Friday's Feast, August 31st

Appetizer

Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?
Probably my sister or Larry or my Mom. It sort of depends on what we're talking about!!

Soup

If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?
Maybe I'd go to Athens, Greece.

What ancient city would be really great to live in from a woman's point of view?

Salad

What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?
Probably my own car wreck---but I don't remember it! I was upside-down in my little Neon on a bridge in Fort Worth.

It was so exciting, my brain blocked it from my memory!!

But exciting in a good way---the birth of my kids. It's more exciting now than it was then----I was so focused on doing my "job" at the moment, I harly knew what was up. J came the "regular" way, and was a long process all day. At the end I was very determined to just get him here! B was exciting another way because I didn't know I was at a 6 when I went for my doctor's appointment. The bad news was, she was feet down, so they took me over to the hospital and I had a C-section about 2 hours later. Fast and exciting!!

Main Course

If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?
I'm not really one for drawing attention to myself, so nothing. Or maybe I'd write a bogus blog entry to start a weird rumor.

Dessert

What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?

For women, 25. Your body's in great shape and can handle the stresses of pregnancy with relative ease. You're still young and able to meet the demands after the baby comes, too. And as for maturity---you're never ready for the responsibiliy until you're just in the thick of it anyway, and whether you're 20 or 40, if you're a decent person, you'll rise to that part of the challenge no matter what your age.

Check out more feasts at Friday's Feast!!

Thursday Theme---Pretty

These girls were dressed up for a celebration of our Dual Language program at my kids' schools. The group of boys and girls did a dance with some fancy footwork.
Aren't the girls so pretty? And their dresses are pretty, too.

I think my own child and my niece are pretty girls, too. Pretty is as pretty does . . .




For more pretty photos go see Tracey's blog at Picture This!

Best Shot Monday---sleeping beauty

I love this shot of B. She had been watching TV in my bedroom one afternoon, and just fell asleep. There had been a sleepover and she needed a few extra Zzzzs.

Check out more Best Shots this Monday at Tracey's Picture This blog.

Friday's Feast, August 24th

Appetizer
Say there’s a book written about your life. Who would you want to narrate the audio version?
My son says he would do it! Maybe Cindy Lauper.

Soup
Take the letters from your favorite kind of nut and write a sentence. (Example: Perhaps every avenue needs understanding today.)
Probably, even cannibals are nice. J helped me with this one, too. He is wanting me to get off the computer so he can get on. We have to go to my workplace today by 8:15.

Salad
If you could go back in time and spend one week in another decade, which decade would you choose?
The 1930s---I think it would do me good to see how it was in the depression.

Main Course
Name a song that brings back memories for you.
Almost all songs from my high school days bring back memories. (1986-1989) But the ones that are really inside me are ones we played in marching band----Only Time Will Tell, Cats (Memories), Candle on the Water, Tequila (just for one performance on Halloween, and we had a guy dressed up as PeeWee Herman doing the big shoe dance), and a few we played in the stands---Walk Like an Egyptian, and my school song and fight song! I heard the tune of my school song on the cartoon show "Camp Lazlo" and it was weird.

Dessert
Do you prefer to wash your hands in cold water or warm water?
Warm water---I feel like it is cleaner. BUT I know intellectually it is the rubbing action that is really getting the germs off, even more than some anti-bacterial soap.

Thursday Theme---Fade

These tan lines will soon fade away, as the kids head back to school and spend most of their days indoors. Tonight is their "Meet the Teacher" nights, so it is truly coming to an end. The first day of school is Monday, and our longest summer ever is reaching it's close. (I wanted to get a picture of the tan lines themselves, but I haven't done it yet---and how can I do it without showing too much?)

Have to get my son in, too----he's fading into the depths of the water here. We've spent so many happy afternoons at the pool this summer.

Just yesterday, B told me she was sad summer was almost over. She said that she would miss our time together and that she didn't appreciate the time we had when she had it! Deep thoughts from the 8-year-old daughter!

High School Musical 2

I have to mention some things about High School Musical 2. We've been watching Disney and Nick all summer, and couldn't miss the continuous hype about HSM2. The Disney Channel has no commercials for products, but they have commercials for all their shows all day long. Over and over. All the time.

