She loves her boy

It was a work day today, so I have very little to report. I went home to let the dog out and run her a bit before the afternoon pickup grind. Because we have lots of trees in our backyard, we have lots of wildlife(skunks, squirrels, raccoons, foxes)back there and often find their carcasses in various areas of the yard. Horrifyingly enough, we made the grisly discovery of a drowned squirrel in one of our 5 gallon buckets that we carry weeds and sticks from the garden. Not what I wanted to find whilst playing fetch. Thankfully the shock collar was charged up so, when Copper made an attempt to get near the bucket, zzzzzzztttt. No, it wasn't a long shock. It just got her attention, BUT now that bucket could be made out of steak and she won't go near it. She's a crazy puppy, but she is getting better. When the kids get home, she can't get close enough to them. She is so excited. When the boy arrived, she planted herself in his lap and wouldn't move:



That dog is in total heaven...so is her brother.
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New regime in town

I have struggled for many years to put the responsiblity for taking care of their rooms and their things and completing chores without my nagging on the children.  This has not caused me to go in a prematurely gray kind of way, but I truly am surprised by that.  I have researched many options from the fairly punitive to the touchy-feely sticker reward systems.  Meh.  Thanks to the magic of Pinterest, I came upon a very interesting option that combines completing a daily laundry list of chores with a cash reward at the end of each day...but with a twist.  I even made a trip to Kinkos, or what used to be Kinkos, to have some specific chore pads created just to make it even a bit more foolproof.  I sat all three down and gave them a tutorial on the new system.  Always motivated by the almighty dollar, they were excited to see actual money there for the taking.  "All you have to do is complete your list and get a stamp of approval and the money is yours."  Their eyes lit up at the possibilities of what might come from that cash.  It isn't as easy at it might seem...so we'll see what happens.

On a completely different note, I had a weird incident today.  I'll admit, I am a car jammer.  I love every bit of singing loud and proud to the songs on the radio.  I was driving back home from a meeting when all of a sudden "Vehicle" by the Ides of March came on. If you are not familiar with this song, uh, shame on you. It is an excellent creepy stalker angry powerful sounding guy song. Great horn riff. One of my very favorites. I was jamming to "Vehicle" at the red light, singing every work with great enthusiasm and power when, well, have you ever had the feeling someone is staring at you? Well. One of Knoxville's finest was about to spew Weigel's coffee all over his dashboard while watching me. I smiled, nodded my head and drove the legal limit away once the light changed. Nice. Just know, that song is my jam. I can't help but dance.

Shoeboxes of love

Today was a long day. A go in to work at 7am and leave the building at 6:15pm kind of long day. I'm not going to lie...my feet hurt in kind of an out of this world kind of way. But oh well. We had a lot of things going on in church today, including our family Advent event and a large funeral. A lot of very emotional people hurting and needing care today. So an Operation Christmas Child Shoebox packing party was the perfect thing to have today. There was a lot of prep and lots of pieces part, but it was wonderful. A Sunday afternoon isn't always the best time to have an event, so attendance was a bit low. But the group of families we did have were all blessed. The children were very deliberate in every step of the process. They decorated their boxes with great care, choosing their colors based on what "their" boy or girl might like. Sweet messages of love and hope painstakingly drawn and information sheets about themselves for their child were so thoughtfully completed. Items were placed in the boxes in certain position and order based on each child's plan. They then put their info sheets and cards on top of all the treasures and put the lids on so that they could then label their boxes and ready them for travel. As I glanced around watching the different children with their boxes, I noticed some holding theirs, heads bowed and eyes closed as the whispered prayers over them. I saw some giving theirs a kiss and a pat before they were placed on the cart. It was a beautiful thing to watch. I am grateful that after a long and dificult day I was able to end it on such a sweet note.


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Wiped!!

Today has been quite the day. I am so very proud of my two youngest(proud of all of them) today. They played games and showed great sportsmanship. Honestly, the boy played to games...two full games and never missed a beat. He tore it up out there and really got some very positive attention from the coaches. Afterwards, he and his sisters went with me to our local Kroger store to stand outside and ask people to donate cans of corn to the Fountain City Ministry Center. There are so many hungry people in all of our communities. How can anyone really resist this:



I mean, come on. One guy bought two flats of 12 "because of the boy and the hat".

