Random Dozen

1. What insect are you most afraid of? Feel free to post a picture. Stinging and flying things. I don’t want an unpredictable bug getting on me while I try to kill it.

2. What is the greenest/most organic thing about you or that you do? I bought a set of cheap washcloths and use those to wipe down the counters. I probably have 25 or more and I wash all of them every week, thus saving at least 50 paper towels a week! Woot!

3. Tell me about a recurring dream that haunts you. ??? I got nothin’.

4. Have you ever missed a flight? What were the circumstances? Nope.

5. What do you consider your best feature? I have no idea. Um..my eyes. My empathy for others. I know that’s not a feature, which we tend to think of as a physical characteristic, but I was trying to go a little deeper.

6. What was the last concert you went to? Chris Tomlin!!! Loooved it!

7. Describe the most embarrassing church moment you ever experienced. Ohmigosh! This question alone is the reason I decided to jump into the Random again this week, even though life has been kinda busy lately. My husband and I used to go to a church that was very um..shall we say ”high church”. They had an orchestra and only sang hymns and the ‘special music’ was very VERY traditional. One Sunday there was special music. An older lady went up and began to sing. She had a beautiful voice. But it was kind of...operatic sounding. Lots of high notes. And we couldn’t understand what she was singing. And for some reason we both looked at each other got tickled about that simple fact. And we both (silently) giggled and giggled until I thought we were going to bounce right out off the pew. We were both so embarrassed that we ‘lost it’ like that, and we had the hardest time reigning it all in and moving on. We couldn’t even look at each other through the rest of the service, lest we bust out laughing. Another story involved us going to a wedding and the mother of the bride standing up in front of everybody at the start of the wedding but at the wrong time and letting out a loud “&^%$#*” and sitting back down. Awkwaaaard!

8. Are you a whistler, hummer or singer? I can’t whistle. I think I am mostly a singer, but only in a crowd or when nobody else is listening. I miss the years my daughter was oblivious enough that I could just belt it out off key along with the cd and not be embarrassed or hear a “mo-om!”.

9. George Washington Carver said, "I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in." What is God saying to you through nature today, or this very minute? That it is all His and I need to be in awe of Him every moment.

10. On September, 1, 1752, the Liberty Bell arrived in Philadelphia. What memorable event will take place in your life on September 1, 2010? Um..another day of homeschool.

11. Taco Bell or the Liberty Bell? (You must choose.) I am a patriotic sort, so the Liberty Bell. But I’m not exactly a history buff..and I like mexican food, so maybe Taco Bell instead. (although I don’t like Taco Bell!)

12. Do you believe men and women can have purely platonic friendships? yes.

To see how other people feel about the Liberty Bell and what bugs they’re afraid of and a bunch of other stuff, head on over to Linda’s place at 2nd Cup!

crabby

I guess crabby is just about the best way to describe how I feel right now.

I have not been ‘going there’ very much with my thoughts or feelings and felt like I was doing ok this week.

But there have been these other little things that are bothering me. I can’t find some simple household objects that I need. Misplaced. Lost? I have no idea.  But I’d like to be able to put my hands on these things that just seem to have fallen off a cliff into the pit of nowhere.

And it’s just been gnawing at me.

Some of that hit the wall…and my family (sorry!) this morning. I wasn’t a pretty girl to be around. My husband finally decided I needed some ‘cinnamon roll therapy’ at our favorite brunch place. As an appetizer for our brunch/lunch. It was soo good. Things were looking up.

And then I noticed a little over halfway through my breakfast burrito that it had cheese in it. I can’t eat cheese and had asked for it not be there. Grrrrr. I stopped eating that and wondered if I was going to end up sick.

So I wasn’t in a great mood when we left after lunch. But we were laughing and I was trying to make the best of the day and let go of my awful emotions from earlier in the morning. We flipped on the a/c and headed out of the parking lot.

And then..poof. The a/c just quit on us. So I rolled down the window and we headed straight to the dealer to see if they could work us in or make us an appointment for next week. It turned out to be the later, so we headed on home with the windows rolled down.

Made me laugh and remember going on trips in the summer ‘back in the day’ before cars had air conditioning. My hair would feel like straw after blowing in the wind all day. Thankful we have a/c now.

But this whole thing has been weird. None of the things in and of themselves are a big deal. And just by themselves, I wouldn’t be having a melt down over any of it.

But there is the ‘other issue’ brewing under the surface. I feel like I am using everything I have to keep it in check and then add to that all these pesky details of life. I just can’t handle all of that.

Of course I can’t.

But Jesus can. And He came to take all these burdens that weigh me down and give me peace that is beyond my understanding. And even though I know that and have experienced it, I still forget and need to be reminded.

Thankful to be reminded today.

13 candles

Today is another birthday.

Another one where we look at each other silently and knowingly.

And know there won’t be cake.

Or presents.

Or thirteen candles.

Another year has gone by.

I wonder if there will come a year that we don’t count how old would he’d be.

Or how long he’s been gone.

Probably not.

Happy birthday in heaven today, sweet boy. 

Love and kisses.

Mommy

walking with God…literally

I know y’all are going to get tired of me posting about home school. I can’t help it. Especially because right now while we get rolling, I don’t have time for much else.

We are stepping up her ‘workout’ for PE this week. That means we’re trying to spend a little more time on the treadmill etc. and up the cardio a little bit. Well, I probably don’t have to tell you that she and I are both pretty un-athletic. So bumping up the cardio is a big deal.

And I hate it.

I am not not a big fan of exercise.

The workout center at the church makes it easy as they’ve got TV’s to watch and I always have my iPod in my pocket to listen to music while I walk.

