My new cooking adventure

Okay, everyone who has known me for very long, knows that I am one of the world's worst cooks. Hm.. maybe one of the state's worst cooks. I am a mean baker, cookies, cupcakes, I am all over that. But actual food, like dinner food, my family runs the other way. Kevin kicked me out of the kitchen when we were dating and the kids refuse to have friends over if I am going to be anywhere near the kitchen.  With Kevin in grad school and Em going every which way and such, I announced that I was going to start cooking dinner the two nights a week that all four of us are actually at home at the same time. It has taken pretty much a month to convince my family that I could do this. To the point that one night the kids wouldn't even let me heat up leftovers, but waited until Kevin got home at 10:00 to eat.  So, for the good of the family (and hopefully not the worst for our health) I have dived in to the cooking world.  Thanks to Pinterest and the Tasty website I am like a new bride, learning my way around the kitchen. 

Last Wednesday was my first endeavor.  I trudged head long in to making chicken enchiladas starting with Kevin's left over chicken from the grill.  With the help of the internet I learned how to shred chicken in the food processor.  I made a mean sour cream sauce and with a little trial and error I made chicken enchiladas from scratch!  But, alas, I forgot to think of sides.  My husband was gracious enough to say that when he goes to a Mexican restaurant he just likes tortilla chips with his enchiladas.  Bless him.  They were actually pretty good, as evidenced by the fact that my family pretty much ate everything and no one complained.  Mission semi accomplished!

So tonight's venture was from the Tasty website.  A take on lasagna using frozen ravioli.  This time I remembered side dishes and made a mega salad and bought frozen garlic bread.  Had a little problem with timing (it looked liked the last few minutes of one of those cooking competitions) but everything made it to the table while everything else was still hot.  Win!  The family devoured half of it and didn't complain.  I also didn't get the dreaded "hm.. let's have this again sometime next year."  That's was my dad's favorite phrase for not wanting to hurt my mom's feeling when she tried something new that didn't work (hardly ever).  So I'm going to call this a mostly win. 

The family hasn't argued with me about planning my next adventure, so maybe I am slowly winning them over.  Or they are just happy that they don't have to be in the kitchen.    Till next time!  Just another day in my sometimes exciting, sometimes dull, but always interesting life.

Sour Cream Enchiladas

Easy Ravioli Bake

Lessons from my Mom

      I have been feeling really down the last couple of weeks. I finally figured out that I miss my Mom. The Mom I knew many years ago before time and illness took its toll. This week is not a milestone week, no birthdays or anniversaries, just a regular week. I did realize that I never really got to have a “grieving process”. I literally went from one crisis to another. Even at the funeral we were having to worry about getting to the next pressing nonmovable issue. So I hope you will allow me a few minutes to tell you what I learned from my mother.

First, is a love of reading. Not just a casual picking up a book, but a crawl in to the pages, have the characters become friends, live in their town, stay up until three in the morning because you don’t want to put it down type of passion. Thanks to my Mom this seed has grown in to a beautiful garden. Full of English poetry, wizarding worlds, mysteries, lords and ladies, as well as hungry caterpillars and hopping on pop. I cried when we lost Charlie Gordon, overthrew governments with Katniss Everdeen, ministered in small towns with Tim Cavanaugh, rooted for Elinor Dashwood to finally get her man, and went on incredible journeys with Frodo to destroy an evil ring. I have had the wonderful opportunity to dive in to worlds that I never knew existed, or really don’t except in someone’s way too fertile mind.

Never miss the opportunity to put a bucket on your head. I think I have forgotten this lately. When Christian was little, he toddled over to my Mom and put a bucket on her head. It stayed there the whole time they were outside. Never said anything about it, seemed as normal as playing in the dirt. It never occurred to her not to do it. How much easier would life be if we didn’t think about the little things and let life see where it takes us? Put a bucket on your head, play in the dirt and listen to what little ones are saying. Makes life much easier that way.

Accept people for who they are. All of us have our idiosyncrasies, vices, issues, good qualities, bad qualities and that all rolled up makes us the person we are. It is not my job to change people or judge them for what they do. If it offends me or makes me uncomfortable that is my problem, not theirs. I am free to choose who my friends are and so are they. But if I get to know the people that I may perceive as “different” I will learn that we are not really that different, may even become great friends, or maybe not. Either way, I have learned more about them and myself. Who knows, they may be just as offended that I have a bucket on my head.

Women are just as capable as men. While that may seem like a “duh” statement but a lot of times it is not. Through my Mom and grandmother, I learned that women can be fiercely independent and hardworking. It never crossed their minds that they couldn’t do whatever they set their mind to. When my Mom wanted a higher education, she worked it out while teaching and raising a family. She had an entire High School library built from scratch because she didn’t listen to the people who told her it couldn’t be done. When she was finished, she went down to the elementary school and did it all again. It was never a case of showing up men or being a movement. She was a brilliant person and expected everyone to see her that way.

