A few weeks ago Tam (my mother-in-law) and I took all four kids to Hobby Lobby. I know. We're a little crazy, but we were feeling brave. We'd been waiting to pick material for Tam to make the girls quilts FOREVER. More specifically, we'd been waiting for someone to be able to watch the kids so we could go on our own.
We gave up.
So there we were in the Hobby Lobby fabric department with two carts and four energetic children. I wish you could've seen it.
"Oh Mimi! I LOVE this one!" Kylie raved over every inch of pink material she could find. Of course, just looking wasn't enough. She yanked fabric off and tried to unwrap it and drape it around her body to see if it would twirl.
And Julia pulled the pokies (pins) out of fabric at every opportunity, as if on a mission to save the fabric from being injured.
On top of that, indecisive me pulled practically every bolt of fabric off the shelves, rearranging them to see which ones would go together the best.
After 10 minutes of this, we had DESTROYED the fabric section. Fabric was piled in lopsided stacks everywhere as I contemplated and rearranged them once again.
The poor woman who worked in the fabric section looked at us in dismay which quickly turned to annoyance. She was a rather gruff looking older woman, and I could just see the thoughts swirling in her mind.
"Why can't that woman teach her kids to keep their hands off my material?"
"And why can't she put just one bolt back where it belongs?" (In my defense, I was trying to do this, but hopelessly failing, I'm sure.)
In my head she became a crabby old woman who would gripe at her co-workers for weeks about my poor treatment of her meticulously maintained fabric department. My goal was to decide exactly what I wanted, put everything back as best I could, and RUN out of the section before she lost it and yelled at me.
I FINALLY picked what I wanted, and we went to get it cut. And Tam took over. In two minutes, she had that "crabby old lady" smiling and chatting. She told the woman she liked her shirt and asked if she'd made it herself. When the woman said yes, Tam told her what a failure her last shirt-making effort had been. Suddenly, the woman was smiling! Laughing! Talking to my "annoying" kids! I stood back with my mouth hanging open.
"Wow! She is good!" I thought.
You see, Tam took the time to see how the woman was feeling and challenged herself to help her feel better. She wanted to make her smile and talk. She wanted to be friends.
I wanted to run before she killed me.
I wish I was more like Tam. I wish I saw the hurting people of the world and tried to help them instead of avoiding them or stereotyping them in my head.
Something to work on...
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Ants are Invading!!!
Twice every year it happens. When they didn't show up last fall, I thought they must've given up or...something.
I was wrong.
My tiny black friends are back.
Kylie thinks they're friends. She catches them, feeds them, and lets them crawl on her arms.
Julia screams "Bug! Bug!" and runs away.
And I kill them by the thousands.
I have become a very experienced ant exterminator. My best weapon? The dishwasher. Simply let the chocolate milk and apple juice drip from the plastic cups on the top rack and wait til supper time. Open the door and, ta-da!, thousands of ants merrily giving themselves major sugar highs, oblivious to the danger. Finish filling the dishwasher, dump in soap, close the door, and push two small buttons. Rejoice that it is so easy to kill so many tiny little creatures with no dangerous chemicals. And if you need to get rid of some frustration, smash all the escaping ants running out the steam vent they climbed into in the first place. Only problem: tiny ant body parts plastered to the inside of my cups. Hmmm... Rewash?
I've learned some valuable lessons:
-Ants can crawl into the tiny holes of a sippy cup, through the plastic thing that makes them not spill and have a apple juice pool party.
-Ants LOVE ham. Eat ham for Easter, drop a piece on the floor, and take a two hour nap. See how many you can attract.
-Ants also love monster cookies. This was the last straw! Don't mess with my chocolate!
Here's my dilemma. I need to kill enough ants to keep them out of my food. But I can't kill them all because the termite guy said the termites weren't in our house because they were having underground battles with the ants and the ants were winning. I'd rather fight over my chocolate with ants than have termites eating my walls. So I need a (dangerous-chemical free) way to kill my sugar-stealing invaders without letting in the termites or poisoning my children.
Ideas?
I was wrong.
My tiny black friends are back.
Kylie thinks they're friends. She catches them, feeds them, and lets them crawl on her arms.
Julia screams "Bug! Bug!" and runs away.
And I kill them by the thousands.
