Weston vs. the Toothfairy

Weston is pretty po'd at the tooth fairy. She refuses to seriously consider his requests and he just does not understand why.

Several months ago Weston pulled a tooth by himself and wrote the following letter to the tooth fairy:

"Dear tooth fairy,
I pulled this tooth out all by myself and didn't even cry. I am hoping for at least 50.00."

He was greatly disappointed when he only received a couple of dollars.


Now, the tooth fairy has crushed his dreams yet again, and if she keeps it up Weston is bound to declare war on her.
He lost a tooth at Grandma's and grandma told us about it. When we saw him we had the following conversation:

Mom: Weston, I heard you got a visit from the tooth fairy.
Him: No.
Dad: I heard you got some money.
Him: Yeh, she brought me some change, but she didn't bother to stop and talk.
Mom and Dad: (bust a gut laughing)
Weston: You know why I don't like the tooth fairy? I wanted a credit card and all I got was change.

I have a feeling the toothfairy is stuck in the middle ages around here and until now has not even THOUGHT about leaving credit cards in exchange for teeth.

Ten very random things I am thankful for:

1. That many Spanish words look like their English counterpart, which made filling out our Visa application MUCH easier.

2. My son who can play the guitar and is like a David-boy to my King Saul soul.

3. That I don't have the madness of King Saul and would not in a million years try to kill my musician.

4. Leggings to keep my legs warm when I wear dresses.

5. Lamps to light the house on dark dreary days. (Thank you Marta)

6. Indoor Toilets. Nothing more needs to be said.

7. Coffee. Again, I need not say more.

8. Three years with my Heidi-girl. She has been such a wonderful doggie friend for our family, and though we are sad to say goodbye this weekend, we are grateful for the time God gave us with her, and God-willing, she will be healthy and well in two years when we come to get her back. I know she will still love me. She is just that kind of dog.

9. A roof over my head. It's cold and rainy out today.

10. Friends who are coming over today to help me pack up my house.

What random things are you thankful for today?

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas

I thought it might be time to re-introduce last year's Christmas Experiment. As the craziness begins, consider doing Christmas differently this year. Many of you will remember my post last year about how we did Christmas without the normal gift-giving. For those who do not remember it, I will add a link at the bottom of this post. For those who do, here is an update.
I
From discovering treasure on a scavenger hunt, to playing old familar games, to listening to a Christmas concert, to giving a Christmas concert at the nursing home, to baking cakes, and cookies, to just hanging out and laughing- IT WAS THE MOST WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS WE EVER HAD.

Not one single child asked where the toys were. Not one single adult wished we had forgone the experiment and instead went with the traditional.

Are you ready to look at Christmas a different way this year?
Start by reading THIS POST.







http://toasty-toes.blogspot.com/2008/11/and-it-starts.html

A Mystery in "jello-like" form

When I was a teenager, an elderly Mrs Drachenberg, immigrant from Germany, invited my family for Thanksgiving dinner. That dinner would stay in my thoughts for more than 15 years.

Oh, her company was good, her stories of nazi Germany were spine-tingling- but her jello like dessert was the stuff of fairy-tale dinners. It was like a jello. Kind-of. But not really. It had fruit, and was topped with something that was very surprising to me as a teen.

Cream. Not the sweet kind from a tub. But THICK, milky stuff that came from a porcelain cup. I had never had cream before, and it was an immediate love affair. I must admit that every time I saw cream in the store, or used some in my coffee, or made a quiche, I thought it would be far better paired with that ever elusive dessert.

You think I am kidding- but I am seriously NOT. I have looked for this dessert for years. When google arrived as a gift to the universe, I immediately put it to use.

"German Desserts"
"Desserts that use cream"
"jello-like dessert that is not Gelatin and is German"
"German dessert with fruit and cream"
"Please oh magic googler, find me the dessert of my dreams"

and I came up empty.

