What I do when I am not wrangling children ....

Last week when we were at the beach, Caitlin was heading back out of town with Olivia and Charlotte was staying behind to sleep over and maybe there was an extra child or two staying as well, and suddenly Cait pulled over and took this picture.  She posted it to Instagram with the caption: "Just Heather being super cool wrangling her kids plus mine .."

I don't know about the super cool part but I think I am one hell of a child wrangler.  And if you know me, I seldom acknowledge being good at anything.  But wrangling, yep, I do that fairly well.  I joke around with the older girls and tell them one day I may need to invest in one of those ginormous Sprinter vans to transport all my wrangle-ees.


So what do I do when I am not in wrangler mode?  Truth be told, not much.  Most days I do not sit down until 10 pm-ish.  Maybe a bit before if we are watching a program together.  Which often it is hard to find one suited for all the kids, and usually we opt for the History Channel, Food Network or Zoey absolutely LOVES America's Got Talent.  "The Voice" is her preferred choice though.  She literal says "Adam" every night.  Perhaps my unhealthy obsession with Adam Levine may or may not have rubbed off on her. But you can hardly blame the little love for asking for her Adam, can you?

  Anyway.  Spare time, let alone, solitude time is hard come by in these parts.  I do try and fit in a bit of running.  But even that has been sporadic. Especially since school is out for the summer. But really, when the day is finished, I either try to read or lately, I stay up far too late catching up on "Call the Midwife".  And can we please talk about that show for a moment?

 Fabulous.  I have blown through two seasons and am off to Target later to buy season 3.  I highly recommend it.  First two seasons are on Netflix.  You can probably find the 3rd online and the 4th is slated for release in December.  Not to be sexist, and not to say my TV show making husband doesn't think it is really, really well done, but honestly, I think it's a chick show.  I am not one to gender label anything, given the fact I am a girl/woman and I think I am fairly capable of doing many things that are viewed as boy/manly stuff, but I think the demographics of the viewing and maybe target audience are females. So if you are a guy or have a significant other that follows this series religiously, please accept my apologies for the stereotype.  So sorry.

As far as reading goes, this is currently what my bedside table looks like.

Which is really sort of ironic because I seldom even read in bed.  But there are my reads as of late.  I am at some point in the pages of each and every one of these books. The only one finished and that I have actually read twice is,"A Grief Observed" by C. S. Lewis.  which also may speak to some of my life events over the last nearly 2 years.  An easy read.  not in subject matter but in length of the book. I think it is little more then 100 or so pages.  And my Kindle there, has 4 or 5 other books downloaded and started but not finished.  What my deal is, I have no idea.  I just cannot seem to finish a book.  I usually get into a book and cannot put it down but lately, my attention span has been nil.  The forerunner, and the closest to completion is "Out of My Mind". The book is written from the perspective of a young girl named Melody who has Cerebral Palsy.  "Out of My Mind" attempts to shatter the misconceptions that the world, and even those closest to people like Melody, have when a person is unable to walk or feed themselves or talk.  Sadly, most correlate ones physical limitations automatically to intellect.  And honestly, with people who have Cerebral Palsy, that assumption is so off the mark.  I think I have actually passed chapter 6 of "Out of My Mind" and I just might finish this one in a timely fashion.  Maybe.

And while I am talking about books and my Kindle, I need to give a shout out to my friend Elizabeth and congratulate her on her ebook that just came out a week or so ago.  You can down load it at shebooks and it is titled "Hope for a Sea Change". Here is a brief description of her ebook:

• When her three-month-old daughter Sophie is diagnosed with a rare seizure disorder, Elizabeth Aquino and her husband, Michael, are thrust into a nightmarish world of impossible decisions, toxic drug cocktails, and talk of brain surgery on their tiny child. As they grapple with the harrowing progression of their child’s seizures, they grow to understand that the doctors know little more about how to heal Sophie than they do. They are in a terrifying no-man’s-land. This narrative of unintended medical trauma and the search for healing through alternative means will sear you with its stubborn hope, unexpected grace, and abiding love.

 Elizabeth is a magnificent writer.  Gifted in fact. And this snippet is only a portion of a larger manuscript that I wish for her, and for the rest of us, to be a full fledged published book one day.  For now, I am supremely proud of her and I think you should most definitely go get yourself this beautiful piece of writing right now.

Side note concerning the ease of FB and Instagram that I mentioned when I resurfaced the other day.  I guess Facebook specifically.  What I have noticed about my last two posts, is that I may get very few comments here on the blog but on FB, because I link my blog there, I get easily 4 times as many.  People just link over here and click back to FB to comment.  Gives pause to the times we live in and different medias we have access to and  how information, good and bad, can go out to the masses.  Social media can get a bad rap.  Some of it justified, but honestly, not to sound cliche, when used for the greater good, it really can be a beautiful thing.  

Well, looks as if my wrangling has ended early tonight and I think I will pick up one of those poor neglected reads and make some headway.  Or not.  Hard to say the way it will play out for one tired and slightly worn out wrangler.  Exhaustion might prevail.

Have a happy Sunday everyone.