Sun Bathing

Never thought I'd be posting pics of our cat. Don't be offended cat-people but our Tony here only semi-peacefully co-exists with us. It's not always a friendly atmosphere between us even though I am the only one who feeds him now that the boys are grown. Anyway I am more of a dog-person, sorry about that!

But today when the sun was shining I so very much wished I had the freedom to do what he did right out in front of the whole world! It looked so refreshing & relaxing. But if I did this, it would not be nearly as cute & "aww" inspiring! :) I am fighting to get more freedom but doubt that I will ever get this free!

You lookin' at me?

Strange Weather

A testament to a strange season.

Sun visors & umbrellas in the same doorway basket!

More Whiteboard Beauty!

Does this happen to you? I am working on a slightly more serious but still fun post in my head. In the meantime I put off posting anything because this one idea is still there brewing & little scribbles in my journal are adding up to something good. For some reason it keeps me from posting until I can give out the main one in my head. Anyway, it is not ready yet & just now as I was reading the great comments about the whiteboard post, I figured I would share with you some of the other stuff that has appeared on that board during our schools' morning worship times. The music is sometimes loud & rowdy, sometimes quiet & contemplative, whatever seems right to the band that plays that morning. Students are dancing, jumping, lying down or sitting & writing. Freedom is the key to fun times with God in my opinion. So without further adue (whatever adue is!)...........

.

Yay, I've lost some weight since the butterfly one! Like my wings?

A Creative Morning

The ingredients:

A live band,

joyful people

who love God a lot,

freedom to express themselves

anyway they want.

What better way

to start your day?

Writing Prompt of The Day: Reading

I haven't done a writing prompt from the One Minute Writer in quite a while, but todays' prompt: READING caught my eye & I knew exactly what to write about.........

I have always loved reading. One summer day in my teens it was my turn to make the family dinner while my parents were gone for the day. I spent the whole day stretched out on the couch reading "Gone With The Wind" and when I heard their car pull into our driveway I jumped up & headed for the fridge. Problem was...I hadn't stopped reading long enough to eat all day & as I got to the fridge I promptly fainted! My parents found me on the floor in the kitchen & I did not get in trouble for the lack of dinner on the table!

Thirty-One Years Married!

Ok I promise this is the last of my never-ending anniversary posts!

February 18, 2009 Our 31st Wedding Anniversary!

I might even let him read some of these recent posts, thinking about it anyway.

What are our plans for the day?

Talked about going to the local SuperWalmart

& showing each other what Anniversary cards we would get

if we were getting cards!! Ha!

Desk Tag at Last!

A whole month ago Sheri who is a cute little blogger over at Sheri's World , tagged anyone who was interested to post pics of their desk & chat about it a bit. I kept forgetting to take a pic of my desk at work but here it is now in all it's glory.

I share my office at work with my husband, but we DO NOT share desks, that would be dangerous to all concerned. Our office is comfortable & tends to be the main place that people casually gather to talk, laugh & pretty much keep me from getting much done there. But I love it when it is full of people! I have even had days when I needed to leave the room to make a phone call! Ha! This pic is the view while sitting at my desk. You can see a corner of the Hubs desk, always very neat, clean & tidy. But it totally reveals who REALLY does all the admin work at our job! Where would we be without Post-It's? I love them & tend to get a little carried away with them. Shall I do one more exciting pic of my desk? Ok.........

Now that I am not a full-time mommy I can get a bit work-aholic-ish. I just love being there & seeing people all day & getting the paperwork all organized & graphed out nicely you know? Getting a great excell spreadsheet done is just so satisfying as compared to doing loads of laundry that will need to be done again & again! So there you go, my other favorite spot besides this comfy home chair I'm in right now.

Anniversay Week

This being our anniversary week I opened my laptop "some time" ago to wax eloquent about my hubby & our wonderful (off & on) marriage. But that "some time" ago was actually about 2 1/2 hours ago! I know, I know, you mommies of little ones are groaning at the mere thought of having such a chunk of un-interrupted time! My kids are out & about living their lives & stopping in once in a while to let me know they are still alive. And that description also fits the one who still lives with us! Typical conversation:
Me: Hon, did I just hear the front door?
Hub: Yah, Rocker son came in a minute ago.
Me: Is he in his room?
Hub: No he got a call & left about 30 seconds ago.

