Back Again

First off--the things I am grateful for today. The beautiful cool weather, my home, my yard, my son Jonah, PBS Kids. It's 11:32 on this wonderfully cool Friday. Jonah and I have been up since 8:30 late for us (he had a late put down). We've done a lot in the past 3 hours, breakfast (he had dad's leftover pizza, I had toast with cherry preserves), we danced around to Lucinda Williams song Joy--which I change the words to. I have a sister Joy and I sing with a sinister look "You took Aunt Joy and I want her back, You took Aunt Joy and I want her back. I'm going to go to West Memphis to look for Aunt Joy..." I lumber after Jonah while singing this and he runs for cover. He loves it and hates it. I think I was particularly scary this morning as he said "Mom, let's not play this game anymore." The next couple of hours we spent building our Native American lodge out back and collecting food for the coming winter; mushrooms, bamboo, honeysuckle, grape and poke weed. He got excited about the notion of making a dye out of poke weed berries, and became insistent about us making a long trek to find some more weeds with berries on them. My homesteading enthusiasm had waned and a battle was about to ensue until...until I mentioned PBS Kids. Jonah's t.v. priveleges have been revoked for the last two weeks, but a mom needs to disengage, do some writing, fold some clothes, organize a closet or two. PBS kids, it's a double edged sword, but today, today I am grateful.