Filia Dei

Pie

2011-11-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

I will be eating pie from now to Christmas. I have already eaten two pumpkin pies with minimal help. I think the weight loss will no longer be a problem.

Petunia Dursley vs Molly Weasley

2011-11-09T10:57:00.001-05:00

I love Harry Potter.

Petunia Dursley comes across as a bigoted prude. One of the ways that JK Rowling shows this is through Mrs. Dursley's compulsive house cleaning. We know that every evening she does a final disinfecting of the kitchen before going off to bed. We could never in a million years imagine her leaving the dinner dishes until the morning. We see she is incredibly permissive with her biological son, Dudley. She is completely blind to his faults, never disciplining the increasingly disturbing behavior he exhibits. On the other hand, we see the disturbing behavior Mrs. Dursley, herself, exhibits toward her adopted son, Harry. She is abusive toward him. She can't stand him. To her, he represents all that is wrong with the world.

Molly Weasley comes across as a brash but loveable "everyone's mom." Her kitchen is not the spic and span gleaming showroom of Petunia Dursley, but Mrs. Weasley is always ready to accomodate a hungry houseguest no matter the time of day. We can imagine her leaving the washing until the morning or just waving her wand and ordering them to clean themselves up. Her home is comfortable, noone need worry they might get a spot of dirt anywhere. She regularly welcomes new additions to the family and loves Harry just like he was one of her own. She is not afraid of discipline and is absolutely aware of the faults of each one of her children. She loves them all anyway.

So, here is where this contrast appeals to my pride. Mrs. Dursley, whose house is spotless but heart is cold, is not what you would call a good mother, even though she thinks she is. Mrs. Weasley, whose house is clean but lived in, is warm hearted and a very good mother. It makes me want to say that because my house is untidy I must be a good mother or a better model of person than someone who cares overmuch about a clean house. It helps me justify the dirt and grime and dishes in the sink.

None of this is true of course. It is a literary device which serves to help me sympathize with Mrs. Weasley and to not like Aunt Petunia much. It's what the author intended. She wants us to really like Mrs. Weasley even if we'd be afraid to cross her. She wants us to dislike Aunt Petunia in the beginning, though by the time the books are ended I, at least, have a level of compassion and empathy for her. A little empathy.

I love to look at characters in books and see how they make me think about myself and the world and how they relate to my Biblical world view. A person can learn alot from Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Dursley.

Losing Weight

2011-11-07T10:38:00.001-05:00

So, months ago, my Dr. took me off one of my medicines. It means I can't cheat anymore on watching my diet. No dairy, little fat. Because of this, I've lost weight. It took a couple of months to notice but now it's really apparant. My pants are all too big. My bras too. And come summer, I will need new bathing suits.

The trifecta again. Jeans, bras, swimsuits. There is nothing harder for which to shop. (Suddenly, she's grammar conscious.) Anyway. Not happy the girls are shrinking. Very happy the butt is shrinking. Waiting on the middle to shrink. Afraid I might have to actually exercise to get that to go away. Never thought I would be this thin again so that's a big bonus.

On another topic. Sort of. I was cleaning my daughter's room on Saturday. It's looking like something from Hoarders. Not joking. But so does my bedroom. That's what happens when you move a family of 4 and all their stuff into a house still full of 50 years worth of a family of four's stuff. An episode of Hoarders. That's what you get.

Anyway, again, something bit me. On my leg. I don't know what it was. It itched all that evening. It was red and swollen. It itched yesterday, but I had on a pair of itchy socks. Why are warm socks itchy? Now I think there might be a growing ring of red around the bite spot, but I can't be sure because my skin turns red if you look at it wrong.

On that note, I am going to go change my bra. Because this one is too big and is getting on my nerves. This stinks because it's my comfy, go-to bra. It means I've officially gone down a cup size. TOTAL BUMMER!

Something

2011-10-14T20:15:00.000-04:00

Well, two weeks in to tightening our belts to a 100 dollar a week food budget for 4+ people and God is taking care of us. My kids are hungry, but that isn't because there isn't anything to eat. It's because they are too picky.

It's also helping me lose more weight. I am on the last hole in my belt. WOO HOO!!. The only problem is that when I gained weight, I gained it evenly, all over. Losing isn't going exactly the same. At this point my butt and hips are thinner than my waist. Weird. The evil scale at my GI Doctor's office says that I have lost 12 pounds. Maybe it's not so evil!

All right, got to go. Making stock in the crock pot... I know, right! Weird!

I Wish I Had a Hobbit Hole

2011-09-28T10:30:00.000-04:00

Because I would go in, shut the door, and never come out.

So much has gone wrong recently that I just want to ding a hole, crawl in, and not come out. My family can come visit me. All other bad stuff and people who want money have to stay the heck away. I'm not saying any more.

God is in control. He feeds the sparrows and clothes the lillies, how much more will he care for me? Abide in His love Marty, Abide.

Murphy

2011-09-23T23:02:00.000-04:00

The surest way to make your washer break down is to praise it on your blog.

Now I am lamenting the stupid streak of pride that made me buy the most expensive front load washer I could afford. I used money that I had set aside for putting in a master bath. Dumb. Now I have to spend half the cost of the washer to fix it. And I still have no master bath.

I don't have the money. I can save it up. It will take a month or more. Because, surprise, we just bought a new car. And I just found out that the people who rent our house that we couldn't sell may be moving out instead of buying the house. So, I am essentially looking at paying two car payments and the house payment with all the bills that entails.

So what do I do? Do I go and buy a new, cheap, better branded washer? OR, do I pay the money and get the washer I have fixed?

Little did I know that Maytag is a bad brand now. Yay. Thanks Maytag.

Clothes Washer

2011-09-15T20:36:00.000-04:00

Maytag 9000 Series

This is my washer. Just the washer, not the dryer. (But look at that set up. That's nice.)

I love my washer.

I can put in a ton of clothes or a few clothes and the water auto fills to the right amount.

I can put in a load of grimy, super stinky, gross and dirty clothes. And they come out clean and smelling good.

I am so thankful that we were able to buy this washer.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Costume

2011-09-12T21:05:00.001-04:00

OK
I have 4 yards of satin
And 3 yards of red spider webby gauzy stuff
And 2 yards of black spider webby with bats really gauzy stuff
And the above pattern which is a size 6-12 womens (click the post title)
And a daughter who is a size 12 in girls
And thread

And I am ready to just lay the satin down on the floor, draw my daughter's outline, cut, sew, and be done with it.

I don't think that would turn out too well.

We have to alter the pattern because we don't want our dress to have a tie/corset feel. We also don't want a spiky hem. And we want a rounded neckline. And we don't need darts at the bustline. But I totally couldn't find a pattern that was everything we wanted.

I would absolutely love to be able to make my own patterns. I know what I want to do but I don't know how to do it. I am going to do some internet research.

I'll keep you updated. Don't fall off the edge of your seat.

Work/Time

2011-09-10T21:47:00.001-04:00

I wonder why, when I have no free time, I choose to volunteer my time(which I do not have) to do stuff that takes a lot of time.

Madison wants to be a vampire for Halloween this year. So I said I would sew her costume.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?????????

I am also taking Algebra I. So that I can help Jordan get through Algebra I.

I am grading work and teaching school and doing another major craft project.

I really don't know what craziness got into my head.

I will post pics of the vampire dress. I really hope it turns out well. I got a pattern, but it isn't exactly right, so I will have to do some tweaking. I haven't sewn a dress in 14 years, give or take.

It should be an adventure.

Houses

2011-07-26T18:15:00.000-04:00

So, we have been casually (sort of) looking at houses on the internet for a bit now. We actually found a super great house with a pool and an awesome party pad outside but basically needs to be torn down to the studs inside and out. The realtor said that we should get a contractor in there and get an estimate then offer the bank (it's a foreclosure) what they want minus the cost for repairs. I was completely down with that but there are five of us now, three of the five being adults, and if all the adults aren't on board then it ain't happenin'.

My husband is a dreamer. He was selling that house like you wouldn't believe. I could totally see the vision. Totally. Well, actually, as soon as I saw the pool, multi level deck, and pool house I was sold. A large house on a large lot in the right school district if I ever run screaming from homeschooling and close to church, math teacher, and in a country setting. Wow.

But, like I said, total tear down. Needs siding, roofing, maybe an addition on the left side. Has mold inside and would need lots of drywall torn out. Kitchen and bathrooms need updating. It would be a lot of work. But I think the bones would be good.

I could totally imagine myself there, hosting parties on the deck, jumping in the pool. MMMMMM. I wonder if the neighbors are nice. :)

Blogging as a Vocation

2011-07-05T20:45:00.000-04:00

I think that I have little to worry about in the way of my blogging becoming a vocation. I notice that blogs that actually make their authors money are positive. Always positive. (Say that like Roz from Monsters Inc.)

I am NOT always positive, hence the name of my other blog Positive Posts from a Pessimist. Because I am a pessimist. Which is really hard to reconcile with being a Christian. For some reason;-\

Have you ever just felt like the weight of life is pressing down on you? I do. I have sort of regular issues with being sad. Cyclical issues. I also have a problem with letting circumstances weigh heavily on me. Which is really not okay. Paul lived a life of hard circumstances. Maybe that's why he was such a great Apostle.

Anyway, I am feeling quite "down" so any suggestions for Bible verses that might help me endure hard circumstances would be very, very welcome.

Grumbler

2011-06-23T12:13:00.000-04:00

I am a grumbler. I admit it. I can grumble to rival Grumpy the Dwarf. As much as it pains me to say this, if I had been following Moses in the desert, I probably would have been one of the loudest grumblers out there. Are you getting the point here? I GRUMBLE.

The problem is that grumbling is a real morale killer. Internal grumbling kills my morale. My dead morale eventually leaks out and flows over everyone around me. My family doesn't look at me and say to themselves, "Gee, Mom's Morale is really down right now, maybe we could do something to boost that pesky Morale." No, they think I'm mad at them or that they've done something wrong. So you see, my pesky Morale becomes an entity of it's own, dragging everyone around me down with it.