Anyway, we were sufficiently hyped up about HSM2, which came on last Friday night. J hasn't really gotten into it, but B is at the young end of the target audience, I guess. I 3rd grader interested in a show about High School? It seems a little wrong, maybe. ?? But I'll get to that later.

She was all set to be home at 7 to watch this show, and it was a little bit of work to get home on time. But B and I were there (without the guys home) and we ate pizza and French onion dip and enjoyed the music and dancing. The storyline was okay, the colors in the show really appealing, the music peppy and fun or dramatically sad. It seemed more like a musical than the last one. It wasn't just singing a song in the story, it was singing a song to carry along the story, singing the lines at times. The dancing was really good, too---very difficult, I thought.

I ended up watching it twice---J succumbed to the hype and watched it the next night. He thought it was pretty okay. He objects to them hyping up an okay movie until it is an obsession. I'm teaching him to be wise about marketing. ;-)

I heard of lots of parties around this movie, and even a friend's daughter's birthday bash with 3rd grade girls walking down a red carpet. heehee!

I caught a few of the TV interviews with the cast I thought were interesting. They said the dancing was harder---more partner dancing. They had to do a lot of filming at night since so many scenes were at night, which was kind of hard. (But they're young!)

I have heard this HSM phenomenon being compared to this generation's Grease. Maybe. Today's culture with DVDs is so different than it was back in 1978 when Grease came out and I was 7 years old. I didn't go see it at the movies, and it wasn't played 3 times in one weekend on my TV. Really, that's a good thing! Grease makes me cringe when I watch it with the kids, especially because J understands so much more now. What's that movie rated? It's not appropriate for third graders at all, really, but the music is so good and it's such a part of American culture.

What's good about HSM 1 and 2 is that the language is clean, the costumes seem appropriate, and the storyline is okay. No one is getting a pregnancy scare in HSM! Ahem! There is a heavy emphasis on "getting the guy" or "getting the girl" but it's not too sexual. The cast is really diverse (someone for all to identify with except maybe Asian-Americans), and they're all so clean-cut and really beautiful to look at! I do wonder what the population of a typical Albuquerque high school---a few more Hispanic-looking kids, maybe?

I have heard that #3 will be at the theaters instead (cha-ching!$!), and that #4 is already in the works as well. So what ever happened to the guy who claimed he wrote a "High School Musical" and Disney stole his idea? I found this article about it after searching for 15 minutes. It's all about the money! I hope he got a quiet payoff for his ideas, if they were stolen! In Disney's defense, this article talks about how the songs were not the same, and part of the Disney movie appeal was the peppy music. That was the top selling CD of all of 2006! Wow! But if anyone is capable of taking someone's idea, changing it enough to not be "the same show," and making a hit out of it using marketing and beautiful actors and catchy tween-appealing music, you know it's Disney. They have the money to get it done.

Hey!! I think that's really some of my money!

Best Shot Monday---Baby

I didn't take a lot of pictures this week, but I sat across from this baby and her Mommy at my training on Saturday. I won't give you her full name to protect her privacy, but she is Avery Lorraine. So sweet! She's about 2 months old.

Go over to Picture This for more shots---try the link on the sidebar!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, August 18th

I wasn't very inspired this week for the theme of Two, but I also am just doing it at the last minute, too. I went to a required training for my preschool teaching job, and I've been gone all day. Whew! But it's over and I have another 7 clock hours under my belt.

So what I lack in wittiness and quality, I make up for in volume for the Number Two.

Two Wookies

At the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History this summer in their Star Wars exhibit.

Actual costumes from the movie!

Two friends at a birthday party---my daughter and her classmate

My sister's two kids (I love her right leg!)

My two kids, J and B, end of May

Two dirty feet

Two rhinoceroses---rhinocerii?
Cameron Park Zoo

Two lions

Running to second Base

Next week's theme is Happy.
Go visit TNChick to see more photo hunters and how they all interpreted the theme.

Friday's Feast, August 17th

Appetizer

Describe your laundry routine. Do you have a certain day when you do it all, or do you just wash whatever you need for the next day?

