatively undiscovered.  Its quiet around here....

 

 

Fall Around Here

 

We've had a pretty Amazing Autumn Around the Finger Lakes.  The leaves turned such brilliant colors, then lingered on the trees a little longer than they usually do.  The sun and cool temperatures have beckoned us outside and we've discovered new walking trails and dirt roads to explore.  Bill and I even found an afternoon to run off to a few wineries.  Fall always brings contentment back into my life as I ride the wave from the warm waters of crazy summer to the hushed shores of frigid winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading

 

 

 jenny rosie



The Good and Bad of Having a {Self Employed } Contractor for a Husband

Here's my man after a hard day at work fixing some body's electrical problem or installing a hot water tank.  Note the characteristic hat, pocket with notepad and pen, end-of-the-day smile and beer.

Bill has been doing HVAC and electric for about 15 years and 8 of those years he has owned his own business.  This means that throughout our entire marriage, I've been what's know as a Contractor Widow.   I thought I'd jot down a bit of the good and bad about being married to a self employed man.


Good #1...Bill has the rare privilege of going INTO people's houses.  I'm telling you, he has seen it all.  We live in a rural community.  Did you know that people mainly live in the country to be left alone?  Why does a person want to be left alone?  Well because most of the time he or she has a very unique way of living and doesn't fit the mold of town life.  Bill comes home with a story almost every night and some of them are wicked funny!  Many of his stories end up the topic of conversation at the dinner table with friends of family.  "Honey, tell the one about the killer cat." or "Did we tell you guys the one about the horse whisperer and the case of the missing farm equipment?" 

Bill is a fantastic story teller and I DO love getting a glimpse into lives I would never otherwise be invited into.  His customers range from fascinating to sweet to ornery to cunningly frugal.  He takes it all in and appreciates each one.

Bad #1....No Hello hugs from this dude!  My husband spends his days in nasty attics and basements that are freezing in the winter and sweltering in the summer.  We don't touch each other until he has had a shower.  The plus side to this is that he voluntarily launders his own work clothes.


Good #2.... All contractors give each other nick names.   I'll never forget the first Christmas party I went to with Bill when he started up his business.  I was chatting with one of his contractor-friend's wife and she asked me how long Cliff and I had been married.  Apparently, I was the only one in town who didn't call my husband by his nick name, Cliff.  I, as a person who just loves a good alias, embraced Bill's new persona.  It was one of many he has acquired over the years including but not limited to:  Cliffy, Clifford, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Billy-bones, Billup, ED, and Edward. 


Bad #2....Service calls at 2:00am on holidays.  Bill (or should I say Cliff) has been called out to fix furnaces at all times on holidays.  This kind of stinks.  He and his phone are one and I have developed my own special groan for when that blasted thing starts ringing after 9pm or on chilly Sunday mornings when the four of us are cuddling in bed.  This is what you sign up for when you decide to be a HVAC guy/girl and it has gobbled up huge chunks of time reserved for family.  After a few years I learned to accept this but I still fantasize about things I could do to that phone....


Good #3...Bill does love being his own boss.  I have worked for terrible bosses in my life....so has Bill.....but not anymore.  He is totally free to direct, respond, initiate, create, clock in and clock out in his company's best interest.  I'm very grateful for that.

** I'm my own boss too...more on that another time.


Bad #3...When you own your own business, its like having another living breathing person in your house.  The business has been such a huge part of our lives, deciding if and when we can take a vacation, making us prosperous one year and then leaving us high and dry the next, allowing us to help friends and family and sometimes letting us be taken advantage of by them.  Can you picture  Bill and I on the couch with our two kids with the cats in the background?  Now add another rather large person on to the end of the couch.  He's a part of us in almost every way. In my mind, he's not very attractive and sometimes he can be so demanding.  Yet he's smiling at us and is proud of the way we have handled the challenges he's laid before us.  I just hope he's not covered in heating oil because that stuff stains and we do NOT have any money for a new couch!


thanks for reading!

  jenny rosie

Finger Lakes Fridays

We Celebrated, We Commemorated

Last weekend our town held its biggest celebration of the year.....Memorial Day

Waterloo, NY is our nation's official "Birthplace of Memorial Day" and the people here really make a big deal about it.

there isnt much to our little village but once a year we all gather downtown for a parade and festival in the town square.

