Quick - Someone Grab the Marshmallows!

It is officially Spring now, and all kinds of green sprouts and buds are popping up, and certain trees are flowering. The daffodils are up, too, and I've already seen the first dandelion. I think they are like cockroaches and will survive a nuclear explosion. I'm anxious to see what of everything we planted last year comes back, and I'm really excited about our cherry tree - can't wait to see blossoms! We had our first round of thunderstorms for the season night before last, and yesterday afternoon we had our first 'dangerous thunderstorm warning' - a quick-moving storm that dropped some grape-size hail and buckets of rain. Today is more of the same - lots of thunderstorms and rain.

So now that we finally got some rain, we're not as dry as we were and hopefully the county will stop burning up. At least for a while, anyway. Intelligence-challenged folk have been out playing with fire during the dry and windy conditions causing most of the chaos. There's a reason that the weather service puts out fire weather warnings and tells you not to do any burning. So you have those brilliant people who decide to burn off their fields in a supposedly "controlled burn" only, it gets out of control. Then you have your true idiots who think it's fun to set huge round hay bales on fire. Those things burn forever. This behavior is found everywhere, of course, because stupidity is rampant. 

In Southern California there are Santa Ana Winds, when the wind blows the other direction out from the deserts and dries everything out (even more) making it a perfect environment for firebugs and accidents. I say accidents, but come on: smart people who use their heads don't build ANY kind of fire outdoors while a hot wind is blowing 40 miles an hour. Can you really call that level of stupidity an accident when there's all kinds of warnings on the news, radio and alerts pushed to smart phones? Why do they think there is such a HUGE fine for getting caught throwing a lit cigarette out the window in California? Oh - silly me: they DON'T think!

Here is a shot of the front page of the local newspaper the other day. I've mentioned this before on this blog somewhere, but I really feel that they should set up some kind of system of fines and compensation to the county for the enormous strain on our resources their lack of foresight causes. And notice it says "typcial number" - that means it isn't just me that has noticed the trend. Before the rain depending on what was burning, it either smelled like someone had a smoker going or someone was burning trash. The one smells kind of yummy and makes you want some barbeque; the other, not so much.

So I promised some photos of my lunch 'bento' lunchbox and here they are. The one tray has cauliflower, carrots and strawberries, and the other tray has leftover pork loin and yellow and orange sweet peppers. The strawberries are in my new silicon baking cups, and you can see the eating utensils on top of the lower tier lid which nestle under the top tier, and an elastic band to keep things together. There's also my infuser water bottle with cut up lemons. My next appliance is a spiralizer so I can make 'noodles' out of vegetables, but first, I need to get either some very small containers for sauces to put in my lunchbox, or some kind of other container or bottle that will hold sauces and dressings, etc. Hmmm...I might need a bag to put it all in, too...

It's thundering and hailing small pea-sized hail right now. I hope my outside kitties are safe and dry. I don't really know what Percy thinks about thunder and lightning. The other night I could hear him making these funny 'chirping' sounds - something between a purr and a meow, maybe - and alternating with something that kind of sounded like a yodel. Not being a cat owner prior to this, I have no idea what these sounds mean. When he is in his crate, he has learned to pull the sheet covering it open and closed kind of like curtains. When he doesn't want to be seen he pulls it closed. When I got up and checked on him, he was in there with his curtain closed making his little chirp-yodels so I put his stuffed parrot in there with him for company. He's really growing fast and I sure miss the sweet baby stage, because we are currently in the petulant toddler stage, I think. Everything must be stalked and attacked. But I like how he wiggles his backside just before he pounces :)

A Breach in Protocol

Had a nice day Saturday in Joplin: went by Hideout Harley Davidson to say Hi and look around. Got some gloves while I was there, which will look a whole lot nicer with my riding coat than my electric blue fleece gloves that I currently have. They are the only ones I have left since every black pair of gloves I've had have been (mis) appropriated by my boys. Typically they would cut the fingers off to use as army sniper gloves...Whatever, I finally learned to buy girly gloves so they would leave them alone. These new ones are black, but they have the HD logo in pink - matches my helmet :) - and they are a whole lot more expensive than previous pairs, so a certain 10 year old better leave them alone. Went to Hobby Lobby - they were having an awesome sale! 50% off wall frames and iron decor! So I bought a really nice frame for my degree and some others for some other certificates I received, etc., and got a couple of metal decor pieces ;) I can easily get lost for hours in Hobby Lobby, but my boys (and I include Hubby in there) won't let me. The lovely day was briefly marred, just a bit by some disturbing, but all too common behavior.