Always be willing to help, but don’t become a nuisance. My Mom never really volunteered to do things for other people. She always felt she was being intrusive. She would tell people to let her know if there was anything she could do and she expected you to tell her, but she would not just dive in to other people’s business. If you needed a ride somewhere, help with a bake sale or even a glass of water from the kitchen she would gladly jump up and get it for you. But she never told you what glass you needed or what you needed to bake at the sale. She just served quietly, behind the scenes. No thanks needed, but definitely appreciated. Everyone needs a helping hand every now and again, be there when needed, and know when you are not.

 

Remember to tell people that you love them and know that you will miss them when they are gone. Thankfully the last time I saw my Mom while she was still coherent I was able to kiss her on the forehead and tell her I loved her. A few days later she was gone. She is now with my Dad. Quietly watching her grandchildren, maybe reading a book, assuredly with a bucket on her head.

The Risk of Family

 

This summer my family decided to play the board game Risk.  Not just any Risk game, but the Star Wars version.  Instead of countries and continents to overthrow it is planets and star systems.  As with any long term board game, the best place to play is smack dab in the middle of the kitchen table.  We even took a leaf out so that the board pretty much covers the entire table.  Not to be outdone is the dining room table, which is covered by another long term project that I am beginning to think needs to drop the “long term” and become the permanent project.  So my family is now relegated to eating in the living room.  They don’t seem to mind as much as I do.  The roll their eyes and relent to my demands of towels on the floor and in their laps.  The dogs seem to think that this is their opportunity to resume the begging/salivating pose at my feet. 

Back to the game that began all this.  When we started several weeks ago, everyone carefully placed their pieces, thought of their strategies, where they were the most vulnerable, etc.  It started to be very clear that wherever Mom (me) placed a piece, the kids would instantly gravitate to this area of the board to try to block me in.  I have wonderful kids, but their ability to work together up till now has been severely lacking.  Trying to out strategize seems to be bringing them closer together, at least in the “get Mom” category. 

We began the game and it became apparent that this was indeed everyone’s strategy to “get Mom”.  I don’t know why I was chosen as the biggest threat (or the easiest to get rid of), but I seem to be on the losing end of wave after wave of invasions.  I have tried all sorts of pleadings.  With my daughter I tried to institute “Girl power!”  Nope, she was not buying it.  With my son I tried to remind him of the hours of labor, all the times I have shuttled him from place to place and have never missed a game.  That just seemed to egg him on with more vengeance.  Last, I tried to remind my husband that we have to be a united front against the tyranny of the children.  All that got was a laugh and a new invasion. 

So now I sit with just three planets!  Every time someone tries to invade me I either lose, or become even more vulnerable, just in time for the next person to take advantage of a wounded planet.  When it is finally my turn they seem to revel in the lack of planets to be counted and my meager reinforcement troops.  Oh well, soon my “race” will be annihilated and they will have to find another victim.  I’m guessing my husband.  Then it will be all out war when just the kids are left.  Or who knows, maybe my luck will change, doubt it, and I will come back stronger than ever.  Whatever the outcome I am taking in the moments to get to spend time with my family, until they start laughing at my demise again.  Just another day in my sometimes exciting, sometimes dull, but always interesting life.

Never too old for the Sandbox

Last night my daughter, Emmy, asked me to come outside and play with her.  My first thought was that I was overly tired, still had to clean up from dinner and had to pick up my son in a few hours.  I didn’t want to go outside.  I wanted a clean house.  But then I thought of the pledge I made myself last year.  We spent so much time with my mother before she passed away, that we really didn’t get to enjoy the leisure of summer.  There was no going to the pool, no chasing fireflies, no going for snow cones.  I vowed that this summer would be different.  So with that pledge, I went outside.  I found her in the sandbox.  I have no real creativity in the make believe department, so I was a little apprehensive about what would happen over the next couple of hours.  My daughter, who is eleven, has always loved playing in the sandbox.  I think it is therapy for her to manipulate the sand, make things, just dig around.  I am beginning to think I can learn a lot from her.  At first we tried to make sand castles.  The sand was not moist enough so our cups never really did set up well.  She did not see this as a problem.  The broken parts became walls around a moat, fallen mountain sides, or anything else she could think of.  What I saw as not working, she saw the beauty of the situation. 

 

Then we moved on to opening a restaurant.  We went in to the house and took all the old plastic containers, spoons, spatulas, more cups out to the sandbox.  Much laughing ensued when she started putting stuff in different containers.  “This one is eggs, it goes in the refrigerator”, “this one is sugar it goes on the shelf”.  By the time she had finished getting ready we had about twelve tubs full of sand.  Thankfully I was able to remember that the “eggs” were in the margarine container on the ledge and the “sugar” was in a glad container behind me.  She was a mean cook and made every meal perfectly.  Then as I “ate” it I would dump sand on her and she would laugh so hard she would get hiccups.  Charlie, our little dog, decided to get in to the action.  He hated the feel of sand on his feet so he hopped in to my lap and stayed.  Boomer, my German Shepherd mix, would poke his head in on occasion, but was more interested in chasing birds and lying under a tree.  After Charlie got settled, Emmy asked him what he would like.  We decided he would like dog chow with a side of bow wow.  He was a good sport and stayed until his “food” was ready.  That may have had something to do with the fact I was petting him, though. 