But all great stories have good endings:









SERVES 8 1 (or 5 if you are really feeling like sharing)

2 1/4 lbs currants or raspberries or brambleberries or strawberries or sour cherries or plums (assorted red fruits, in any combination)
1/2 cup sugar (or more to taste, depending on the tartness of the fruit)
1 quart water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 cup rum (optional)
milk or cream, to serve with the dessert
Wash fruit and pick through for stems (reserve 3/4 cup).
Combine the remaining fruit with water (reserving 1 cup), and sugar in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook fruit over medium heat until done but still holding its shape.
Sweeten to taste with more sugar, if needed.
Stir corn starch into reserved water until dissolved and stir into the juice.
Bring to boil, cook until thickened, and remove from heat.
Blend in the rum if desired.
Mash reserved, uncooked fruit in blender and stir into the thickened juice.
Eat Rote Grutze either hot or cold and serve with cold milk or cream.

Halloween 2009

Just like last year (it's a tradition now), we waited until the last minute to pull together costumes. But- unlike last year, Marcus got to carry weapons.



And like last year, Weston stole the show. And- yes, we did indeed shave the boy's head. It was his idea. He begged- we obeyed. We have to respect our elders you know.


Esther, at the very last moment decided that instead of being the sheep that was already planned out, would, instead be Maid Marion. I just used Marcus' costume for inspiration. Both costumes were made using adult sized T-shirts as tunics and some slits here and there with a pair of scissors finished the job.

These were no sew costumes except for Marcus hat, which could actually have been made with staples. Trust me- I thought about it.

I hope your Halloween was more sweet than frightful, and that your tomorrow will not be filled with dentist appointments.

Be still my heart.

I have to admit that selling my world possessions was a pretty difficult thing to do. Going to Ecuador is something that we dearly want to do, but I am not kidding when I say the sacrifices have been great. Sometimes they have been downright overwhelming. Just this past week a new sacrifice cropped up that has me choked up.

So, it might be silly, but in browsing a blog of retirees who have moved to Cuenca, I followed a link to a local Ecuadorian pottery company. And I was comforted. New dishes will not diminish the value of all I have sold or am leaving behind, but it reminded me that good things are yet to come.

Artesa

Nancy and Chuck

A work in progress

My internet is so testy (as in almost never available) that I needed something to occupy the time that wasn't spent in housework, schoolwork, or SIM work. I saw some cardboard dollhouses on Crafty Crow and decided to give it a try. Remember that I am NOT a perfectionist. Plus, I have three kids that were helping me out (Marcus was very particular about the wallpaper...).
Anyhow, here is the kitchen and living room. I have the paper to do a bedroom but I do not have an extra box. One will show up soon, I am sure.
Marcus has a book on paper crafts that includes a page on making paper furniture (like the white chair and tootsie pillow) and we plan to make some furniture out of nice cardstock. Meanwhile, we will practice with white paper.

Since my oldest friend, Jerusalem, (seriously- she is OLD. White hair, cane, minty breath, and runny lipstick kindof old) featured me on her gorgeous blog, I thought I would make a public apology for the point and shoot/unfocused pictures- and the project that was only 1/4 done. Of course, now I see the edges weren't glued very well, and the corners don't match up. I also really wish I had finished those few touches I meant to do. I was just so excited I posted it. Haha- I guess Jeru was excited to!

Please come back again to see some of the other things we have planned

Like stringing those lanterns
and hanging tiny hooks along the kitchen wall to hold baskets
A large mirror will hang on the back wall- using the back of a mason jar lid
and of course, we hope to get some furniture in those rooms
That chandelier in the kitchen (which is actually a lone earring will hang on a wire instead of a black pipecleaner
We plan to cut out pics from magazines for wall hangings, prints, and anything else that inspires us.
We have a princess bedroom planned as well as a nursery. Just wait to see what that princess BR looks like- everything was color coordinated by Esther's brother! LOL
So- come back, ya hear.

Good grief (the efforts they will take to drive us nuts)

Weston is trying hard to get out of his schoolwork. It is a simple assignment. He looks at the different habitats and writes one reason why he would want to live there. He says it is too hard. he doesn’t want to live in any of those habitats.

I say, “Come on Weston, surely you can come up with a single good reason why living in the desert would be a good idea.”

