Twenty

One of the perks of my job is the occasional gift that comes my way.  At Christmas patients bring homemade cookies and candies.  The delivery of a baby often brings thank you notes with pictures, flowers or edible treats.  A few weeks ago I delivered a gorgeous baby girl to a lovely couple.  They will be wonderful parents and are delighted with their new baby.  They dropped off a thank you basket of fruit to the office yesterday.  I brought it home; K and s are quite impressed.  s said last night (after discussing the pros and cons of having a job which brings one into contact with blood) that he is definitely going to be a physician if people bring you gift baskets.  This morning, noticing my casual attire, he asked if I was going to work today.  When I told him I am off, he said "yea", closely followed by "darn".   I asked him to explain.  He replied "Yea, cause we get to walk to school, darn because maybe you'll get more gift baskets if you go to work."  I have mentioned to my children many times that the opportunity and ability to do the work I do everyday is a gift in itself; it appears that the gift basket has made more of an impression for now.

I'm not much of a crafter or project person.  Although I grew up in 4-H and know how to sew, quilt, knit, crochet, tat, needlepoint, embroider, cook, bake and work in the shop, those projects have largely fallen away in the busyness of life.  I have been blessed with a childcare provider who enjoys crafts and has spent large amounts of time crafting with the kids.  It has developed their fine motor skills and given them patience.  I am eternally thankful for this, and many other roles, Angie has had in my kids' lives.

So, when the note came home Monday night that K needed a replica of an Iroquois long house made with representative materials by Friday, I had several gut responses--so little notice; argh, a project; anxiety about butting heads with my daughter over details; so little notice.  That said, we consulted Wikipedia, I started turning things over in my mind and I had a light week at work.  My first attempt to attach pine needles to cardboard failed and left me pretty sticky.  Next I (yes, I.  As my husband pointed out, I took control in order to get the project finished) cut out cardboard and used twigs from the garden to construct a semblance of a longhouse.  (see above)  K did watch almost the whole process.  (We only had 15 minutes until Biggest Loser!)  After my husband pointed out my over involvement in the project I was repentant and K and I came up with a new plan involving using leaves and a glue gun to cover the cardboard.  

We think the new longhouse is beautiful and a bit whimsical.  We didn't use wood or thatch to form the walls, but other products from trees.  I'm a bit worried about that, but K isn't so we'll see what the teacher thinks of our effort.