Too soon, the sun began to set and the mosquitos started coming out.  We had to go in.  Together we gathered up all our stuff, dumped out the sand and took it to the kitchen.  As I was putting stuff in the dishwasher she gave me a big hug and said in her best proper voice, “Thank you Mrs. Williams for coming to my restaurant and bringing your friend”. 

 

No, Em, thank you for reminding me of the precious gift of being able to spend Mom/girl time.  Not just another day in my sometimes exciting, sometimes dull, always interesting life.

I'm back!

Okay, so I am starting my blog again after a two year hiatus. Why? Because my office mate told me to. Okay, that’s the simple answer. The long answer is the last year, especially, has been overly horrible and I just couldn’t see myself talking about it. The lows, the occasional highs, and the all-encompassing feeling of just drowning in a mud pit. That is what life is about I guess. Even my tag line says it all. My sometimes exciting, sometimes dull, but always interesting life. I guess it’s been more interesting lately than anything. So Laura told me to write about it, so I will. Hopefully with poignancy, humor and a good look on life. Last year at this time my mother had just been diagnosed with stage four cancer, expected only to live for a few weeks. At the same time I was gearing up to climb Pike’s Peak a trip I was really looking forward to, but now had trepidations as to whether I should go. The trip was good and bad and skewed my perspective a great many ways. But it also helped me process my mother’s impending death. Being exhausted on a mountain can be very freeing. The last trip around the sun also included broken bones, trips to emergency rooms in two different states, Kevin’s dad’s own cancer surgery, three other close relative’s funerals, and my own brush with serious illness. There were also ice storms, tornadoes, the threat of sequestration, and drought if you really want to get down to it. But there were also wonderful moments. Watching someone pass from this world to the next is a beautiful experience, though heart wrenching. Making it to the top of a 14,000 foot mountain is an accomplishment that I am fully proud of. Christian’s football team made it to the state finals; Emily’s soccer team made it one game more at the end of season tournament. Kevin’s job is taking off like never before and the kids are doing wonderfully at school. My family seems closer than ever. I, on the other hand, just keep churning it out. One day at a time. But isn’t that what life is all about? You take the good with the bad. You write them down and see if anyone is interested in reading about them. So I guess I will take the cathartic approach of writing and say whatever happens to be on my mind. Which right now is the busyness of schedules. Wasn’t summer supposed to slow everything down? I guess that’s what makes it sometimes exciting, sometimes dull, but always interesting. I’m back writing world. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

School starts!

This week our school district finally went back to school. The three month long hiatus is finally over! My daughter is now a fourth grader. Wow, she gets to go to the "big kid" wing of her school. We also found out they get real desks as opposed to tables. All of this has heightened the excitement of starting a new year. Time to reconnect with friends not seen over the summer, meet new friends and finally having structure during the day! This year they have added Spanish to their 4th grade curriculum.
My son starts high school this year. We have been up at the high school every day all summer long for football, so going to the area very early is not the issue. We have just never been really in to the school except for the commons area. He was having all sorts of apprehensions before the big day. Will I be able to find my classes in such a big school? Since there are no more assigned tables at lunch will anyone want to sit with me? Will I get stuffed in a locker? Will I just look like idiot freshman all day? Turns out that none of his worries came to fruition. He was able to find all of his classes and figure out the school layout. His friends from middle school did wave him over to eat with them at lunch. Being 6’2” and a football player, no, there was no stuffing in a locker. As for the idiot freshman, he realized that he has kids from all grades in his classes and he actually has some idea of what he is talking about on most days. In other words, he is just like every other student in high school. Which when you are 14 is a big issue.
On my part, I have vowed to make this as less of a stress-fest as possible. We are going to try the backpacks by the door, clothes laid out type of mentality. I let you know how it goes, but after three days, it seems pretty good so far. We still have 185 more to go.
Here’s to a new school year! May it be sometimes exciting, never dull but always interesting.

25 Things I Learned at the Grand Canyon

This summer my husband talked my family in to camping in a tent at the Grand Canyon. Here is what I learned from such an experience.

1. I am definitely not the camping type (Does this make me “not a happy camper”?)
2. Trying to set up a tent in the dark is rather a challenge
3. Triple A is readily available in the park to jump your car when the battery dies from using the lights to set up said tent.
4. We are not the only ones who need Triple A when trying to set up a tent in the dark.
5. The average low at the Grand Canyon rim at night is a balmy 35 degrees.
6. Tents do nothing to keep out the 35 degrees.
7. Air mattresses tend to lose their air quicker when it is 35 degrees.
8. People who like to sleep in tents are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.
9. When you look up at the night sky in the middle of nowhere, it is a wondrous site indeed.
10. Walking up to the Grand Canyon from the Visitor’s Center and watching it unfold before your eyes takes your breath away.


11. While in the main visiting areas you will be surrounded by hundreds of people, most don’t speak English.
12. Meeting a great many people from other countries is a pleasure even if they ask thought provoking questions such as, “What does Floyd mean in Pink Floyd?” um…
13. If you walk half a mile on the trail out of the main visiting area, there are no people. The only sounds are the rush of the wind in the trees, the Colorado River below and the call of birds.



14. Never miss the opportunity to hear a Ranger talk. You will be surprised at how funny, informative, or both they may be.


