A Conversation

Catherine's brain: Hey, right foot, why have you decided to hurt for a week straight? Is something going on that we need to know about?

Catherine's Right Foot: We're about to turn 45 next month.  We're protesting.

Brain: Ummmm, this is highly inconvenient. 

Right Foot: So is turning 45.

Brain: Right Foot, please work with me here. I've tried wrapping, resting. We need to be able to walk! I'm about to drag us all off to the doctor if you don't take care of this problem on your own.

Right Foot: So, it's up to me? Well, you aren't exactly a light bag of bones to drag around these days.

Brain: Point taken. However, my exercise of choice is walking and we can't walk while you hurt like this! 

Right Foot: Harrrrumph! Blame it all on the feet. We've been the hard workers for 45 years, carrying you up and down stairs (do you remember Charity Hospital? We do!), carrying you during those pregnancies, keeping you upright till all hours of the night. Well, I'm done. I want out of my contract.

Brain: (Deep sigh) Why are you being such a problem?  Left foot? What do you have to say about all this?

Left Foot: Who, me? Ummm, I don’t have anything to say. I’m pretty happy. Just keep wearing those shoes with the cushions and I’ve got no troubles. Although some sparkly nail polish might be nice!

Brain: Right foot, Left Foot doesn’t seem to be having issues. There’s no way for me to let you out of your contract. However, if things do not improve soon, I will not hesitate to visit our family doctor.

Right Foot: So?

Brain: She’s likely to recommend exercises and/or physical therapy, neither of which you are crazy about. And if those don’t work, she might send us to a specialist who could recommend injections.

Right Foot: Needles?! In me?!! Perish the thought!!!

Brain: Right. You share needle phobia with the rest of us. I’m already overloaded with anxiety from the Head about the upcoming Botox injections.

Right Foot: Oh, yeah. I feel bad for the poor head. 30 something injections. I’m not interested in any fancy exercises and certainly not any injections into me, so maybe I’ll see what I can do.

Brain: Much better attitude. We turn 45 next month. It’s not the end of the world. We can expect some usual wear and tear on joints, etc., but there is no need for an all-out protest.  It doesn’t do anyone any good.  I’ll go see  if I can find some sparkly nail polish for you feet – maybe that will help you feel a bit better.

Left Foot: Oooooh, yes!!  Blue, please!!

Right Foot: Sparkly nail polish?! What are we? Barbie?!

Brain: Sheesh! I think I need a daily visit with my counselor sometimes  . . .

Fun Family Reunion Facts

Wild Man and I just back from a trip down South for a combined birthday party (for my aunt) and family reunion.  I am using initials to protect the identity of the innocent and to protect myself since the guilty know where I live!

• My mom is the youngest of 12 siblings, 11 of whom lived to adulthood, 10 of whom had children, and four of whom are still living.  The oldest, second-oldest, and youngest were present (personally or electronically – more on that later) were present at the reunion.  The occasion the precipitated my mom organizing the reunion was that her sister (the oldest of the 12) turned 90 a few days ago!  Talk about a reason to party!
• Uncle C (the oldest boy and third-oldest sibling) is 86 years old and couldn’t come to the reunion because he is in a rehab center.  We were, though, able to set up a Skype connection and let Aunt C and Uncle C “visit” for a while.  A very cool use of technology!!
• One of my cousins, T, lives about a four hour drive from me, but the last time I saw her was a year and a half ago in Dallas.  Yes, that’s shameful. I will make every effort to see her in a more reasonable time frame!
• I have more cousins than I can keep up with!!  I’m sure there are some I’ve never met – and others I  haven’t seen since I was a young child.  I have cousins older than my parents, so I have second cousins who are my age.  Is it any wonder that I can’t sort out who’s who?!
• I may claim Southern heritage, but I’ve become a Northerner in many ways.  It was HOT in Mississippi last week – and I didn’t like it one bit!  I was very glad to leave the 90+ degrees (with a zillion percent humidity) and return to temps of 60s and 70s.  Yes, it can get hot up here, but it doesn’t stay hot for nearly as long.  I’m definitely acclimated to this Upper Midwestern weather!
• But I will not give up my love of Southern food!  I had me some Popeye’s fried chicken, some homemade Chicken and Dumplings, and some iced tea while I was down South!  Unfortunately, I did get around to fried catfish or any crawfish (although, I think the crawfish may be out of season).  When I got back home, I made some venison steaks with rice and gravy because I was still on my southern food high.
• Wild Man rediscovered the joy of fire ants.  yippee.  We have ants up here that bite, but they don’t sting like red fire ants do.  Wild Man and his cousins know to stay away from the ant hills when outside, but they still managed to get some bites.  Wild Man had one on the very bottom of his foot.  Thank the good Lord for hydrocortisone cream.

