A Funny Foto

My friend Tina started to call me "Lucy" a couple of years ago, and I in turn called her "Ethel". We just go together. We have been struggling over the last year and a half to find our niche - a way to maintain our friendship from a distance. She is not a phone talker, I am. We have written some lovely letters - but by the time the dang snail mail gets there, it's all old news - plus you have to rely on me to remember to mail something, and you have to know that it will take her literally hours of getting in and out of PO lines to decide which special envelope her special letter should be in, also find with OCD precision, the matching mailing label, only to get home and tear it as she attempts to apply the perfect label to the perfect envelope. Yes, we can even be dysfunctional together from a distance. Anyhoo I was so excited when she got DSL. We've tried using instant messengers before to stay in touch, but never seem to have the stars align properly to have us both online at the same time - even though there is only a hour difference in our times. So, we have started to email regularly and it has been a great joy! Yesterday she said she was missing me so bad, so I sent her a picture to show her she wasn't missing much. In turn she sent ME a picture. We always talk about meeting in Dollywood, because it is about halfway between us - just the two of us - no kids allowed - to have a fun girlfriends getaway. I just had to make this picture of the two of us - I hope you laugh as hard as we did at it:

Boy, they'd see us coming a mile away!

Fall Has Arrived in East Texas

When summer is over, and all sorts of fall activities start, I start craving a change of weather. I want leaves to burst forth in brilliant color and cool crisp winds to blow my way. I want to listen to the Little Women soundtrack, drink apple cider and visit the pumpkin patch. Fall in Texas leaves something to be desired. Thus far the temperatures had not cooled. Occasionally you can see a brown leaf drift slowly and anti-climatically to the ground. But yesterday something wonderful happened..... when we left for co-op in the morning it was downright muggy. Around noon I started to notice trees blowing in the wind outside, followed by a little rain, and there was a major drop in temperatures. Today I would classify as chilly! Woo hoo. A sign of fall at last. The leaves are still brown, but there is a breeze in the air and I'm loving it.
The weather change put me in the mood to do something fall-ish. I stopped by the HEB and picked up some pumpkins, and brought them home for my kids and Michael to carve. We put on a scary sounds CD and carved us up some pumpkins. Kendra and Michael carved Jack and Sally from a Nightmare Before Christmas, and Kullen did Jack as well. Kaitlyn did a creative jack-o-lantern face. They were all pretty cool. I didn't get a picture of Michael's before he took it home, but he promised to send it to me. He lies - I'll never see it!

I never got a picture of Kullen with his pumpkin. He wasn't having a good night. The pumpkin he carved is to the far right in the top picture.

The Fun House

Growing up with a mother who was sanity-challenged (is that the politically correct way to say she was nuts?) my life as a teenager was very small, and dark, and difficult and revolved around her moods, whether manic or depressed, who she hated or loved, and sometimes something as simple as what side of the bed she woke up on, whether or not her coffee was the right temperature, or if her ashtray was clean (an OCD issue). I lived in a house where we hid when someone knocked on the door. I seldom had friends over, and when I did, my mom would use the opportunity to cause me more shame and anger than it was worth. Living like this is quite miserable. I would see other people that got together on weekends, or had parties and events at their house and it seemed I always lived on the outside edges of those moments that make all the rest of life more bearable - the laughter, enjoyment and company of friends. I promised myself when I grew up and had my own kids and my own home, I would have an open door policy. I wanted my house to be a place where the kids in the neighborhood wanted to hang out. I wanted our home to be the place where people would gather. I wanted people to just love being there - no matter what. When my neighbor comes by for a cup of coffee, I set aside the chore I was in the middle of and invest 30 minutes into her life. When my kids' friends want to come by - I almost never say no. Tonight a neighborhood boy came by while Kaitlyn and Kullen and I sat on the porch playing Clue in the cool night air. A little while later, Michael stopped by even though he knew Kendra was at work, and joined in. I popped a huge bowl of popcorn and we drank iced tea and watched A Nightmare Before Christmas (poor Kendra - we missed her!). There was no pre-planning - people showed up and we made room in our lives for them and it was a super evening. It makes my heart so happy that people like to be here. I am also so thankful for a husband that never minds how many people are sitting at the dinner table or lounging in the living room. No more hiding. No more shame. I am living in the fun house!!!! (and often the nut house!) Come on over!