15. Just because you go to the Ranger talk on the California Condor, does not mean that you will actually see one.
16. When one does appear right below the lookout where the Ranger is talking even the Ranger gets excited.
17. California Condors are the most beautiful majestic birds in flight.
18. California Condors are really ugly buzzards when close up.


19. When the Rangers tell you that the temperatures climb at least 40 degrees from the rim to the halfway down point and warn you not to go all the way down, one should listen.
20. When you don’t listen to the Ranger and think coming up is probably just as easy as going down, half the trip is miserably hot and you wonder if the buzzards will start circling soon. Cue Western music
21. When you finally make it up to the top, there is an equal amount of thinking “wow, that was stupid” and “wow, I can’t believe that I just did that.”
22. There are people who hike rim to rim in one day. I am in awe of them and wonder how off their rocker they must be, but mainly in awe.
23. In the evenings people flock to the rim for sunset, like waiting for the 4th of July fireworks.
24. Watching the sun set and the ever changing colors is a site to be seen. No words can explain.


25. Spending time with my family, even if we are sleeping in a tent, is awesome.

I hate being sick!

I hate being sick. For the past month I have been battling horrible respiratory sinus stuff. From the top of my head to my stomach, I felt like if someone just ran me over with a bus I would feel better. And yes, when I get sick I turn in to a big baby. I want to lie on the couch and have people take care of me. I want people to feel sorry for me. I want people to go “awe poor baby you’re sick.” But to be honest, nobody really cares when you’re just sick, not in the hospital horrible sick, but just feeling cruddy sick. Your close friends and family take a more than mild interest in the fact that you are sick, asking you how you are doing, telling you to go o the doctor, but overall the world does not care.
I took a few days off to stay home and be sick. Also, I think that my coworkers were beginning to be afraid that I was another Typhoid Mary. Although, well intentioned for my welfare, I received comments like, “wow, I could hear you coughing all the way down in my office”, or “man, you look horrible, should you really be here today?” So that brings me to why people don’t care that you are sick.

So there I was laden down with wonderful drugs, my head no longer feels like it is going to explode, I can actually take a breath without thinking my lungs were going to rip out of my chest and I can finally get some rest. I lie down in my nice soft bed taking Nyquil during the day and am finally dozing off into dreamland, when… the phone rings. No, I don’t have any donations to put out on my porch, thank you for calling. Okay, eyes closing again and… the phone rings, yes I am happy with my phone service, except right now I plan to just rip it out of the wall. Thank you so much, but as of right now, please cancel my phone service so I can get some rest!! Back asleep, doorbell rings. Ignore it. Dogs bark, doorbell rings again, dog barks. Sigh. Get up and go to the door taking my ferocious looking but quite the teddy bear dog with me. A nice looking gentleman was at the door asking if I needed lawn service. He was doing several lawns in the neighborhood and would like to do mine as well. No, thank you I tell him, I have a son and a husband who keep up with all that. At that point I give up and decide to watch a movie. Funny, the phone never rings again. Is it really this busy when no one is home?





Then there are my dogs. They are spoiled rotten, indoor, lay on the bed, have to be petted constantly dogs. The big one, Boomer, tends to be a bit more skittish. I’m guessing since he is somewhat of a German Shepherd that he has that guard dog mentality. The small one, Charlie, doesn’t care what is going on. Most of the time when I am home, he is laying on his back completely passed out on the couch, he couldn’t care less what was going on. So Boomer is watching for everything that is going on. He looks out the front window, and growls at whatever is out there. He jumps up on the bed so he can look out. He growls at the birds, rabbits, wind, dust, I have no idea, he just doesn’t like whatever has come in to his backyard. So now, he wants to go out. I tried to reason with him (if you haven’t noticed in my blogs, but I am always trying to reason with Boomer, he just doesn’t listen) and tell him that I am sick, but he doesn’t care. He goes to the backdoor, then back to my bedroom, then back to the door. I finally get up and let him out and he goes tearing towards the back fence barking his fool head off. I go back to bed. Then I hear him barking at the door. He wants to come back in so he can take care of me. I ignore him. He continues to whine. Then he goes to my bedroom window, and stares at me. If I continue to ignore him, he barks and stares. All the while he has this stupid grin on his face saying, “hey look mom, I’m keeping you safe! I’m a happy dog!”. So I get up and let him back in, just so he can go on guard duty again.

Then there is my awesome family. They try so hard when I am sick. My wonderful husband tells me not to worry about anything, that he and kids will “hold down the fort”. I settle back down in to my bed trying to get some sleep, when I hear a light little knock at my door. “Mommy? I am so sorry to bother you when you’re sick.” Followed by shoulder patting by young girl. “Mommy? Do you know where my other soccer sock is? I don’t remember where I left it. No, don’t get up, I just need to know where it is.” Get up, help young child search for lost sock so she can get to soccer practice. Lay back down to go back to sleep. Light knocking on the door. “Hon? Where is soccer practice today? Are they at the usual place? Sorry to bother you, go back to sleep.” At this point, I’m thinking what’s the point. So let’s try this again. Young daughter and husband have left for soccer practice, going to sleep now. No knock, just door coming open with bright light behind it and older child coming in. “Hey mom? You asleep? Mom? Uh yeah, when’s dinner? Can I get a snack and play on the computer until dad gets home?” I’m thinking, “If you go away, I will let you eat all the junk food you want and juggle knives.” My family tries hard and they do care that I am sick, but life must continue on. I have come to realize that moms, while they get sick, have an internal thing going on that says, the world will not rotate unless I am up taking care of my family.

