Where I Am

Stay tuned!

2012-02-13T09:25:00.000-05:00

What a weekend! Our church sponsored a conference on worship featuring Bob Kauflin, Director of Worship Development for Sovereign Grace Ministries. We met Friday night, Saturday and Kaufin led our service on Sunday morning. It was fabulous weekend full of teaching and singing and, well, worship.

It was not a weekend full of blog writing, however.

See you Wednesday!

Burning up in Phoenix, Math Fun and A Miracle at Walmart

2012-02-10T09:30:00.000-05:00

Y'all, I have been to Phoenix in October. I would vote to acquit, too:

This is for Sean, who sight-read the entire piano score for The Wizard of Oz last Friday. Yep, he's that good:

(HT: Mrs. Elizabeth)

I think swearing should be allowed when doing math:

A friend sent this to me. He thought it was pretty funny; I have to agree:

"A Miracle in the alcohol aisle at Walmart"

Praise The Lord

And on that note, have a great weekend!

How many more years of fractions?

2012-02-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

Sitting at the table yesterday, working on Rebecca’s math, I had a startling realization: 6^th grade Rebecca is very much like 6^th grade Christy. She asks the same kinds of questions about math that I did. For instance, “Why does it work to invert and multiply when I’m supposed to be dividing fractions? Who came up with this stuff? When will I ever need this? Ever?”

I’m sure when I asked those very same questions I thought I was terribly clever. Smart, even. In reality, I was just putting off the inevitable. When Rebecca asks them, she’s really looking for an answer. She really wants an explanation as to why we invert and multiply when we divide fractions. She really wants to understand why we don’t write all whole numbers over one when that’s what we have to do when dealing with fractions. And she really, really wants to understand when she’ll ever use this stuff. Ever.

Of course, y’all know I don’t have any good answers to those questions, but Tuesday at the grocery store I had a real-life situation that, yes, called for mathematics. I was doubling a recipe that called for two 15 ounce jars of spaghetti sauce. Rebecca was in the store with me, so I took the opportunity to show her that, one, Mom can do math and two, there are real-world problems that are solved by math. Not many, but a few, and this was one of them.

“So how much sauce do we need to buy?” asked I.

“Sixty ounces,” said she.

“See! You do need math in the real world!” said I.

“I already know how to do real world math, so can I be done?” asked she.

She had a point.

I resorted to the only reply I had at this stage of the questioning: “Look, it’s just something you have to persevere through. You never know what you’ll want to be when you grow up. You may need lots of math skills. Don’t limit yourself now!”

When people told 6^th grade Christy that, she gagged. Rebecca was much more respectful. She simply shrugged her shoulders and moved on to the Pop Tarts.

Poor kid. I empathize with her plight. I really do. Goodness knows if I had to go back to school and do math my head would simply explode. I swear, can’t I just write about how the problem makes me feel and move on?

I really need to call my dad and thank him for not killing me when we did math together.

Denise, Kristi and Abe

2012-02-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Next Sunday is my friend Denise’s birthday. I always remember her birthday because it falls on Lincoln’s birthday, which is also the birthday of Kristi Kennison, my best friend from grade school. Yes, having a friend with the same name did occasionally get confusing. No, I do not know why I remember all that about February 12. But I do. And it’s coming up, so I’ve been thinking about Denise and Kristi. Lincoln, not so much.

Kristi and I became friends in third grade and were best friends from then through fifth. We went to different schools in sixth grade and lost touch. I ran into her in Target right before we moved to Lansing; we exchanged emails but I lost the paper. Yes, kids, I remember when I didn’t walk around with an iPhone in my pocket, when I actually had to find a pen and a piece of paper to write down names and numbers. I’ve searched for her on Facebook to no avail. I’m kind of hoping she has a Google alert with her name and this will show up and she’ll contact me and we’ll be best friends again! Okay, not the best friends part, but I surely would love to know what she’s up to. (Of course, if she’s not on FB, the likelihood that she has a Google alert is slim to none, but here’s hoping.)

