7 Quick Takes vol 3

Okay - it is FRIDAY!!!!! Yea! Thanks to Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary for hosting this. It really gives me a goal each week!


So, here are seven things tumbling around my head....

1. This was our first week back at school! We survived. What did I learn? One should never start school and one's "visit from Mother Nature" at the same time.

Yeah.....

2. The Monkey.

He is a handful.

Today is a good example. He is exhibiting a high level of crabbiness today. This is the note ArtGuy left me this morning. It has made me laugh all day.

3. August is a great month for saints. I mean, every month has great saints, but August just seems to be filled with many of my favorites. Every day, I feel like I am saying, "Oooo, ooooo, look who is the saint today!"
Aug 4 - St John Vianney
Aug 8 - St Dominic
Aug 9 - St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross/Edith Stein
Aug 11 - St. Clare
Aug 14 - St Maximilian Kolbe
Aug 20 - St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Aug 27 - St. Monica
Aug 28 - St. Augustine
and many more! Not to mention that Aug 15 is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary!

August is an awesome month for saints!


4. August is my birthday month! Whooo hooooo! Par-tee, par-tee!
I love birthdays. The presents, the cake, the..specialness.
I get so excited! I am NOT happy about being another year older, but I do love feeling special!

5. And my birthday brought an extra "gift" this month. I had to go to our local DMV to renew my driver's license...in person! Lucky me!
The good news - all the people that worked there were really all very lovely.
The bad news - it took over two hours, one hour of which was spent in a line outside. With the Monkey.

It was also my first driver's license picture as a fatty. I hate my round face. Blech!

I needed a very large Dr. Pepper when it was all over.

6. This week, along with the beginning of school, we are trying something new. The boys and I are reading through the readings for the upcoming Sunday every day. The first day we just read them out loud. The second day, we reread them, and began discussing what they might have meant historically. The third day, we listened to the psalm. The fourth day I was stuck in line in the DMV. Today we ended by discussing what the readings could mean to us today.
It helps us to "break open the word", and helps the boys gain skills in looking things up in their Bibles.

7. I love reality shows about cooking, interior design, and fashion. They are my guilty pleasure. I think it is because I do none of those things well - cook, decorate, or understand what fashion is or how to wear it!

And now it is time to go put the Monkey down for a nap. Hallelujah!

And Happy Friday!

7 Quick Takes - vol 2

Happy Friday, everyone!

Thanks to Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary, for hosting 7 Quick Takes!

1. This week, in an effort to find something good about this record heat in north Central Texas, we tried dashboard baking some cookies. Some friends yesterday suggested cinnamon rolls. I am SO going to do that. But it is too hot to go to the store right now....

2.  I am kind of bothered by a current fashion. Okay, let's face it. I am bothered by fashion of any kind. I am not, nor ever have been, a fashionable kind of girl. I admire fashion. I love looking at fashions. I wish I could understand fashion.
First, I just have no interest. Second, I have the totally wrong kind of body for any kind of fashion, outside of mumus and really, really big t-shirts and shorts.
And that leads me to the fashion trend that bugs me - short dresses and skirts. Let us first admit that we were in middle school in the eighties when mini-skirts were all the rage. Let us second admit that we did, ourselves, own one or two of said mini-skirts. Let us third proclaim that all pictures featuring this writer in those mini-skirts should be burned, lest the damage anyone's eyesight.
The fashion - short skirts and dresses are "in".
See this example from Wet Seal. 
The problem - very few women have the figure to really pull it off (and this is aside from all modesty issues).
Girls like me - and there are lots of us out there - those of us with big hips, rounded curves, and speed-skating-worthy thighs, should  NOT, under any circumstance, wear such clothing. Short hemlines do nothing for us, except make us look rounder (and not in a curvy way), stockier, and less feminine.
In short (hah hah hah) - it just isn't pretty.

3. Today is/was a First Lego League meeting. I said "is" because I began to write this at 10am this morning. I said "was", because people started coming, and now it is almost 4pm, so the meeting is done and over! Whew! Meeting days are crazy! I love First Lego League. It is an amazing experience for the kids and adults, alike.
If you don't know about:

1. First Lego League - check this out
2. The cool special to air on the ABC network on August 14, check this out!
3. My own FLL team, Storm System, check this out!

