Winter conditions do not maintain a constant temperature. Occassionally, in the middle of a thaw, the temperature will drop suddenly. This causes all the puddles of melted snow to freeze. Likewise, all run-off from a house gutter will freeze.
Use extreme caution when leaving the safety of home to get the mail. If you have a downspout right next to your mailbox, you likely will have a large, watery-looking patch of ice directly beneath your mailbox.
Warning: should you succumb to the ice, do NOT attempt to stay upright by grabbing onto your mailbox! You will only injure your hand and look like an idiot.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
STOWAWAYS
I don't know about your house, but at mine, we occasionally find stowaways.
What's a stowaway?
Well, a stowaway is when you go to make the guest bed, peel back the covers and find a stuffed animal lovingly laid to rest. Or, when you open up your lunchbox at work, and find a truck parked perfectly so it can pull right out and go on its way.
What's a stowaway?
Well, a stowaway is when you go to make the guest bed, peel back the covers and find a stuffed animal lovingly laid to rest. Or, when you open up your lunchbox at work, and find a truck parked perfectly so it can pull right out and go on its way.
One of our most recent and pervasive stowaways is this wall rock that you see pictured above.
Yes, a rock.
Some small child found this rock and brought it in doors. Another small child pilfered a piece of sticky-tack, affixed it to the back of the rock, and stuck it to the wall in our entryway. Walking down the stairs, a parent spied the new addition to the wall, inspected it, determined it to be what it was, and removed it.
It appeared again the next day.
And the day after that.
And the day after that.
This stowaway is now a semi-permanent resident of our entryway wall.
I heard our daughter laughingly pointing it out to her friend a few days ago, and knew myself to be what I was:
A bamboozled, befuddled and bedraggled parent
Friday, December 11, 2009
favorite blog post
Confession: I don't read blogs, I read books that are occasionally based on blogs. When I want ideas for a creative project, homeschool activities or the weather forecast, I search the web. When I want to read something entertaining, I turn to books.
I picked up a book a long time ago that made me laugh outloud called Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon. Further research revealed that the book was based on this woman's blog. Now, most of you (who are probably blog readers; since you're reading my blog, I guess you figured out that whole dashboard thing--can you teach me?) are probably like,
"Duh! Pamela Ribon is a pioneer in the blogosphere."
And I'm like, "Pamela Ribon has published two books. She's a guppie in the book world."
Anyway, one of my favorite pieces of written comedy was contained in that book (the book itself was kinda whiny when not really, really funny, but that's kind of discriptive of chicklit anyway), and I'd like to share it with all of you:
http://www.pamie.com/February99/01February99.shtml
Scroll down to the picture and start reading. The writing is worldly, but not *too* profane.
I'm now interested in Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. A book based on a blog that now has a movie out on DVD.
I'm way behind the times.
I picked up a book a long time ago that made me laugh outloud called Why Girls Are Weird by Pamela Ribon. Further research revealed that the book was based on this woman's blog. Now, most of you (who are probably blog readers; since you're reading my blog, I guess you figured out that whole dashboard thing--can you teach me?) are probably like,
"Duh! Pamela Ribon is a pioneer in the blogosphere."
And I'm like, "Pamela Ribon has published two books. She's a guppie in the book world."
Anyway, one of my favorite pieces of written comedy was contained in that book (the book itself was kinda whiny when not really, really funny, but that's kind of discriptive of chicklit anyway), and I'd like to share it with all of you:
http://www.pamie.com/February99/01February99.shtml
Scroll down to the picture and start reading. The writing is worldly, but not *too* profane.
I'm now interested in Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. A book based on a blog that now has a movie out on DVD.
I'm way behind the times.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Poor Dooce
I came across a blog that everyone and their mom in blogland already knows about: http://www.dooce.com/
The blog features nothing less than the life of Heather who's a recovering Mormon and has turned to the dark side. It's well written, funny, and humbly exposing of Heather's progress through her life. She calls herself a crackpot, and she's right. Yet, she goes about life looking at it through a tough lens, bearing all the time the proof of her vulnerability. Reading through some of her material, I'm reminded of why I used to like Stuff magazine.
Guy humor is so charmingly earthy.
Heather is the sort of person I would love to be friends with, but who would write me off as hopelessly goody-christian. It's probably for the best, as she'd be able to sense my pity for her and go on the offensive. I am not the most compassionate christian, which really belies my name, but I can't help but have some for Heather. Maybe it's because I would be her but for the grace of God. Maybe it's because she's so forthright about what she really thinks in such a humorous way. I certainly appreciate her musings on motherhood/children ("it's less about crying because she's hungry or mean (don't let anyone tell you they're crying for any other reason, those babies, those mean, mean babies)"), and have even gone down the same mental paths in the dark hours.