External grumbling is more direct. It actually effects the people around me in a directly negative way. It's a bad example of Christian mothering to my kids. It effects the mood and opinions of the people who hear it. And if I'm grumbling about a person? I am very much in the wrong because saying something to a person or in the hearing of a person that will alter their perception of a third party is a sin. It's wrong. I'm not talking about warning someone that another person is a snake in the grass or anything like that. What I am talking about is "So and so is so annoying", "(looooonnnnnn sigh)Why would she do that?" These are the types of comments I'm talking about.

As much as my life has changed and isn't what I would have dreamed of as "ideal", I have three huge blessings sent directly from God that I can name right now. Gilbert, Jordan, Madison. That's not even to mention the myriad blessings I take for granted each day like clean water, food, shelter, pets, cars, friends. I could go on, but you see how this thing, this Morale takes on a life of it's own and morphs what seems like a little thing; a complaint here, an irritation there, and makes a really big thing out of them.

Dear Heavenly Father who sent your one and only Son to Earth just for me. Please forgive me. Please help me. You have given me a Spirit of Control and I take hold of that gift. Please help me to use it and to listen to Him.

Amen

Soap

2011-06-01T18:54:00.001-04:00

Soap

Recently, I've been having issues with soaps and irritating reactions to them. I once heard a friend say that she had been forced to change to Castile soap because of sensitive skin irritation. So, when I was in the regular grocery store and saw Kirk's Castile soap in a four pack for something less than ten dollars, I bought some.

I have to tell you, it's pretty awesome. It doesn't smell great off the bat. You have to get used to it because it smells like old fashioned soap. Probably because that's what it is. It smells like something your Granny or Great-Granny would use. It works though. And it doesn't dry out your skin. I have been using it for maybe three months and it doesn't irritate, even sensitive areas. I even am not ashamed to wear my flip flops without a pedicure. My poor heels have bourne the brunt of many a dry and cracked and ugly day. Not anymore.

So if you want pretty well moisturized skin, especially those feetsies, and no itchies in the nether regions, try Castile soap.

That is all.

Surgery

2011-05-05T20:41:00.000-04:00

Found this on Wikipedia

The protuberance at the bottom of each photo, facing the middle. That's the part that's broken and needs to come out.

In the middle of March our family went on a Middle School Retreat. While playing capture the flag, my husband fell. He really thought he broke his wrist, or maybe both wrists. When we got home, I took him to the hospital. The standard x-ray didn't show a break. Lots of swelling and blood pooling around the bones, but no break. So we followed up with an Orthopedist because he wasn't getting better. He was sent for physical therapy. He still wasn't getting better. So he was sent for MRIs of both hands and both wrists. That's a lot of pictures.

Today we went to see the Orthopedic Surgeon. My poor husband fractured the hook of his hamate. Basically, it has to be removed or it will cause the tendons in the palm of his hand to rupture. We're told that's a really big mess as opposed to just having this tiny bit of bone removed.

So, surgery here we come.

Dog

2011-05-03T22:07:00.001-04:00

This is my dog.
I love him.
He had a bath on Saturday.
He smells good now.
He is soft now.
He likes to look out the window this way.
I have many better pictures of him.
I can't locate them.
He is sweet.
He does not always listen. To me.
His tail is curly.
He has an undercoat which he is shedding right now.
There is hair everywhere.
That rhymed.
My daughter and her friend bathed him.
I did not have to bathe him.
I like that I did not have to bathe him.
There are other things I am actually supposed to be doing right now.
Yes, I am a huge dork, how about you?

Haiku

2011-04-28T22:24:00.000-04:00

The youth pastor intern guy at my church is always posting Haiku about stuff on facebook. I think its really funny. So I wanted to post a Haiku but can't do it to fb because that would be stealing his idea. So here goes.

Haiku for a tight shirt

Oh tight fitting shirt
You cling to my mid-section
Making me feel fat

Not great. I need practice.

Most Depressing Movie Ever

2011-04-26T16:05:00.000-04:00

got the picture here

Watched this movie last night. I didn't read the article linked above. It's just where I found the movie poster photo. Plot spoilers ahead.

This is arguably the most depressing movie I have ever seen. I don't think we started watching it right at the beginning because it was on cable, but I think we came in early enough to get the gist. Dude gets jilted by sweetheart just before getting married. Dude attempts suicide. Dude moves back in with parents in NY City apartment. Dude gets set up with nice Jewish girl by his parents. Acutally nice girl. Dude starts watching beautiful female neighbor through the window. Dude makes friends with neighbor, realizes after he's already invested emotionally that she's no good for him. Dude starts relationship with nice girl. Months later bad girl calls him and needs him to take her to the hospital. Surprise! She's miscarrying the baby of her married lover. Dude is in love with her. ( I think! He says he is at least, but not to her) meanwhile he's still with nice girl. Bad girl leaves married lover after telling him she miscarried his baby. Bad relationship things happen. This is the last 10 to 20 minutes of the movie! Dude plans to go to San Fran with bad girl. Doesn't tell his family who has his future all planned for him ( a good future and secure) that he's leaving. Ready to go, Dude waiting outside apartment for bad girl. Bad girl shows up, can't go, married lover finally left wife and kids for her. Dude goes back inside to parents New Year's Eve party and proposes to nice girl with engagement ring he bought for bad girl. That day!

Oh my gosh. This was the most depressing movie ever. That guy needed to be taught how to treat people. Women especially.

I don't recommend it. I couldn't find anything redeeming about it.

IBS

2011-04-11T12:39:00.000-04:00

Just barely getting over a killer IBS attack. I haven't left the house since Thursday. I finally was feeling better today and then PERFUME!

Now my guts are roiling in my belly.

WHHHYYYYYYYY!!!!?????!!!! Whhhyyyy-hhyyy-yyyyyy

Perfume

2011-04-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

Ok. I like perfume, I wear perfume, but oh boy.

I think that if you are going to wear perfume, you should have to wear special goggles that show the vapor trail of your perfume. So that you can know for sure exactly how many people you are subjecting to said perfume. Enveloping them in noxious, choking, cloying, burning, airless agony.

Certain perfumes make me really sick. They either hurt my head/sinuses or make me feel like puking. You can imagine my joy when I turn into an aisle at the grocery store and can smell the perfume of a woman 20 feet ahead of me like she just sprayed it right next to me. And then, there's no getting away from it because you have to go down that aisle and you have to cover territory that she has already walked through. GROSS. So now I get to have a headache for the rest of the day because she decided to bathe in perfume before going to the grocery store.

Another thing about perfume. The sense of smell is powerful. It can conjure up long lost memories. Can make you feel warm and comforted, at home. It can make you feel sick to your stomach with a memory of something bad or a hard time you have been through. Perfumes can have positive or negative feelings or memories attached to them. Your grandmother's perfume might bring up good feelings of warmth and home. Polo might bring back strangling memories of what it was like to be a captive high school student walking the halls of a building you didn't want to be in with a mess of guys who thought cologne was a substitute for water in the shower. EW. Stetson and leather jacket. Wonderful warm memories of my husband in High School. That's a good one.

The smell of baby shampoo. Ahhh, wonderful warm memories there. Wet dog, not so much. Patchouli. URGH! Bleck. Yuck. Memories of high school again. Bad.

I have to go smell my hubby's leather jacket now. Bye, bye.

Ip Man Movie Review

2011-03-31T21:08:00.000-04:00

Ip Man

What a good and sad and happy movie all in one.

It's a foreign language film so be ready to read subtitles unless you understand Chinese or Japanese. This is a very inspirational story about the invasion of China by the Japanese during WWII. A very personal story. The focus is on one man and his family and town. The movie is based on a real person.

There is violence and blood so I would not recommend it for young kids. There is a-LOT of Kung Fu, so if you like that kind of thing this movie will make you very happy. There is a bit of family drama.

This was a good movie, I recommend it. I would write a synopsis but I don't want to give anything away. I like movies to be a complete surprise. So, watch it if you don't mind subtitles and if you love History.

Tangled Movie Review

2011-03-30T12:04:00.000-04:00

Tangled

Watched it last night. Good movie. Cute. Little mushy at the end according to the 11 and 13 year old.

It was a fun kid movie. I'm not really sure about morals or right from wrong. There were a few things that made me cringe. My kids are old enough to see the sub-plots. Younger kids might need to have a talk about obedience during or after the movie.

source

Getting Better

2011-03-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

G is getting better. He can mostly dress himself now. What am I going to do when he doesn't need my help anymore?

I know, I'll insist on dressing him anyway! That's what I'll do.

Actually, maybe I'll just make it a point to get up with him and get ready for the day at the same time as him. That might work. :)

Taking Care

2011-03-25T15:38:00.000-04:00

My husband messed up his wrists. This past weekend we went on a retreat for our church's Middle Schoolers. He was playing capture the flag with the adult guys and the kids and fell trying to catch an opponent. He fell full on his hands. He thought he had broken his wrists. He finished the game though. Because that's the type of guy he is.

That was Saturday night. I helped him get cleaned up and iced his right wrist. He was able to sleep in a room of his own instead of having to bunk in with all the guys that night. Then I went and got him ready for breakfast on Sunday. We ended up going to the ER here at home Sunday night. They said the wrists weren't broken but that he had contousions (blood pooling/bruising) in his wrists. His hands have been so swollen and he's been unable to do much for himself since.

Here is the point. Taking care of my husband in this way has been a real blessing to me. I don't always get to have time alone with him. I don't get to look at his adorable face. I don't get to fuss with his super cute beard. All week I've been able to do all of these things. Mainly because he just can't do everything for himself. I'm sorry he's in pain. I'm kind of sorry he's had to take 4 days off/working from home. (Not really) I'm sorry he's frustrated at not being able to do all the things he normally does. I'm not sorry that I have been given an opportunity to take care of him like he has taken care of me so many times.