I finally get better enough to drag myself back to work. I work with a great group of people who came in to say they are so glad that I am back. They are genuine people and I know that they are really glad that I am feeling better. But I walk in to my office and my desk is covered with all sorts of stuff. My boss comes in and says he is glad I feel better, but he didn’t know what to do with some stuff so he put in on my desk. I look through my pile of junk and realize that I don’t think it is worth getting sick. I put in a half a day and decide it was really not worth coming in and looking at the piles and getting depressed. So I tell my boss that I am going to go home and take a nap. He says he was glad that I got to come in for a little while (actually he is probably thinking, wow I’m glad I didn’t have to start digging in to that stuff) and not to worry about anything (because we will just leave it sitting there until you get back). I go back home to the barking dog, the ringing phone and soon the needy children.

But when I think about it, maybe that is there way of saying that I am missed and cared for. I am beginning to realize that people do care (except for maybe the ringing phone people). The dog is all agitated because he knows he has to keep me safe in my weakened state. The family needs me and loves me and they do feel sorry for me. Just another month in my never dull always something life.

My Life

Okay, so my New Year’s life change to write my blog weekly has completely gone by the wayside. There are more than several reasons for that. Mainly writer’s block. I THINK about writing a blog, but then something else comes up. Maybe I’m just way over busy. Anyway you look at it, this idea certainly needs improvement. Thanks to Sheri for hounding me as often as she does. Maybe I’m just the world’s best procrastinator. Hm.. I wonder if there is a competition for that. I’ll have to think about looking in to that someday. So what has caught my attention more than writing my blog in which I know my few readers are on the edge of their seat waiting for a new edition? Life. Plain and simple, it’s the scourge of America. The over scheduled, over worked, my family must do everything and if they don’t then their whole lives will collapse in to one big bowl of jello!! Ooh jello. Oh sorry, back to the subject.

So what has caught my attention? Hm.. Let’s see. First, I changed jobs at the University in January. I actually found out the day before we went on break in December, but with the holiday and the timing of things that are due at my old job, I didn’t move over here until the end of January. So now I am a professional grant writer. Sounds rather impressive if I don’t say so myself. Oh, I just said so. I now spend my days researching companies, writing up summaries on prospective funders, writing grants, tracking trends. It’s actually quite a lot of fun. But it is also something completely different than what I had been doing. That takes some getting used to. Instead of daily deadlines and things, I now have long term deadlines and goals. Makes for a complete mental mind shift. But I am enjoying seeing myself grow and learn. I am also the volunteer treasurer of a nonprofit here in town. Why, I ever said I would do that, is way beyond me. I guess I am just gullible enough to go, why yes, I would be happy to help you, and stress myself out and stay up late at night trying to get your books in order, and stress about getting your bills paid. Oh sorry off the subject. I think one of my new life changing goals should have been to learn to say the word “no”. But I am helping a great organization and that should be a reward in itself, right? Yes, this goes against my life goal of spending more time with my family. But with the support of another friend of mine who has vowed to start doing less and spending more time with family, I am hoping to learn that I can’t save the whole world.

Let’s see… what else. Oh yes. My children. If ever there was an attention grabber it would be them. Or their overscheduled lives. Our evenings for my son have been filled with basketball practice, games all weekend, piano lessons, band competitions, and so forth. Thankfully basketball is now over, but we have started spring football just in time to take its place. My daughter is taking tumbling (gymnastics) but that is in the afternoons, piano lessons and now soccer season has started. Mom’s taxi takes on a whole new meaning when you spend your evenings picking up one child from afterschool and dropping them off at piano lessons, going home to pick up the older child, picking up piano child and dropping off at soccer practice, then dropping of older child at basketball, picking up piano/soccer child and going to parent/teacher conference, picking up basketball child and depositing him at piano lesson, taking piano/soccer/conference child home to eat dinner so they can start on homework, driving back to pick up basketball/piano child and bringing them home so they can have a late dinner and hopefully finish homework in time to go to bed. I figure three hours in a car should get me close to Dallas for some relaxation instead of driving around the west side of Norman. Thankfully that doesn’t happen every day, but at least once a week is a good estimation. This goes along with the whole, my child will not grow up healthy and adjusted if they aren’t doing something every waking moment. But in our household schoolwork comes first, so I am proud to say that they are both making good grades, so it’s not that hard to keep them active. And, by the way, threatening to take away one of their activities turns out to be a great motivator to getting their homework finished.

Then there is your normal, husband working late, two dogs whose greatest worth is for fertilizer in the backyard and a house that usually looks like monkeys have run wild. But isn’t that what makes life worth living? People whose lives are ordered and their house is always clean miss those great moments in life that only chaos can bring. The conversations in the car between siblings that wouldn’t happen otherwise, the small child that comes in with Mom’s shirt on saying, “I don’t think this is mine”, and actually laughing at all the comings and goings. Just another part of my sometimes exciting, rarely dull, but always interesting life.

