Sad and Bothered

I don't know, maybe three weeks ago I caught an Oprah episode about the "working poor" in our nation. People working full time making minimum wage or even up to $11/ hour and not being able to support their families. The saddest comment was from a middle aged man that choked through tears how disappointed he was that he wasn't able to support the woman that he loved making $9/hour.

Last night I watched POV on PBS. Again the same subject; people working full time and not able to make it in this country.

Churches are you helping people? Communities are you? Neighbors, friends, families are you watching out for your own?

This problem grips my heart. What are we going to do?

I don't know the answer.

Get it, got it, good.

Okay so just a re-cap of what's been going on out here in the woods and um trees.

-We've lost 6 chickens to whatever.

-We had Ed the tree guy come cut down some trees. That was some darn fascinating stuff to watch, seriously those guys swing from the branches like monkeys.

-We are finishing a long weird room in the basement and so help me God (really, God, please help me) it will be finished this week.

-I helped take my friend's daughter to college. I've never seen anything like it. Two parents, five siblings, two friends, myself and my daughter. That's how many people it takes to move one girl into a dorm. I also made this comment under my breath, 'sooooo glad not to be in college'.

-I bought my daughter some new shoes in my size. Speaking of shoe sizes I slipped my 10 year old son's shoes on my feet this week to wear outside...because I realized his feet are as big as mine. So, yes there are a lot of big feet in this house and my shoe inventory has just tripled.

And to end this post a couple loving comments that my sweetheart and I have shared with one another the past few days.

'Do you want me to smack jaw you?'
'Do you think "smack jaw" is an appropriate thing to say to me?'
'Do you WANT me to smack jaw you? I need to add that to my blog'

'Huney, huney, huney (add lots of poking, prodding, thumping, blah, blah, blah)'.
'How can something so pretty be so annoying?'

I'll just let you all guess who was the irritator and who was the irritatee in these dialogues.

**My personal response to this blog entry...ICK! Can you all tell I have no focus for blogging lately? I think I'm going to take a break this week, so love you all and I'll see you later. In the meantime go visit some of those blogs on the right, except the house links that I think I messed up....I know, I know I need a new look and a fresh coat of paint, but no time or energy to be renovating in blogdom today.

Boys

Things my boys have said to me lately:

- Mom your just getting skinnier by the minute, except back here....you need to loose a little back there.

-Mom those shoes are cute. I wish I had cute shoes like that.

-Mom! Levi knows how to get out of his crib!

-Mom, the vaccuum is broken and I don't know why.

-I didn't bash it into the wall.

My Girl

The girl is on the cusp of being a teenager. She's not much of a girl anymore as she is quite a young lady. She's in that ditch of not old enough to give up her toys and play time but old enough to enjoy many adult pleasures such as shopping, decorating, drinking coffee and some romantic comedies.

However, I'm wondering when she will become more organized and yearn to care for her things.

This young lady wants to save everything. Wrappers, movie stubs, broken crayons, beads, broken jewlery, paper, paper, paper, paper, and envelopes from every letter and invitation she has ever received. She displays everything. She loves to wrap and tie things up. Yesterday, I found a shoe box wrapped in tissue paper then bound in packing tape. What was in this box that she spent so much time covering? An envelope, just a plain white envelope with an equal amount of packing tape sealing every inch of it. I'm sure it was for some big event that she was hatching up.

She spent the night at a friend's house so I went into her room and de-cluttered. I found all the missing chess pieces and all the missing hairbands. I flushed out her drawers and threw out a shameful amount of paper. God help her if a fire ever starts in her room.

This is how she has been her whole little life. I don't get it. I was the kid that lovingly cared for my things and preserved them long enough to give to my sweet daughter who in a minute destroyed the plastic horse, stuffed animals, porcelian doll etc... that I gave her thinking she would do the same. I spent hours in my room organizing my desk, using gingham printed paper to line my drawers and putting my clothes in order. My daughter has never felt the need to organize anything, ever.

I must say this has caused some strife in our relationship. I wonder if she'll treat her home the same way or if her children will be super organized and drive her crazy with how they want to keep their rooms put together. I don't know.

I do know that for all the mess she makes she does a lot of sweet things too. I don't know many girls that love their brothers as much as she does. She gets so upset if they don't want to play with her or be in the same room with her. She loves to write sweet notes to me and her siblings. She made a pot at camp for me and inside of it wrote; To Mom you're my inspiration. She has habits that cannot be broken like; everynight she finds her dad and I, wherever we may be, to hug, kiss and say goodnight and a prayer has to be said before every single meal. Traditions are never overlooked like picking the meals out for your birthday, getting new PJs for Christmas or going to the park after getting ice cream. She is consistent with these things.