There are some weird things about people that I just don't get. You know, like when you go to a movie and you're the first one there - nobody else and all seats are open. You sit at the end of a row because you get semi claustrophobic and don't like to be blocked in for bathroom or vending trips, or, oh say, in case of fire...anyhoo, someone else comes in and sits right next to you. There is a whole theater available and they could sit at the end of any row, but they choose to sit right next to you, albeit one seat in between, but still! Or, as happened Saturday in the restroom at Sears, there are twelve stalls open - not two -  with just me in one, and someone comes in and sits down in the stall right next to me and poos. OMGosh, REALLY? Wow...just - wow! Why?? It must be some psychological thing, but I really just don't know. Is it for moral support? Is it a compulsion disorder like OCD? What is it about these people and who are they? Everyone I have mentioned this phenomena to feels the same way I do, so unless they are all lying, I don't know anyone who does this. Whatever is going on with them, it's seriously disturbing to the rest of us. I liken it to a breach in personal space like when people stand too close. Or a breach in protocol. What is the etiquette or protocol for public restrooms? If you see one occupied stall in a public restroom of more than two, you choose the one farthest away or at least put one stall's distance between. Everybody SHOULD know this. Clearly some do not. Maybe an experiment is in order. The next time it happens, and it won't be all that far in the future - it happens fairly regularly - I will talk to them. Maybe I'll ask them why they chose a stall next to someone when there are so many other options. Or, I could pester them for toilet paper. Over and over. Or maybe just flat out tell them how unwelcome their proximity is. They have violated public restroom etiquette as well as common courtesies; what should the penalty be? I'm thinking something along the lines of one of those prankster Japanese games shows: a hole opens in the floor and the offender and toilet drop onto a ski slope...Just a thought.

On a much brighter note, I hit well over 10,000 steps Saturday and all in all walked a little over 5 miles, according to my Fitbit :)  Yay me! And, the weather has been so nice the last few days, even though the Weather Service has put us in a Fire Weather Advisory and the county is burning up so that everything smells like smoke. Hubby and I went for a ride on the bike Sunday evening after church. A little smokey, but still nice!

More Ch-ch-cha-changes...

So do you have that song stuck in your head now? I do. But it's not as bad as that stupid Narwahls song - ack! Vintage Bowie is definitely preferable. 

Back on topic - more changes: I bought a FitBit Flex from Amazon, along with a Bentgo lunchbox, and some of those silicone muffin/cupcake baking cups - for dividing up food within my bento lunch (I don't like my food all jumbling up together - touching is okay, but getting all mixed in with each other, not so much). The Fitbit is for tracking my activity and exercise as well as food and sleep if I want. The Bentgo lunchbox is for bringing a healthy lunch, portion control, and it appeals to my inner-OCD self. I can organize my food and no one can say anything about it because that's what a bento box is for. I also bought a treadmill a while back. And, I'm seriously considering doing the Whole30 program too. Weight loss is of course a byproduct of the program, but it's more about food and eliminating the junk that we eat on a regular basis. It's restrictive, yes, but not as bad as some of the "diets" out there. It's just time to change things up; do things differently, hence the recent purchases. Plus, getting new stuff is fun, amiright?

The Fitbit Flex is an interesting little gadget. Of course I am always entranced by gadgets so it makes sense that I would end up with one of these, or something similar. The Flex won out over other such devices by ratings, cost, and the fact that I knew people who had them and could verify their performance and usefulness. The Samsung gear version would have been nice but it was way too much money. This thing has five wee little LED lights on it and I haven't quite figured them all out yet. I tried to do the sleep thing last night, and apparently it worked, but I didn't get it switched to "awake" properly because it showed me as "in bed" until 9:00 am when I got up at 6:00. But it also showed me as super restless those three hours, lol. It has a silent alarm feature where it vibrates on your wrist to wake you up, or, get your attention, depending on when and what you've set the alarm for. This will make it easier for me to track my walking both at work and on the treadmill, because I won't have to carry my cell phone (my Sammy came with a Health app that tracks steps) or wear something with pockets in order to count steps, etc. A friend told me to put it on my shoe while I'm on my treadmill because it won't track very well if I'm holding onto the handles - good to know!

I was so excited! I washed my Bentgo up and got my lunch stuff all set up then put on some eggs to boil to add to my veggies, etc., and went into the family room to watch a movie with Hubby.... and fell asleep. I woke up when T came into the room and wanted to know why the stove was on, and why there were eggs in the pan, but no water. Shoot! Apparently nobody heard the timer go off, which means Hubby was probably over there sleeping too! I cooled the eggs down and put them in the fridge, thinking I would check them out in the morning. But this morning I had to just grab everything and go because I forgot the guys were leaving early for a funeral at a church, so no time. I still didn't know if that egg was okay. The funny thing is that none of them cracked. I usually wind up with at least a few fissures, but these babies look perfect! And actually they are, or at least one of them is, because at lunch I peeled the one I brought and although the inside of the shell was a little discolored, the egg itself was fine - not even rubbery or anything! 

