Lately

So, once again, Will's been gone for a couple of weeks. He did come home on the weekend, but between running errands, doing callings, the car breaking down almost 2 hours from home, and Will getting some weird allergy skin condition, it was kind of a crazy weekend.

So how have Ellie and I been coping? Well, mostly by keeping busy. It's easy for Ellie, she's always busy. You can tell how Will being gone has affected her. When he's home, she's all over him, all the time. And when he's gone... she carries around my cell phone and holds it up to her ear. I haven't seen her do that until this week. Normally I'm not really a phone person, but Will and I talk a lot while he's gone. Enough that Ellie has figured out that if she holds the phone up to her ear, (even if it's backwards) maybe she can hear Daddy.

For me, I've been cleaning, practicing the piano (because I'm playing the organ on Sunday), sewing even more Ellie clothes, painting wild animals on Ellie's walls, and today we even braved the heat to pull weeds out of the front walk and prune my rhododendrons (what a weird word!) that are 10+ feet tall and taking over our front door. We were outside for 15 minutes before I was sweating like crazy and pulled Ellie into the house before we roasted. She drank a whole cup of water, poor thing. 

I've also been waging a rather gruesome war with some ants that have found their way into the house under some floorboards in the kitchen. The target: the space under Ellie's highchair. There have been casualties on both sides, but I think I'm winning. I've only killed 3 today.

Other than that Ellie and I pick awesome movies to watch while she helps me fold laundry and clean. We deal with the heat by not going outside, a rule which I broke today in a fit of looking for something to do. We dance to the radio and she helps me empty the bottom cupboards (over and over again).

So that's pretty much it. If you're wondering how we manage to go an entire week without leaving the house, not speaking face-to-face with anyone, with no Will coming home at night, and not go insane (debatable), that's how we do it.

It's a gift.