Weston: “Ummmm. No. I can not. Why’da wanna live there? It has cactus to stab you. You would die of heatedness and you would get hot sand in your shoes. And what are you gonna eat? Big spiders?

Then he went on to explain that if the assignment was to say why he did not want to live in any of the environments it would be an easy one.

Grasslands: Oh, yuck. It’s all dewy, which makes it muddy. Where would you live? In the mud? What would you eat? MUD?

Jungle: This stuff is just crazy. No one wants to live there except naked people. That is why. Cause they have no clothes and can’t leave or people would make fun of them.

Arctic: Penguins? they want me to live like a penguin and eat yucky fish. No way. I do not want to die of blue freezing cold. No way would I live there. It would mean being a penguin or an icicle.

Woodlands: See. Another stupid one. Where ya gonna live? A tree? Would you even live? NO! You would get killed by an animal, animal, ANIMAL. Or by a bullet. I don't want to die, so I don’t want to live there and get killed by a hunter. What would I eat? Bullets? And double reasons, the animals WOULD EAT ME.

Frankly, if Weston moved to my neck of the woods, I would eat him too.


(This is his reasoning- word for word)

Duct tape and bobby pins. A must have for all new homes!

Funny story:

First night in our house we noticed that the bedroom door was locked, and could not be unlocked. It couldn't be unlocked from the inside- or the outside. "Don't close the door." we told each other.

That night, with kids tucked into bed, Dustan and I lie in our own bed, discussing the niceness of having our own place for the next few months. "I should check on the kids", he said.

Only, when he tried to do so, we found that we had forgotten and closed the door.

So. We were locked inside our room.

"We can climb out the window", I said.

"And what then?" said Dustan. "The house is locked up, the kids are upstairs and won't be able to hear us." (The doorbell is also broken)

"Well, we have to do SOMETHING".

"No kidding. I will try to take the door off the hinges."

Unfortunately for us, the door hinges had been painted, and that didn't work.
Neither did using a credit card on the latch.
Neither did trying to remove the doorknob (we were prepared to unscrew the thing with our fingernails)- only, there were no outside screws.

So, in a state of hysteria, we considered kicking the door in. We live in a duplex, and it was almost midnight. I was worried about waking the neighbors, but what could we do?

If only we could pull that latch in. If only... (If only we hadn't closed the dang door!!!!!)

And so, I looked for anything I could use. I considered my hair, but how would I get it wrapped around the latch? I needed something stiffer. Maybe I had a piece of jewelry that would work?

And there, in my jewelry basket was the answer. A bobby pin. So out of place, and so ready to be unfolded and twisted into a hook.

After a couple of tries we were free! And fortunately maintained a good sense of humor throughout the entire thing. It took the rental agency a few days to fix the problem. meanwhile, duct tape kept it from happening again.

Toasty-Toes mansion has become Toasty-Toes cottage

...or to be more accurate, it's a duplex. But it's lovely, and it's private, and for however long it takes us to fly away to Ecuador, it's mine. Living with friends was a wonderful-fun adventure. But six months is a long time, and I think we are all happy to have some space to roll around in and call our own.

Not to mention, I can homemake and decorate, and tell you all about it. Fun for me- fun for you.

What I can't do is play Blogger on the internet because the internet I have hardly works. I can't really complain, because, it's not mine.

So, look here for some sporadic posting. Unless of course, I take better advantage of the free wi-fi at the city park (whose internet I suspect I can almost pick up at the house), and post more often. The kids would love that. Fresh air, swings, and a great battlefield for Nerf wars.

Okay, now for the good stuff (at least for my curious family), here are some Living room pics. I still need to hang some art work and I have another chair that will be moved in. I love it. Oh, and right now it doubles as a dining room because as of this morning the dining room table was still in pieces.





Don't you just love Heidi girl's morning routine? Stretch girly, stretch!

Just a heads up

Toasty Toes Mansion has sold! Which is outrageously good news. Keep up with our adventures at:



I will occasionally be posting to Toasty-Toes to share the antics of our children but you won;t see me much here. I need to focus my time on other endeavors for a while.