I'm prepping myself to let a tiny bit of her go this year. She'll start attending classes at a school and spend less time at home. My mind is full of questions like:
-Is she prepared to take on the extra work from this school?
-Have I taught her well enough?
-Is she going to be influenced too much by some of the other kids?
-Are we doing the right thing by sending her?
I just don't know and then again I do. I know she is a sweet girl and that she is going to do fine. Right?

She's my only girl, my little girl, my big girl, my young lady, my daughter. I only get one chance to raise her. Sometimes I'd like to have a do-over so I could enjoy her more.

Just Blah on Blahgging

Yes I'm still here. Thanks for missing me. I've written a couple long posts about my anniversary and another one about my daughter and for some reason I just don't want to post them. So blah. I've been reading a couple books "Blink" and "The Lord's Service" and I've been getting reacquainted with my real life and wondering....

-Where has all the time gone?

-When did my little girl turn into a half grown woman?

-Why do I homeschool? Could I just hire someone to do this for me?

-When am I going to stop daydreaming about things like gardens and small towns and cute houses that aren't anywhere to be found and farms and animals and just be content with where I am?

-Where am I? Where am I supposed to be? What am I....just kiddin.

-Why does sugar have to make me feel so yucky when I love it so?

-Why are gas prices so high and when are people going to stop driving stupid-big vehicles?

-Why do I want a Chevy Suburban?

-Why is it so hard for me to stick to exercising?

-Why did I wait 31 years to get my first pedicure?

-Why can't I solve my friend's problems? Why don't I know all the answers to her questions? How can I help her if she can't help herself?

-Why do people like carpet and linoleum?

-Is my basement ever going to stop stinking like whatever it's stinking like?

-Are my chickens ever going to stop pooping and start laying eggs?

-Is this post ever going to end?


On a sad note: Six of our chicken have gone to meat their eater. There is feathery evidence that something cruel happened in the back yard and on top of the coop. They will be missed as soon as we figure out which ones they were.

QT means Quit Tripping

Here are the facts;

I am the most coordinated clumsy person I know.

I took ballet, tap and jazz lessons from the time I was three years old until I was a sophomore in college. Incorporate cheerleading, drill team, swimming and a lot of years of gymnastics and I’d say that I can point my toes with grace. I just can’t walk through life very gracefully.

I fall down stairs and even more often fall up the stairs. There is never a day that my legs are not sporting a bruise. I catch my hips on corners, I stub my toes on a flat surface and I trip over anything and everything. Those yellow triangular signs that people put down after they have mopped that show CAUTION WET FLOOR with the person hanging in mid air before landing smack on their backside…..that’s me. I can’t walk down a hill without doing some arm flailing and yelling Whoa! Whoaaaa! You get the picture? Graceful, yet not so much.

So, here’s the face plant story. Let me preface this with when people ask me what’s my most embarrassing moment that this probably won’t be it, because I have dozens of these stories. I have so many of these incidents that they have faded in my memory and just become everyday common occurrences.

I was in a hurry to get out the door to take the kids to the pool. I decided to just wear my swimming suit and not bother with a cover up. I felt that the van gave me enough coverage and my swimsuit is a halter top and skirt, basically just shorter than what I would wear as clothes. Yes, I swim in clothes. If someone would make a t-shirt and capris in swimable fabrics I would wear them.

In my rush I realized I would have to stop at Quick Trip and get gas. Have I ever told you we have the nations busiest QT? I’m pretty sure this is a true statement. So, I pull up during the lawn boy break. Every pump was full with a truck load of men waiting for Joe to get their drinks and go on to the next field to mow. I made a circle looking for the most discreet pump. I settled with one next to an older woman, surely she wouldn’t mind viewing me in all my swim bodaciousness.

I’m feeling okay, I can do this. I got out of the van and quickly got the gas going. I stepped over the hose and was ready to hide in the van until the pump was finished. This is when I realized my foot was caught on the hose. I hopped forward still stuck, hopped again still stuck, hopped again and this time the hose brought my leg back and my body went up in the air and I landed flat on my belly. I had the driver’s door open and my daughter saw me yelling Oh! Oh! NO! then she saw my head swish by the door. I got up as fast as I could, did the look around to see if anyone saw me and then lowered my head in shame. Why me? I get enough attention being six feet tall with freaky blond hair, I don’t need to draw anymore attention and yet I manage to. There is just never a place to hide when I need one. I’m sure QT has the whole thing on tape if you all would like to see proof that I am indeed a certified klutz.