I have gotten into a habit this summer of getting a load in the washer first thing in the morning. I get those hung up when they're washed. About every other day, in the afternoon, I'll sit and fold clothes in my bedroom (watching Oprah or something). Some days I need to wash two loads of clothes. I've been working without a dryer this summer!! It shall be fixed very soon. :-)

Soup

In your opinion, what age will you be when you’ll consider yourself to truly be old?
I hate to answer this! Don't want to offend anyone! ;-)

Actually, I have always thought anyone older than my parents is old. Therefore, my "old" perception keeps shifting upward.

But who could deny they're old when they're 80? So I'll be old when I'm 80.

Salad

What is one of your goals? Is it short-term, long-term, or both?
I want to write a book sometime. That's long term. I don't even know what it will be! Maybe a children's book. Another one I thought about was writing about women's birth experiences. Lately I think I could write a curriculum book for preschool.

Main Course

Name something unbelievable you’ve seen or read lately.
There are some things my kids told me lately that I didn't believe.

Actually, this morning I heard that 60% of people don't have health insurance. That's unbelievable! I thought a lot more people would have insurance.

Dessert

On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how happy are you today?

7

Happy Birthday Granny!

Thursday Theme---Fly

I am not a photoshoppin' expert, so this will have to do for the week. I took this one at the 4th of July Parade this summer. Darn those power lines! I have not gotten very creative today!

If you'd like to see more interpretations of the theme of FLY, go by Tracey's Picture This blog. Her photo is just beautiful!!

Wait! I remembered this comical photo I had in my high school album. I took this one right after graduating from high school on a band trip we took to Disney World. My friend and fellow oboe player, Donna, is flying!!

I just finished reading The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas this morning. I really enjoyed it! It's set in the depression in Kansas. I'm not a quilter, but I am crafty enough I enjoyed the quilting references. I liked the mystery and the friendships of the ladies in the story---across generations, as it had to be in this farming community.

Have you read anything else by this author? I saw she had other books out there. I picked this book up at Half-Price Books.

I read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen just before this. I started this one before I got Harry Potter book 7, so I had to quit reading S&S to read HP. But I did enjoy this as well. It's one of those I have to really concentrate on to understand. I am usually amazed that these really young women (like in their teens, still!) are thinking about marriage so much and think it's totally fine to marry someone in their 30s. Very different from our way of life! Of course, I was only 20 when I married, so who can talk?

I already started the next book---The Hostile Hospital. J was prompting me to get back to reading the Series of Unfortunate Events books. This is book number 8 out of 13. Yes, I'd read them along with J at first, but he got ahead of me. And frankly, I need to read some other types of literature, don't I?

What are you reading?

Being Nice Matters

I got my very first blog award! :-)

Angela at The Life and Times of Gran awarded me with this "Nice Matters" award. I appreciate this grandma's perspective, and her perspective on teaching children as well. She posted something about fun, inexpensive things to do with her grandkids a while back, and I thought it was just excellent. So that post got me to coming back. Now I get to nominate my own choices, and display the little picture on my sidebar.

Here are my choices for the Nice Matters Award:

Melissa at Enjoying Life

She's a loving auntie and lover of photography.

Rachel at Heart of Rachel

She's a sweet Mommy to a beautiful preschool-aged boy in the Philippines. I just found out I was a couple of days late----she's been nominated just before I got to her myself! ;-)

Stacy at Exceedingly Mundane and Project 365

She's a fellow 365 blogger (a picture a day, ya know) with a beautiful "child" Beau, who always leaves nice comments.

These ladies are consistently nice on their blogs and genuine in their comments. Just a pleasure getting to know them! Hop over to their blogs and see what I mean.

August is a Season

After a week of thinking about Larry's dad's passing, today it's the anniversary of Larry's mom's death.

She passed away on Aug. 14, 1992. Larry and I had only been married a year; we were only 21 and 22. Her death was very unexpected, and she was only 62. It was really hard on everyone, but I always feel the worst for Larry's sister and her little girl who were in the house when it happened. They lived out in the country, and when she had a heart attack, there was just nothing to do, no ambulance fast enough, nothing. It was a real shock to the family, and I was so new to the family, it was a baptism of fire into their ranks. I learned a lot through that experience, and it was the first death I'd been affected by so dramatically.

