Rise and shine! It's mornin' time!

I'm going to let you in on a secret
about a large portion of the home schooling world.
We are not used to being dressed and
out the door first thing in the mornings.
(not exactly an earth-shattering revelation, is it?)
This makes sense because we have freedom with our
schedule and we have the luxury of taking
slow mornings. I enjoy these aspect of my life.
I'm not a morning person anyway.
But as I see this school year approaching,
I have been trying to get my act together.
I'm getting up earlier (I had really let that
slide ever since Baby J was born).
This week we have had Big E's soccer camp.
It has not been a crack of dawn thing; he doesn't have
to be there until nine o'clock ---but....well, please refer
to the previous paragraph
(home schoolers, slow mornings, not a morning person, etc).
It is good for me to have that right now.
We don't have to bustle out the door in a whirlwind,
but we do have to, you know, get dressed and get moving.

Today after we threw Big E and his soccer ball
out of the van as we drove past the soccer camp
(because you know that's the kind of mother I am! :P ),
I took my remaining three helpers
and went to a junk store.
It turned out to be a fruitful trip.
For twenty five bucks I got myself 2 little summer dresses
(I've been wanting some feminine,
simple, hot weather summer dresses),
a dress for Lovely K for this winter, a pair of jeans
for Lovely K, a pair of shoes for Lovely K, a pair of
overalls for Sweet T, a big plastic tray for delivering meals
to the kids outdoors and a Book of Common Prayer.
I think I am forgetting something.....but anyway,
I was pleased with the loot.
Going to places like that are like little adventures.
You might dig up a gold nugget or two,
or you may walk out empty handed.
One never knows.

My leisurely, empty week,
last week of freedom from school,
week in which I was going to relish,
has become all scheduled out.
Suddenly every day is committed.
We must head to the pool today because it looks like
it is going to be our only chance this week.
We can't stay long though. I don't want Big E to be
exhausted after three hours of sweating at soccer camp.
But it's nice and cool today.
Clouds overhead. Threat of rain, but I don't believe it.
I wish it would rain, don't get me wrong.
We need it.
I just don't think it's going to happen.

You know what?
I am just so thankful for my life.
I am so blessed.
I feel guilty sometimes about the wealth of
goodness and mercy and grace that God has
showered on me when I see some of the
difficulties others are facing.
But I am thankful.
So very thankful.

Just thought I would mention that.

Will wonders never cease?

For those of you keeping score at home,
you're going to mark this one in bold red print
so that you don't forget:
Bell does NOT like white chocolate.
And now don't you proceed to tell me what kind of that
mess I need to eat to make me like it.
I think I have tried them all.
I do not like white chocolate, Sam I am.
I always think white chocolate tastes like chalk.
The air in my mouth tastes better than white chocolate.
So we have that established?
No white chocolate for the Bell.
Okay.

So....this weekend I made something
with white chocolate in it. Granted it wasn't some
exquisite white chocolate imported from who-knows-where.
It was plain old grocery story white chocolate chips.
I think they were Nestle.
I bought two bags of them for this recipe and it just felt
so wrong to even pick them up when they were
surrounded by bags of nice, friendly, tasty chocolates
.....and I kind of thought they might jump out of
my cart or something. But they didn't.
They came home with me
and went dutifully into the recipe.

Here's what I have to say:
I liked it!
The dessert I made had
white chocolate in it and I liked it!
Woo-hoo!

If you are a blueberry lover, or a lover of
bread pudding, or just a lover of desserts
under any circumstances, I think you will like this.
OR if you find yourself attracted to any recipe
that calls for five cups of cream (....and who isn't?),
then here's something for you:
(and just FYI, this is so easy---you do not
have to know much more than how to
use a spoon to be able to make this)

Over the Top
Blueberry Bread Pudding

3 eggs
4 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 pkg (10-12 oz) white baking chips
1 loaf (1 lb) French bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

Sauce:
1 pkg (10-12 oz) white baking chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine eggs, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in blueberries and baking chips. Stir in bread cubes; let stand for 15 minutes or until bread is softened.
Transfer to a greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
For sauce: Place baking chips in a small bowl. In a small sauce pan bring 1 cup cream just to a boil. Pour over baking chips; whisk until smooth. Serve with bread pudding.


This was best when it was HOT out of the oven.
I kept stealing squares of it---which I should have
cut smaller. I learned from a couple of mistakes when
making this, but it still turned out decent and I liked it.
I will not make it again in the heat of the summer.
It'll be good on a cold winter evening.
You could feed a lot of people with this dessert
because it is so rich no one person could
(or I will say SHOULD, because
I know some one COULD)
eat a huge amount.

Somewhere in Arizona a curly-haired friend of mine
is thinking that this might be white chocolate putting
a foot in my door, that I might eventually come to love
white chocolate and ask it to go to the movies
or hang out with me.

I don't see it happening.

Like grains of sand through the hour glass....

Hello Dear Reader!
I hope you had a lovely weekend.
We're in those dog days of summer. I don't know
what the weather is like where you are, but it is
HOT and HUMID
here in Middle Tennessee. And don't underestimate
those capitalized words. Some people can't take
the heat/humidity combo we have here in the South.
It's not for wimps, that's for sure.