Update on the boys' room situation: S is discovering that change is not so bad after all. He isn't fully moved into his new room: one corner still has some things I need to get out of there, but no idea or place for where they should go just yet. For now, he is sleeping on two stacked mattresses with a nightlight and an outlet handy for plugging in his Kindle and finding that he quite likes it. since he slept on the top bunk, it plugging in his kindle wasn't easy, plus he had to share the nearest outlet with T. As for T, he is very happy to have a nice big bed, all to himself. Proof of that is visible every morning when I wake him up for school - he is smack in the middle of the bed at an angle and all sprawled out. Of course all of my boys sleep like train wrecks, so sharing a bed would be less than restful. As for me, it is quite lovely to not hear the constant fights over "crossing the neutral zone" or "stop breathing on me" etc.

I'll post pics soon, but so far I've been in a rush to get everything together in the mornings so no time for photo shoots! I really need to manage my time better and do it the night before so I'm not rushing around frantically in the morning. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll still be rushing around in the morning cuz it's how I roll...So no pics of my nicely organized food yet, but I'll post this pretty flower photo from a recent funeral arrangement. And one (or more) of my four readers just went "Eew!"... Why? - they're just flowers.

Change: What Happens When Snowmen Melt

Lot's of change happening at home, and some of it has put me in a thoughtful mood, to put it mildly. And it's all because we bought a new bed, according to my youngest. He is unhappy about the changes coming. He is resistant, but I tell him "Resistance is Futile" and of course he has no clue what I'm talking about. 

About the bed...It's been a few weeks now with our Sleep Number bed and I'll be honest, here, it takes a while to figure out what works. We came from a Tempurpedic wannabe: memory foam mattress that was about 10 years old and absolutely did not make it to its 20 year warranty. It was 'memory foam' alright - you could tell exactly where hubby and I sleep because it was a permanent memory in the foam. 

So, in the beginning with this new bed, almost every setting turned out to be too firm for us, but we are getting closer to our just-right individual settings. We are really glad we got the Flex II base that allows us to adjust the head and foot of the bed. That has helped a lot. I don't wake up stiff and sore anymore - yay! I did a little research and a lot of people feel like the Sleep IQ system (totally optional) is a waste of money, but I'm finding it very useful. It allows me to see how restless I am at night, how restless hubby is and how our restlessness may be affecting the other. It records heart rate and breathing rate too. Now, it doesn't seem to record every shift in movement, so I think the breathing and heart rate changes are what it looks for in determining restlessness. If I look at a normal night I can tell that my restless markers are right when I got in bed and when hubby gets home and when the alarm goes off. Those are times when I'm awake, or at least semi-awake. It also records when you get out of bed and for how long. Of course you can turn it off whenever you want, and it doesn't record anything.

We also got pillows: my pillow has a curved edge because I'm a side-sleeper, and I love it. I wake up with fewer neck and head aches now than with my down pillow. Hubby got one of those fancy cooling pillows - don't ask me how it works but it is designed to adjust to your body temperature and stay cool. He loves it. I need to buy a wrap-around type of bed skirt, though because the mattress is actually attached to the Flex Base (it has to be or your base would move and your mattress would slide off!) and a typical bed skirt that lays between a standard mattress or bed base and the mattress won't work. That means a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond - oh darn! :) We are also going to order taller bed legs, because the ones that came with the bed are too short for us. It puts our bed closer to the floor than we tall people like. The first time I got out of that bed was hilarious because I practically catapulted myself out of it. Our other bed was quite tall, and although this one is not exactly a futon, the difference in height was enough to really disorient me. Yeah, I know - not all that difficult a task.....

Along with big changes in our room come big changes for the boys. The boys have been sharing a room since S was 2. T is 14 (15 this summer) and wants his own room, but S is resistant to this idea. For him, T has always been the trail-blazer, so all he has do to is follow along because big brother has already figured stuff out. And they've always shared a room in his mind, and even though he complains about him, he wants him in there with him. And one thing he doesn't like is to go to bed by himself. If he has his own room, he will be forced to go to bed by himself. T wants his own room, and he also wants our old bed (go figure) so we've decided to let him have it, which means that S will move into my computer/art/craft/catch-all room. Which also means I have to find places for all of that stuff, and in order for me to find places, it means other places have to be cleaned out. I cleared out some junk in the hall closet to make room for my hair dryer, etc., and my crafty-type stuff (beads, soldering iron, etc.) will go to the garage for now. I made room in the linen closet by emptying the floor and the next shelf up for my art stuff. Those things absolutely can't go out in the garage.  My computer desk and a goodly amount of related paraphernalia is going into the living room, but I don't know what to do with a whole lot of other stuff. All in all, lots of work for me and some hard decisions to make as far as getting rid of some things because we just flat don't have room for it all. This distresses me just a little. Okay, a lot.

