1. I’m leaving for a weeklong writing retreat in 11 hours. The weather report is high of 81, low of 61… all week.
And the schedule consists of:
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Optional Evening Activity
As I noted on Facebook, it seems almost sinful. But I intend to sin boldly that grace may abound.
2. We had a picnic dinner at the pool […]

1. We thought it was a weird bite from his hike earlier in the week, and the fact that it kept getting worse had us very concerned. Shingles is a welcome (?) alternative to the deadly venom of a mysterious spider, say, or to flesh-eating bacteria.
2. It happened between jobs, and it looks like he’ll […]

From most recent to least…
The bandaid floating in the pool is fail.
SC state senator Knotts, commenting on a candidate for governor who was raised Sikh: “We already got one raghead in the White House, we don’t need a raghead in the governor’s mansion.” Stay Classy, South Carolina!
C: “AW MAN! All this lightning means I can’t […]

from most recent to least…
Rachel Remen said, “I have no answers, but I have a lot of questions, and those questions have helped me to live better than any answers I might find.” LOSTies, that quote will get you through the next two weeks. Embrace the mystery…
On J’s report from day care: she checked the […]

Had excellent Mommy mojo today. It’s rare enough that I thought I’d mention it.
Explanation: We had a nice picnic this morning with a friend and her kids, and despite us all being screamin’ demons this morning, we had fun and behaved ourselves. The picnic was kid-approved and perfect, aside from lack of napkins.
Then we drove […]

a haiku
today, love sounds like
him plunging hair from the drain
while I lounge in bed.
———
We had a very nice weekend. Saturday was busy with stuff around the house and some time outside. At one point we had three neighbor kids over at the same time! I have this dream of our house being the one that […]

Some days are like that…
Earlier today I posted these little tidbits on FB:
C, upon entering the pool for her lesson: “[breathing deeply] I just LOVE that smell!” Yep, she’s a swimmer.
I let M go to the water fountain in Costco by herself while I was checking out. She was not kidnapped, and even more […]

We had a nice weekend. After C’s swimming lessons on Saturday, we put on all the snow clothes one last time and headed to Suburban Lake Park, just to see what conditions were like. R and I decided not to wear snow pants, though we took several up-to-our-knee footsteps in the deep snow around the […]

The girls are getting dressed:
Me: Ooh, who’s going to get dressed first? M has her pajama pants off, but C has already put her socks on.
C: I don’t want this to be a race, because when I don’t win I freak out.
M: That’s OK C, I’ll go really really slow.

And that’s pretty much everything you […]

I facebooked today, “Our life is crazy and getting crazier by the minute” and my brother-in-law responded sagely, “That happens with tile.”
The craziness is not all tile-related, but yes, the tile is ground zero of Teh Crazy.
The family room looks very nice, though there’s a place where they apparently didn’t mix the grout quite right […]

Home projects we are undertaking in the next week or more:
Family Room
They guys will be here tomorrow to put tile in the family room, which will mean bye-bye to the worn out carpet and the huge sheet of plastic intended to protect one corner of the carpet from our cat with the ailing kidneys and […]

We’re headed out to The Most Wonderful Place on Earth tomorrow. I’m not sure we’ll do a lot of Disney stuff, actually—it’s a crazy busy time of year there, and we’re really there to visit family, including my new nephew who’s not so new anymore.
We’ve decided to make the radical decision to drive at night, […]

Reverse chronological order:
Our steep street is still not plowed, but if our van gets a running start at the bottom of the hill, we can get up it. So C and I will have a girl day together–haircuts, lunch, gift delivery and other elfin tasks. Say a prayer for R, who will be testing the […]

We woke up with the alarm clock this morning, not by human means.
This was a tremendous relief. We almost feel human.
R left early since the rest of us didn’t have to be anywhere quickly.
C walked to the bus stop with the rest of us tagging along.
J wants to be held while we wait and yells […]

Starting today and working backward:
has had a very satisfying day of sermon-writing.
Just got an e-mail from M, courtesy of her day-care provider: “Mom I want you to bring new clothes, because my other clothes got wet and I don’t like the pants.”
[Update: I don’t need anymore clothes because they have dried and I am very […]

I’m back from my little trip to see the Tiny Church family in the hospital in Midwestern City. It was a hard visit, but I’m glad I went. Also, it snowed. On October 10.
I had written a note to the kids on the big whiteboard in the kitchen, and wrote down the days so […]

1. I make very good use of my staycations, as many of the following numbers will show.
2. Today I got out the winter hand-me-downs for M, packed up her clothes for donation, and put away C’s clothes for summer 2011. Yes, this is all a pain.
3. Part of the challenge is that M much […]

Going back in time…
Turned in the key.
needed to drive C to the bus stop because of her ankle, but R had removed the seats from the van because I’m loading it with my office stuff today. A classic Didn’t Think This Through moment from the reverendfamily.
Unplugging for the evening–under the covers with a mug […]

It’s a nice little suburb.