4. I need a haircut. I want that haircut to make me look fabulous.

5. How do you pray? Do you have a formal time each day? Do you just fling some "Lord, have mercy's" up to heaven throughout the day? How do you connect and make time?
Some days I manage the daily readings. Some days I mutter throughout the day, looking like some crazy woman  (but I am praying, honest!). Some days I work it in when I wake up and when I get to bed. Some days it is in action, as I bite my tongue, or patiently play cars with the Monkey...again....

6. So, when did life get so complicated? I remember college. Everything seemed so clear-cut, then. I had a job (to study), a goal (to graduate), and a mission. I believed there was "something" for me to do, that God had a plan. Even the early years of our marriage and family seemed like a clear path before my feet.
Prayer was easier then. 
Flash forward 16 years, and I know I still have a job (be a mom), a goal (to raise kids), but my mission and my "something" still eludes me. I guess it is just in the nature of motherhood, especially while mothering young children, than life gets messy. I often feel like I am a snowglobe, and I keep getting shaken up. The snow swirls like a blizzard, and I cannot see my way. But I am searching.

7. MmmmmMMMmmm....I said the word "blizzard" in #6, and now I am thinking Dairy Queen. Ice cream. Yuuuummmmm.....

7 Quick Takes (vol 1)

 I am trying something new! Thanks to Jennifer Fulwiler and her blog Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!. And thanks to friend and fellow writer, Lori, for letting me copy what she does!

1.  I really need a way to write at the moment. I was looking forward to summer, because it generally means more free time, which translates to "time to write". Usually.

This summer has not been a good writing summer. I am starting to worry.  Maybe the well has run dry?  Maybe it was all a silly fantasy that makes me feel better. You know, when people ask, "What do you do?" I can answer, "I am a writer." When I say this, people nod their heads and look (moderately) impressed.

I mean, it isn't like I said, "I am a successful writer."

But without this fantasy of writing, I respond, "I am a stay-at-home mom", or if feeling very brave, "I am a homeschooling stay-at-home mom."
There are usually 2 responses to this. People look away in embarrassment and mumble something like, "Oh, that is interesting," or they stare at me in speechless wonder ("She does not look that psychotic.")

2. The Monkey, now age 3, will be joining us in the school room this year. Not that we normally kick him out, but he has always just played while we school. This year will mark the beginning of "preschool". I never did preschool with Cookie Boy, because I was still so new to the whole homeschooling thing back when The Young Adult began. Romeo was a different story.
When Romeo was 3 and 4, his big brothers were in early elementary school. Romeo would sit and listen to their lessons while he played. When they couldn't answer, he would. Very impressive. Having their 4-year-old brother (Romeo) answer math and geography questions (correctly) was a powerful learning motivator for the oldest two!
I am not sure what kind of scholar the Monkey will be. He is not as quiet and observant as Romeo. He is definitely more of an "active" learner. So I am gearing things for hands-on learning.

3. Which means I have spent the past few weeks immersed in gathering wisdom about how to homeschool preschool. Again. It has been a while since I have done this.

There are some great blogs and website out there, some of which I am relying on heavily. That is great.

On the other hand, they make me feel "itty-bitty" in my core. No, I do not weave hand-dyed wool into cute animal rugs for my school room. Nor can I sew gorgeous felt planets for my mini-unit on space.

Hello? I cannot even get the laundry done, for heaven's sake!

Besides, my hand-sewn felt fish look like Franken-fish. It isn't pretty.

4. Rain. We don't have it. Any of it. The ground is breaking up around the house, which makes me worry for our foundation. Do you know, when they did the original land survey for this north central Texas region, they marked it as "unsuitable for development"? The ground is very unstable. Clay-ish soil. Not enough rain. Hot summers. All this leads to scary, large cracks in the earth, large enough to swallow small animals.
And hot! Yes, Texas is hot, but this summer has been HOT. Nasty hot.

5. We are going to try and fry (or cook) an egg in our van soon. It is that hot.

6. This week has been "Battle of the Boy Scouts". The oldest two boys are in Boy Scouts. Cookie Boy is still new. The Young Adult is not. But he will not work on merit badges. I do not know why.  It is like pulling teeth. We have talked to him several times, and he likes Scouts and wants to be involved. But he won't work.

13.

That is all I am saying.

7. How do fish disappear? One 3-inch fish just vanished from the tank. Did the much smaller fish gang up on him in the middle of one night? Did the cat finally figure out a way to open the tank, take out a fish, then neatly close the tank before he enjoys his snack? It isn't like he hasn't been trying.