Fall is upon us. Our pastor took this photo of Evangeline at our church’s harvest party last weekend. As you might have guessed, this was taken during the Chicken Chase. Evangeline nobly caught this bird and gave the dollar attached to its leg to her little sister who wanted nothing to do with catching a chicken. I thought it was sweet of Evangeline from the start, but seeing how hard she had to work to get that dollar, I am especially proud.
This is my new big purse. I got it for $4.98 on clearance at Target (Originally $19.99).
It all started because I decided I needed to get a better day planner for next year. With 4 kids, work, and a husband with various obligations, I need something a little more comprehensive than my date book from the dollar store (despite the comment I put on my sister-in-law’s blog a month or so ago.) Back in my “career” days in publishing, a great Day Timer was provided for me by my employer. It was the small binder type in which you place new filler pages each year. The one the company purchased for me was real leather and had my initials on it. Since it was pretty nice and personalized, I never threw it away. So I dug it out and decided I would put in new filler pages for next year. I bought the new filler pages at Target on clearance, too. They were on clearance because they are the kind that you have to write in the calendar dates for yourself. (And, yes. I will take the time to do this. I’m already on May.)
I knew if I was going to carry around this big planner, I needed to have a purse big enough to hold it. I felt it was providential when I went to look at the purses at Target, and this giant purse was available at such a good price. So naturally, I bought it.
I brought it home and proudly showed it to Mark. I explained my great plan of carrying the planner in the new big purse. He smiled and said, “You’ll outgrow it.” Now, I admit to vascillating between tiny purses, medium purses, and larger purses all the time. But I haven’t carried a purse of this size with this carrying capacity since the 90s. There’s part of me that hates to carry a giant purse. But I much prefer carrying one big bag to carrying a fairly large purse and another bag of some sort. The new giant purse can handle my new planner, my over-stuffed fat wallet (filled with everything but money), a few cosmetic items, my prescription sunglasses, and it still has room for an extra book to take along places you have to wait. Or, you can stuff a pre-schoolers sweater or jacket in the side pocket when she doesn’t want to wear it anymore. It really is functional.
So here’s the real question: do you, like Mark, think I’ll outgrow it? I really think it will make it through the winter for sure. If it doesn’t fall apart from being over stuffed, it may make it through summer, too, as it would be handy for all those fun outdoor activities of summer. Only time will tell . . . . .
Ok. I am now admitting that my 20 year college reunion is going to occur next weekend. I have not been back to visit since the homecoming the year after I graduated. (If you’re doing the math, that was 1988.) I haven’t kept in touch with many college friends. And, I only communicate very occasionally with the ones I have kept up with.
Nonetheless, when I think about my college years, I have fond memories. I was so happy to be in a Christian environment after going to public high school and wanting so much to be around believers on a more regular basis. My college was rigorous enough academically to keep pretty much anyone on their toes. I squeaked out with an acceptable average. I did pretty well in the coursework for my major, and I had what college admission people would describe as a “well-rounded” college experience.
I worked on the college newspaper, the college yearbook, served as an RA for 3 years, went on a short-term mission trip, worked on the coffee house ministry team. I had 2 really good public relations internships–one for the Pennsylvania State Historical Commission and the other for the Tri-County United Way. Overall, I was busy but happy.
My sophomore year, my father passed away very close to the end of the spring semester. I was so thankful for all the kindness and Christian love expressed to me at that time. It made a difficult situation much easier to bear.
When I read my college’s alumni magazine, I always come away feeling “a little less.” You know, like I haven’t accomplished very much. It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed, and I am not really doing any of the stuff I thought I would be by now.
I am still almost always worried about money. I am still struggling with my weight–even more so in the last 3 1/2 years than before. I am not a corporate PR or publishing exec.
But then I have to think about what is really important. I have been happily married for nearly 16 of the last 20 years. I have 4 beautiful children. God has always met our basic needs as a family + some.
When the college writes up stories about alumni, they generally don’t highlight mothers of small children for their accomplishments. They also don’t mention all the things that the alumni they are featuring don’t have. It is good for me to remember that stuff.
I won’t be attending the reunion next week. It is a little too distant, both geographically and emotionally. I think I would leave feeling a little empty, which can’t be good for me in any way I can conceive.
Despite that, I am thankful for my college experience. Even though my college is what many of my current friends would consider liberal, both theologically and politically, it was a great place for me to grow and test the waters of life.