I am off to settle down for the night and rub the sore feet of a tired little boy. No place i would rather be. I'm a lucky woman.
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I mean, come on

Let me start by saying, I am not a Munchausen by proxy mom...I am not purposely or inadvertantly making my child sick or get hurt. But I can see how one might begin to wonder considering the luck my children have. Today I was happily assisting G's art class in making sock monkeys, when my phone rang and displayed a somewhat familiar number. I excused myself and went outside to answer. Let me backtrack a bit to say that we had experienced a bit of a rocky morning. Our teenager is a great kid, but even she has some days. We questioned her outfit which annoyed her to no end. When we dropped her off at school, she barely spoke as she left and we watched her fist and unfist her hands the whole way up the hill. Flash forward, to ouside art class. I answered the call. "Uh, Mom? Um, I popped my shoulder out in gym. Here's the nurse." The sweet nurse got on to tell me that she had dislocated her shoulder and I needed to come get her and give her some motrin. I was kind of unable to get between buildings at elementary school, so I called the hub(it was his 9-80 day)and sent him until i could get out of school. He got her and took her to our PT friend for a look. Apparently tetherball is a rough sport(ha) and if you swing your arm the tetherball whomping way, you can dislocate it. I think that shocked her and made her queasy. The cherry on top was when the gym teacher strted to manipulate it a little and it popped back in...for all the class to hear. Glurg. Needless to say, she came home, got a sling and a dose of motrin and some down time. While she was convalescing, the hub and I were decompressing and doing some work down in the basement. It smelled a little strange down there, like burning plastic or something. We didn't see anything, so continued with our activities. I started to not feel so good and felt lightheaded and queasy. The hub followed suit. So we turned off the gas to certain things, opened some windows and tried to air our brains out on the chilly patio. The hub called the HVAC guy to come and see if he could figure out the smell issue. I left to pick up the youngers and the guy came to investigate. Walking down our steps with his CO monitor, he missed the last step and fell down the rest of the way. After the hub recovered from his minor heart attack and potential suing, he found out all was well with big stuff. They came to figure out together that out washing machine motor is burning out and melting stuff, cause, why not?

So S is currently at the high school playoff football game. Orders were that she could not play the cymbals, but she could use her left hand to play the bass drum. She will be a icicle, but will enjoy herself I'm sure. The youngers and I are watching the JJ Abrams version of Star Trek. Of course G and I bawled our eyes out at the birth of James T. Kirk and the death of his father...the circle of life...sorry, different movie.

Here's hoping the freak accidents are done for a while. Night all.


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"Well I'm no hero that's understood..."

Do you have a song that speaks to you? Like really speaks to you no matter what day you are having? "Thunder Road" is that for me. Bruce Springsteen, the poet laureate of New Jersey, writes lyrics that just get me every time. It has been one of those days and when it says "the night's busted open these two lanes can take us anywhere...". That sounds fabulous. I think our family is in a funk and the thought of escape just sounds absolutely wonderful. Fall Break was a bust in terms of rest and relaxation. Our calendar is relentlessly full...but then whose isn't? Our problems and exhaustion and frustrations are no bigger or more substantial than anyone else's...not by a lot. But when I have days like yesterday and today, his line of "it's a town full of losers...and I'm pullin' outta here to win", I feel it sometimes. No I don't think people here are losers, it just fit for my mood. I am grateful for artists who allow me to escape my bad day and take a trip down a two lane highway headed for a land of infinite possibilities.


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Well, crap

I've spoken before about my son, the boy, and his overexuberant almost attitude towards Wednesday night church activities. First let me say that he is a great guy. So well mannered and behaved, well spoken for a seven year old and just an all around fun guy to spend time with in general. When he walks into church on Wednesdays, it is like his mind and all common sense get sucked out of him. I know he is excited about seeing his friends and dinner and singing and seeing some of his very favorite people and that makes me very happy. I also know that Wednesdays are a work night for me and I am somewhat stressed making sure that childcare is in place and that there are no problems with children and all that jazz. His silly button goes into overdrive. I finally had my fill when he started eating cucumber slices and green beans on top of his cookie and would not stop when I asked him. Then I made THE statement: "When we get home, we are going to have a talk. I'm not sure you can continue to go to Wednesday night activities if this keeps up." Shock and horror and immediate regret filled his face. "I'm sorry, Mommy." Almost a whisper. I dropped him off at his choir and went on to mine. After programming, the hub took the children home and the boy really wanted to chat with me, but I always stay late to finish work and do planning with the other children's ministry staff. I tried to get home before his bedtime. Tried so hard, but the hub said the boy went to bed wanting to have a conversation with me and apologize. "He felt really bad..." the hub said. So now I sit, feeling like a heel. The mom who has always preached the "Don't go to bed with unresolved anger or issues with those you love" type of mentality has now allowed it to happen. I may have to just crawl in with him and his original Star Trek sheets, whisper sweet nothings and apologies and my undying and fierce love for him no matter how he behaves. They never tell you about these situations in the parenting books. We just have to deal with the aftermath the best and most loving way we can. Fingers crossed I do it right.


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