She has a section in her blog for hate mail (people are so hateful when they think they're right). She's evidently recieved many offers of conversion, as she warns against attempting such a thing, but says that she doesn't refuse Bibles that have her name emblazoned in large gold letters.
She's so lost. She's so likeable.
I wonder how much a personalized Bible goes for today?
The blog features nothing less than the life of Heather who's a recovering Mormon and has turned to the dark side. It's well written, funny, and humbly exposing of Heather's progress through her life. She calls herself a crackpot, and she's right. Yet, she goes about life looking at it through a tough lens, bearing all the time the proof of her vulnerability. Reading through some of her material, I'm reminded of why I used to like Stuff magazine.
Guy humor is so charmingly earthy.
Heather is the sort of person I would love to be friends with, but who would write me off as hopelessly goody-christian. It's probably for the best, as she'd be able to sense my pity for her and go on the offensive. I am not the most compassionate christian, which really belies my name, but I can't help but have some for Heather. Maybe it's because I would be her but for the grace of God. Maybe it's because she's so forthright about what she really thinks in such a humorous way. I certainly appreciate her musings on motherhood/children ("it's less about crying because she's hungry or mean (don't let anyone tell you they're crying for any other reason, those babies, those mean, mean babies)"), and have even gone down the same mental paths in the dark hours.
She has a section in her blog for hate mail (people are so hateful when they think they're right). She's evidently recieved many offers of conversion, as she warns against attempting such a thing, but says that she doesn't refuse Bibles that have her name emblazoned in large gold letters.
She's so lost. She's so likeable.
I wonder how much a personalized Bible goes for today?
Friday, October 23, 2009
Mary vs Martha: the same smackdown 2000 years later.
So, we all know the story: Mary, the good one, sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning. Martha, the tattle-tale, serving God in the kitchen. We all know Mary chose wisely. Jesus said so. But, later on, when Lazarus is dead, Martha is the one who's got her theology on straight. I think Mary and Martha were two sisters who had completely different personalities. Mary was the thinker. Martha was the doer.
Have you ever noticed the same things in your lady friends? Some are thinkers and some are doers.
Now, that's a complete over-generalization, I know. We are not all either thinkers or doers. We've got some of both. If you're like me, the urge to "think" and to "do" war just about every minute of everyday. I wake up absurdly early every morning. Early bird gets the worm, right? So, which worm should I get? Should I work out? Do laundry? Read my Bible? Start the kid's breakfast? Read some lighthearted work of fiction? Watch a movie? Catch up on the WSJ? Do? Think?
I have a friend who can't sit still long enough to read. She's all doer. I know someone else who immerses herself in thought, but doesn't do much about it. A thinker. At some point, the doers are so busy doing, that they don't take much time to develop theological depths. Thinkers can get so caught up in their thoughts as to make them lack any real world value. Mary, our thinker, chose to sit at Christ's feet, look up to Him, learn from Him. A good choice. But when the rubber met the road, she still had lots more thinking to do. Though Martha didn't do much sitting, her practical theology stood her is good stead when the very worst happened.
Isn't it amazing how our thoughts and deeds play themselves out when our faith is tested? You build your knowledge of God on how He works in the world (hospitality, visiting, physical care), and you are going to be strong when the physical things go wrong. You are prepared. If you strengthen your mental knowledge of God in how He works in theory (evangelism, education, even praise or theological rhetoric) and you are going to be prepared for those tough discussions.
Think about the end of your life, when you've lived like you are for 60 or 70 years. What will you be prepared for then, when your daily life gets REALLY hard (body failing, health failing, friends dying, family growing). What fruits will you bear? What weaknesses?
These are thoughts I've been having in the shower, but I'm enough of a thinker that my thoughts can get cyclical. I need to bounce these thoughts off others. So, others: thoughts??
Have you ever noticed the same things in your lady friends? Some are thinkers and some are doers.
Now, that's a complete over-generalization, I know. We are not all either thinkers or doers. We've got some of both. If you're like me, the urge to "think" and to "do" war just about every minute of everyday. I wake up absurdly early every morning. Early bird gets the worm, right? So, which worm should I get? Should I work out? Do laundry? Read my Bible? Start the kid's breakfast? Read some lighthearted work of fiction? Watch a movie? Catch up on the WSJ? Do? Think?