I spend most of my time on the treadmill with earplugs in and my hands lightly resting on the side rail dealies so I can walk with my eyes closed. I know I get a little less of a workout that way because I’m not moving my arms, but it keeps me centered so I can sort of zone out.

I can block out the tv, other people working out (except my girl that I have to remind what to do from time to time) and any other distraction.

And walk with God. Literally.

I listen to music and just worship God. And pray. I love it.

week one recap and an observation

This is pretty much just a recap of week one of home school and an unrelated observation.

Let’s start with the observation. I was out the other day and saw a man driving a very big (Cadillac?) convertible with HORNS on the front of it. I know some people think evvverybody in Texas drives those, but let me set you straight. Ummm, no. This might be the first time I’ve seen one and I’m pretty sure J.R. Ewing wasn’t behind the wheel.

Well, we have completed one week of home schooling. And I’m here to tell ya…

• Seems a bit odd to watch Paula Deen dish out the butter and fat whilst walking on the treadmill. (We do gym work 3 days a week and the other 2 days are weight/floor work we can complete at home)
• Spanish class is interesting via computer.
• I am not near as tech savvy as my husband…and the ENTIRE younger generation.
• Did you know you can say all the vowels in Spanish??? Here, let me show you! Say “Pepe, taco, burrito”. There! You’ve just said all the vowels correctly. Spanish should be a breeze from here, right? RIGHT??? : )
• I don’t think Rosetta Stone is interested in her looking at the picture of the waving man and saying “he’s hot” after saying “hola” into the microphone. I overheard that little jewel as I walked past her room as she played around on RS earlier this week.

But overall, we had a good week. We are still learning the ropes, as they say. This week was a lot of procedures and learning the tech with a little learning thrown in. Next week we’ll be hitting the real stuff harder. I hope we can remember everything we learned this week about zips, downloads, mp3s and a million other little details. hold me.

I’m flying!

OMG(osh)! I can’t believe all the researching, planning and ordering of the books is over and we are down to the wire.

Tomorrow is the first day of school.

This is our first home school type experience. I’ve always sent her off to school in new clothes and a full lunchbox. But this is different. And it feels different. I bought a few spiral notebooks for her to jot down little notes. And a big container of mechanical pencils, which are a fave around here too. And that’s about it.

We’ve been joking that she can go to school in her pajamas! Just kidding though. She’ll have to get her act together a little bit to visit the gym several days of the week. Until January. And then she can go to school in her pajamas! : )

I’ve been thinking a lot about all my routines and how things will change with this new school set up. One thing I realized is that I won’t have uninterrupted days alone to ‘get things done’. And one of the easiest things to get behind on is housework!

So!

I was chatting with a friend the other day and she had nice things to say about Flylady’s system. During our discussion, I figured out that I was already doing some things “the Flylady way”. That made me happy. But I could still see a thing or two that would make cleaning easier.

My bathroom counters are always a mess.

Ooops..pardon the kitty. Flylady can’t help me with that. But you get the idea...mess-y! And it takes time to clean everything off and move it all around to clean. So I got an idea.

I put all my bottles and containers in another container, so I can move ONE thing instead of a zillion little things! I’ll let you know how it works out for me. I plan to do my counters the Flylady way and wipe them down daily so they don’t get dirty. Should be much faster that way.

Isn’t it pretty?

I’ll let you know how it goes!

in concert

We had a great weekend! We found out in a rather round about way that Chris Tomlin (!!!) was going to be in concert close enough for us to drive to see him on a Friday night. (!!!) So we got tickets right away when we figured it out. Squeeee!

I couldn’t wait. The only things that caused a little dread were an unknown opening band and the heat. This was an outdoor venue. In the Texas heat and one of the hottest days to date this summer. (This week will be hotter, by the way.)

Anyway…we arrived and found our seats just as the first band was being introduced. Tenth Avenue North.

Did I mention it was hot. Notice the cut offs. Don’t know if they started out that way of if it was an afterthought because of the heat..and those poor guys were playing into the sunset beating down on them.

I may be so behind the times, but I had never heard of this band before. I wanted to like them since they were opening for Chris Tomlin. But that wasn’t really the case. There was so much other noise…drums and bass..that it totally drowned out the vocals except for a couple of lines here or there. Very disappointing because to me, the thing that makes modern Christian music..or any  Christian music for that matter..unique is the lyrics. And if you can’t hear them…??? When he stopped to talk, you could tell he had a heart for God and for others knowing Him, but the music fell short, sadly. I have his cd so I’m hoping the lyrics are there when I can hear them.

Had he just turned down the amps a bit, I know it would have been a whole different story. : (

It worried me that Chris (we’re on a first name basis now. haha) would have his ‘stuff’ turned up too high too, and I just wasn’t sure I would be able to make it through another set of that. It really did cause even my insides to feel like they were moving around. Bleh.

Anyway…he came out!

 

And yes, I think he’s got a sweat band on his head. Did I mention that it was super hot? : ) He did toss it later in the evening though.

And yes, he was AMAZING. His music was loud enough for a concert, but I could hear everything..all the lyrics..everything! I thought I knew just about every one of his songs, but he sang a couple I had not heard before. And they were amazing too. Cuz I could hear them. : )

I can’t say enough about what a gifted worship leader he is. He’s not ‘just’ an artist standing up there putting on a show. He is truly leading in worship. I truly felt like I had “been to church” as they say…even with all the distractions of being outside and airplanes and other noises. What a blessing and an asset he is to the Christian music community.

An incredible evening…even with the heat. Well worth everything it took to get there! : )

I’ll leave you with a taste of what we heard at the concert…

No more sorrow, no more pain. Such a precious promise!

Happy Monday, my friends!