Merry Christmas

I just want to wish all my two readers Merry Christmas.  

My family is spending it with family in the Detroit area and are having a wonderful time.  We have been able to have a great time of family fun of eating, visiting, and of course opening our gifts.  

We gave and received many nice things.  We got this really neat Michigan end table.  We are looking forward to putting i together and using it.  Our kids got some nice outfits and toys that they will enjoy as well.  

My husband gave me the Macarthur Study Bible in the NKJV and I have enjoyed that all ready. 

He also surprised me with a night away at the luxury hotel in downtown Detroit.  The ironic thing is that it is the one whose Christmas tree i blogged about in an earlier post.  I am so looking forward to it.  It is a 70 story hotel in the heart of Downtown and it either has a river view or a city view.

I think we also plan on seeing the new movie Nation Treasure: Book of secrets.  I have been looking forward to this movie for a long time.  I will give a review after I watch it.  

New section

I am going to attempt to start a new section which I hope to update weekly. Notice I said the word hope. Most of the jokes will come out of Readers Digest:

For my first post in the category, I am going to do two.

1. A farmer offers to help a driver get his car out of a mud hole for twenty bucks. "Yours is the tenth car I have rescued today," he says.
"Wow," said the driver, "when do you work your land? At night?"
"No, night is when I fill the hole with water."

2. (by Amy Buckles) Tourists come to Yellowstone National Park armed with a lot of questions. As someone who works nearby, I don 't always have the answers. Like the time when one earnest woman wanted to know, "at what elevation do deer turn into elk?"

President Who?

I can't wait any longer. I have kept my mouth shut long enough. I have been trying to avoid this topic as I did not want to make this a political minded blog, but with an important Presidential election coming up next year, it is bound to get that way somewhat as I vent my frustration with the candidate field.
I guess all I want for Christmas is a good presidential candidate.
I consider myself to be a Conservative Republican, but if the candidate on the Democratic or Third Party side were better, I would vote that way. If I were a Democrat, my choices are awful, but if I had the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama I think I would vote Republican. I know that is the sentiment of some Democrats that I know. Being a woman, I would love to be able to vote for the first woman who actually has a chance to be President, but I cannot back that woman.
On the Republican side however if I could take the good parts of Rudy Guiliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Mike Huckabee, it would be the perfect candidate. I have liked Mitt Romney from the beginning. He did great work in Massachusetts as the governor while working with the ilk of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. He has changed his stand on issues over the years and I don't know if it was political or if it was truly changes from the heart. Some might say, "but he is a Mormon, don't you have a problem with that?" As a Christian, I do have a problem with the religion itself, but a truly practicing Mormon will be a moral person (they don't even drink coffee or pop due to the drug caffeine) and a true believer in family values. So, a Mormon for president I wouldn't have a problem with as long as he held true to the values he ran on.
As far as Rudy, I like his leadership ability, but his social stands I don't like as much. He is not as Conservative on the issues of gay marriage--civil unions and abortion as I would like him to be, but I could stomach it and vote for him, possibly depending on what the alternative would be on the Democratic side.
Mike Huckabee is a Baptist Minister and pro life and pro marriage (between one man and one woman), but he does not believe in school vouchers and has not been as hard on the immigration problem that we have today. Again, I could vote for him possibly depending on his running mate.
On Fred Thompson, the same was said of Reagan. He has that Hollywood mentality to a point. He seems to be conservative, but I have not heard enough of his beliefs and political mindset to know how I would vote on him.
Okay, I know I just lost any readership I had by putting politics into my blog. I know it is all controlled by a Sovereign God, but we still have to be careful who we vote for as God has blessed us with the priviledge of being Americans and with that does come a say in who leads our great country.

oops, sorry. Forgot to change it. For those who requested. Here are some pictures of our GM tree (from a previous post). The first one is without decorations. The second one is just a picture of the pinecones that came on the tree, and the bottom one is with all the decorations. It is 7 1/2 feet tall. With star, probably 8 1/2 feet tall.

flowery surprise 2

These are my surprise flowers. They are probably a 60.00 bouquet. Imagine that!

A flowery surprise

My family was in town from Washington State and we had been away in the Chicago suburbs for the day. When we returned after a wonderful dinner at Texas Roadhouse (thanks dad) around 8:00pm, there was a vase of flowers on my doorstep. I thought that there must be some mistake and they got the wrong house again, like my neighbor's edible arrangements as well as the many pizzas that come to the wrong house (our house number is hard to read and the neighbor's house is on our street when they face the other one, so it is natural to get the addresses mixed up). But, lo and behold, my name and address was on the card, so it was actually to me. I was trying to figure out who would, out of the blue, send me a beautiful arrangement. My family, including my husband, was just as surprised as I was. When I opened the card, it said, "We thank you for your hard work this fall and are grateful for you -- The executive team at Southern Living at Home". That was the odd part. I have not worked for them in over three years. My husband said that it is the best bonus I ever got from them and I am not working for them any more. Though the mistake was made, my name was on the card and I certainly was not sending them back. Happy Fall to me!
I did some checking with the florist who sent them and they were sent from the corporate offices of Southern Living at Home. Somewhere the lines must have crossed and I ended up with someone else's expensive flower arrangement, but hey, who's complaining? Not me. They look beautiful on my dining room table.
I guess the Lord knew that I needed some flowers. Southern Living at Home was just thanking me for all the hard work that I did for Pampered Chef this fall . A picture of these flowers will be forth coming.

In Remembrance

Today (December 7th) is a day that will remain in infamy. Those are famous words by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (on December 7th, 1941)on the day we were attacked 66 years ago very early in the morning at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The Japanese woke a sleeping giant--The U.S. by attacking us by surprise. I want to take this post (my 2 people who read it) to thank those veterans who gave their lives that day aboard the U.S.S. Arizona and U.S.S. Oklahoma, may you rest in peace. And to those survivors who managed to escape the vicious attack, thank you from one grateful American.

Tis the season to be busy, fa la la la la la la la la. We go here and there and to and fro to do this or that. We go from store to store and party to party. We have kid activities to do as well as adult ones.
For example: here is a list of things that I have to do this month (not that I am not excited about any of these as I love the busyness of this time of year).
Tonight my kids had their home school Christmas program. It went really well. I dressed them as Mary and they had a baby to rock in "Away in a Manger". It was so cute. They could hardly be heard though as their voices did not carry well, but they did a wonderful job.
Monday is a business meeting at church that I have to make Christmas cookies for per. pastor's request, so the cookie baking starts tomorrow.
I have to get my Christmas cards made, bought, and sent out sometime in the next week.
Our Church Christmas parties are next Friday. Those are always so much fun and I look forward to those every year.
THen on the 19th is our Church kids program Christmas party in which I have to have more Christmas cookies. Thank goodness for the technology of the freezer. I only have to make cookies once and voila, I have cookies for future activities.
Then on the 21st we leave for our annual pilgrimage to Michigan to spend the week with the in laws.
I am sure there is something missing somewhere.
Sometime after the 21st I have to fit in a showing of the new movie National Treasere: Book of Secrets due in theatres on the 21st.

Christmas lights and everything nice

Okay, I have to admit it. I always look forward to Thanksgiving to be over so I can get into the best holiday season. Yes, I LOVE Christmas. I love the trees, lights, presents, ornaments, presents, stockings, and the beautiful wrapped or gift bagged (in my husband's family) presents; Oh, did I mention presents? I guess that it is just one holiday that I can celebrate the kid still in me.
Not that I don't like Thanksgiving. I do. I love that our country has set aside one day of the year to give thanks, but we ARE supposed to do that EVERY day right? I love the rich history of the pilgrims, indians, turkeys, and FOOD, but I never really liked the colors orange and yellow. It just seems so drab and the fall colors just make me think WINTER, ARRGGHH.
I am so excited to put up my NEW tree this year. I got the steal of a deal (well my mother in law and I did). We were shopping at after Christmas sales last year and went to a second had shop, (I was looking for maternity clothes) and saw these beautiful Christmas trees. They are the 7 foot kind, pre lit, with pine cones on them. BEAUTIFUL. Remember, I was not looking for Christmas trees. All their decor was deeply discounted and that particular day they had put an extra discount on the Christmas stuff. We asked them how much they were -- $1.00.
The great part about them is that they come from a national attraction. They are the old decorations in the Renaissance Center (a landmark skyscraper in downtown Detroit also known as General Motors world HQ). THe Marriott hotel (which is the center tower of the 7 tower complex) was changing their Christmas decor and happened to have them sent to the particular store that we would shop at.
Imagine that!! I own a piece of the General Motors HQ in my own home (besides my two cars out front).

What a Klutz.

