Always something...

Sorry I've not visited much or posted. Decided the thing that would make my Christmas complete was pneumonia. Yesterday was spent at the doctor's and getting a chest x-ray. I have a few scheduled posts in the queue, had so many more ideas. Hopefully I will be back to "normal" soon.

Many prayers for a peace-filled, joyful holiday.

Love in Christ,

Julie

Advent Links

I'm really slow and out of it this morning. Rehearsal ran until 10:15, which meant we left the theater at 10:30, which meant we didn't get home until near 11 and then winding down was hard for the boys and me.

So thankful for those school days in July!! Taking the day off of school. We fly to rehearsal early today--3:30!! Home early!!

Here are some advent links to make us think:

Conversion Diary: Musings of a Former Atheist

Soul Pockets

Thoughts from a Soldier's Wife

Happy Hearts at Home

Christ's Rose

Danielle Bean

Week in Review

Well I just left it hanging there, didn’t I? On the road…and then nothing.

We did make it home, and I kept thinking I would get caught up and sit down and have me a nice blog session.

Well…I’m still catching up, although I’m amazed what can be done if I get up from the faithful pink blogging chair and get over myself and “just do it.”

Dishes keep materializing—what is up with that? I’m thinking we need to give up eating for a while…no, probably not a good idea. Maybe for me, but not two growing boys.

My school calendar is staring accusingly at me, pointing out the fact that I am not prepared for September. We are "doing school," but in a very informal way, easing back into a routine.

My menu calendar is next to the school calendar, showing me its blank pages needing to be filled, reminding me of my promise to have more organized and intentional meals (and grocery shopping—hopefully bringing the budget lower).

We have been inundated by hornets. Thankfully not aggressive, but still HORNETS with STINGERS!! And our landlord really doesn’t care much because, well, it’s not her backyard. I should not have been surprised.

I have a box of magazines I need to go through and decided what I cannot live without.

We’ve still got some mornings left of getting up near the Dark Hour—5:30-ish for me so we can leave the house by 8 A.M. to drive across a state line during rush hour to a dance class. At least we don’t have to stay there all day. And it’s only a few days a week. And they’re having a lot of fun.

There has been tending of my friend’s garden. My friend who is in Europe…and I am here in the Midwestern summer.

My presence has been requested for afternoons of supervising the swimming pool. My evenings have had offers of child-free conversations on the patio (sans hornets after dark) with my husband—who can turn down a man who wants to actually talk with you?? Not me! We’ve even had some early morning coffee outside when I’ve not had to be out the door.

All leaving my computer a bit sad and lonely. But I’ve noticed y’all have been a little quieter too when I have had a few moments to browse my Bloglines. Summertime is the time to do all those outdoor things, kids are busy and fun is waiting.

Fall is looming. Back to school is up at the Wally-World so summer is half over.

Maybe I’ll find a routine next week.

Doubt it, but maybe.

Say That Again, Sam

This got kind of loud...oooops!

There is an old joke I am sure everyone has heard before. It goes like this:

Joke Teller: “Pete and Re-Pete are in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?”
Unsuspecting Listener: “Repeat.”

Joke Teller: “Pete and Re-Pete are in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?”
Unsuspecting Listener: “Repeat.”

Joke Teller: “Pete and Re-Pete are in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?”
Unsuspecting Listener: “Repeat.”

…ad nauseum…

Life has been a lot like that joke around here lately. I don’t know if it is Spring Fever or end of the school year blues (although we school year round—it never really ends). But I have been repeating myself a lot repeating myself a lot repeatingmyselfalot…sorry, my record is stuck, lately. No one, and I repeat, NO ONE, , and I repeat, NO ONE is listening too me. Sadly I can’t even seem to remember what I said to myself in one room after I walk into the next.

We are trying to tie up all loose ends so that we might have two weeks off from school. So the boys can have a break and I can clean up the fall out I mean mess I mean tidy and straighten the artfully arranged clutter.

I’m behind on my blog reading. Behind on my IRL friends, behind, behind, behind, behind…

Reminds me of a song…

Because it repeats. And makes a lot of noise. Kind of like stuff here.