Anyway, I sat down to write about our life together & how we may or may not have done our 30 plus years right. But I spent too much time laughing & smiling while reading blogs & checking facebook & answering an interview thingy & even doing a butterfly puzzle on someones' blog site!
And now I hear that The Amazing Race is about to start the new season in 20 minutes! I love that show, it reminds me of our yearly mission trips with 30 or 40 students. Drama, running, waiting, laughing, crying etc. It has it all!

So all you get today from me is that adorable photo at the top. I have always loved his profile even though he strongly hates it due to his prominent appendage in the center. :) He is my hero, my prince charming, my biggest annoyance, my best friend, my noisy bed partner, my advocate, my accuser, my tease, my admirer, my love, my soulmate, my practical joker, my wine bottle opener, my true love & my husband. Lucky me!

Still My Valentine

This little strip of photos was taken in one of those photo booth things before we were married. On the 18th of this month we will celebrate our 31st wedding Anniversary! I can hardly believe it has been that long. The story of our getting together involved many episodes of our being interested in one another but not at the same time! We met in high school but did not get married until 6 years later. We often joke about how old our kids would be by now if we had managed to have the same feelings at the same time back then!

My hubs is the light of my life. He makes me laugh more than anyone else I know. His ability to see the best in me always humbles & surprises me. We spend all day, every day together & though it can get annoying to be together so much, I love the work we do & would not trade it for anything else. Even now as I sit here tapping away, he is sitting in a nearby chair playing a game on his laptop. He just looked up at me & said "There's my girl smiling; must be blogging again." :)

Valentines Day gets kind of lost in our house due to my birthday & our anniversary. I certainly can't complain while getting all pampered for those two important celebrations now can I? But it would be nice if they were separated a bit more so I could get my Love Language need fulfilled for V Day too! Ha! Yep, greedy I am, & now I won't even feel guilty about it Ha!

Oh yah, this was supposed to be about HIM! Oops. The mood just shifted here as he looked up & asked if I deleted any pay pal stuff off our joint email account. Yes, I did & I am a bad girl now instead of a smiling girl. Married life is interesting isn't it? But that is also the beauty of it, the moods have nothing to do with the commitment or the love. We are "we" & the small or large bumps don't change our "we-ness". (Stop giggling at that right now! :)

We have both changed in huge ways over these 30 years. He tells the young people we spend our days with that he is not married to the same person he married back then. Our changes have not always been easy to navigate. When I make a small transformation it forces him to re-examine his reactions to the change. My expectations of him change & he may not have any warning of the change! Some day I will try to write in more detail about this process for us. If the one you married many years ago becomes the person she was meant to be before life's garbage messed her up, you have to run to catch up & figure out all over again how to live together.

My Valentine has figured it out beautifully. Even though he is sitting over there right now muttering about trying to retrieve the email trash. Ah, he found it, all is well in email land & in our living room! :) Our life together is full of laughter, long talks, motorcycle rides, TV nights, dinners out (cause I don't cook!), teaching, worshiping, housecleaning (me), yard work (him), worrying about our boys, driving to our relatives, eating with friends a lot, laptopping, arguing, joking, teasing, traveling around the world with our students, and mostly being "WE".

Buy Me Stuff

I learned something about myself this week. Well, actually that seems to be happening most weeks but this was so clear it kinda shocked me. There is a popular book called The Five Love Languages or something close to that anyway. I have not read it but I have heard its' contents discussed around me a lot the last few years. Apparently we all have a certain best way for love to be expressed to us. Some feel truly loved when you spend time with them, others thrive on words of praise & some on the sense of touch. Interesting stuff & I know several parents who find it helpful in letting them know the best way to show their children how much they are loved. Cool!

I have taken the simple test many times over the years & I am always bugged by my results. It turns out that if you really want me to know you love me, you have to give me something! My "love language" is gifts! It sounds so awful & selfish & ......well, greedy! It also sounds true. But, my mind keeps saying to me, doesn't everyone love getting presents? I did not realize the depth of my "issue?" until this week. Two days ago to be exact.

My birthday is Friday the 13th (only good luck for this lady). My amazing hubs asked me what I wanted for my birthday & I suggested he do his magic on eBay & find me a used Blackberry. I'm the strange woman at the staff meeting who pulls out a giant DayTimer to calendar her stuff while everyone else is tapping away on their cute little iphones, blackberries, blueberries & whatevers. I love gadgets but we don't spend on luxuries like that. I've been using the same little silver beat up cell phone for several years, it still works, why replace?