Once I set up house in Ecuador, you will see me back. I will need a way to show off my lack of homemaking skills in a foreign country.

For some reason the link is refusing to show up. I will come back later to edit. Until then, copy and paste into your browser:
servantsinecuador.blogspot.com

Esther on her future:

untitled event

I took Esther to see Annie last night. "Tomorrow" has been running through my head marathon style ever since. Esther had a blast and as we waited through intermission she tried to get a grasp on the difference between story telling and real life. After she gave up on that she engaged me in a discussion about who the people were on stage.

Me: I used to be an actress you know.

Her: You did? What did you be?

Me: (I simply ran down my impressive resume of community and college theatre performances)

Her: Why don't you be an actress anymore?

Me: i found out I was a better mommy.

Her: Oh.

Silence ensues as she processes this

Her: Mommy, I decided that when I grow up I am going to be an actress. I want to be Annie. If I am good at actressing then I will just keep doing that. But if I am bad then I will just be a mommy.


Well, I guess she gave up on her career as a shoe fixer, clothing designer, horsey rider.

Esther thinks she can fly:

(Esther is learning to ride a bike- she can go about two feet after Grammy Pammy lets go)

Anyhow, sweet litle Essie might not be able to fly, but she does happen to think her butt works as well as a birds fluffyness. Today she found an intact robin's egg. She brought it to the meanest mommy in the world (me) and told me I needed to put it in a safe place for it to hatch. The meanest mommy in the world informed her that the egg was already cold and that the baby bird inside was rather... dead.

And Esther did not believe me. She insisted it was still alive and that I needed to help her. The meanest mommy in the world (me) insisted that she take the egg outside and leave it for the animals to find and eat. "It's the circle of life", I told her.

"It's still alive", she told me.

And she walked outside.

Ten minutes later she came back in.

With egg yuck all over the seat of her pants.

My five year old child tried to hatch an egg. It didn't work- obviously.

She was okay- at first.

"I have egg on my butt", she said.

I responded as only the meanest mommy in the world could respond:
"Nope- you have dead baby bird on your butt."

And, she wasn't okay.

I've been busy:

Here and there and everywhere. Right now we are at Grammy Pammy's where Marcus is busy learning his multiplication tables, Weston is learning to read, and Esther is wrapping two elders right around her little finger. It helps to have a teacher as a grandma- it really does. Just when I am ready to give up she steps in with a new idea that gets us over the hump.

Anyhow, we are having a great visit and since grammy has the kids either in her arms or in her lap, I had the time to watch this cute little video my dad sent me.

Enjoy the geniosity ( yes I made up the word).

The talk

We finally buckled down and gave "The Talk". You know which one I mean, right? THAT ONE TALK? The one where we explain to our son that part of a daddy and part of a mommy is needed to make a baby?

Yep, THAT one. I wish I had some advice for all of you yet to have to experience this. I can say, we had planned it out. There was to be no awkwardness, no embarrassment. And then it all went to pot as mommy died of embarrassment. I'm quite literally dead from having to talk about the birds and the bees.

I don't know how the end of THE TALK went. I got all the way to the part where something goes somewhere and I ran out of the room. Daddy had to finish. I don;t know how it went. I didn't ask. I am assuming that Dustan told the boy all kinds of crazy stuff.

It would have been far easier to just show him this video

(Thank Val)

A wedding, A trip, and a one room home.

We are still alive. I thought I had better post and let everyone know, just in case you thought we might have croaked. Sometimes we have wanted to, but we are still hopping around.

Lindsey married Nick, and is now a Greenfield. I played at photographer. These two are my favorites. I tried to take the pictures in a story form, and since I succeeded, I am naming the story- "And the Bride was Sassy". Almost every picture was full of attitude.



Right after the wedding, we took a two week trip to Ohio where we had the opportunity to stay with my mom and dad as well as to speak at two churches. I also gave the worst speech of my life, and will never live it down. Really. Dustan won't ever let me live it down. Fortunately I have a great since of humor, and though I am mortified at speaking FAR too long, and saying such ridiculous things as "The dirt was REAL dirt- not fake dirt..." (don't ask)... I can still laugh. We all have to have an off day. Right?