I have never really thought of myself as a klutz. I have had other people I know refer to themselves as klutzes, but not me. Well, that may change. I think I may need to take walking classes.
I have a friend that I walk with (or at least try to walk with) on a regular basis. She had been sick for a few weeks, so we had not been able to walk regularly this past month. We did go about three weeks ago now and what did I do, I accidently stepped off the edge of the sidewalk and twisted my ankle. There was nothing else to do but to finish our walk home. Then the very next time we walked, was just this last Monday. It was kind of damp out and I slipped on a wet leaf and fell right on my bottom. I was walking along and suddenly I was not. My friend was just babbling away and looked over and I was not there. The remarkable thing is that I never let go of the dog on the end of the leash. I was okay, just a little embarrassed so we finished our walk.
Then the following day, we were walking along and I was only a couple of blocks from the house and lo and behold, I twisted my ankle again. I don't know what I am going to do with myself.
On Wednesday I woke up with this terrible ache in the lower back and I wondered what that came from, then I remembered my spill on Monday. I must have bruised my tail bone pretty bad, because it hurt to go up and down stairs and even to get up from a sitting position.
I guess I am getting old. ha ha.
I was so excited that I made it home from my walk yesterday in one piece and without a single ankle twist or a fall.

radio commercials

Here is a little tidbit to make you laugh.

I am assuming that we all know what Curves fitness is and the Golden Corral is.

Only in America will a commercial for Curves be followed by a commercial for the Golden Corral buffet.

Only in America are we encouraged to have fitness and then gorge ourselves at the trough.

Growing Babies

It is amazing how fast babies grow.
It seems like just yesterday that my baby was newborn and completely dependent on us parents. Then the joys of that first smile or laugh when she would look into my face or that deep laughter when I would tickle her.
I still enjoy that along with her cute little bottom as it crawls around the corner out of sight.
She is so animated now that she can pull herself up and peek at us over the coffee table as she pulls something off that she knows she is not supposed to have.
i melt when she looks at me and I look at her adorable brown eyes.
Her personality is really starting to show up at 8 1/2 months. I think we will have a strong willed one among us. Hmm, sounds familiar. Just like me.

Cool Runnings

No I am not referring to a really funny Disney movie with the same title about the Jamaican bobsled team. I am referring to my walk/run that I did yesterday. Basically it is a running method that incorporates walking times and running times within the same exercise period. I don't necesarily have a desire to run a marathon, but I would love to get myself back into shape.
I started yesterday afternoon, but picked a bad day to do it. I am in my church choir that practices on Sunday evenings, so I ran my first time about an hour before I had to be at practice. I was so out of breath and my mouth was so dry that I could barely sing a note without coughing.
I will say that it felt good to get out there and walk/run for a few minutes. Once the weather gets too cold, I don't know how it will work as I am "allergic" to cold weather, but we will have to see about the better days.
It felt good yesterday and though the muscles hurt today, it feels good today to know that I did that, so it makes whatever pain I experience now worth it.

Way too much fun to pass up

Well, as I believe I said in one of the previous posts, my husband called me from work and said that Uncle J. invited my kids to trick or treat as his house, which of course means please bring them over as I would like to see them all cute and dressed up.
Well, that presented a minor (ok major) problem. We had no costume. It is the day of halloween and we had no $$ to buy one at such a late date. I said "no problem, I will com eup with something". I thought " I have a sewing machine, is there something I can sew together with no material?"
I went up to their room and lo and behold found their Christmas dresses. Hmmm, princesses!!
I added some costume jewelry and their dress up shoes and these reversible vests that have a cheetah print on them to be their "fur" coats. I found a costume tiara and made the other child a tiara out of paper, beeds, and glitter. She didn't seem to mind.
From not going trick or treating at all, we went to about 6 houses in the neighborhood and Uncle J.'s. They got just enough candy to last a few days and not enough to rot their teeth.
Everyone, including my husband, had a great time. I think we have found our tradition. Now if I could only find a couple of costumes on a very cheap sale.

Reformation Day

Instead of Happy Halloween when the trick or treaters come to your door, try Happy Reformation day and see what kind of faces you get from the kids.

Today is a very important day in Protestant History. Today is the 49oth anninversary of Martin Luther's posting his 95 thesis on Wittenburg Door in his protest of several of the Catholic traditions, one namely being the tradition of buying indulgences to get their family members out of purgatory.
This created a snowball effect all over Europe and its results carried over to the Pilgrims and Puritans who came to the New World in 1620 and later years.
The Puritans desired to stay within their Catholic churches and purify it from within while the Pilgrims (otherwise known as Separatists) left and came to what would later become the United States of America.
The names of some important Reformers in our Protestant (Baptist) history are Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, John Huss, and John Knox.

Halloween, Hauntingly horrid or erroneously evil?

For years as a child I looked forward to Halloween as a time to dress up and get candy. It was as innocent as could be. For much of my young childhood I was raggedy ann and we went to my Great Aunt and Uncle's house for a get together where we would all dress up. My dad was dracula and he really looked the part. One particular year comes to mind when my dad dressed up and answered the door and growled at the kids who just wanted candy. They ran down the street screaming. He ended up calling them back to get their candy.
For my early teen years my friends and I would get together for Halloween parties at each others houses where we would dunk for apples and all the other fun stuff. I dressed up as an Indian. We would go to a few neighbors houses as a group and "trick or treat". It was years of fun.
Then I met and married my husband who never went to Halloween parties or trick or treated in his neighborhood (maybe it was the Detroit thing) . They went to community activities at the VFW hall or things like that, but they never dressed up and went from house to house.
Now as we are parents, we are trying to figure out our own traditions. It is not easy. I am of the belief that for a kid to dress up and go to houses of people that you know is innocent fun, but is it really? How well do you really know the people whose houses you are going to?
In the past we have gone out to dinner, or taken the kids somewhere away from the house and left our lights off. This year our kids program at our church was our activity to stay away. Well, certain circumstances called for us to cancel our kids program, so that presented a different situation.
As Christians should we bury our heads in the sand and run from the darkness that the holiday presents? I don't think so. Should we take part partly by giving out candy and/or tracts, or totally by allowing our children to go trick or treating? The lingering question is how much should Christians really do on a day like this where the darker side of our lives is glorified.
We are trying to figure out our own family Halloween traditions. This year we are experimenting by giving out candy to the kids and sending our kids to "trick or treat" as little princesses at their Uncle and Aunt's house.

The irony of it all.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, my kids were able to go with their homeschooling group to the firestation, little did I know that just days after that trip, we would get to see the firemen in action.
I heard a brief siren and saw a firetruck go by on the cross street with its lights on, then I saw it come back and go into our alley. I thought it was strange so I watched them. I initially thought it was a lights test or some other drill that they were doing until I saw them rushing around in full fire gear.
I looked up the alley and to my surprise and amazement was dark smoke billowing into the sky. Well, where there is smoke there is fire. I opened my back door and peered out to large glowing flames going up to the sky.
Two houses down, a woodpile and a car were on fire. It was so close that we could feel the heat. I called my kids and my husband and we watched them put out the fire from our back steps as I was explaining to the girls what the fire fighters were doing in comparison to what they had seen at the station. We then opened the garage where the firetruck and firemen were and watched from there for a few minutes.
Several neighbors mentioned hearing an explosion.
News crews and a newspaper reporter showed up, so we will see how big a news day it was.
My usual Sunday afternoon usually entails a walk, a nap, or watching a football game, or sometimes all the above. I certainly was not expecting something as exciting as a fire.

Movie Review

We watched a great movie last night. We felt that it was very God honoring for a movie production of our time. It is called Facing the Giants. It was put together by a Baptist Church in Georgia.
It is about a high school coach in Georgia who has many obstacles to overcome such as infertility, a losing football record, and various other odds. He is able to use his faith in Jesus Christ and (without giving anything away) a revival happens and various obstacles are overcome in miraculous ways.
I definitely recommend it to others who are looking for good films to watch as a family.

Homeschool field trip

Yesterday was our first homeschool field trip. Our group of 20 kids and 10 adults (including one 15 year old) went to a local firestation for a tour. We had a great time and it was a good learning experience. The firemen who did the tour had great personalities and were great with our kids. They taught them fire safety and not to play with lighters. They opened all of the doors on the large fire truck. This is the truck that has a 105 foot ladder and is the one that will respond to the hotel fires and some of the downtown fires in buildings with multiple floors.
One of the firemen demonstrated how he would get into his fire gear in seconds. It is amazing what all they have to put on to protect themselves. He breathed through his air mask and sounded like Darth Vader. The kids (and us big kids) liked that. It has been a long time since I have been on a tour of this nature.
This is also the only Haz-Mat team in the area. It would respond to any hazardous material scare in the whole stateline area. He showed the bright green radioactive "alien" suit that they would wear in the event of that happening.
After that we all went to a local burger king for refreshment for the adults and playtime for the kids.
Over all it was an informative , eventful, and fun day.
I will post a couple of pictures after I download them from my camera phone.

I couldn't resist

I couldn't resist this one. Obviously I am not going to post when we have a new letter for our Dr. Seussisms, but this is too good.
Those of you who know me know that I have three children all beginning with a certain letter. This week our lessons just had to do with that letter.

Here it goes.

Big B, Little b, what begins with B? Brianna, Brookelyn, Bethany, B, b, b.

Awkward

I took a survey by phone a couple of weeks ago and last week got a phone call from a local company who sells "air purifiers". They said that my name was drawn for a trip (everyone's name was probably drawn) or I could have a set of knives. My husband chose the knives. It is a more certain choice.