As for Denise, I met her right after I became a mom. We attended the same church, and even though we were in the same stage of life, it was obvious she knew way more about living than I did.

She had a decade on me and she had lived it well. She’d spent time as a missionary. She’d worked as a physical therapist. She’d traveled and toured and lived the heck out of her 20’s. She got married at the end of them and became a stay-at-home mom when Madison arrived. And that’s when she invited me and four other ladies, all flush with the excitement of our first borns, to join her for a weekly Bible study at her house.

I don’t remember a single thing we studied. But I remember the passion Denise had for Jesus and the Bible. I remember wanting to feel the same. I remember wanting to be as wise as she was. I remember wanting to have the open-door policy she had – there was always someone in her house, either a college kid or neighbor – or me.

We haven’t seen each other in years but we are friends on Facebook and just renewing that connection brought back sweet memories of her love of Jesus and her love of me. And it reminded me of all my 25 year old self wanted to be when I was in her Bible study. Her example has served me well, and she probably doesn’t have a clue. Of course, those kinds of people rarely realize they’re impacting as many people as they are.

So a little early happy birthday to Denise! Thanks for countless hours you invested in the crazy, immature new mom that I was. Just thought you’d like to know all those times I plopped down on your sofa are remembered, and remembered fondly. I'd like to think you’d be proud of the woman I’m trying to be.

And Kristi, happy birthday to you, wherever you are!

Oh, what the heck: happy birthday to you too, Mr. Lincoln.

Unicorns, Ferris and the origin of the iPod

2012-02-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

Amy showed me this yesterday - cuteness overload:

Last week I wondered what the Matthew Broderick commercial would be for; now we know. It's a really fun ad, even if it is for the competition.

(HT: Tina)

Cute:

see more epicfails

Happy weekend!

The walker's gone! Back brace, not so much

2012-02-01T09:11:00.000-05:00

It is an odd feeling, sitting in a doctor’s appointment with your mother and father. Odder still that all the doctors seem to be younger than me. When did that happen?

Mom’s appointment with the neurosurgeon went as well as could be expected. She was very hopeful he would tell her she was done with the brace. Dad and I both tried to temper that expectation with a dose of reality along the lines of, “You broke your back! You're not getting out of the brace right now.” (I did say it nicely.) He was, unfortunately for Mom, on Team Reality, and said she’d be in the brace at least another four weeks. He ordered an MRI for a better look at the spine; that will determine if the back brace is on for four weeks or longer.

That was, of course, disappointing news for Mom, but she did get good news at the orthopedist’s appointment. She was told to shed the knee-high boot in favor of a shoe-bootie type thing. She can now use a simple cane; the walker has been retired! She’ll be in the bootie for three more weeks; after that her foot should be as good as new.

When she was in the hospital in Lansing, I was blown away by the outpouring of love and support in the form of food; my friends brought enough food to feed an army! And now, Mom and Dad’s friends from church and their neighborhood have given them so much food Mom won’t have to worry about cooking for some time. Which is good because she’s still not supposed to bend or twist or lift anything heavy. Which rules out grocery shopping, putting groceries away, or preparing groceries in a form that would resemble dinner. Think about how much you twist when you cook – simply reaching for a pan or ingredients. The not twisting thing is very restrictive. I think I could deal with it, though, if I could quit cooking for a bit…

We still have a laundry issue. Before I leave I’m going to talk to Dad about the washing machine. This man flew jumbo jets over the Atlantic and Pacific; I know he can work the washing machine.

On the in-law front, Sean’s dad is recovering beautifully from his abdominal surgery. Sean’s aunt and uncle are still there helping out. I’m glad I was able to see for myself that he really is doing well.

This is a new phase of life, one that we’ll be walking for many years, hopefully. It is certainly interesting. And it makes me wonder what honoring your father and mother looks like at this stage of the game. Anyone further down this road, feel free to let me know.