I think that’s enough “fun facts” for now.  Hopefully, we’ll do this reunion again in a couple of years – but without the red ants!

 

Things I Will Never Understand

Technically, I should title this “Things I Will Never Understand Until I Get To Heaven”, but that is a little too long and tedious.  But, here at 2:17am while I’m having some impressive insomnia, I’ll list some things that I’ve realized I’ll never understand.

1. Why Sophie (Rosie Girl’s cat) steals socks.  She certainly doesn’t wear them!
2. The Boson-Higgs particle
3. Why Sassy (the long-haired cat) thinks it’s such a victory that she conquered a hair elastic.
4. Why PWM loves me
5. Why Silver (the short-haired grey cat) believes that the laundry basket of clean clothes needs to be her bed.
6. Why Sophie and Sassy are addicted to packing tape.
7. Why I can’t sleep tonight.
8. “The physics of the thing!”  (Sorry, Dad, I’m still a physics novice!)
9. Wild Man’s love of all things gun-like.
10. Anime and Manga (sorry, Rosie Girl)
11. Why I have migraines (although I’m pretty sure I didn’t cause them)
12. Twitter
13. IPhones (I guess I’m not as tech-savvy as I thought)
14. Why I don’t like fruit (and many veggies)
15. The grace of God.

Do you have any to add?  Isn’t insomnia great?  I get all kinds of crazy things coming from my head when I don’t sleep!

What I Like About My Life Right Now – 2/15/2011

It’s been a rough couple of days around here with my insomnia and migraines.  It’s 3:15am and I’m still awake, although I don’t feel the need to have an icepack on my head.  Instead of complaining tonight (this morning?), I decided to regale you with a list of things I like about my life right now.

1. I’m allowed to sleep as late as I want in the morning.  When I was working, I was up between 5 and 6am (and sometimes had been up all night the night before).  Since I don’t have to be anywhere tomorrow, the insomnia won’t decimate the day tomorrow.  That’s pretty nice.

2. I totally love that my dear hubby bought me a single red rose (just like he did almost 20 years ago when he met me at the airport in Colorado Springs) and some truffles from a florist who recently opened a shop downtown.  It was sooooooo sweet – and made me forget the headache for a few minutes.

3. Christopher is the silliest boy that I know.  He loves to tell jokes and otherwise be crazy.  But, he can be serious, too.  He came back from H2O, the junior high youth group, last Thursday so excited not about the games (although he enjoyed those), but about the stories people told about how God was changing their lives!

4. Rosie Girl likes to talk to me.  She’s less interested in discussing school items, but she will talk up a blue streak about her anime and manga stuff as well as music.  Yesterday morning, she asked me about the history of various European countries because one of the anime shows she watches has characters that are personifications of the countries.  I don’t really understand all the stuff about the anime, but I do like getting to talk about things with my kids.

5. I like that we (the whole family) have real discussions.  Rosie Girl is reading Wicked right now.  One of her friends tried to read it but got bogged down early on.  (There’s a lot of political and religious commentary throughout the book).  Rosie Girl told me and PWM that she thinks she’s having an easier time with the book because we often having religious/philosophical discussions.

6. Of course, I’m loving yarn these days!  My Fair Isle sweater is coming along pretty well.  I was trying to figure out how to deal with all the ends since I change colors just about every round, but I’ve come up with a working solution that involves weaving in ends as I go.

7. As frustrated as I get with the difficulties of sticking with a schedule, I still love educating our kids at home.  Rosie Girl needs help with just Chemistry and Math, which PWM takes care of.  Wild Man is able to do more and more reading by himself.  I’m also going to start having him work on typing skills and copywork so that getting ideas on paper/screen is easier for him.  In the meantime, I like being around my kids.  They are really fun!

8. And I’m glad for my friends, especially the one who meets me on Thursday for a nice chat! 

So, that’s it for now.

What do you like about your life?

Mutiny In The Bungalow?

So last night, I told my kids that I thought we should put the Christmas tree in the dining room this year.  Our living room and dining room are almost one room, but the dining room area has vinyl flooring and the living room has wood.  Right now, our living room seems a little crowded to add a Christmas tree, so I figured that we could put it in the dining room with less inconvenience.

You would have thought that I told the kids I wanted to cut off one of their arms!  They proceeded to mutiny – at 10pm.  I told them that mutiny could only be considered between noon and 5pm, so they had to wait until today.  But, I woke up with a migraine, so I told them no mutiny when I have a migraine.

So they’ve changed tactics.  They are now engaging in non-violent resistance (a la Gandhi) as evidenced by these signs placed throughout the house.

(Note: the 143 means “I love you” while the “pr” means “passive resistance”.)

