You may wonder if I have nothing better to do than update you on the weather… there was SUN yesterday AND today… so much today it was actually warm this evening. WARM!! ah. sweet bliss. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I love the sun. I love warmth. I love the glorious brightness and light. It so lifts the spirits when the clouds have been so heavy its like evening all day, day after day… and then the sun.
A lot like Jesus.
Ann touches the corners of my heart yet again, as I stumble through some crazy parenting!! A Touch Crazy?
So I did ‘you know you are an Alaskan if…’
I thought I’d follow it up with this one. If you’re an American then this will probably make absolutely no sense whatsoever!
You know you’re Australian if…..
1. You believe that stubbies can be either drunk or worn.
2. You think it’s normal to have a leader called Kevin.
3. When you hear that an American “roots for his team” you wonder how often and with whom.
4. You pronounce Melbourne as “Mel-bin”.
5. You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep.
6. You call your best friend “a total bastard” but someone you really, truly despise is just “a bit of a bastard”.
7. You think “Woolloomooloo” is a perfectly reasonable name for a place.
8. You’re secretly proud of our killer wildlife.
9. You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that’s twice as big as its $2 coin.
10. You understand that “Wagga Wagga” can be abbreviated to “Wagga” but “Woy Woy” can’t be called “Woy”.
11. You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis.
12. You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels’ song Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again.
13. You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionary known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
14. You still don’t get why the “Labor” in “Australian Labor Party” is not spelt with a “u”.
15. You believe that the more you shorten someone’s name the more you like them.
16. You understand that “excuse me” can sound rude, while “scuse me” is always polite.
17. You understand that “you” has a plural and that it’s “youse”.
18. You know it’s not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle.
19. Your biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules for beach cricket.
20. You still think of Kylie as “that girl off Neighbours”.
21. When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs – just in case you’re trying to sneak in fruit.
22. You believe the phrase “smart casual” refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered. (Danelle would say this one is for me…)
23. You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction.
24. When working on a bar, you understand male customers will feel the need to offer an excuse whenever they order low-alcohol beer.
25. You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second.
26. You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government’s new test for migrants.
27. You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says “cobber”.
28. And you will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand.
(from The Sydney Morning Herald , Australia Day, Jan 26, 2008).
I don’t even know what it means or where it comes from. BUT what the heck… I’d like to be a simple woman one day. So why not today… at least for the last hour.
Outside my window… 62* and cloudy… that is WARM day for this summer. And I actually saw blue sky this evening on the way home from rehearsal at 9:30pm
I am thinking… that I am glad there was an easy loss of privilege (sleeping in my bed while Dad is at work) and I didn’t yell at my kids when they were still up when I got home at 9:45, having just had a great go-round jumping on our bed, and one accidentally hitting the other in the nose. Thank you to neighbor/tenant/friends for answering the monitor’s call!!
I am thankful… that the balance of chaos rooms vs relatively peaceful rooms tips in favor of the relatively peaceful.
From the kitchen… flowers from a friend fading in a vase, left over fondue in the fondue pot from Monday that we’re still working on, and quite a bit of clutter. But its manageable (for tomorrow morning) so its still considered a relatively peaceful room
I am wearing… black socks, my jeans that fit but I don’t like, blank tank top and long sleeved blue shirt. One of my favorites. too bad I don’t still have on the hot pink rain boots I was wearing all day. Its true!! I own those!!
I am reading… Grace Based Parenting (again… I need more grace flowing out of me) and The Hidden Art of Homemaking (I borrowed it. I’m surprised that I’m not loving it, so I am glad I didn’t buy it. Though it does have some great ideas in there.) And the second Boxcar Kids book… I’ll be ready for that to be finished. Its awkward to read aloud. Keenan can read the rest by himself.
I am hoping… for some sunshine. and even better a day over 70 degrees.
I am hearing… the hum of the computer. almost silence… ah.
One of my favorite things… my 17″ bath tub.
A few plans for the rest of the week… tomorrow a walk with the kids and some friends at Potter’s Marsh on the new board walk. Hopefully we’ll go dip netting on Saturday across the bay from Homer. We need some salmon in our freezer for the winter.
A picture thought I’m sharing with you… hang on. this was supposed to be simple. dark, warm, cozy, the faint scent of hubby’s sweat from his day slumber and the dog curled up in crook of my legs. BED!
Good night.