For now, I’m doing some washing, some cleaning, some ironing. And before I leave, I’ll be doing a little laundry lesson for a one of the smartest men I know. I imagine it will be loads of fun.

This is different

2012-01-30T09:40:00.001-05:00

I’m sitting in my parents’ kitchen, shocked that I’m the first up. I’ve been here (in Atlanta, not my parents’ kitchen) since Saturday, to see how Mom and Dad are holding up after Mom’s accident at my house on Christmas morning. And the bonus is I’ve also been able to visit Sean’s dad who’s been in the hospital since Tuesday for a scheduled, but rather difficult, abdominal procedure.

I feel entirely too young to be making the rounds of our parents’ doctors’ appointments. And they seem entirely too young, too. Seventy just doesn’t seem that old anymore. “Old” is further and further away. When my parents turned 50 I remember thinking, “I thought 50 was old. They seem pretty good for old people.” Of course, now that my husband is a few short years away from that mark it seems much, much younger. I suppose 50 is the new 40.

Mom and Dad are doing as well as can be expected. Dad has taken over the kitchen duties, which entails keeping track of the mountains of food their Sunday School class and neighbors have blessed them with. He is very vigilant about writing the name of the dish on a piece of masking tape and putting it on each dish. My sister taught him how to use the washing machine when she was here two weeks ago but he hasn’t had to use it because when Heather left, Mom’s sister came. I think a refresher course is in order.

Mom is remarkably better than the last time I saw her. She is out of the drug fog and is getting around well. We meet with the foot doctor today and hopefully he’ll say she can take the boot off and walk normally. Well, as normally as one can walk with a clamshell back brace strapped to your middle. The doctor’s appointment to address the back is tomorrow.

Sean’s dad was in good spirits when I saw him yesterday. Of course, it’s hard to be in bad spirits when Sean’s mom and her sisters are around. They are a fun bunch. Throw in my brother-in-law, nephew and Sean’s uncle and you have one crowded but joyous hospital room. One of the nurses said Room 429 was party central.

Thankfully both Sean’s dad and my mom are dealing with non-life-threatening issues. Lord willing, they will recover and be back to their old selves in a matter of time. Both situations, though, have made me think about the time that’s coming when we will be needed more and more. I am not fond of that thought and, like Scarlett, will think about that tomorrow.

For now, Mom and I are off to do her walking – at the Forum. Where we will happen to walk by Charming Charlie… By and through, I imagine.

Nickelback, Ferris Bueller, and a great big fish

2012-01-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

Love people with a good sense of humor:

see more Failbook

It's amazing how having a different soundtrack makes this almost watchable for me. Almost.

Have y'all seen this? Anyone know what it's about?

I feel so un-American saying this, but I really didn't like Ferris Bueller's Day Off. A little too, "Wise in their own eyes," for me. Of course, Sean can't handle the scene with the car flying out the window:

Happy weekend, all!

Random Thoughts

2012-01-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

I was driving down Saginaw Highway today and an amazing blog idea popped into my head. I thought, “I should write that down!” I did not stop to write it down. And I cannot, for the life of me, remember what I was thinking.

Pretty sure there are 1,541 blog ideas residing in the part of my brain I can no longer access.

When am I going to put a notepad and pen in my purse?

I have an iPhone – isn’t there some kind of voice recorder on there? I’ll ask Rebecca. She knows all about my phone.

My Mom occasionally calls me for computer advice. And now I’m looking to my 11 year old to help me. Something is very wrong here.

Rebecca is amazingly fast on the touchpad on my computer. I have to use a mouse but she can drag her finger around that thing and open a zillion pages, copy and paste and print in no time. This from the child who often cannot find her shoes…

Of course, I often cannot find my shoes. That generally happens if I leave them out in the family room and Sean moves them. Poor guy; he’s such a, “A place for everything and everything in its place,” person. I am so, so not. I figure wherever it currently is is its place.