Not New Year's Resolutions

Okay, it has been forever since I wrote a blog. I kept thinking that I would, but around the holidays life gets so crazy. And in our household it is always crazy.
So here I am at the beginning of the New Year and thinking about the craziness of life. I, as most people, have made resolutions for the New Year. I try not to think of them as resolutions, but as life style changes or goals. It makes me feel better. That way when I kind of go back to old habits, I really haven’t broken a resolution, just had a setback. I can continue throughout the year trying to change instead of feeling guilty about what I haven’t done.

What are these grand life style changes? They run the gambit. One is to eat healthier. Not to go on a diet or anything, just pick up a carrot instead of a potato chip. At the beginning, I thought that sounded stupid. Yes, I was telling myself my own reasoning was stupid. But after about a month, I can honestly say that eating the good stuff is not so bad anymore. Oh, I won’t kid you or myself that I am always eating wonderfully (though the homemade corn dogs and French fries tonight DO NOT count). But when I do choose meals I am getting better to choose more wisely. I consider that progress. I am also hoping to instill in my children that junk food is nice for a treat, but not as a way of life.


Another change I am making is trying to spend more time with my hopefully healthier kids and husband. The house is always a mess, laundry always needs to be done, but I can always do those things when my kids are no longer in the house. We are trying to have more game nights, which slowly my kids are realizing that maybe the television is not as interesting as mom and dad. Okay maybe that will take a while to convince them, but it’s a start. Plus I’m sure my daughter will one day be able to go to Vegas and be able to pay off my house. Okay, maybe not. I just hope she walks away with the knowledge that her parents spent time with her, and that she knew she was loved.

Another goal for this year was to run a half marathon. So far not, so good. A wrenched knee is keeping me sidelined at the moment. Well, at least it’s a good excuse. But I am bound and determined to do this. My husband however says I should be locked in a room padded in bubble wrap so I won’t hurt myself anymore. That one will be a wait and see. Maybe I should change it to cheering on other people who run a half marathon. I think I could do that.

My final goal for the year is to read the entire Bible in a year. One of my favorite stations is the Christian station K-Love. They charged everyone to try to do this. So I signed up and got my list of daily readings. Although it has been only a month, it has been going well. I think knowing that I only have to read a certain amount every day makes it easier. It’s the old adage of how do you eat an elephant – one bite at a time. Looking at the whole elephant would be too difficult of a challenge. And who would want to eat an elephant anyway? K-Love even sent a nifty blue plastic bracelet that I wear constantly to remind me of this challenge. So, I will report back from time to time on how that is all going.


Oh, one more I guess. My final final goal is to write my blog on a regular basis. Don’t know if anyone besides Sherri actually reads them, but at least once a week, is my pledge. Hopefully more, depending on life. But if my kids can pledge to continue to work on their homework, then I can pledge to continue to write my blogs. Hopefully something at least a little interesting.

So there you have it. Who knows what my blogs will be in the coming weeks and months. Football? I’m sure. Summer vacations? Weird things my dogs do? Funny things my daughter says? So we will see what happens in my sometimes exciting, sometimes dull but always interesting life.

Star Wars

Every generation has a movie series that defines it. For me, it was the original Star Wars. For my son it is the Harry Potter series. This weekend I will be standing in line early, with my son to see Harry Potter 7.1. It is kind of a passing the torch in a way. I remember standing in line for the first Star Wars movie with my parents many years ago.
It was the summer of 1977 and very hot. Back then there were no mega theaters, no getting your tickets on-line. One had to wait and hope there were tickets available when you got up to the front. My parents rarely went to movies and I had never seen them wait in line for any movie. They would just wait until later and come back some other day. But even at my really young age, I knew there was something different about Star Wars. We got there early and the line was all the way around the block. We had to park a ways a way and walk back to the theater. We were not able to get in to the “early showing”. My dad said he would wait in line while my mother took my sister and me away for a little while. This coming back later just added to my excitement. I was going to see the “late movie”! I had never been allowed to stay up that late! This was going to be awesome! By the time that we got back to the theater, my dad had literally waited throughout the entire first movie showing just so we could see the second one. We got in line, I couldn’t wait. My first late movie going to see something my parents were willing to wait hours in line for. I don’t know if I had any indication then, that I was being a part of history, of helping define a generation, but looking back, the whole thing seemed magical.

We finally got in to the theater. A large one theater auditorium. Only one place to buy popcorn and only one restroom. Such a change from today. The first thing that I noticed was the fact that it was a stifling hot oven. The air conditioner had blown, in July, in a crowded theater. I was sweating just walking in. We went in to the auditorium and the place was completely full. We were able to find three seats together, but my sister had to go find friends and sit elsewhere. So there we sat, sweating profusely, packed in like sardines, and with as much anticipation as a small child could muster for such an event. Then Star Wars started! The huge ship that flew over, the sounds of the overture with non-DHX sound! It was so amazing! I remember the words starting to scroll over the screen and my mother leaning over and reading them to me. It was nothing I had ever seen before.