Winterpromise has a new programmed ride through history using the Story of the World series by Susan Wise Bauer. Since we had already started going through them, I decided to use Winterpromise’s extra suggestions and books to tie it in. This is summer, and it has taken 3 weeks to finish one week. I’m in no hurry… we just do a few internet links from the Usborne Encyclopedia here, a bit of a project there, listen to Jim Weiss read in the car… AND here are the pics of our first ‘hideaway’ The cave. We used the firewood box in our living room. and I couldn’t find my newspaper roll (???) so we just taped their cave art on the wall. One days they jsut suddenly decided to play in it… like their caveman costumes? 🙂 and the ‘fire’ was probably their favorite aspect. You’ll have to excuse Thad’s faces. We are at an awkward stage with pictures!!
And here it is with out flash to capture the ‘fire’. WOW my photography really is lacking!!
I love my boy. He amazes us. And he makes us laugh regularly at the dinner table.
Tonight’s prayer:
“Dear God, Thank you for the food… (etc) and please give Brandon’s mom dreams and a vision and like don’t force her, but so she’ll want to and has a vision about a play date.”
After his big Irish dancing gig… “I’m WORN!”
We had fondue tonight. I’m hoping the kiddos have fond memories and that none of their memories include our conversation, laced with strong adult innuendos, which they unknowingly contributed to quite a bit. It all started with Thad’s idea of covering Bryan with chocolate. ‘Nuff said.
Kids tooth paste is gross and overpriced. And they have gargantuan nozzles that let out a huge stream of toothpaste, enough to brush 5 children’s mouths. We just bought toothpaste with sparkles. What exactly ARE the sparkles? We’ve were discussing this at the dinner table this evening. little bits of glitter cut up smaller? Tiny flecks of aluminum or silver? hmmm… 🙂 We might be poisoning our children, but they’ll die with clean sparkley teeth!! 🙂
OK… I looked it up on the internet (it really is amazing what you can find out on the internet), assuming they are telling the truth, the sparkles ARE non-toxic. Not that we were going to chuck ours out. I trust Colgate!! Just saying.
Random evening. Off to bed.
lets see… I’m was never opposed really, but it wasn’t financially on my priority list! I’ve known he’s liked them and had one in college etc. BUT the kicker…
I was standing in line in front of some men talking about motorbikes and such…. the gist was the guy’s brother had always wanted a bike, but he was married and had the mini-van and the works, so now that he’s divorced he basically has gotten to get all the stuff, including the motorbike, he’d always wanted and live the way he has always wanted, and surround himself… etc.
Not that I was/am worried about divorce. But it got me thinking about ‘my house and decor’ and my priorities of things to buy and the look we are going for etc. It seems they come before Bryan’s more often than not. I mean, kitchens are more important than motorcycles! I got my fridge that works and I got a minivan 🙂 I have a bright green kitchen and dining area. Amongst many other lovelies.
Bryan got his motorcycle, and I am glad I could ‘give’ him that.
Next? An animal on the wall. It is his house too. sigh.
know I should be in JULY – but those will have to come later. Not that a whole bunch happened in June, but I have to categorize them somehow. Here are a few of my favorites memories of June I captured… !
I love watching the kids together… Shand loves her chair, and has no problem climbing over, sitting on whoever is in her way… the poor dog gets absolutely NO regard either. She climbs right on his head etc. He puts up with a lot. After all, she DOES feed him her people food when we aren’t watching, little stinker!
Keenan can now ride his bike. Here I am running alongside him. He thinks I am holding on, but I am just barely touching his back. He was riding way too fast for me to hang on, I was SPRINTING trying to keep up!
The steam train ride… isn’t this cool? We go almost every year. Its great fun, and it rains EVERY time we go!! 🙂 
This picture epitomizes what all the overwhelmed days felt like. Dirt from the plants on the carpet (thank you Shand) toys everywhere, gun noises (from Thad… or animal noises… anything really. Its just incessant), books scattered, stools and chairs in the wrong room of the house (why? who? – oh yeah, the boys 🙂 ) discarded artwork on the floor – usually 4 – 5 pieces at a time, random kitchen utensils (thank you Shand)… and to top it all off, a swish of paint color that STILL won’t work. Feeling a little desperate and its still cold cloudy and rainy? Turn on the TV.
A perfect date night… wine, choc-chip cookie dough, a cook book to plan tomorrows more sophisticated menu, some great music and a game.
One of Shand’s favorite past-times… climbing in and out of her swing, standing on while swinging… I’ve stopped gasping and don’t even watch anymore. (I mean, now she climbs up her own high chair!)
Reading to Daddy… she is loving books now. Its awesome.
And how HOW she loves the piano!
The brothers… caught! I just love this picture!
AND finally… my darling on his bike. orange Harley Sportster (PLEASE be impressed that I know this!)
Just for interests sake, this was a late night ride with his Dad (who has a much bigger bike with lots of bells and whistles)… about 11pm I think.
A Life of Balance 