Is there such a thing as Pile-er’s Anonymous?

I thought I’d check – bad choice! Did you know hemorrhoids are also called piles? Wow. That was an unpleasant web search.

I need some pretty after that:

Ah. Much better.

She is that good

2012-01-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

Mom and Dad have been back home for almost two weeks. She continues to recover from her fall at my house on Christmas Day, and is still taking some heavy-duty drugs when the pain kicks in. Recovering from a back injury has not been the speedy process they both hoped it would be. I think they thought if they could just get home, everything would be better. They do have their own doctors and friends and church. They’re sleeping in their own bedroom, although in separate beds, since the twin hospital bed would be a tight fit for two. And they do have the comforts of home, which I know is a comfort to them both. But the healing process is taking its own sweet time.

Last week I was checking in on Mom, seeing how she was feeling. It wasn’t an exceptionally good day – she learned she needed another surgery on her foot. Even though it will be out-patient, she’s not all that excited to go back under the knife. She’d had a bad night’s sleep the night before. Her tummy was upset. I learned none of this from her, of course. My aunt filled me in on all that. Mom just wanted to know how I was doing. I said a few words when she interrupted with, “Are you sick? Your throat doesn’t sound good.”

My own family hadn’t noticed the tickle in my throat but my Mom, under the influence of who knows what drugs, heard the scratch in my voice that I’d only felt a few hours before.

Y’all, she is that good.

I told her I was fine, that I just had a little bit of a sore throat, but not to worry. Three days later, my throat is still sore. And each time I cough, I remember my mom, on the phone, 800 miles away, diagnosed me with a cold and told me to get some rest.

She may have a broken back. She may have a broken foot. She may be loopy on drugs. But she is still a mom. And she knows when her baby is sick.

Man, I hope I turn out like her.

What is it about "singing" dogs...

2012-01-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

that is so stinkin' funny?

Yeah, I don't think so:

see more WIN - Epic Win Photos and Videos

Some days just call for Brian Regan:

Sean, I think I may have found a perfect gift for you!

see more WIN - Epic Win Photos and Videos

Happy weekend!

50's closer than we think

2012-01-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

Today is Sean’s birthday. From now until April 29 I get to be five years younger than my sweet husband. I enjoy these months very, very much.

As we were chatting with Michael last night, he reminded us that, if he takes the path I did, we could be grandparents in six years. Now that was sobering. Not because I’m not excited for my kids to move on and have their own lives, but because I am not old enough to be a grandma. Not. Stinkin’. Old. Enough.

Grandmas have to be at least 50.

Anyway, in honor of my guy, here are some pictures of our trip to the Detroit Auto Show from this past Sunday:

Our first stop is always the Ford display. And only because it's the closest to the entrance.

Rebecca enjoyed this funky chair.

Several times I saw Sean down on the ground looking up under the cars. Of course, Rebecca and Michael had to get into the act, too.

We ran into friends Noah and Joe at the Chevy display.

The new Cadillac ATS - Sean's a fan.

The Matchbox Camaro.

The Chevy concept Miray.

Some other new Chevy - we'd been there about three hours at this point and all the cars were starting to run together in my mind.

Michael couldn't resist sitting in a real stock car, but he felt the need to let Mr. Busch know exactly what he thought of him.

Rebecca in the new Bug!

The kids in a Chrysler minivan. I miss my minivan.

Amy doing a split on one of the rotating displays. Ouch.

It was a great day - after all the craziness in our lives the last four weeks, it was good to just be together. And I can't imagine a better way to celebrate Sean's birthday.

Happy birthday, Sean!

She didn't learn it from us!

2012-01-16T10:22:00.000-05:00

I loved all of Anne of Green Gables, but my favorite part was the drunk scene. If you've read the book, you know Anne puts on a tea part for her friend, Diana. Instead of serving raspberry cordial as planned, she mistakenly serves Diana currant wine. Diana proceeds to down the entire bottle and winds up quite tipsy.

