My Ebenezer

 In this plate-spinning life I lead (and I admit, I'm not as busy as some other moms I know) it's easy for me to let months go by without updating what is going on. Well it's time for a check-in! This (above) is how I spend most mornings after the boys have gone to school (I should post my routine sometime--that's always a scintillating read! Ha!). Eden and I have what we call Eden and Mommy Time. Original and clever, I know. This is time that is largely spent doing what Eden wants to do, whether that is building with blocks, playing with play-doh, coloring, painting with watercolors (my favorite!), baking a dessert, going to the park, or whatnot. She enjoys the undivided attention immensely.  So many things to say about the simple picture above: My kids go through phases and are into forts these days. Specifically, pillow forts. They frequently summon up all the pillows from every corner of the house and make divided forts in the living room. It's great fun for the...

Back in December our family had the opportunity to drive our camper down to the Florida Keys for a little vacation. If you got our Christmas card in 2019 you would have seen us pictured at our campsite in Curry Hammock State Park, which is halfway between Key Largo and Key West. We loved the Keys. It's a great place to escape from winter if that's your thing.  (Right now in August it is blistering hot outside with high humidity.)  Naturally curious about all things real estate, Josh looked into land and home values and found it to be Very Expensive in the Keys. Also very hard to build anything new (you have to tear something existing down to be allowed to build something new). One thing you have to know about Josh: he loves a challenge! Hearing someone say that something can't be done is synonymous with throwing down the gauntlet to him.  You might as well double-dog dare him! So when he heard that owning property there is expensive and restrictive and generally very excl...

Earlier in the week Josh, the kids, and I were itching to get out. The lockdowns here in Jacksonville are getting a little... well, the first word that comes to mind is "ridiculous." Oppressive is a close second. Maybe not quite that strong, but when you tell people to keep exercising and stay active, and then you shut down literally ALL the outdoor venues like playgrounds, fields, hiking trails, state parks, and beaches...  Anyway, we found out that the state parks with campgrounds in Georgia are still open, and there were vacancies, so we booked a couple of nights at Crooked River State Park in St. Mary's, Georgia. What a treat it was to escape, for just over 24 hours, the twilight zone that we are currently living through! Here are some pics from our time away: Our first meal at the campsite: hamburgers and hot dogs. Food tastes better when you're camping, in my opinion. It was bright down by the dock and fishing pier! Pep brought his cast net. He ...

Inevitably when two people marry, they discover that there are components of their lives which are irretrievably opposite. The hoarder marries the minimalist. The adventurer marries the bookworm. The extrovert marries the introvert. And so on. The whole premise of House Hunters on HGTV is based on this assumption. You know there will be a person who values "clean lines" (whatever that means), a modern, upscale apartment, and wants to live within walking distance to the downtown night life, while the other person has always dreamed of living in a sprawling ranch on a 27-acre-horse farm, light years away from any clean-lined metropolis. Compromise much? But I suppose the show (and marriage for that matter) would be boring if everybody always agreed about everything. Josh loves to travel. I thought it was cute when he began watching Rick Steves' Europe shows on PBS, until I began to understand that he wanted to actually visit all those places too . I hate to fly, so while...