They then wanted to come and demonstrate their machine and just for doing that they would put my name in a drawing for a gift card to a local restaurant, so I said why not. I scheduled an appointment, then realized that it would not work as I had a pampered chef show the night that I had scheduled. In the meantime, my husband was confused why I had went along with this demo as we had no intention on buying it.

I called back to reschedule and just assured them that we had no intention on buying and did not want a high pressure sales person to come into our house to pressure us into buying something that we really had no use for or the $$$ to purchase at present time.

They showed up last night, earlier than the scheduled appointment which of course made me happy because I had been waffling on my decision all day and really did not want to do it, so I thought "good, they are here early, we can get this over with".
She came in and introduced herself and complimented on our house.

Then I asked her where she would like to set up and she said the living room was fine, then she sat down on the couch and had a small tote bag on her lap (I was thinking, this must be a small machine to fit in that bag). She asked if I was familiar with the machine. I said no (duh, that is why you are doing demos). Then she went on to explain the machine and asked us if we called to request the demo. I again said no and explained how her visit came to be. The machine she was selling was a VACUUM CLEANER, not an AIR PURIFIER. Problem: I have no carpet.

She proceeded to ask if I still wanted the demo even though I had not carpet. The way out of this demo presented itself. I said no as it did not make any sense to do it as it seemed pointless.

That is the fastest product demo I had ever seen. It took a whole wopping 5 minutes. I felt bad sending her away, but it really would have been a waste of her time. Now if they would have said vacuum cleaner in the first place, we could have been saving them the trouble. I think she was a little confused. I did get the knives, but who knows if my name will actually be entered into a drawing for that restaurant gift card. Time will tell.

Answers to Friday Fifteen

I got the list from another blog. see www.lefthandedrabbit.blogspot.com for her answers and the list.

Endearment you call your husband most often -- Hon (short for honey).

Endearment your husband calls you most often. Hon (I think) I probably don't listen enough.

Endearment you call your husband when you want something. handsome

Endearment your husband calls you when he wants something. I don't think he has an endearment for that.

Endearment your husband doesn’t like. Stupid (just kidding)

Endearment you don’t like. Sweetie

If “the fall” had never happened, which wild animal would you most like to pet? Grizzly Bear

If you could shop for free in one store for one day, what store would you choose? Coldwater Creek or Christopher and Banks

Which actress/famous person have people said you look like? I don't think I have ever been mistaken for an actress.

Which actress/famous person would you like to look like? Jane Seymour--gotta say, she looks great after having twins.

If you won the lottery, what’s the first totally frivolous thing you would buy? liposuction and a tummy tuck (it is those twins).

If you could change places with one person for one day, who would you choose? Laura Bush

If you could go back in time, which historical/famous person would you want to spend time with? Abraham Lincoln

If you could choose one day in history to be present – but not be seen, heard, or able to affect change - what day would that be? The first day of creation. If I thought that I could handle the violence of that day, I would say the day Christ died on the cross. I certainly would not want to alter that day.

What is your most unrealistic fear? Being eaten by a shark (seriously. And I live in the Midwest, but I grew up on the West and love the ocean!)

For those of you who don't see us every week at church. Here is a picture of my sweetie with a front tooth missing. It definitely is cute. This is the look she gives everyone when she is asked to smile.

Dental Joys

After the wild night the day before (in case you missed it, the previous post told about it), I made an appointment for the dentist to see my child.
At 3:45 in the afternoon I took her to the dentist to have her front tooth and gum examined.
She had damaged the nerve in her gum and because he could not tell in the x rays if her adult tooth was directly above, behind, or in front of the baby tooth and we want to do what we can to protect her adult tooth (she is only 4) which is still developing, we ended up having her tooth extracted.
My wonderful little girl now has a little gap there. At least people will be able to tell my identical twins apart without a problem.
It only took about 15 minutes from the time the dentist put the numbing agent on until the tooth was gone. My little girl was amazing. She did not move throughout the whole process. I was amazed at her disposition. She did not even cry or utter a sound when it was all done.

I truly found out how one twin reacts when there is a traumatic situation with the other one. The twin who is perfectly fine was so traumatized by the whole experience that a person would think she was the one who had the accident happen to her.

The joys of "k"ars and kids

We have been having special meetings at our church this week and we usually attempt to go to as many meetings as possible for our own Spiritual enlightenment.
We were just about ready to eat dinner on Tuesday night and one of my children came down the stairs, she says she was trying to jump the last stair. I just saw her lose her balance on the last step and hit the floor face first. She got up and had blood flowing from her mouth. Her tooth was loose and we were not sure of the extent of the damage. We decided to take her to the emergency clinic. I loaded her in the car and went to start it and it would not start. I tried again, still no luck. I called my husband out to jump start it with his company truck. It worked.
We got to the clinic and in a half hour we were done and found out that no major damage had been done, so we were instructed to go to the dentist the following day just to be safe.
We arrived at the van and once again, it would not start. I called my husband and he said that I should go back inside and find someone to try to jump start me. I thought "yeah sure, that is exactly what someone who has a medical emergency wants to do, jumpstart someone".
So, I did go back inside and announced my plight and a good samaritan did come to my rescue. He jumped it, but it did not work. We tried several times to no avail. I thanked him profusely.
My husband then suggested that I call the roadside assistance service and we made an appointment for a tow. My husband then called me back to say that he would come in his work truck with both of my other children (slight problem was that all the carseats were in the van, thankfully we had a couple of extra ones for the baby) so that he would then jump start it again and be there when the tow truck came.
In the meantime I walked with my injured child to get her some ice cream at a local coffee shop.
Finally my husband did arrive about the same time as the tow truck. Neither could start the van so we had to have it towed somewhere that it could get fixed. Meanwhile, I drove the company truck home with three children in the cab with me.
Since the tow truck driver could not give my husband a ride home, and the church service was still in session so there was no ride available, my husband had to walk the two and a half miles home from the mechanic along a couple of busy streets in the darkness.
We were only trying to go to church.

More Dr. Seussisms

For those of you who are wondering. I won't post any more of this for a wh ile as I know it will get old, but I came up with "O".

Big O, Little O, what begins with O?
Ostrich, Otter, Octopus, O, O, O.

So as a review

Big A, Little a, what begins with A? Ant, Apple, Alligator, A, A, A.

Big E, Little e, what begins with E? Egg, Elk, Elephant, E, E, E.

Big I, Little i, what begins with I? Igloo, Ink, Iguana, I, I, I.

Big O, LIttle o, what begins with O? Ostrich, Otter, Octopus, O, O, O.

Thank you very much.

Dr. Seuss for the common man part Deux:

I know you all have just been shaking with excitement just waiting for the next installment of Dr. Seuss for the common man, so here it is.

Remember:
Big A, Little a, what begins with A? Ant, Apple Alligator, A, A, A.

Big E, Little e, what begins with E? Egg, Elk, Elephant, E, E, E.

Now:

Big I, Little i, what begins with I? Igloo, Ink, Iguana, I, I, I.

Enjoy.

Teaching letters and sounds

I have always liked the rhyming of Dr. Seuss. I have made up my own for a couple of the alphabet rhymes that he has from The Alphabet Book. At least my things actually exist. I will have a hard time explaining someday what a zizzerzazzer zuzz is. At least I can say something like zig-zag zebra. Anyway, here is my first installment of Dr. Seuss for the common man.

Big A, Little A, what begins with A? Ant, Apple, Alligator, A A A.

Big E, Little E, what begins with E? Egg, Elk, Elephant, E E E.

stay tuned for future installments for your enjoyment (yeah right).

Funny jokes from Reader's Digest.

I live in Illinois so I am surrounded by Bears, Packers, Cubs, and White Sox fans, so this was quite amusing when I read it the other day, especially since I am fan of none of the above. Oops, I just upset the one Bear fan who reads my blog.

Taken from Readers Digest September 2007.

"I thought when the Chicago Bears got into the Super Bowl, perhaps my Wisconsin neighbors would bury the hatchet and root them on. How wrong I was. A sign at the local insurance agency bellowed, 'Go Bears.' The rest of it demanded, '...And Take the Cubs With You.'"

Here's one for those annoying telemarketers. From the same magazine.

"When I phoned a friend recently, I heard the following message on her answering machine: 'Hi, I am probably home--I am just avoiding someone I don't like. Leave a message, and if I don't call back, it's you.'"

Here's one for the society that we live in. This is a quote from Late Night comedian Jay Leno.

"I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, 'I'd like some fries'. The girl at the counter said, 'Would you like some fries with that?'"

here is one for those of us who don't really care for Math (at least the hard Math, most people can figure out 2+2. and everyone knows it = 5).
This quote is from Larry Miller

"As long as there is algebra, there will be prayer in school."

Finally, here is another one for all the tv lovers out there. This is from Jay Leno.

"NASA says they have proof that parts of Mars were once submerged under water, which means it could have supported life. Of course, water doesn't always mean intelligent life--you remember Baywatch?"

thanks, have a nice day. :-)

Interesting story from the Dells weekend

Right now, I still have most of my fat left over from pregnancy, so I am not a small person, so I thought this funny.
As I was waiting in line for the water coaster at the water park, a girl, probably about 12 years old walked past as she had just gotten off of the ride.
She looked at the boy behind me and said that they would not let her ride the ride by herself anymore because she did not weigh enough. I had to laugh.
Having never been on the lighter weight side, I can only wish I had that problem.