Since last chatting with you, I attended the big
curriculum fair that I was so excited about.
My friend Mrs. Marathon and I went together
(it's so nice to do these things with a kindred spirit)
and we had such a good time.
Even with me as navigator, we only made
one wrong turn, but it was easily corrected
---although it does sound bad to say that it caused us
to go into another state.....but we got there
with hardly any time lost at all.
So I am now available to professionally navigate
all your journeys if you'd like to hire my services
....if you don't care about getting somewhere on the first try or making good time or anything trivial like that....

The curriculum fair was great.
This was only my second year to attend, but I just
love going. You get to see things you've looked at on line
and hold it in your hand and make a better assessment of it.
You get to talk to people who actually have answers
for your questions. I just enjoy it very much.
I was only going on Friday this year (it's a two day thing)
so we were there for a very long day.
But it was a fruitful long day,
so it was a good kind of tired.

Drum roll please.
I am happy to announce that
not only have I settled on a math curriculum
but I have purchased it.
I'm just waiting for it to show up on my doorstep now.
I could give you this big explanation of
what all happened to lead up to my decision,
but I won't bore you with that (--I'll bore you with
other things, don't worry. You're not getting away
from this blog without being bored!)
I'll just tell you that Lovely K will be doing
Teaching Textbooks Math this year and Big E will
have another year of AOP's Lifepacs since he
did so well with them last year.
I don't know why that became such a big issue,
the math curriculum decision, but I am so glad to have
that decision made and done with. It was becoming
a millstone around my neck.
I will say this: the lovely little person working
the booth for Teaching Textbooks at the curriculum
fair was just what I needed. She was so knowledgeable
and had years of experience with several children.
She knew where I was coming from and by the time
I was done with her, I just wanted
to give her a hug!

I don't know if you noticed it or not,
but your Ordinary Days have had a little cosmetic update.
I don't know what in the wide wide world of sports happened
to our previous background. I don't know when it went away
because I haven't been on here for a couple of days.
When I logged on this morning,
there was just this wonky message
and NO background.
It was gone.
Discontinued or something.
So here we are.
I hope you are loving this new look
because that's what it's going to be for now.

I don't know if you noticed this or not either
but it's the last week of July!
We are supposed to start school next week.
We are fixing to start the eighth month of 2010!
Am I going to have to put on that
"time keeps on slippin-slippin-slippin' into the future"
song again? Because time is indeed slippin' into
the future as fast as it possibly can.
My little Sweet T is starting Kindergarten!
My tiny little newborn Baby J is getting to be
a big fat baby (he is soooooo cute!)
who is trying to travel around and grow like a weed.
And let's not even discuss how Lovely K and Big E
are changing and growing.
It kind of makes me sad
and at the same time I am excited
about all the new stages and
new things we are facing.
But the end of this free-wheeling summer?
Resuming school work?
Back to the home school co-op each week?

I don't know if I'm ready for all of this.

Can we file for an extension of July somewhere?

I'll get you, and your little dog too!

My poor little brain is tired of
shuffling through all the educational possibilities.
I have a list of things I want to purchase
tomorrow at the curriculum fair.
Please! Please! Please!
All you little people on my list,
be in your booth and have what I need.
Be well-stocked.
Don't leave me empty-handed.
Because I can just see it now---if any of these people
don't have the major things I am looking for,
I will go up in smoke just like
the Wicked Witch did on the Wizard of Oz.

Won't that make a scene amongst
a bunch of homeschooling parents?

(Note to self:
Wear pointy black hat to curriculum fair
for dramatic effect.)

You know, that Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz
never really seemed convincingly wicked to me.
It was kind of like when your grandmother was
reading you a story and she did the voice of the bad guy.
No matter how bad the voice sounded,
you still knew it was your grandma.
Did you know the lady that played
the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz
was at one time a kindergarten teacher?

I'll tell you who I was scared of
in that movie when I was a little kid:
those monkeys.
Those evil flying monkeys with their strange faces.
I'm not even a big fan of them today.


We are off to the pool to soak in
some of these last days of summer freedom.
I hope you are having a lovely day, Dear Reader.
Don't forget your sun screen.

Satisfaction

Lloyd Dobbler is in the basement now.
I don't mean right this second.
That's where he works.
Had I told you guys that before?
Maybe I mentioned it when I was explaining why
I am cowering 'neath this 1987 Goliath monitor on
the small desk I now have in my room. We took
the big desk down to the basement for Lloyd Dobbler's
office (and he has all cool, new, modern equipment down
there). So he's home all the time now. He's working
from home. So twice a day (usually) I go down
the steps with a tray in my hand taking the poor man
in the dungeon some bread and water.
Actually, I take him good food most of the time.
It seems like since we've all been home, we go through
food faster than I can buy it and put it on the shelf
and it seems like I am spending every moment of
the day in the kitchen. But Lloyd Dobbler loves for me
to bring him down the little tray of food.
You should see his eyes light up in anticipation
when I come around the corner.
He can't really see what's on the tray until I get closer.
Sometimes it's pork tenderloin and potato patties
and cantaloupe and Asagio bread.
And then sometimes it's leftovers.
Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana.
And oh, the sad, crestfallen look he gives
when he thinks I'm coming down the stairs
with caviar and it's only tuna salad.
On these occasions when I witness my dearly beloved
fall from the heights of joy to the depths of despair,
I sing him a little song.
"Some days are diamonds,
some days are stone."

