attention deficit disorder?

perhaps the "professionals" are mistaken.

i like what Osho wrote in his book Joy: The Happiness That Comes From Within -

The teacher goes on telling small children, "Pay attention to me! Be attentive!" They are attentive, but they are attentive to something else. A bird is singing with all its heart outside the school building - and the child is attentive to the bird. Nobody can say he is not attentive, nobody can say he is not meditative, nobody can say he is not in deep concentration - he is! In fact, he has completely forgotten the teacher and the arithmetic that the teacher is doing on the board. The child is completely oblivious to all that, he is utterly possessed by the bird singing its song. But the teacher says, "Be attentive! What are you doing? Don't be distracted!"

In fact, the teacher is distracting the child! The child is attentive - it is happening naturally. Listening to the bird, he is happy. The teacher is distracting him, the teacher says, "You are not being attentive" - the teacher is simply lying! The child was attentive. The bird was more attractive to him, so what can he do? The teacher was not so attractive, the arithmetic had no appeal.

We have been distracted into unnatural preoccupations: money, prestige, power. Listening to the birds is not going to give you money. Listening to the birds is not going to give you power, prestige. Watching a butterfly is not going to help you economically, politically, socially. These things are not profitable - but these things make you happy.

A real human being takes the courage to move with things that make him happy. If he remains poor, he remains poor; he has no complaint about it, he has no grudge. He says: "I have chosen my way - I have chosen the birds and the butterflies and the flowers. I cannot be rich, that's okay! I am rich because I am happy."

first image source
second image source

dearest fam...

dear mommy,
i'm glad the lightning missed you but i'm still sorry it caused some damage. i always knew there were angels protecting us. ps i'm sorry i can be a little b-word sometimes but i know you love all your little b-words. =)

dear daddy,
i am excited to walk the boards with you. i hope you have an extra special birthday weekend. i have to call you and see what you are doing sunday.

dear freggy,
keep up the great work raising my favorite little person in the world. (you have the best, most important job out of the three of us.) she's a genius, you know.

dear kelly,
^-you too. i had fun with you at the concert. i'm happy alaina has such a fun mommy. can you believe she's going to be two?!

dear krista,
i had a great time last night, and thank you again for buying our tickets. (did i tell you how great your hair looked?) i can't wait for you to teach me how to sew.

dear grandmom,
i know that you just want the best for all of us but i wish you didn't worry so much. ask john, i eat all day! i hope you know how special you always were and always will be to me. there was nothing in the world i loved more than sleepovers at your house growing up. you made me feel like the most important little girl in the world, and i really needed that.

dear don,
thank you for trying and even liking the meals i make us. it means a lot to me.

dear jo ann,
i wish i got to see you more. can't wait to see you on the 6th (maybe sooner!)

dear luke and mackenzie,
i wish i saw you more, too. luke, i wonder if you are taller than the last time i saw you. mackenzie, remember how much fun we had planning your mom's party?! we need to do something like that again soon. you are so creative and i like to surround myself with creative people in hopes their creativity rubs off on me! =)

dear mrs. bigglesworth,
it was great spending time with you last week, just you and i. i really do miss being with you everyday. daddy says you are getting old but to me you're still the same cat i brought home 11 years ago. missy is trying to get us to adopt a kitten, i'm sure we will eventually, but why does cat poo have to smell SO bad?! maybe i can potty train my kitty like bonnie did.

(and last but certainly not least)

dear bunson,
the soup made me feel 100 times better, thank you. i like when you pamper me. i also like that you do the dishes a lot and get us all ready for trips. i'm grateful we're on this journey together. ps we need some coconut ice cream in our lives, asap. we can drizzle it with the cherry chocolate sauce i brought home yesterday. mmm! want to go food shopping with me soon?

dear little lainie loo loo,
watching you on the train with that little cutie was the highlight of my summer. singing with you by your baby pool while you insisted on drinking your "coffee" (pool water out of a round over-sized lego thing) was a close second. your voice is the sweetest sound in the world. i hope you never lose your passion for animals and all things beautiful. i look forward to sleepovers and craft sessions with you, but for now i'll try and savor every last minute of "baby alaina". see you tuesday!

dear uncle george and aunt patti,
thank you for reading my blog and saying nice things about it. your kind words really mean a lot to me!

i hope the weather clears up and you all have a wonderful weekend!
i love you.

xoxoxo

♫ we're jammin' ♫

and i hope you like jammin' too...
=)
this is missy, my bestest friend since middle school. we make an excellent jammin'/canning duo. (well, when wendi is there guiding us). first we cut slits on top of the peaches, boiled them for about a minute, then put them in a cold water bath so we could easily peel the skin.

missy was a very motivated chopper. she got the peaches nice and small for a smooth batch of jam. i was a bit more impatient so my batch was on the chunkier side.
we followed the packet directions and added a pack of pectin, FIVE AND A HALF CUPS of sugar!, and 2 tbsp lemon juice to 4 cups of peaches. (i am researching to see if less sugar can be used or if agave nectar can be substituted when canning.) we had to stir the mixture constantly as it boiled rapidly for 10 minutes. we filled the jars, wiped the tops clean, added the lids and rings, and put them in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes to kill the germies and to get the jars to seal. (forgot to take pictures of those steps.)

you can learn more from Wendi, our awesome expert canning instructor, on her blog at
http://storageskills.blogspot.com/.
also visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation for more info.

and here is the finished product

and for your listening/viewing pleasure

today i can...

peach jam!!!

missy's friend is teaching us how to make peach jam AND how to can it. i am oh so excited!

i'll take notes and pictures to share.


(bon, wish you could come too, but don't worry, i will come teach you!)