Phonics 101

A brief reverse lesson in phonics at dinner tonight...

Mandy: What does "Amen" start with?

Me: "A"!

Mandy: "Name!" You know, like, "In Jesus' Name, Amen!"

Guess I should have known!

Time for an update

Okay, I think I've effectively procrastinated long enough. It's now been over three months since my last post - even my dear friend Aubrey, who has even LESS time for this kind of thing than I do, has posted on her blog more than once since the last time I did! It's a new year, and I resolve to update this blog at least twice this year. I'm halfway done!

I'll try to remember the highlights of the last quarter of 2008, even though it's late on Sunday evening and I should be going to bed. Good thing I slept for two hours this afternoon.



First week of August - my parents moved here from Tulsa! HURRAY! We got them somewhat settled in the house they're renting from my in-laws. It was a real blessing to have that house available and ready for them to use while they look for a house to buy.

September - Started school, piano lessons, and Fabulous Friday classes!

We also enjoyed a visit from Gary's uncle, cousin, and her husband, from Germany. I'm glad at least two out of the three could speak English. And it was good for Gary's uncle that Gary could speak German.

And, that's all I can remember of September at the moment. Educating my children pretty much occupies my entire existence.

October - FINALLY feeling a lot better after having my gall bladder out. That was LAST October. I'm off the prescription medication and only using the OTC stuff. Now that I can eat real food again, I'm inevitably gaining back that few (okay, eight or nine) pounds I lost. Now maybe my mother-in-law will stop griping that I look too skinny. What is it about Germans that makes them think that way?

Oh, and I think we had to take a week off to recover from the flu or something.

November - My in-laws celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! We had the blessing of celebrating with our whole church family, as well as both of the out-of-town brothers who made the trip to be with us, too. We had a great weekend with them! We took them down to the coast and walked around on the beach for an hour or so...


Mike tried to rescue a washed-up jellyfish. I'm not sure it was really worth it...

and then we went for a tour of the USS Lexington. Big boat!


We also enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at their house. It's such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents in the same town so we can all be together for the holidays! My parents were there, too -- how come they're not in this picture???

December - The boys had their first piano recital. Josh Dowling is their teacher and he's doing a great job with them. They're really enjoying it!


I had to remove the entire contents of my closet because the shelves were collapsing. Turns out the builders really did screw the shelf support brackets into the studs...except that the screws were fully half an inch too short. So, only about an eighth of an inch of the screws' length was actually in the wood. These were professional builders? Let me guess -- union workers.

I had in mind to use part of Christmas break to paint the closet after the shelves were repaired, so I didn't worry about putting all the stuff back in. Now my room is...oh, never mind.

We started our Christmas break a week early to help my parents move into their new house!

The weekend before Christmas, I took my cat to the vet and had her put down. She was at least ten years old, and had developed some kind of gastrointestinal ailment with which she suffered for the last four or five months. We tried putting her on some very expensive prescription cat food, and while it did help with her vomiting, she continued to waste away. She was a small cat to begin with (her normal weight was only 6 lbs.), and at the end she'd lost literally half her weight. By the middle of December, she could hardly walk without staggering. Her hindquarters were so weak that she couldn't even jump up onto my lap.

What really gripes me is that it might have been something that could have been easily treated, too, but only for those cats whose owners are wealthy enough to afford hundreds of dollars' worth of testing. So, I had to make the decision to let her go rather than let her continue to suffer. I miss her.

We decided not to get another cat, because Amy is allergic to them.

We had a really nice Christmas. We didn't have to go out of town to be with the grandparents, either, because they went to a LOT of trouble to have Christmas with us here! It was fun.

I spent the last week of Christmas break trying to get the house in order. My own room took two days because I had to put things back in the closet. I'm glad I decided not to paint it after all. It's just a closet, for Pete's sake!

Okay, that's about all I can remember for the moment. I'm sure there are plenty of things that happened, but at this hour it's all kind of a blur. It's now Monday morning, and I'm going to spend the first six hours or so in bed. I'm going to be pretty worthless today, I think.

Headline: Mockingbird's Clock Needs Cleaning

Have you ever heard of a bird with jet lag? I did, early this morning.

We're enjoying this cooler weather. We've had our windows open nearly every night since the cooldown a week or so ago, and when I wake up in the morning, I hear the sweet song of a mockingbird who lives in the near vicinity.

And, of course, the barking of our neighbor's dog when they let him out at 6:30am. (*grumble, grumble...*)

Early this morning, I once again awoke to the mockingbird's song. It was unusually loud this time - he was in the tree just outside my bedroom window. I stretched, yawned, and noticed that I didn't really feel like I'd gotten much sleep. I also noticed that it was still very dark outside, and that Gary wasn't up, yet. I turned to look at the clock, and that's when I realized...

TWELVE FORTY-SEVEN A.M.???????

Something is wrong with this bird. I can just hear him thinking, "Hey, how come the only one up and singing is me, huh??

