Anothermadhousewife's Xanga

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Thu, 15 May 2008 23:39:16 GMT

1. On Hating Technology

2. The Return of Anothermad's Computer Aversion

3. I'm Good With People; COME ON Freaking Machine!

I've come a long way from the technologically impaired person, that I once considered myself to be. I remember in college, one of my roommates had email. "Email, I thought. . . 'Why in the world would anyone want to have that?'" I just chalked it up as something for the business majors. There were plenty of other things that they talked about for which I had zero interest. Fast forward about 15 years, and email is my FAVORITE means of communication. I can answer it on my own time. I can be thoughtful with my responses, and I don't have to keep a room full of five kids quiet to use it.

Last night, however, I felt the return of the computer-loathing lady, that I used to be. Yes, I check the weather and news on my homepage daily. And yes, I love my email and am still addicted to checking my blog daily. But I'm having some serious sign-in issues with the blogger/google people. There are several blogs that I read that are not within our little xanga world. Shock. Gasp. Yes, it's true. Some of them have "anonymous" comments enabled, and some of them don't. Since I'm typically trying to do the speedy version of blog-checking these days, I usually don't mind this. But I have something to say about most everything in the world, and some days there comes a post on any given blog, that I MUST comment on. It's imperative. So every few months, I try to sign in to my old blogger account, which has completely disappeared, and here's what happens. It tells me that the account doesn't exist. Or no, maybe it tells me that the password is incorrect. Yesterday, I was actually feeling patient enough to jump through the hoops to have my old password emailed to me. Checked the email. Changed the password. Tried to comment. Then it explained to me that I had to link my blogger account to my google account (or vice-versa, can't remember) to be able to comment. O.K. I've come this far. Why not. Then when I tried to sign in, it told me that my account did not exist. So I decided to open a new one. And you know what it said, don't you? DON'T YOU?!? It said that my email address was already being used. In other words, that account already exists. Aaaaaaaaaaaah! And now I remember why I used to hate computers.

Now I'm too exhausted [almost] to even tell you the rest of the sad story. . .about how I tried to "Mapquest" some friends' upcoming wedding. I've suspected it for some time, but I've decided that Mapquest is definitely the devil. It's such a great idea. You know, put in any address, and it tells you how to get to any other. Except when I put in the address of the wedding (or 52 different variations of the address), it gave me a list of 90-something other places to choose from. . . None of which were where I wanted to go!

I tried the various other direction giving sites, but no dice. My favorite was when I got an estimate of only 40 minutes (from Atlanta). Wow, that's a lot closer than I thought. Let me look at their directions. It was then that I realized that rather than giving me a gazillion different options for where I wanted to end up (how 'bout at the address I TYPED IN), it just picked a place that sounded remotely similar. . .in the total opposite direction. Am I to assume that my friends put the wrong address on their own invite? No, I assume that computers are retarded.

Spaghetti Mess

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:15:53 GMT

When I uploaded the pictures below, these were on the camera too. They're from about a month ago, I think. Anna took all of them:

A Few Pics of the Little Guys

Thu, 08 May 2008 13:06:01 GMT

Luke is nice and sweaty and red-faced, after playing in the driveway and front yard. He is obsessed with "ball." The big kids drug the kiddie basketball goal onto the front sidewalk for him, and he'll swing at anything with his plastic wiffle ball bat (including a soccer ball). But his favorite thing is kicking the soccer ball with me. Throughout the day, he randomly says, "Play football," or "Kick a soccer ball." :)

Luke and Nat. She kept her eyes MOSTLY open in this one. She tans more than the other kiddos (more Papa Bear's color). Her arms are getting a little brown already -- relative to the rest of us, anyway. ;)

Nat snuggled up on the couch.

Yesterday afternoon, Nat was dreadfully whiney. I said, "I think you're tired." Not 5 minutes later, she was asleep on the hardwood floor. She's been waking up early, when the big kids get up for school.

My Ju-Ju. Her hair is getting really long. People keep telling her how beautiful it is. Now I don't know if she's going to want to get it all cut off in the summer. I wanted to do a bob. We could give it to "Locks of Love" and have the bangs (mostly) grown out, all in one whack. Her Dad loves it long, but wow, that'd be a lot of hair to deal with in the pool every day.