I have become a very experienced ant exterminator. My best weapon? The dishwasher. Simply let the chocolate milk and apple juice drip from the plastic cups on the top rack and wait til supper time. Open the door and, ta-da!, thousands of ants merrily giving themselves major sugar highs, oblivious to the danger. Finish filling the dishwasher, dump in soap, close the door, and push two small buttons. Rejoice that it is so easy to kill so many tiny little creatures with no dangerous chemicals. And if you need to get rid of some frustration, smash all the escaping ants running out the steam vent they climbed into in the first place. Only problem: tiny ant body parts plastered to the inside of my cups. Hmmm... Rewash?
I've learned some valuable lessons:
-Ants can crawl into the tiny holes of a sippy cup, through the plastic thing that makes them not spill and have a apple juice pool party.
-Ants LOVE ham. Eat ham for Easter, drop a piece on the floor, and take a two hour nap. See how many you can attract.
-Ants also love monster cookies. This was the last straw! Don't mess with my chocolate!
Here's my dilemma. I need to kill enough ants to keep them out of my food. But I can't kill them all because the termite guy said the termites weren't in our house because they were having underground battles with the ants and the ants were winning. I'd rather fight over my chocolate with ants than have termites eating my walls. So I need a (dangerous-chemical free) way to kill my sugar-stealing invaders without letting in the termites or poisoning my children.
Ideas?
Jane Austen by Peter Leithart
I love Jane Austen. Books. Movies. I’m not picky. So when given the opportunity to review a book about her life, I was excited! Jane Austen by Peter Leithart is an extremely detailed biography of Jane’s life from childhood through death. I enjoyed reading her letters, written in the same style as her books.
Although I learned many facts about Jane, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I’m not so much a fanatic about Jane Austen as I am about her books. Leithart wrote in college-essay type prose, crafting a book filled with information. I would loved to have learned about Jane in a more lighthearted way. I was overwhelmed with dates, names, times, and places that are unfamiliar to me. I had a hard time keeping them straight.
Also, the description of the book led me to believe that the emphasis was on how Jane’s faith influenced her writing. I found very little about this subject in the book.
If you’re looking for a thorough, intellectual account of Jane Austen’s life, read this book. You’ll gain insight into the influences that shaped her life and writing. If you are looking for a lighthearted reading, stick to Pride and Prejudice.
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson’s booksneeze.com book review blogger program.
Although I learned many facts about Jane, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I’m not so much a fanatic about Jane Austen as I am about her books. Leithart wrote in college-essay type prose, crafting a book filled with information. I would loved to have learned about Jane in a more lighthearted way. I was overwhelmed with dates, names, times, and places that are unfamiliar to me. I had a hard time keeping them straight.
Also, the description of the book led me to believe that the emphasis was on how Jane’s faith influenced her writing. I found very little about this subject in the book.
If you’re looking for a thorough, intellectual account of Jane Austen’s life, read this book. You’ll gain insight into the influences that shaped her life and writing. If you are looking for a lighthearted reading, stick to Pride and Prejudice.
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson’s booksneeze.com book review blogger program.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Swimming lessons
If you need a laugh, just come visit me on Wednesday night. Ethan and Kylie started swimming lessons last night, and I spent 40 minutes watching while feeding Ava. Wow! Funny! Who knew swimming lessons could be so entertaining.
Kylie was in a group of 5 girls - all who seemed to share Kylie's fun-loving, talkative personality. Their teacher - get this - was a 19 (?) year old boy! Ha ha! =) He spent the entire time saying things like, "That's nice. Now we're going to try this." And, "Come back this way please." I wish you could've seen it. Those little girls swarmed around him chatting and laughing in constant motion. They flopped and spun like uncoordinated underwater ballerinas. He wiped his eyes and grinned this small little grin that seemed to say, "Thank God this only lasts 40 minutes." What else was the poor man supposed to do with countleess Mommy (and even Grandma) eyes on him. If I had an 18 year old sister....