Watershed

2011-03-17T10:32:00.000-04:00

I help teach a Middle School girls Bible study on Wednesday nights. We have been studying Esther. The book we were studying pointed out the fact that the Jewish people were a watershed for/to those around them. Basically the definition of a watershed person is a person who when blessed the blessings pour off them to the people around them and when cursed, the curse blesses them and rebounds on the person who cursed them. The curriculum asked us if we had ever known a person who was a watershed. I really couldn't think of anyone. Yesterday, I figured out who is the person I knew who was a watershed.

On the 10th of March, my aunt died. She has been battling cancer for 22 years. We went down to West Virginia for her funeral. Her funeral was in the same funeral home as my grandmother. The things that were being said about my aunt were very similar to the things that were said about my grandmother. It dawned on me that my grandmother was a huge watershed figure. She was like a watershed of grace that trickles down through the generations. She prayed for all of us. She never complained. She never said a bad thing about anyone or to anyone. She always welcomed everyone. She always fed us. We never went out to eat when we went to her house. My two aunts lived on either side of her. They took care of her for the last 20 or so years of her life. She lived to be 99. I didn't realize it while she was alive. Because we live 7 hours away from her and visited about 4 times a year, I didn't really get to see how my grandmothers kind and gentle spirit and her real love of God affected our family. At her funeral I was able to see how her faith had trickled down into each family and at my aunt's funeral I was able to see even more. The generation below me are all adults now. Most of them have children of their own. The vast majority of them know the Lord. I can't tell you how incredible that is. My cousins that are down a generation from me shared how their Granny Jo's faith had touched them. That she accepted and loved them no matter what they did. She showed the love of Christ to them always. What an incredible testimony to the faith of my grandmother and to my aunt and to God.

So I know a real life watershed figure.

Tornado

2011-03-09T12:33:00.000-05:00

That's what I am. If I don't get my organizational act together, one day they will find me dead under a pile of junk that I didn't sort through and throw away. Or folded laundry that was never put away. Or dirty dishes that were never washed and put away. That last one won't happen because I live with my mother-in-law now and she keeps a clean kitchen. Which means she is cleaning up after tornado Marty all the time.

Honestly, I blame American society. The drive to have stuff as a measure of personal worth. Or the drive to buy stuff as an elixer to cure depressed mood. The drive to have the newest thing because you think someone else has it. Or because it looks good on TV. I'm just kidding. I don't blame anyone but myself. (Maybe my mom.) Just kidding again!!!! I am just not organization oriented. I can seriously walk into a perfectly tidy room and by the time I leave it's a candidate for National Disaster Relief.

My desk as proof.

There's no excuse really. I'm just a complete mess. And I have a double chin. How can someone my size have a double chin???? I might have to start exercising.

Crochet

2011-03-08T15:01:00.000-05:00

I found this pattern for a baby cocoon online. I wanted to try it out so I bought some cheap yarn and made one. Ok. I really wasn't liking it while I was making it but it really is cute. If it was done in a fuzzy green yarn it would look just like a baby in a pea pod. The relatively tight twist of worsted weight yarn done in single crochet make the fabric sort of ordinary looking.

Since I made it in cheap yarn, I gave it to Madison for her doll. It's really cute, I can actually imagine a mom using it to swaddle baby.

Cute, huh? It would be so much better in the yarn that it was designed for but this was a good trial yarn. It's like making a really large sock and stopping at the foot portion, not going around the heel and up the leg.

Anyway. It was easy and ended up being kind of cute. I wasn't sure at first but it grew on me.

Prayer

2011-02-27T22:17:00.000-05:00

I'm reading that book Kaley posted in the comments two posts ago. It's good. I downloaded it to Kindle reader and I didn't have to go anywhere or wait at all to get it. That's a good thing when you're desperate for some spiritual guidance.

In it, the author, Paul Miller, says some powerful things about spirituality. Powerful to me. I was just looking through the book, trying to find the thing he wrote. It was basically that spiritual people don't "have it all together." That you shouldn't think that your lack of being able to handle everything means you aren't spiritual enough. It just means that you're human.

That was a huge revelation to me. I have a certain situation going on which has stressed me to a point that my base level of stress is so high that one small incident can send me twirling off the diving board into the deep end of the crazy pool. The thing is, I've been appearing to somewhat keep it together because I feel like that's what is expected of me. If I back out of this responsibility then I must be a bad Christian. If I let my husband know how stressed I am then I'm a bad wife because I'm adding to his stress. If I let my kids know then I'm a bad mom because I'm off-loading my emotional baggage onto them. If I admit to myself that the things that are stressing me are a lack of stability and loss of control. That makes me feel like a bad Christian. I felt like we were following God's will. But now I'm at the end of my ability to endure the situation without help. I'm at the end of myself. I'm acting out in anger and losing my cool. I just can't handle it anymore. I know though, that this is when God is at His best. When I admit that I'm not the pious, religious martyr that I imagined myself to be. When I admit I'm just plain old me. No better than I was when I threw temper tantrums at 5 years old. When I'm crying and banging my head against the wall because I just can't stand to deal with any of it any longer. Then I might be close to giving it to God. Then maybe I will have peace.

Sewage

2011-02-25T17:33:00.001-05:00

It's kind of funny how things happen. I've been stressed beyond what it's within my physical limits to bear this week. You know how they say that your real character only becomes evident when under pressure? I almost blew yesterday.

I've had a bunch of stuff going on. Stuff related to church, kids, parents, money, living situation. All kinds of things, small and large that have just been pressing and pulling. I was already stressed yesterday when I got a text picture and note from the mom of the family staying in our old house. There was a pile of sewage coming up out of the county cleanout into our yard. YAY! I literally started shaking. Uncontrollably. My sister knows what I mean. So, I called the county and it was sent to the emergency dept for sewer issues. Wow, the guy I talked to there wasn't very nice. I was probably not making a lot of sense because I was so upset. Anyway, he finally got the idea that it was probably a county issue and maybe he should send someone down. Wow again, the guy who came down wouldn't believe the mom or my neighbor about where the county cleanout was. I got on the phone with him and he wouldn't believe me. I almost lost it. I came so close to telling that guy off it isn't funny. What saved me? I was on my cell in my parents living room with them and my sister watching. Now, my sister, at her most upset is nowhere near me at my least upset. She can seriously hold it together. I have never in my life heard my dad tell someone off, really. My mom just shuts up when she's really upset. So, I threw my free hand up in the air and clenched my jaw and started over. I may have rolled my eyes too, a few hundred times. The guy went and checked his computer again and realized that the cleanout was where we were telling him it was. GEE, I LIVED THERE FOR 10 YEARS, I MIGHT KNOW WHERE THE SEWER CLEANOUT IS! By the way, it was under a large pile of poo. So you couldn't see it. :-)

Anyway, the blockage was taken care of but he said it was my responsibility to clean up the mess. Yuck! But, okay because the county emergency people that I've talked to today haven't been very nice so why would they clean the poo out of my yard?

Today, after some prompting from my husband, I called the county. I was transferred to a guy named Dennis. NICE GUY. Really, actually a nice person with a sense of responsibility. He wasn't even the right supervisor but he called around and got a commitment that the emergency services people would go down and clean it up. Oh my gosh. I had been completely at the end of my rope. So much so that I couldn't even think clearly enough to pray. I think that someone was praying for me today because that's the only reason why I would have gotten a nice person who wasn't even responsible for the issue we were having who actually promised to take care of the problem.

THANK YOU GOD! For being who you are and for putting nice people in place to turn my anger around and remind me that you are in control and you are taking care of me and us.

Love of God

2011-02-21T17:41:00.000-05:00

Saturday I was at a meeting for planning a church middle school retreat. One of the people there said that they had just realized that God loves them. He just loves them, no reason, no right, He just does, and this person just realized it.

This person shared this in the context of making sure that we let the middle school kids in our care know that God loves them. For no other reason than He just does. It got me thinking about God's love for me. When did I figure out that God loves me? I think that I've known since I was a little girl. Even though God was more of a concept than an actual person to me growing up, somehow I knew that He loved me. I didn't grow up going to church. My parents never taught me about God(in words). My Christian siblings were where I got the bits of knowledge that I had. I think the best thing my parents did for me was love me. They really did. I felt safe and loved at home. My needs were always met and I was taken care of.

Now, I know God loves me because I feel it. I also know that He loved me before I became a Christian at 22 or 23. I sort of didn't grow up in a covenant family. I certainly wasn't baptized. I didn't go to church. I don't have any doubt that God called me directly. I remember feeling like I wanted to know everything I could about God and Jesus. Maybe it was the certainty that He wanted me that made me know that He loved me. The realization that He loves everyone in the world as much as He loves me. That helps too.

I remember being a fairly new Christian. Shortly after I got married, a girl I worked with got pregnant. She wasn't married to the dad. They were just casually dating. At the same time, I was helping with a middle school girls (I must like middle schoolers) Bible study. The woman I was working with was the youth pastor's wife. She was 4 or 5 months pregnant, I think. I remember thinking about how God had a plan for the baby (two babies because she had twins) of that unwed mother who I worked with. That was a major revelation about the love of God for me. Of course he would have a plan for the youth leader and his wife's baby. Of course! But, the realization that he had a plan for the life of those happy accident babies. Wow! I've lost touch with her but the last I had heard she married the dad and they were going to church. That was probably 10 to 12 years ago.

I can't put my finger on one "A-Ha" moment when I realized that God loves me. I have realized for a long time that each person is in a different place in their walk with God. I imagine it as a bar graph. One person may have a really big bar in trusting the Lord for his provision and a really low bar in something else. Another person's bar graph of faith would look totally different.

That's all I have to say now on that. I look forward to growing in my knowledge of the Love of God and making my love bar grow.

STOP...

2011-02-17T12:27:00.000-05:00

the ride and let me OFF!!

I am so behind and so overwhelmed it's not funny. My brain seems to have taken a vacation. Pounding has taken it's place today.

