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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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Currently Reading
Harvesting the Heart: A Novel
By Jodi Picoult
see relatedCabin fever...re-defined
In Alaska we had genuine cabin fever. Long about the middle of March the snow had been on the ground for several months and we were sick and tired of putting on hats, boots and coats to get fresh air. The sunlight was starting to come back, but it had been dark long enough to crave the feeling of warm sun on your face. People handled cabin fever in different ways...some would have special lights in their home, some would travel to Hawaii or Mexico, and others would find special activities or hobbies to pass the time.
Moving to Southern California, I didn't think cabin fever would be something we would contend with. I mean, the days are sunny and bright, the weather is warm and all you have to do to go outside is throw on a pair of flip-flops.
I was wrong.
In the Imperial Valley, May to September (or sometimes October) is the antithesis of October to April in Alaska. It is plain old hot. I'm playing on a softball team and the other night I was trying to figure out what planet I had arrived on where you "play" outside when it's 113 degrees. Holey moley.
Just like Alaskan kids, California kids learn to adapt. It's called living room basketball...and it's loud, rough and full of laughter. Someone usually gets hurt, but they would never admit it. But still, it's oddly reminiscent of trying to find indoor activities during the winter in Alaska. This was the scene in my living room yesterday:
Tanner and Braden are the two in the bottom corner...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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Currently Listening
Alison Krauss & Union Station Live (Jewel Case)
The Lucky One
see relatedThe 13th Floor.....again....
A couple weeks ago I made a blog entry about the 13th floor. When no one had any comments, I figured one of two things must be true. Either 1. readers were too afraid to comment, or 2. everyone was sure I had lost it all together. I shrugged my shoulders and figured it was just as well, because if I am losing it, then I would like to be ignorant to the fact my friends know that. ha! Turns out that neither was true. In the xanga world, this particular entry didn't go out in a digest to those who have subscribed to my site.
It kind of made me chuckle. I mean, really....a blog about the hoax of number 13 doesn't go out in a digest when every other post I've done goes out without a hitch? Doesn't that strike you as funny? Is there something about number 13? Anyway, I'm sending it again...just to see...
May 4th Blog Entry:
If I pretend it’s not there, it doesn’t exist. It simply goes away by the sheer force of my denial. I can change fate or avert disaster just by thinking it away. My intellect is challenged and defeated by manipulating something I know to be true into something I can pretend is not. At least, that must be what the hotels and high rise buildings want me to believe.
While staying in a hotel this weekend, I was reminded that when you step into an elevator, there is no button for the thirteenth floor. Based on old legend and horror stories, the thirteenth floor is cursed, and therefore no one wants to stay on that floor. But, and I know this may come as a shock to you, there is a thirteenth floor. It’s called the fourteenth floor. And unless you’re going to suspend the floors with numbers greater than thirteen above the tower leaving a space for what might have been the dreaded thirteenth floor, then technically, there is a thirteenth floor. In fact, it makes the whole top half of the high rise a sham. My room was called room #1812, (which immediately made me start humming the overture), but in reality, it was room #1712.
How did an entire nation of forward thinking people decide it was ok to just pluck thirteen out of the numeric order of building floors? And if we truly believe it makes a difference, why don’t we do that to other things that share the same number? No more 13th day of each month, no more 13th year of each century, no more 13th birthdays and no one ever has to be the 13th person in line.
It made me think about how many other things in life we treat the same way. If we ignore something we’re afraid of then it can’t hurt us. If we call something we don’t like by a different name, then it’s no longer offensive to us. If we deny the existence of something by passing over it, then we no longer have to deal with its reality.
There are things I could disregard hoping they would merely go away. Things that frighten me, things that confuse me, or things that are simply hard to deal with. I am not immune to the affects of those things by pretending they aren’t there, but I can suspend the reality of those issues by pushing a different button. The button is pushed and I step out onto the thirteenth level of the building, but I call it fourteen so I can deny whatever might happen to me by tempting the fate of number thirteen.
Just something to think about….
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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Currently Watching
NBA - Larry Bird, A Basketball Legend (25th Anniversary Edition)
By Larry Bird
see related"Because I Love My Lips!" said Larry the Cumcumber
Ok - for those who asked me to tell the story of Caleb's lips...I'm going to include some pics...but beware...they are kind of gross. Consider yourself warned.
