Thankfulness, November 8

Day 8:

Have any members of your family visited you this past week? Five cents for each one please. (Since most of my family lives about 3,000 miles away, I'm paying for each member who has visited us in the past year--which is four.)

To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Thankfulness, November 7

Well, with all the excitement of the World Series and the Presidential Election, and my new discovery of Facebook, it seems that this past month has been spent with fewer and fewer hours of sleep. Daylight Savings helped a little, but I think I'll just have to sleep the entire month of December to make up for all the hours I've lost. How about you?

Day 7:

Did you sleep in? A DIME for every half hour past 6am.

To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Thankfulness, November 6

After visiting my family a few years ago, I returned home, and the first thing I noticed was how bare my walls were! It seems the interior decorating gene is recessive in my case. I have managed to hang a few favorite paintings, but most of my pictures are in small frames on the piano and on bookshelves. I'm still going to count them for today's page.

Day 6:

To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Add it to the List of Favorites

Today we took a field trip to the Brandywine River Museum with the first grade classes. I wish I had taken my camera to show you how beautiful the grounds were with the yellow leaves falling into the glassy water! (Photos aren't allowed in the museum, and I'm just glad I remembered to bring diapers and snack foods.) I wish we had stayed longer, packed a lunch to eat outside (except it was rainy today), and brought crayons or pencils to sketch and draw what we saw.
It was beautiful. The best part was looking at the paintings done by N.C. Wyeth that were used as the illustrations in Treasure Island and King Arthur, books which I had read to the boys this summer! (If you're curious, follow the link to the museum's website, and check out the online gift shop--you'll get to see small versions of what we saw.) I'm looking forward to going back!

Thankfulness, November 5

After finally getting my fall and winter clothes out of storage, I realized it was time to splurge and buy new socks. (I got a great deal at Kohl's.) But now it's going to cost me a little more.

Day 5:

To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Thankfulness, November 4

There's one thing my husband does for me almost every morning that I am so thankful for; he makes coffee. Okay, if you know him, you know that I'm not the only person for whom the coffee is made, but still: when I take that first sip, I usually say with my light coffee breath, "I love my husband!" I do know some people--even people I call my friends--who don't drink coffee. But that's okay today! Today we're going to be thankful for tea, cocoa, hot cider, bottled water--whatever that special beverage is that you drink daily and are so thankful for.

Day 4:

How many cups of coffee/tea/water did you drink yesterday? FIVE CENTS per cup please.


To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Thankfulness, November 3

To learn more about Thankfulness in November, read the introduction here. I would love to hear from you if you are participating! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation! I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December).

Day 3:

Did you get a friendly letter or e-mail this week? Say thank you with 25 cents each one.

Thankfulness, November 2

At a time of year when we are all gearing up to go broke, I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December). I would love to hear from you if you are going to participate! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation!

Day 2:

Did you invite someone to come to church this week? No! Your fine is 35 cents.

Thankfulness, November 1

At a time of year when we are all gearing up to go broke, I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December). I would love to hear from you if you are going to participate! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation!

Here's the first one:

If you have grandchildren reward the bank. (It doesn't say how much to reward the bank, so if you have deep pockets, give generously to the bank, perhaps give a quarter for each grandchild.) I think since we don't have grandchildren, we'll give a quarter for every grandparent, and 50 cents for every living great-grandparent.

Thankfulness in November-Introduction

Enoch's Mom sent us this booklet which arrived yesterday, and I thought it would be fun to share it with everyone who reads my blog. If you wish to participate, you'll need a container to hold the change that you'll be collecting, which will be referred to as the bank. Each day there is something to be thankful for, and a small monetary donation to put into the the bank. At the end of the month, you'll have a heap of change (and a heap of things to be thankful for). Then you can bring your contribution to your church on December 7th, and glorify God for His generous provisions in your life.

At a time of year when we are all gearing up to go broke, I'm looking forward to seeing what a big blessing we can bring with us on December 7th (the first Sunday in December). I would love to hear from you if you are going to participate! Please leave a comment below, and even your website if you are going to post about it on your blog. Thanks for your participation!