Weekend in Words

Friday night we went to the Casting Crowns concert and it was great. I love their music and the messages behind the music. We did sit pretty high up and I was disappointed that the humongous Toyota Center in Houston did not have screens up high, so we (at least me and my diminishing eyesight - even with contacts) had a hard time seeing anything. They did have a huge screen in behind the band, but it did not enhance much. I don't mean to complain, I was very thankful to go. The kids were a lot of fun, the music was good so I will be positive and remember those two things. We also heard Leeland who was one of the openers, but we missed John Waller due to "stinkin' Houston traffic".
Yesterday we went to Michael's birthday party in the afternoon. In the evening I drove a carload to the Haunted Hotel in Nederland. Kendra was scared to death. It took us an hour to find the place and only took them 15 minutes to get through the place. At $10 a ticket, for a 15 minute tour, they were bringing in some kind of money.
Last night we slept with the windows open and it was lovely. The temperatures were cool but not cold and with ceiling fans going in the bedrooms it was heavenly. Today the temperatures have been mild all day long, with breezes blowing in through the open windows and I am loving it. I love it here when the weather gets mild - cool but not cold. Nice.

Homeschool Hysterical

A conversation my daughter relayed when coming home from work tonight had me in stitches. She was her new job where she works as a waitress, and met another girl that is evidently newer than her. The girl heard that Kendra was homeschooled, and this is the conversation that ensued:

New Girl: So, you're homeschooled? Doesn't that suck?

Kendra: Actually, no.
New Girl: Well, you don't get to talk to people or anything.
Kendra: Actually, I'm talking to you right now.

We were in hysterics - I told her she should've said, "I'm homeschooled; that's how I know what talking is!"

Sovereignly Ordained

One can of Wintergreen Long Cut Skoal = $5.50
Six tickets to see Casting Crowns in concert = $129.00
Gas for round-trip between home and Houston = $50
Dinner out for six = $60 - $75

Knowing you'll be out having fun with some of your favorite people the day after your husband decided to give up his chewing tobacco habit for good = PRICELESS

$96.72 for What???

I was telling my husband earlier today how much groceries cost. Actually I was telling him how the prices have soared in the last year or so. It is crazy. I am spending close to $150-200 a week depending on what we eat. This particular week, I thought I'd save us some money and empty out the pantry - using up all the canned goods, etc. that we have in there and finding recipes to utilize these ingredients. The picture to the right shows what I bought. If you'll notice - I did not buy any meats except lunch meat. I buy organic milk and some name brand items, but for the most part, I buy store brands. I also bought some Tootsie Pops to have on Friday to and from the concert for a treat (instead of stopping at convenience stores for junk!) and some card stock that is actually for co-op tomorrow. The total came to $96.72. I almost fainted.
Here is a list of what I bought:
2 - 1/2 gal. organic milk $3.68 each -Clorox bleach $1.88/gal - men's deodorant $2.07 - women's deodorant $2.74 (explain to me why mine is higher than hubby's???) - Toothpaste $3.47 -gallon sized freezer storage bags $1.12 - Card stock $3.88 - Apple Jacks $2.74 (a treat) - 1 pint sour cream $1.34 - 1 can navy beans $.64 (these were advertised on the shelf for 50 cents - so I was overcharged) - Saltines - $.87 - Coffee $4.96 - Butter $2.28 - 2 pkgs lunch meat $2.98 each - Tootsie pops $4.88 - Wisk $9.48 (have to buy HE detergent for the front loading washer that is supposed to be saving me money in electricity) - Downy $4.97 - Macaroni noodles $.50 - Chicken broth $1.00 - 1 can diced tomatoes $.54 - 1 pkg pop tarts $2.42 - Lipton tea bags $2.12 - Flour $1.58 - 2 pkgs oysters at $1.17 - Pepper jack cheese $2.12 - Shampoo and conditioner (good stuff - we have bad hair) $5.84 ea - Roma tomatoes - $.56 - Grapes $2.57

