Happy Sunny Day

Wow, thanks for all the support with the whole dental saga. I recieved two recommendations from people for new dentists, and I called them both--one of them doesn't take my insurance, the other does, so I'm going to call back after lunch and make an appointment. I told them I'd had a bad experience with my last dentist and explained that it's really best for everyone if my nursing daughter can be in the room with me, and the lady said that's not a problem and seemed kind of surprised that it had been an issue at the other place.

Sometimes life as a housewife is difficult and irritating, and sometimes it's calm and pleasant and good. Today has been nothing but good. Martin took Karenin on a walk early this morning, and it's made a HUGE difference in her behavior today. She is not nearly as spastic as she usually is. (Here's hoping that becomes a daily routine.) Anja woke up super happy and was cheerful all morning as I got a good start to my housework and laundry. Mornings like that, when I am productive and Anja is happy and Karenin is not such a pain, make me realize that there are a lot of things in my life I tend to take for granted. To list a few:

-My super awesome husband who is big and strong enough to do pullups on the bridge beams and who is nice enough that he feels the need to apologize for not having time to make me a pot of coffee in the morning before he leaves for work. What the heck?
-My baby who, although she has her whiny times, has ten fingers and ten toes and is healthy as a horse and loads of fun.
-Anja's little Eeyore who turned up in a backpack pocket, and her yellow shoes which were bundled up in a pile of blankets in her crib.
-Rice Milk of the chocolate variety.
-My totally fabulous dog who hasn't had an accident since she learned to ring her bell to ask to go out. AND who has taken to only ringing the bell (for the most part) when she actually has to go, OR, as was the case last night, when a strange pitbull dog is in our yard.
-Gap Long & Lean jeans. And the fact that I fit into them.

Obviously I don't take those things for granted all the time, but sometimes I complain when I really shouldn't, because those are all good things to have. Even just one of them would be something to be thankful for. Except Eeyore and the yellow shoes.... those I only care about because I have Anja too.

By 10:30 this morning I'd gotten a lot done and Anja was only just starting to fuss, so we took a walk. We started out toward downtown, but then I decided we do that every day and we ought to have a change of scene. So I turned the block at 4th & Main and came back to our own 6th street and trudged up the hill. It's a big hill! Lucky for me, our fabulous stroller is light as a feather and easily maneuverable over the bumpy brick sidewalks. No problem. Anja was asleep pretty much immediately. We went up to Kossuth and back down 7th. That's our usual evening walk--it's nice because there's only a limited time where Anja faces the sun, no matter what time of day it is. Not that it mattered today, since she wasn't awake to care if the sun was in her face.

Martin got 4 days of vacation approved for the 2nd week of June. Hallelujah! It will be a much needed break for both of us.

Tonight we are going to Tipton. There's a highschool awards banquet for one of the schools in Martin's recruiting region, and he has to present an award to someone. He's taking Anja and me along! I'd much rather drive to Tipton for a boring awards night for a school full of kids I don't know than stay home by myself.

Now it's the afternoon and Anja is asleep again and I've just pulled a bunch of weeds in the backyard and up front along the driveway wall. Whew! I also checked out my vegetable plants and oh boy are we going to have a lot of salsa this summer! My cherry tomato plants have clusters of flower buds all over them. My green peppers have at least 5 buds on every plant. (I have eight plants.) Even my Romas are getting flower buds!! The only thing that isn't flowering yet is my Big Boy tomatoes. My zucchini has two buds, so we'll see how those turn out. I'm not so optimistic about those because it's been the saddest looking plant in the garden. Oh, and my beans are getting very tall, and only one of them has been eaten. Not bad!

I still have a lot more to do today before Martin gets home and we leave right away for Tipton. So I'd better get a-move-on!