One day, about a month and a week ago, I listed all the things I do. Just for fun. Wow, I do alot. I really thought that I was a lazy person. Actually, I still think I'm a lazy person. I seem to get stuff done but not important stuff. Like washing and ironing clothes. Or checking math.

I can't focus. I am worried about around ten different things at any one time. Those things morph, it's a very fluid river of worry. Isn't that nice? Am I a Christian or what? Why am I so stricken with worry all the time.

What's the name of that book you're reading about prayer Kaley?

An Historic Inn

2011-02-12T17:58:00.000-05:00

OK, spending a 20 degree night in an historic inn. COLD! Thankfully there was a down comforter. The bathroom was freezing though. The thing is, the thermostat in the room said it was 72. Which it may have been in the little alcove at the door to the room where the thermostat lives. I wasn't up for sleeping over there though.

Pneumonia

2011-02-10T12:48:00.000-05:00

Jordan had his last check up for the pneumonia today. He is all better. No more pneumonia and no sign of an underlying asthma. YAY! Thank you all for your prayers!

I've heard of more kids with pneumonia this year than I ever have. I can't believe it. Of course, it's possible that I'm just paying more attention to pneumonia this year because Jordan had it.

Kindle for PC

2011-02-08T15:32:00.000-05:00

The one bad thing I can say about the free Kindle for PC is that I want to download a ton of free books for multiple members of the family. I know full well that I am looking a gift horse in the mouth. The problem is, I like my little laptop and if I have to share it with everyone then when am I going to get to read the books I download for myself?

Jordan

2011-02-06T00:41:00.000-05:00

Is feeling better. Still nebs twice a day but that's all. Says he feels well.

Me? IDK. I supposedly still have a lingering sinus infection and possibly viral bronchitis. The Dr. gave me a different antibiotic which made me so sick. I did the socially irresponsible thing and stopped taking the stuff. My least favorite thing in the world to do is puke and I don't like feeling nauseated either. Or like my stomach is going to slide up my throat and out onto the bed linens when I lay (lie? I can never remember and my grammar handbook is downstairs) down. I did call the doctor and no one ever called me back. I suppose I should call the pharmacy and see if they have a new perscription for me. The thing is, I think if I just keep taking mucinex and nasonex I will probably be fine. I don't like antibiotics.

OH I have another pet peeve. This one is okay because it has absolutely nothing to do with people. It's annoying when I put a bowl in the sink and then turn the water on to rinse it out and the water hits it at just the right angle and splashes all over me. Even worse...when that bowl is already full of some gross something that is soaking and THAT splashes all over me. Blech.

Read two great books in the last four days. I will share on another post. BUT, you can get them free right now on amazon for your Kindle or any device to which you have downloaded the Kindle software. Just in case, the titles are Imaginary Jesus, and The Centurions Wife. Ok, the first is not sacreligious at all. It's funny and gets you thinking at the same time. The second is a romance novel set in the weeks after Jesus' death. Very good, I don't like romance but this was good. Download them for free for your kindle software(which is also free) and see for yourself.

I'm OUT! I have been trying to go to sleep early all week and it hasn't worked at all. So now that it's after 12:30am, maybe I will be able to go to sleep. If the cat who normally avoids me like the plague will stop rubbing all over me and my little laptop.

Kindle

2011-01-31T17:03:00.000-05:00

You can download kindle to your pc and then you can go on Amazon and buy free books for your kindle. And then you can read free books on your laptop. Isn't that amazing?

Jordan

2011-01-30T21:34:00.000-05:00

Is doing much better. He goes back to the doctor on Tuesday. In the mean time he still has to do nebulizer treatments every 4 hours while he's awake.

I am making a pair of crochet socks. I'm done one and am in the middle of crocheting the heel on the other. Just taking a break to let everyone know how Jordan is doing.

Pneumonia

2011-01-26T20:46:00.000-05:00

So, Jordan has pneumonia. Today we took him back to the doctor. Now he has to do a nebulizer every 3-4 hours and I have to beat him on his ribs before the treatment. I think after two treatments at the doctor's office today and two more at home this afternoon and evening he is actually starting to feel better. He even made jokes at dinner. He also ate about four bites instead of nothing. This is good! I was very tempted to take him to the hospital last night.

God, please let him get better. Make him better. I've been so worried about him. Amen.

I tell you what. This kid is pretty healthy but when he gets sick, he GETS sick. If you know what I mean. We are basically trying everything we can to keep him out of the hospital. He would likely still be there if I had taken him last night.

And......

2011-01-22T20:59:00.002-05:00

We have secondary infections! A sinus infection, pneumonia, and another sinus infection. YAY for the flu!

Flu Again

2011-01-19T08:45:00.001-05:00

Today I am wishing for a healing dragon and some tea made by Granny Noon. Or Madam Pompfrey.

Flu

2011-01-18T14:35:00.000-05:00

Yep.

No, I didn't have my flu shot. My Husband got it, then I got it, then the kids got it. Three days of fever. Two full days of not being able to get out of bed. Not fun. The kids are in the midst. I feel so bad for them. Today is the first day my fever has come down on it's own. Hopefully it stays down.

Loud

2011-01-13T15:28:00.000-05:00

Who is the loudest person in your house?

Sometimes I think it's me in my house. I yell. I yell for the kids and for the dog and for the cat and for my husband. I yell "OW" when I stub my toe. I humph loudly when things don't go right. I use the stove timer which is LOUD.

My husband is actually pretty quiet around the house. He really only makes noise when he's tromping around in the bedroom and I am in the school room which is under the bedroom. Also, when he turns up the volume on the tv to play video games. Of course, he's only here in the evenings and on the weekends. That could contribute to the fact that he's quiet. He's not here.

My kids are loud when they want to be. My son also yells "OW" loudly when he stubs his toe. That happens a lot because he's growing like crazy and his brain hasn't caught up with the size of the rest of him. He also turns up the volume on the tv when he plays video games. He has his buddies in and they make lots of noise when they play. My daughter can be really loud when she wants to and when she is running in and out with her girls(friends). She can scream like crazy.

So who's loud in your house?

Hey

2011-01-12T21:16:00.000-05:00

I have another blog.

http://positivepostsfromapessimist.blogspot.com/

Trying to sow something positive.

Bunny Tail

2011-01-11T14:55:00.002-05:00

I have to take a break from the Pet Peeves because this is an area of my heart that needs working on and posting them online amounts to spewing the sinful overflow of my sinful heart onto the interwebs to taint the whole entire world. I'm NOT dramatic!

So, I have pictures of the super cute scarf that I crocheted for my daughter.

Here you can see the yarn in it's skein, the yarn in a ball after the skein wrapper is taken off, the yarn strand itself, and the finished scarf.

Above is the finished scarf. It's so FLUFFY! I love that movie. Anyway, this is a super-soft, fuzzy, fluffy, fun scarf.

Do you see?

What I see?

Can you see the hidden Mickeys?

Maybe I'm crazy, but I see hidden Mickeys in this here scarf.

Pet Peeves #6

2011-01-09T20:10:00.001-05:00

OH MY. This afternoon my husband and daughter shared their pet peeves with me.

Husband: My husband has a special relationship with the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. He's the only person in the house who can get the thing to work right consistently. Others of us end up with tea all over the counter and running down the front of the dishwasher onto the floor. His pet peeve is that even though the thing is a no-brainer for him, we can't seem to get it to work right.

OOPS.

Daughter: No one ever changes the toilet paper roll except her. Other people get out a new roll and sit it on top of the old roll even if there's only one sheet left on the old roll. Or they change it when there's at least one whole use left on the old roll. That's her pet peeve. She's right. Since she was about 6 she has been changing the roll of toilet paper. Because she's responsible. Not like me.

OOPS again!

Theirs made me laugh and feel a bit guilty at the same time so I forgot mine. :)

Pet Peeve 5

2011-01-08T21:58:00.001-05:00

According to Webster.com a Pet Peeve is a frequent subject of complaint. I was thinking of it as some little thing that happens and irritates you. Something that absolutely doesn't have any real or lasting consequence but that gets on yer nerves!

So, I am going with my definition. Pet Peeve for the day today is improper use of apostrophes. Which drives me up the wall but with which I had a hard time in English 111 in college. As attested to by marks I received on an essay I wrote which I found today. Isn't that funny.

And have you noticed that two of my pet peeves had to do with the bathroom? Wonder what Freud would say about that. But, sometimes a bathroom is just a bathroom.

Considering

2011-01-08T01:02:00.001-05:00

a major life change. Please pray for me/us.

Pet Peeve 4

2011-01-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

Not flushing the toilet.

After a certain age this should be expected.

Pet Peeves 3

2011-01-06T09:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is fun. I think it's fun to see the pet peeves of my two readers. :) It's a bit convicting too because I think I might be a one-upper.

My pet peeve for the day.

People who don't lift up their feet when they walk. Which is really funny/ironic because I don't. Lift up my feet when I walk. But I've been trying to do better now that I realize how annoying it is. And it's also not good for you. Actually lifting up your feet when you walk is better for all the muscles in your lower body and is good for balance.

Pet Peeves 2

2011-01-05T14:24:00.000-05:00

When people open a closed door without knocking.
Because the door is closed because I am in here going to the bathroom.

When people touch my stuff.
I'm very, very messy but I tend to lose things when other people start messing with my stuff.

Only two for today. Share please!!

Pet Peeves

2011-01-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

So, tell me your pet peeves. I'll tell you one of mine.

Jelly in the peanut butter jar and vice-versa.