Joe the Plumber

Two average Joes with all their plumbing gear.

I should subtitle this post, "The Woes of the Joes," because it was upon my strong suggestions that I convinced my two trusting sons to dress up as Joe the Plumber this year for Halloween. They really wanted to be boring things like Spiderman or a dinosaur or a soccer player.



But I got the idea in my head, and thought it would be the most clever costume of the year. And it may well be. The grown-ups all seemed to think it was clever. And last night when we went Trick or Treating, the boys learned real quick that if they told the candy-givers that they were "Joe the Plumber," they would get a good reaction. So they had fun.




But today at school was a different story. Kindergarteners and First-graders are not well-versed in the political conversation and climate that surrounds us this time of year. Not really. (I don't know why not. My 2-year old likes to say in her 2-year-old accent, "I'm Barak Obama; I poove dis message," but I digress.) When kids see one of their peers wearing holey jeans and a plaid shirt with a name-tag, carrying a plunger, all they really see is a kid with brown stuff on his face (the coffee-grind goatees) who doesn't look like anything out of the ordinary. So they got called "Dirty Joe" (because his face looked dirty), and "Hobo Joe," neither of which is something you want to be called by your peers.



The little plumber boys at school. The kindergarten teacher had to borrow the plunger because some naughty little kid clogged the sink with paper towels.

I was tempted to ask the little angel who kept teasing my plumber boy if she was dressed as a snowman, to give her a little taste of her own medicine, but I didn't. By the restraining of the Holy Spirit, I didn't. I really was tempted. But I didn't.




A sweet little princess who loves to say "twiko tweet"


I did tell my boys about a time when I was teased for what I wore at Halloween. (It was the only costume I can remember wearing, frankly.) My high school friend and I dressed as Sylvester and Tweety Bird. Only problem was, I was so tall, that I looked more like Big Bird! I didn't mind the teasing too much; I liked being tall back then, as I do now. I'm told my kids will most likely be tall too--since Daddy is 6'6", so the story fit well.



Even dressed as plumbers, they look a lot like a Latin teacher I know.

We fully expect our kids to be teased at school. We sometimes even joke about it, because we know we're such nerdy parents. But actually being there and watching it happen was not such a fun experience. However, it is a good learning opportunity for them to deal with those feelings and to encourage them to not be so concerned about what people think of us, and be more mindful of what God thinks. A lesson for myself as well!

Halloween Ideas

Halloween is here again! It’s one of those holidays that we have come to tolerate and even participate in with limitation, because it is a good opportunity to get to know people in the neighborhood and hopefully even to witness to them. Although we dislike the evil themes that surround Halloween, we have agreed to let the kids dress up, as long as it’s not a costume that would be dishonoring to the Lord. In past years, the boys have been little Frenchmen, fire fighters, cowboys, and hamburgers. Except for the hamburger costumes and the cowboy hats, our dress-up ideas have consisted of things we currently own or have on hand to use. In our township, they usually have “Trick-or-Treat” night the day before Halloween, in order to cut down on crime, I guess. So tonight is “Trick-or-Treat,” and tomorrow will be a 1/2-day of Halloween festivities at school.


So here are my bright ideas for this year’s Halloween costume options:

#1. “Joe the Plumber.” I’m pretty sure this is the only year that this costume option will be a huge hit. There’s almost no out-of pocket expense, although I did splurge and spend $2.87 on a new plunger, which we’ll be able to use for household purposes if necessary long after Halloween is forgotten. So all you need: a plaid shirt, a plunger, and a homemade name-tag that says “Joe.” You can use a 5-gallon bucket to put the candy into, which would make a suitable accessory. We’re also thinking of putting coffee grinds on their faces for a more mature-looking plumber.

#2. “Roman Senator.” Okay, this is appealing to the Latin-lover in our family, but all one really needs is a T-shirt and a large sheet to wrap around toga-style. My husband actually owns a tunic and a toga, so his costume is ready. But perhaps one of our scholars would like to dress up like Daddy this year. It’s a possibility. (Although it might be a little too cold to wear sandals.)