You can’t ride in my red wagon
The wheels are broke
And the axle’s draggin’
Same song
Next verse
A little bit louder and a little bit worse…

You can’t ride in my red wagon
The wheels are broke
And the axle’s draggin’
Same song
Next verse
A little bit louder and a little bit worse…

You can’t ride in my red wagon
The wheels are broke
And the axle’s draggin’
Same song
Next verse
A little bit louder and a little bit worse…

Like I said…it repeats. And is loud. Kind of like here.

Thursday Thirteen--Why I Had a Hard Time Posting

I am on the road this week and things didn't go exactly as planned. So I give you--thirteen reasons I had a hard time posting a Thursday Thirteen:

1. I had to get up before dawn to get a shower.
2. I had to debate the state of the world, religion and politics before I had coffee.
3. I had to drink brown colored water pretending to be coffee.
4. There were children to wake.
5. There were children to snuggle.
6. There were children to feed.
7. There were dishes to do.
8. There were clothes to find.
9. There sleeping bags to roll up.
10. My original idea involved photos that weren’t edited.
11. My back-up idea involved photos that would need editing.
12. Plan C wasn’t very interesting.
13. Getting a chance to use my computer involved sitting down for five minutes and the natives didn’t see the need.

Promising next week will be better, really.

Happy Thursday Thirteen! To visit more Thursday Thirteen participants visit here.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun!

Background Check

Just in case you wonder what my qualifications are:

At the beginning:
Grocery clerk (Dad was the manager—and that made it harder)
Dishwasher (no place to go but up)
ID checker, college cafeteria (one way to meet people)
Dormitory receptionist (another way to meet people and know lots of gossip)
Payroll assistant
Campus DJ

After gaining a BA in Advertising and Public Relations:
Department store clerk—costume jewelry department
Quick Trip assistant manager—lasted all of two weeks
Retail store manager—luggage and gifts
Retail assistant manager—jeans and assorted clothing
Customer assistant for an expedited shipping company
Riding instructor and barn worker for a 50 horse barn (low pay, extreme temperatures, difficult charges, high rate of injury—my dream job as a little girl, realized at 29 <sigh>)
Optometric assistant
Nurses’ aide (I really gained a heart for seniors there)
Ophthalmology assistant—more than once (this was a really good occupation—ophthalmology is interesting and the outcomes are usually positive)
Did anyone see advertising used?

In the middle of Mommy (all of these were over-night jobs):
Office assistant for a trucking company
Resident Night Counselor for Mental Retarded Adults (one of my most favorite jobs—I loved these people)
Night Supervisor for abused and mentally ill children (a job where I felt I could make a difference, I don’t know if I can say I loved it but it changed me forever.)
Night Operator—doctors’ answering service—boy was this an eye opener and educational
Personal Care Attendant—seniors (I got really attached my clients here and it could be very emotional)

For the last almost two years I have been blessed to stay home and devote my attention to my guys as MOOOOOoooooooooooommeeeeeeeeee!!!!, chief administer of hugs, teacher, arbitrator, dietician and chef, laundress, housekeeper (not so hot at this one), pet tender, chauffeur, listener of all wild imaginations.

Praying this can continue for years to come.

Before I was a Mom I didn’t know the feeling of having my heart outside my body. I didn’t know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. I didn’t understand the bond between a Mother and her child. I didn’t know that something so small could make me feel so important. I had never known the warmth, the joy, the heartache, the wonderment, or the satisfaction of being a Mom. I didn’t know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom. –Unknown

The Flip-Side

Organizing my family

Or...

Why do only grown-ups get to decide what to do with their possessions/gifts?

Forums and on-line discussions tout the joys of streamlining our lives and the health and joy that this will bring. A dear, dear friend desires a more Spartan way of living. This person would be very thrilled if my pack-rat tendencies were exchanged for California Closets and Clean Sweep. I wouldn’t advise her holding her breath. In this season of decluttering and organizing, I pause to wonder…why do people give children gifts and then tell them they must get rid of them? Why doesn’t the child get to decide when their possessions leave the house—or do they really not belong to the child? Do children not have rights of ownership? Is mine, mine and my sons’ mine because they dwell in our home. Isn’t it their home too?