Bunny Tail

2010-12-30T22:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Madison and I went to Michaels and found this really cool yarn. The picture above is an example but the actual yarn is the Michaels brand Loops & Threads called Bunny Tail. Isn't that the cutest name? We bought three skeins in the color Cotton Candy so I could make Madison something. Oh, boy. This was hard yarn to figure out at first. It's a pom pom, a bit of yarn, and another pom pom. It took about four tries to figure out what size crochet hook to use. Once I figured out that bit of information, I crocheted a long chain with the intention of making a scarf. I never crochet a scarf from side to side, always from end to end. Anyway, after I had my starting chain I had to figure out how in the heck I was going to crochet into the stitches. It was just too dense to single crochet in each chain. I ended up doing a chain two single crochet, skip a stitch pattern. It's so cute. I will post a picture soon. I've almost got it finished. I'm about two feet short of yarn (BUMMER!), so I have to run over to Michaels tomorrow and pick up another skein.

Please forgive my horrid writing. I've been off everything for about two weeks. Yahoo! And am a bit out of practice.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-23T19:31:00.000-05:00

If Peter Jackson can treat The Hobbit in 3-D the same way Voyage of the Dawn Treader was treated by it's director then I will love The Hobbit in 3-D.

Christ Notes

2010-12-17T09:43:00.000-05:00

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

Every day I get an e-mail with a Bible verse. Some days they really hit home. Sometimes the best way to keep peace is to keep your mouth shut and your blog fingers idle.

Sorry

2010-12-16T18:20:00.001-05:00

My last post was inappropriate and more suitable to a private diary than the world wide web. It has been deleted. I apologize for putting potentially offensive comments on the web.

Family

2010-12-14T13:15:00.000-05:00

I think I've figured out why my brother is so "into" his church small group. I think that people at church accept us for who we are and what we actually contribute.

I think family sometimes makes assumptions about who we are or who we're supposed to be. Making assumptions is never good when it comes to judging people and what they are thinking or their motivations. I am glad that as I have grown up my siblings and I have made a real effort to connect with each other personally. I really like them all. They are pretty cool and so intelligent.

But, I see the draw of the church family. Sometimes they are more present in your life. You see them every week. You work alongside them. They don't assume things about you. They pursue a relationship with you because friendship isn't assumed while family relationships are. There's no drama.

Stuff

2010-12-02T21:06:00.000-05:00

It never happens one thing at a time. Seems like it always dumps in truckloads. I am so glad God is in control.

Smiling

2010-11-22T22:31:00.000-05:00

**Spoiler**

Got to see Harry Potter tonight! It was really, really good!

I have some advice for would be moviegoers. If you can't find a sitter for your toddlers, probably not a good idea to take them to the 7:40 showing of a PG-13 movie. Also, if you absolutely must keep accessing your smartphone during the movie, maybe you should have stayed home. You obviously don't want to see the movie anyway. Thirdly, if you are not a fan of the books and have not read them, please be respectful of those audience members who are fans and have read the books and refrain from laughing at Luna Lovegood's father because he is frantic because the death eaters have stolen his daughter.

Thank you.

Pouting

2010-11-21T17:15:00.000-05:00

I'm pouting today. Haven't been able to go see Harry Potter yet. Thought maybe tonight. Noone to watch the kids and IBS acting up. It's been an incredibly stressful two weeks and it's looking like the entire month of December is going to be nothing but more stress piled on and on. That's why the IBS is acting up. Thank you very much disfunctional gut of mine.

Matthew 14

2010-11-18T19:02:00.000-05:00

The kids and I are listening to the Gospel of Matthew on BibleGateway.com for our Bible lessons right now. The idea being to get a feel for who Jesus was as a person. What attributes did he display while he was here. I think Jesus seems more real and more accessible than God, especially to children.

Anyway, today we listened to Matthew 14.

3 Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered John a prophet.

6 On Herod’s birthday the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much 7 that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9 The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted 10 and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. 12 John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Look at verse 13. This specifically hit me hard today. Why did Jesus withdraw? Because someone he loved in a personal way had been killed. The Bible doesn't tell us much about the relationship Jesus had with John the Baptist. If we look at what is recorded in the Bible, they only met once. According to Luke 1:41, John, as a fetus still in his mother's womb, lept for joy when he heard the voice of the mother of the savior. But, Mary wasn't yet pregnant. The first meeting we see in the Bible is when Jesus goes to John to be baptized in the Jordan river. Maybe these two boys saw each other at the passover or other big feasts, we don't know, but it is clear to me that Jesus felt deeply the death of John, his cousin and the one who God sent to make way for him, the voice in the desert calling "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him."

So Jesus seeks solitude. Time away from the crowds to mourn, pray and probably to contemplate his future because I see a change in his bearing after this. I imagine him as a quiet pillar of strength and power. Confident, resolved, embracing his God-ness.

We see Jesus leave, and the impression I get in my heart is one of sorrow, deep sorrow. But, this guy is Jesus, and the crowds follow him. When he gets to this solitary place there is a crowd waiting for him. Look at what he does in verse 14. He has compassion on them. He doesn't tell them to go away, that he is mourning and can't deal with them right now. He shows them love and compassion. He heals them and he even feeds them before dismissing them. This man is in a time of deep sorrow for someone he personally loved and yet he loves all people so much that he pours out that love in compassion, healing, and food.

This is a real picture of who Jesus is. He loves us. All of us. All the time.

The Fastest Way

2010-11-14T17:02:00.001-05:00

to make a woman feel like a child again is to tell her she can't go to the mall by herself.

Cons of being an Introvert

2010-11-10T11:53:00.000-05:00

Sometimes there is so much going on in my head that I don't know up from down or left from right.

I'm an Introvert

2010-10-25T18:02:00.000-04:00

I am reading this book called Introvert Power by Laurie Helgoe, PhD. It's really good, and I'm only on page 6.

Basically, she is saying(so far) that an introvert needs to value their time spent in reflective and typically intorvert-esque occupations as a time of refueling and regeneration. It's really good to hear these things. So often the only thing we hear about introverts and introversion is negative stuff. I'm so glad to be reading a book that is meant to nurture the reflective and restorative occupations of introverts. I can stop thinking I'm weird or somehow lacking because I really enjoy reading or just sitting and thinking. It's not abnormal to think about a conversation for days and really explore all that was said.

I will be enjoying this book and I will keep you posted on the revelations I have concerning the way God made me. And I will hopefully gain some skills to help me develop the God given potential that is in me.

Today is my Sister's Birthday

2010-10-17T22:10:00.000-04:00

OK, my sister is pretty great. She's 12 years older than me. I always idolized her when I was young. She was so pretty and cool. She helped me through the craziness that is middle school by being my friend and letting me come to her house whenever I wanted.

Now, she is absolutely the most supportive and wonderful friend of a sister a woman could have. I love her so much.

She is still pretty. She is still cool. She even has a cool name. She is fun. My daughter loves her. You can't get much better than that.

Being a Girl

2010-10-15T11:56:00.000-04:00

Sometimes being a girl is not so much fun. I've been fighing female reproductive parts problems for a while now and I can tell you, it's not fun. It's nothing serious, I know people who have been fighting serious female reproductive parts problems for a while too and that's even worse. My problem is, I feel out of control and out of touch with what's going on in my body. I am a person who always has an idea of what is going on with my body. I knew I was pregnant with my son before I ever took a test. I knew I would likely get pregnant on the night it happened with my daughter. I could always feel myself ovulate. Since I was really young, I could feel myself ovulate. So this not knowing what's going on with my body is disconcerting. I have a call in to the doctor. Maybe she'll have some insight.

Life

2010-10-07T20:55:00.000-04:00

I wish life was less complicated. In heaven, life will be less complicated.

Oh boy. Please don't take that the wrong way. I'm just lamenting the reality that life isn't what it was created to be and that it will be one day.

Middle School Bible Study

2010-10-06T21:23:00.000-04:00

I think I may have been mistaken for one of the middle schoolers tonight. Um, I'm about 3 and a half times their age. I will take it as a compliment and I will try not to sit on the floor any more.

Water Water Everywhere

2010-09-30T21:56:00.002-04:00

My sister and I spent a few hours(my daughter too) helping my parents vacuum water from their basement. I am exhausted. The water from the rain from this darn tropical storm was leaking into my parents basement like someone turned on a faucet. In TWO places. Seriously, if you've ever seen a little spring flowing out of a rock in the side of a mountain, That's what it was like. NOT EVEN KIDDING.

Right now, It's pouring again. My parents are probably doing their best to vacuum up the huge amounts of water that are likely trickling like a mountain spring into their basement. I am going to bed, because it's likely, if they need it, I will go help again tomorrow and that is some hard work. Let me tell you.

Lazy

2010-09-28T18:05:00.003-04:00

I feel like the absolute laziest person in the world. When I get on facebook, or make a post for my blog, I feel lazy. There is SO much work to be done. But, we had our review last night for homeschooling this year and my reviewer, who is also my friend, warned me to make sure I had time for myself and for the kids for themselves. See, the kids don't feel guilty for taking time for themselves. They really don't. They would readily steal time (and do) from school to do the things they want. I, on the other hand feel guilty for falling behind in checking my son's math work because there isn't enough time in the day to school, check, feed the family, wash clothes, clean the house, prepare to teach Bible study, sleep, and have a bit of time with my husband. Oh, don't forget grocery shopping and clothes shopping, balancing the checkbook, paying the bills, soccer, church, working at Shady Side, checking on my parents, connecting with my mil, who I live with, attending to the dog and cat, doctor appointments, paying doctor bills, library trips. I'm sure there's a few things I've left out. Yeah, I'm a little overwhelmed. Yet, I feel like a lazy person. When I see it all here, I realize maybe I shouldn't feel lazy if I want to escape into a nice fantasy novel every once in a while.

Oh The Joy

2010-09-16T17:49:00.002-04:00

School has started. This year, that means I am teaching one 6th grader and one 7th grader. Whooo boy it's a lot of work. For them. No, really, they have a lot of work to do this year. I stress that I'm not making them do enough and then I stress that I'm making them do too much. I think this is a struggle every homeschooling mom goes through.

What it really means for me is that I have almost no free time. Almost none. I do sleep. That's a good thing. I do waste time on facebook. I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Tonight is supposed to be soccer practice but it's rainy and wet and I have one sick kid and I'm not taking the other well kid out in the chilly wet so he can get sick too. I have a 4 hour birthday party to host for my party animal daughter on Saturday so I can't have sick kids. Priorities! Really people!