Well, if they feel so strongly about having the Christmas tree in the living room, I think they can be the ones to move the furniture, clean up, and vacuum before we bring the tree upstairs.  And I can call their protest educational since we’ll be learning about Gandhi later in the year.  Now, as long as they don’t decide to protest their schoolwork . . .

 

Lagniappe – 9/5/2010

 

1. LSU won last night – barely.  And the other team was missing half it’s starters because of an NCAA investigation into academic misconduct!  Those Tigers need to get things together – quickly.

2. There is a lot of Lego Star Wars playing going on in this house.  Wild Man got the full Lego Star Wars game in the mail this week.  It includes all 6 episodes, not just the first three.

3. PWM read the latest Artemis Fowl book to us this last week.  I love family reading time!

4. Ice is one of the best non-medication treatments for my migraines.  It makes quite the fashion statement.  (Besides, I figured that if I posted a picture of PWM in Wild Man’s clown stuff, I’d better post some of me looking silly, too!)

5. Today at church, everyone got clapping on beats 1 & 3 instead of 2 & 4, which is when we usually clap and which sounds better.  I was telling Rosie Girl about it and saying that it made me . . . Rosie Girl supplied “twitchy?”  Exactly.  Clapping on the “wrong” beats makes me “twitchy”.

6. The weather was cool enough today for me to wear a light sweater to church, but not boots.  Unfortunately, the sanctuary was a little chilly and I wished I had worn my Uggs!

7. Lee Strobel is coming to Waupaca High School a week from Saturday and will preach the sermon in our church on Sunday.  Little rural Waupaca!!  Totally exciting stuff!  Please pray that many will be reached by his story.

8. It’s time to start working on Christmas presents.  I’ve gotten most of them figured out – except for my closest family members – PWM, Rosie Girl, and Wild Man!  Ideas?  (Remember, I’m a knitter.)

9. Wild Man stayed overnight at a friend’s house last night.  On the way home from church, I heard all about their gun battles.  He’s such a boy!

10. I got my yarn ball winder and swift (the wooden thing that holds the hanks of yarn while I’m winding) this week.  I wound a couple of balls on the first day and then Wild Man wound several more while PWM was reading one night.

Ten is a nice, round number, so I’ll stop here.  There’s always more excitement than one family needs around here.  I’m sure I’ll have more later. 

So, what’s up with you?  Comments make me happy!!

Talking to the Cat (Silver)

Silver jumped on my lap today in the millisecond that it wasn’t filled with knitting or a book.  I started to pet her and we had an “interesting” conversation.

Me: “Oh, my sweet Silver, do you wuv to be petted behind the ears?!”

Silver: “Woman, there is no need to use baby talk.  I’m 9 years old, which means I’m like 120 in human years, so I could be your grandmother!  (By the way, can you scratch a little more down by the chin?!)”

Me: “Fine.  Be that way.  But, remember that I buy your food, so watch the attitude.  Oh, and you’re purring.”

Silver: “Yeah, yeah, I’m purring.  I can’t help it.  Don’t start to think I’m weak or anything.  By the way, you’ve been slacking on the cat petting lately.  What’s that all about?”

Me: “Oh, Silver!  You know I love you!  I was knitting a pair of socks, and now I’m almost done with Mom’s sweater, and I have about a zillion books that I desperately want to read.  My lap is rarely empty.”

Silver: “And the problem is  . . .   You seem to have forgotten that I’m the center of the universe.”

Me: “Um, yeah, right.  Well, Miss Center of the Universe, do you think you could limit the shedding a bit.  This black skirt is quickly turning gray.”

Silver: “Hey, shedding is what I do.  I eat, sleep, use the litter box, sleep, and shed.  Well, and wait for the silly humans to get around to petting me.  (Oooo, a little to the left . . . perfect).”

Me: “Don’t forget tormenting the other cats.  You do that a fair amount.  And created quite the hassle a few weeks ago.”

Silver: “Not my fault.  (Oh, scratch right behind the right ear, yep, got it.)  Anyway, it was the crazy cat from “outside” that tried to start something with me and Sassy.  And then Sassy got freaked out which freaked me out . . . “

Me: “Which led to the two of you trying to kill each other and destroy the house.  Yes, I recall.  And Sophie wouldn’t come out of Rosie Girl’s room for several hours.  You two really got into it.”

Silver: “But, we got through it.  A few days of separation, a little canned cat food, and some good petting from the lady that came to feed us when you were gone.  I like her – can she come again.  She’s not too busy for cat-petting.”

Me: “Oh, hush.  You’re getting plenty of love right now.  And, you know, it almost sounds like you planned that little “outside kittie” attack.  You know, just to get canned food and a room to yourself for a while.

Silver: “Me, never!!  Perish the thought!  (Scratch just under my neck a little – there, perfect)  Although, I do know where the canned cat food is kept now.”