Anyhow, I was also able to spend some much needed time with my sister, nieces, and nephew. Danny taught me how to play Zelda, and I stole his DS for two weeks. I almost put it in my bag and took it home with me. But, I left it there and am hinting around that I have a birthday coming up. hint, hint.
Karist

Ellianna (Or Ellie-monster)

Danny-boy

Devonae

And, now, we have arrived back at home. A place that is not ours, but is still becoming home. It's a place to lie our heads at night, to share in good (meatless) foods, and a place to make good memories with good friends. I have been busy carving out a spot I can call home and I will bring back some pictures soon. I also want to share a great recipe for Gluten Free peanut butter cookies.

Homeless

Toasty Toes Mansion is closed. (bawl). THe kids and I are leaving so that all the work we have done to get the house ready to sell does not get undone.

We have a couple of thing left to do, but not with the kids- so we have packed our bags and left. Daddy gets to stay, because, in the words of the kids, "Daddy can keep things tidy". And he can. His mama raised him well. However, he is relegated to one bedroom (not the mater), and one bathroom (also not the master).

We will be traveling around here and there quite a bit. We are currently looking for churches and groups of people we can connect with who might support our families mission to Ecuador, so if you know of one of those- hook us up!

I'll keep posting here and there, keeping you updated on the latest happenings, and maybe sharing a recipe cooked in another kitchen, a garment sewn in another home, and hilarious antics of children that are displayed in front of other families...

An interview with my hooligans

Marcus is nine

Weston is seven

Esther will be five next month

I interviewed my kids one at a time (the other two were out of ear shot) and these are their perceptive and entertaining answers (all in their words).

What is something mom always says to you?
Marcus: “I love you.”
Weston: “I love you.”
Esther: “I love you.”

What makes mom happy?
Marcus: Me.
Weston: When I do stuff for her.
Esther: When I do this. (she says I love you in sign language)

What makes mom sad?
Marcus: I don’t know
Weston: When somebody is being mean to her like in a time when someone gets in a fight. Or, you could erase all that and say, when one of her friends die.
Esther: I don’t know

How does your mom make you laugh?
Marcus: Her stories make me laugh.
Weston: By smiling
Esther: By saying what you just said, because that made me laugh. (apparently, this question is hilarious)

What was your mom like as a child?
Marcus: bad
Weston: I remember her doing something bad.
Esther: I don’t know.

How old is your mom?
Marcus: 31? 32? 31.
Weston: 31?
Esther: 14. (definative)

How tall is your mom?
Marcus: I don’t know
Weston: fourteen feet (he used his feet to measure me)
Esther: (shrugs her shoulders)

What is her favorite thing to do?
Marcus: Play on the computer
Weston: Doing computer
Esther: Play on the computer

What does your mom do when you're not around?
Marcus: How would I know? I am not around!
Weston: Lays down on the bed.
Esther: Do work.

If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Marcus: There is nothing you do that is so good you would be famous.
Weston: Doing the computer. Dadahdauhduh: the famous person who is good at computers! Yay, a person who knows how to do the computer! DunDunDuh!
Esther: I don’t know.

What is your mom really good at?
Marcus: writing.
Weston: Doing the computer (he breaks into hysterical laughter)
Esther: Playing that ball game

What is your mom not very good at?
Marcus: You are good at everything. But... not so good you can be famous.
Weston: Not loving people. She is so bad at that. She never not loves people.
Esther: Candy Bash. The hard Candy Bash. With the bean. When it says stuff.

What does your mom do for a job?"
Marcus: Watches me
Weston: Teach us
Esther: Working

What is your mom's favorite food?
Marcus: Pizza
Weston: Pizza
Esther: Salad

What makes you proud of your mom?
Marcus: I can’t think of anything.
Weston: That she is a good mommy!
Esther: When she gives me food that I like.

If your mom were a cartoon character who would she be:
Marcus: She would be a good character but no one has made her yet.
Weston: Princess Leah on Star Wars
Esther: princess Leah.