First week of school

The great thing about homeschooling is that you can start whenever you want to and end whenever you want as well as go as short or as long as you want during the day.
Obviously having preschoolers I am VERY new at this. I do have high expectations and I had to have those cut down as I thought my preschoolers knew more than they actually do. I have to remember that they are only 4. When I realized that, the days went much better.
On Monday, I was so stressed out that I was almost in tears. I called my mother in law, the kindergarten teacher and home school pro (having homeschooled all three of her children--at least through 9th grade) with an SOS signal. She called me back and gave me some great advice which I have taken and used. A big THANK YOU to her.
Once I got a daily theme, such as Alligator on Tuesday, Apple on Thursday, and Ant today, it seemed to go soooooo much easier.
Today was our big finale on the letter "A", so we made A shaped cookies. I found a package of 100 cookie cutters which included alphabet cutters at Bed Bath and Beyond on Tuesday and decided to use it as part of our curriculum. They loved it today, but knowing that they were going to do it, they did not put as much effort into the other stuff. In that I was disappointed.
I decided to do school four days a week so that I have the fifth for house cleaning. I plan on joining a home school group for the moral support, socialization, and group outings (as well as other adult stimulation for myself).
I will post pictures of my kids in their desks, provided by a wonderful family in our church, once I get them downloaded from the camera.

Family fun at the Dells

In the upper Midwest there is a well known tourist attraction called the Wisconsin Dells. The Wisconsin river is banked by sandstone cliffs and you can take boat tours up and down the river for a fee (of course) and see some of the marvelous sandstone sculptures. There are also several waterparks and resorts with indoor waterparks and various other amusements for our entertainment driven society.
Every year my husband's company has a company picnic and the past three years it has been at an indoor waterpark there and last weekend was our weekend.
The past two years we have gone to a place called Great Wolf Lodge. Check it out at (www.greatwolfresorts.com) which has been fun. Last year we had this great room with two beds, and a fireplace living area. This year we tried a new place called Chula Vista Resort. I was kind of disappointed at first as I really like the Great Wolf, but once we entered our room, my whole outlook changed. First, we checked in and she read our room number. It was four digits. Those of you readers who stay in resorts on occasion would recognize four digits as a condo number. I thought "that's interesting". We made our way to the room and my husband opened the door. The shock of a large jacuzzi was just so amazing that I was awed by the room. It was a condo, complete with a king bedroom with fireplace and master bath. It also had a second bedroom with two queen size beds so each of our kids had their own. They had their own bath. We had another fireplace in the living area and a dining area. There was a tv in each room which made it nice. If we wanted to, we could have watched three different programs, though we were not there to watch tv. We also had our own kitchen complete with stainless steel appliances. I have never stayed in a room this nice before, check it out at www.chulavistaresort.com the el grande condo.
For a year now, my kids have been talking about the bucket of water dropping on their heads. They would not go under it, so we grabbed them a couple of times and made sure they stood under it while it emptied over the top of us.
By the end of the weekend, the kids were going down the slides with us. Most of the slides were too big for them, but they went down the kidde slides and a couple of the bigger slides on our laps.
Overall it was a great relaxing family weekend.

In Remembrance

The age old question among those of our generation will always be "Where were you...?" Where were you when the plane hit the North tower in New York? Where were you when the towers came crashing to the ground on that infamous day, six years ago? It is hard to believe that six years have all ready passed and that so many Americans have forgotten why we are now fighting terrorism. We were attacked on our OWN soil six years ago, this day.

Where was I? I was a first year teacher at a school here in town. The principal of the school did not like the teachers to be late for the morning meetings which started at 7:45 am CDT, so I strived every day to make sure I was on time. That particular morning I was rushing around trying to get to school so that I would be on time. I was, right on the dot. A minute later the attack begun, unbeknownst to me. That is one day that I wish I would have been late.
I went through my morning oblivious to everything and teaching my students like usual. We celebrated one student's birthday all ready that morning as I usually would have done.
Around 10:00 am our class took a break and I was greeted at the drinking fountain by a Jr. High young lady who asked me if I knew that planes hit the twin towers in New York and the twin towers collapased. I told her that it was not a funny joke to play on someone. She was serious, as I was about to find out. She told me to check the tv in one of the high school classrooms which I did immediately.
I was so shocked that I was glued to the tv for the next 30 minutes. Someone else substituted in my class so that I could get the latest information as well as take the time do make sure that I could gather my composure enough to finish the school day as I was fighting tears of shock.
Of all days to leave my cell phone at home. I did so that day. I borrowed a cell phone to talk to my husband (this is before the kids, thankfully).
The principal informed me that he did not think it was a good idea to inform myclass who were all in the 10-12 year old range because of the trauma that it might put them through. He wanted them to be able to go home and talk it over with their parents. That was the hardest thing that I had to do that day.
I went home that evening still stunned and shocked. I remember watching the coverage far into the night.

Busy weekend

I know it has been a while since I have posted, but I like to only post when there is something to say.
My husband went to Michigan on Labor day weekend and attended that history making football game between University of Michigan and Appalachian state. Bless his heart. He returned home and said that it is only a game. That is a huge surprise for a fan of the Maize and Blue. It is basically a thing of a little hurt pride.
I spent the week visiting with my mom who accompanied my brother as far as Illinois in his trek to Florida to attend his Junior year of college in Pensacola. We had a good time of visiting and shopping.
She left today so it is back to the old schedule.
Today I am preparing lesson plans for preschoolers. That is an area that I am not as familiar with as my college degree is for jr high and above. If anyone has any good ideas for teaching preschoolers, I am welcoming all comers, though I may not use some of them. I am scared to death to teach a kid how to read as by the time they get to me, they should all ready know how.
I will post next week on how our first day went along with a picture as well of them in their desks.

Wild and Crazy ride

As mentioned in the previous post, we had to go pick up our kids in Indiana yesterday. What an interesting experience it became. It always involves driving through Chicago which is always the x factor in any of our trips. We never know how much time it is going to take to travel through there. We left a little later than we originally wanted to and ended up getting stuck in the construction zone on the Dan Ryan expressway (for those of you not familiar with Chicago lingo, that is the exiting expressway to the south--I80/94).
After sitting in that for about 30-45 minutes it was great to finally get moving again after getting through that zone. We weren't going 10 minutes until we came around a bend and saw up ahead a parking lot on the interstate--all five East bound lanes at a standstill. Thinking, of course, that it was an accident and the traffic would probably move again momentarily we got down in it. BIG MISTAKE. We should have taken that last exit at Torrence Ave. They were just shutting the entrance ramp (onto the interstate) so we could have backed up it like many others were doing and maybe we should have, using hindsight.
After listening on the radio (which we should have been doing anyway) we found out that the freeway up ahead had been flooded out and the road was closed and traffic was being diverted. There was no communication to tell us those things on the over head reader boards. There was nothing. There were no warnings. So there we sat.
Three hours and two miles later, Calumet Ave. and Hammond Indiana never looked so good. By this time we really needed a break. During the traffic jam we would rejoice when we got to see a different piece of concrete. We got a good look at the brand new "Welcome to Indiana" sign. We spent some time in both Illinois and Indiana at the same time as our van sat on the state line for a few minutes. I decided that I wont take a bathroom and freely moving traffic for granted any more. It made Chicago rush hour traffic look good.
We finally pulled into Michigan city at 4:30pm, making a usually two hour trip into an 8 hr nightmare.
On the way back we were able to pass by the flooded spot as three of the five Westbound lanes were open and the water was up to the top of the concrete lane divider in two spots. One definitely would not have wanted to drive through it. What a mess. You really see how much we depend on our major interstate systems.

A week of peace and quiet

My oldest two children went to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma in Michigan. It was so quiet and I was able to get so much stuff done. I got my kitchen, dining room, living room, entry and hallways cleaned from top to bottom along with their room. Now lets see how long it stays that way, since kids = clutter.
It was a great week of just me and the baby. I dont' think the baby knew just what to do with herself since she did not have her sisters to watch all day. The baby and I watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy extended version. Well, she slept through much of it.

We met Grandma and Grandpa last week in Western Michigan and dropped them off. We were to pick them up in Michigan City Indiana yesterday. The details of that wild and crazy trip will appear in the following post.

I finally figured out how to get pictures onto the blog. It is easier than I thought.
This is just a reminder note of exactly why we went to Oklahoma. A friend of the family was getting married in Enid, OK and asked our girls to be flower girls in the wedding, so here are a few pictures of the wonderful event.
This is the bride and the flower girls

This is the bride and groom, her sister and brother in law, and her parents

the flower girls.

