Inviting the Neighbors

You didn't think here in my own personal corner of blogdom you'd miss the cyber casserole and family slide show did you? E's team won the county tourney. Four years undefeated! I don't think the girls quite realize what a feat they've accomplished.

E is front row 3rd from left.

What else? Novak8, The Great Gatsby is a good idea. I liked that one. She seems to be on a "classics" reading binge. She did Pride and Prejudice after the movie and it has snowballed. She read some Kipling, Shelley's Frankenstein, I'm not sure what all. She started Wuthering Heights but about a third of the way in she closed it and said they were all just selfish and needed someone to smack them upside the head. I have to say, I agree with her, lol. Anybody else have any book suggestions?

S went camping with his Boy Scout Troop for their Klondike Derby this weekend. Instead of snow they had rain and high winds. Some of the tents blew over but his, luckily for him, remained upright. He returned home coated in mud but very happy. Must be a boy thing.

Not much else. I need to do the taxes. Yuck!

Weirdest Book Discussion Ever

E read Jane Eyre. Her synopsis "Yeah, she had it pretty bad until that dude died and left her some money."

Morning (Becomes Electric)

So Chris and Carmen are doing a weekly thing about large families. This week is "Morning Routine". This made me laugh, as routine and my family are not too words I think of simultaneously. I do have a vague pattern though, so enjoy (or possibly save this for some evening when you are suffering insomnia.)

5:00am--Awaken to plaintive cries for "nursies". Pick up HRH and hit the button on the coffee maker, then take Miss Mel to the living room and hope no one else wakes up.

5:30am--By some unknown mechanism HRH stops nursing and starts chanting "Pooh, Pooh" I flip on the Disney channel and GET MY COFFEE.

5:30am-6:00am--C, F and L will wander downstairs, find a cover and recline somewhere. Why get out of bed to lie down?

6:00-Wander to the kitchen and contemplate breakfast. Pour lots more coffee. Fix something.

6:30am--E gets up and stumbles to the shower.

7:00--Allow C,F,and L to pound upstairs to find clothes. This accomplishes their dressing and S's awakening. S stumbles to
shower.

7:10--Give up on Mel wearing clothes even though her limbs are blue and let her run naked, with uncombed hair and likely a dirty face. Pour more coffee and realize she would fit right in at the White Trash Cutie contest.


7:15--Suggest as children pack lunches that a sandwich and juice would be superior to 3 granola bars and a pudding.

7:20--C reports he is ready can he please, please, please play gamecube. I say yes, if he'll get me another cup of coffee.

7:30--A whom I babysit arrives. I clutch at her mother hoping for adult conversation.

7:32--Run E to school 3days/week for various activities.

8:00-- Shoes! Hear clamoring and groans.
Now begins the longest part of the morning

8:10-The arrival of the bus evidently depends upon the phase of the moon. It can show anywhere from 8:10-8:25. Break up numerous fights in the front yard while they wait.

8:20-Put on Dragon Tales, sit down and have more coffee. Do you see a theme here?
When I do housework depends on dh's schedule. If he is working days he has left the house at 6:00am and I'll clean up a little, throw in some laundry, whatever. If he is working evenings I put all that off until after he leaves at 11:00. This is just a rough estimate and rarely runs the same exact way two days in a row. And of course there are the last minute paper signings, check writings and sports gear and band instruments to gather, and the odd poster that makes riding the bus impossible, etc, etc. Beyond boring! Except the coffee.

Diginity

F, who is 4, was a mess at last night's ball game. Climbing, begging, whining, fighting with his sister. At half time I picked him up to carry him out ,hoping a change of scene would help. He was fighting, struggling, wiggling when he suddenly looked at me and yelled "This is not dignified!" How do you not laugh? Where did he learn the word dignified? And if he knew the word, why didn't he realize I wasn't the one bruising his dignity? A good laugh though!

This~n~That

A good day today. Dh watched the kids while I lunched on curry, chopped off my hair, perused the book store and went to the chi-chi poo-poo grocery where I bought exotic fruits and lots and lots of chocolate.
Last night was E's last regular season basketball game. I can't believe four years of school basketball are done. Just the tourney left next week. Next year she will have to go to the county high school (we only have one so it is very large.) You have to be really something special to play there so her school basketball career will be over.
Here she is in front of the team sign. Each girl has one.

She is standing waiting on the opposing guard to cross midcourt. *

*I need to buy a camera with a zoom.

I Neither Look nor Smell Like A Monkey

It's my birthday. So far (17 hours into it) 43 is fine. A good friend of mine made me a cheesecake and I took it to a group I meet with and played Lady Bountiful with it. Dh is working so no big plans for tonight. He will be home Friday afternoon though, so I feel a trip to the bookstore coming on. Not too much else going on
IU pulled one out last night.

The Lady Rebels remain undefeated at 14-0.

No Singing or Dancing

We needed to get out this morning so we took a walk, even though it was raining. I call it a walk, but really it was more of a slow stroll since F and Mel must stop to examine all leaves, worms, sticks and cigarette butts. There own butts were soaked from crouching down. This being a small town two different people stopped to ask me if we needed a ride. I'm sure people in damp climates take walks all the time but here it is definitely considered weird to willingly walk in the rain. It was nice though to get some fresh air. We've been stuck inside gyms and schools for too many evenings. We're now ensconced with hot cocoa and tea for me. I'm vaguely hopeful we might even take naps this afternoon.

To Recap

I’m woefully behind on my blogging. I’ve been using my brain this week and it hasn’t left much room for blogland.
Firstly about MSU pbbbbt! Just wait 'til you come to Bloomington ;-P

1) I’ve been trying to get all my papers together to recredential my professional licenses. I’d forgotten the archane,
idiotic,senslessly complicated, elaborate hoops that must be jumped through.