Anyway, I haven't had time to write about the really great vineyard/wine cellar that we visited on our anniversary trip. I just want to say, Black Ankle Vineyards. You can get their stuff locally in the Annapolis area at Mills which is downtown, Bay Ridge Wine and Spirits, and Bin 201 near the Target and Whole Foods. We bought a bottle of Vigonier, pronounced vee-o-nyay. Oh, it's delicious. Every wine we tried there was wonderful and the tasting associate who served us was incredible. She even opened up the tasting room early for us. If we go on another wine tour up there, we will definitely go back. And we will drink our bottle of wine on their patio and eat their local cheeses they have available for purchase and bask in the quiet and watch the cows.

That's all.

Wine Tour: Linganore Wine Cellars

2010-09-05T22:02:00.004-04:00

On the first day of our Frederick Co. wine tour we went to Linganore Wine Cellars.

It's a beautiful country drive out to the plantation. They had a nice tasting building but I don't recommend you go for a tour or tasting on the couple of days before they have a function. The people in the building are nice enough but you know that you are definitely keeping them from the business at hand, which is preparing for the function.

Linganore has a lot of wines. I've tasted their wines before and liked them, but I have to say, they didn't strike me as "professional" wines. We found out that they add sugar to many if not all of their wines which give most of them a more juice like flavor. Not very complex. Most of their wines are very drinkable but very sweet. Because of this I was under the impression that all Maryland wines would have this same characteristic. I was thinking that it must be because of the climate and the grapes. I was thinking maybe Maryland isn't a great place to grow grapes for winemaking. I later found out I was wrong.

After the tasting we bought a bottle of Melody for ourselves. It was very good. This is how they describe it: A German style white with overtones of tropical fruit and apricot. That's exactly what it was. They call this an estate bottled wine which I think means that they use grapes grown exclusively on the property and don't add any imported grapes to the wine. That's what it meant at one of the other vineyards we visited. We also bought some bottles for gifts and a couple for drinking at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

I think I will probably not want to visit this winery again. I didn't feel welcome, I felt like we were intruding on their preparations for the festival they were having in 2 days. I really wanted to take a tour but it wasn't even offered. We were sort of handed to the tasting bar and then we decided to buy some wines as gifts and the girl who waited on me seemed quite put out by having to check someone out. Yes, I don't think I'll visit again and I'm not sure if I'll seek out their wines in the local stores either. Maybe the experience would be better on a different day, but if I go on another winery tour I'll be trying out different vineyards and possibly going back to one of the other vineyards we visited which I will tell you about another day.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-03T18:58:00.002-04:00

We get an extra day to work on the house down in Shady Side. I am trying to get it ready for new pictures. Almost everything is done. It really looks great. I love how open it feels when you walk in.

Hurricane Earl passed us by. Yay! That was a big answer to prayer. I don't know if our insurance would have paid for damages if the Shady Side house had gotten any from a hurricane. I am really praying that it sells soon. The thing about this market is that if you look at a house today, there's a good chance it'll still be on the market in a month or two or three if you decide you really like it.

That's all.

Winery Tour

2010-08-27T20:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Gilbert's and my 15 year anniversary. We went to Frederick county MD to tour three of the vineyards in that area. I'll post more about it later.

School starts next week.

Nieces and Nephews

2010-08-19T11:20:00.002-04:00

The best part about my nieces and nephews getting married and/or having babies is that I have more nieces and nephews to love.

I just wish they all lived close by so I could hug them and squeeze them and bake cookies for them.

SCHOOL

2010-08-16T19:02:00.002-04:00

My school room is ready. Don't say school loudly because even though my room is ready, I am not. I worked for like, 30 hours on it, or something. I only have a few last little bits of things to find places for or file in file 13 and I will be good to go. BLECH!!!!

Secretly I am very happy the room is ready.
Not so secretly, I am not ready.

Thanks

2010-08-13T15:47:00.002-04:00

By the way, if you prayed for my VBS class, THANK YOU. We made it through. The boys were boys but what else do you expect and they were about 30 percent as rowdy as I thought they would be.

Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

2010-08-13T11:13:00.002-04:00

Stop motion animation version of a Roald Dahl classic.

I haven't read this book which is uncharacteristic of me. I loved the movie. My two kids ages 10 and 12 also really liked the movie. The animation was so good. It was more seamless than the traditional '60s Rankin Bass productions. It still had the fun feel of a stop motion animiated movie.

The storyline is good, funny. There is some family disfunction that could possibly confuse or upset young kids. Or maybe it would just fly over their heads. Or it could set the idea of needing to be a certain way to be loved in the back of thier minds and ruin them forever. Just kidding.

It was a great movie for the tween set and parents too.

Um...

2010-08-12T11:05:00.003-04:00

I think I am a very negative person. A glass is half empty type. I think maybe, possibly that is what causes my intestinal issues. I've been reading some lately and the enteric nervous system is intimately connected with stress responses. I need to calm down! Seriously!

On a happy note. Madison and I went to the mall with my sister, her daughter, and her daughters two bestest friends. We got pedicures. Madison had so much fun. I think that it was just because she was with a whole mess of women, which is fun in itself, plus she had her feet rubbed and scrubbed and her toenails painted. She smiled the whole time. That made it fun for me because I generally don't like for people I don't know to touch me. Is that wierd? Don't answer that.

We've had 4 or 5 showings on our old house. This is something I would normally stress about highly. I can feel my intestines tighten and curl like a snake in a trap just writing about it. BUT, with this one thing I have been 95% effective in giving it to God. When I start to worry, I just pray. I know that God has a plan and that He knows who is going to buy that house. It's such a cute house and some of the improvements we've done have really brought out it's best characteristics. I will miss it. I really liked it. It was a good house.

I must go now, lest anyone overdose on my winsome prose.

I don't even know if that makes sense. Anyway, talk to ya'll later. Have a good day.

Untitled

2010-07-14T10:24:00.002-04:00

So, in case you couldn't tell, I've been a bit sad lately. I feel alright today.

BUSY summer. I can't believe how busy this summer is so far.

Tent camping at Assateague Island State Park in July is HOT and humid and not much fun. Swimming in the ocean when the water is warm is fun. Lots of fun. Building a sand castle is fun. I really like sand castles. There was one on the beach that was Gondor. I have pictures. I am planning on posting them to facebook. Since anyone who reads this blog is my friend on fb you will have seen them already.

I am shepherding a class of rowdy 3rd grade boys next week at VBS. Pray for me. I am praying for them. Sitting in a class in the middle of the summer is probably not a lot of fun. They are a really rowdy group and one in particular was over the top last year. I am praying for him. I have a great deal of affection for each of these young boys. Pray that I can keep them engaged and that the one doesn't detract from the experience of the others. It's a mixed class and the girls tend to blend into the background when the boy(s) act out.

I went off sugar for about three weeks. It made a real difference. I felt better and less tired within a few days. Now, I'm back on the sugar and I'm tired and not feeling well again. Isn't it crazy that something so small can make such a huge difference?

Have to go balance the checkbook and figure out how I'm going to pay all the bills this month. Had to go buy a new catalytic converter today. Yay! Paying bills and grocery shopping are my two least favorite things to do. Praise God that my husband has a job!

Redemption

2010-06-25T17:39:00.001-04:00

My wonderful husband sat and watched a movie with me yesterday evening. He had a call from his nephew to play 360 and he did not! He chose me. He chose me.

360

2010-06-22T10:59:00.003-04:00

For some years the nemesis of my being has been a little white box called the XBOX360. For a while, I hated her and looked upon her as a devoted wife looks upon a trifling little tart of a mistress. Over the years I have come to a more level reality in my relationship with this little white box. More like a woman whose husband plays golf a little too much. Like, every day.

Saturday, my husband offered me an olive branch of peace in that he offered to get rid of the XBOX. OH MY GOSH! Now, you know I'm not going to throw it out the door, as much as I have been sorely tempted to do just that in the past. The machine has it's benefits, but now I feel like I have husband given solid ground to stand on when I walk over there and ask him to get off that infernal thing and do something with me or us. It's a HUGE breakthrough in my marriage.

Thanks for letting me share.

BTW, in case you might wonder...No, my husband does not read my blog. He is just plain too busy. He has no downtime at work AT ALL. And he keeps his time cram packed with something when he's home. And I love him very much.

HUH?

2010-06-16T11:01:00.002-04:00

Our pastor is doing a sermon series on marriage. Last Sunday it was on the primacy of marriage and the idea of leaving and cleaving. This week it was on the command for a husband to love his wife as Christ loves the church.

So, on the way home from church, after Sunday School and all, I asked my husband what he thought of the sermon. And he says: "What?, I don't even remember what it was about."

NIIIIICE.

Work

2010-06-11T22:30:00.002-04:00

I am truly grateful to God that my husband has a job in these tough economic times. I am grateful that I am able to stay home with my kids. I am grateful that I am able to homeschool.

I am not grateful for the stress of the job my husband has which steals him away from me and us almost every day.

I think that sentence works. The stress steals him. The job is a rough one. Not brain surgery or rocket science but circuits and lans and wans and ip telephony and outage reports and downtime emergencies. Crit sits. Yeah. Crit sits.

Mystery Bug

2010-05-23T12:34:00.004-04:00

About a month ago, Madison discovered a wierd something or other living in the tree stump in the front of the yard. The one from the humongous oak tree that was hit by lightning last summer. I think I wrote about that. Anyway, after several sightings she was able to convince me that it was an insect. Madison described it to me and we looked it up on the internet. I found this really great insect identification website. It took a while but she and I figured it out together. Here is a picture.

We think it's a Hardwood Stump Borer Beetle. But maybe it isn't but maybe it's just a Maryland version and not a North Carolina version like in the link picture.