Is this where the story ends? No, of course not. I sent Ellen in to get two small fountain drinks. I gave her three bucks and some change. She came back with two .59 cent drinks and no money. Where’s the change? I dunno. How much did it cost? I dunno, I just gave him the money and the change. Did you pay attention to what you were giving him? No. Two small drinks do not cost that much. Oh. Now we have to go in and get my money back. Why? Because that’s all the money I have! Oh. Would you want to get it back if it was your money? Yes. Let’s go. Sorry Mom. I know, let’s go. (I’m not even going to go into the whole homeschooled kid thing and how I must not be teaching them very well and are they going to turn out to be complete idiots and be living with me forever thing…no, I’ll leave that to my own silent torment.)

So, into QT I go in all my swimsuit-bodacious-face-plant-beauty to ask for my two dollars back. God help me. “Hello I’m the huge lady that just did a belly flop on the pavement out there….”

Humiliation. Humbleness. Lesson for the day learned.

April? Is that you?

Bleck! I've been trying to get us all ready for school. Ick! I cleaned the basement and convinced my husband that we needed to fix up a room down there. Ack! So lots of stuff to remind you to remind me to tell you about. Kay?

1. The face plant I did at QT. Unhuh, tis a good story you must know.
2. Pictures from Kansas.
3. Stories and pictures from our unvacation that turned into a pretty good vacation.
4. The dead mouse that dropped from the ceiling...that's pretty much the story. eegh!
5. My fabulous post at Larger Families....snag, gotcha..now go read it.

If we make it another day....

If everything were a car....

Ike- I'm going to get that really fast car.

Me- What will you do when you get that really fast car?

Ike- Well, you and Daddy will drive it because I can't drive. But, I'll clean it up with some water cuz, I like to clean the car with water. I like to clean up, not in the house but, with water on the car.


If everyone was a user....

Me- Am I (not politically correct word that means severely learning disabled)?

Clay- No, you're just a casual user. Maybe not even casual.

Me- I am (NPC word that means severely learning disabled).

Clay- nods head sympathetically in agreement



If you had three wishes....

Ellen- First I'd wish for a water park in my yard.

Me- What if you move?

Ellen- It magically moves with you.

Me- That's scary.

Ellen- My second wish would be for fairies to be real. I'd wish for eight fairies and eight sparrowmen.

Me- What are sparrowmen?

Ellen- Boy fairies.

Me- Oh. Thinking my daughter has read too many fairy fantasy books.

Ellen- My third wish would be for dragons to be real, just nice dragons that live in caves.

Me- Thinking we need to go to the library and check out some historical biographies for this girl.

Seth- Okay my turn. First I would wish for a money making machine that you feed a stick into and then out pops like a hundred, no a million coins. Second....

Ike- My first wish would be...

Seth- I'm still wishing!

Ellen- Wait! I want to change my third wish.

Seth- You can't I'm wishing.

Ike- I'd wish for a stick that you put into a big machine....

Seth- Errrr! I'm still going stop talking!

Ike- and you put it in and it goes arrrrrrrrrrrgh and then.....

Seth- Iiiiiiiiiisaaaaaac, stop talking!

Ike- out comes lots and lots and lots of money!

Seth- Yea, I just said that.

Ike- No, mine goes arrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

Ellen- I'm changing my last wish to be; I wish for 3 more wishes.

Me- Wishing I wouldn't have started this ridiculous conversation in the first place.

Let me peek at your linens.

“Wrong, wrong, wrong will never be right, right, right!”- Ann Platz Social Graces

Table Manners

Recommendations for Table Linens:

1 Large, Formal Damask Tablecloth (check, but I no longer care for the color)
12 Formal Damask Napkins (nope, I’ve got checkered, linen, cotton, no damask)
1 Liner for Above Tablecloth (I don’t even know what that is?)
1 Casual Tablecloth (check, in yellow, stripes, blue, brown, linen, plaid…guesses I’m good on the casual front)
8 Casual Napkins (check, but can paper be casual?)
1 set of 8 Placemats and 8 Napkins Dressy (ummmm, can denim be dressy? What if I put studs on them?)
1 set of 8 Placemats and 8 Napkins Casual (check and again with the denim but this time no studs.)

Okay, so those are the table linens you all should have if you’re going to be Socially Graceful.

Now, can anyone tell me the two positions that your fork and knife should be in when you are eating and you put them down to signal if your are still eating or you have finished your meal? Do you know? Tell me the name of the position and how you place the fork and knife and you will be the Social Butterfly of the day.