Do you know that one?
It's an old John Denver song.
Guess who used to play it for me when I was a kid?
The same uncle and cousin who had me
skating around their living room in my sock feet
to "Heaven's Just A Sin Away"
(you and I recently discussed that tacky song).

"Some days are diamonds,
some days are stone."
I kind of don't think John Denver was singing
about a variety in menu choices when he sang
that song. Every time I sing that little ditty,
I think how true those words are.
Some days are smooth sailing all the way,
and some days are digging ditches.
My mom would say it like this:
"Chicken today, feathers tomorrow."
Another guy you may have heard of, his name was Job,
said, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
And what did Paul say?
"I have learned in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content."
This is something I am learning---to be the same
whether things are good or bad,
high or low,
rich or broke,
healthy or hurting,
diamonds or stone.
It is always right to be thankful.
We always have so much to be thankful for.
And to be content with what has been given you
is just a sign that you acknowledge the sovereignty of God.

"God never moves
without purpose or plan
when trying a servant
or molding a man.
Give thanks to the Lord,
though your testing seems long.
In darkness He giveth a song.
Oh rejoice in the Lord!
He makes no mistakes
for He knoweth the end
of each path that I take.
For when I am tried
and purified
I shall come forth as gold."

The best-laid plans of mice and men....

I sat down early this morning
and wrote out some plans for our
rapidly approaching school year. I was
quite pleased with myself until, after planning out
our regular weeks days, I realized that I had
not taken into consideration any housework or Baby J.
Neither one of those things made it into the schedule.
The housework I am all for dropping from our lives,
but not so much that precious baby
(who is seven months old today, by the way---
HAPPY SEVEN MONTHS, Baby J!!!).

Here's the thing---the day is full.
I didn't write in activities outside our home like
piano lessons and soccer practice and all that.
And the day is already full.
Very full.
It kind of makes me tired to think about it.
But the reality is, that's my life right now.
I can easily be overwhelmed if I try to take on
everything at once.
I'm not going to do that.
I'm not going to freak out if the house is never
all clean at once (it's been a while since that
happened anyway). In fact, it might be the other
way around. If the house was all clean at one time,
that might cause me to freak out.
I am going to make sure the most important things
get done and I am going to try to remember
what those most important things are
when I get lost in the shuffle of the busy-ness.

I read a quote recently that I really like.
I find myself writing it across the tops of
the pages that I am doing all this planning on.
"Discipline is remembering
what it is that you really want."
I think I need that tattooed to my palm
so that it is there to be a constant reminder to me.
It's so easy to forget what it is that I really want
and get sidetracked into doing other things
for less important reasons.
I'm so easily distracted, so easily thrown off track.
I think of those verses in Psalms that say
"look not to the right, neither to the left"
sometimes when I know I am being pulled away
from what I should be doing
(I might be using that out of context, but that's
when I think of those words--and I hear them in my head
in my deep, thundering, King James Version voice).

So I'm praying for wisdom and trying to
get my act together. I am kind of in this state where
I am facing the future with a smile on my face.
I think I have learned through some of the trials
in our recent history that I need to just enjoy
the day before me and do the best I can with
what I have been given.
It is making this day good and peaceful
and G0d-honoring that will, in the end,
result in a life that has been good and peaceful
and God-honoring.

And if you're keeping score at home,
no decision on the Math curriculum yet.

Let John Kerry plan your school year.

Remember when John Kerry was the big flip-flopper?
Remember how everyone just took that and ran with it?
Sometimes I think people (mainly the media) are
looking for a gimmick like that more than they are
actually looking at what politicians are all about
....but that's beside the point.
I'm talking about flip-floppers
....like John Kerry
....and myself....

What I am flip-flopping on is math curriculum.
I have changed my mind about a hundred times
and the more I do it, the less sure I am about any of my
choices. Just last night I thought I had settled
on one, went to show the on-line demo to Lloyd Dobbler,
and suddenly it just seemed so horrible.
So right now my plan is to go to the curriculum fair
on Friday and march right up to this one certain booth
and lay my troubles at the feet of the rep working
that booth. (Won't they be excited to see me coming?)
I'll just tell them that they were my first choice
and who I keep wanting to select....but it was
just these bad reviews that haunt me and keep me
from actually picking them.
If the rep can do a good job convincing me
that they are okay and that my concerns are unfounded,
then I'll slap down my money right there on the spot
and buy that math curriculum.
And then I can take of my flip flops.

So if you run into me at the curriculum fair
and I am bare footed,
you will know what has happened.

Do you know what else I am doing this year?
I am using ABEKA.
Not all ABEKA , but some.
I know that is probably like the most common thing
you hear. Especially in Christian circles.
It seems like everyone uses ABEKA....at least for the
younger grades. I used ABEKA curriculum when I was
little and went to Christian schools. My mom used
their curriculum when she taught in Christian schools
for years. I even briefly worked for them
(Hello, Mrs. Carter!)
while in college. But I've never purchased anything
from them. Until this year. I'm getting the main
things for my fresh new kindergarten student,
Sweet T, from them. And I am ordering their
Language Arts programs for both Big E and Lovely K.
It's not like I have anything against them.
I just didn't want to use them.
I will say this about the people at ABEKA,
they are perfectionists on many levels.
When I worked for them, I was a proofreader.
I cannot tell you how many inter-office memos
I proofed for them.
Did you hear that?
Inter-office memos!
Notes to each other----and they sent them
through the proofing office.
I just thought that was a bit much.
My boss there was the sweetest little lady.
She was so frugal.
She would cut up her small post-it notes
into smaller post-it notes
so as not to be wasteful.
One day she was having a snack
and she cut her napkin in half.
That's all I have to say about that.