Becca Holderread as Anne, Amy as Diana Barry

Mrs. Barry enters the picture and the budding bosom friendship is put on hold.

I suppose I shouldn't take such joy in seeing my precious little girl play this part, but she was so stinkin' funny! I'm thankful to the directors who helped her make this such a great scene.

Many thanks to Kelle Snavely and Ashlee Granger for the wonderful pictures!

Friday Fun

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000-05:00

I cannot even imagine how long this took, or how organized you'd have to be to accomplish this:

HT: The Chef

Just funny:

see more Failbook

Ouch:

Happy weekend, all!

Back to normal?

2012-01-10T09:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone who’s known my family for more than two seconds knows my guys love cars. And if you’ve known us for two minutes you know Sean and Michael live for the second week of January. That’s when the North American International Auto Show opens. They talk about it all year long and, because they know the show is coming, they don’t suffer the after-Christmas blues. So when I tell you we have no plans in the works to attend this year’s show, you should get a glimpse into how crazy the weeks after Christmas have been for us.

Yvonne as Marilla and Amy as Diana

Mom fell on Christmas day, was in the hospital for four days, was then moved to the rehab center and has been there for 12 days. In addition, the HPA production of Anne of Green Gables, which I’m fairly involved in, was last week. My dad and aunt did the majority of the care-taking during show week so I could focus on the play, but the knowledge of my mom lying in a rehab center weighed heavily. As soon as the final curtain fell (on what was an amazingly fabulous show with a crazy-good Diana Barry) I reverted to caretaker again and spent a good part of Sunday with her and all day Monday.

We found out at Monday’s neurosurgeon appointment that Mom has been cleared to fly home. She and Dad will head out tomorrow evening, assuming the rehab center can get the paperwork taken care of in a timely manner. We have had great nurses there, but it is a big ol’ bureaucracy in the front office. My sister will be waiting for them in Atlanta, ready to help get Mom home.

I have mixed emotions as I see them plan to leave. I’m happy Mom will be home where no fewer than 112 people have already contacted me, wondering how they can help Mom and Dad. I know my Dad will be happy to back in familiar surroundings. I know they’ll both be thrilled to have a ready supply of clothes – they only packed for four days and the clothes they did bring have been washed within an inch of their lives.

But it will be hard to see them leave, knowing Mom will go through such a difficult recovery so far from me. I can’t help on a daily basis, and will have to rely on my sister, aunt and Dad to care for her. That’s a pretty stellar team of caregivers, so I don’t have to worry. But I still wish I could be with them.

Of course, with Mom and Dad back home, things will settle down here a bit. I imagine I’ll actually start cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping again, chores all shouldered by dear friends and family members since Mom’s accident. And we’ll plan our yearly trek to the Detroit Auto Show. I have never been so ready to see shiny sheet metal in all my life.

Sorry, ladies - he’s taken

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, my Mom fell at my house Christmas morning. She broke a vertebrae and all five toes on her left foot. She spent five days in the hospital, and has been in a rehab facility nearby since Thursday afternoon. To say I was preoccupied with helping my mom and dad last week is a bit of an understatement. Cooking, cleaning, laundry and childcare were not on my radar.

They were, however, on Sean’s. He cooked, cleaned, washed and cared for Michael, Amy and Rebecca while I spent days and nights at the hospital. When friends graciously provided meals, he served them up and put away the leftovers in such an organized way – when I finally was able to work in the kitchen Sunday afternoon it was obvious an engineer had been there. My fridge is never that orderly.

Sean washed and dried (and dried flat when required) my parents laundry. (He was not pleased that some clothes have laundry info on the tag at the neck, but others have that information on the tag on the side.) He also took care of our family laundry, including all the towels and sheets. My laundry closet is stocked the brim with clean towels and every sheet we own, save the ones on our beds.

