Ode to my Desk

Desk. Oh Desk. Where art thou my trusty companion?

I glimpse thee here and there, yet never fully exposed. (eww..that sounded a little naughty)

My daily log lies neatly upon thy blackened, dusty back.

Partially addressed Christmas cards are solemnly protected.

What is that I see? An application for future employment possibility?

Alas, my graduate plans are nestled beneath the fondest transcripts of my past.

And the fondest of my kin and non-kin alike trapped within the bindings of green.

Never hast thou gone unadorned by the fairest young lad of the castle.

Thou has kept my greatest secrets though cluttered they may be.

What would my days become without thee? Yet, I wouldst approve of tidying.

Choo Choo

Yesterday Hunter got tickets for Cooper & I to see Bolt (fabulous benefit of a son working at the theater). So, we went to the first matinee and it was a great movie. A definite compliment seeing as I don't really enjoy animated movies. Then we hopped over to WalMart and got all of our groceries & baking ingredients. When we walked outside we were suddenly transported to the center of a snowglobe. Beautiful, swirling white flakes glittered the ground but hadn't quite started compiling...perfect. We zoomed home to settle in for a winter weekend. Cooper decided to make the above train. I kneaded the frosting, set out the pieces, put the frosting in for the sleigh parts, put the frosting in for the reindeer. Kurt used the frosting to help decorate. Cooper put a little frosting here & a little frosting there. He put a little candy here and a little candy there and a lot of candy in his mouth and a bit of candy on the floor. Then, the masterpiece was complete.

Today, he started eating it. Good thing I got a picture.

ps. He wrote "I love Mom" in the snow. Santa loves that boy this year.

No Problem

I was talking about Christmas cards the other day with Calie & she told me she wanted to do a Christmas card with the boys but she was running out of time. Friday she came over to practice a Christmas song & brought the boys with her. Brilliant idea: I'll just quickly take a picture of them in front of the tree. No problem. Won't take but a sec. I can't believe I've forgotten already.

I told them to look serious, trying to get them not to be crazy, instead: Drugged

This is them "smiling".

I finally told them to just make a funny face.

Individual shot: Poking model #1

Individual shot: Facial tick.

I give up.

Remember?

The question is, will this guy remember? He has a spelling test tomorrow. He lost his spelling list. His class does spelling uniquely so I can't borrow one. Each child has their own list of 10 words.

So, I told that guy to just write down as many words as he could remember. This is what he came up with, letter by letter:

#1: analyze

#2: muscle

#3: anti-biologyst

#4: omnovore

#5: herbovore

#6: multiplacation

Interesting. The first 2 are definitely on his test. The middle 3 are definitely not. The last one might be. I made him write the last one 3 times. What else can a mother do? But I do wonder what he has been reading. And...is anti-biologist a word? I think not.

Receivers

I'm a receiver. I don't like it most of the time. There are some debts with which I'm grateful for and realize I can never repay. My debt to my Heavenly Father for all the earthly joy and spiritual understanding he gives me. My debt to Jesus Christ for living in a way as to always be both my savior and my mediator. My debt to my parents who have spent & still spend countless time, money, and other resources on me and I'm sure I caused them more than their fair share of worry and trepidation. Well, the list is long.

For some reason, I've had to live with the challenge of unemployment numerous times. This has also put me in the receiver position in an uncomfortable way. It is VERY hard for me to take things from people. Luckily, the people who really know me are very aware of this and give in a subdued way. Don't get me wrong, I'm still so grateful, but it's just a little embarrassing. I guess it's that dumb pride thing.

This past weekend I was the ultimate receiver. It seems I'm incredibly loved. Here are just a few things I received over the weekend:



The gift of service from my husband. You are going to be so jealous. He got the expensive parts for our dishwasher, then, saved us at least $100 by downloading diagrams, pulling the dishwasher apart, and fixing it himself. How manly is that?



The gift of entertainment: When Kurt's job lost him, I put our beloved NetFlix on hold. Oh how we have missed it. Those little red envelopes showing up in the mail offset the junk mail and bills. Well, my incredibly kind grandmother bought us 2 months of NetFlix just because. It was an unexpected pleasure.



The gift of memories: We received our Christmas package from my parents. Along with the wrapped gifts were goodies, stickers, a DVD, and THE ORNAMENT. When the boys & I went to Colorado Springs last spring break, my parent's took us to the Michael Garman Studio. We had a fabulous time. At one point Cooper & I were looking at one area of the miniature building when an older gentleman began to explain how special effects were used in some areas of the building. It was very interesting and then he left. A little while later we were watching a video and the artist, Michael Garman, appeared on the screen. Lo and behold it was the same man we were speaking to earlier. We were so excited. He came out and my Dad introduced himself and we all got autographs. Cooper has talked about him off & on since. When Coop saw the ornament, he quickly went upstairs and got his autographed Garman catalog to browse through it once more and locate our precious ornament.

We also received a special gift from Kurt's parents which will help us a great deal. So, I guess I will always be a receiver. I know it's a blessing and it definitely keeps me humble, but, at some point, I want to be a giver because I know how much joy givers have brought to my life.

Shake it

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanks Calie!

Dishpan Hands

This is what happens:



When my husband does this:

I miss my dishwasher already.