Me: “Silly cat!  And I even caught you drinking milk out of Wild Man’s cup that he left on the table the other day.”

Silver: “Well, the table is kitty territory.  Leave a glass of milk there and I can’t be responsible for the outcome.”

Me: “It’s sure a good thing you’re cute.  And I really need to find the cat brush.  You are quite the prodigious shedder.”

Silver: “Gotta be good at something in life.  Shedding and napping.  That’s what I do.  Now let me climb up to your neck – just to prove that I’m the dominant creature here.”

Me: “I think not.  My clothes are already gray from your fur.  And the phone is ringing, so off you go.  Try to find another sucker to give you as much love and affection as I do!”

 

(Note: this may not be a completely accurate transcription of the conversation, considering  that I’m writing it at 1:40am.  Nonetheless, it is an accurate reflection of the attitudes of both human and cat!)

The Birthday Cake Kerfuffle

First of all, I LOVE the word “kerfuffle”.  I use it as much as possible, so even though the event I am about to relate affected only myself in the long run, I am still going to call it a “kerfuffle”.  Because I can.

With all the crazy weather we’ve had around here and my poor track record with migraines in the last few weeks, I made a very simple plan for Wild Man’s birthday cake.  He is quite interested in the Blue Angels and is probably going to get to see them perform this summer on his trip across the US.  His only cake specification was that it be a chocolate cake with vanilla (NOT buttercream) icing and that it be a 2 layer round cake.

I went ahead and made the cake Friday night.  I also frosted it with vanilla icing from a can that Wild Man had picked at the grocery store.  Things were going well.  Next, I went to Wild Man’s Paper Airplane A Day Calendar which he thought was cool, but doesn’t actually use.  I found the pattern and instruction pages for the F/A-18 Hornet in blue, just like the planes used by the Blue Angels.  Plans were in motion.  I prayed fervently for no migraine and went to bed.

All looked to be going well Saturday morning.  I had a mild headache that seemed to be under control with my meds.  The party attendees arrived on time.  PWM loaded up Wild Man, Rosie Girl, and the three other boys into the van to go to Chuck E. Cheese for a few hours of pizza and games, leaving me at home to finish up the cake decoration and gift wrapping.  My confidence level was high.

I had a few minutes of panic when I couldn’t find the pattern and instruction pages, but I eventually located them.  The next task was to copy the pattern so that I could make several planes or have a back-up if I made a mistake.  I went to our new copier/scanner/printer and realized I might be in trouble – too many buttons and I had never used any of them.  I followed my nose, though, and put the paper in the autofeed tray, pushed the color copy button, and, lo and behold, a color copy was made.

This may have been my downfall.  I think the copy machine success made me cocky.  After I successfully made three (three!!) copies of the pattern, I sat down at the table and went to folding.  Thirty minutes later, all I had was a pile of paper on the table.  Pardon my arrogance, but I have two bachelor’s degrees and a doctorate degree and I could not fold a blasted paper airplane!!  How could this be?!  I gave it one last try, but finally decided that my 12 years of higher education were for naught because that paper airplane was just not happening!

After some Facebook venting (and thank you FB friends for not immediately chiding me for my silliness), I went to Plan B which involved a foam toy airplane of my son’s on top of the cake with decorations around it.  Mind you, the foam plane appears to be an F-14, which is also a Navy plane, but it is clearly not an F/A-18, nor is it blue.  Nonetheless, I made some blue icing, did some very basic decorations (because I was now running out of time), threw the gifts in some gift bags, and had the kitchen clean before the birthday boy made it back from Chuck E. Cheese.

All’s well that ends well, even with a paper airplane kerfuffle!!  And now, I’m going to get some well-deserved rest!!

(And this cake had sure better not show up on Cake Wrecks!!)

7 Quick Takes Friday – April 30, 2010

1. My baby boy turns 12 years old tomorrow!!  I can’t even believe it!!!  I’ve baked and frosted his cake, but the decorating will wait till tomorrow when he and his friends are at Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and games and I am at home NOT getting a headache from all the noise and craziness!

2. I’ve started a lot of seeds indoors already and the cucumbers are coming up far more quickly than I expected.  I am trying to wait until Monday to put them in their final containers.  Two are going to be grown upside down in old ice cream buckets while another will be grown in the “official” Topsy Turvy bag.  We’re trying to see if using the bag actually makes a difference in outcome.

3. Rosie Girl and PWM are having a Zelda video game competition.  They are playing Twilight Princess on Wii and the one to beat Ganon in the shortest period of game play time wins.  Since the Wii keeps track of the time the player has played, it’s an easy and fun way for them to play against each other.

4. It’s raining pretty hard right now and the thunder and lightening have passed, so the kids (age 11 and 14, remember) are out playing in the rain.  What silly children!