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Sat, 03 May 2008 01:22:01 GMT

J.J. just called me on his way home from work and asked what I was doing. My answer? "Reading about compost piles." Apparently, they're a lot more trouble than I was hoping. First of all, the composting in the kitchen with worms and stuff doesn't sound one bit apealling. Yes, live worms! Then there's the bins you can buy for outdoor composting. I'm trying to stretch the grocery budget for another week; I'm not down with spending $100 on a recepticle for my trash. I was just thinking of, you know, throwing my kitchen trash (minus meat, cheese and bones, I'm told) into a little pile with grass clippings and what not. Apparently, this is called a "cold compost." You can count me out for the one where they recommended running the lawn mower over your leaves and breaking up sticks and yard trash into 1-inch pieces. Seriously. How much time do these people think I have?

I was momentarily weirded out when one of the paragraphs mentioned human hair. Then I realized that my bathroom trash can actually has hair in it, b/c I trimmed Luke's hair tonight (at like 9:45pm --When else would I trim his hair, but when the other 4 are in bed?). As J.J. suggested when I told him my topic of research, I must really be a hippie.

Observations on Loss

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:23:55 GMT

I wept this morning, as I read Angie's latest post. Why am I drawn to these blogs of sisters in Christ who have lost children? Like all mother's, I have had the momentary fear, that God was preparing me for loss. I mean, living on planet earth, most of us will experience deep loss, at some point in our lives.

The most practical help is that I have friends (that I know in the real world) who have lost children in the last year. Reading about the grieving process for these women gives me not only compassion, but a deeper understanding of what my friends are going through and hopefully will teach me how to love them better.

I cry when I read Angie's words for several reasons, I think. There is always immediate perspective, as I think about the many, sometimes overwhelming, opportunites that I have to serve my family. Yeah, they don't always feel like opportunities. We are currently on our third round (3rd kid, same virus) of a fever/virus kind of thing, since Saturday, and sometimes care-taking feels more like an obligation, than a privelege. It's good to be reminded that these children (and all of the work that goes with them) are a precious, invaluable gift.

Second, and most obvious, I cry for Angie's loss. I've prayed that she would take comfort in the hundreds of people who come to her site, not only to pray for her family, but to grieve with her. To confirm that Audrey Caroline's life was precious and that she mattered in this world.

Lastly, I cry because of the truth. These stories are a confirmation to me, that the gospel is true. That God is who He says He is. He walks with us in the valleys, and gives His children the grace to praise him in the storms of life. Angie used this line, in her blog: That we live in, "A place where God is hidden, just slightly, by the shadows of this broken life."

I haven't experience anything CLOSE to the pain of these sisters in Christ, but I think we all feel the brokeness of this life, if we're honest. I know I do. I get tired of the daily burden of my own sin and all of the other consequences of living on a fallen planet. But hearing Angie testify that she screams at God, makes me think of Jacob wrestling with the angel and getting his blessing. God will take our pain and our weakness and our brokeness and grow our faith. Being carried by "the peace that passes understanding" doesn't mean that God takes away the pain. But Angie proclaims in her storm that God is good, because she has the great treasure -- Jesus. . .and He is enough.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:49:14 GMT

Wow, it's been over a week, since I posted to say that I wasn't posting. I don't know where the time is going exactly. I haven't been doing much structured school work with Julia lately, so I can't blame it on our studiousness. We went to the library last week and checked out about 25 books that we've been reading. So that counts for something. We also checked out the DVD of "Where the Wild Things Are." Luke loves it. When I worked in daycare with 1 and 2 yr olds (I was about 16), we used to show it to them every day. I now realize that I read, "Where the Wild Things Are" in the same voice as the narrator on the movie.