Madison caught it the same day we brought home our caterpillar eating friend from Home Depot. The Mystery Bug just happened to be out hunting up some grub and my non-entomologist (hah!) daughter caught it.

Sorry the picture's a bit fuzzy. My little point and shoot hasn't been able to focus well since it was accidentally knocked off the top of the refrigerator.

2010-05-22T23:06:00.002-04:00

Fiery Searcher Beetle

Guess what we got at Home Depot yesterday? Yep, a new pet Fiery Searcher Beetle. It came home with us in a window box.

I went for herbs, tomato plants, a pepper plant, and a window box for the herbs. I came home with all that plus two strawberry plants and a beetle of questionable origin. Jordan suggested we have some employee of the Home Depot take care of it but I was afraid "take care" might mean smoosh, so we brought him home with us. I was fully prepared to house and feed and care for this wayfarer should he prove to be exotic but he's quite native so we set him free.

Can you see how big he is? That's my thumb in the background.

My daughter, Madison, swears she doesn't want to be an entomologist when she grows up but I think it might be in her blood whether she likes it or not. At the very least, she'll let her daughter bring home big green beetles from the Home Depot. She did want to keep him until she found out that he eats caterpillars. Her very favoritest insects of all. She still wanted to keep him but since he's native I made her let him go so he could contribute his DNA to the wild population.

Ok, time for bed. Finally figured out how to get my pictures off my camera (AGAIN!). I have some others for you. Coming soon. Good night for now.

At a Loss

2010-05-13T11:32:00.002-04:00

random photo

I really have been at a loss of topics about which to write.

I'm so tired.

My dad was in the hospital.

This blogger whose blog I sort of read sometimes announced that she decided to become an atheist in January. Really? I just found out because I haven't had much time to wander to her blog lately. I read her sister's blog. She's still a Christian but she doesn't link to her sister's blog on her blog anymore. What does that do to a Christian family? Not the blog thing, the atheist thing. How does that even happen anyway? Why does it bother me so much? I don't even know her.

Bras

2010-04-28T15:14:00.002-04:00

The Bra

An instrument of torture

I can never find one that fits

or is comfortable

Making one of my own looks too hard

too much like real work

But that's probably the only way I'm going to find one that fits me

and why oh why does my paragraph spacing never ever show up????

My Bedroom

2010-04-27T17:41:00.006-04:00

My Duvet Cover

Ever since I got married I've had this sort of weird "thing" about my married bedroom. I consider it a sanctuary. In the beginning, before we had any kids, I considered it a sort of sacred place and the bed in particular I considered almost holy in it's set apartness. I was very uncomfortable with anyone going into my bedroom and incredibly uncomfortable with anyone sitting on my bed. You know, married people do stuff in their bed. They are completely open and vulnerable in that room doing the things that bond them together as married. The things God set apart as only for marriage. I didn't consider my married bedroom a cool and fun place to hang with my peeps, like my teenage girl bedroom was.

When we had kids, it was very natural to evolve the room and the bed into a family room and a family bed. I mean, those kids were the produce of the marriage bed and so they were welcome to snuggle in it with us and to play on the floor in the bedroom with supervision. We had a huge master suite when we were first married with carpet on the floor and not much else because, well, most people don't have an abundance of stuff when they first get married. Our son played on the floor while I got ready for work, played on the bed when Daddy was changing after work. Snuggled into the bed with us in the morning when we didn't have to go to work. We read there sometimes.

We've moved three times since our first home as a married couple. Each time I've considered our bedroom a sanctuary place for my husband, myself, and our two kids. I don't want them taking friends in there to play video games or watch movies. I don't want anyone else putting away my clothes or making my bed. It just makes me uncomfortable. In some weird way that bed and room is consecrated in my mind.

Is this some kind of weird mental malady? Are there other people out there who feel the same way? Do most people not mind if a well-intentioned relative trips in there to make the bed? Could it be indicative of some deep mental I don't know what? I wonder what Freud would say.

Random

2010-04-22T20:45:00.002-04:00

Shady Side Kitchen

Anyone who has been to our house in Shady Side can see that we removed the HUGE peninsula that took up about 50 square feet of floor space in the kitchen. We also removed the ceiling mounted cabinets above it. It really, really opens up the kitchen/dining room. The back wall is mostly windows and this way the sun will be able to make it into the living room too. The back of the house is south facing.

We're planning on building a cabinet and shelves for the right side of the fridge out of those cabinets along with a rolling island cabinet. Hopefully it will look nice. If not, what the heck, we just won't do the rolling island. The area is HUGE and it is exactly what I wanted to do with it years ago. I guess it took moving out to make it feaseable(sp?).

Second random thing. There is a stomach virus type of a thing going around. It isn't nice. Don't catch it. It's pretty quick though for normal people, I think my IBS is making it stick around longer. More likely, the virus irritated my already irritable bowel and it is telling me over and over that it doesn't feel good.

That's ll I think.

PS: My niece wrote the most coolest blog post about me the other day. I had no idea she loved me so much. It was very touching. You know, when you love a person all their lives and then one day the adult them turns around and says they really appreciate you? Very cool.

Women's Retreat

2010-04-17T15:46:00.002-04:00

Crocus. From about March. I think. Aren't they pretty?

This weekend my church had a stay-at-home Women's Retreat. I was on the committee. I got volunteered to facilitate a group at the very last second. ACK! Actually, I was pretty much thinking I might be able to do a group so it was pretty cool that God arranged it so I could find out that I really could. Relying entirely on the Holy Spirit of course. It's really cool to find new ways the Lord can use you. I know the grammar in that sentence is really bad, oh well.

The retreat was so excellent. God really spoke to me. It was about spring cleaning your soul. That's really all I can say right now. I'm so tired from helping at the retreat and then coming home to household chores that I can't really think straight.

For the Record

2010-04-14T21:11:00.007-04:00

I was not "drunk blogging" last night. I was not drunk. I'd had some wine. That is all.

I'm pretty sure that the Bible says it's not okay to get "drunk". Well, I'm not pretty sure, I know it says that. I don't really know what I'm saying because my brain is a bit in outer space today. Not from the wine last night, because I had to teach at Church tonight, I have to go to a class at Church tomorrow night, I am helping with the women's retreat at Church this Friday night and Saturday morning and then Saturday after I'm done at Church I have to go to the old house and help with spackling drywall. We'll be painting next weekend. We really, really want to have it on the market in May. I think I'm going to have to take a few days off school and go work down there. We really need to get it sold. The financial burden of us on my mother-in-law is getting to be too much. We need to have that mortgage money available to pay bills here. You can pray for us on that point. That the house in Shady Side gets done and sold. Quickly.

I implimented a new disciplinary technique today. I read it on a blog. I gave my kids a pre-arranged time out for 5 minutes when they fought today. I only had to do it twice! Yay! The bickering makes me want to pull my hair out. Seriously. I never had any proven technique that could stop it. I felt powerless to stop it. No amount of reasoning with them helped. Because, you know, when you're 10 and 12 you really don't care if you'll be friends with your sibling when you grow up. Well, maybe some kids do. Not mine. IN the heat of the moment when you, in your pre-teen mind, feel that you have been so utterly wronged that the only restitution is to be allowed to beat on the offending party until they crumple to the floor in a teary and disheveled lump, you really aren't thinking "I want to grow up and live next door to my wonderful sibling and we will be bestest friends forever and our spouses will be bestest friends and our children and our dogs and we will have one yard all fenced in together and always take vacations together and never be parted from one another". So, no amount of pleading and cajoling about how I want that for them will stop them from bickering and fighting when they decide they need to. The time out worked though.

Now what do I do when they are talking to each other and joking with each other when they are supposed to be doing their work? Do I do the time out for that too?

Because, this is life for me. They fight or they are best friends. Either way school doesn't get done. Either way, I want to pull my hair out and the muscles in the back of my neck tense up until my whole head hurts and the skin goes numb. That's how tense I get.

Yeah, and pretty soon, I am going to have to get tutoring for my son for math. He is getting to the point I was in math when I graduated High School. He's 12! Actually, that makes me really, super happy. I am so glad my kids are so much better at math than I was. They are better at school all around but I really think that's because they are able to work one on one with a tutor all day. Even if their tutor was a mediocre student in school. And Saxon Math. It's a good program. I like it.

And to close. The pictures are of two of the stressors in my life. They really like food. They meow loudly. They come in my bedroom and wake me up. For food. And the tortoiseshell one wakes me up in the middle of the night to go outside. I have to wake up, walk down the stairs, unlock the door, let her out, lock the door, stumble back up the stairs, get a drink of water, go to the bathroom and then fall back into bed. They are soft and cuddly though.

Goodnight, I must do the quicken, pay a bill, get ready for bed, hopefully get in some paper correcting, and not forget that tomorrow I have errands to run for the women's retreat , to call my mother, and go to a class at church. ACK!

A Craft

2010-04-13T21:18:00.006-04:00

So, Pinot Noir and White Zinfandel are pretty good mixed together. Who knew. I'll let you know how it turns out in the morning though. Might be needing some extra greasy McDonalds for breakfast. I'm a lightweight. For REAL!

The above picture is from the lionbrand website. It's a knitting pattern for a jewelry hanger. I thought it was pretty. Maybe not in that color. And you could hang it on a wall instead of it taking up valuable dresser space. Or non-existent horizontal space if you're me. I'm not gifted in the housekeeping department. Don't ever come visit me. Just kidding. You just have to give me ample warning. For realness.

I put a link on here for the pattern on the website. The post title is the link. If it won't work, you may have to make an account with lionbrand. It's free, the account that is. They send cool e-mails that may just make you want to learn to knit or crochet.

I thought it would be pretty in knit or crochet or even just fabric with a quilt batting backing. You can get so many cute frames at Marshalls for cheap. A whole collage of these on the wall would be so cute. If you have that much jewelry. And use cute-topped straight pins for the hangers. You know, like a bulletin board. But cuter.

Thats all for now. I think.

I wish blogger had a spell check like Word.