So I've had all of this on my mind and combined with the cold, gray weather we've had over the last few days and piles of dirty snow that are sitting around melting, it's made me a bit... blah. Then I spotted a bunch of melting snowmen on the way to work and felt downright sad. There's just something sad about a melting snowman, isn't there? I don't know that I always thought so - well, except for when I was a kid watching Frosty the Snowman. That was a tearjerker for sure ;)

Something to cheer up an otherwise drab day. I drew this on my tablet with a stylus (not a good one) and an app called SketchBook MobileX. It's a free app and has some nice options for brushes, pen and pencil tips, etc.,  and even the ability for a couple of layers and opacity settings. It was a fun doodle and I kind of like how it turned out.

To bring this thing home, change is inevitable in life. There are good changes and bad changes, and sometimes changes are just...different: neither good nor bad. But it happens, so we need to learn to roll with it. If I can get my kids to be more receptive to change now, they may be less curmudgeonly when they get to be old men. They may also live a fuller, happier life, which is also important ;)

An E-Ticket Ride

In the days before the all-access, all day pass, Disneyland used to charge admission and you got ticket books. Your ticket book had tickets from A to E, E being the best. So rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and the Matterhorn Bobsleds, etc. were E-Tickets. You could always buy more tickets at the little ticket booths, and the E-Tickets were always the ones that we ran out of first.

Back in the day, when someone had a fast car, or did something super cool/scary like jump off a bunch of rocks, nearly missing another bunch of rocks to land in the water (don't ask), etc., the experience was described as an E-Ticket Ride. It applied to crazy stuff that happens in life too. This past week or two has felt like an E-Ticket ride. So much going on, some of it fun, and some of it not so fun. For example, one of the fun things: we bought a Sleep Number bed with our tax return this year and we have been playing around with the settings and customizing our respective sides. They call it right and left, but I call it driver side and passenger side. Left and right is subjective, but no matter what direction your bed is set or where you're standing, driver's side and passenger's side is clear. Anyhoo...all of that hectic activity of being there for the delivery and set up, etc., and then not-so-fun happens: Bobby's computer has problems following an update so, I end up only getting 5 hours of sleep in my new bed after spending hours working on his computer and then scrubbing it all and starting fresh (a less-than-technical term for reformatting and reinstalling the OS and backed up files). Needless to say, my Sleep IQ score sucked. Work has been crazy busy, I'm helping Hubby with his final (Praise God!!) math class, every day stuff, and then throw in the odd getting pulled over by one of Hubby's fellow officers for some crazy never-before-heard-of tag status. So, the tag office has made a mistake on our registration by entering the wrong tag number, which does not match the license plate on our truck and now we get to get that fixed. Nothing quite like getting pulled over on the main drag through town on my way to work and being gawked at. Nothing to see, but they don't know that - I might be DUI or something better like a smuggler. ('Cause you know, that's what smugglers do - they come to some podunk town in Kansas to set up shop, right? 'Cause that's where all the big money is...) It was another glass-half-full moment because now we know there is a problem. What if we had been somewhere out of state when it got run? Of course, the first question out of everyone's mouths was "What did you do?" Hubby wanted to know why the officer was running my tag in the first place. Wow! I'm really feeling the love...okay, so I although the question is valid, I have NEVER gotten a legitimate ticket. Back home the parking guys would ticket me all the time for overtime parking at the day spa where I worked. Why? Because they wore those cataract-surgery shades and couldn't see my parking permit through the back tinted glass, that's why. Every last one of them written off! Yep ;)

Thinking about all of the fun I had at Disneyland, Pirate's of the Caribbean was always my favorite. I guess that's why the movies are some of my favorite's too. It's so much fun to catch all of the little throw-backs to the ride in them. Of course I haven't been back for years, so I really miss it. It was always my mom's favorite part of the park, too and we would spend a lot of time there in the "French Quarter" where Pirate's was and the Haunted Mansion were located. and of course the Blue Bayou Restaurant - so many great memories! I always wanted to work there. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said I wanted to work at Disneyland and be the riverboat captain for the Mark Twain....What? It could still happen!...

Word of the Day

The word for today is:

defenestrate

[dee-fen-uh-streyt]  

verb

To throw (a person or thing) out of a window.

Isn't it funny that there is a specific term for throwing one out of a window?  The word is Latin in its origins and was first recorded in 1618 or so in Prague where a couple of imperial governors and their secretary were thrown out of the window of the castle. All true, I swear - look it up. If you go to Wikipedia it states that generally, the window is not open when this occurs. Interesting, yes?

The first time I heard of the word was in a book by David Eddings. Two knights of different orders are having a discussion about a certain personage of questionable character and he explains to Sparhawk that the man in question was defenestrated. A humorous conversation about the word defenestrate ensues. Naturally I had to look it up to see if that was true.

