Slowly, Slowly, Slowly...

Things are moving along. Not at the pace that I would like, but this week also included four late-night-outs for me.

Just for fun (and probably because it is oooooooooooold) my dryer decided not to work. So this morning is off to the laundromat because, while I can hang many things to dry inside, I cannot do jeans and bedding. Thankfully towels had been done. Sadly the paint brush doesn't reach that far.

If anyone feels led, I am asking for a prayer for Roo. He is having some knee pain. Most likely growing related, but we are being careful with it. With his activity there is a lot of stress on knees, tendons and ligaments. He also doesn't seem to have the highest threshold for pain. He's a lot like his mother.

Off to load up the van. Hi ho, Hi ho, to the laundromat I go...

Whistle while you work and all that rot...

Links for the videos "Whistle While You Work" & "Heigh Ho." Sorry, not able to embed them--but click away if you want to sing along.

Because It Just Seemed Like the Thing to Do...

Blogging may be sparse the next few days. A severely crazy person Someone I had the bright idea to paint the boys' room ten days before Thanksgiving, right in the thick of Nutcracker rehearsals, in the car seven days a week...

So if you see me here, you have my permission to ask if I've accomplished my goals for the day. Likely as not, I will tell you, "No!" But feel free to ask anyway.

Pray for me. Pray for my children. Pray for my husband. We may or may not survive this.

Edit to add--Here is the finished project.

Sharing a Blessing

Soul Pockets shared the Premio Dardos award with me. What a sweet blessing. Her blog is a very comforting place for me to visit. She's got her hands full with four great children and still finds time to write!!

The award says:

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are :

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I don't know that I deserve it, but I will say, "Thank you!" and try to keep blogging my best.

Passing it on (and passing it back to a few who might have recieved it before) to some wonderful bloggers who bless me:

Right back to Soul Pockets!

Quite the Normal Life

Searching and Pondering

A Catholic Mom in Hawaii

Just Me

2 Peas in a Pod

Do You Weary Like I Do?

Be Not Afraid

Pastor Al

Liza's Eyeview

God's Grace in Practice

My Life as Annie

Brady's Bunch

Our Little Monkeys

Poiema Portfolio

Since Change is Such a Good Thing...

...I've decided to change my mind. I still have some things causing me much concern about the outcome of the election. I'm trying to teach my children that our actions make a difference. But what about our inactions? What about our silence? When is the right time to speak up? I ask them to make good choices, but then should I remain silent, rely on someone else to declare the obvious things going on? Many people are saying the things that need to be said. Do I just read their words and nod in agreement or do I do something? Anything?

Some interesting and thought provoking links and images.



With friends like these...

Other mind changing going on.

No thanks, we already do community service through our church. One more reason I am grateful for homeschooling. But how long will homeschooling remain legal?

A new holiday on the horizon? For the new leader of the world.

From bondage to bondage:

"About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier: 'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.' 'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.' 'From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.' 'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years' 'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage.

(I saw the above several places, but first at Christine's. And she had something else to say.)

Hope for all...well, almost all.

FOCA--Freedom of Choice Act Facts from Esther and From the Field of Blue Children (h/t to Soul Pockets for the last link.)

I was born before 1972, but this still haunted me when I read it.

Abortion has been compared to slavery. Jen at Conversion Diary contrasts it to the Holocaust. Is abortion a "human right"?


Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset days telling our children what it was once like in the United States when men were free.

Ronald Reagan


If I wanted socialism I could have left my country. If my country embraces socialism where will I go?

Grains of Gratitude

This week I am grateful for much safe travel. The boys and I are on the road seven days a week and on four of those days we have some young ladies joining us. I am grateful for all the traveling mercies we have received.

My boys have been so much fun to watch. Their energy inspires me and keeps me getting up everyday. I cannot imagine life without them.

There's a great guy who lives in my house and I am thankful he married me. Some days I certainly wonder why he did, but I am grateful he sticks around and is such a great dad and husband.

For this year that has flown so quickly. It's been a year of learning and joys and sorrows, but through it all the days have been blessed.

For my God who loves me and loves you and loves even those who seem to us unlovable.
Every day is a blessing full of things to be grateful for.

I'm abundantly and richly blessed!

I Will Sing of my Redeemer

Words by Phillip P. Bliss
Music by James McGranahan

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Refrain
Sing, oh sing, of my Redeemer,
With His blood, He purchased me.
On the cross, He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

I will tell the wondrous story,
How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,
He the ransom freely gave.

Refrain

I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumphant power I’ll tell,
How the victory He giveth
Over sin, and death, and hell.

Refrain

I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be.

Refrain

Listen to the songon Cyberhymnal.

What are you grateful for?

Gratitude for finding Grains of Gratitude near the beginning of my blogging at Brady's Bunch. Thanks, Christine!

What American accent do you have?