The joy of twins

When you have twins, you get a unique experience. You don't have to look for playmates for your kids as you have built in ones, though different playmates once in a while is a good thing. I have to share this really funny story that I was reminded of a couple of days ago.
One of my kids had a red pimply growth on her elbow and it bothered her. My husband thought it was a pimple, so as every good dad would do, he tried to pop it, to no avail. After trying several times, he decided to take her up to the bathroom to try to poke it with a needle. Her twin sister had to watch of course as you cannot do something to one without the other one knowing about it. I heard crying and came up the stairs to see how things were going, assuming that the one getting poked was the one doing the crying, not so. It was the one watching who was crying. I took her out of the bathroom and asked her what the problem was and she said "I don't want daddy to pop Brianna"; her sister. She thought that the needle was going to pop her sister like a balloon. I then had to explain to her that she was not a balloon and she would not pop if poked.
At the time I was pregnant with our third child and I didn't dare use the terminology that I was going to pop. We felt that would forever traumatize our kids minds.

The deal of the decade.

Ever since my sister in law started teaching me how to find good deals by checking websites and Sunday papers for coupons,watching circulars, etc...; I get excited when I get one. This one is the deal of the decade.
A couple of days ago I went to our local Wal-mart (as much as I hate it, I do go there every so often) to get a couple of things between our normal grocery shopping days. I was looking around the grocery department and saw what I thought was too good to be true. I looked down at a stack of Coca cola zero that had a sign on it that said 2/4.78 or 1/2.38. Okay, that is a pretty good deal in and of itself. Then I took a closer look and each of the 12 packs had a coupon for 1.50 off each, making it basically 2/1.78 which comes out to .89 each 12 pack. I didn't think there was a way that could be right, so I read and re-read the sign and that is exactly what it said.
I took it to the 2 12 packs to the check out line and it did not ring out for what I thought it should. I called them on it and they made the phone call to the department. Well, apparently they left the sign up one extra day and I got the benefits of that. They gave it to me for the posted price.
I was so excited to get that good deal.

diaper bag woes

On our way to Oklahoma we stayed in Des Moines Iowa. Of course we had to unload everything from the car as we needed baby stuff, clothes, etc... No problem. That is the husband's job, he didn't like the fact that I chose a second floor room where there was no elevator.
The next day, we continued our journey through Iowa and Kansas on our trip to Enid, Oklahoma. We were almost to Kansas City and we stopped at a rest area for lunch and of course to change and feed the baby. She was sleeping, so we ate our lunch and had a rest stop. When we were finished I decided it was time to change her and get her ready to eat. I proceeded to change her and went back to the van for the diaper bag. I looked and looked, no diaper bag. I looked again, no diaper bag. My husband looked through the van. No diaper bag. Apparently I had left the bag at the hotel in Des Moines and we were at least three hours out, so we could not go back and get it.
While he was searching for the diaper bag, I was trying to think if I had anything irreplaceable or valuable in that bag. Thankfully, diapers, wipes, bottles, and pacifiers are replaceable and there were no credit cards, money, or anything else that could lead to identity issues or things like that later on down the road.
We hoped and prayed that the baby would be able to hold off another half hour as we hurriedly got everyone in the van so we could quickly get to the nearest town to find a Target (the bottles and pacifiers can only be found at Target). It happened to be a North suburb of Kansas City.
We hurriedly got everyone out of the van there and did the shopping quickly without a sound from the baby. She was awesome.
The next night we went to a nice dinner for my birthday and I apparently left a pacifier there, a nice pink one. It seems as though I left parts of my baby all over the central plains.
On the way home we decided to go back the same way that we came, so we stopped at that hotel that we stayed at on the way down just to see if they happened to have the bag. Voila, they did, so now I have three diaper bags, five bottles, and seven pacifiers, so I should never be without a pacifier again, theoretically.

Oklahoma, part II

Well, we are back from our much anticipated trip to Oklahoma to attend and participate in a friend's wedding.
Oklahoma was about what I was expecting it to be. It was definitely flat prairie land with a few oil wells scattered here and there. The town of Enid, however, was really nice. It was bigger than I thought it would be and the people were really nice. I was definitely impressed.
The couple went through with it and hopefully in the state of newlywed bliss. The wedding, though simple, was beautiful. Simple is definitely better.
We had a wonderful time of fellowship with friends.
After the wedding we were invited to our friends house for a bbq dinner and it was delicious, so thank you Mark and Bev for that wonderful meal, as well as the left over meal on Sunday. We had a wonderful time.
I hope to post some pictures as well in the near future.

Ooooooooklahoma

Well, the big day has almost arrived. My kids are flower girls in a wedding on Saturday. I am probably almost as excited as the bride. We have the dresses, and now the head pieces (I just have to make them). I am looking forward to seeing them so dressed up in their pretty dresses.
We leave for the wedding which is in Ooooooklahoma, on Wednesday. It is also our family vacation, so that makes it all the more exciting.
It is going to be hot, hot, hot though and I am not looking forward to that though as I am not fond of humidity. Maybe it will be a cooler week. Wouldn't that be nice!!
I will post about how it went when we return.

foot frustrations

I read a blog that a friend wrote about her frustrations with women's clothing department in contrast to ladies clothing departments.
My frustrations deal more with shoes. I have had this horrible condition of extra wide feet all my life. I have left stores in tears because I cannot find shoes to fit my feet. I have been pregnant twice and each time, my feet have been wider than the time before. Trust me, my feet cannot get much wider.
It all started when I was a kid and my parents were buying shoes for me. Because I was not personally forking over the money for the shoes, I did not realize how wide and hard to find they were. I only remember them saying that my feet were EE. How did I know that I was any different than about 3/4 of the world.
When I went to college and had to buy my own it occurred how hard it was to find affordable wide width shoes that actually looked good. I do think they were easier to find then than now, however.
I get so tired of going to discount stores and seeing only average sized shoes and knowing that I will never be able to fit into ANY of them. I get tired of all the discount stores catering to the majority of society. I think that wide width shoe people should unite and show the shoe makers and discount retailers that we need shoes too. Why can't stores be willing to carry extra wide shoes in more varieties than extra bland and boring at prices that the average person can afford. Just because we have the unfortunate curse of wide feet, does not mean that we are extra blessed and can afford expensive shoes.
I can think of only a couple things that are a blessing regarding wide feet. My husband does not have to worry about my always buying lots of shoes (this includes flip flops), and I can swim like a seal (I have been called that), though I don't know if that is a good thing or not.
If anyone has any shoe store suggestions, let me know, though I am sure that I have probably tried most of them.

A bad apple

The depravity of the human race is interesting. I have thought (and still do) that we live in a pretty decent, safe neighborhood (though it gets interesting a few blocks to the West). It is made up of older houses dating from the late nineteens to 1940's (my house being built in 1924). Lately I have seen some interesting characters walking through the neighborhood. I don't know if they are just visiting or if they are moving in.
Here is one particular incident. Last fall, I was having a garage sale and a guy kept walking back and forth past us. Earlier in that week, a garage and a house had been broken into just up the block from me, among various other petty crimes (the guy met the description of the burglar, so I called the police). The guy is now serving 6 years.
Next incident happened just a little over a week ago. It was nearing 12:30am and I was just dozing off and I heard what I thought sounded like doors slamming out front. I looked outside in time to see a guy banging on the trunk of my husband's car (there were three guys total by the car). I woke my husband up and we watched them for a while. They went up to a house on the next block and hanged out there for a few minutes and then walked back toward his car and then up the other street (we are the second house in from the corner and his car was parked near the corner). Then they went and hanged out behind our neighbor's truck in his driveway. The next day, I took a walk and on the next street over, I saw a car with the back window knocked in. Coincidence?
Just this morning on my early morning walk I noticed a person running very very fast from a house. It was so fast that when the person disappeared instantly, I thought that maybe it was a figment of my early morning half asleep imagination. I saw it instantly and then looked down the street and the person was gone and I heard a noise, kind of like an alarm, but it did not sound like my home alarm or like a car alarm. I can't describe the noise. I approached the next street and I was approached by a Jeep Cherokee and a guy poked his head out (of course I am backing up as I am leary of strange men approaching me in cars). He asked me if I had seen a person of a particular description. I told him what I saw and he told me that he had caught a guy trying to break into cars and had called the police. I put two and two together and figured that what I heard was either a garage alarm or a car alarm and the person I saw running is the person who set it off and this was the guy that he was looking for.
I am thankful that he ran quite a ways from me or it could have been interesting. This just proves that there are bad apples in every neighborhood, no matter how great they seem.

God Bless America!!