Well, I'm off to flip and also to flop
a bit more on my curriculum choices.
And what's funny about
this whole lack of decision
in the planning of this school year is that
I hope to start school in two weeks.

Let's see how that goes.

DON'T Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Man, these summer days just get so busy.

I keep thinking how nice it is not to have school to do,
and that is nice, but there's just always something!

You know how our days just fill up even when
we try to keep them from doing so.

So low on my list of priorities
(don't cry when I tell you this)
is blogging. That's why I seem to be post
so sporadically. Not that I'm not thinking of you,
my dearly beloved Reader, but I'm all over the house
and the computer is all the way upstairs in my bedroom.
I am beginning to see the value in a lap top
....even though I don't love lap tops.
But I think I'm going to have to get one.

One day last week I took Lovely K to a birthday party at the skating rink. It was the first time she had ever roller skated. When she told this to one friend of mine, the friend was appalled. The child is ten years old and never in that decade had she been taken roller skating.
I know. I'm a terrible parent.
You don't want to know how low on the list of priorities roller skating is. It might not even be on the list. But Lovely K had a good time at the party and I enjoyed talking to some moms that I rarely see. One in particular that I have known for probably twenty years. We have been like a mile or two down the road from each other all these years and been involved in some of the same things, but our lives have rarely bumped into each other. She has four kids but her youngest is three years older than my oldest. It was interesting to talk to her. We started cooking up an idea for home school moms that I am mulling over even now.

I've got to sign Big E up for soccer camp today.
The camp isn't until next week. I don't know if he still fits any of the gear we have for him. I may have to go buy everything in a larger size. The good thing about having this string of boys is that I know things will get used. We pass it on down the line and it works out so nicely.
Big E is excited about the camp.
He's ready for soccer to start. I like soccer so much better than baseball. The rest of my family just gasps in horror when they hear me make this statement, but it's true. I like the whole soccer experience better than the baseball experience. I don't like the parents of baseball and how they act. I don't like the dads of baseball. It's kind of rigged. It's not about sportsmanship or the game or "the luck of the draw" or any of that. It's about setting things up for certain children to be highlighted. It's not fair. I'm always against things that aren't fair to everyone. And it gets worse and they get older. We didn't have a bad experience or anything, but I just look at how it's done around here and I just don't want to be part of it. I hope Big E doesn't want to play baseball.
Is this anti-American?

I've got so much PLANNING to do this week. I'm looking at the school year ahead and trying to make some definite decisions. So many options. So many things we can do. That's something I am struggling with---how much to do and how much to say no to. There are some activities I would like to get the kids involved in, but it all requires time. I'm not sure how much time I am willing to devote to these things. I just refuse to be running all over the place, being one of those taxi moms to my children. One of the reasons we home school is to keep our home the focus and main influence in the kids' lives. So....I've just got to decide
what is worth our time and what isn't.


I hope you are having a
lovely start to your week, Dear Reader.

Last First Times

This morning Baby J had his first encounter with a Cheerio.
I find myself really stopping and having these moments
of deep thought sometimes when it occurs to me
that these little "firsts" with him are
the last of those types
of firsts we will have in this home.
He's growing so fast and he is so eager to do things.
This will be the last time somebody learns to sit up
and the last time somebody is cutting teeth
and the last time somebody grows out of size 3 diapers.

I just sat there in the kitchen this morning
with my children around me. The three "big" kids
were eating their breakfast and watching
Dick Clark's $25,000 Pyramid
(hey, it's summer! We're out of school, we've gone to
the dogs....so yes, we were watching game shows
while we ate breakfast!) and Baby J was having
that whole exciting first Cheerio experience.
And he was so proud of himself when he was rolling
a Cheerio around in his little drooly mouth.
He'd look over at his brothers and sister like
"Aha! I'm doing what you guys are doing!"
Little does he know there's a big difference between
a single Cheerio in the mouth and a plate full of
eggs, sausage, cantaloupe, and English muffins.

Does every mother do this?
Have these moments when you are so aware that
time is slipping through your fingers?
And at the same time you are desperately trying to
hold on to it, savor it, make it last, you are looking
longingly down the road into the future to days
when you will have more freedom and
less pressure--is that a common feeling?


So I wrote it on the calendar--Baby J's first Cheerios.
And I wonder if I will think about little milestones
like that when I write down, some day in the future,
"Baby J got his driver's license today"
or "Baby J moved into his own apartment today"
or "Baby J got married today."
Only he won't be Baby J then.
He'll be all grown up.
But like I tell my kids when they say they aren't babies,
I tell them,
"You'll always be my baby."

And so they will.

Today In History

Do you know what today is?
It's the day after the second anniversary of this blog!
How exciting.