By the time it was over I was a Star Wars junkie. And still am today. I have seen all the movies a hundred times and now look at what was once the cutting edge of high tech and marvel in its simplicity. Through the last 33 years, Star Wars has weaved its way in to our very existence. My children have been Star Wars characters for Halloween, I have told my husband more than once “May the Force Be with You”, and I have been in more than one light saber fight. Although the “new” movies that came after were good, there was nothing like the experience of the first Star Wars series.

So now we are on to my son’s age. Although he is older now, than I was then, we have seen all of the Harry Potter movies and will flock with the throngs of others to see number 7.1 this weekend. I will take my son to dinner and then we will get in line to get the best seats for the “late showing”. He has asked me more than once if I had already bought our tickets on-line. Now it is not a question of if we will go see at our chosen time, but where we will sit. We will walk in to our huge mega-plex with its miles and miles of hallways and concession stands. We are planning to get there at least an hour early, probably earlier, just to get our favorite seats. Front row of the upper area, no seats in front of us, and a railing to put our feet on. We will wait in line like I did 33 years ago, thankful first of all that it is November and the air conditioner will not be going out. We will sit, we will talk, we will become comrades with the hundreds of others that like us had to get there early. Excitement built early and will continue to build until it is over.

We have noticed, just like before, how a movie series can weave its way in to our lives. My daughter was Hermione for Halloween; my son has told me he is not an owl when I ask him to go take a message. Almost daily someone in our family gets hit with “Stupefy” or various other spells. I wonder if when my children grow up they will watch the Harry Potter series with their children. Will they remember the times of standing in line, of feeling like they are a part of something bigger? And more importantly, will they also be showing them Star Wars, so that all the phrases that come out of the then grandma’s mouth don’t sound so crazy?


So tonight we will put aside our regular Friday night life and join the other fanatics, just to say that we saw it on opening weekend. But also, so many years from now, maybe we will all remember that the little things in life can make any memory extraordinary.

It Happens In A Flash

So this week was a “happens in a flash” week. One of those that reminds you of what is really important in life, how one moment has the potential to change everything, and that every one of those moments is precious, and that I get really angry when someone stupid messes with those moments. This moment was brought to us by a crazy lady on the highway that almost took the lives of three precious teenagers.

For me, it started last Saturday. Watching Sooner football like we always do with my best friend Sherri and her family. Her daughter, Christine, just casually mentioned that she and some girlfriends were going to see a friend perform on Tuesday evening in a different town. The girls wanted to show their love and support and come watch her. I told her that was great and I hoped she had a good time and then promptly forgot about it.
My oblivion quickly came “crashing” to a halt at 4:30 on Tuesday. Sherri calls. There has been a wreck on the highway. A lady who apparently was going “at a high rate of speed” crashed in to the back of the girls’ car. They hit a semi in front of them, spun around hitting the semi again. The girls were stuck in the car and the rescue responders were having to pry the doors off to get them out. Boom. I felt like I had been hit by a semi. My first question, of course, was if the girls were okay. Yes, they seem to be, but Christine had hit her head pretty hard.

Through the course of the evening, we found out that the lady looked like she was high on something. She was screaming at the girls and the police. Christine and the other girls were checked out and thankfully, except for some pretty nasty cuts and bruises, all girls would be just fine. Through the course of the last few days a great soreness has revealed itself in Christine’s neck and back. But I am thankful that she is here with us to have the soreness.


It has also revealed soreness in me as well. I became quite angry with the crazy driver and to a certain extent I still am. This woman’s moment of some selfishness almost took away something precious from us. If it had been just a regular accident I don’t think I would be so angry. But to not have any regard for anyone else is not just unfair, it is unconscionable.

I do want to thank this woman for something, however. It did set me out of my own little world to remember what is important in life. Every now and again I think we all need to be reminded of that. Life gets set in its day to day doldrums and we forget that every moment that we are here is precious. When I left Christine, I don’t even remember if I even gave her a hug. But I will remember now. How many days do we separate ourselves from our family and friends physically and emotionally and not really tell them that they mean the world to us? It also made me remember the terrible shootings at places like Columbine. Did those parents say they loved their kids before dropping them off at school for what would be the last time? How many opportunities are lost just to say you care about someone?

But it isn’t all about the bad stuff. There are the great moments that one has to revel in as well. The fact that these girls were going to do something special for a friend. The hug that my daughter gives me every night. The sitting out on frozen bleachers to watch my son play football. These are the true moments of life. These are the ones that make it worth living. The great, once in a lifetime moments are awesome. But it’s the day to day ones that make a life. A life that I hope will always be filled with those ordinary moments that when looked at carefully can be extraordinary.

The Dog-Gone Time



The time change always messes with me. I feel kind of off kilter for a few days, feeling like I am always late (or early) for something. I love going in to Daylight Savings Time. The increased hours of daylight after getting home, the knowledge that the length of time the sun is up is getting longer, all of this makes me feel like I am emerging from a cave. The last few winters here in the southern-middle-midwest region have been colder and harsher than usual. So the beginning of Daylight Savings Time signaled the beginning of a new awakening. To be able to get out, stretch your legs, come out of hibernation.

