I'm getting caught up people!
The month of May found us with new hairstyles... 
...big plans...
...and new housemates!!
I couldn't take it anymore. I had to cut Moses' hair! I knew my hair was getting long too, but I tested to see if it would work in a ponytail. NOPE. So I tried pigtails! Is 40+ too old for that hairstyle? No need to answer, I decided it is! I couldn't resist taking a silly pic of it though! Mo's hair turned out ok. He wants it long these days but it needed a trim. How do beauticians cut hair while having both the comb and scissors in their hand?? "Hold this", I kept saying. "Gimme that." Then, "Hold this." We laughed!! Funny story - well, I have to back up a bit for it to make sense. (Are you surprised that I am not writing this in a 'straight line'? I love telling stories but chronology and continuity are foreign concepts to me!) Well! We had just adopted a mama cat and 2 kittens a few days before. In trying to give mama some water and food in her cage, she bolted. I felt terrible. She ran in the woods so fast!! The next day we were on the deck, cutting Moses' hair and I heard the mama!! She ran right across the deck, only a few feet from us! So we set the babies outside, trying to see if she'd come back to feed them. After 3 chilly nights and her only coming to sniff them, we decided to bring them in for good. We had been bottle feeding them during the day but I didn't want to leave them outside in freezing temps. Anyway - we still hear a cat in the woods every now and then!! The cats are outside now, so who knows?! Maybe they'll meet up w/their mama when they get bigger and go hunting!
The 'big plans' were many and varied. We had started the goal of hiking all of the Ice Age Trail awhile ago, but as the weather got better this month, we thought we could step it up and get more done than predicted for this year! Thanks quarantine! Other plans we thought we could tackle were things like major home renovation and major yard updates. The first one we tackled was a garden update! I used to have a handful of square garden boxes that we moved here from our old house. The wood was rotting in many places and we had already busted up 2-3 in years past. I wanted to gain some of that growing space back and get the wood shored up or replaced. Dave had other ideas! We started planning something using cinder blocks...I pushed back. Do you know how heavy those things are?? Yeah, they don't rot, but who is lifting all of those?? The girl w/the bad shoulder would be of no help in that situation!! In the end, corrugated steel roofing panels in a wood frame won out. So far so good!!! I've got lots of plants in, but in true Mel fashion I have found that I switched out pumpkins and watermelon and put them in the wrong place. So we'll see if we get some frankenmelons or goofy gourds!
Oh man, I just realized that I should have put that all into my fancy pants DO - READ - LEARN - BE thing....and here I am just stream of consciousness/storytelling babbling...hold on...I'll fix it...
DO - We have been raising kitties, building mega swingsets, drying wild ramps, hiking the IAT, playing games while it rained and rained and rained and rained enough to raise the lake level the highest it's EVER been in recorded history, and building out a new garden.
READ - this month I read a chapter book out loud to the whole family at meal times. (I'm a teacher and storyteller, stuff like that is my jam!). The book I read was Out of My Mind by Sharon M Draper. I will not spoil it but seriously. click the link, go read the description. There's even a plot twist they don't mention! I CRIED while reading it!! You will too, I don't care who you are or how emotionally even keeled you are. It was insanely good. It's probably a lower middle school level book, but when even the 8th grader was begging me to read the next chapter, I knew it was good. So even though this wasn't specifically a book I read for me, I still believe I am better for reading it.
LEARN - I learned a lot about raising baby kitties!! Did you know that they cannot relieve themselves without help until a certain age? Yeah, Dave got that job! Also this month, we learned a lot about people's political viewpoints, without even asking them. (Snark, yes, sometimes I lay it on thicker than others.) Honestly, between the racial tensions and opinions about the virus, there was suddenly a lot of vocal people around me. I tried hard to listen and be respectful. Both issues of race and the virus affect me obviously, especially when it comes to my family and school. I know I don't agree w/every person in my 'bubble'...and sometimes people think I fit into a certain category that I might not. I may not shout the loudest (IMO that's not respectful or worth it - it hasn't changed anyone's mind in my experience) nor may I fight every battle in front of me (I just can't...), but I am passionate about certain things and I will continue to learn from various sides and sources.
BE - I think this month I focused on being busy or occupied. I mean, I struggled being stuck at home so much. Having new kitties, reading to the fam, making a few new meals, the garden etc...it was sort of like a restart button, trying to distract myself and think about something 'new' so as not to get dragged further down by the circumstances. I also think I was ready to be DONE w/school and move onto summer plans! I know I wasn't alone in that!
