160, 72, 40, 30, 8...

did you ever take a one of those IQ tests? the ones where they give you a string of numbers and you have to figure out the pattern and what the next number will be?

the title of this post is not one of those quiz questions...

it is the amounts of each type of flower i planted yesterday afternoon.

160 impatiens
72 of some yellow spiky flowers
40 red spiky flowers
30 red geraniums
8 weather tough yellow marigolds

see, i'm not so good with anything other than the most pedestrian plants.

other new items...10 bags of potting soil, 9 new two-foot long planters, 1 bag of river pebbles and 1 new soaker hose.

now, i need 1 manicure...

nathaniel, chance, c.j....

this photo was taken using an underwater camera. we had leftover shots on it from the snorkel/whalewatching trip in hawaii.

i have a love/hate relationship with baseball.

i love to watch nathaniel play first base. when i see his 6' 3" frame stretched out to catch a throw out, i am busting at the seams.

i hate to watch him pitch (even though he's very good at it) because there's too much pressure on him when he plays that position.

this season has been challenging. the team doesn't boast but one senior and four juniors. some of the boys on the team have never before played baseball...never thrown a ball or worn a baseball glove or fielded a grounder or judged a pop fly to the outfield, not to mention held a bat and stood in the batter's box facing down a pitcher who is throwing 80 mile per hour fast balls inches from their body.

there have been some shining moments...like when the rookie right fielder caught a stinging hit like a football, cradling it in the bread basket and then breaking into a beaming smile. but, more often than not, the team has suffered some crushing defeats. i think pro coaches would label this a "transition year."

next week is the end of the regular season, followed by a trip to the district tournament. historically, the team has never made it out of the first round of this tournament and we don't hold out much hope for this year either. but even with all of the trials this season has presented these boys with, they continue to show up ready to play a game they love.

next year will be nathaniel's last baseball season of high school. this is a year that will be marked by many "this is the last"s. and i'm really feeling nostalgic and soft and tender. so whether i feel nervous when he pitches or proud when he makes a great play at first or hits a line drive over the second baseman's head (or doesn't do any of these things) i want to be there to see it. everything could possibly be the last...even when it isn't.

duh...

i sat at my desk and realized i had left my delicious soymilk coffee creamer on the front seat of my car.

i grabbed my building access card and walked down the four flights of steps to the parking garage. i reached my car and realized i didn't have my car keys. all the doors were locked.

i walked back up the stairs, got me keys and went down the stairs again to retrieve the much sought after creamer.

back up the steps and back at my desk i searched high and low for my splenda packets. both pockets of my purse, in my bookbag...finally i opened the drawer where i actually KEEP my splenda and there they were.

in the kitchen mixing up my elixir of morning yummy-ness i thought that perhaps starting work at 7:00 a.m. is not saving me so much time.

w.b.w.

this little number is called, "tantalizing charm."

is anyone else reminded of a barbra streisand movie?

to wander wondering...

rows and rows of tables covered in books, magazines, LPs, CDs, tapes, movies, sheet music and maps. i fell to mindless meandering, skimming titles and succeeded only in making myself dizzy.

i directed my steps to where kelly stood, methodically perusing the pop albums -- focused and purposeful right off the bat. i stood at his elbow and willed my mind to pinpoint a singular desire -- one absolute must-have title. there i was surrounded by thousands, perhaps, MILLIONS of books and i couldn't think of one that i HAD to have. and then it came to me. housekeeping by marilynne robinson. now driven, i walked to the fiction area and searched, row after sideways spine row for that individual book.

if i had wanted bridges of madison county, i could have picked that a hundred times over, or say, women's room (the latter of which i heartily recommend), but alas and alack, not the novel i sought.

i did, however, pick out a number of memoirs (after i gave up looking for the holy grail) and my fair share of trade paperbacks (which, by the way, i much prefer to a traditional paperback; call me a snob, but the small paperback book size just screams, "romance novel" to me).

so my summer reading line-up is complete. if only i can focus in on what book to choose first, i'd begin already.

w.b.w.

" deceptively simple" and "utterly sophisticated"

i'll leave it up to you to decide which is which.

five year old me...

halloween 1970...5 year old heidi and her award winning, albeit moldy, kindergarten pumpkin. my mom made that clown costume. my sister becky's is matching, but in green.

i wish i knew who or what i had my eye on...