What do you and your mom like to do together?
Marcus: We just like to hang out.
Weston: Cuddle
Esther: Say “I love you” together

How are you and your mom the same?
Marcus: There are many similarities...well...in looks. And in behavior.
Weston: Our noses are the same. At least I think so
Esther: We are not.

How are you and your mom different?
Marcus: Well, you are a girl. I mean a woman. I am a boy.
Weston: She is bigger. I am littler.
Esther: Cause she does work and I don’t do work very much.

How do you know your mom loves you?
Marcus: Because she says, “I love you”. I don’t believe that she is lying.
Weston: Because she loves me! She does love me. I know she does. Or why would she do all those fun stuff for me if she didn’t love me?
Esther: Cause she always says I love you.

What does your mom like most about your dad?
Marcus: I don’t know.
Weston: He does work and she doesn’t have to do anything. All she has to do is lay down. Except when mom has to do a lot of work. But when she doesn’t have to do a lot of work then dad can do her work and she can CUDDLE with ME! I like that when my dad does work my mom can lay down and cuddle with me. What was the question?
Esther: His hair.

Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Marcus: To Tara’s house.
Weston: Tara’s.
Esther: To the store. Clothes store. To buy clothes for a present for somebody. Me! and sometimes herself, and Weston, and Marcus.

Things I learned about myself: I am on the computer FAR too much. And...I am rather good at loving.

Ten (again)

Ten things I will miss when I move to Ecuador: (in random order)

1. My dog. I will really miss my Heidi-girl. I would take her with us, but she has a bad knee and it would be rough on her to have to live in the mountains.

2. Fall leaves. Can I even survive without a Fall season?

3. A Bathtub. I take at least one bath every single day. Ecuador has showers. No tubs. I am going to DIE.

4. Camping every year with my favorite peeps. I bet I can fit one more trip in before I leave, but I know that soon- they will be camping without me.

5. Dr. Pepper.

6. Access to good books, written in English.

7. English.

8. Tara. Can't write more. My vision is blurry.

9. My house/home/place I live right now.

10. My king sized bed. Ecuadorians are small people and King sized mattresses have to be custom made. Which is for rich people. Which will not be what I am.


I because I left you all hanging for so long in great anticipation of my next random TEN- here is another:

Ten random things I will NOT miss:

1. Slush/Freezing rain

2. Starbucks

3. Cookie Cutter Subdivisions (and being greatly annoyed everytime I see fields being turned into yet ANOTHER one)

4. Feeling purposeless

5. Having to drive everywhere I want to go.

6. Bananas (cause there will be an abundance there)

7. Constant ringing of my telephone

8. Mega sized grocery stores

9. Dentists (I might regret this one)

10. People burning Fall leaves

And now, I tag ten of you to fill my my big head with lots of love. Tell me ten things you will miss about me when I leave you here to deal with freezing rain and urban sprawl without me.

A Solution

It's to late for me to use this solution, but perhaps other moms of boys will appreciate it. I am pretty sure the purpose was not meant to be practical, but come on, we all know how much easier it would be to clean plastic walls.

Contact Paper Bathroom Walls

Four down from Ten

Ten random adjectives that start with P:

1. Putrid

2. persimmony (I can make up a word. Afterall, I made up the game)

3. Pleasant

4. Precarious

4. Pretty

5. Precocious

6. Periwinkle

7. Plausible

8. Plodding

9. poor

10. Pooped-out

I randomly assign the following ten following letters to ten random friends.
Gwen- H
Renee- K
Tara- X
Carrie- L
Devon- B
Dawn- F
Random friend number - A
Stacey- C
Sarah (from the Sarah and Jack fame) -S
Sarah (the artsy fartsy colorful lady with the singing husband)- Q (and I think she can handle it)

10.3 (and not the one I promised)

Ten Random thoughts that are rolling around in my brain.

1. I am done.

2. Finished.

3. So very done.

4. I am NOT kidding

5. If I were a cake, and you stuck a fork in me, the cake would come out with the fork. Because it was a burned up piece of rock.

6. If you asked me to take a long walk off a short pier; I would. Then I would drown, because I am doner than doner than done.