5. The Next Food Network Star starts in June!!  It’s one of my favorite food competition shows.  It’s more family friendly than Top Chef (which I won’t let Wild Man watch because of the language) and lets you follow the competitors (unlike Chopped which only has them on for one show).  Check out the promo video!

 

6. Speaking of cooking and competition shows, it was a pretty cool coincidence that this week on Chef Vs. City (Atlanta) the chefs had to make oriental noodles using traditional Chinese technique and also on The Amazing Race, in Shanghai, the competitors had to make oriental noodles using the same technique.  Wild Man and I thought it was pretty neat to see both shows in the same week!

7. Wild Man’s socks are coming along quite nicely – I just started the heel flap.  Unfortunately, these  socks have more mistakes than any I have made.  Whenever I made a mistake, though, Wild Man told me not to worry about it and not to rip out my work – I think he’s afraid I’ll never finish them!  In my defense, though, Wild Man picked a pattern with very tricky cables!

Check out Conversion Diary to see what others are saying on 7 Quick Takes Friday!!

Get Me Out Of Here – 2 (From Xena, the Warrior Cat)

Yes, it is I, Xena, the Warrior Cat, who has once again “borrowed” the humans’ computer for a few precious moments.  I continue to plan my escape from this house.  As we enter into Spring, my need for fresh air and outdoors increases.  Yet, here I am, stuck inside with the humans.

 

Sassy remains as silly as ever.  She adores the adult male and whines and meows and jumps on top of him.  Depending on his mood, he will either throw her on the floor, or pick her up and pet her.  Silver is more restrained, but remains devoted to the adult female and has no desire to escape – something about being too “old”.  I’m seven years old and will never be too OLD to want the outdoors. 

 

Sassy occasionally makes a break for the outside, but she is so silly that she either stops dead on the driveway so the humans can pick her up immediately, or she runs under the bushes.  When she runs under the bushes, they spray water at her until she runs out and then they catch her.  No, an escape plan must be more subtle.  So, I rarely try to run out through an open door.

 

The adolescent female takes me out on a leash at times.  It is nice, but not enough.  And, now, she has been gone for almost a week.  She is the only human I can tolerate around here.  I’ve had to be nice to the adolescent male!!  And this morning, I allowed the adult female to stroke my head and neck.  Yes, I was desperate.  I need the adolescent female here if I am to survive my imprisonment.  She is the only one who understands and, I believe, loves me!

Oh, no, here come the humans.  I will send more messages as I can.  Stay free!!

Xena, Warrior Cat

The Fill-in-the-Blank Letter – WFMW

Before we go any farther, you need to go read this post and sign up for the cool book giveaway which will be on Friday, July 24!! 

My 11 year old son is at summer camp this week for the first time.  EEK!  I’m sure he’s having a blast and will have tons of stories to tell us when he comes home on Friday.  Rosie Girl and I mailed him cookies and a letter on Monday.

The camp information recommends that we send some self-addressed stamped envelopes or postcards to encourage kids to write a letter home.  In seven years of camp, I think Rosie Girl has written us all of two letters, but I thought Wild Man might actually want to send us a note since it’s his first year.  The problem is that he’s not much of a writer (largely because of his dyslexia). 

I solved the problem by writing a fill-in-the-blank letter and putting it in a SASE envelope.  All he has to do is circle the correct answers and fill in a few blanks and then mail it.  Easy, huh?  Mr. Math Tutor suggested I not use this for a WFMW post until we see if Wild Man actually sends it back, but I still think it’s a great idea.  You can use it for family vacations when you want the kids to write notes back to family, but don’t want to have to sit with each child to do a dictated letter.  You can also send it with kids when they leave home to encourage the fine art of pen-and-paper correspondence.

Here’s what the letter looked like:

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hi there. I love you very much – yes/no. I’m having a good/bad time here at Outpost. My favorite food we have had here has been _________. My favorite activity so far has been ____________. The name of one of my new friends is __________. We like to do ___________ together.

One of my counselors’ names is _________________. My speaker’s name is _______________. He is talking about __________________. I have been swimming – yes/no. I have been on the slide – yes/no. I have been on the bipod – yes/no. We played __________________ at the all-camp games.

I miss you – yes/no. I can’t wait to come home -yes/no/maybe.

So, have you ever done anything like this to encourage correspondence with/by your kids?  Did it work?  Check out We Are That Family for more Works For Me Wednesday ideas!!

 

I Have Never . . .

Here’s a cute little meme that I thought would waste some time while I’m NOT cleaning my house (which I should be doing since my mother-in-law is coming tomorrow but I have a headache and my mother-in-law is quite forgiving about the whole messy house thing):

I Have Never . . .