Other fun things that have transpired this week:

On Wednesday, about 8 moms had a luncheon at a new restaurant, here on the East side. It's called "Mirko Pasta.". .Dont' know if it's a chain or local, but it was WONDERFUL. I had ricotta cheese and spinach ravioli, with shrimp and zuchinni (tossed in lemon juice and olive oil) on top. Yum! It was a b'day celebration for a dear friend. Even more exciting, I'm going again on Saturday, for an informal wedding shower for a girl who used to babysit for us, before she graduated, moved away to Atlanta, and got engaged. Yay! Maybe I'll try the lump crab ravioli this time. :)

I went to "Pump it Up" yesterday morning. The girls had a blast, but poor Luke couldn't get over the rule about having to wear socks. [It's hard to be 2.] They also had some play cars and four wheelers for the toddlers to play with. Luke has a love/hate relationship with those "Little Tykes" cars (they look like Flintstone cars). He cries if anyone else is in one, because you know, he's two. So everything belongs to him. But when he has the chance to ride in one, he often cries, because it's hard to make it go. And heaven FORBID another child should touch or try to push the car while he's in it! On the bright side, all of the fans that blow to keep the bouncy things full make a nice, loud white noise, that made his fussing much less unnerving. The day was redeemed for Luke, when we went to Chic-fil-a for lunch. He played on THAT playground, after he ate LOTS of "chicken/fwies." It was the first time he has ever climbed up into the tunnels and gone down the big slide, and he was really proud of himself. . .And all of this before 12:30pm. I felt like those army commercials. "We get more accomplished before noon, than most people do all day." ;)

On Tuesday morning, Papa Bear changed his own radiator -- less than $100, and his car is running again! This wouldn't have been possible without the direction of his friend and the use of his friend's garage, tools, etc. But he changed it himself. Thank you friend!

Papa Bear was energized on Tuesday afternoon, when I was crashing and burning, after keeping the L.G. toddlers. We always play outside for a while, which pretty much guarantees that my head will be trying to implode from the pollen by early evening. Anyway, Papa Bear took the kids over to the playground at the elementary school, AND put the three little ones in the bath when they got home. . .while I rested before dinner.

Yesterday, I started a new allergy medicine for the headaches. Either way, pollen season will be over soon. I just hate to wish spring away, b/c the weather is still bearable. We're just beginning to creep into the 80's.

O.K. I guess that's enough info for one day. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

. . .Still here

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:43:17 GMT

. . .Just telling you that I'm still around. I wrote something on Monday, that I actually spent some time and brain energy on, and then it got erased by either the kids or me. I haven't quite had the ambition to try to recreate it. What gets erased is always something good, right? It's like the one that got away. I'm sure it was better in my mind, than it was in real life. ;)

Also, thank you, Lord, that today I don't have a head-crushing, sinus headache like I did yesterday.

This and That

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:10:26 GMT

It's hard to post anything, after linking a site like the one in the last post. It just makes everything seem completely insignificant. Having said that, I'll now discuss the most shallow topic in the history of my blog: My skin is a mess! I continue to be baffled that I had great skin through my teens and 20's, and my complexion decided to freak out, when I was 32. O.K. I just needed to vent about that.

Natalie went home with my Mom on Wednesday for 2 nights, after Mom and my sister came up and took us out to lunch. She missed the chaos of our house (ie- "I want my Mama!"), and we decided to meet (half-way) one day early. So Nat's home again. While I'm delighted to have her back, her absence has pointed out the need for some disciplinary action. It was so much calmer around here, with just the other 4. Papa Bear and I are always surprised that when any one kid is away, four somehow feels like a vacation. The thing is that Julia is easy, when Nat's not here to fight with. So instead of just having one high-demand kid (Mr. Two Year Old), I suddenly have 3 again. . .until Anna and Caleb get home, anyway.

If you've never been to Athens in the spring time, make plans to visit. Seriously, the flowers blooming all over the place are worth my pollen headaches. All of the dogwoods just joined the cherry blossom trees, and azaleas are starting to bloom. There's an international street festival downtown this weekend. We'll try to go, if we can work it around the Saturday baseball game. There's also a strawberry farm nearby, that I want to go to in the next week or so, to pick some fresh berries (or "Bolies," as Luke calls them). Yay, spring!