One of my favorite holidays is Independence day. It is not a day where I get anything, or really do a whole lot of special stuff. I just love my country. I love that I was born in America and that I get the priviledge of being an American. I love most of what our country stands for and the freedoms that we get to enjoy just by the Providence of God.
I appreciate and applaud our service men and women who serve or served our country both at home and abroad. Thank you for your service. Our country would not be what it is without you (and the sovereignty of God, of course).
I have always loved fireworks. I remember as a kid in Washington State, my dad would buy fireworks galore (before they were illegal), and we would have a party lighting them. The neighbors would congregate in the street and we would all light off our fireworks long into the night. It was a wonderful time.
Then fireworks became illegal and we started going to the city's fireworks show. That was the best show around. People would come from across the state for the show, even from Seattle.
Now that I have my own family, I am trying to carry on that tradition, not with buying and lighting off fireworks, since they are illegal, but with grilling and going to the local fireworks show. We had a good time. We found a nice place where we could park our car and take our chairs a few hundred feet and plop down in them for a couple of hours and avoid the major crowds and traffic. Our kids even got to do a few sommersaults on the soft grass in front of us, while watching out for the many sparklers (why those aren't illegal, I don't know).
I also love to watch people. I was enjoying watching the people trying to park their cars in the margins of the roads between entrance ramps. They would back up on the entrance ramp so they could get the best seat without leaving their cars. All this while other cars were trying to get past them trying to get on the highway.
Our local fireworks show was great and did not disappoint. While watching the amazing artistry in the sky, I just thought how I would love to go to a fireworks factory to see how they measured the ingredients to get the right shapes to appear when the fireworks exploded in the ball of fire in the sky. It amazes me how many different shapes they can come up with.
Looking forward to what the manufacturers concoct for the fireworks next year.

God Bless America!!

Gum anyone??

Maybe there is someone who reads this who can relate. My 4 year olds received a nice valentine gift of gum and candy, etc... back on Valentine's Day. I have just now begun to let them chew the gum with the promise that they would not take the gum out of their mouths. They had been doing a really good job until today. One of them got it in her hair. I only found this out when I got up from checking the e mail earlier in the day and caught her "running" with the scissors. I was more concerned about that than what she may have done with her gum or her hair. She was afraid that she would get in trouble for getting gum in her hair, so she decided to try to cut it out herself. The unfortunate thing is that I have all three of them scheduled for pictures tomorrow.
I, of course could not contain myself as I laughed at what she had done with her hair and scolded her for running with the scissors.
I tried to see if I could hide the dent she made in her hair, but after combing and styling, I could not hide it satisfactorily to get us by through the pictures tomorrow.
Her pretty long locks are now cute shoulder length layers. Unfortunately for her twin sister, she had to get the same hairstyle due to wanting them to look alike in their pictures.
Like my mom said, it is probably time for a good trim anyway. Well, they got one.

The end of procrastination

Well, the procrastination has ended on my yard work. I finally got out there and did something. Granted, a very little something, but it is a step in the right direction.
My mom has the greenest thumb in the world. I think she inherited hers from her mom. I think that is one gene that I did NOT get.
When we moved into our house 5 years ago, I inherited a beautiful mature garden. Nice, I thought, boy was I wrong. It was beautiful in May when we bought the house. I assumed that it would be beautiful in August, October, and also in January. Ha, was I wrong!! There was a lot of work involved. I found out later that the previous owner pretty much spent her life outside in her garden (with all the work, you would think she would take the time to put down a weed barrier). Unfortulately this "garden" became an unmanageable jungle to me. I could not control it. Just looking at this thing would make me turn in anguish and run away.
I have spend the past 5 years (with the help of the new -- 2 1/2 years-- neighbors) getting it where I want it (though we have a LOOONNNNGGGG time until it is right).
I have always had dreams of a few small gardens on the property with maybe a nice flowering bush or tree centering them and maybe some lillies, or other pretty perennials and some annuals bordering them.
Well, I got lillies all right. I have lillies up to the wazzu and beyond. Hosta? I have lots of that too. which has come in handy. That makes a nice border plant. I used to love roses, I HATE them, now. They are everywhere. I am constantly cutting them, clipping them, growling at them, and catching myself on them. I pick up pieces of them everywhere while picking up dead plants and weeds. She put them in the craziest places.
Today, half of the garden has been rototilled under (courtesy of my neighbor). I raked it on Saturday (though it will have to be raked smooth again) to prepare it for grass. I am going to put grass on half of my garden. I will then have only half of it to work on, so it will be less overwhelming. I can design, play, etc... with what is left.
On Sunday, I took some of the hostas that lined the path and put them in a circular spot where we had a tree removed last year. I plan on lining that with the hostas and putting a nice decorative bush or flowering tree in the middle. Then I went to the remaining garden and pulled out some of the larger weeds that were cozying up to the Air conditioning unit. I want to get the maximum use out of the A/C that I can get using the least amount of energy. I had a dead bush back there, so I removed that and now ther is a big hole. In doing so, I uncovered a couple of things that I did not know that I had.
I am excited about it now. I can actually get the grass seed and small tree and work on that other half of garden. I have had a couple of neighbors offer to come and help me pull, divide, and trim my plants. I will probably take them up on their offer.
I love my neighborhood.

Heidi's Ten driving instructions for the road.

Here is just an example of some ideas for driving instructions. I am not saying that anything is written in stone or anything, they are just ideas.

1. Thou shalt always use your turn signal.
2. Thou shalt not smoke where I can smell it.
3. Thou shalt not drink and drive.
4. Thou shalt not slam on your brakes in front of others.
5. Thou shalt be courteous at all times (yeah right).
6. Thou shalt not use obscene hand gestures.
7. Thou shalt always smile at others when you pass them (yeah right).
8. Thou shalt always be patient with Grandma/Grandpa drivers as one day you will drive like
them.
9. Thou shalt not tailgate.
10. Thou shalt follow merging signs in construction zones immediately so others do not have to
wait for you.

Illinois drivers

I seem to never have experiences on the road like my friend Ann-Marie see www.lefthandedrabbit.blogspot.com . This comes in light of the Vatican (since I am not Catholic, it holds no meaning for me) issuing the "Ten Commandments" for driving.
This is kind of a venting post. I am not meaning to sound like a mean monster, but there are a few things that really annoy me. Maybe these things happen all over the place, but I have seen them the most here in Illinois.
My experiences today entail annoying people who brake in front of you in parking lots and tailgaters (and an occasional non turn signal user). I have several pet peeves, but tailgating and not using the turn signal are my biggest ones. HELLO people, cars (US and foreign made, so there is no excuse for those of you who drive foreign models) are made with turn signals for a reason. Do you think drivers know how to use them? NOoooo, instead they cut you off in traffic then either stop in front of you or go at a snails pace, granted in Chicago you have to or you do not get in the lane you want, but come on, people, do you have to cut people off without using the blinker everywhere you go? Also, people put on their brakes in front of you and you have to put on yours and you have no idea why until they turn.
Something that happened to me today was I went to a McDonalds and the person in front of me apparently wanted a certain parking space and decided at the last minute and stopped in front of me. I had to slam on my brakes and my poor kids were thrown forward. In cases likes these I am thankful for seat belts.
Another incident I was at a stop light at an intersection on one of our towns busiest streets and another one that is fairly busy. I had my turn signal ON and was waiting for oncoming traffic and there was a lady behind me. I did not turn fast enough so she huffily went around me and made a dirty face at me. At least I used my turn signal!!
On to tailgating. One of our main streets is under construction, so I was going slow because you are supposed to in construction zones, duh!!! There was this lady following me so close that if I would have slammed on the brakes, she would have backended me. Thankfuly, it would have been her fault, but still. ANNOYING!! I tapped my brakes to give her the idea to back off and she did not give an inch.
One more thing. I also hate it when people cannot read construction signs that say things like "right lane closed 1 mile". Why do you think there are traffic tie ups at construction zones? It is because of those people who don't merge at the first sign (or maybe even the second), but wait until the lane is ending right in front of them and they have no choice. They cannot wait in traffic like the rest of us. They must get in front of one more car because it just might make them have to wait a few seconds longer. Road construction is annoying for all of us, so just suck it up people and wait in line like the rest of us who follow the instructions.
I don't mean to sound like I am a saint on the road, and I am sure that my driving bugs others sometimes (like my mom and my Grandma), but I do try most of the time to be courteous and follow the rules that I would hope others would follow.

Forgetfulness

How annoying is this? I had it on my mind to get dish cloths because it had been years since I had replaced my old ones. I threw my last old one into the dirty pile, where it will probably end up in the trash before it gets washed, so I did not have any to use with the expectation and great anticipation on going out to get some fresh new ones. My whole family went to Wal-mart (the dreaded place) for some much needed pieces of clothing and of course the dish cloths. I could have got them at Target, but there were some other stuff that I could not get there, like ground beef. Back to the subject at hand. I had a small cart load of stuff and what did I forget, the baby formula, (thank goodness, no), ground beef, no; undergarments, no; I even added insect repellent to the cart, but did I get the dish cloths? sadly, no.
I had to run out today with all 3 children to get the dish cloths because I need them badly so I can continue to clean the table and counters with them.