So he gets on eBay (he loves eBay & gets a lot of great deals, like his entire motorcycle!) & we look over the hundreds of old Blackberrys. I start squealing over the pink or red ones & we narrow the search down, now we are getting somewhere. I'm getting excited, can almost imagine the cute little thing in my hands! He says since we can't really tell what the features are by pictures & written descriptions we should go to a local store & write down the exact names & numbers of the model I want most & then we can narrow the ebay search even more & get a perfect deal. He does much of his shopping this way. He'll try on jeans at the store & then come home & order the perfect size which arrives in the mail in less than a week!

Okay, so there we are in the store, surrounded by all these shiny items & friendly clerks. We ask tons of questions, our clerk asks tons of questions & we get it pretty much figured out what would please me. I write it all down on my old fashioned tablet using an old fashioned pen. :) We leave the store to compare prices at another store, just in case we decide to go ahead & get a new one. I'm thinking, yeah right, once we leave the store the possibility of actually purchasing is pretty much out the door!

But I find myself back in the original store again in less than an hour & my hubs is saying to the guy "We want the red Blackberry Curve." !! What? My heart actually started beating so hard that I leaned against the counter & I began to giggle in a way that was not entirely appropriate for a customer in a snotty phone store! I was holding on to him & just laughing! Seriously, I am not sure how to describe what that moment & pretty much the rest of the day felt like inside me. I felt trembly. I felt melted. I felt worthy!

We do not do stuff like that. Well, I will say, we never used to do stuff like that! My hubs & I are careful (thrifty, cheap, frugal) spenders. We are both clearance rack shoppers & love a deal. Our family style is just that way. Until the last few years I had shopped at thrift stores & even used coupons at SUPERCUTS for as long as I can remember. As I stood next to my husband in that store smiling my goofy smile at the clerk I learned beyond the shadow of a doubt that my "Love Language" is definitely gifts! And yes, that's my new baby at the top of the post, isn't she the cutest?

Sisters!

Last night I laughed more in one hour than I had in the entire week before! My sister called. Sis is two years younger than me & lives nearly ten hours away. We got together recently for a day & a half & had so much fun catching up on our busy lives & just enjoying being in the same room!

Ten hours is not a huge distance & it really seems like I should be able to see her more than once every other year for Christmas…but there are complications. Nothing huge & horrible, like a feuding family or hateful sibs, on the contrary our problem is just the opposite actually. My parents & Hubs parents & both our other siblings all live in the neighboring states so to go see just ONE family is not acceptable! Christmas is a non-stop itinerary that is anything but relaxing. So, visits to just my sis for no reason other than visiting just do not happen. I travel internationally at least once a year for my job, but sitting around drinking coffee & trading family stories is not “saving the world” ya know? J

Yesterday she messaged me on Facebook & said that even though she knew I was not a “phone girl”, we ought to do phone visits because our last visit felt so good. So last night she called & it was wonderful. Since we are close in age, we have a lot of similar stuff going on in our lives. She has older step-kids so she is a grandma already, but I’ve done menopause already. We filled each other in on what to expect, ha!

What is it about sisters? As I planned this post I tried to find a photo of Rosemary Clooney & Betty Raynes singing that great song, “Sisters” in White Christmas. I love that scene so much! They loved each other but could strongly disagree with assurance that the love would still be intact.

When my sis & I see each other, and I mean step into the same room & look at each other, there is just so much unspoken history & understanding in the glance. We have been through a lot together, more than we have ever expressed to others. But in her eyes I see it all. Even though we have gone for long, long periods of time without a deep conversation, the awareness of our connection is there.

That’s why I am so glad that we are both ready now to give ourselves some time to be together even if it is just talking into a phone. She’s got me humming now…….”Sisters……………”

Who Am I?

Instead of sitting down and actually writing something serious & deeply thought provoking I broke my own rule & read blogs BEFORE posting mine. And that led me to this fun quiz at Amy's place, the bitchin wives club! Of course I love the test result even though I came awfully close to being a Doris Day!

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Audrey!

You are an Audrey -- "I am at peace"

Audreys are receptive, good-natured, and supportive. They seek union with others and the world around them.