I have a friend who can't sit still long enough to read. She's all doer. I know someone else who immerses herself in thought, but doesn't do much about it. A thinker. At some point, the doers are so busy doing, that they don't take much time to develop theological depths. Thinkers can get so caught up in their thoughts as to make them lack any real world value. Mary, our thinker, chose to sit at Christ's feet, look up to Him, learn from Him. A good choice. But when the rubber met the road, she still had lots more thinking to do. Though Martha didn't do much sitting, her practical theology stood her is good stead when the very worst happened.
Isn't it amazing how our thoughts and deeds play themselves out when our faith is tested? You build your knowledge of God on how He works in the world (hospitality, visiting, physical care), and you are going to be strong when the physical things go wrong. You are prepared. If you strengthen your mental knowledge of God in how He works in theory (evangelism, education, even praise or theological rhetoric) and you are going to be prepared for those tough discussions.
Think about the end of your life, when you've lived like you are for 60 or 70 years. What will you be prepared for then, when your daily life gets REALLY hard (body failing, health failing, friends dying, family growing). What fruits will you bear? What weaknesses?
These are thoughts I've been having in the shower, but I'm enough of a thinker that my thoughts can get cyclical. I need to bounce these thoughts off others. So, others: thoughts??
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Midwestern Housewife
My Pransome Hince was teasing me yesterday about finally getting to be a Midwestern housewife. This was never a goal of mine. Housewife, yes. Midwestern, no.
As I sit here, my fingers numb from 60* interior temperature exposure (too cheap to turn up the thermostat), I contemplate the geographical direction my life has taken. An Army Brat for the first 17 years of my life, I pride myself on being able to live anywhere for at least two years, even in some truly tough social/geographical/familial situations.
It occurs to me now, that other than a brief stint in Washington when snow was really fun, I've never lived this far north. In fact, the last time I lived somewhere that had truly terrible winter weather, I vowed to go to college in Arizona.
I kept that vow.
I wonder how many more vows I will take in the coming winter.
As I sit here, my fingers numb from 60* interior temperature exposure (too cheap to turn up the thermostat), I contemplate the geographical direction my life has taken. An Army Brat for the first 17 years of my life, I pride myself on being able to live anywhere for at least two years, even in some truly tough social/geographical/familial situations.
It occurs to me now, that other than a brief stint in Washington when snow was really fun, I've never lived this far north. In fact, the last time I lived somewhere that had truly terrible winter weather, I vowed to go to college in Arizona.
I kept that vow.
I wonder how many more vows I will take in the coming winter.
Monday, September 28, 2009
With friends like these...
A funny poem came my way from a beloved friend. Wanna read it?
my coffee mug sits in my hand
so warm and aromatic
it gives me feelings of delight
it clears my head of static
the emblem slowly comes into focus
a green and yellow thing
it's a john deere mug, a present
it makes me want to sing -
a light, or a melencholy air?
i can't really decide.
it reminds me of our friends
and so makes me glow inside
it took away our friends
and so i want that deere to die!
(not really, it just rhymed...sort of)
:D
my coffee mug sits in my hand
so warm and aromatic
it gives me feelings of delight
it clears my head of static
the emblem slowly comes into focus
a green and yellow thing
it's a john deere mug, a present
it makes me want to sing -
a light, or a melencholy air?
i can't really decide.
it reminds me of our friends
and so makes me glow inside
it took away our friends
and so i want that deere to die!
(not really, it just rhymed...sort of)
:D
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Shy? Me?
I think I know how all those actors feel when they don't go see themselves in the theatre.
I know, I know, it's not like my blog is big stuff. No one's reading this, and my words aren't anything anyone's hanging on to, so why should I get so embarrased to share it with others?
BUT, what if someone DOES read it? What if they think I'm too...too? It's not that I write this for other's enjoyment, but for my own (I'm perfectly happy if someone does enjoy it, however). So, why should I care?
In high school, counter to most everyone else, I honestly didn't put much value on my peer's opinions of me. One of the "drama freaks" I liked myself, my friends liked me, so if I got a little wild and crazy (read: hyper and rambunctious) I didn't much care that others were rolling their eyes. That's certainly not the case now.
More is at stake? I certainly value my good name more, and that of my family and children.
I respect and admire my peers much more now than I did before, too.
I felt this way about my fuquavision skit. Everyone liked it. I got a million complements (especially by those who got the Flight of the Conchords reference). I was proud of it, too. I was also mildly embarrased and bashful about sharing it with others not in the Fuqua scene.
I feel like the same person--but I'm not!