Ok, then Ethan was in a group of five boys. Boys are so different. They had a college aged girl teaching them. And they wanted to prove thier manliness. At one point, their teacher asked them to jump in to her and then she would help them swim out to a marker, turn around, and swim back to the side. So the first little boy jumped in to the teacher, she put her arms under him, and he swam to the marker. He clung to it for dear life for a second. They he took off back towards the side with her arms under him again. Then it was Ethan's turn. He's SO independant! I could just see him thinking, "Well, I can do THAT myself." He jumped in past the teacher, almost all the way to the marker and then turned around by himself and raced back to the side. The teacher was still wiping water out of her eyes as he climbed back to the edge. And it was ON. Those little boys jumped as far and swam as fast as they could. Although, I have to say, I didn't see any go as far or as fast as Ethan. Ok, I might be a little biased. =)
TOO FUNNY!!! I can't wait for next week.
Kylie was in a group of 5 girls - all who seemed to share Kylie's fun-loving, talkative personality. Their teacher - get this - was a 19 (?) year old boy! Ha ha! =) He spent the entire time saying things like, "That's nice. Now we're going to try this." And, "Come back this way please." I wish you could've seen it. Those little girls swarmed around him chatting and laughing in constant motion. They flopped and spun like uncoordinated underwater ballerinas. He wiped his eyes and grinned this small little grin that seemed to say, "Thank God this only lasts 40 minutes." What else was the poor man supposed to do with countleess Mommy (and even Grandma) eyes on him. If I had an 18 year old sister....
Ok, then Ethan was in a group of five boys. Boys are so different. They had a college aged girl teaching them. And they wanted to prove thier manliness. At one point, their teacher asked them to jump in to her and then she would help them swim out to a marker, turn around, and swim back to the side. So the first little boy jumped in to the teacher, she put her arms under him, and he swam to the marker. He clung to it for dear life for a second. They he took off back towards the side with her arms under him again. Then it was Ethan's turn. He's SO independant! I could just see him thinking, "Well, I can do THAT myself." He jumped in past the teacher, almost all the way to the marker and then turned around by himself and raced back to the side. The teacher was still wiping water out of her eyes as he climbed back to the edge. And it was ON. Those little boys jumped as far and swam as fast as they could. Although, I have to say, I didn't see any go as far or as fast as Ethan. Ok, I might be a little biased. =)
TOO FUNNY!!! I can't wait for next week.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Unconnected thoughts
Here's a few random thoughts.
-I had the stomach flu last week and watched multiple re-runs of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" on Netflix. I love old TV! While laughing over hilarious, if improbable, scenarios, I was struck by how Laura treats her husband. She is sensitive to his needs - trying to arrange her words and actions to portray respect for him and his position in their home. She stays home to take care of him and their son and doesn't pursue work outside the home even though she is talented enough to get a good job. To alot of people today, that seems like she's not making full use of her abilities. It seems she'd be bored or resentful or uninteresting or lazy. Most women today long for "it all". They want a happy home life like Laura AND a fufilling career. But Laura is happy at home. She finds worth and value there. She's educated and interesting and talented, but she enjoys being a successful mother, wife, and home maker. And her husband and son appreciate it. Hmmmm...
-I've been reading the gospels some in my devotions, and I've been struck by the number of times Jesus goes off by Himself to be alone. He repeatedly leaves his disciples and tries to get away. And they repeatedly act like my 2 year old and track him down ruthlessly. They're constantly interrupting his alone time. Somehow it comforts me to know that Jesus knows how I feel when I get up early to do devotions and end up holding a baby with a two year old and a four year old climbing on me noisily within 5 minutes. Or how I feel when I lock myself in the bathroom for two minutes of peace and end up listening to three little people pound on the door screaming, "MOMMY!!!"
-I love snow, and I don't mind cool weather. But I REALLY need some sunshine! I know that I'll be glad for all the snow and rain in July when it stops, but really, could we get just a day or two here and there of sunshine and warm weather? I am going nuts in this house - mostly because my kids are going nuts in this house! Could I get some warning? If next winter's going to be like this, we need to buy a bigger house or something.
Ok, so I just looked at the weather. It's supposed to be 65 and mostly sunny on Thursday!!! Then I looked at Friday. 43 and a 70% chance of rain. Saturday? 37 with a chance of snow. Come on!!!