1. 1. Been to Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, or Antarctica.
2. 2. Jumped out of an airplane.
3. 3. Read To Kill A Mockingbird
4. 4. Worn a bikini (and the world gives a deep sigh of relief!)
5. 5. Been on a cruise.
6. 6. Been downhill skiing (and am pretty happy with that).
7. 7. Been arrested.
8. 8. Driven a semi.
9. 9. Been to a mosque.
10. 10. Learned Japanese.
11. 11. Learned to weld (or wanted to, for that matter, although my daughter says it’s fun!).
12. 12. Met all my cousins (there’s a zillion).
13. 13. Had frostbite.
14. 14. Been to Canada (although I hope to remedy that one day)
15. 15. Painted daisies on a big, red, rubber ball.

Doesn’t this meme remind you of “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” from Veggie Tales??

Thanks to Marcy at the Glamorous Life Association for the idea!  Your turn!  Leave a comment with something you’ve never done or make your own blog post!!

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

Hi.  I’m back.  I know, it’s been a while.  I know the little mini-posts and memes I’ve done in the last few weeks are rather pathetic.  But, please, don’t get all uptight on me.  Listen, it’s me, not you.  It’s been a rough month or so . . . Don’t look at me like that! . . . it really has been hard.  I’ve had migraines, been out of town for 2, count ‘em 2, funerals, gotten my daughter off to camp . . .

But, I’m back now.  I make no guarantees that I won’t have another little “vacation” in the future, but I’m back to my normal (whatever that is) blogging routine.

So, some updates.  Rosie Girl is at camp this week.  I was supposed to make cookies to send to her, but I got too many migraines (see above), so Mr. Math Tutor bought some of her favorite candies and sent those instead.  That being said, her birthday is Saturday, and I’ve gotten the greatest idea for a cake.  It involves a chocolate pound cake, lots of strawberries, and white and milk chocolate drizzled all over the place.  YUM!

Wild Man is having a great time with baseball.  For one thing, we have been watching the College World Series and cheering on LSU – Geaux Tigers!!  Wild Man is on a traveling team that plays in other towns in the area.  They won their first game which they played yesterday.  Wild Man plays first base in that league and does a great job.  He had a practice last night for his night-time league, but he came home and said that he prefers the discipline of the daytime traveling league practice because they goofed off too much at the night-time practice.  Wow.  That’s a cool thing to hear my kid say.  The traveling team is in a  competitive league where they don’t guarantee playing time for the kids while the night-time league is more for skill development and they try to let the kids play through most all the positions but they’re less concerned with winning.  My very competitive son likes to win!

I keep saying that I’ll post pictures of the garden, but my camera is with Rosie Girl at camp right now.  I did buy a camera yesterday (technically it’s a birthday present from the family to me!) but they didn’t have it in stock, so they ordered it and I’ll get it on Monday probably.  Anyway, the garden looks lovely.  Almost everything is growing.  I have a few open squares that I will probably plant with broccoli this week.

I was going to go grocery shopping today, but Mr. Math Tutor is working so I think Wild Man and I will take a trip to the library and then to get ice cream.  We’ll have to drive, though, because we have about 20 books to return!!  Can’t do that on bikes!  Then I have to do laundry because Wild Man needs his baseball uniform clean for tomorrow.  And Wild Man has a double header tonight.  I really hope it doesn’t rain.

So, there it is, blog.  I haven’t forgotten you.  I have been neglectful and for that I apologize.  No, I don’t think relationship counseling is in order!  I’ll just try to be a better blogger from here on out.  OK?  Hey, I don’t think comparing me to those professional bloggers is exactly fair, either.  Let’s just start over with a clean slate, huh?  OK?  Hey blog?  Did you hear me?  Oh, come on . . . don’t be like that . . . .

 

Thursday Links – May 14, 2009

I’ve come across some cool links recently that I thought I’d share with you:

World’s Best Visual Illusions – this is way cool.

Doing “Church” – Great stuff from Compassion’s recent trip to India.

Cultural domination concern vs. evangelism opportunity – More provocative thoughts from Michael Spencer.

The Green Box – I thought everyone already tore up the top of the pizza box for plates.

My own LOLCat – Mr. Math Tutor and I made our own LOLCat with a picture of Silver.  Isn’t she cute!

A Proud Mama!

My son, yes, my only son, got to participate in the church service today in a special and spiritual way.  Right before the service was dismissed, he ran up on stage, yelling, while dressed like Indiana Jones, and jumped up on stage.  The pastor stopped his talking (this was planned, don’t worry) and asked my son what he was doing.  Well, of course, my son was just up there to remind everyone about the Easter Egg-venture for kids in two weeks – isn’t that what Indiana Jones always does?  And, yes, those were his brown jazz pants with big ole holes in them that I never managed to mend since I don’t like to sew.  Didn’t they look good?! 