Disclaimer: I love my parents and feel they gave me a pretty good life and a lot of opportunities. We have a good relationship, so don’t take too much to heart over, or read too much into the meanderings of my rant.

I guess this has dragged around in my mind/heart for near forty years. When I was little, very little, I threatened to run away. Foolish? Yes. My mother told me I needed to wait to tell my Dad “Goodbye.” He didn’t to my recollection, tell me I would be missed, or to be careful. He told me instead to take a suitcase and I could only take what was “mine.” That is only what was purchased with my money. Well of course I had no money, therefore, I had nothing. Now I know I didn’t run away. I realize this taught me that my parents provided for my needs and I was never lacking material things. But somewhere in there the message I got was, if you don’t pay for it, it is not yours. Even if we gave it to you, even if Grandma gave it to you. We decide because we are grown-ups.

I am going to go ahead and say it…Thankfully God doesn’t do this to us. His gift to us is ours and we can do with it what we want. And that was one of those things “I will never do to my children.” You know the laundry list…”When I have children…I will never do____”

Last year on a forum I frequented, I made the audacious claim that my oldest son did not want me to give/throw/sell certain items he may have outgrown. I was most interested in selling his things for him on E-bay and would have willingly given him the money to do with as he wanted. I was informed with some condescension that Roo was a child and he would get over it, take a picture and pitch the items, and mostly that I needed to exercise a little authority and my life would be better through simplified living and better behaved children.

Well…I never brought that topic up again there. I allowed Roo to keep the items, stored in a tote in the garage and we haven’t ended up in Juvenile Hall yet. To hear them tell it we were on our way to the road of destruction.

I will agree if your child is four and Cousin Eddie gives him movies of Jason and Freddie, perhaps you should invoke your parental rights and not allow the gift to give more than your family needs. I get that, I really do. And if Nana gives five year-old Janie Bratz dolls and they do not fit you’re your family’s choices and beliefs, and you told Nana this two hundred times before the holidays…well I won’t think that is awful if they got “lost”. Dangerous, broken, immoral, totally age inappropriate things,—I do understand, but these aren’t the things I am addressing. And I understand the concept of space, or rather the lack of space. And having moved with my Darling Cave Geek thirteen times in fourteen years, I know that this old wreck of a body can only carry a certain number of boxes.

But at some point it started to bother me that my children were not allowed to own what was given them or what they purchased with their money. Perhaps it was when I took stock of what I was still dragging around and keeping in storage that it became clear to me that I couldn’t say the boys had to get rid of the Little People yet. We drag them out a couple times a year still, and after we make a huge zoo in the living room they get to be the visitors. Thomas and all his friends make up the train that goes around along with the GeoTrax. And, well…when Boo outgrows the zoo animals and dinos, man…I am going to keep them. I have some cool art ideas.

Perhaps I will start by “modeling” the organization and streamlining of collections. Last year I did give/throw/sell a lot of my stuff. And, yes, it still multiplies. But I am to the point where I think I will allow the boys equitable storage in the limited amount we have. I think I will work on me before I try to change them. Permissive? Maybe. But as they grow emotionally and spiritually, I think they will learn the joys of giving on their own. I can force them to give, but don’t see how it will change their heart. But if I demonstrate it…? Maybe. As they become wise in handling their money, I think they will learn to let go of some things in favor of the things they really want. But if I make them do it now…well…I don’t see the value. If I teach the values and live them, there might be more chance.

We are blessed beyond measure with abundance and the cares and trappings of the world to often get in the way of the One who gives us true joy. I know Yeshua told the rich young ruler to sell all he owned. But He didn’t pound him over the head with it and he didn’t tell him to go home and organize all his buddies and make them sell all they owned too. We will be working on this, but thankfully with the grace that we have been given and the realization that it is not a salvation issue.

I sound cranky, don’t I? And still with thanksgiving for our bounty and prayers we will be kind and wise…still searching for the joy.



Deep pondering for today:
Did you know that if you crave chocolate and eat about eight or nine olives….……… you still crave chocolate???? Who’da thunkit??