He has done all of this without complaint, save that he missed me. And that’s a complaint I took as a compliment.

Mom will be in the rehab center here for at least a week, possibly longer. We’ll know more on Wednesday when we meet with her case manager. And even when Sean heard her stay could be up to three weeks, he said, “No problem.” And he meant it.

I’ve always known I had a good guy on my hands. But last week proved I married an amazing man.

And he's pretty cute, too!

Most Read Friday Fun

2011-12-30T09:30:00.000-05:00

This Friday post was one of the most popular Friday Fun posts. Hope you enjoy it again!

Can't go wrong with Brian Regan:

Silly me; I just use a notecard for my recipes:

Michael assured me this was really, really funny:

I do not want to live on Cotton Lane:

And today is the first rehearsal for HPA's The Wizard of Oz! Thought we'd take a peek at this clip from the London show, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber:

Happy weekend, y'all!

Who is Cristina Carlino?

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

(Another entry in the most-read blog posts of 2011. Almost every day, the words Cristina Carlino lead people to my blog. At least it makes more sense now that I've actually written those words!)

When I first started my blog, I checked my stats all the time. I was constantly – seriously, hourly – checking to see if anyone was stopping by my little corner of the internet. Not smart. While the reason I write my blog is mainly for myself, no writer wants to go unread. So after a while I stopped the masochistic exercise and didn’t look at my numbers for a while.

Over the years, I’ve gained a few readers (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and tracking my page views has become less depressing. On a recent peek at my stats, I checked to see what search words were landing people at my site. Some were obvious – Where I Am, Christy, Amy Grant, 2 Friends Tour. One surprise was Kyrie O'Connor, from Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me. But there are three words that put people on my page even more than those. I suppose this shows my lack of search word know-how, but for the life of me I cannot understand how people searching for these words are ending up here:

Cristina Carlino divorce

Straight to Google went I. Who the heck is Cristina Carlino? Was she ever married? Is she divorced now or did they patch things up? Here’s what I found: “Cristina Carlino is best known as a visionary entrepreneur who created philosophy,” which is a line of cosmetics. I rarely write about cosmetics, so I still didn’t see the connection with her name and my blog.

I moved on to the divorce portion of our program. I must be a really bad Google-r, because I couldn’t find anything official to indicate whether or not she’s married, much less divorced. I did find a chat group where one person said she’s divorced and another said she's not. Certainly nothing in the way of a credible source said anything at all about her married status.

Then I decided to search just, “Cristina Carlino.” And what do you know, my little blog popped up. What in the world? Well, it seems back on April 30, 2009, I posted a press release about AG and her (then) newest song, She Colors My Day. Guess who wrote the song? Yep: Cristina Carlino. I didn't even remember it. Sheesh.

So the mystery of why Cristina Carlino keeps coming up on my stats page has been solved. I didn’t need Google; all I needed was to search my own blog.

I think I’ll go back to not checking the stats again for a while…

Heels or no heels? That is the question.

2011-12-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

(Another popular post from 2011 - unfortunately, I didn't learn my lesson. On our second visit I wore the same shoes. Thankfully we didn't walk as far.)

Monday’s college tours proved interesting. The one school I had no interest in Michael attending turned out to be the most appealing, and the school I was sure he’d pick proved a tad problematic. We have tons of information to sift through and a bunch of financial questions to answer (like who in the world has $40,000/year to pay for college?). But as a service to my friends who have children slightly younger than Michael, I’d like to provide the one piece of advice I wish I’d had before I went on those two campus tours Monday.

Do. Not. Wear. Heels.

I guess I thought we’d sit in a conference room, go over his transcript, talk class schedules and financial stuff. Somewhere along the line my brain didn’t process the word, “tour,” because if it had, I most certainly would have worn flats.