Actually, today is something.
Today is the day that in 1976 The Family Feud
(hosted at that time by Richard Dawson)
was introduced to the world.
I would have been three years old.
And cute.
Just FYI, I love The Family Feud.
I love most any type of game,
but I have always liked the family feud.
I know some of you, like my mother....and Laura....
can't get past Richard Dawson kissing every woman
in the room. I don't focus on the kissing. I'm all
caught up in the game. (If I'd actually been there,
I think I would have turned my check---I know
I wouldn't have kissed that guy on the lips. Yuck.
I'm not into kissing people that I'm not
married to or gave birth to.)
Don't think that I have this date marked on my calender.
This little bit of trivial information popped up to greet me
on Facebook this morning.
Because I play Family Feud on there.
I also play Scrabble on there.
So if you are a game player and my friend on Facebook,
start a Scrabble game for us. I'd love to play you!
I always have several games going.
Or just come over and sit in my dining room
and we'll play a game of Scrabble in real life.

It rained here last night.
I'm talking thunder and lightening and the whole bit.
I LOVED it.
And the forecast for this week has a chance of rain
every single day. Woo-hoo! Bring it on.
Maybe I'll get enough green beans to can after all.
Sorry if you're trying to do something outside this week
like get married or have a yard sale or camp.
You're probably going to get rained on.
But we need the rain around here.

It's a new week, Dear Reader!
I'm enjoying this lazy Monday morning.
I'm going to be making a new recipe for lunch today
(Sausage Spinach Bake---sent to me by my favorite aunt,
and if we all hate it, she'll no longer be my favorite aunt).
I'll let you know how that turns out.

Do you remember that Martha Stewart recipe
I made last summer that turned out to be
the worst food ever?
Not to mention UGLY. Ugh.




And if you thought it looked bad in the pot,
it looked worse on the plate with the stupid tomato thing
of Martha's that sounded so yummy
and turned out so disgusting.


And yes I did serve it to my family.
And yes, we did have a big dessert that night.

And how secure am I in myself as a cook to show you
such horrible pictures of food I made?
Go back to last summer and find the "whatever Martha" post
if you want to relive the moment. 'Cause with pictures like that,
who doesn't want to relive this mess?
Try not to stampede over each other
as you race to find those recipes.

Do you know what today is?

There is some obnoxious song I heard in college
and I think all the song says over
and over and over and over again is
"Do you know what today is? It's your anniversary."
Just sing that about 323 times in a row
and you have that song.
And be a black guy singing it.
That's all I remember about that song.
I probably heard it a total of three times
but ever since then (this was college so we're talking
early 90's, quite a while ago), it's been
there in my head. I don't mean that since that time
it's been stuck in my head like the way a song will get
stuck in your head. No.
I think if a person had a song stuck in their head
for over a decade, well, their head would
just have to explode.
That's all there is to it.
But no, that song has just always been there
in my head, taking up valuable space, ready for
something to trigger the memory of it and then
I go around singing it.
"Do you know what today is?
It's your anniversary."
The way the singer said "anniversary" was
really annoying too.
He said it like "an-i-ver-shary."


So, anyway,
DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS,
Dear Reader?
It's our anniversary.
Ordinary Days is two years old today.
I kind of find this hard to believe. But time passes. Things change. Just this very afternoon I was hanging on a float in a pool with this half-grown female beside me, talking to her, amazed to realize that this girl was my daughter. My tiny little baby girl daughter who has the nerve and the audacity to just continue to grow and change every single day.
But I digress.....

Happy Anniversary to my 1.5 readers. I love all one and one half of you and I thank you for reading and commenting in the various ways that you do. I am glad you stop by and check in on things here and roll your eyes and say to the other person in the room,
"This chick really needs to get a life."
You don't do that, do you?


Two years old.
Do you know what this means?
This means that we are a toddler blog now.
We are headed into The TERRIBLE TWOS.
All posts for the next year stretching out ahead of us
will be drool-y and have short attention spans and get
easily tired and suddenly hungry and not be able
to control their bladders.
And they might occasionally pitch a fit
when you least expect it.
Let's just try to keep on a routine here
and hope that we mature past these
TERRIBLE TWOS.

I have a friend who says that just by say Terrific twos!
(with a sugary sweet smile on your face)
instead of TERRIBLE TWOS
(deep voice and frown) that you will help alter the
behavior of your child. I never found the twos to be
particularly terrible with my children
(may Baby J not prove me wrong).
I'm not going to excuse crazy behavior because of
a child's age. I also don't expect five year old
behavior from a two year old.

So don't expect five year old blog posts
from a two year old blog, okay?

I know last year we had a Christmas in July give away
to celebrate the first an-i-ver-shary (and thanks again to the
lovely winner of that give away for not setting me on fire
because it took a couple of MONTHS for me to actually
get her prize to her---sorry, dear friend).
Would you guys like that again?
Would you like me to spend the rest of the month
assembling some kind of little grab bag of small joys
to give to one lucky reader?
Let me know.

Happy an-i-ver-shary Dear Reader!
May there be many more lovely ordinary days
for both you and me!
I'm glad you are sharing them with me.