Going back in to Standard Time is kind of the opposite, I guess. The days are getting shorter, there’s a chill in the air, and the sun is slanting in a different direction. It is a time to start gathering in. To buckle down for the winter. I do love, however, that I am supposed to cheat and get another hour of sleep when we “fall back”. I went to bed on Saturday and moved my clock back. So, in my world, I got to live the 10:00 hour all over again. I lived it by going to sleep, ready to wake up at the new 7:30, which would have felt like old 8:30, right there was the great bonus! Sleeping in with two kids and two dogs until 8:30 is a great luxury! At least for one day I can cheat the system and sleep in! Awesome.

Alas, this was not meant to be. My little dog, Charlie, knew that it was 7:30, even though by definition it was really 6:30. But apparently Charlie forgot to set his watch because he jumped on the bed at the new 6:30, came up to be face to face with me and whined that it was time to get up and go outside. I tried to convince him that he forgot to reset his watch, but he was not listening. All he knew at that point was that it was indeed 7:30 and he really, desperately needed to go outside. This was evident by the fact that as soon as I opened the door his little legs raced to his favorite tree and he was there for quite a while before he was ready to come back in.

Boomer on the other hand, had other ideas. Boomer is somewhere between the puppy/teenager phase. I get Boomer up to go outside as well, thinking that we could all go back to sleep for another hour after they both get done with their “doggy business” as we call it. The chill in the air just excited him, though. He ran around the backyard barking his head off. I’m sure he was thinking that this was great! It was new morning! There is a crispness in the air! It’s a great day to be a dog! Okay, that was just a loose interpretation, I don’t really speak dog that well.

Charlie, being the older but I don’t know how much wiser, dog came back in, finally realized that the time had changed (or maybe he was just too lazy to stay up) went back to his blanket and fell back asleep. Boomer decided the whole world needed to be up to see this glorious day! He immediately jumps on the bed and flops all sixty pounds of him on to his now awake “dog dad” and then looks him in the eye as if to say, “It’s time for my morning petting.” The now awake dad tries to convince the very awake dog that he must have missed the memo that says it is a day to sleep in for an hour. The phrase in our house to get Boomer to go to bed is “time for sleep”. So dad now tries that to get the sixty pound dog off his chest. It went something like this:

Dad: Boomer time for sleep, go lay down.
Boomer: Looks outside where the sun is shining and looks back at him.
Dad: Boomer! Time for Sleep!
Boomer: Lifts his head, looks out the window, looks at his dad, looks out the window again and looks at dad. You can tell he is just saying, you’ve got to be kidding, the sun is up!

So after much pushing of the sixty pound dog, he finally goes to his spot and immediately goes back to sleep. I, on the other hand, am now fully awake at 6:30. Somehow I feel cheated. Oh well, at least it was a rather interesting start to just a regular Sunday.

Capturing the Moments

Living with a young teenager is like living with a large blue-eyed alien. Some days he’s still momma’s little boy and wants to sit on the couch and hang out. More often than not, he texts on his cell phone to his girlfriend, plays video games or just hangs out with friends that are definitely not mom and dad.
My son is one of the most awesome people I know. He gets great grades, his teachers all think that he is a wonderfully polite student and he has a true heart for God. But the more he grows up, the more I feel like I am losing my baby. Which I am fully aware needs to happen. We are raising him to be an independent young man. One that is caring and thoughtful, but will be a responsible citizen when he grows up and won’t be living in our basement when he’s forty.

So that is the great conundrum. Holding on to my precious child while watching him grow up to be a great adult. While we still have a few years to go, I realize how precious the moments are when we do actually connect without him rolling his eyes and wondering how he is ever related to us. Tonight was one of those nights.
We have one computer that is the official “downloading of songs” computer. Every now and again I go in to see what my son or husband has downloaded and send those songs to my iPod. Tonight I was the one downloading songs from iTunes and my son came up and asked what I was doing. Cue the “my parents are lame” look when I told him I was downloading some great music. I was insistent and said that he should just listen to what I was downloading. My current genre of the moment is hard rock Christian music (yes there is such a thing). So I played him some of my “head banging” music, a group called Skillet, and he decided it “wasn’t bad” and asked if I had ever heard of his favorites such as Green Day. For over an hour we sat there swapping songs, looking up music videos and laughing at the fact that his mother actually knew some of the lyrics. He didn’t even complain when I started dancing around the room. He almost joined me, but not quite.
After a while, I realized that we both needed to get to bed. I was hesitant to let the moment go. I can see them getting fewer and fewer and want to just hold on to each precious moment and keep them in some sort of mental scrapbook. I want my son to grow up. I want him to become whatever he wants to be. I also want him to stay my baby. So for now, I will relish in the fact that he just walked in to beg me to do his laundry, late at night, for what he has to wear to school tomorrow. Knowing that way too soon, he will have to “relate” to his own children. I hope he gets the opportunity with them to share music and laughter and will enjoy the sheer act of embarrassing them greatly. To know how great every moment of a child’s life is. To know that even the dull ordinary moments can be something extraordinary.