The word is on my mind because I am about to go to battle and it always makes me think of Sparhawk, my favorite warrior character. I find myself asking what would Sparhawk do? Well, he would make a stab at diplomacy, and if it didn't work, he would lop off the offenders head and then have Sir Bevier pray for the idiot's soul. Okay, so I can't do that, but sometimes, it's satisfying to think about. Be honest - if money was not part of the equation, wouldn't it be satisfying to just chuck your computer out the window when you have "network connectivity" issues (the bane of my existence)? Or take a broad sword to the defective recliner the furniture store refuses to make good on (another story for another day)? What can I say? I read a lot of Louis L'Amour (westerns), David Eddings, Robert Jordan and similar authors as a young adult and they influenced my critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

I recently got over the flu and am still recovering, so I have zero tolerance for school teacher shenanigans right now. You know, there's always one. They say and do things then lie about it because they figure that with every child there's always a wee bit of doubt that floats through a responsible parent's mind and those type of people/teachers exploit it. I know my kids aren't perfect, but I also know when they are spinning a yarn. They seem to inherently know that the secret to a good lie is simplicity, so when they tell a lie it is pretty simple with not a lot of detail; details upon request. When my child relates a conversation including specific adult-style vocabulary, it's an indication that he's telling the truth. My kids all have a gift for words and have a wide vocabulary, they just don't typically use them in conversation unless they are trying to confuse or insult the unsuspecting. I don't know where they get this stuff...Anyhoo, all year long I've been hearing tales from my youngest regarding his math teacher. She has sent him to ISS (in school suspension) numerous times and has threatened it many more. She has told him he is getting an F in math several times as well, but all evidence points to the contrary, as he has been holding a solid A-B average. Recently he got sent to ISS for getting help on a math worksheet from another student, and was told he needs to "shut his mouth because he's annoying" and "Ms. C has noticed it too" meaning his home room teacher. Then he told me that made him sad because he thought Ms. C liked him. Now he may have misunderstood some parts of this, but he definitely didn't make it up. So, after hearing this kind of crap all school year, Hubby and I came unglued. Now, we usually tag-team these things. I'm more diplomatic, so I make the initial contact. Depending on the outcome, we send Hubby in next because he is especially intimidating, then proceed to an all-parties come-to-Jesus meeting where we can pool our talents for maximum effect. So I made the call today to the principal of Sully's school and about 20 minutes after we talked, the teacher in question called me. Long story short, I know Sully was telling the truth because even though she tried to put a more positive spin on things, she inadvertently revealed more than she knew and wound up validating Sully. The situation is under control for the time being, and she is aware that I am keeping an eye on things. We won't have to send in the big guns for this one after all. But I'm keeping him on standby just in case :) I will however be throwing Math Teacher under the bus tonight at parent-teacher conferences by letting Ms. C in on the whole "Ms. C-thinks-you-are-annoying-too" thing. Petty? Ummm...yeah, petty. But at least I am able to recognize my shortcomings for what they are.

I leave you with a photo of Percy looking out the window while I was home sick, recovering from type A influenza - yet again. Yes I got the flu shot, but they issued a warning that it would be less effective this year because they misread which viruses would be trending. Isn't that special? anyway, he was lovely company :)

A Little Slice of Heaven

Just like everyone else, I look forward to the weekend. I get to stay up late & sleep in - sort of - schlep myself around in my jammies, read & drink coffee, after taking care of the menagerie, of course. Great, right? Or not. This past weekend is a perfect example of a lazy winter weekend gone awry. Hubby was working, so it was just me and the boys, the animals, and the fireplace. Should have been cozy on a cold winter day. Except that it wasn't just cold, it was COLD! Ass-numbing cold, with frozen mix (rain, sleet, snow) - and the dogs think they have to go out every 15 minutes - urgently! Take them out and they wander around, or they harass each other, or bark at squirrels. The diva girls will pee on the floor out of spite, and nobody wants to take the risk and have to clean it up, so you take them out even if you think there can't possibly be anything left in them. Naturally, Toby thinks he has to go out every time the girls go - so he can pee everywhere they've peed, or pooped, or walked. Then there is feeding the fireplace. You can't enjoy a cozy fire without a bit of work. I tried to make efficient use of dog-time by carrying wood up onto the back deck and bringing some inside and putting it in the fireplace. Kill-two-birds, and all that because otherwise there would be no relaxing by the fire at all. As it was, my lazy-time was severely cut into. 

To top everything off, the boys were fighting. All weekend. Over everything - and nothing. As long as they were apart doing their own thing, it wasn't too bad, but as soon as one got bored and wandered into the other's space, the fight was on. Consequently, I spent an inordinate amount of my time breaking up arguments and herding them back into their own areas. Finally I gave them cleaning jobs to do that kept them apart and busy, for the most part. We tried playing Uno, but tempers were on a hair-trigger, and it wasn't working out. When I finally had had enough and flat couldn't stand to be around them any more, I chose to escape; I grabbed my tablet, put my headphones on and watched a mini-marathon of Psych on Netflix. I even flung caution to the winds and ignored the dogs for a couple of hours. It was like a little slice of Heaven for those few hours. And there wasn't even any potty accidents on the floor, confirming my suspicions that they really don't have overactive bladder disorder. It doesn't happen often, but I was super excited about going to work on Monday.