#3. “Soccer Player.” This appeals to my athletes, because we haven’t let them wear their soccer uniforms except for during soccer season. And at the rate they are growing, they’ll most likely not fit into their cleats come springtime.

#4. “Princess.” Yawn. I’m not a big princess fan, but my daughter does have a very frilly pink dress that is too big for her currently, but it might just be perfect for a little princess look although she’ll have to wear heavy stockings and a turtleneck underneath.

#5. “Recycled Hamburger.” If the princess look doesn’t work out, we still have the hamburger costume to fall back on. (We managed to somehow not take any photos of the hamburger costumes!)

#6. “Pregnant Woman.” And finally, the costume that I thought of last night that I think is the scariest idea of them all! I still have all my maternity clothes, some even still in my dresser drawer. So this would be an easy idea for me; I just don’t know if everyone will get that it’s supposed to be a scary costume—and not some freaky announcement.

Happy Halloween!

Facebook Phenomenon

Well, after a couple of invitations from my sister and a friend, I finally decided to look Facebook in the face and see what the phenomenon is all about. WOW! It's a bit overwhelming. I was just telling my Mom the other day that I think I like the pace of blogging much better. I don't get the kind of "traffic" that Facebook almost automatically throws my way, which is so distracting to me. It's already hard enough limiting the amount of time I spend doing blogging; Facebook is even more tempting as a distraction, because you're perpetually aware of who's online, who commented to whom, who did what (or is currently doing whatever). It's over the top! And my inbox is flooding!

I shouldn't complain. It's nice to re-connect with people I haven't connected with in years. But my challenge (that my long-distanced best friend lovingly reminded me of) is to actually re-connect with actual people and to develop actual friendships, rather than online friends who are easy to be friendly with but hard to be truly honest with (and almost impossible to have over for dinner).

Unfortunately for me today, I have to skip my Tuesday morning Bible study class at church (with actual people) because I'm keeping Tristan home from school due to a cold. So here I sit, at least for a few moments, in the computer state. My thoughts are trailing now, so it's best to wrap it up. But in conclusion, Facebook seems too much in my face. I won't write it off completely, but that's how I feel about it at the moment. At the same time, I'll just holler out to anyone interested--let me know if you want to be a part of Facebook, and I will gladly be your "Facebook friend."

Good Old Fashioned Hard Work

I noticed yesterday while looking over at my side bar that year-to-date I have as many posts so far as I did the entire year last year! And yes, that includes the most recent hiatus. So that makes me feel pretty good. My desire is to keep posting; more frequently. Maybe I'll even update that ol' sidebar one of these days.

I recently called my sister and asked if she would help hold me accountable to my housekeeping goals. Her enthusiastic response was telling: she laughed at me. Then she e-mailed me photos of HER house, and I realized that she had in fact inherited that same gene as me! So now we are calling one another on occasion and trying to encourage one another to make goals and then accomplish them. I was about to e-mail these photos to her, but decided to do something ghastly and frightening (hey, it's almost Halloween--why not?). So I'm posting these photos on my blog for the whole world to see. It's currently 11:50. At 2:30 this afternoon, I will take photos of my progress and post them.

When I tell my kids to go clean their room, and then check on them 20 minutes later, I know whether they've been working or not by the visible evidence that is very telling. And now I'm applying the same principal to myself. So I'd better get working! I also have a (nearly) 2-year old and a nursing baby and LUNCH to contend with, but the proof will be in the photos. I'll post them later, Lord-willing!

****************Afternoon Update******************

So here are some afternoon reflections. While you can see a difference between the sets of photos, it's still not done. But you obviously can see that I wasn't sitting and watching TV or staring at my computer all day long; not that anyone is accusing me of doing that--it's my own conscience that's nagging at me! I'm amazed at how much STUFF just doesn't get put away. That is a habit I have to really focus on. And here's a bonus photo of my new stove (one of those posts that never got posted about while my parents were visiting), and some chicken parts roasting in the oven--dinner is in the making--and it's not even 3pm yet! SLAP MY BACK AND CALL ME ETHEL! (I still need to mop that filthy floor, sort through the mail piled high on my desk, and don't even get me started about the basement! But we'll chalk one up for domestic victory.) Now I'm off to pick up my little helpers!

