i want this...

So... I started to write a post yesterday and just never got around to finishing and posting it. Here's what I started off with:

Super busy at work today... a bunch of special projects, in addition to my normal stuff. I'm tired just thinking about it. Plus, I have to make about a dozen phone calls (this morning) and my voice keeps cracking like a pubescent teenage boy's. It's really annoying and distracting, and it causes my voice to squeek on the first letter of whatever word I'm trying to say at such a high sharp tone that it makes me cringe. Loverly.

::le sigh::

And I read this post this morning, and it makes me wistful (there it is again)...

Meaningful family activities
Posted Sep 18th 2007 10:00AM by Christina Sbarro
Filed under: Family togetherness, Moms, Dads, Creative projects, Outings

Tonight we stacked wood as a family. All three of us out in the crisp early evening, the sunlight slanting golden across the trees and the air sweet with turning leaves and wild apples. And it was fun in that deep, joyous way that leaves everyone happy and content.

Bean trundled after me, pushing his red wheel barrow full of kindling. My husband split logs. I stacked. We were a team, content to be near each other, working together, sometimes chatting or laughing and sometimes lost in our own respective thoughts.

When Bean tired of helping, he settled down with his tiny (real) hammer and a handful of finishing nails, and drove one after another into a soft piece of pine. He learned to use a hammer, the same way he learned to climb a ladder or water the garden: by watching us. In the midst of the action as we work, but not at the center. We've renovated our entire house and built a chicken coop with him underfoot, and he's grown quite capable of playing along side us.

I think there is something to be said for this. For time spent as a family where everyone is contributing towards the accomplishment of something. For good old fashioned work, as opposed to family time always being "entertaining."

It's easy to become preoccupied with making family time "fun time:" trips to the park, to the fair, to the local museum or book store. Family time often gets crammed into the precious hours of the weekend, and the sentiment is that of wanting every second to count. But sometimes it counts more when we're simply doing things around the house. Making a pie. Reorganizing the basement. Building shelves. Eating an impromptu meal on the lawn.

Does your family spend time together doing things that are meaningful and engaging, but are not explicitly "fun?" Not chores per-se. Or running errands. But activities. Projects. How do you spend time together as a family?

I want this. I want to have a big backyard with lots of trees... I want family time to involve just being together out there - raking leaves, toasting mashmellows, the smell of apples. I want the family!! Patience, I know...

Anyway, that was as far as I got yesterday. I'm realizing that most of my morose/wistful posts are written from work. I think this place is getting to me.

On a nicer note, it's almost CA time!! I'm really looking forward to the whole weekend... but it should be especially great to get to hang out with my mama. We have always been very close, but lately life has just been so busy that it's hard to keep up. So I'm looking forward to getting all the new scoop from her.

And this weekend will start the crazy run of trips:
- Just two days until CA!
- Then a week until Ireland!
- Three weeks until Pittsburgh
- Four weeks until Ocean City
- Five weeks until NYC to see Lauren
- Six weeks until Indiana to see Babs

The weekend after that Trav will be going to see the Steelers play with his best friend, Pat. Then Lehigh/Lafayette, then Thanksgiving already!! Only 9 weeks until Thanksgiving. :-)

And since this weekend marks the official beginning of Fall... I changed my computer background today, to this:

Isn't it fabulous?! It makes me happy just to look at it!

Okay, back to work for me. I probably won't get to post again until I get back from Cali... but check back then for pictures! Ciao!