These things without what is already in my pantry would NOT feed us for the week - these are just the odds and ends.
Oh and on a bit of a homeschooler rant - while we were at Wally World - there was a local elementary school class there on a "field trip"!!!! Do NOT get me started here - but why on earth do elementary school students in rural America need to go on a field trip to Walmart?? Most of them practically live there. Their families spend their whole paychecks there. It defines their culture. They are all wearing the same clothes because everybody shops at Walmart. And they were not being instructed in any way whatsoever, they were descending on the store like a plague of grasshoppers, running everywhere, knocking over merchandise and blocking aisles. Oh brother.

More than Money

I had a nice, long, overdue conversation with my friend Carol today. I miss her so much. She has always been one of my biggest cheerleaders in life. Today I was feeling a little discouraged that finances are so tight right now. It is frustrating when we have to wait on little things like the purchase of a pair of shoes because of all the things I am juggling. Carol pointed out all the things in our lives that are so much more valuable than money - the relationships my children have with one another and me, the opportunities they have been given, the love that they have. It is so good to have a friend like that when you are missing the forest for the trees. True friends are priceless, and life is way more than money.

Craving Sushi

I had never tried Sushi until a couple of years ago - in fact, I blogged about it, although I cannot find that post in my archives anywhere. However, since that moment in time, I get to the point where I absolutely crave sushi - in the if-I-don't-get-sushi-now-somebody's-gonna-get-hurt OR the touch-my-sushi-and-pull-back-a-bloody-stump kind of way. I haven't craved anything this bad since I was pregnant. Here's the dilemma ..... I live in southeast Texas. It is not necessarily sushi country. I do live near enough to a city where there is some sushi to be found but I haven't found much, and what I have found leaves something to be desired. Then today I saw this video on how to make a California roll. I actually watched about 20 but this one was the best - and you can alter it by putting anything you want inside. Yummy! Now I am going to have sushi all the time, sushi all the time, sushi all the tie-yime!(insert instrumental from 80s song "Party All the Time" here)

I am also a helper in a 6th-7th grade literature class that is reading "The Master Puppeteer" - a story set in Japan, and we are going to "make sushi" for an activity. Woo hoo! I can't wait. I hope I am able to control myself and let the kids have some.

And I found this terrific video at videojug (the UKs version of YouTube) about how to eat sushi!
Check it out:

VideoJug: How To Eat Sushi

I Can't Wait!

Life is full of both of these - excitements and disappointments. Right now the biggest excitement on my plate is an afternoon with four teenagers and my Kully-boy (who thought he was a teenager at birth) at the Galleria Mall and then top the evening off with a top-notch Casting Crowns concert! I am sure somewhere along the way there will be good food. I find much "Christian music" to be cheesy, repetitive and bland - almost as if attempting to work people into an emotional worship experience. In contrast I find Casting Crowns so full of messages, eloquently worded that echo thoughts I have had about the church, Christian life, etc. Take this segment from the first song on the new CD "The Altar and the Door":

People aren't confused by the gospel,
They're confused by us.
Jesus is the only way to God,
But we are not the only way to Jesus.
This world doesn't need
My tie, my hoodie,
My denomination, or my translation of the Bible,
They just need Jesus.
We can be passionate about what we believe,
But we can't strap ourselves to the gospel.
Because we're slowing it down
Jesus is going to save the world,
But maybe the best thing we can do
Is just get out of the way.

I love it. I can't wait. It's going to be great!