"Oh."

He stopped after only a minute or two, likely rather embarrassed. He and I got several more hours of sleep before he started up again around 6:30 am. We both felt better.

Until, that is, the dog added his own clumsy and overpowering notes to the song.

Seeing PURPLE

We started school this week! Every year, I say we're going to start school in the middle of July simply because the kids are bored and have too much time on their hands. Well, it's never happened.

This year, I said we'd start school around the first of August. And, it wasn't because the kids were bored, but because I thought it would give us:
...activities to engage the children's minds while they're stuck indoors out of the heat;
...a few extra weeks of school under our belts so we (meaning, "I") don't feel quite so guilty when we have to take whole weeks off for Christmas preparations in December, and the flu in January, February, March, April...well, you get the picture;
...the ability to quit for the summer in April, when there's still a few weeks of nice weather before South Texas heats up and drives us indoors.

Well, once again, it didn't happen! And Granny, this time it really wasn't because I was slacking!!! :) We had a very full summer with the return of Psalty the Singing Songbook, and also the immense blessing of my parents moving here. Suddenly it was August and I found myself gasping for air as I realized that I hadn't even done my April homework - deciding on curriculum for the year; searching the Internet and local book sales for used materials before I have to buy it new; searching the Internet and local book stores for all the stuff I couldn't buy used; ordering everything, and then spending the next week and a half watching the tracking numbers online. All these things usually happen, as I mentioned, in April and May, so I can spend the latter part of my summer actually looking at those books and materials and preparing for the school year! I had no idea just how much time all that actually takes until I had to do it in this last three or four weeks. Next year, I'll be better prepared...

Anyway, we started school this week, in spite of the fact that I wasn't completely finished getting things ready. It went really well, too. I think it worked out better this way, kind of like the difference between reading an instruction manual and actual hands-on training. I think this next couple of weeks will be an adjustment period as we work out the kinks in our schedule and get to know the new curriculum. The boys plunged themselves into their work and really did a good job - even though they had made a lot of negative remarks about schoolwork beforehand.

Tim is doing a lot more work now that he can read. He loves writing and was actually asking for writing assignments. We've added spelling, grammar and composition to his list. Now, if only Collin had that kind of attitude!

We all had a good laugh this week as Collin noticed something unusual: his school books are almost all purple. His Biology book is purple. His grammar books are purple. And his math books are purple. So, we carried it a little further - when he asked me for a bookmark for his Biology book, I gave him a purple post-it note. He made an extra effort to find a purple eraser for his pencil. And, he likes to say, his favorite Jedi has a purple light-saber.

I really didn't plan it this way - every subject is from a different publisher, so it's an amazing coincidence that all his books are purple! I asked him today if purple is his new favorite color. He said, "No, blue is still my favorite color."

Maybe next year all his books will be blue!

I really haven't forgotten about this blog!!

It's just that I've been a little busy lately... where do I begin?

Amy, our oldest lamb, GRADUATED on June 14th! We had a wonderful time with our family and friends that day - pictures coming soon!

Since the Christmas play that our church did, Psalty the Singing Songbook has gotten married and had three kids! So, for the last several months, I have had the privilege of making costumes for all of them. I did, of course, have a LOT of help, but the job still took up most of my time since the last week of April. The performance was yesterday and every one of the kids did a FANTASTIC job. Stay tuned for another post on this, complete with pictures! I hope to get them posted sometime this year.

It's been nine months, and I'm still struggling with the aftermath of my gall bladder's rebellion and subsequent dishonorable discharge. The doctor calls it "Bile Acid Gastritis" and the bottom line is that I can't eat anything that has fat or oil of any kind, no spicy foods, and no caffeine. That pretty much eliminates everything from my diet except chicken breast, granola bars, and sugar snap peas. I've literally lost all the weight I have gained since getting married 23 years ago, so I'm not complaining about that part of it, but it would be nice to have a bite or two of steak without fear of reprisal. The doctor says it'll get better, but it can take a long time. Define "long", please?

Since the end of May, all of us except Gary and Collin have had some sort of virus that has knocked us out, one at a time. I just KNEW that Collin would be next, and I've prayed for the last two weeks that he wouldn't get it because of his big part in the Psalty performance. Anyhow, now that the play is over with (just yesterday!) and we thought we had a chance to recover and get our lives back in order, Collin came to me this afternoon and said those dreaded words: "Mom, I don't feel very good." He had a fever of 103, aches, chills, etc. I'm so glad he waited until after I took a nap this afternoon. Any suggestions on how to sanitize the whole house at once to kill off this thing once and for all? Stephanie suggested taking off the roof and just dumping in a few truckloads of bleach...sounds like a plan to me! How does one sanitize furniture and carpets, without ruining them? I also think we need to bleach all the chairs at church.