Bad Attitude

I just got done reading someone else's blog
where she was talking about having a good attitude
and how we determine the attitude we will have.
We make the decision.
It's all in our outlook and where our focus is.
It kind of pointed out
to me that I've been struggling with a
less-than-good
attitude today. The good thing about me being
absent minded and easily distracted is that when I
am having a stinky attitude, it's often interrupted
by joyful singing and moments of laughter.
(never a dull moment here!)
This morning all I could think of when I woke up
was how much I would like to go to The Big City
or College Town BY MYSELF and just look
around in stores and stuff.
I just wanted to go shopping alone.
It's been a long time.
It's been a long time since I've gone anywhere
for more than an hour or two without my
little friend Baby J attached to me
(about six months, almost seven).
But reality abounds here at the homestead
and I knew that I wouldn't be going anywhere
without my usual entourage.
We had a nice morning though.
And then I decided to split the children with
Lloyd Dobbler as we went about our activities for the day.
I was going to leave him the big boys and take
Lovely K and Baby J with me. To College Town.
Then my mother came by and took Lovely K with her
....but I got bogged down doing 143 things here at
the house....and by the time I was trying to just get to
a point where I could leave the house, I knew I was in
no mood to go traipsing off to College Town with just Baby J.
I didn't want to lug that baby carrier in and out of
stores in this heat. And I didn't want to listen to him
wailing if he got unhappy going down the interstate
with no one in the back of the van to talk to him.
So instead of going to cool stores and looking around
at interesting things in peace and quiet,
I went to Walmart and bought groceries.

But you know what?
I only had Baby J with me.
That makes it so much easier.
No one distracting me with conversation when I am
trying to think about what I am doing.
And I ought to just be happy that I am able to go
to a store and buy food (and silly bands) for my family.
I ought to just remember what it's like
NOT to be able to do that.
I ought to just be happy that my husband has a job
and that there is a store to go to with food on the shelves.
I am happy about that.
Happy and thankful.
I know I am blessed.
I shouldn't ever complain about anything.
Someday I will be alone and wishing like anything
that I would have one (let alone four!) of my children
by my side. So I need to have the right attitude.
Instead of poor me,
I need to give thanks.
I know that is God's will for me
at all times and in every situation.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded of that.

Tacky Music Is Just A Song Away

I'm so glad that some of you are enjoying the juke box.
(I do it for you, Dear Reader.
So your response is appreciated.)
Right now I am listening to the wacky instrumentals that
I have placed there for your listening enjoyment.
That "Taste of Honey" just kind of makes me laugh.
It starts out sounding like the background music
for some classic western music and then it turns
into that wacky music that Vernon Bogle
would have really loved.
I don't know why I find it so amusing.
I should start assembling an old country music list
to spring on you on some old country day.
And I mean OLD stuff.
The kind my grandpa used to play on eight tracks.
The kind I sing in the parking lot with one of the
deacons at our church (one of my favorite old guys in
the whole world---who wouldn't love a guy who sings
"Pistol Packin' Mama" with you?).

There's a radio station that sprang up recently
that plays some of these old tunes---but mostly they play
old country songs from when I was a kid.
The classic type. It's amusing to hear.
I am surprised by how many of these songs I know.
I blame this on my brothers.
And the radio selections at TG&Y.

Does anybody else remember TG&Y?

I am also surprised at the tackiness
in some of these old songs.
Most of them are just sweet old songs,
nothing crazy. But there are some that, while they
aren't profane and in your face
like a modern day tacky song would be,
if you think about what they are saying....
Oh. My. Word.
They are terrible.
I am sure I have ranted before about my favorite
old country song to be annoyed with.
It's "Heaven's Just a Sin Away."
See, I don't even have to say another word about it.
You know by the title of that song that it's tacky.
Tacky Tackster from Tackville.
Ridiculous.

I had an uncle with some really cool, hi tech stereo
(for the 1970's) and that was the record he loved to
play. He thought the Whites (I think that's who sings
that song, the daughter is married to Ricky Scaggs)
had such beautiful harmony.
I'm sure he thought nothing of it
(what the song was actually saying).
It was just a pretty song
to him. But isn't that what's wrong with not thinking
through our choices? I am probably more guilty of
this than anyone.
I tend to sugar coat things.
There was a song in high school that I LOVED.
It had such a great sound.
But it was tacky.
I never thought about what it was saying.
I just liked the sound of it. Maybe it wasn't tacky to me
because I was so naive and innocent that it really and truly
meant NOTHING to me. It was just a great sound.
But now I wouldn't even tell you the name of that song
because I know now that it is tacky.
I'd be embarrassed for you to know I liked it.
(But it still sounds great.)

The other song he would play on his high tech stereo
was Kenny Roger's Sweet Music Man.
There was something about the way
the music moved from the left speaker to the right speaker.
My uncle would point that out each time he played it.
They had hard wood floors and my cousin and I
would put on thick socks and "skate" all around the
living room while he played his stack of 45 records for us.

You know, I love my uncles.
I love that I have known them and been around
them. I love that most of my family is still here in my
Tiny Town where both sides came from. You do miss out
on some things by staying in the one horse town,
but you also gain some things that cannot
be experienced in any other way.
I love that my kids know their
great uncles and aunts too.
Even their great great aunts and uncles.
I love that we run into them in Walmart or
Captain D's or the county fair.
They are all getting older, these uncles and aunts of mine.
I am thinking of my dad and his brothers.
My dad is the youngest of five boys (they have
a sister who is the oldest in the family). They are
all living and all here in my Tiny Town.
What a sad day it will be when something happens
to one of them. I can't imagine what it would be like
for one of them to not be around any more.

I hope that you have been blessed with a family
as good and crazy and funny as mine.
I can't imagine it being as crazy as mine,
but maybe we aren't the worst.

Have a good weekend, Dear Reader.

I'm so excited!

I think it's going to rain!