2) Our church is doing 40 Days Of Purpose. There are weekly dramas to be presented and I, no doubt because I am the
loudest, least inhibited church member, am part of them. Every friggin’ week. My ability to study and retain dialog is not
what it used to be folks.

3) We have yet another basketball tourney this Saturday. Nothing like 7 hours in a gym with a defiant 7yo, a whiny 4yo and a
2yo who insists on visiting the potty every 20 minutes.

4) I've nearly missed leave a comment week, but if the spirit moves you, leave one.

5) Just in case you weren’t sure how to use up those leftover Halloween stickers

Tagged

I got tagged by Jody, but was down with a migraine so....better late than never....

Five weird habits of yourself:

“The first player of this game starts with the topic ‘five weird habits of yourself,’ and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says ‘You are tagged’ (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.”

1) After I eat chocolate or anything else good with my hands I smell my fingers.
2) I do sock shoe, sock shoe vs sock, sock, shoe, shoe. Dh says this is weird.
3) I do not like ice cream.
4) I only like soup out of a cup.
5) If I hear music I tend to break into a shuffling dance the kids find particularly embarrassing.

I tag Kim, Gretchen, Novaks8, CMHL, Kathy

Only in Indiana

Tonight dh and I went to the local eatery for supper. We (the customers) found the TV remote, sought out the IU/Ohio State game and rooted and cheered IU to a great victory. It was like being at Cheers. Our restaurant owners, who moved here one year ago from Florida, looked bemused. Basketball isn't a game, it's a religion!

* note-I did this after spending all day in a sweaty, popcorn scented gym watching an 8th grade girls basketball tourney--which we won by the way--Go Lady Rebels!

12th Day of Christmas

In lieu of all those lords leaping and ladies dancing we will have our usual 12th night/Epiphany celebration here tonight. I've got the cake made, I just need to add the icing, presents await opening (because it's been soooo long since the poor dears got anything) and chalk has been purchased for the door. We'll have a fire too. It would be nicer if dh were going to be home, but let me say Medicare D has nearly sent him over the edge....

Happy Hogmanay

Hogmanay

In The Bleak Midwinter

I realize it's New Year's Eve but I'm still feeling Chrismassy. This is one of my favorite Christmas hymns/poems.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

Christina Rosetti

Simpson Family Values (That's Homer and Marge, not OJ)

You would think with all the children home and a free evening schedule (which by God won't be seen again until March madness ends) we would have done something blogworthy, but nope! The weather has precluded much outdoor acitivity. The kids have gone out and shot some hoops, that's it. A merry little head cold has been passed around, but that appears to be the only familial sharing that has taken place. The boys mutter about levels and strategies, Mel keeps getting naked, L and A (my babysitting charge) fluctuate between playing house, air hockey and tearing each other's hair out. As for E, she emerges from her den, er room, occasionally for another coke and disappears again. On the bright side, there is no teen attitude if you never speak to your teen. I haven't been much better, having started (foolishly) a book series with SIX books. Why would I do that??? Well time for more cookies. I'm actually getting tired of cookies, who'd have thunk?

The Hits of the Season

After a couple days shakedown I can now judge what the best loved toys are. If they'd just let you bunk the kids at the toy store for a couple days you could determine this and only have to buy one or two toys. I am glad to report that the expense was worth it for the oldest three. Evidently E has had earbuds permanently implanted in her head. S and C have become subterranean slugs, who only leave the basement and it's gamecube altar for occasional refreshment. Now, on to the ones who would have been happy with cheap stuff, lol. L has played non-stop with a teddy bear that has clothes I picked up at Penney's 60% off, F likes the dollar store monster truck and Mel. She keeps dressing a doll in her new pooh panties (yes this leaves her naked) and pushing it around in the Goodwill stroller. I'm not sure why she must be naked to take her baby for a stroll.

Had Myself a Merry Little Christmas

An abundance of candy, cookies, "loot" and mimosas for mama made Christmas pretty darn good, dadgum it.

All cleaned up for church. F looks pained because S is holding him in place, lol. I only snapped 3 pics so not bad considering.


The morning after with the "goods". Notice how dramatically their attire is down graded.


It snowed Christmas afternoon which looked lovely. We had a fire all afternoon and a big dinner. Amazingly they played with their stuff until collapsing. The boys probably strained their thumbs from game cube. E hooked into iPod and wasn't heard from again, F remote controlled his brains out and L and A played dolls, stuffed animals and restaurant. By next week it'll probably all be old and boring but at least it was interesting one day.

Happy Christmas Eve

Luke 2:4-19
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Achievement

For some unknown reason Mel decided Wednesday to strip off all her clothes (that's not the new part) and sit herself on the potty. She's been going ever since. Strange! I hadn't planned on even thinking about it until spring or summer. Of course there is always the chance it will become boring (especially if the adulation stops) and she will quit doing it. I've never had one just decide by themselves to use the potty. Her other achievement is stripping off her boots, mittens and snow suit outside. Evidently she is impervious to cold. I would just quit bothering to put them on her if that didn't seem protective services worthy behavior.

Winter Solstice

Tried for a little beginning of winter fun today. I wanted to make a Solstice cake but was voted down and we made solstice peppermint bark instead. Whatever. We went to a basketball game (which is a winter celebration of being a Hoosier) and then had a nice fire. It wasn't exactly a Yule log, but was cheery none the less.

Tomorrow is the kids final day of school before break. I MUST do some wrapping. I HATE wrapping, sigh!

Life Reeked With Joy

This made me laugh out loud. This is especially funny if you've ever had the misfortune of being a graduate assistant. Most thankless job I've ever held. Read and enjoy!
Life Reeked With Joy