Thoughts on a quiet house

When they were little, they used to run around making outrageous amounts of noise... but now it's too quiet around here.

I used to wonder if I would ever get a moments peace... but now they're gone.

I used to look forward to them growing up, moving out, moving on. Now I look forward to them coming home to visit, and hoping they will stay for a while.

I've sent three kids off to college this week.

Its been exciting, fun, anxious, and melancholy. I've laughed, cried...

Now its just me, himself, and doodlebug.

It's so quiet around here...

BOY I SURE WISH SCHOOL WERE OVER ALREADY!

So... I haven't been blogging much... because life is hectic. And we are at the "boy I sure wish school were over already" stage of the year ( by the way, that would be a direct quote from me... the kids and I both are absolutely sick of school right now) I am so looking forward to spending the summer with them, and doing crazy stuff together... and only haveing one job for 8 weeks... I'm tired, almost burnt out and so are they, only they are thinking about getting jobs and being probably just as busy, only more fun busy instead of stupid stuff.

Welly, is planning on post secondary next year. She is, right now, up in her room writing a paper about shakespear. She hates shakespear, and she hates having to write papers about books she hates... so she is grumbling and snarling, and I peak my head in and say "wait till you get to college and the papers get really stupid!" She has this cinderella view of college... she's going to have one massively burst bubble next fall.

Boey is just hoping to graduate at this point. I think he would just like to get to a point in his life where he can do something enjoyable and get paid, and not ever have to deal with his disabilities again. He struggles for every grade he gets (even the three f's he earned last quarter, he says that will never happen again, I say it better not!)

Mr. Heedie wants some hands on experience with plants (he's the Mr. Greenjeans of the family and can get just about anything to grow), so we are planning a garden this year.

And Do? well, Do wants to get through school really quick so she can go to college and get her Mrs. degree!

Himself and I would just like to walk in the sunset a few nights a week, hold hands and talk. Seems almost like it is too much to ask for some times...

oh... I will be so glad when school is over..........

I'VE BEEN TAGGED!

ok, so I'm reading Mrs. L's blog and I realize that I've been tagged, just by reading it... and I'm bored, and I actually have a little time, and my computer is cooperating! so, I'll respond to the tag... (So I got as far as #3, and my computer crashed and I totally forgot I had written this... so now 4/7/8 I finished it!)


8 things you probably don't know about me:



1. For some strange reason, when I hit about 32 I suddenly became panicky around heights. It was pretty bad... I was in the Grand Canyon with a group of kids in our youth group when I thought some of them were getting to close to the edge, and suddenly without warning I freaked out... I had to turn my back on them and look away, I was crying and struggling to breath- yeah, full fledged panick attack. They were 10 feet from the edge, there was no reason for the fear. It just happened.



2. I LOVE SPIN AND PUKE ROLLERCOASTERS! but because of an inner ear problem I can't ride on them anymore {:-( because I spin and puke...



3. I would rather spend all day with a group of teenagers than an afternoon of interesting conversation with adults...

4. I really get a kick out of dry British humor, but I also have a really warped sense of humor, so I find almost anything funny, much to my husbands dismay.

5. I am a compulsive giggler. The more nervous I am, the worse I giggle. And if you tell a joke that hits my funny meter just right, I can't stop laughing... It's really bad... A couple of years ago I got kicked out of youth group because I couldn't stop laughing...

6. I'm not a girlie girl, I'm a tom boy~ I'm miserable shopping, I don't ask directions, I hate to cry around people, when I drive- I'm on a mission and I don't like to take rest stops, I don't decorate (unless you consider antique kitchen gadgets hanging around decorations), and I don't use the phone unless absolutely necessary and in that case I leave brief messages that get to the point quickly.

7. I adore baby anythings, although I prefer baby humans {:-)

8. I have a wild and active imagination which causes me to write the occasional story, poem, song, or "movie screenplay" (none of which I have ever finished to my satisfaction, with the exception of a few poems...)

Grandparents, aging, and the realities of life...

Grandma B is a wonderful woman... Christian, Artist, DAR (Daughter of the American Revolution). She is strong willed, tough, and a "take no prisoners" kind of person. She loves, in her own stiff sort of way, and thinks often of others. She likes craft fairs, and figurines, and animals in their natural habitat. She takes little ones by the hand and explains the wonders of God's creation while holding little creepy crawlies for those who are loath to touch them.

She is also 93... and loosing her balance...

She has fallen so many times and hit her head so often that she just can't be alone anymore... so we as a family are trying to decide what is best for her...

The assisted living place where she lives would like to move her into the nursing home end of the facility and sell her apartment and move on with things...

we worry that if she has to stay in the nursing home that she will just give up and die... (Himself says that if it ever comes to him having to be in a nursing home, he'll just wonder off into the woods some winter day and die of hypothermia, to which Welly growled "Nobody is EVER putting YOU in a nursing home!")

(Mind you, I am sure there is a nice nursing home out there somewhere, and the assisted living place grandma lives in is very nice and they take good care of people. But they are overall creepy places and I, too, would rather die than have to live in one.)

So we sit and talk, what does she want... on her good days she wants to go home to her apartment. On her bad days she wants to be in the nursing home...

We can't help but think she will live longer in her apartment, if we can find enough of us to watch her.