I know, I know, it's not like my blog is big stuff. No one's reading this, and my words aren't anything anyone's hanging on to, so why should I get so embarrased to share it with others?
BUT, what if someone DOES read it? What if they think I'm too...too? It's not that I write this for other's enjoyment, but for my own (I'm perfectly happy if someone does enjoy it, however). So, why should I care?
In high school, counter to most everyone else, I honestly didn't put much value on my peer's opinions of me. One of the "drama freaks" I liked myself, my friends liked me, so if I got a little wild and crazy (read: hyper and rambunctious) I didn't much care that others were rolling their eyes. That's certainly not the case now.
More is at stake? I certainly value my good name more, and that of my family and children.
I respect and admire my peers much more now than I did before, too.
I felt this way about my fuquavision skit. Everyone liked it. I got a million complements (especially by those who got the Flight of the Conchords reference). I was proud of it, too. I was also mildly embarrased and bashful about sharing it with others not in the Fuqua scene.
I feel like the same person--but I'm not!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Failed Gardener Tutorial
1. Go to Sams. Get lured into the spring bulbs. Forget all about black thumb's score (BT: Everything Plants: none).
2. Collect info on dividing plants.
3. Wait till naptime, get out huge shovel. Spend 45 minutes digging holes and scattering bulbs. Yell at the squirrel scout. Pat back prematurely.
4. Divide daylilies. Decapitate a few. Shrug and plant in holes anyway.
5. Ignore audible crying from second story.
6. Plant bulbs in second bed. Yell at the squirrel scouts. Start digging holes deeper. Tersely answer myriad questions from escaped oldest child. Continue to ignore noisy second story.
7. Clutch back. Belatedly remember past 4 years, 3 pregnancies and 3 labors. Leave gardening mess for husband to pick up.
8. Clean up poopy mess on second story. Glance out window. Yell at snooping squirrels.
9. Limp downstairs. Make dinner, set table, greet husband. Glance out window. Yell at poaching squirrels.
10. Google daylily dividing. Discover in dismay that you did it at the wrong time in the wrong way.
11. Go to Teske's. Buy more gardening things with hope in your heart.
2. Collect info on dividing plants.
4. Divide daylilies. Decapitate a few. Shrug and plant in holes anyway.
5. Ignore audible crying from second story.
6. Plant bulbs in second bed. Yell at the squirrel scouts. Start digging holes deeper. Tersely answer myriad questions from escaped oldest child. Continue to ignore noisy second story.
7. Clutch back. Belatedly remember past 4 years, 3 pregnancies and 3 labors. Leave gardening mess for husband to pick up.
8. Clean up poopy mess on second story. Glance out window. Yell at snooping squirrels.
9. Limp downstairs. Make dinner, set table, greet husband. Glance out window. Yell at poaching squirrels.
10. Google daylily dividing. Discover in dismay that you did it at the wrong time in the wrong way.
11. Go to Teske's. Buy more gardening things with hope in your heart.
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Slap Dashery
We love getting things done in the right way don't we?
There's nothing better than making a plan, getting everything out, accomplishing our tasks according to plan and in an orderly way with no interruptions, attaining a perfect product, and then putting all our things back from whence they came.
This is not the way of the stay at home mom.
Planners or not, cleanly or not, organized or not, creative or not, what we start out doing never ends up completed in a consistent process. The stay-at-home mom's life is of constant interruptions. It's not a full time job, it's an all-time job.
Case in point: My three lovelies are currently gathered around my kitchen desk. Button is screeching for more cherrios, Chicken Lu is pleasing to have a book read and Boy wants to brush my teeth with a spitty toothbrush.
Why am I starting a blog?
"Screech! Screech!"
"Please Mommy, read this book to me!"
"Brush, Brush"
It's anyone's guess.
There's nothing better than making a plan, getting everything out, accomplishing our tasks according to plan and in an orderly way with no interruptions, attaining a perfect product, and then putting all our things back from whence they came.
This is not the way of the stay at home mom.
Planners or not, cleanly or not, organized or not, creative or not, what we start out doing never ends up completed in a consistent process. The stay-at-home mom's life is of constant interruptions. It's not a full time job, it's an all-time job.
Case in point: My three lovelies are currently gathered around my kitchen desk. Button is screeching for more cherrios, Chicken Lu is pleasing to have a book read and Boy wants to brush my teeth with a spitty toothbrush.
Why am I starting a blog?
"Screech! Screech!"
"Please Mommy, read this book to me!"
"Brush, Brush"
It's anyone's guess.
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