Ya’ll, I’m just so proud of my boy (I get more Southern when my head hurts, by the way).  Of course, this was the first time in a month that I didn’t make it to church because of a migraine, which makes me feel totally like a terrible mother, but I guess I’ll get over it eventually.  (Actually, I did go to church just for the beginning of the service because I thought he was going to do this at the start of service but they actually decided to do it at the end of the service, so I ended up coming home and going back to bed.  And, after church my dear son went to a friend’s house, so I didn’t even see him until 9pm!  But, he and I spent lots of time hugging this evening, so it was OK.  And, I’m not really a bad mama, so I guess I’m over it already.)

So, one day, when my son is some super-spiritual preacher or evangelist or theologian, you can be confident that it’s all because he ran up on the church stage dressed like Indiana Jones (ripped pants and all).  Or, maybe the verses he learns in AWANA and all the scripture we read at night, and the discussions we have at all hours of the day and night will have as much impact.  We’ll know in twenty years or so.  But, right now, I’m one proud mama!

HELP! Get Me Out Of Here!

This is Xena, the warrior cat (also known as Sophie by the humans who kidnapped me).  I have taken over the human’s computer for a few precious moments.  These humans took me from the prison where I was being held as a baby five years ago.  I am now held in this house with the four humans and two other cats.  The adult male human is to be feared.  He locks me up when I assert my independence.  The adult female is a little better.  The female teenager is the best one of the lot.  She lets me in her room and feeds me.

The other two cats are pathetic specimens of feline genetic material.  Sassy actually seems to LIKE the humans.  Ugh.   Silver tries to show mostly disdain, but she really likes the adult human.  Those two tolerate their captivity with far more equanimity than I can.

For my part, I make every attempt possible to escape.  I am occasionally allowed outside by the female teenager, but only on a harness or in a cage.  How humiliating!!  I am a cat, for heaven’s sake!  To keep in shape for my planned escape (however far in the future), I do “play” with the yarn and feathers that lie around the house.  I also chase these other two excuses for cats around the house and try to get them to skirmish, but they rarely take the bait.

While I wait for my escape opportunity, I try to wreak as much havoc as possible.  When the humans are asleep, I knock over cups of water.  During the day, I take socks from the closets and laundry baskets and leave them in the hallway.  I think I sense their resolve weakening.

My frustration level is getting higher, though.  It is springtime.  There are birds nesting in the tree outside.   I. Am.  A. Carnivore.  I want to eat the birds.  Yes, it would require a little extra work because I don’t have front claws, but I’m sure I could do it.  I just need to get out of here!  HELP ME!  I AM A CAT!!!!

OH, no, here comes the adult human.  I’d better go.  Send help soon to Xena, Warrior Cat.

Seven Quick Takes Friday – March 20, 2009

 

1. Last night, we were reading about the garments that were to made for Aaron and the other priests in the book of Exodus.  The question we were to answer was what the priests’ undergarments were supposed to cover.  Our book uses KJV, but we read from the NIV.  While Mr. Math Tutor was checking the back of the book for the “correct” answer, I suggested “privates” or “boy parts” and told the kids that I’d be happy to supply more anatomically accurate names if they wanted.  Wild Man started screaming, “No, no anabolically accurate names!!”  (No, steroids were not involved).  So, I suggested “tush” or “hynie”.  The actual answer was “nakedness”.  We had a good laugh – and, no, we weren’t being sacrilegious.

2. There are definite advantages to shorter hair: I can clean the kitchen without getting my hair in the dishes and the food; Mr. Math Tutor doesn’t roll onto my hair in bed at night (ouch!); My hair actually dries in some reasonable amount of time.  Wild Man is still not thrilled about the haircut, but I figure he’ll come around in time.

3. We made pizza rolls last night using pizza dough that we pressed into a dumpling press and then added a little meat, pizza sauce, and cheese filling.  The problem is that the dough rose so much that they didn’t stay together in the oven.  So, you can’t make dumplings with pizza dough – you need to use wontons or other non-rising dough.  Lesson learned.  But, they were yummy anyway.

4. My new favorite game is Monopoly Deal.  It is far more fast-moving than Monopoly and really super-fun!  You can go from losing to winning in one turn.  I bought it for our vacation quest not really knowing anything about it, but the kids started playing it and it was a real hit.

5. My daughter and I went to the library today.  As we were going back to the car, she said, “What a great day!  I just love the library!”  Is this my kid or what?!

6. The snow is almost melted here.  We are going to do a garden this year, but grow things from transplant, so we don’t need to put things out until about the middle of May.  Mostly, I’m looking forward to seeing green outside instead of white.

7. We had a really nice brunch this morning with friends.  It was so nice to share a meal and get to know these folks better.  And, of course, to not have to cook!

Check out Conversion Diary to see what others have to say this week on Seven Quick Takes Friday!

Catherine Needs . . .