Blogging one-handed

Well I wasn't planning to take a month off from blogging. I just blinked a few times and realized a whole month had passed before my eyes. You know you're a blogger at heart when you go through your day thinking about how you'd post about every other event. (sigh!) I've had so many of those kinds of events, I'll never catch up! Meanwhile, NOTHING gets posted. Wow; that's a lot like my housework, unfortunately. But not today. Today I'm catching up on laundry. I'm actually folding it, an actually putting it away. Today I'm making apple butter in the oven, and we'll hopefully get it canned tonight. Today is going to be a day of domestic victory. It already is. (And hopefully it will also be a day of victory for the Phillies for game one of the World Series.) So if I get a couple of photos posted with this little blurb of a post, so be it. But once Brendan is done with his lunch, it's back to work.

B.J. for President

My fellow citizens, today is a brand new day! It’s time to consider the future. Soon we will be electing a new person to lead this great country, and I am in favor of embracing new ideas, new strategies, new onesies—whatever it takes to make this great country great again. Therefore, I am announcing my candidacy for president. It’s not too late to make a change, so vote for me on election day.

I am pro-family. I support the notion that there should be a breast for every baby, and a baby for every breast. My opponents want you to believe that because of my inexperience I am not capable of leading this country. I say poo on them. Just look at my bald head. Not a single one of my opponents can boast that they are naturally bald and beautiful. Let me tell you something, and look at me carefully: I didn’t get this way overnight!

My ideas about health care are simple. Everyone should take at least two naps a day, and sleep for ten to twelve hours a night. If that doesn’t cure you, then it’s time to visit your Mama. My opponents think that my health care plan is naive. But I think they’re just saying that because they haven’t slept a decent night since they were five.

My opponents think that because I haven’t picked a running mate yet that I have no idea what kinds of responsibilities a president will have while in office, or something like that. I can’t remember exactly anymore. Who cares what my opponents think? I can make a fist and shake it just as passionately as they can. I can even make a mean looking face that shows people I’m serious when I’m talking.

And I’m talking! Even if my lips are sealed, I mean business. And I’m in the business of change. C-H-A- whatever. You know, change. Business. Speaking of business, I’ve been a little busy myself and could use a change. Mommy!

Peace, out. Power to the Pampers!

Vote for B.J.!

News Flash

We interrupt our regular infrequent blog postings for this important message:

Okay, for those of you who don't recognize the person in the above photo, it's probably because he has a huge hole in his head, and he looks much older than he actually is. Here's another photo with better lighting and less flash:

So, if you need me to explain more closely, I will, but I will warn you that the next photo is a close up, and if you have a weak stomach for these kinds of things, consider yourself forewarned.

Last night Julien was complaining of a runny nose and his throat sounded scratchy. Since all his other siblings were at various stages of fighting the same common cold, I offered to spray some throat spray in his mouth to help soothe the pain to help him get to sleep. I was shocked when I looked into that mouth of his, and my eye caught a glimpse of two new teeth coming in behind his baby teeth! After my double-take, I insisted on checking for wiggly-ness, confirming the reality that at least two or three of his bottom teeth are loose (which is good, considering that the two new teeth take up as much space as four of the baby ones). So I sent him off to bed, and, of course, he then really had a hard time falling asleep, knowing that he was about to lose his first tooth. By this morning, it was obvious that he had spent a good portion of the night wiggling that tooth, and I was hopeful that the tooth would fall out sometime during school hours, since this stuff grosses me out a little bit. But, alas, the tooth was still intact when he got home. Thankfully, Enoch came home and was quite eager to help liberate the tooth, which he did with a tissue, even though he really wanted to use his pliers.

Now we need to figure out the Tooth Fairy thing. Since Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny are not sold here, it would make sense that our home would be a no-fly zone for the Tooth Fairy. But we need to celebrate it in some way. Perhaps we'll start a savings account to pay for future orthodontic needs!