College #1 is, thankfully, not a sprawling campus. It’s comprised of three main buildings which are fairly close to each other. I was fine through this whole tour. It wasn’t until I sat down in the car to head to College #2 that I realized my choice of footwear was not the wisest. “Oh, well,” I thought, “If the next place is like this, I’ll be fine.”

Not so much.

College #2 is set on a beautiful, wooded piece of land. A very large, wooded piece of land. And there are many, many buildings separated by lots and lots of walkways. And we walked on all of them. I’m pretty sure we were on some of them twice.

By the time we were finished, my big toes were bleeding and I wasn’t sure my feet would ever go back in a pair of shoes again. And I was okay with that. Perhaps going barefoot would be a new trend. I was willing to be the trailblazer for the barefoot look.

We stopped for a potty break before heading home but I couldn’t get out of the car. Turns out I can’t do the barefoot look because I cannot walk barefoot in a gas station. Sean and Michael found some Band-Aids for me and I began doctoring my toes that by this point were screaming at me. Pretty sure they were saying, “Why didn’t you wear the cute black flats?!”

Oh, little piggies, I was thinking the same thing.

So for all you Moms heading out for college tours, remember, write down your questions about class size and job placement after graduation and financial aid. And please, I am begging you, remember to wear flats. Your toes will thank me.

It's Camper Time

2011-12-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

(Over the next several days, I'll be posting a few of the more popular posts from 2011. This one certainly generated a few comments and a call or two from the grandparents.)

This is Michael’s senior year, but it seems we can’t go a day without discussing some aspect of what he’ll be doing next year. Yes, folks, we are looking at colleges. I know we aren’t the first parents to do this; folks all over the globe have sent their kids to college. But this is the first time we’ve ever done it, and the prospect does seem to be taking up an inordinate amount of conversational space. But after hearing Michael’s grand scheme for how he’ll live after college I’m thinking he may just want to skip the dorm and buy a camper.

Michael making his budget

At dinner last night, Michael told us he intends to buy a camper to live in after school, thus saving money so he can eventually buy a house. Now, that sounds pretty good. Only problem: he intends to park it in various super-mart parking lots, thus avoiding any rental fees.

Aside from the obvious trespassing problem, I brought up the concept of running water. He’d already thought of that: he’ll buy bottled water for drinking, and use whatever supercenter he is parked in for brushing his teeth and potty breaks. (I blame a friend at church for putting the, “Use a public restroom to save on water and toilet paper,” idea in his head. You know you who are, Dr. M.)

“What about showers?” I asked.

“I’ll join the Y. If I have a membership, I can shower whenever I want.”

“What will you eat?” I asked.

“Hot pockets, soup and Coke,” answered Michael.

“Do you have a Pepto Bismal budget?” asked Dad.

Michael countered, “I’ll have a sweet car, a camper, food, a place to shower and a job. What more could I want?”

“Friends,” said Rebecca.

He continued sharing his monthly budget with us: $50 for Hot Pockets, $12 for easy cheese, $40 for car washes. The boy doesn’t want to spend any money on electricity but he’s all for spending money on car washes?

I admire his desire to save money. That is a good thing, and I know I had a hand in drilling “Save, baby save,” into his head. I didn’t, however, think he’d want to save by living in a camper in various parking lots around the city.

After we’d enjoyed hearing Michael’s plan, Sean pulled out his Bible and we settled in for the next chapter in I Kings, the book we’ve been reading together. It was I Kings 17, which introduces the story of Elijah. And how did God take care of Elijah? “’You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.’ … The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.”

“Man, I need some ravens!” said Michael.

Or maybe you could just have an apartment with a stove, honey.

Well, I wasn't expecting this

2011-12-26T11:52:00.000-05:00

Last week I worked on factoring with Rebecca, something I never planned to do on Christmas break. Apparently, that was just getting me ready for what I’m doing today, because I REALLY didn’t plan to be doing this: sitting in a hospital room with my mom while she waits for surgery on her foot, which she broke falling down my steps Christmas morning.