. . .Off to get the girls ready. They've been invited to a princess birthday party this afternoon. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Prayers Requested

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:00:01 GMT

I've been following the blog of a woman named Angie. She has 3 beautiful girls, and she and her husband are expecting their 4th, Audrey Caroline. She started her blog, when it was determined by ultrasound that her baby wasn't developing properly. There was not enough fluid, and the baby's enlarged heart indicated that her lungs would never develop properly. Angie has carried the baby to term, and her family has loved and treasured her, knowing that it's medically impossible for her to survive, on the outside, as part of their family. Please pray for the family, as she is scheduled to deliver the baby by cesarian section today (she's breech). A family at our church experienced almost the same situation. They prayed that they would have 5 minutes with the baby, before she died, and they had 19 minutes. For Angie's family, I'm praying that they would feel Christ's presence with them in this valley and that there would be sweetness in the midst of the sorrow.

Here's the link to what she posted last night. I bawled my eyes out when I read it, not just because of the tragedy of a mother losing her child, but also because of the greatness of the God we serve. My Mom always used to tell me that God gives His people the grace to handle the circumstances, that He brings them. Angie's perspective is real and heartwrenching, but it's also beautiful, as she testifies to the fact, that we "don't grieve as those who have no hope."

Daily Stuff

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:32:04 GMT

Man, I'm too tired to even read my xanga subs. . .and that's saying something. I'm usually a little obsessive about checking to see if anyone has posted anything new. Anyway, it's a good tired. The "Appliance Doctor" came today and fixed my dryer. I'm very excited. I had no idea how much I loved my washer and dryer, until they both needed minor repairs.

Julia and I accomplished a ton of school stuff today. We finished the first American Girl book that I've ever read aloud to her. That made me wax a little sentimental, because I used to read them to Anna, my big 'ole, almost-middle-schooler. Julia also read a big paragraph out of her "Teach Your Child to Read" book. It's funny, because we don't do a phonics lesson every day, but we're more than half-way through the book. I think she's reading beautifully for a kindergartener. More importantly, she loves to learn. She's such a sun-shiney little thing. Periodically, I get smitten with the particular strengths of one of my children, and I've been doing that with her lately. She's so confident and easy-going. She has literally said to me, "I don't care if I go to W.D. (public), Learning Grove (homeschool group), or Cordis (hybrid); I just want to learn about things." . . .dear, sweet, flexible middle child.

Feel free to glaze over or skip this part, if you don't want to hear me talk homeschool philosophy, but I've been thinking. . .now that I am 3 kids down the line, I am more convinced than ever that Raymond Moore (author of Home Grown Kids) knew what he was talking about with regard to the early elementary set. I think people would be very surprised to know how little "formal" schooling is necessary to educate an early elementary child. I can say this with a little more authority now, because my three children (of school age) have very different personalities and learning styles, and they've all thrived at home. Today I was telling someone how much the big kids have loved the local, public school, and they said something about how they really miss out on other things when they're home. It's too much to convey in a friendly conversation at a baseball practice, but I was actually saying just the opposite. They LOVE school. They're interested in learning. They talk about the things they're studying at school. I think the main reason for this is NOT that I'm a master teacher, who was organized (hilarious) with formal lessons. It's because I encouraged their curiousity about the world. I answered their questions, and I tried to make learning opportunities out of every day stuff. . .And I read to them a lot. It has been tremendously encouraging to meet with their teachers. The overarching theme has been, "Whatever you are doing with these children, keep doing it."

Yeah, so that's not what I was going to talk about. I was going to mention that it was freaking cold at baseball practice tonight -- 40-something and misty. I was insufficiently dressed because yesterday, I was slathering everyone in sunscreen while they played in buckets of water in the driveway (yes, in bathing suits!!).

After practice, I picked up fast food (BAD), we ate, and suddenly, it was almost 9pm. Caleb was working on homework for a good hour or so, after the others went to bed. It's terrible that we wait until so late, but it is downright delightful to work with him in a quiet house. Both of us, naturaly procrastinators and night-owls, become hyper-focused on getting the work done. And then he goes to bed gleeful, because he got to hang out with me alone. He's a quality-time guy, like his Mama.

Nat just fell asleep a short time ago (yep, close to midnight). She did one of those lovely dinner-time naps, where she woke up around 8pm. O.K. this post was all over the place. Bear with me. . . too tired to edit. The theme: Mama's tired. Over and out, E :)