So here we are in August, mourning this time, Larry's dad. It seems like this is our season of deaths. I had two great uncles pass away within days of each other in August a couple of years ago. My uncle who passed away around Thanksgiving last year---his birthday is tomorrow. Plus, it's Elvis' death week. (Being a native-born Memphian, I know this is a world-wide event, celebrated by many, even the Japanese.) The sympathy cards keep trickling into our mailbox. Seems like Movies and T.V. shows can't stop mentioning death. It's all around me.

But from my point of view, it's not terrible. My thoughts may change dramatically when it's my own parents I'm talking about. But for now, it's sad, we feel a loss, but it's not terrible. For Larry's dad, he truly is better off. This last month was not pretty. We're standing here with only us at the forefront of our family tree, though.

Grammatical Monday Madness

I saw this on Heart of Rachel this week, and being a grammatical challenge, I thought I'd join in this week.

Please fill in the following blanks, to make a compound word:

(My answers are in Purple)

1. GROUNDHOG

2. FIRESTORM

3. HOUSEWORK

4. OVERINDULGED

5. SUNBURN

6. UNDERWEAR

7. OUTFIELD

8. SOMEBODY

What would you think of first to complete these words? Go over to Monday Madness to join in the fun! :-)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, August 11th

For this week's theme of Row, I submit to you a heritage photo I was given only yesterday. These people are in rows, obviously, although loosely, :-)

Now for explanation: Yesterday we buried my father-in-law. It's a really sad time for our family, although it is a relief to know that he is his old self again, not encumbered by physical pain or mental confusion. I'd like to write more about this later.

My father-in-law (we have deduced) is in this picture above. He is on the top row, the 5th head from the left. (Count the child being held as a head, too!) His parents are in the seated row on the bottom. His father, John Wyatt Adams is the third person from the right, and his mother, Mary Eura Sewell Adams, is the 4th one from the right, with the little tied white collar. This seems like a Sewell family celebration, maybe a anniversary for the grandparents who are sitting with the cake. They would be H. Douglas Sewell and Julia Henderson Sewell. One time my father-in-law took us to his old home town, and we saw their grave sites. I have pictures of the headstones, even. Julia (1868-1951) and H.D. (1866-1939) were buried there as well as his parents, John (1884-1967) and Eura (1892-1973), which is the name she went by, I think. Larry knew his grandmother, but his grandfather passed away 2 years before Larry was born. In that cemetery we also saw the headstone for Larry's great grandparents on the other side, Isom Israel Adams and Virginia (who's the second wife, I think!).

I think all that kind of stuff is really interesting. We got a bag of Larry's Dad's old pictures yesterday, and sat and looked at them during the luncheon the chiurch provided for the family. We laughed about the family resemblances, and who looks like whom. That was a good time.

I have spent a long time today getting this post ready! Let me know if you stopped by, so I can see your picture of Row.

Go by TNChick to see more photo hunters! Next week's theme is Two. It might be twice as nice as this one! ;-)

PhotoHunt

new links

I just added 6 more links on my sidebar under my "Links" heading. I may add more, but I wanted to add the ones I do seem to be visiting more and more often. J has a new one that seems to be going pretty strong with different contributors. Check it out!

Best Shot Monday----My Kids

I have been in somewhat of a picture-taking slump as of late! Even so, I think this one is worth a post of its own. We were up at the softball fields where Daddy was keeping score for the tournament, and the kids were just being a little goofy! Their expressions seem to be really "them" and even their shirt colors seemed appealing to me. Isn't J looking older and older like day-to-day?

Click on over to Tracey's Picture This blog to see more real moms' Best Shots of their weeks. :-)

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt, August 4th

This week's theme is Funky, and I have a few of those kind of pictures.Here's an outfit of B's creation. Knicker-type pants, wrap skirt, cool shirt, and awesome, funky accessories---hat, necklace, purse.

And what is more funky (smelly) than a bunch of dancing and singing pre-teens and teens? Well, it's even funkier if they are doing Godspell. This was one of my best shots from the audience (no flash, remember!), and you can really see the funky costumes. J was in this production, but he's not in this shot. This was a song the girls did. I really enjoyed the music and dancing in this production---the end of a drama camp for J this summer.

A week or so ago I watched part of the 1973 Godspell movie on AMC, and it is really weird. An interesting telling of the gospel of John, but weird! When I think funky, I think the 1970s, so there ya go.