Pirates

Need I say more? I don't go to the theatres very often, but when I do, it better be good. I am not one of those people who go every week (not that I have a problem with that), so the movie better be worth my time. There are not many occasions that get me all excited about movie theatres, but this past weekend, my husband took me to see Pirates of the Caribbean -- At World's End. That is one that I will recommend for kids older than 13 of course and adults alike. There is nothing like the Swashbuckling skills and thrills of Johnny Depp (aka CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow) and Orlando Bloom (aka William Turner) on the big screen. Not to mention the turns and twists of this latest version fr0m Walt Disney Pictures. The excitement was trying to figure out who was on who's side and when exactly the plot changed. It definitely was not a movie that led to boredom. This time even Keira Knightly (aka Elizabeth Swann) got in on the Swashbuckling action. Definitely worth seeing.

air show

My husband and I used to go to the air shows in our home towns. Our dads would drag us there every year to see the planes (bonus when the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds were in town). Actually, I have always enjoyed going. The stunts were always amazing.
Last year, the Thunderbirds came to the show. We saw parts of their performance from our house and my kids seemed to really like them, but being only 3, we were not sure if they would want to see them up close since the planes are so loud.
This year, the Blue Angels came to town and we thought about taking them this year, but again were not sure how they would react. We ended up getting free tickets (including parking) and went on the first day (however, the Blue Angels were not scheduled to perform). Then we had this awful rain storm, so the place was wet and muddy, so anyone who went the first night could come back on one of the next two days of their choice. Bonus: We had free tickets and free parking and our other family members also were able to get free tickets so we could all go together on the Sunday afternoon of the show. We were able to see the Blue Angels perform anyway. The kids loved it (except for the baby). The baby did okay until the one plane came from behind and surprised us all.
I think the kids (as well as the parents) will want to go back next year.

Kids grow up

Wow. It has been a while since I have posted. The month of June is just so busy for me. I have two anniversaries including my own, 4 birthdays, and one Father's day (for three fathers), so it can be a bit rough at times.

Every day I look at my kids and cannot believe that they are 4 today. It seems like just yesterday I was making that trek from my hospital room to the NICU to see one of my newborn little ones, then back to the infant nursery to see the other little one. It is so amazing to see them every day and is hard to believe that they were so tiny. As I reflect on this day, I am going to share the experience of their first days.
For those readers who don't know, I have a set of twins who turned 4 today. Actually in about two hours it will be official. They were my first kids, so you can imagine the shock and fear that went through my head the day I found out that there were two babies instead of one. Actually, I laughed because my dad was joking with me about it the night before.
A few months later, I was sent to the hospital for an induction. Two long horrible days later, I ended up with a c-section, not fun. Anyway, one of the little cuties ended up in the NICU for 6 days (granted that stay was short compared to many kiddos stays in that wonderful place). At the time I thought it was the worst thing, but looking back, it was the best thing for her. She got better care there than I could ever have given her. I thank the Lord for those wonderful, caring nurses. It definitely takes a special person to be able to care for the very small and fragile babies.
The identical set of twins had what is called twin-twin transfusion which is a situation (only found in identical twins) where one twin takes the nourshment from the other one. It causes one to have too much iron and the other to not have enough. Sometimes it can end up with blood transfusions and blood infusions (as in the case of mine).There was almost a pound difference in their weights and the older one was much paler than the younger one.
For 5 days, I made the painful trek between the two nurseries. I do think that is what helped my body heal from the surgery faster as I had to exercise. I did not have a choice. I had to see my babies (both of them). On the morning of the 5th day, they released me. I had to go home with empty arms. Neither baby was allowed to go home. It was one of the most heart breaking things I have ever done. However, it allowed me to prepare mentally and physically for the care of two newborns before they actually came home. The majority of mothers do not have two newborns to care for at once.
Finally on the morning of the 7th day (after taking a CPR class) they let us bring both of the babies home. That was a scary, yet wonderful day. So we brought them home, apnea monitors and all.
The day they went "cordless" was a wonderful thing.

Now, 4 years later, they are growing like weeds, and sometimes I wonder where my babies have gone. It is exciting to see how they grow and develop each day. It is exciting to see where their little minds take them. It will be awesome to see where the Lord leads their little lives in this next year.

Children of the 80's

Here is a little something to enjoy. This used to go around on the e mail every so often. I thought I would post it for fun, as I AM a child of the 80's.

...Excerpted from http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Glade/4721/ with permission from UncleBob.
"We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first "lost generation" nor today's lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.We are the ones who played with Lego Building Blocks when they were just building blocks and gave Malibu Barbie crewcuts with safety scissors that never really cut. We collected Garbage Pail Kids and Cabbage Patch Kids and My Little Ponies and Hot Wheels and He-Man action figures and thought She-Ra looked just a little bit like I would when I was a woman. Big Wheels and bicycles with streamers were the way to go, and sidewalk chalk was all you needed to build a city. Imagination was the key. It made the Ewok Treehouse big enough for you to play in. With your pink portable tape player, Debbie Gibson sang back up to you and everyone wanted a skirt like the Material Girl and a glove like Michael Jackson's. Today, we are the ones who sing along with Bruce Springsteen and the Bangles perfectly and have no idea why. We recite lines with the Ghostbusters and still look to the Goonies for a great adventure. We flip through T.V. stations and stop at the A-Team and Punky Brewster and "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" We hold strong affections for The Muppets and The Gummy Bears and why did they take the Smurfs off the air? After school specials were only about cigarettes and step-families, the Pokka Dot Door was nothing like Barney, and aren't the Power Rangers just Voltron reincarnated?

We are the ones who still read Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume, Richard Scarry and the Electric Company. Friendship bracelets were ties you couldn't break and friendship pins went on shoes - preferably hightopVelcro Reeboks - and pegged jeans were in, as were Units belts and layered socks and jean jackets and jams and charm bracelets and side pony tails and just tails. Rave was a girl's best friend; braces with colored rubberbands made you cool. The backdoor was always open and Mom served only red Kool-Aid to the neighborhood kids - never drank New Coke.

Entertainment was cheap and lasted for hours. All you needed to be was a princess with high heels and an apron; Sit 'n' Spin always made you dizzy but never made you stop; Pogoballs were dangerous weapons and Chinese Jump Ropes never failed to trip someone. In your Underoos, you were Wonder Woman or Spiderman or R2D2 and in your treehouse you were king.

In the Eighties, nothing was wrong. Did you know the president was shot? Star Wars was not a movie. Did you ever play in a bomb shelter? Did you see the Challenger explode or feed the homeless man down the street? We forgot Vietnam and watched Tiananman's Square on CNN and bought pieces of the Berlin wall at the store. AIDS was not the number one killer in the United States. We didn't start the fire, Billy Joel. In the Eighties, we re-definied the American Dream, and those years re-defined us. We are the generation inbetween strife and facing strife and not burning our backs. The eighties may have made us idealistic, but it is not idealism that will push us to be passed on to our children - the first children of the twenty-first century. Never forget we are the children of the Eighties!!"

Happy Birthday

I must say it. I saw it on the headlines this afternoon when I turned on my computer. Those of us "children of the 80's" will truly understand this one.

Happy Birthday Star Wars. I was only a few months old when this one came out.
I have some great memories of Star Wars.

1. we went to the drive in theatre to see it.

2. it was the first movie that we recorded on our new VCR (those were just coming out).

3. I remember waiting for Return of the Jedi to come out on VHS so we could get it from the
library (there was a waiting list).

4. I had a crush on Luke Skywalker.

5. As middle school kids we would talk about Star Wars and act out scenes from the movies.

6. My dad and I went to see the "new" versions of the original trilogy in the theatres.

Concert

Our Sunday evening church service consisted of several groups fellowshipping together at several different locales. Our group of three families chose to caravan to Chicagoland to see/hear Keith and Kristyn Getty in concert. They sang several of the new hymns that our church has added to its repertoire of congregational worship music. We had a great time of fellowship before, during, and after the event. It was a great evening of God honoring music. Here are a few pictures (if I can figure out how to post them.

I've been tagged

I thank my friend Ann-Marie for this game.
"Rules"
After posting these rules, each player then lists random facts/habits about herself/himself, then chooses several people to "tag". The player will then list the names of those he/she tags and leaves a comment on their blog.

1) I had a crush on the youth pastor's kid (both of them)

2) I liked to play dirt bombs with the boys in Elementary School.

3) My favorite actors are Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp (only in the pirates movies), and Orlando Bloom.

4). I have a degree in History Education (though I haven't used it in a few years).

5). When it comes to housekeeping, I am not a neat freak (though I do try).

6). My favorite bird is the cardinal.

7) I like my Mother in Law.

8). I had braces

I tag Grace, Melody, and Karyn

Thanks Ann Marie for this fun game.