-I had the stomach flu last week and watched multiple re-runs of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" on Netflix. I love old TV! While laughing over hilarious, if improbable, scenarios, I was struck by how Laura treats her husband. She is sensitive to his needs - trying to arrange her words and actions to portray respect for him and his position in their home. She stays home to take care of him and their son and doesn't pursue work outside the home even though she is talented enough to get a good job. To alot of people today, that seems like she's not making full use of her abilities. It seems she'd be bored or resentful or uninteresting or lazy. Most women today long for "it all". They want a happy home life like Laura AND a fufilling career. But Laura is happy at home. She finds worth and value there. She's educated and interesting and talented, but she enjoys being a successful mother, wife, and home maker. And her husband and son appreciate it. Hmmmm...
-I've been reading the gospels some in my devotions, and I've been struck by the number of times Jesus goes off by Himself to be alone. He repeatedly leaves his disciples and tries to get away. And they repeatedly act like my 2 year old and track him down ruthlessly. They're constantly interrupting his alone time. Somehow it comforts me to know that Jesus knows how I feel when I get up early to do devotions and end up holding a baby with a two year old and a four year old climbing on me noisily within 5 minutes. Or how I feel when I lock myself in the bathroom for two minutes of peace and end up listening to three little people pound on the door screaming, "MOMMY!!!"
-I love snow, and I don't mind cool weather. But I REALLY need some sunshine! I know that I'll be glad for all the snow and rain in July when it stops, but really, could we get just a day or two here and there of sunshine and warm weather? I am going nuts in this house - mostly because my kids are going nuts in this house! Could I get some warning? If next winter's going to be like this, we need to buy a bigger house or something.
Ok, so I just looked at the weather. It's supposed to be 65 and mostly sunny on Thursday!!! Then I looked at Friday. 43 and a 70% chance of rain. Saturday? 37 with a chance of snow. Come on!!!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I quite homeschooling yesterday. My house was (ok, is) a mess. The girls were screaming. I had a MILLION other things to do. And I was trying to teach review math (no new, difficult concepts) to an extremely unmotivated 6 year old who was answering questions wrong on purpose because he thought it was funny. So I quit. I put the stuff away and told him he'd have to go to school in the fall. I don't care where. But I am not Superwoman. I can't homeschool an elementary student, give a preschooler, a toddler, and an infant everything they need, cook healthy, cheap meals (which means making alot of stuff from scratch), do endless piles of laundry, keep my house clean and organized, and be available for my husband when he needs me. It's too much. Something has to give because I feel like I'm losing my mind. Ok. I'm complaining. Probably not the best way to handle my frustration, but I do have a point. =)
Here goes. This is what I read in "My Utmost for His Highest" today:
This is Chambers' thought for the day taken from I Peter 1:3-8.
This is encouraging to me. First it gives me a list to guide what to consider important in my personal growth and in guiding my kids. Apply diligence in faith to grow in moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Those are the things I should be focusing on. And then it reminded me that the drudgery of life (changing diapers, washing dishes, folding laundry, scrubbing the toilet) is of worth in God's eyes - even if in no one else's. The world does not put a high value on what I do every day. In fact they degrade it. But it is what God has called me to do for now, and in obeying His calling, I bring Him glory.
I still have no idea what to do with Ethan for school, but I feel less frustrated at least. =)
Here goes. This is what I read in "My Utmost for His Highest" today:
"We are not meant to be illuminated versions, but the common stuff of ordinary life exhibiting the marvel of the grace of God. Drudgery is the touchstone of character. The great hindrance of spiritual life is that we will look for big things to do. "Jesus took a towel...and began to wash the disciples' feet."...Learn to live in the domain of drudgery by the power of God...The tiniest detail in which I obey has all the omnipotent power of the grace of God behind it. If I do my duty, not for duty's sake, but because I believe God is engineering my circumstances, then at the very point of my obedience the whole superb grace of God is mine through atonement."
This is Chambers' thought for the day taken from I Peter 1:3-8.
"Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualitites are your and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
This is encouraging to me. First it gives me a list to guide what to consider important in my personal growth and in guiding my kids. Apply diligence in faith to grow in moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. Those are the things I should be focusing on. And then it reminded me that the drudgery of life (changing diapers, washing dishes, folding laundry, scrubbing the toilet) is of worth in God's eyes - even if in no one else's. The world does not put a high value on what I do every day. In fact they degrade it. But it is what God has called me to do for now, and in obeying His calling, I bring Him glory.
I still have no idea what to do with Ethan for school, but I feel less frustrated at least. =)
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