these busy times

I've been a bit neglectful to you, Reader, these past few days.  I've been busy seeking, pondering, nursing, driving, and wielding a screw driver. 

We've been cruising small towns, listening for what calls to us, where our hearts could possibly grow to love.  There is one that has caught my eye, with low population and big wide streets.  A five minute walk in any direction will take you to anywhere in town, while ten minutes on the bicycle path takes you straight to the beach.  Plenty of trees to climb, ditches to explore, playgrounds that were built when I was a child, made of wood and insecurity.  My kind of place.

It doesn't hurt that there is a house that winked at me and when I checked her out I found that she was good.  Very good.  Oh sure, she's got a bit of extra weight around her midsection, a touch of rot in the corners, but I can't help thinking that she'd look mighty good in purple.  She feels like the kind of house I could get tangled up with.

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Yesterday I had the privilege of working with a Habitat for Humanity Women's Build, which translates as bunches of women, generally unskilled in the arts of power tools, descend down upon the couple of guys actually building a house and take over.  The homeowner was there with us, working also, and he was surprisingly calm about the whole thing.  Particularly graceful of him, I though, considering the group of women I was working with were all derby girls.  The Guys Who Build Stuff were also very nice and patient, showing us how to dry wall ceilings

Oh, wait, the Guys Who Build Stuff were probably laughing their butts off that someone else has come along to drywall ceilings, because let me tell you sister, that is dusty, hard work.  And a great arm workout. 

Through all of this, except for a prolonged visit with Grandma, I've been carrying Birdie, who has some sort of virus and apparently regressed two years in his emotional age.  I thought that that was just Birdie's reaction to being ill, but Smootch is coming down with it now also and she just had a tantrum.  A tantrum?  Wha?  Very out of character.  So, with both kids, I'm trying to keep to slow today, calm and restful. 

Though we may have to take a small trip to the paint store to check out purple swatches.