There been several cracks of thunder. The sun
has hidden itself somewhere.
I think it's going to rain!!!
And the house is very quiet.
Baby J is sleeping in his little cowboy room. The other
three kids, tired from swimming and clean from showers,
are laying on their beds. (I hope Sweet T doesn't fall
asleep---he's going to the dentist with his daddy
in a few minutes.) But the house is quiet and
kind of dark. It's great.
This is like one of my favorite moments.
Ahhhh--there's the rain.
Oh that this would last all night.
I love it!
And it's making the garden and the flowers happy.
It's making me HAPPY too!

Just when you needed a small, friendly poem.....

David
by Rod McKuen

David in the driveway leaving,
pausing for a moment
but a moment only
and down the driveway gone.

See the night sky, David,
free of clouds at last.
Stars there are and crickets
in the trees.
All have moon-blue shadows.
Too many comets uncollected,
enough to fill a hundred
Mason jars
and still spill out and over.

Clarification

I wanted to make sure that if you are, at this very moment,
preparing that Georgia Cracker Salad stuff and it's your
favorite food of all time, please don't
think I'm insulting you (in my previous post).
It just seemed to me that any recipe
where two of the main ingredients are
"a sleeve of saltine crackers" and mayonnaise.....
well, you might be eating with Jeff Foxworthy.
And I'd be right at the table beside you.
I just didn't want to insult anyone.
You fix whatever food you want.
Pay no attention to anything the Bell says.
And by the way, you look very nice today.
Have you been working out?

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like it

I have been introduced to two salads lately
that, to be quite honest, nauseate me. One is from
Paula Dean and the other one is from some really cool Catholic family up north who I am now enchanted with---well, except for their salad. And to say I have been introduced to these salads makes it sound like someone walked up to me with a plate and a fork and asked if I'd like to try them. No. I've just found myself face to face with the recipe and a picture of the end product.

I have something to say about the Paula Dean salad.
You can find it here.
Go look at it so you'll know what I am talking about
when I say "What redneck chef in what
trailer park came up with this one?"
I'm not saying I wouldn't try this salad. I would try it.
Part of me thinks it might be good and part of me
thinks it looks like it comes, shall we say, PREdigested.
Is that a delicate enough way of describing it?
But look at the ingredients---I'm just saying
it doesn't exactly smell of sophistication.

Like I would know.

Anyway, let's not talk about salads.
Let's talk about me.

Let's talk about how tired I have been lately.
I have been going to be about 9:30 at night
(which is early for me) and sleeping until about 7:30
(though I have actually gone til 8:00 more than once
lately, which is amazing that my children could go that
long without talking to me!). And I wake up
feeling exhausted. I go to bed feeling exhausted.
I have to just lay down somewhere
and pant in the shade in the afternoon.
I'm just SO TIRED.
All the time.
I don't know why.
I've been trying to eat good. I'm getting plenty of
water. The Big Stink is gone. Things should be better.
I shouldn't be suddenly feeling SO tired all the live long day.
Maybe I need to take a vitamin or something.
Or double up on my caffeine.

I am deep in the throws of planning the upcoming
school year. Here's the thing that is driving me crazy
in that area---I have no printer.
When Lloyd Dobbler went to the basement, he took
the GIANT 1970's metal office desk
that we had in our bedroom.
Remember me talking about how my large
old monitor is now precariously perched on a much
smaller desk? It's teetering above me even as we speak.
So anyway, around the time of the desk moving to the
basement, our faithful old printer gave up the ghost.
I need a printer.
I need to print out some stuff. Lots of stuff.
It's creating this OBSTACLE in the road to happy
school year planning. And you know how ridiculous we are
when it comes to buying stuff. How long did it take us
to decide what camera to buy?
We will just stand around, clothes on fire, talking about
how bad we need to get a fire extinguisher,
and just NOT DO IT for some reason.
I don't know why we are like this.
But there's no way around this purchase.
Nothing else can stand in for a printer.

I'm really interested in doing some things
around the house now. Things I haven't cared about
in quite sometime. Decorative things.
Making the nest cozier.
That sort of thing.
It's just so interesting after all the stuff that we have
dealt with over the past year (or more) to be feeling
like life could be NORMAL for a while.
How lovely normal seems.
You know what a big fan I am of the ordinary day.
Bring 'em on! One right after another.
Those are my favorite.
None of this running around, constant activity,
something always going on for me.

I like to stay at home.
I like the simple life.
I like peace in the valley
and old folks at home.
Home is where my heart is.
Home is where my story begins.
Home is where dirty laundry greets
me around every corner
and there's always a mess
in the kitchen to welcome me.

And no one ever makes that mess.
It just magically appears.

Oh well.
I love it anyway.

it's the most wonderful time of the year......kind of...

I keep thinking that this is Monday, but it isn't.
Holidays can throw me off schedule (because I am
just SO. VERY. SCHEDULED. anyway). The past two
weeks have been fun and full and busy. I have
run more gas through my van in these two weeks than
I did in several previous months. Today has been
like a big crash and recovery day.
I have done some things....laundry, kitchen,
supervised the kids doing the downstairs bathrooms
.....but we have mainly crashed today.
I have read SO MANY articles on the computer today.
I blame this all on Laura, but with a smile.
I have discovered some great sites and
read some inspiring, encouraging words.

Here---I'll share some links with you.


I have thoughts like this, about how
I will be in the future and how I want to remember
these days that are going to pass.

This lady seems to have walked down the same path as me.

This lady knows exactly what I am
thinking regarding discipline.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the books this grandpa made
for his grandson. Aren't they amazing? What a treasure.