I could be inspiring and say we achieved peace through remembering how much we loved each other and realizing how important family is and how much we mean to each other. I could gloss over the melodrama and hateful words the boys spewed at each other with a tale of forgiveness and deep brotherly affection...but I just don't have the energy required to put that big of spin on things. And really, the truth is, life is messy. My life is messy. Sometimes we have days when there isn't a lot of love being shown. It happens. We get over it and we still love each other, but it's a messy process sometimes. Just because we love Jesus and try our best to follow Him, doesn't mean we are supposed to be perfectly poised and in control of our emotions all the time. I'm a work in progress and so is my family. Christians are placed on teetering pedestals inside fragile glass houses. We are constantly being evaluated for non-Christian-like behavior by non-Christians. We aren't going to be perfect. We are imperfect humans living in an imperfect world full of sin and all that small 3-letter word entails, and we will fall off of that teetering pedestal on occasion. It isn't a matter of if, but when. The difference between some Christians and a true follower is that a true follower will be heartbroken over his failures, repent, and pray for strength in order to do better because for him, it isn't religion. It is a relationship. So, yeah, even though I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus, I fall tragically short of perfection on a fairly regular basis, and sometimes, in spectacular ways. 

This past weekend was not so great, and anger seemed to be the soup du jour. I can't remember who said it, but when we get angry with someone, and we say that person "made me mad", it is a way of transferring the responsibility for our anger on that other person. They didn't make us do anything - we have a choice. We can choose to be angry or we can choose to not be. The one phrase I heard the most was "he's making me mad!"  Evidently we chose poorly.

New Year, New Opportunities

Screenshot from my phone

It is now seven days into the new year and things are starting off with a bang. We immediately got hit with an arctic blast. It's been in the low 30's and upper 20's for days. As I sat at my computer at 2:00 in the afternoon yesterday, the temperature was a balmy 28 degrees. Of course it looked warmer than it was from inside because the sun was out. Right now it is 11 degrees and feels like -8 with the windchill - because the wind has just got to blow. It can't just be cold - it's gotta be cold and windy. Today at this same time, it is forecasted to be 3 degrees with a windchill of -12...Mmmm - Toasty warm!! 

Then, Monday was the first day back to school after the winter break and they let out early because the school district along with a few others across the country, received an emailed threat. Bomb, gunmen, don't know exactly, only that it was intended to threaten the safety of students and staff. According to the FBI, it contained the same language as letters received by schools in other states, but they aren't releasing the exact wording of the email - to hinder copy-cat efforts, I imagine. I thought the school and the law enforcement agencies did a good job of "dismissing" the kids and getting them home without any hysteria or panic. To the kids, it was just an early release day that they weren't ware of - like a bonus, lol. Classes were shortened up and they had to round up bus drivers at the last minute - it was a lot of work and I think everyone did a fantastic job while dealing with the logistics of evacuating all the schools as well as the turmoil of frightened parents. Turns out it was a hoax, of course: some highschooler who got the idea, and the email, from someone he knew online outside of the country. Hmmm...Well, with a new year comes new opportunities - to shine and show the world what you're made of, or to involve yourself in random acts of stupidity and, well, show the world what you're made of....

Yes, so far 2015 is starting off exciting in my little corner of Kansas even though we pretty much ignored the passage into the New Year: Hubby was sleeping because he had to work, the kids were playing games and Skyping with friends, and I was watching movies and reading. Yes, we're an enthusiastic lot, we are! I've been doing a bunch of reading on my Kindle because I did the KindleUnlimited free trial for 30 days, so I'm trying to get the most out of my 30 days. At first I thought it might be a good deal for $9 a month and read anything you want, but there is a catch: Not everything is available for Unlimited. I found a series of books to read but the second book wasn't available, so I had to skip that one. Then I tried some that I had gotten part way through, thinking I could finish them up, but they weren't available either. I did find some others, though, so for me, while the trial period is great, I don't know that it is worth the money. Although, you can quit any time you want without penalties, so it might be beneficial to do it for just a while and then quit, and come back to it again later. I've seen the ads on Facebook about Oyster - they call it "Netflix for books" and I'm now wondering if it has the same kind of limitations. I would bet though that a person could just do the eBook thing through the public library system with similar results, only it's free. It's a thought...

