Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Fire Starter

Every morning my husband starts a fire in our wood stove. It makes the kitchen and E's room feel cozy and warm. I love to wake up and go right over to the stove to warm myself . Then I say to myself "I must remember to keep the fire going today". I get busy with the day and soon forget all about it. When I eventually remember to add wood to the fire, it is already out. It is not hard to start a fire. At least that is what people tell me. I did not grow up with a wood stove, but I have lived with one for the past 14 years in Vermont. You would think I would be an expert. But instead it usually will take me half a day to start one. Then after all my hard work I forget about it again. So I turn up the furnace. My husband loves when I keep the stove going all day. He comes home and looks at me so lovingly and approvingly like I am the best wife and mother in the world because I kept the house warm and cozy. Well he really only cares about the money. He pays the oil bill, and he doesn't like spending money. So I try. Today I have kept it going for 4 hours so far.



Weather and Family Update


We are all doing well trying hard to make it through another winter without losing our minds or at the very least hating one another. T and E could not get along for 5 minutes this past weekend. It was very aggravating. Yesterday on the way to school, I gave them a long talk about trying to get along. I also explained how stressful it is on me and papa to hear so much yelling and crying. Usually E (8yo) will say "Ok mama, I'll try harder to be nicer to my brother", but yesterday she said "NO, I'm not going to try and be nice because it is no use, I can't do it!" Well, at least she was being honest.



E is doing well in 3rd grade, math was shaky in the beginning but now , no thanks to mama and papa, she is doing better. She takes tap, jazz, plays basketball, and is a junior brownie. I am really proud of her, I hated all those things because I was shy. I am glad she is not.



T loves preschool most days. The teacher says he prefers play to any other activities, but that he is smart. I also have been taking him swimming at an indoor pool weekly which he enjoys. He also still "wuvs mama" and prefers time with me to anyone else.



Papa has also been in a bad mood lately. He can't wait to get outside and garden. We all hope that no creatures have eaten the many bulbs he planted last fall.



Mama(me) looks forward to spring just to improve my mental health. I need sunshine soon or I will have to up my Lexapro dose or my drinking

I just can't wait to swim in my pool...







BURRR!

5 comments:

TwinMamaLinda said...

is it just an optical illusion or is that pool far away from the house? With all that snow :) it's hard to tell. They came down my street today with a loader and a dump truck to remove some of the left over 37 inches of snow ... three weeks late is better than not at all, right?

Sunshine is coming! I can feel it ... or maybe my brain is frozen from being outside this morning in -16?

See you this weekend! keep your chin up!

Anonymous said...

I answered you over on my blog, but I'll answer you here, too, if you're sure you want to hear it...It was 64 degrees here, and sunny.

I grew up with a woodstove. It was the ONLY source of heat in our house for years, so it never went out. We all became experts at banking it when we were gone all day, and by the age of 7 or 8 my brothers and I all added wood and cleaned the ash pan on a regular basis. I LOVE the warmth from a woodstove--nothing like it.

hellomelissa said...

as a kid, our cottage (now my folks' permanent residence) was heated solely by woddburning stove. i was SO GOOD at twisting newspaper just the right way and choosing the best dried kindling! now, i wonder if i could do it at all. we are spoiled by a) warm weather and b) gas log fireplace. my childhood days were plagued with an allergy to... you guessed it... woodsmoke.

Andie D. said...

We don't even have wood burning stoves here anymore. And the city has "no burn" days to control the polution.

Allright, you need to come and visit me in Phoenix. We had a high of 90 here yesterday. Shorts & tees. But you have to do it now. Like RIGHT NOW. Because the temp will be in the 100+s soooooooon. Then I'll be singing the blues baby.

Lainey-Paney said...

The house I grew up in had a gas powered fireplace in the kitchen. I loved it!
My mom would keep it going about 90% of the total winter.
(talk about a fire hazard...we just "turned it down" when we left the house or went to bed!)
Anyway...I loved going to it first thing in the morning & getting warm too.

I hadn't thought about that in a while...until your post prompted those memories for me. Thanks!