Dianthus earns his name

He's been taking steps for some time, but on Saturday I felt I could confidently say that the little man is walking.
If he had my last name instead of the Mister's, he'd have to wait for chess tournaments or palatial construction to earn his name.
*Saturday was two days shy of thirteen months, making him smack dab in the middle of average. As for other milestones, he had his center four teeth as of our house hunting trip in late May. His upper left lateral incisor and his lower left lateral incisor popped through on that trip (at 10 months) and no teeth since. So, for three months he has had six teeth, four on one side and two on the other. It appears that the upper right lateral incisor is on its way in now (to which we hope to attribute much of the recent crankiness), making his teeth timing average to average, two early and two late.

Big wheels keep on turning

I live in a town surrounded by windmills (98 of them, in fact). My walk from my house to day care to campus is entirely in the older (i.e. "has trees") part of town, so I don't see the windmills constantly. I was unaware that they were part of my sense of home until last week. For at least three days, two of them pleasantly windy, all of the windmills were stopped. It disturbed me. I felt off-kilter. There's something surreal and disquieting about looking out at a horizon dominated by stationary windmills as the wind gusts around one's skirt.

The windmills are turning today. All is better.

So it goes with the rest of my life as well. I haven't figured out a time to sit down and post book reviews or how to keep the kitchen clean when opening the dishwasher is a Dianthus magnet, but things are settling down. There's a pile of quizzes to grade, a front yard to make into a flower garden, and blank taupe walls waiting for art to be hung. Nothing is caught up. It will never be. But Dianthus is walking, the Mister and I planned multiple weeknight meals when we went grocery shopping, and we're almost through the hideous chemistry part of the semester. Wheels keep turning.

Image from travelpod.

Much as I like CCR, by the way, the Tina Turner version of Proud Mary is now my favorite. "Big wheel keep on turning, Proud Mary keep on burning. Rollin'. . ."

Someday I'll Move the Mirror

The mirror on the mirror hanging in the master bathroom isn't exactly my style, and, as it happens, the frame hits my reflection right in the eye. Except for the hole for the nail that holds the gilded mirror, the mirror in back is completely sufficient on its own. So why haven't I moved the top mirror in the month that I've lived here?
Because I was waiting until I unpacked the bathroom stuff?
Because I can't move the mirror until we're ready to hang all the art?
Because I had to leave it to show our visitors (The Mister's parents, happy cricket, my parents and Sunflower Spinner four weeks in a row!)?
Because school started?
Because I have a one year old?
Because I'm plain tired?

While the former are all true, the latter is what's getting me.
This is supposed to be a relatively light load. The Mister has cooked dinner every night this week. I haven't done a thing except walk Dianthus to day care, walk to work, work and walk home. And I'm beat. Needing high doses of chocolate kind of beat. "I can't believe classes just started yesterday I'm so worn down" kind of beat.
But I don't plan to bring any work home this weekend. So maybe I'll move the mirror and hang the paintings. Or maybe I'll mow.
Or maybe I'll play with Dianthus and pretend to change my personal style so it fits the gilded mirror on mirror and all of these light fixtures.

Why We Moved, Part II

So the Texas panhandle, northeastern New Mexico and southern Colorado (or western Kansas and eastern Colorado or the Oklahoma panhandle and southwestern Colorado) go on forever, but still, they take less time to cross than eastern Colorado, all of Kansas, all of Missouri and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky (or Ohio) and West Virginia.
The fourth photo was taken in Colorado about a month ago, the rest were all here in Oklahoma this past weekend.

Why We Moved, Part I

Part II arrives Friday evening.