I'm available weekdays, my brother-in-law on weeknights (though he isn't so helpful in the mundane things, he would be a wonder in an emergency), her daughters for the weekends, and maybe her son and daughter-in-law could take a weekend a month... My kids even want to help (Bowie even volunteered to drop out of school, get his GED and then take care of his great-grandma... which I quickly vetoed... and so did everyone else at the table!) But they are old enough and mature enough to take her on for a couple of hours on a weekend...

and I do mean "take her on" because she can be a cantankerous old woman when she gets a mood on, and she is very set in her ways...

I think this could be a rallying point for the family- to bless her in her final days/months/years and for us to be blessed by her. but then again... When she moved into the place it sparked a family feud (She had a small fortune in antiques that she gave away to family members, some that she promised to multiple members of the family, then she moved and told the family to just pick out what they wanted ... it wasn't pretty. Some family members didn't talk for years afterward... and they are now all on speaking terms again...)

So the realities of life move in on us... not only do we have to work this out with the assisted living place, but with grandma, her children, and us (the grandchildren who live closest)...

And in the midst of it is the sibling rivalry between K and D (oldest and youngest daughters) and the pain of watching your mother slowly die.

I am praying that God's will is done, in spite of us all...

May your decisions be bold and faithful today!

A POETRY DAY

The other day I was in a poetic mood…You see it all started with Nate’s new jeep. It just needed a poem… so I wrote one~ but of course, I’m IRISH, so it really needed a limerick!

There once was a guy named Nate
Who thought his jeep was great.
He saw a huge puddle,
Got stuck in the muddle,
And now all it does is beep.

(I know, not technically a limerick because of that last line… grr)

So then I had to write a poem for Wellly~

Cowboy hats
And boots (no spats)
A voice so deep and mellow
t-shirts and jeans
No pinto beans
Just find me a country fellow

Then Becka read it and yelled “I wear Spats!”

Becka wears spats
And glasses and hats
Bring joy to those around her
Through giggles and screams
Laughter and dreams
We’re very glad to have found her!

But Becka’s “magic fish” needed a poem, so~

There once was a fishy named Fred
He woke up to find himself dead
Although quite alarmed
At being so charmed
He curled up and went back to bed.

Which of course reminded me of Laura’s “hello kitty”

Hello Kitty
Its quite the pity
To invest so much cash in you
You’re plastic and little
And stuck in the middle
of funding a third world stew.

Then Kelly challenged me to do Polly pocket~

There once was a Polly pocket
Who lived round my neck in a locket
With snap on clothes
Accessories and hose
don’t forget when she’s home, to lock it.

(I didn’t like that one very much)

Of course the guys have to have there toys teased….

Ninja Turtles
In rubberized girdles
Running amok in our town
With outrageous names
And no Ninja dames,
Their smacking the bad guys down!
Hya!

April need one too…

April E.
We’re glad to see
Your smiling face shining brightly
In years up ahead
You’ll live as you’ve said
And dreams will become you’re reality.

The sad thing is… as much as I detest Iambic Pentameter… that’s the usual frame for my poetry… go figure…

So have a lovely day, and look for the poetry around you!

A COUPLE OF STICKS OF DUCT TAPE?

My oldest son, Bowie, is absolutely fascinated by explosives and duct tape. He loves motors and airplanes, too. He plans on becoming a missionary pilot for Mission Aviation Fellowship, which of course means he has to learn to take a plane apart and put it back together again~ with duct tape and baling wire... or chewing gum and shoe laces... or whatever happens to be on hand!

But for now, his brain is totally agog with explosives, duct tape, and practical jokes, and he strives to find a way to put them all together! For Fun!!!

He is often heard saying "well, if you had a couple o' sticks o' dynamite..." or , "no problem, just get me that roll of duct tape..."

We look at a frustrating tree stump in the yard and his answer is "a couple o' sticks o' dynamite..."

The passenger seat in our van broke (it won't sit up anymore) and his answer is "well, if we took some duct tape and..."

I bought him a shirt that says "Duct tape is like the Force, it has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together!"

His favorite saying is "all you ever need in life is duct tape and WD40. Duct tape for things that are moving and shouldn't be, and WD40 for things that aren't moving and should!"

Duct tape and Sticks of Dynamite, Duct tape and Sticks of Dynamite, Duct tape and Sticks of Dynamite!

So last week he was planing a practical joke and he announced, "Dude! all I need is a shoelace and a couple of Sticks of Duct Tape!!!"

A SIMPLE RANT ON TECHNOLOGY!!!!

Lets just start with a simple statement... MY COMPUTER IS STUPID!!!!

We often compare my computer with our retarded cat... it doesn't know who it is, what it's doing, or why... and it usually gets so confused that it just crashes... usually just before posting your blog! or reading that important email... or sending the VERY URGENT reply.... cute in a cat... NOT CUTE in a computer!!!!


GGGGGRRRRRR!!!!!!

I know that I am running too much stuff on it and that I probably have viruses and cookies galore (kind of like a virtual std...) and that my Norton is out of date... but I live in the 3rd world of computers, and I just don't have access to much better... except for today, when I am at the local public library... its like using the Ferrari of computers!

I should probably start taking some techie classes and learn to do all the cool and funky repair your computer stuff myself... I never know what to toss out, and right now I have too much stuff on my computer to run the defragmenter... sigh...

OK, enough computer complaints!

It is a beautiful day! and I got to spend and hour with little children at a local grade school! and they PAID me for it!!! count your blessings dudes! Life could definitely be worse!!

HAVE A BLESSED AFTERNOON!!!