How to Get Along with Me

• * If you want me to do something, how you ask is important. I especially don't like expectations or pressure
• * I like to listen and to be of service, but don't take advantage of this
• * Listen until I finish speaking, even though I meander a bit
• * Give me time to finish things and make decisions. It's OK to nudge me gently and nonjudgmentally
• * Ask me questions to help me get clear
• * Tell me when you like how I look. I'm not averse to flattery
• * Hug me, show physical affection. It opens me up to my feelings
• * I like a good discussion but not a confrontation
• * Let me know you like what I've done or said
• * Laugh with me and share in my enjoyment of life

What I Like About Being an Audrey

• * being nonjudgmental and accepting
• * caring for and being concerned about others
• * being able to relax and have a good time
• * knowing that most people enjoy my company; I'm easy to be around
• * my ability to see many different sides of an issue and to be a good mediator and facilitator
• * my heightened awareness of sensations, aesthetics, and the here and now
• * being able to go with the flow and feel one with the universe

What's Hard About Being an Audrey

• * being judged and misunderstood for being placid and/or indecisive
• * being critical of myself for lacking initiative and discipline
• * being too sensitive to criticism; taking every raised eyebrow and twitch of the mouth personally
• * being confused about what I really want
• * caring too much about what others will think of me
• * not being listened to or taken seriously

Audreys as Children Often

• * feel ignored and that their wants, opinions, and feelings are unimportant
• * tune out a lot, especially when others argue
• * are "good" children: deny anger or keep it to themselves

Audreys as Parents

• * are supportive, kind, and warm
• * are sometimes overly permissive or nondirective

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz

A Letter To My Younger Self

I saw a project over on Missy's blog called It's Almost Naptime, that is calling on some of us older women to give a bit of our wisdom to the young moms around us on the web. I could not resist, especially considering this whiny post I put up recently. So the following is a letter to my former self, maybe I can spare her some agony!

Dear Young & Beautiful & Toned Mommy,
Don't you shake your head at that greeting young lady, believe me you are looking GOOD! I am speaking to you from the future & I have seen some stuff you would not believe. But I won't mess you up by telling you that we don't need to be home to answer the phone & we can carry thousands of pictures of the baby around with us without even changing the size of our purse!


The real big thing that I want to tell you is this......

R E L A X !

Most things that you lie awake at night worrying about WILL NOT HAPPEN! So why waste all that energy & time that could have been spent doing something much better like sleeping or....whatever! You are loving your kid! That is job one & everything else will fall into place after that. A moment of raising your voice too loud or giving a look that is harsh will not send your child to a future therapist. Laughing a lot now will save your munchkins a truckload of money in their adulthood!

Concerning your home; a messy kitchen or bathroom is a lived in & welcoming place. Having the towels all lined up properly in the linen closet does not help them dry your family any better. Warning here: Potty training boys is harmful to bathroom walls, carpets, linoleum etc. Get used to it.

Saying good-bye at the pre-school door is not fun & it will hurt but it is very healthy for both of you. Relax about recognizing that there is life beyond you. A weird thought, I know at this point when you are the center of all they do, think & are. But those first baby steps away are heading away.....& that's a good thing.

The eye-rolling that shows itself in teenhood is not a permanent opthamologist problem. Look at is as their way of using a special sign language to tell you how much they love you.(That will help!) They DO love you & they prove it by patiently & calmly putting up with you! At this stage "Putting up with you" is a really, really big sacrifice for them, so be grateful, but go ahead & keep doing all those things that get their eyes rolling. It's good exercise for them! Relax, this too will pass.

Believe it or not there will come a day when the sight of dirty soap & toys in the tub will be missed. You will wake up & not even know what kinds of kiddie shows are on anymore. You will go to the movies again & restaurants! You will be able to read a magazine cover to cover in one sitting if you want. You won't even remember the last time you changed a diaper. So the advice I give you lovely young thing is this.......

RELAX!

Give the boys my love,

Future You

Nana

I stole this idea from someones' blog today....click on the fourth file in your Pictures File & then click the fourth pic in the file & post about it. When it was this wonderful pic I could not keep myself from smiling, can you? This is Nana, my best friends' mom. We gave her a birthday party last year that was so fun & silly & very touching. She is as beautiful in spirit as she is in this pic, always smiling & saying witty things that no one expects. I love this lady!

I hope that when I reach her wrinkled age I will carry it as gracefully as she does. Unfortunately we have seen a strong decline in her mental capacities in the last year & she does not always know who I am. But still she smiles. The other day she looked down at herself while we were lunching and said, "Hey, I am a woman!" all surprised like. We cracked up!