If you're interested in more funky photos, go check out the blogroll at TNChick. Next week's theme is Row. Lots for definitions of that word as well!

Try this link!! It's a new thing for me. :-)
PhotoHunt

August Bible Reading Challenge

I just found a challenge for the month of August that I really needed, but is totally do-able for me. Karolee at My Montana Moments is hosting a Proverbs reading challenge. Just read a chapter every day---31 days, 31 chapters. I'll get to read one of my favorite chapters in the Bible on my hubby's birthday. (Can you guess which it is?)

Friday's Feast, August 3rd

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how polite are you?
I'd say a 6. I am often so unsure about myself socially, I flub things up and don't introduce people or know what to say.


Soup
What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
I think J made me laugh yesterday really good.

Salad
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I was thinking about Speedy Gonzalez yesterday----maybe he was actually politically incorrect and they won't show him any more?


One of my guilty pleasures is watching King of the Hill, though, and I get so cracked up about Peggy Hill, the substitute-Spanish-teacher in small town Texas. So much of that show is truly Texas, it's creepy.



Main Course
Tell about the funniest teacher you ever had.
I can't think of anyone that was really Robin Williams-like or anything. But I do remember some awkward teachers who we should not have been laughing at behind their backs. On the other hand, I had a professor at UNT who told fabulous stories about his other job working for the medical examiner's office. He was a man who could take a pile of bones and tell you who they were. of course he was teaching an Anthropology class about human evolution. It was funny in a grotesque way. He got out of a ticket by showing the cop a human head he had in the car with him.

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I strongly believe that ______________________.
I strongly believe that Dual Language was the way to go with my kids. They can both speak, read, and comprehend Spanish where I know none. They've been in a 50/50 program (half their time was in Spanish every day) since Kindergarten. It's amazing what kids can learn if given a chance. And amazing, too, what the Spanish-speakers in the program were able to do in comparison to the Spanish-speakers in a regular bilingual classroom.


Here's a quote I got in an e-mail today.

Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. -----Oswald Chambers

I think this must be true. I feel at peace when I am within God's will, and being peaceful about life is essential to happiness.

Click on over to Friday's Feast to join in and present your own feast!

it's a cruel, cruel summer . . . *

I wanted to put in a quick note today about what's going on. We have some cool air in the living room, and my kids are sleeping in the living room. My room is not too bad, so I'm going in there to sleep. Thank you for those air conditioners! I got some bleach water out to clean them up a bit, and things seem better.

Larry's dad is apparently going to go to a nursing home in West. The mystery is solved after talking to the step-mom's daughter. The wife (not Larry's mom) was just very insistent that he needed to come home, and after only one night, she admits she just can't handle it herself. So tomorrow they're going to move him someplace else, closer to their present home. Of course it would have been nice to know all this ahead of time. Larry was signing all the papers to get him in the place he was in, so how did they move him out without even a call beforehand? Just special! (as M.A. would say.)

On to bed. I know the kids will be up early tomorrow morning, after getting to sleep late tonight. Just can't be helped---at least it's summer! 6th grade camp for J in one week! School in just 25 days!

*That is Bananarama!

And the beat goes on . . .

Okay, I have not been blogging much since I have had NO AIR conditioning for a few days here. I will be getting a window unit tomorrow (why didn't I think of this earlier?) to tide us over until we can get the financing in place for the whole A/C unit to be replaced. I have had SO many people offering to help me this afternoon. I really hit a low point at lunch time today. My Mom called right after lunch, and I was just sure she had felt my bad vibes from 180 miles away or something! ;-)

Larry's Dad was going to go home today. He is doing some better, he is eating some better, and he didn't really need the care that the room he was in was designed for. Did that make any sense? The bad thing is, Larry wasn't really informed about it until it was already happening. He wasn't up there this past weekend, hasn't been able to go for a while now, and it's just a weird situation. Step families can be so great!

The kids and I are enjoying the break from school, and counting down the days to junior high and 3rd grade. Monday the 27th is the big day!! This is the longest summer ever----we usually start back around the 16th. I'm trying to enjoy this, but with the crankiness that comes from being hot (my crankiness, I really mean!), sometimes we are just ready to be apart. Thank goodness for playdates. :-)