7. I quit.

8. Some worlds will end. Most will continue to turn. the planet Beckasan has blown into tiny shards sending shrapnel into the entire known universe, making everyone else wish that they too, were DONE.

9. I think it is cool that I have have my own planet. I just wish it had a cooler name. Maybe Beckawsome? Or Rebappy? Or just BecDONE!

10. I don;t have any more random thoughts. My brain quit just a few milliseconds after I did.

And I can't tag anyone. I'm too done.

Ten point Two

Ten (random) things I am grateful for:

1. Colorful socks. Especially the 1.00 Target ones. Nothing beats cheap and colorful!

2. Coffee. Duh.

3. Peanut butter. (the kind that is not laden with poison)

4. Spring (because it's coming. I can smell it.)

5. My sister-in-law Carrie and brother Seth, who are braving the Foster care system to take care of children who need a home and a family. Right now they are my heroes.

6. A working toilet. Although, the more my boys pee on my walls, the more I think outhouses were a pretty good idea. (I am sorry for the complaint that worked its way in here)

7. WIBI radio, which I can get streaming online, and which allows me a chance to worship while I do my morning chores.

8. Raymond Paving Rabbids Wii game, which has kept my three children VERY entertained for the past three days. It has been quite a pleasure to not hear, "mommy....I'm bored".

9. My laptop, which allows to to browse anywhere in the house.

10. jalapenos- because the world would just be a duller place without them.

And I am still tagging the same people I tagged yesterday plus I am adding Tara and Murali. And Gretchen. And Splayneo (I think I spelled that wrong) (I am too darn lazy to find all the links for those.

Tomorrow will be ten blogs I LOVE to read, which will not be fun because
a. I will have to not be lazy. Blogs need links.
b. I read over 100 blogs. How will I narrow it down?

Ten (part one)

Ten Random Categories of Ten Random Things (in ten days)

II. Ten Complaints:
1. My house. My poor house. We have to practically give it away. All my lovely trees are apparently worth nil in a nasty economy.

2. I am fat. And I exercise and eat well. I am sick of working hard and seeing nothing. At the same time, I think I look good. So why do I care? I am complaining that I care.

3. My couch is full of dog hair.

4. I have sores all over my head from being mysteriously glutened. I think someone is trying to poison me.

5. I am really missing some of my old friends. Facebook made me uncharacteristically sentimental. I really want to see
Brittany, Michelle, and Stacey. I want to sit with them and laugh about melting sporks over candle flames, dodging scissors, and watching bad movies.

6. I have too much stuff I have to read. I love to read, but not the stuff I have to read. The stuff I have to read puts me to sleep. And I don;t have time to sleep because I have too much stuff to read.

7. I hate the carpet in my house.

8. I hate my skin. I used to have beautiful skin, which I assume I should be grateful for. But it's a tough pill to swallow when I look in the mirror every morning to red, rough, nasty skin.

9. I want a grilled cheese sandwich. With real bread.

10. I have boys who pee on the walls. There is no other complaint as big as THAT one.


And I tag ten friends to play along (Marmie, Carrie, Renee, Gwen, Dawn, and five other people who might also read my blog)

Tomorrow will be Ten wonderful things I am grateful for. Unless I randomly decide to have something different.

Consider the ant...

Years ago I wrote a little piece on my "Ant thoughts". And, for your reading pleasure, here are those very thoughts:

Two things:

#1. My dad always told me to look at the ant. See how hard he works? He works all day and never complains. He lifts twice his body weight and doesn't say a word about an achey back. He works with his co-workers and doesn't get in fights and squabbles.

All this pert advice supposedly comes from scripture, and was supposedly supposed to make me clean my room without grumbling and without fighting with my sister.

#2. My cabinets are overrun with tiny ants, scrambling for homemade bread-crust crumbs and the big red splat of strawberry jam. I noticed their ever-moving line as I was trying to find a half dirty glass to get myself a glass of water.

These two things got me wondering, thinking, and trying to make excuses for why I am not like an ant.