I've got a few things to keep me busy over the next few weeks, other than the reading, as well as throughout the year. I have a couple of design projects, which will add to my professional portfolio, as well as some personal art projects. I also want a new winter scarf, so I need to pick out some suitable yarn - maybe plum or cranberry? Or maybe an ombre effect in blue and teal? I guess I'll know when I see the yarn. Oh yeah - I can crochet. No fancy stitches or anything, but I can - learned how from my step-grandma when I was a kid. Of course I didn't call her step-grandma, or even grandma. We all called her by her name, Alice, just as we called my dad's dad by his name, Clarence. He wasn't much of a father to my dad and he lived up in Yakima, Washington and we didn't see them much, so the grandkids were not encouraged to call him anything else. But oddly enough, my grandmother (dad's mom) didn't like the term grandma, so she also got called by her first name, Georgie - actually Georgia, but she preferred Georgie. Anyway, I thought about learning to knit, but it seems complicated - knit one, pearl two and all that. 

If I don't come up with any more scholarships and can't continue on for my Bachelor's in the near future, then I want to take piano lessons. One of the pianists at church teaches, and his prices are reasonable. He also said that I won't have to do any recitals, which was the big kicker for me when I was a kid. I was definitely interested and seemed to have an affinity for it, but the whole recital thing was a deal breaker. I know - I'm weird. The funny thing is, I don't really care :p

Hubby and I also talked about maybe taking a road trip on the bike this spring. When we got the new bike, Harley Davidson sent us an atlas with all kinds of routes to different places complete with recommendations for places to eat and sleep. It sounds like fun, but I think I would want to get a bluetooth headset before we go so that we can talk easier. We also need to plan a family trip. The problem of taking anything longer than a day trip is Toby, our German Shepherd. Toby has never actually hurt anyone, but we really don't want to test the waters, either. He's affectionate and goofy and loves his family - other people not so much. He takes his job of protecting his family seriously, and other people take him seriously. Who wouldn't? He's huge, scary and he sounds like a bear when he growls.

I leave you with a shot out my backdoor yesterday morning of a gorgeous winter sunrise.

Winter sunrise out my backdoor- no filter!!

Feeling Festive? Here's Cinnamint Toothpaste in Your Eye

I guess hubby was feeling festive and in the Christmas spirit or something because he bought cinnamint flavor toothpaste this time. I don't particularly care for cinnamon in my toothpaste, but oh well. I say nothing because as everybody who has been married for any length of time knows, you have to pick your battles. A wise woman will let those little things go for a larger and more significant victory later. I'm banking all of these so-called little 'losses' towards something bigger: I want the kitchen and dining area painted red. Not fire-engine red, of course, but a red that goes with the cypress green walls of the living room since it is all one big open space now with only a half wall separating them. Right now, the kitchen and dining room are a cucumber green because, as my four readers might remember, we tried yellow, but it looked like a Green Bay Packer fan decorated our house. I tried really hard to explain the relationship of green and red on the color wheel, and how it wold really look good, etc., but no dice. So then I showed him the color wheel and told him he had to pick something within a certain range and yellow is what he came up with. Of course it was a very, very pale yellow - in the can. Once it was on the walls, however, it changed. With the lights off it looked like school-bus yellow. With the lights on, it became Corvette yellow. 

There it is - nasty! It might not look so bad from this photograph, but believe me: it was bad. Just ask all the people who came over specifically to see it. Below you can see the cucumber green it is now. Not horrible, and it goes with the darker green, but I would like something warmer. Of course, now it will be harder to paint because the cabinets and everything are up now, which is why I am picking my battles. But I digress...

As I said, I don't really like the flavor of the cinnamint toothpaste, or the brand that it is, really, but I'm making it work. Or I was until the flip cap on the tube shot some of it into my eye -yikes! Every time I flip open the cap it spits, not sure why, but no matter how I do it - still happens. This time it happened to get me in the eye. Now, I'm sure it doesn't make any difference at all what flavor the stuff is, because it is toothpaste after all and designed for the mouth, not the eyes, so it really hurts, but because I already do not like it, now it is truly evil. In fact, in that moment, all the evil in the world was contained right in that 8 oz tube. So, once the screaming and jumping was over, me and my angry red eye let hubby know, very firmly, that we would not be buying any more of that particular variety of toothpaste. Ever.