About a month ago Caleb went to the dentist. He had to have some work done that required the dentist to numb his lip. I've heard the dentist say, "Don't bite your lip!" when it's numb, but I never knew how much damage you can do by biting or sucking on a numb lip. Caleb (of course) became the example.
This is just a day or so after he saw the dentist - it was swelling and looked like a huge blister...
This is about three days after the dental appointment.
This was five days after the appointment - it looks like a burn ...
This is a week after the appointment....
After this, the whole scab turned black, and eventually fell off.Less than a week later, we were celebrating Easter and getting ready for dinner when we heard Caleb wailing from the back yard. He came into the house with blood running from his mouth. The short story is that he was jumping on the trampoline and hit Brenna's head with his mouth. He put two of his front teeth through the top of his lip. Several hours and stitches later, and Caleb top lip was almost as swollen as his lower lip had been just a few days earlier.
Now you know why the Veggie Tale song "I Love My Lips" has been popular at our house lately!I have to give Caleb credit...he is one tough little cookie. Proven again today when he had to get seven immunization shots and he barely flinched. He hardly ever complains, doesn't let anything slow him down, and continues to win over the doctors and nurses with his outgoing personality.
This all happened right around J's biking accident, so when I showed up at the ER a couple weeks later with Tanner, the security guard smiled and said, "You're back already?" That is when you know you've been to the ER too many times.
(Tanner fractured the growth plate in his thumb. Thankfully he didn't need a cast, but has had to wear a stiff brace for four weeks, and missed out on baseball season this year.)
I could add Brenna's tooth that had to be pulled because of an extremely painful abcess, but hey...who's complaining? This is just one of the times when I understand why people look at us and say, "You have HOW many kids???"
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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Currently Listening
P.S. I Love You
By Various Artists
Kisses and Cake
see relatedIt's time for humor....
Life is too serious sometimes....I saw this video and laughed out loud.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
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Currently Listening
The Book of Secrets
By Loreena McKennitt
The Highwayman
see relatedDealing with disappointing....
It is impossible to please everyone. A harsh truth for those of us who want people to think well of us. The last couple of months that's one of the realities in my life that I'm coming to terms with. I'm almost thirty-six, and you'd think I would have had this figured out a long time ago, but truthfully, I'm just starting to be comfortable with the fact that there will be people who think I'm a brilliant decision maker, and people who are disappointed in the choices I make. Ultimately, we are all fickle. We look at life through our own personal lens and consequently, our opinions about what others are doing are always filtered through that lens. Some people are looking through a wide-angle lens and others scrutinize life through a very narrow lens.
For years I have dealt with the criticism and skepticism from people about our decision to homeschool, and now I'm dealing with the disappointment of some because we have stopped. I wish it wasn't that way, but that is life and I am forced to recognize my own tendency to be critical of other people. It makes me more determined to look at people and search deeper for the reasons behind their decisions, instead of assuming I know all the variable and factors.
When I hear someone has been openly critical it's hard not to react. My fighter instinct kicks in and I want to go defend myself or those around me. This weekend, though, after hearing about a conversation where I was a topic and it was not all positive, I found myself stepping back and pondering the comments instead of searching for the rebuttal. Some of what this person had said was true, it was just taken in the wrong way. Some of it was just petty, and the rest of it was just their opinion. That's it. Just an opinion. It's not truth set in stone, it's just a very narrow-lens view of someone who doesn't really even know me.
So today I sat and almost started chuckling when I realized I was able to let that criticism go. Along with some of the other comments or reactions from people that have plagued me. Some of my family members and close friends have commented...those words are given a lot of credence. Other than that, when I let go of the disapproval from outsiders, I think this is what my mother was talking about when she said, "You'll get over that as you get older!"
The never-ending battle....
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About Me
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I am a stay at home mom of five children. Four boys with one red-headed girl in the middle. My husband rescently returned home from serving in Afghanistan with the military. Go Army! The kids are all very active in sports and our church programs. When I'm not herding the kids from one activity to another, I enjoy playing the piano for our church's worship team, scrapbooking and reading.