And here is what I came up with. Really, how do we know that ants are not complaining? They are tiny. If they made complaining noises we
a.) might not hear them, and
b.) they would be in a foreign ant language that is not understood by the common housewife or even an educated scientist. I doubt even a linguist could tell us if the ant was making sounds of pleasure or grumbling about the wicked queen who turned him into a slave.

How do we know there is not a tiny morgue lined with tiny ant parts from ants who have been slaughtered by other over-worked ants who have gone postal?

Oh, and another thing...we don't see what is going on under those any hills. Maybe there are rooms full of drunken ants watching all the other ant men carrying in jagged leaves and all of my homemade bread crumbs. Perhaps there are hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS of these lazy ants who sit on their third body part all day -dreaming of watching soap operas and eating bon bons...
AND, on top of THAT, ants are indistinguishable. They could be carrying one load back and taking in easy in a leaf hammock for the rest of the day for all we know. They COULD have a 2 hr work day and a 2 day work year, spending the rest of the time dreaming of soap operas and bon bons.

And one last thought. Ants are annoying.

They somehow worked their way into folkloric heroic proportions. They serve very little purpose (Leaves are capable of decomposing on their own), except to make me feel guilty. After all, they are such hard workers AND they wouldn't be in my house if I was more fastidious about cleaning up all the homemade bread crumbs off my counters.
They are simply a perky, little, crawling conscience.

So, I have considered the ant. And I have decided that I am not one. They have a thorax, an antennae, six legs, and seemingly super-human strength. Until God blesses me with six legs to help me do all my work, I am going to continue on as I have. Reading the online newspaper, doing dishes when we run out of clean ones, doing laundry when Mt. dirty clothes explodes, and having fun chasing my kids around the house whenever I feel like it. Oh, and I will spend a good amount of time dreaming of soap operas and bon bons...

(My ant study was not a scientific one. I manipulated my observations to create the theory I needed to salve my guilt)

(also, the constant reference to homemade bread was also an attempt to salve my guilt.)

That said, this video is FASCINATING! Watch and enjoy (and clean up your bread crumbs)

I am still alive.

But I don't have anything to say. I know you all just died of shock, and since I no longer have an audience, it doesn't matter that I have nothing to say.

We educate

Weston is learning the value of money. For a school project we set u a play store (with real food) and Weston received 35.00 to shop for the family.
For lunch he bought pancake mix and all the ingredients that went with it.
Then he bought peppermints for desert.
Dinner was noodles and sauce. No meat. He ran out of money after spending it on a gigantic number of salad ingredients and a box of chocolate granola bars.
"We need meat Weston. Maybe you could put the granola bars back and then you will have enough for meat."
Weston looked at me quizzically.
"Is it my money to spend however I want?"
"Yes, but your daddy does not like spaghetti with no meat."
"And I don't like peas." he responded.
I thought to ask him what his dislike for peas had to do with the cost of meat or granola bars, but then I realized how many time daddy had made him eat peas.
He made his purchases, all very thoughtfully, including his steadfast decision to forego the meat.



when daddy came home, he said

"Where's the meat?"
"You made Weston eat too many peas," I responded.


And, I assumed incorrectly that this little activity taught him a good lesson about the value of money. What it really taught him is, that if you run out of money, you can just cut some out of paper.
And a previous activity, which had explained that you need to earn money, by getting a job, to get the things you want and need?
He took that lesson and learned that if you don't want to do a job, you can always pay someone else to do it.
He tried to pay his father SIX dollars to unload the dishwasher for him.

And of course, if he doesn't have six dollars, he can always make some more. But, not by working.

A cozy winter corner

It's freezing cold in our neck of the woods. Stay warm blogger friends.

And that's a match:

Remember THIS?
http://toasty-toes.blogspot.com/2008/01/hospitality-is-not-gift-i-have.html
Look down at the last paragraph. All the way at the end. The rest of the mumbo jumbo is inconsequential.

Now.

Remember THIS?
















Those are wedding invitations.

And she won't let me be a bridesmaid. She said I could give the toast. Which would make me a toaster. And I am allergic to bread. Oh, yes. That WAS the lamest joke in existence. BUT... if you want a laugh...