Tonight I was looking through old photographs to find one to send to one of the reunion coordinators. It was fun to show them to Evangeline. The picture at the top is (obviously) on graduation day. How young and fresh we look! It’s really amazing to me that I have been out of college now nearly as long as I had been alive then.
It has been good to reminisce. It reminded me of God’s faithfulness to me these many years. I am indeed blessed!
After you get past the fact that my stove looks like a page out of 60s nostalgia, look closely at the photo. Do you see the broken glass?
So, here’s what happened . . . I was feeling very domestic, so after I made 2 homemade apple pies (from the apple picking outing of last week), I made a large lasagne casserole for dinner on Saturday night. I over loaded the pyrex pan, and, knowing it would run over the sides, I placed it on a cookie sheet to bake.
After 45 minutes at 350 degrees, I removed the casserole from the oven to set for 15 minutes. Then, I served up the casserole in bowls since it was messier than usual. Since it was a laid back Saturday night, we let the kids watch tv while they ate. I left the kitchen with my portion, and I didn’t re-enter the kitchen until I was finished. I was taking my bowl back to the kitchen, and I found glass all over the floor and the casserole dish broken in several places. The casserole explosion didn’t happen until at least 30 minutes after being removed from the oven.
First I double checked that I hadn’t left a stove burner on. No, that wasn’t it. All the burners were off. Ultimately, I guess it happened just because the pyrex couldn’t handle the heat. In addition to the mess to clean up, I was sad because the casserole normally provides for 2+ meals for our family. Needless to say, I didn’t want to try to salvage any for fear of including a piece of glass in someone’s food.
I was thankful this happened while we were all in a different part of the house and none of the kids mindlessly entered the kitchen bare-footed.
It was just strange.
Last Friday morning, I picked up this little guy from a church friend’s home. If you read her blog, you will see that they were just ready to have a dog-free home. We weren’t really looking for a dog, but Mark and I both thought the same thing when we saw his cute little face on our friend’s blog. So we decided adding Simon to our family was a good move. After 4 days, we still feel that way. He is just the right size, about 30 pounds, he’s well-behaved, and he is friendly. We are enjoying him and look forward to having him around for a long time. The kids are enjoying him, too.
As far as Tuesday Tunes go, I haven’t been listening to much adult music lately. Veggie Tunes 1 & 2 are what Charis requests most in the van. We occasionally get a dose of other children’s favorites like the “Hokey Pokey” and “A Tisket, A Tasket.”
Seriously though, I have been listening to old Rich Mullens Cds. I just love the song “Creed” on his Songs cd. This is nothing new, since Rich Mullens is no longer around to record anything new, but I just love the folk style of his music. I guess I would call it pensive.
The other cd I have been pulling out lately is Michael Card’s Starkindler. I love the old hymns set in new arrangements.
These cds are like the music I enjoyed 15 and 20 years ago. I am open to checking out new stuff, but I guess sometimes you just want to listen to something familiar that makes you feel comfortable and safe.
As a veteran blogger of nearly 6 years, I understand the sentiment of this article. I have never blogged for anything more than my personal entertainment and a desire to somehow connect with other adults. I started blogging in the first place as a sort of personal coping mechanism for the various difficult circumstances I was facing at the time. I have kept blogging for that reason and also to keep a sketchy record of our family’s life and my thoughts about it. Occasionally, I throw in something else. But I never expected to earn money or gain fame by blogging. I just thought it was cool technology that wasn’t too difficult for me to play around with in a way that might be fun and helpful.
Alas, we all know that real “bloggers” do much more than that.
The article in CT makes me wonder about the whole future of blogging though. Any thoughts?
As the title suggests, this post will be of the combination variety–meshing my thoughts about yesterday with the words to a song, thus touching on the theme of the semi-regular Tuesday Tunes post. Pretty clever, eh?
Do you remember the Bangles? From the 80s? In 1984, they released the song, “Manic Monday.” I remember being a young college student and singing along with it on the radio and thinking, “Yeah, this is how I feel about Monday.” In retrospect, I now know that my days back then were never really “manic.” They were just a little crazy because I was young and stupid.
Well, the Mondays in our house have officially become “Manic.” Mark works a split shift at a local community college as a tutor on Mondays–from 10 – 2 and then from 5 – 9. He gets up with all of us and helps to get the kids out the door. Then he works on writing projects for a little more than an hour until he heads to the part-time job. During the break between 2 and 5, he goes somewhere with free wi-fi to work on more writing stuff, mostly for the new contract job. So, his day is full.