The foot is the least of her concerns, though. She also fractured her T7 vertebrae. She is in so much pain that they’ve moved her from morphine to dilaudid and the first dose barely touched her. Thankfully, Nurse Kelly just gave her another push and that seems to be doing the trick.

All the nurses have been fabulous, even the ones working on Christmas day. A husband-wife team of nurses took care of her in the ER last night, and since we moved to her room we’ve been beyond pleased with the nursing teams.

My plan for my little corner of the blogosphere this week and next was to do a few best-ofs; that is still my plan, starting tomorrow. But it just didn’t seem right to start off like that when so many friends and family members may be checking here for an update.

Thanks to everyone who’s prayed, sent emails and Facebook messages. Hanging around the ER was not how we planned to spend Christmas. But it made me think that Mary certainly had to revise her birthing plan when ol’ Joseph said to saddle up and head to Bethlehem. That change of plans worked out pretty well. Just another reminder that his ways are not my ways. But they are the best ways.

Merry Christmas Fun

2011-12-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

I have heard there are people who don't think the movie Elf is all that funny. I do not understand those people. We love it and enjoy watching it each Christmas. Will Ferrell, if you're listening, please make more family-friendly comedies!

Oh, y'all, how do you not laugh out loud at this? Too great!

Merry Christmas!
Christy

Factoring Update

2011-12-21T15:57:00.001-05:00

So Rebecca and I continued our factoring. The two non-math girls doing math when we both wanted to be doing, oh, ANYTHING, but math.

When we finished, I looked at the board and cracked up:

Sean would go crazy! There's no rhyme or reason to how I wrote anything! Big and little numbers all jumbled together. Although I must say I think my handwriting on the board is showing great improvement.

Then Rebecca said, "I want to take a picture of it, too, Mom." Here's her shot:

People, if you weren't convinced by now that Rebecca and I favor other subjects, this should prove it to you.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to do something with words. Like make a list. That I'll pin to my shirt.

This was not on my list

2011-12-21T11:48:00.000-05:00

It is December 21. I am doing factors with Rebecca. I am CERTAIN this was not on my list of things to do four days before Christmas.

If Rebecca asks me one more time why factors are important, I am throwing the, "It will help you with division and multiplication and fractions in the future," line out the window and will scream, "I DON'T KNOW! I never use factors and wish I were doing anything other than figuring out the factors of 60."

I know this was not on my list. Not that I can find the list, but I know if I had it, "Do Factors" would NOT be on it.

Ugh.

Here are a few of the factors we've been working on. We're about to work on Greatest Common Factors (GCF). Rebecca says, "Blech." A girl after my own heart.

Six days to go

2011-12-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

A week before Thanksgiving I felt like I had the holiday season well in hand. I had two weeks’ worth of menus written, the groceries purchased for the Thanksgiving dinner and the aforementioned menus, had ordered a few Christmas presents, and was confident I would not, the week before Christmas, be thinking, “Holy cow, where did December go?!”

I was wrong.

Holy cow, where did December go?

Even Rebecca, my 11 year old, said yesterday, “Usually it takes forever for Christmas to get here but this year Christmas came really fast!” Out of the mouths of babes.

You may remember I wrote about my intent to be calm and focused this holiday season. I said,

This December I am actually going to make to-do lists (I’m sure my husband is thrilled and amazed and skeptical). And to avoid letting Madison Avenue steal the joy of the birthday celebration from me, I’m going to read a bit of Luke every day this December. The story of the baby born in a manger, who grows up to lay down his life – pretty sure focusing on that will keep the reason for the season front and center.

I’m happy to say I have been reading Luke every day, but those to-do lists… Let’s just say Sean was correct to be skeptical. I really did make a few but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I have any idea where they are.

So today, I intend to make a list of things I have to do this week before my sister’s family and our parents fly up to spend the weekend with us. I may have to pin it on my coat like a kindergartener so I can keep up with it.