I've been tagged

Coping with the past

This is an entry that I don't know how it will be taken. Ever since I started a blog, I wanted to tackle this one and just did not know how.
I grew up in a very legalistic church. It is what we would call today, Arminian in its philosophy. Man-centered, decision based. If one did not go door to door every week, they were not doing God's will. They believe that God needs man to fulfill His will. It is man's choice, not God's if he gets saved or not. The more personal issues --if a woman wore pants, she was in sin and not right with God (we had to go roller skating, skiing --snow or water, sledding, camp, mountain climbing, etc... in coulottes). If the wife wrote the checks for the bills, the man was a wimp (it did not matter who had better handwriting). All CCM music was wrong, therefore they had their own radio station so that we would not fall into that trap (though Southern Gospel was okay because Pastor liked country music). If you used a different version of the Bible than the KJV you were not right with God. If a man had a goatee he looked like a horses rear end (the pastor used the swear word). The pastor there did not teach the Bible, but taught his personal standards and convictions and took verses from the Bible (KJV only) out of context to make his point. Churches like this become very judgemental and almost cultic because of this list that you have to live by to be "Spiritual" or to "look like a Christian". All this came to light through my new encounters with the Word of God with the help of my pastor (whom I have had for 5 years), my husband, and preacher/teacher John MacArthur (who is a 5 point Calvinist and would be considered taboo in the Arminian realms of our circles).
I remember going to the mall and saw another girl from our church in pants and thinking "how could she, doesn't she know that is wrong?" Now I am the girl wearing the pants at the mall. Another time from the pulpit I remember the pastor saying "I like going to the mall and seeing who is mine, " referring to women wearing coulottes. Scary!! It is a very controlling, man-centered environment.
It is not up to us to judge another, but God (my own paraphrase). A recent thing occurred with a friend where her husband left her for another woman. Come to find out this was on its way months ago and just recently came to light. As hard as that is to compute in my finite mind, I hurt for his soul. I cry for their relationship and for their kids who now have to share their parents in two different places. I pray for them almost daily and if it be God's will for repentance and reconciliation to occur.
There would have been a time when I would have said, "I am better than that, and that will never happen to me, or what a dummy doesn't he know better?". I still think he is not smart in his actions, but it is the product of indwelling sin. I now look at it as I am a total depraved sinner too and only by God's sovereign grace alone, I am not in that same sin. We each have different sins that we struggle with and I have my own personal sin that I have to repent of on a daily basis so that I can persevere in my Christian life and when I am out of the Word of God and my prayer life is not where it should be, I fall away into that personal sin.
Another thing is the music issue. Growing up, Steve Green was taboo. Anything that hinted at CCM was bad and if you listened to it you were in sin. I remember having heard certain names in the CCM industry mentioned from the pulpit and I knew that my best friend listened to all of those. My dad told me that when she turned on Amy Grant I had to come home. I never did.
Now in Christian Liberty, I attend concerts where God is glorified, e.g. Steve Green, Glad, etc.... The whole issue used to be "those people at the concerts are neo evangelical or charismatic and we don't dare have any fellowship with them because we are BAPTIST and we do not mingle with those who are not. Honestly, I know several people who are not Baptist who are better Christians than many Baptists that I know in the circles that I grew up in. Our church would not be a part of other Baptist fellowships in our area because they did not wear coulottes (e.g another team came to play volleyball, their girls uniforms were sweat pants. They were made to change into our extra PE coulottes to play in our gym),or did not use the KJV (1611 version I might add), or one of their men had long hair or worse, had a goatee. Imagine that!! Now I go to a church where about 80% of the men have one.
MBBC was no longer able to visit our church/school because one of their girls in their touring group got out of the van/bus in a pair of "shorts".
What is up with the 1611 KJV being the only version of the Bible? Come on people. Check out your facts on that one. Very few people who claim that, actually use that version. We could not understand it today. I picked one up while in college and tried to read it. I put it down as I could not understand it. Almost every KJV that is in use today by these so-called 1611 KJV onlyers is a newer version and has been updated in our modern language to some extent.
There is a belief in some Fundamentalist circles that if you use a different version of the Bible you are in sin and cannot be saved. I know people who have a much better walk with God who use a different version. I feel I have grown more in the past 5 years using the NKJV and the NASB, than in the 20 or so years that I used the KJV only. It is not a Biblical argument and should not be what you base your faith on, but on the God who is the author of His Word, no matter what version. I have my personal favorites, but I do not believe that Christianity stands or falls on a particular version.
I thank the Lord and John Calvin (he made them clear for the common man through the power of the Holy Spirit)for the Soul liberty and freedoms that can be found through the teachings of the Doctrines of Grace.

Mother's Day Poem

I have never really considered myself a women's libber. I usually mocked the people of the NOW and NARAL as they would march holding signs as wierdoes. That said, I do believe that women deserve equality in the workplace as they can do most things as well or better than men and should get paid for it. I don't believe, against the teachings of the church of my youth, that the women's place in the home is to be the footstool and be walked all over by the husband either. I believe that the two are more like equal partners who share headship in the home.
Along those lines I want to share a poem that was in our local newspaper on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. I don't necessarily endorse every line and rhyme of it, I just liked it and thought it was appropriate as we celebrate all our moms.
It was written by Tina King Love of Loves Park, Illinois.

I AM WOMAN!

I am the foundation of strength in the shoulders of which you lean. I am woman, no doubt, fulfillment of your dreams.
I AM WOMAN!
I am the backbone of man, for I was created from his rib, the powerhouse of wisdom, the bearer of his kids.
I AM WOMAN!
I am the light of light, the mother of many, the giver of love, for which I have plenty!
I AM WOMAN!
I am your strength in your hours of weakness, your faith when it is gone, I am the answer to your problems, the voice you hear in songs.
I AM WOMAN!
I am your food when you are hungry. I am the smile on your face. No one, yet no one, could ever take my place.
I AM WOMAN!
I am the giver of life. I am both mother and wife. I am a father when I need to be. For my children, my life I'll sacrifice!
I AM WOMAN!
I am the exact replica of my mother and her mother too. I put God first in all that I do.
I AM WOMAN!
I am the peace that you wish for on those many restless nights. I am the gentle breeze from the wings of a dove, soaring when in flight.
I AM WOMAN!
I am the comfort zone that surpasses none other. Your sister, father, best friend and brother.
I AM SHE, "The ONE and ONLY MOTHER!"
For after I am gone, there will be no other!
I AM WOMAN!
I AM WOMAN! A GREAT WOMAN I AM! I, AM, WOMAN!!!!!!

Twin mom and baby makes 4

What a day we had yesterday. Apparently when I was reading my Bible on Monday night I left my glasses beside it and they were knocked on the floor when we went to bed. My husband stepped on them and well, I tried to put them on and the bow broke off. So much for that pair. Thankfully, it was time to get new ones anyway as it had been three years. I was just putting it off a couple of months. Oh well.
So, I had the idea to go to one eyeglass place that offers low prices on glasses and includes an eye exam. Those of you out there who do not have optical insurance and have to buy eyeglasses or contacts know how those costs can add up. I toted all my three kids (near 4 year old twins and baby in car seat) into this place and filled out the information only to find out that I would have to wait 7-10 days to get my new glasses. Well, I cannot see long distance, so I would not be able to see the overhead or the pastor at church (Maybe that is not all bad, just kidding, pastor), and I would not be able to drive if I did not need sunglasses, and worse, I could not watch tv and that would be just horrible. Well, I knew that place would not work, so I toted them all back to the car and made my way to the place that we got our glasses at before at the mall, though I knew that it would cost a lot more, but I knew that I could get them that same day.
So, here I am again toting my three children out of the van to the mall. I went in and made an appointment for 12:45. Then I took my two older children to the play area and fed the baby while they played. By that time, it was just about time for my appointment. I went back to the store and found that they had never put my name in, so I had to wait a little longer, until I convinced them that they needed to get me in because my children would get hungry soon.
After I saw the eye doctor I ordered the glasses and found out that I would have to wait two more hours to get it done (thankfully it was still that same day), but I did not have my stroller because I was not prepared to go to the mall.
Here I am carrying a baby car seat and toting two nearly four year olds around the mall for two hours. We stopped to eat lunch, which I was not planning on doing either.
It is tiring doing all this. I did not get back until around 4:15 and I had left the house that morning around 11:00.

Twin mom and baby makes 4

What a day we had yesterday. Apparently when I was reading my Bible on Monday night I left my glasses beside it and they were knocked on the floor when we went to bed. My husband stepped on them and well, I tried to put them on and the bow broke off. So much for that pair. Thankfully, it was time to get new ones anyway as it had been three years. I was just putting it off a couple of months. Oh well.
So, I had the idea to go to one eyeglass place that offers low prices on glasses and includes an eye exam. Those of you out there who do not have optical insurance and have to buy eyeglasses or contacts know how those costs can add up. I toted all my three kids (near 4 year old twins and baby in car seat) into this place and filled out the information only to find out that I would have to wait 7-10 days to get my new glasses. Well, I cannot see long distance, so I would not be able to see the overhead or the pastor at church (Maybe that is not all bad, just kidding, pastor), and I would not be able to drive if I did not need sunglasses, and worse, I could not watch tv and that would be just horrible. Well, I knew that place would not work, so I toted them all back to the car and made my way to the place that we got our glasses at before at the mall, though I knew that it would cost a lot more, but I knew that I could get them that same day.
So, here I am again toting my three children out of the van to the mall. I went in and made an appointment for 12:45. Then I took my two older children to the play area and fed the baby while they played. By that time, it was just about time for my appointment. I went back to the store and found that they had never put my name in, so I had to wait a little longer, until I convinced them that they needed to get me in because my children would get hungry soon.
After I saw the eye doctor I ordered the glasses and found out that I would have to wait two more hours to get it done (thankfully it was still that same day), but I did not have my stroller because I was not prepared to go to the mall.
Here I am carrying a baby car seat and toting two nearly four year olds around the mall for two hours. We stopped to eat lunch, which I was not planning on doing either.
It is tiring doing all this. I did not get back until around 4:15 and I had left the house that morning around 11:00.