Each year, the theme of the day is "Celebrate, Commemorate".  There's plenty of fun stuff to see and do but there's also plenty of time set aside to honor those who sacrificed so much.

Celebrate, Commemorate was a fantastic way to spend the holiday weekend.  A little something for everyone, I suspect. 

Thanks for reading,

 

  jenny rosie

Let's Dance (The Post With No Pictures)

.....because, believe me, they wouldn't be pretty. 

So I now have this 14 month old baby girl who loves to sing and dance....a girl after my own ridiculous heart.  We were listening to Earth Wind and Fire in the car the other day and, while I was watching her bob her little head in the rear view mirror, an idea boogied its way into my little head. 

Most mommies would agree, finding time to exercise when you have a little one can be quite a challenge.  Oh I could rise at 5:00am and go for a jog. That's an awful big energy expenditure with so much of the day left.  I don't have much left at the end of the day either.  This issue has really stumped me but as my wise husband would say, "you gotta just work the problem, Jenny."

So I've been trying to be more active in the every day stuff.....like
-parking farther away from the store when I run an errand
-going to my children when they need help instead of calling them to me
-pulling the kids in the wagon around the block before bedtime
-going up and down the stairs twice every time I need to go upstairs

and now my latest brilliant scheme. 

Wondering where I'm going with this? 

At lunch time, I plan on putting the little sweet pea in her seat, setting her lunch in front of her, throwing some peppy tune on the CD player and cutting loose for 5-10 while she eats.  I'm killing like 6 birds with one stone.....
-keeping up on the activity
-entertaining my daughter, she thinks I'm hilarious....you'd be laughing too.
-letting off some of the accumulated morning steam
-injecting some pep in my mood
-putting a little more silly in my life
-oh and practicing up for the next wedding we get invited to

....is that 6 birds, I lost count. 

While I bust my moves (careful to stay clear of any windows) my husband's wise words resonate though my mind.... 

...and by the way I was working the problem pretty good at lunchtime yesterday

there will be no pictures of this tom foolery for obvious reasons.









.....like it's 1999


Thanks for reading...

  jenny rosie

Have You Seen This One?

I saw this movie last year and just loved it.  It's a french film which requires a little more focus because of the subtitles.  Audrey Tautou plays the story's central character, Mathilde, a young french woman whose childhood sweetheart has gone off to fight in the great war.  Army records show that he was executed at the front for deliberately maiming himself so that he could be sent home.  He is presumed dead but she refuses to believe it.  A fantastic mystery unravels with twists at every turn and flashes between Mathilde's peaceful world and the miserable trenches at the front line.

I found myself totally swept away by the cinematography and was inspired by Tautou's character.  Charming and tenacious, she was determined to use any means to find out what really happened to her true love.   I fell in love with the understated tone, the gripping mystery and the wonderful characters. In addition, I'm a sucker for period films.



Jenny Rosie's unofficial, non rhyming or reasoning rating.....excellent!


Thanks for reading

  jenny rosie

 

Baby Blues.....

 

Our Kids have big blue peepers.  I spend a great deal of time just staring into them.  It's like drinking a tall glass of the coolest, most soothing water. 

    

   jenny rosie

Finger Lakes Fridays

On Fridays I'll be postings pictures of one of my favorite things...the place where I live.

The Finger Lakes region is located in central NY....

most of its residents haven’t even been to New York City.

There are eleven lakes in all, some as long as 40 miles, none wider than 3 miles across, and each boasting its own unique beauty. The region is dotted with small cities, quaint villages and tiny crossroads called hamlets.