I am going to post more about our little trip down South, but I’m feeling kind of (OK, very) icky today, so I decided to do something fun (or at least more fun than making my pricebook so I can save money on groceries – yuck).  There’s a meme going around in which you type into Google “[your name] needs” and see what comes up.  In my case, several people have already done this, so I’ve weeded out their responses and only included the others (that weren’t totally offensive).  My comments are included in parentheses.

Catherine needs . . .

no. explanations.  (no explanation needed)

a home (ummmm.  I think I have one)

to go shopping (with whose money??)

TLC (hear that, Mr. Math Tutor?)

both good models and bad (this from a site about Northanger Abbey.  I still don’t quite get it.  BTW, the main character is Catherine Morland.)

more awakogens (ain’t that the truth – if they existed!)

to go home (I thought I was home.)

a helping hand (please!!!!!!  I could use about a hundred!)

any work (If I could work, would I be here?)

to do her EE (I thought my husband was the Electrical Engineer in the family)

Henry to live (I guess I want him to live, although I don’t know who he is.)

to be wary of becoming too intellectual and airy, too removed from the personal side of life (what can I say to that?)

So, there’s your touch of humor for the day.  Hopefully, more thoughtful posting will occur later, including a Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday post.  Maybe.  Or I might take a nap.  Or read a book.  Or just stare into space.  We’ll have to see.

My Messy Desk

I’ve heard that you can tell a lot about a person by their desk.  When I was working, my desk was usually neat and orderly, with lots of “mommy” mementos around.  Here at home, it’s a different story.  Let’s see what my desk is screaming right now (besides “clean me!!!”).

My phone is on my desk, because that’s where I left it last.  We only have cell phones, so it’s kind of interesting to see us all run to find the phone that rings!  The picture is from several years ago that Wild Man did from a paint-by-number.  It belongs in the “keep” box, but I haven’t gotten around to putting it there.  The ink is for Ga’hoole Girl.  I need to put it on her desk, but the schoolroom is in as bad a shape as my desk.  I don’t know why there’s a clothespin on my desk.

The yellow theraband is from Physical Therapy eons ago.  I keep meaning to put it with my hand weights.  Ga’hoole Girl made the change purse for me at camp a few years ago.  There’s a file folder with this week’s school assignments in it.  I was using it last night to set up school lists for the week.

Yep, I still have my stethoscope.  This is actually the nicest of the four.  I keep it so I can check Mr. Math Tutor’s blood pressure and see if my kids have pneumonia when they’re sick.  Wild Man left his Harry Potter book on my desk – I have no idea why.  The road atlas is peeking out from under the pile of papers.  I have been using it to plan our trip down South (leave next Friday – yippee!).

Yep.  The Painless Poetry book.  I read several not-so-positive things about it on the Sonlight forums, but I have to say that Ga’hoole Girl loves it.  I keep the roll of stickers so that Wild Man can use them to mark off his spelling lessons.  There are two brushes here because . . . I don’t know.  And, of course, doesn’t everyone have a cat brush on their desk?  Well, I do.  We are Suduko fans around here – I think this was Ga’hoole Girl’s puzzle.  And, that little piece of floral fabric is a swatch from my window treatments.  I keep it so I can match fabrics when I need to – of course, I last used it three months ago.  Maybe it’s time to put it away.

Living up North means that I have to have lots of hand lotion around.  My inboxes on the left are really full.  I need to do some serious filing soon.  I have bits of newspaper on my desk right now as I’m trying to figure out how to save money on groceries.

Of course, I keep plenty of “mommy” mementos around on my desk here at home.  The wooden puzzle isn’t put together because I forgot how to!!  The picture of the adorable little baby is Ga’hoole Girl.  It’s in a frame with a little voice recorder and she’s saying, “I . . . love . . . Mommy!”  It is adorable and I love to listen to it when I get down.

So, are you feeling like you know me better?!  What about you?  How does your desk look?  Are you naturally organized (like I used to be) or naturally messy?  I’ll post a picture as soon as I get the desk clean.  It won’t be as interesting, but at least I won’t lose the water bill!

Tuesday morning

I've been up since 5:30am (you know that's not normal) with a cold and headache.  Actually, the headache isn't too terrible, but I can't sleep anymore because my nose is so stuffed up.  I have sleep apnea, so I use a CPAP machine at night.  If my nose is stuffy, I can't breathe through my mouth (well, I can, but it's hard), so I can't sleep.  And, I'm trying to avoid getting addicted to Afrin.

So, after I'm done blogging, I think I'll go play my daughter's Nintendo DS.  Perhaps not the best use of my time, but the best use of my time would be sleeping, and that's not going to happen right now, so I may as well figure out how to get to the next island and fight the big, bad monsters.  Confused?  That's OK, so am I.  I'll be coherent sometime in the next week or so.