I want to make this chicken dish and put some
Granny Smith apples in a large glass container like this
lady did. But why get a glass container to hold apples
just because it looks cute?
I need to go through my whole house ruthlessly
asking the questions found in this article.


Guess what I am listening to right now?
My Christmas music list on playlist.
Yes, I am.
You know my Christmas music begins
to speak to me in the heat of summer.
And guess what kind of look I get from Lloyd Dobbler
when he walks into the room and hears
Paul McCartney singing about how he's
"simply having a wonderful Christmas time..."

I have many things percolating in the old brain here.
Thoughts and plans.
Hopes for the futures.
Goals.
Methods of implementation.
Even a recipe or two.
Hope to make some sense of it all
and share more with you soon.

First of July (not a holiday)

I have started many posts to you this week, Dear Reader,
but I never got them finished.
(Well, I finished the ones you got,
but there were others....that you didn't get...)
It's just been a busy week.
I told you I'm not used to that.
I realize how much I like our slow pace
and days at home when we have
to leave the house every day. More than once.
It's been a long week for your old faithful Bell here.
And I'm not ready for the weekend.
I have to get up in the morning and make a bunch of stuff
for the next two days AND COOK THE DAD GUM SALMON
THAT HAS BEEN THAWED OUT IN THE FRIDGE
SINCE WEDNESDAY...FOR BREAKFAST!!!
Yes, you heard me.
We will be having Alaskan salmon fillets for breakfast
in the morning. We will be able to see Sarah Palin's house
from our porch while we are eating them.


But it's been a good week, my fellow Americans
(and who ever else might be reading this).
I have seen old friends and new friends and enjoyed my
time with each. I have watched my children play in the
hot summer sun. I have had little snippets of time with
my husband and only Baby J with us. I have put more
miles on my van in this one week than I probably did in
a month's time previously. I feel like we have been living
on quicky food, fast food, cereal, and junk all week.
Next week will be better in the food department.
I did cook the first beans from
our garden and they were so good.
But what are a pot of beans
up against a week's worth of junk?

Now I keep thinking about how during the days
leading up to the last presidential election, when my
children were seeing a lot of the candidates on TV
and hearing them on the radio, Big E got enamoured
of the phrase "my fellow Americans." He spent
one whole day ending everything sentence with that
little tag, my fellow Americans. He thought it
was great, my fellow Americans.
We got tired of it right away.
My fellow Americans.

Tomorrow is the third of July.
We have a little parade to go to in our Tiny Town.
And then my family is getting together at my mom
and dad's. There might be baseball or croquet played.
Or Rummy or Rook or the wii.
I might lay down with Baby J and take a nap
while we are out there.
Exciting times, Dear Reader.
Exciting times.

Well....I'm too tired to be interesting or funny.
That's my excuse for tonight.
I don't know what my excuse is the rest of the time.

I hope you are getting ready to have
a lovely holiday weekend
in this wonderful country of ours.
See ya!

Your Salmon is Thawed

I guess I can close the windows I have open on the computer
that contain the directions for cooking salmon fillets.
I had planned to make a lovely dinner for Lloyd Dobbler
and myself at least one of these 3/4 childless nights this week.
That did not seem like such a lofty goal
before this whirlwind week was set into motion.

I'll tell you what I have learned this week.
I have learned that I am not the kind of mom who
plans on running her tail end off carrying kids all over this
Tiny Town and making all kinds of plans for every single day.
I have learned that not only am I (and Paul Simon)
still crazy after all these years, but I am still a home body.
And I have no desire to change.
I have learned that it's much easier to keep the house clean
when the kids are not home long enough to
play and mess it up.
I have learned that Baby J is indeed the nicest, most
accommodating baby in the world (just as I suspected!).
I have learned that if I want to cook these salmon fillets,
I'm just going to have to do it and not
deceive myself by thinking
that I'm going to actually have time to leisurely assemble a
breath-taking romantic dinner for two.

At the same time, it has been a good week.
I got to see an old friend and her kids on Monday.
While the kids were gone that night, Lloyd Dobbler
and Baby J and I did some Walmart time.
I got to visit with a (relatively) new friend on Tuesday.

That night Lloyd Dobbler and Big E went to the party for
Big E's baseball team and I did stuff here at the house,
forgetting to go pick up my children from VBS.
I remembered at 8:15 that they were dismissed at 8:15.
You'd be amazed at how fast I can drive from
Point A to Point B when necessary.

Yesterday we did the whole orthodontial horror
scene---I'm so thankful that only comes around once a
month. Any tips on calming down a child who works
themselves up into a frenzy of nerves? We've tried every
approach we can think of.
I'm considering sedatives.

Today has been the day of peace at home.
I'm just now getting in the shower.
I cooked a good meal for our lunch again today because the
kids are eating their supper at this night time VBS and
it's just junk like chicken nuggets and PB&J sandwiches
and that sort of thing. So today we had friend chicken breasts,
macaroni and cheese, fresh green beans from our garden
cooked with onions and garlic from our garden,
fresh pineapple....and something else......I can't remember
what the other item was.....I'm getting old.

So instead of our romantic salmon for two,
we are making a mad dash for the chiropractor
whose practice is far far away.
We both need adjustments more than we need
that dinner.

Maybe I'll cook it for us tomorrow night
instead of going out to eat with The Newlyweds.