After that birthday party last year she did a little "cha-cha-cha" kind of dance outside the restaurant. I want that!

KISS

KISS
I am a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson Books & my latest read has been a Christian Fiction called KISS, by Ted Dekker & Erin Healy. I receive a list of new books to choose from & when I saw Ted Dekker’s name I remembered his earlier novels, BLESSED CHILD & A MAN CALLED BLESSED & especially BLINK. I enjoyed very much & happily looked forward to his latest mixture of the supernatural & faith & mystery.

KISS is about a woman named Shauna who has been in an accident & comes out of her coma with the ability to steal the memories of other people. This “gift” is great for her problem of amnesia but she soon realizes that the cause of her accident may be connected to some discoveries she was making concerning her estranged father who is running for President.

I still cannot put my finger on it but this novel was missing some of the excitement & hope of the above mentioned books that I had read before. I probably would not have read the whole book if not for this review task. It ended well & I am glad I finished it, but it just lacked something at the beginning. It may be that the idea of stealing someone’s memories with a kiss is kind of useless & really has no redeeming value that I can think of.

If you are interested in a clean spy-thriller-amnesia-finding herself kind of story, this will entertain you. If you are looking for a glimpse into God’s truly supernatural world that we all have access to, this is not the place.

A Question

Do you think it was the yukky fast food I let him eat?

Ahead of My Time

As I wander through the many blogs "out there" I can't help but feel kinda jealous of the young moms who have "Mommy Blogs". You guys have a wonderful space to complain, compare, ask questions, record wonderful moments etc. as you document your mommy years. You don't need to feel alone in a house full of tiny jabbering baby talk all day. I know it isn't easy, but you are finding random moments to jump online & share your rant or your victory with other women in the same stage of life.

I too, was able to see that it was a sweet, though challenging time of life when my boys were little. But, without the Internet to record my wonderings & questions, I journaled it all. Boy oh boy did I journal it all! I have stacks of books filled with words & tears & even word pictures. I knew that even though I often felt alone in the journey, (my hubs was there but........) there were others experiencing the same crap, craziness & cartoon filled days.

I do believe that I was ahead of my time though in one respect. Realizing that these emotion filled days were not permanent & that someday I would be shocked to find myself looking up into my kids faces; I carefully wrote some pages in my journals that I called my "Snapshots" of our life at the time. I give you the proof that I knew how to cherish my sweet moments.

Most of my journal pages were filled with my questions & observations about one certain situation or another. But every once in a while I looked around me & knew that the moment must be remembered even though I didn't fool around with cameras much at that time. (Photo film had to go to the shop for at least a WEEK before we could see them!) So I wrote my word pictures of our daily life as a family of four.

Today I am so glad I did this. It's been over 20 years since these little love notes were written & I cherish them immensely! So, I guess I shouldn't really be terribly jealous of the young moms of today, but still...........

Addicted??

I dream about blogging ideas.

My legs sometimes get all numb from sitting on them to blog.

I have to run to the bathroom cause I waited so long.

My house is extremely dusty.

My living room chair that I blog in has a permanent indentation in it.

I can laugh at TV shows without ever looking up at the TV screen.

I'm staying up past my bedtime a lot.

I am checking out fewer library books.

I don't mind that hubby is hogging the TV most nights.

I sometimes know about weather problems in other states before my hubs sees it on the news.

I am taking more pictures than I used to.

I have taken pictures of my shoes!

My hubs is getting worried about my invisible friends.

I have "Followers"!

I am a "Follower"!

I have pointed to the cupboard & suggested "Top Ramen" at dinner time.

My laptop is my friend.

I miss people that I have never seen!

I have a bit of carpal tunnel.

Blogging is my reward after folding the laundry, emptying dishwasher, etc.

Did I mention that I blog in my dreams?

I make myself post a blog BEFORE reading blogs!

I have a fear of laptop breakdown!

I am writing more.

I write notes on blogging ideas at random moments all day.

I have sat in this same spot for hours at a time.

I do not feel guilty about that.

Strangers know more than 25 random things about me.

I try to walk casually to my computer when I get home each day.

I wonder about you when I haven't read you in a few days.

I LOL very often while reading you.

I have forbidden myself to check my blog while at work.

I start writing in my head almost before an event is even over!

I don't know what "Meme" means even though I have done it.

My hubby recognizes the "faraway" look I get sometimes.

Addicted?