I found this test over at Our Little Monkeys and had fun taking it. You know I love these bloggy tests!

I find accents terribly fascinating. But my husband (darling man, love of my life--so I say this with all the love in the world) is fascinated with accents even more.

My guy has a habit of picking up accents when talking to people with them. And then often having a better version of their accent than they do! He has a knack of being able to identify peoples accents down to cities sometimes--even those of people from other countries. He's kind of weird like that. (It's okay he calls me "spooky" about things, so again he knows I say these things with all the love in the world.)

He also spent summers growing up at the family dairy farm near where Missouri and Arkansas meet so he has a hidden accent that slips out when he is very relaxed. He was also a DJ in a former life so he has a "professional voice" which is very rich and full. He was still occasionally a DJ when I met him so that was the voice I heard a lot at the beginning of our relationship.

Having grown up in the Midwest the test results weren't much of a surprise, and I did have a radio show in college. But in honesty, I have gotten a little lazy after over fifteen years in this vicinity. So sometimes you get some "fer's" instead of "for's" and dropped "g's" and some "git's" instead of "get's." So I think my announcer days are over. Ahhhhh welll...anyway:

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
The Inland North
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

So what is your accent?

Wandering on Wednesday--A Ramble

I am still trying to get all the chocolate frosting off of this cake topper. We got it for Boo's birthday in August and it was a hit. It has blinking lights and plays "Happy Birthday" The only thing it doesn't do is ice the cake for you. Roo definitely wanted it for his cake this week. My baking creation definitely did not look as lovely as this picture, and I wasn't about to share with you my horrendous "writing with icing skills."

For Roo's first birthday I attempted a Noah's Ark cake. It fell apart and it is a good thing the animals were plastic--they would've drowned in icing otherwise. Since then my sister has always did birthday cakes for the boys--this is the first year we haven't been able to be together for Roo and my niece's birthdays. We miss them for more than the cake! My sister's always been very creative about cake decorating. She inherited that gene from my mother. Me? I'm the buy some model figures and slap them on the cake and call it decorated. She's used the models, too, but then creates a scene or landscape for them to be framed it. An artiste, let me tell you!!

I am reading Ralph Moody's Little Britches (aka Wild Country). Roo read it earlier and really liked it. I would highly recommend it for readers of all ages. This was one of my choices for the Fall into Reading Challenge.

So far, I've finished three of twelve books on my list for the Fall into Reading Challenge, but I've managed to read five other books not on the list! I have a history of getting sidetracked. Reviews are over on my Reviews & Recipes blog.

Sidney, aka the Crabby Cat, apparently is not happy with my husband's selection of food this morning because he's been complaining to me since I opened my eyes. He has been messing with me all morning. He is upset that the weather is changing. He asks to go out and then when he peeks outside he changes his mind.

Reminds me of T.S. Elliot's...

The Rum Tum Tugger

...The Rum Tum Tugger is a terrible bore:
When you let him in he wants to be out;
He's always on the wrong side of every door,
And as soon as he's at home, then he'd like to get about.
He likes to lie in the bureau drawer,
But he makes such a fuss if he can't get out.
Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a curious cat-
And there isn't any use for you to doubt it;
For he will do As he do do
And there's no doing anything about it!...

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats


The YouTube video of the Rum Tum Tugger from Cats is available. A little, ummmm...forward and friendly in the dancing, but certainly a fabulous musical.

Off to find the bottom of the laundry pile which may be as easy as finding the pot at the end of the rainbow.

What are you up to today?

Thank You for Our Freedom

Mind Boggling...

That was a groaner of a title, but I just couldn't help it. So what board game are you?

You Are Boggle

You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person. You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done. You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes. You're constantly inspired.

What Board Game Are You?

Tell me if you play!

Grains of Gratitude

Late in the day Grains of Gratitude. We've been running non-stop for the last few weeks. I'm grateful that gas has gone down. $1.67 today. Wow!

There has been a lot of safe travel this week that I am thankful for--the boys and I downtown and back, and Daddy made it home again after a two week trip. I am thankful for that, so very thankful.

I am thankful for my boys. This week is the "Roo Edition."

Roo is turning eleven.

He is a rule follower. He is an honest worker. He won't try to cut corners. In fact sometimes he makes things more difficult for himself. He dots the "i"s and crosses those "t"s. Sometimes he even tattles on himself. Which is why I trust him a lot.

He has a soft heart. He's shown others forgiveness when I would not have been so forgiving. He cares about me when I'm down or not well. He is empathetic. He loves little children, but is aware of how fragile they can be, so he is very, very gentle with them.

He is a talented piano player and a wonderful dancer. Math has become a joy because I am seeing it through his eyes. I've relearned so many things this year!

Where did my baby go to? He comes up to my chin now.

Brady's Bunch is the home of Grains of Gratitude thanks to Christine!