Well, if Mark’s day is full, it sort of has a chain reaction. If you read my recent posts, you saw that I am working while Charis is at pre-school on MWF afternoons. So yesterday was my first Monday of not working in the morning. Overall, it was productive, but it flew by so fast. Before I knew it, 12:30 hit, and I had to get Charis to school and myself to work for my 2+ hours.
Working short hours anywhere is a challenge. But working where I do is even more so because half their equipment doesn’t work right. So I got about an hour’s worth of work done in the 2+ because I had to keep re-booting the computer and the scanner didn’t work!
Then I got the kids, and the homework-dinner hour began. It went fine, but by the time 9:00 PM rolled around, I was ready to relax.
Mark got home after 9:30, and worked for another 3 hours.
So, now that you’ve heard about our “Manic Monday,” here are the lyrics to the Bangles classic. After I googled to find them and actually read them, I was a bit hesitant to post them. I had no recollection of the suggestive part of the chorus. I guess it was one of those songs that I just sang along to and sort of mumbled over parts I didn’t quite catch in my head.
Here are the lyrics:
The Bangles – Manic Monday
Six o’clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin’ Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream
But I can’t be late
‘Cause then I guess I just won’t get paid
These are the days
When you wish your bed was already made
It’s just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
‘Cause that’s my funday
My I don’t have to runday
It’s just another manic Monday
Have to catch an early train
Got to be to work by nine
And if I had an air-o-plane
I still couldn’t make it on time
‘Cause it takes me so long
Just to figure out what I’m gonna wear
Blame it on the train
But the boss is already there
All of the nights
Why did my lover have to pick last night
To get down
Doesn’t it matter
That I have to feed the both of us
Employment’s down
He tells me in his bedroom voice
C’mon honey, let’s go make some noise
Time it goes so fast
When you’re having fun
Happy Tuesday everyone!
I was pulling out of my office parking lot yesterday, and I saw this across the street. It pulled out in front of me, and I actually passed a couple cars so I could get up behind it and look at it. This car truly looks like a toy. According to the website, the base model will sell for $12,000.00. It certainly wouldn’t be practical for our family, but it sure is cute. The Smart car is made by Mercedes. I generally think of Mercedes as being safe cars, so perhaps this will be the car that parents will be willing to buy for teenagers once they’ve been around in the states for a while.
I had a brilliant stroke of genius 2 weeks ago. I instigated “No TV Tuesdays” and “No TV Thursdays” for our older kids. This came to me as a way to reduce their coma-inducing television watching that would be relatively painless because on Thursday nights, all 3 have activities outside the house. So, they get home, do homework, eat dinner, and head off to their various activities. So it really only feels like they aren’t allowed to watch TV on Tuesday nights. But the added bonus has been that they are breaking a habit. Last night (Wednesday) they came in from school and started playing a board game with Charis. They didn’t head to the TV as soon as they were through with their homework. On Tuesdays, they have been jumping on the trampoline more. The heatwave of August really had a negative impact on their veiwing habits, so I am pleased with the results of my experiment. It will continue indefinitely.
At posting, that is. I was posting about twice a week for a little while there. Then September hit. The new school year is in full swing. Helping with homework. The kids’ activities have picked up. The list could go on and on.
Mark’s new contract job has also added to the “busyness” of my life. He has been working really hard learning and doing his new job. He also started a part-time tutoring job for a local community college just before the contract job started. So he has been squeezing 12 hours a week in there, too. Finally, he had just secured a writing gig for a political group creating their “candidate score card” for college students just before starting the new contract job. Oh, and he has some work for a regular writing client to fit in there too. So while he has not been gone all the time, I have had to hold up more of the work load on the homefront with all of this activity. I am not complaining–just reporting. Truly, I am thankful for the work he has secured. We are now praying it will continue for a long time!
My day job is almost over–sort of. I resigned from my day job 2 weeks ago, but because of the company’s tenuous financial state, they really aren’t in a position to replace me. So I have agreed to work 7 – 8 hours a week when Charis is at pre-school. One of the women who used to work there will also be helping with typing reports on a contract basis. But if this doesn’t work out to suit our family situation, I’ll be out of there.
Life is never stagnate, that’s for sure.
I hope that posts in the future bring reports of all the great projects I am completing around home. However, I have already agreed to 2 play dates for Charis on her free afternoons. Her social life may keep me busier than working! But it will be more fun.
Oh, and somehow in addition to being Charis’s activity director and completing massive home improvement projects and exercising, I am going to market Mark’s business. Hmmm . . . we’ll see.
Oh, yeah, I want to read more, too.