Various and Sundry

2010-04-11T22:22:00.002-04:00

I like Pinot Noir.

Why are some 11 year old girls so mean? Why does my homeschooled daughter have to deal with mean 11 year old girls? Isn't this one of the major reasons I decided to homeschool? I'm pretty sure it is. What's a mom to do?

I know the first 2 points probably aren't in keeping with the "ideal" of a Christian woman, and I am sorry about that, but they are real thoughts in my head right now. Christians are real people too. In that vein. The sermon at Church was great today. Evidently my favorite book in the Bible is Proverbs. So, all of the verses were from Proverbs. One of them was Prov 26:18-19 Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only kidding". This goes back to the 11 year old girl remark. My daughter has a "friend" in the neighborhood. Evidently she or one of her friends at school made desparaging remarks about my daughter and our family. Girls haven't changed a bit since I was 11. What does it do for them to make rude remarks about my daughter who doesn't even go to school at their school? WTHeck???? Is she jealous because my daughter is the most popular girl in the circle here? That she's beautiful? That she can sleep in until 10 if she wants and still get all her school done before said girl gets home from school? Maybe. I don't know. Evidently we are a weird family.

thoughts

2010-03-25T17:33:00.002-04:00

IBS stinks. Lactose intolerance stinks. I stink. Just kidding.

IBS stinks because when I have an attack it hurts and it leaves me shaky.

Lactose intolerance stinks because it triggers the above mentioned IBS attack.

I really like coffee. Coffee will trigger an attack if my bowel is already irritated with me because I drank coffee yesterday. And the day before, and the day before. Because I'm tired people. I don't know why I'm tired. I get roughly 8 hours of sleep when the cat doesn't wake me at 3 to feed her or let her out.

Stress. Stress triggers attacks. My children fight like siblings. That stresses me out. My intestines don't like stress. They get really angry at me.

Math. Math only triggers stress when I am trying to explain pre-Algebra concepts to my 12 year old. He makes it into a joke. Surprisingly, Mrs. Steen must have gotten these concepts into my brain somehow because I can remember them and get them to work. I have to stay on task though. My son...not so much. He can look at a problem and see the answer so he doesn't see the point in showing the work. I tell him that the problems won't be so easy forever and he will need to know how to work the problem out, showing his work, so his college professor knows he isn't cheating and so he can look back and find mistakes if he gets the wrong answer.

Ok, I think I am going to see if my intestines will allow me to go to Michaels for some yarn. At some point.

Hamsters

2010-03-23T16:17:00.002-04:00

Hamster picture found here.

This is not Caramel. This is very close to what Caramel looks like.

Poor Caramel was very sick on Friday. I thought she would die. I thought she had wet tail. I went to the pet store and bought her medicine. I gave, tried to give, her the medicine. The medicine was gross and she let me know. The whole dose ended up on her belly. :)

The poor thing was so sick. She was bloated all over, she couldn't even fit through the tubes in her cage without crying from pain. She was coughing like crazy, hacking really, like she was choking. We put her in her back-up cage which is just a plastic storage bin and gave her a bunch of warm bedding and then Gilbert put her in Madison's bedroom with a space heater on. He thought she must have a cold. Very quickly she improved. The cough lessened by the hour. The bloating went away. She was having normal bowel movements(this is a big deal with a sick animal, in case you didn't know). She still smelled bad from the gross medicine, but that's okay with me. I hope she thinks it's okay.

Monday, today, she is still on the mend. She is doing very well and I hope she sticks around for another year or so. She still has a tiny cough. Tiny. ick, ick. Like that. She's also huffing, pff, pff. Like that. It's cute. She's back in her normal cage, back to her slim self so she can fit in those tubes. I'm really glad that I said "hi" to her on Friday when I went to collect Madison's laundry. Otherwise, she may have died and we wouldn't have even known she was sick.

Is it wrong to love a hamster? At 38? My daughter's hamster that is not mine and that I don't really take care of but only play with and make my daughter keep it's cage clean and feed it and water it? I do help her actually. But mostly I just like to play with the hamster.

1776

2010-03-14T18:03:00.003-04:00

The Governor's Palace

Did you know that in 1776 ladies and gentlemen shaved their heads and wore wigs? Instead of doing their own hair, they wore wigs that had been made for them by a wigmaker. And they shaved off all their real, natural hair. That would make the getting ready in the morning a bit smoother and easier. Especially considering that ladies wore huge amounts of clothes that took time to arrange. Did you know that the length of a man's hair was a sign of his verility? It didn't matter if you had any on top, no no no, if you could grow it long down your back that was super masculine. If you needed a hair cut, you went to the wig-maker.

Gentlemen wore leather shoes and ladies wore fabric shoes. Walking in your riding boots was a no no because you would ruin them. They weren't made for that. So all those Austin novel movies with the men in tall riding boots..not so much.

Leather was the generic covering for chair seats. Because it was so cheap. Really? Yep, really.

No cotton fabrics yet. The cotton gin hadn't been invented.

No such thing as perscription drugs. You just went to the apothecary and bought all the supplies you would need until the next time you could make it into town. You didn't need the doctor's permission. Opium anyone? And if you needed minor surgery or a tooth removed you went there too. We saw a honkin big set of forceps in the collection of antiquated surgery implements in the apothecary's back room. !!!!!! If I could type really big eyes, I would.

A Joiner built your house and a Cabinet maker built your furniture, some even had the skill to build you a piano forte. Very cool. Got to try one out. Big deal for an Austin fan.

People ate duck, not chicken and macaroni noodles were super expensive. If you really wanted to impress, you served macaroni. That's why Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni(expensive).

Men and boys did NOT wear the front tip of their tri-corn hat pointing straight in front. They wore it to the side just a touch. And little boy's breeches were SOOOOOOO adorable.

These are some of the things I learned on our recent trip to Colonial Williamsburg. What's interesting is that, in talking to the people who work there, as they do more research and learn new things, the things they teach you change. So if you haven't been there in a while you might learn something new if you go again.

Jinx

2010-03-11T17:45:00.002-05:00

I might be a jinx.

Our truck was in the shop yesterday and today. Gilbert texted me that it was ready and that he was going to try and get off early to go pick it up with me. Now, Gilbert trying to get off work early is a hit or miss proposition. If something comes up there, he has to stay and take care of it.

So I offered to call my parents and ask them if they would come and take me over there to pick up the truck. Of course they said yes, because they are nice parents and they like to help. So they came and picked me up and took me to the body shop. When I had my keys and paperwork and was ready to go; their car wouldn't start. We tried everything we knew and I even asked the really nice man at the body shop to please look at it, which he did for about 45 mins and didn't even charge anything. He tried to jump it with two different types of machines and it didn't work. It's definitely something electrical. I don't want to bore you with the details, but either it's something electrical or that car is a descendant of Carrie. So we had to leave the car there, in the parking lot, defenseless, in a not so great part of town.

On my way home I called Gilbert, he should have been nearly home by the time I called, nope, he was still at work. Something came up, and I'm guessing that because he didn't absolutely have to get home to help me get the truck, he stayed to help.

So, because of me, my parents' car is sitting defenseless in a parking lot in a semi-bad part of town AND my husband had to work 2 hours longer than he had planned.

Am I a jinx? I think may-be.

People

2010-03-01T16:51:00.002-05:00

No one I know or who is somehow connected to my family is allowed to die for at least 6 months!

Here is a list, I actually may forget some because there have been so many recently

my mother-in-law's friends mother
my sister-in-law's step father
my husband's uncle's father-in-law
my sister-in-law's biological father(same sister-in-law)
my husband's cousin's brother-in-law's father or mother(can't remember)

This is just in the last 2 weeks.

my parent's friend
my friend's dad
my husband's cousin's father -in-law who lived with them most of their married life

That's all I can remember right now. That is a lot of people. Now, granted, these were all people who had had long lives. A few were battling major illness like cancer. One was absolutely sudden and shocking even given his age.

My heart goes out to every one of these people who are greiving the loss of their loved ones because we just did this a year+ a bit ago. It's not easy and it takes a looonnnggg time for things to get back to normal and sometimes they never do.

Retail Therapy

2010-02-28T17:52:00.002-05:00

This is not something in which I usually partake. But today, my sister had a legitimate reason for going shopping. She asked me along. I also had a legitimate need for clothing but of the feminine intimate apparal nature, so I had a good excuse too. I couldn't find ahhhh...an item that fit me correctly. I thought I knew my size. Evidently, I did not. I tried on a bunch that did not fit. Some that sort of fit. One that kind of fit, but really???? I like the girls to be fully covered and un-smooshed, and not jiggly. Anyway, I found two of different sizes in different brands that seemed to fit alright and I bought them.

Ok, so the trinity of female shopping torture: bras, jeans, bathing suits.

What was next for me?? Jeans. Yep. But that went really well. I just tried stuff on...lots of stuff...and found 3 pairs that were not only acceptable but actually cute. Again, all different brands, but all the same size this time. Bought them all. Hey, I LIVE in blue jeans. I needed them. And there is the fact that the two pair I own suggest a certain profession when I bend over. PLUMBING. And it embarasses my daughter. To see her mother's rear hanging out all the time.

Next? Do you think I tackled the third in the torture trinity? No. Not brave enough right now. Will do that some time in March. Maybe. Actually, I had better or the first time the kids want to go swimming this summer I will have to run out and try to scrounge up a suit form the leftovers.

Anyway, retail thereapy works when you do it with your sister. Alone, not so much. Sister=fun=happy and relaxed.

Hobbiton

2010-02-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

I need to go. Pronto!!

Toro! Toro!

2010-02-26T23:07:00.002-05:00

We just finished reading this book today. I read the last 2 chapters to the kids in one sitting. I cried almost the whole time. This book was very full of stuff. I think it's written for 10 year olds to read independently. It was probably too much for me! Not the reading but the ideas. So much loss. So much guilt. Ugh! Oh my gosh!

That's all. I might write something else in the comments if I can pull my thoughts together. Very good book.