Christmas is almost here, and my kids are getting antsy. They keep trying to get me to let them open one gift early, but I keep saying no. Really, though, if they are just patient, they won't have to worry about it because the kitten will do it for them. (we are now 95% sure it is a male, so the boys have named him Percy...Percy Jackson, LOL. I still refer to him as Little One, though) For the most part he has left the tree alone, although we didn't decorate it with any of the breakable ornaments -  just in case. He gives it a swat once in a while when he walks under it and it touches him, but other than that, it's just there. Or at least that was the case until the presents got under there. Now he is obsessed. He stalks the presents, and leaps at them with his paws up over his head then runs away and does it again, over and over. Sometimes he will lie on the couch and stare them down until he can no longer stand it and is compelled to pounce. Silly kitty :)

We are naturally hoping for some snow for Christmas. Weatherbug says there is a 30% chance of snow for Wednesday, Christmas Eve and then the chances go up to 80% for the beginning of the following week. So my kids are excited to get to mess around in the snow during the break. The last couple of years it hasn't snowed until the day before they start back to school. Which is okay with them if it delays going back, which it has before. My dogs like the snow, in varying degrees. My Bassett only likes it if it doesn't get too deep because her hoohaa is so close to the ground. My cattledog/lab fancies herself a dainty princess I suppose because she tries to shake it off of her feet as she walks and can't wait to get back inside. She's a hothouse violet, that one. Now Toby, the German Shepherd, he loves the snow. But then he is a long-haired variety and the cold doesn't bother him. When it's snowing I can't hardly get him to come in. He romps and rolls and flips it up in the air with his nose - he's a big goof. I am a bit worried about my outside kitties, but I have set out some old blankets for them, and hubby bought a bale of straw for them, so they will probably be okay.

Speaking of the outside kitties, my neighbor (formerly referred to as crazy cat-lady) and I had a little bonding moment this past week. I discovered the big orange male cat behind her house in the alley when I was on my way to work, so I stopped and got out because I didn't like the way he was just lying there - the sun wasn't out and it was too cold to be where he was. He wasn't moving and although I didn't touch him, I was sure he was dead. I felt so bad about it that I called her at the school and told her about it. Turned out that it wasn't technically hers, but one of the strays that she has fed over the years. I confessed to her that I have been feeding the kittens and several others and that hubby rescued one who we keep in the house, and she was so happy I thought she was going to cry. It made me feel bad for calling her crazy-cat lady, especially since now I am one too. She's a bit odd sometimes (who isn't?), but she has a good heart and in those few moments I began to realize that we weren't all that different and I was ashamed. I have always loved animals, and there are times when I would rather spend my time with them than people. I sense she feels much the same way. 


So this Christmas, God has illuminated a flaw within me and allowed me to examine and deal with it. Then he blessed me with a deeper understanding of my neighbor and myself. With God, it is always about relationships: our relationship with Him, our relationships with others. In this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, it is important to remember how much He loves us and that we are to love one another the same way. Merry Christmas!

A Food Epiphany and that River in Egypt

I must be living under a rock (some people might think this town fits that description) but I just today discovered Yummly! OMGosh! It's been around since 2010 - where have I been? It's like Pinterest but just for food. I'm in food heaven, happily "yumming" recipes and adding and organizing them into my collections. When I discovered it, I was thinking "it's about time someone created something like this" and then I was like "wait a minute...", did a quick hop over to the About section, and found out I had been missing the boat for a while. I believe I faintly heard a choir singing one sustained high note...

I have been steadily expanding my family's food horizons, and can claim some small success in that I was able to finally get both my husband and boys to try Spinach Artichoke dip this Thanksgiving - they loved it! Even my dad liked it. My youngest, though still proves to be the ultimate culinary challenge and is unwilling to have his food horizons broadened. He is the pickiest eater I have ever known, myself included. Then I had a flash of insight: this is what my mother dealt with, only on steroids. I confess - I was a terribly picky eater, but my picky-ness was mostly centered on mom's cooking. There were a lot of the usual things I wouldn't eat (green beans, lima beans, fish, cottage cheese, etc.), which made dining out a trial, but mainly my quirk was less about the food itself and more about who had cooked it, as in was it safe. I know, weird, but the only reason I can come up with was my extreme fear of throwing up. A horrible norovirus, the flu, or some combination of the two went through our house when I was about about 5 years old and it was a traumatic experience for me. Let me put it this way: the last thing I had eaten the night before was half of a Snickers candy bar (that was when they were the size of the king size kind we have now) and I didn't eat another Snickers until I was in my 30's. Then on the heels of that experience I contracted Pneumonia, so I missed a few weeks of kindergarten. From then on, anytime a family member got sick on something or somewhere, (or it was the last thing they ate before getting sick) I crossed it off my list and put it on the "Do Not Eat" list. The list got quite long, if I recall correctly...

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be *gasp* the big 5 0. I don't feel 50 (most days), I don't really look 50 (except for those extra 20 lbs that came along with Sully) and I'm finding it hard to believe I'm 50 (denial: not just a river in Egypt), even though I've had a whole year to get used to the idea. Hubby asked me if I wanted something special or if I wanted to go to our favorite Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi place. Since it is so close to Christmas, I've opted for a family dinner at a favorite semi-local (and sorta famous) chicken restaurant and a trip to Bath and Body. And maybe a new pair of silver hoop earrings... I know 50 is supposed to be a big deal and there should be a party and all, but really, I'm good with keeping it low-key. Maybe no one will notice and I won't have to explain. Fat chance of that, I know.