St Mary's

I took the kids for a walk last week in the unusual warmth.  The clocks had sprung forward and it was still light at 7pm.  The kids were in their jammies and snuggled under a blanket in the wagon.  I'm not sure a blanket was necessary but I don't think my deceased grandmothers would approve of taking the children outside in March without a blanket. 

We walked around the block circling our house and I caught some different views of the beautiful St Mary's that sits behind our house.  She's one of the things that sold us on our house;  her name is Mary like my mom, the trees in our backyard frame her steeple for a perfect view out the back door, and my son thought her round glowing clock face was the moon for the first two years we lived here. 

Thanks for reading

   jenny rosie

Finger Lakes Fridays

On Fridays I'll be postings pictures of one of my favorite things...the place where I live.

The Finger Lakes region is located in central NY....

most of its residents haven’t even been to New York City.

There are eleven lakes in all, some as long as 40 miles, none wider than 3 miles across, and each boasting its own unique beauty. The region is dotted with small cities, quaint villages and tiny crossroads called hamlets.

I love that we're relatively undiscovered.

I'm no professional photographer and I don’t have any fancy editing software so the subject matter will simply speak for itself.

Winter in Seneca County.

We do a lot of commenting on the weather here in Central NY;  mostly complaints in the winter months.  A blue sky is a bit of a rarity and snow falls most days.

The inhabitants are frequently coming down with infirmities such as cabin fever and the winter blahs.

I think it's quite beautiful this time of year.

Color flies south for the winter and shape, form and texture take a turn in the spotlight.

One notices things one would not notice when all is alive with green

Foliage gives over what it's been hiding.

A sense of quiet comes over the landscape.  Even the sound of tires is hushed on snowy roads.

  

A soul finds its self stretching and sighing during this season.  I was driving around today, wishing I was a great story teller.  I would let my imagination craft a tale of the pictures I took.

about the family that owns this farm

I don't think this barn was built on this spot.  And where did the circular scrapes on the paint come from.

Ah the old Lehigh Valley Bridge

And what's this guy been up to?

Happy Winter

   

  jenny rosie

In the Spirit of Prioritization

It's a new year and time for fresh starts.  As much as I've tried to capitalize on the January 1st thing, I think my life sort of has more of an ebb and flow than any kind of cycle.  ANNNNNDDDD I don't have very much control over when a new idea or self examining thought will take me.  I'm calling it my left brain liberation.

Well I had one of those thoughts the other day....

My husband will tell you that there is nothing finished in our whole lives (except having more children).  This is what my kitchen looked like a few weeks ago

No cupboard doors, half finished ceiling and electric. 
My recipe project that I started with so much gusto in July....stalled.
The baby's room....sittin' there
My son late for school.....twice last week (I drop him off)
Table Cloths from Christmas....unwashed in the laundry room


So as I was ebbing the other day, a thought occurred to me....

Well first I posed the question...."What am I doing wrong?  It's not for lack of trying.  I work really hard all day long."

Then the answer, "Its simple....a matter of prioritization".  Prioritizing does not make a super mom.  Prioritizing ensures that the things that need to get done today, get done.

So here are some examples.

Sure the cupboards need a second coat of paint but first....the grocery list.

or

Please don't try to squeeze one more thing in this morning, get your kid to school on time.

or

Hey blogging is really important but why don't you play with this cute baby instead.

This is me learning how to manage my household...you can laugh.....it's okay. 

When I look at my house/kids/life on any given morning it's so incredibly overwhelming

So now I step into my day with the thought, "In the spirit of prioritization....."
or I make commitments to others with the thought, "In the spirit of prioritization...."
or I tackle my housework with the thought, "In the spirit of prioritization...."

It's not the glam life of doing what I want when I want but I see the value of ordering my day.  I think it'll make me a better friend, mom and wife....

.....I'll keep you posted

Thanks for reading

   jenny rosie