Amy had a minor car accident on July 7th - she wasn't hurt except for some minor stiffness and a sore neck, but that went away a few days later. I'll let her tell you more about it on her blog. The blessing of it all is that now God has provided us with a really nice van. It's a '98 Chevy Venture. Yeah, it's over 10 years old, but it's in excellent condition. It's definitely never spent a winter in northern Illinois (so there's no rust), and has only 66K miles on it. And, it has A/C vents in the back, so the kids are REALLY happy!

I finally, for the first time in my life, read all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Mandy likes to have me lie down with her for a little while every night when she goes to bed. So, since I couldn't sit at the computer during my evening moments and update this blog, I decided to start reading books again. Now I'm close to finishing the second novel in the Mitford series, by Jan Karon. Only six more to go...

And, my parents' house has sold and they are moving here from Tulsa this coming weekend!! For the first time since I was 18, we'll be living in the same state! It will be such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents nearby. What a blessing that their house sold so quickly - God's hand is definitely at work here.

Here it is, late evening, and since I'm gonna have to set a timer to wake myself up every three hours to monitor Collin's temperature, I had better get some sleep. I'm looking forward to a normal life again, but I don't think it's going to happen this week. Honestly, though -- when I look at so many others close to me and compare my own struggles with some of theirs, I think I live a rather idyllic - no, blessed - life. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

And speaking of Jack Webb...

Here's a favorite video clip we got from someone a long time ago:

Dog Police

(Dragnet theme song plays, Jack Webb starts talking...)

The story you're about to read is true. No names have been changed, because none of them was innocent. (anyone remember Isaac Air Freight?)

This is the city. Lots and lots of houses on postage stamp lots. And in almost every back yard, a dog or two. Except for mine, just about every yard in my neighborhood contains at least one dog. I am completely surrounded. My name is not Friday, but I'm beginning to think I ought to carry a badge.

Most of the dogs are peaceful and civilized, but all of them make a lot of noise, especially when sirens or C-5's go by. And in every neighborhood there always seems to be at least one troublemaker. Here, that troublemaker is a rather unattractive bulldog named Lola, who lives next door.

I was minding my own business, watering my flowers this morning, when I heard a commotion in the yard next to my own. This is not an uncommon occurrence, due to the fact that Lola is the local bully. (This must be how they came up with the name, "bulldog".) She is perfectly friendly to people, but not to other dogs. And when she's in a rage and fence-fighting with a neighbor, she becomes just about the most mindless piece of meat on four legs I've ever seen.

A week ago, Lola the bullydog was shouting insults at the dog on the other side of my yard (her name is Daisy). Daisy hasn't yet learned the folly of returning evil for evil, and started yelling insults back. This infuriated Lola, and she got so worked up that she managed to bulldoze her way THROUGH the slats of the fence into my yard. She then started fence-fighting with Daisy. After I herded the local gawkers (my children) back into the house, I got a rope around Lola's neck and literally dragged forty pounds of dog back across my yard, through the gate, and back into her own yard. I then spent the next hour with a cordless drill and a box of deck screws, repairing the nearly useless fence.

Lola's yard-mate, a little brown escape artist named Stewey, has learned how to dig holes under the fences and also how to squeeze between any loose boards. He makes the rounds of the neighbors' yards, stealing their dog food and treats. I don't think he and Lola are really working together, because he never seems to be listening to her barking orders through the fence.

This morning as Stewey made his usual rounds, his last caper before heading back to his own yard was the yard directly behind mine - the home of a three-month-old puppy named Brody. Apparently, Brody followed Stewey back through his hole into Stewey's yard, where he was immediately assaulted by the bullydog. This was the commotion I heard as I came outside.

I knew that puppy wouldn't last long if I didn't do something, so I went over there and looked for something with which to lasso the bullydog. The only thing available was the neighbor's garden hose. It didn't work too well as a lasso, but I was able to get it around her neck just enough to pull her off the puppy. (It was hard to tell just where her neck actually was.) Finally, after about ten minutes of fighting with her, she backed off just enough that I was able to safely pick up Brody and carry him out of danger.

First, I set him down in my driveway while I had Collin open up the garage door so I could get a rope for Brody. I also had Tim go upstairs and retrieve my slippers, since I had stepped in a big pile of leftovers during the rescue (the things a cop has to endure to protect and to serve!) and had to remove my shoes.

Brody came out of the ordeal badly shaken, but not injured. In fact, there wasn't a scratch on him, but he did have a LOT of dog drool all over his throat. Seems the bullydog's face is more flab than teeth; I wonder if she has any? No, I don't really want to know.

After Brody had somewhat recovered from his scare, I took him around to the front door of his house and rang the doorbell. No one was home. So, I felt it necessary to take temporary custody of the puppy. I left a note on the door, which read,

"Hi,
I have Brody in my yard. I had to rescue him this morning from the bulldog next door. Please call me or drop by as soon as possible. We need to talk."

I also left a note on Lola's owner's front door, asking her to contact me so I could talk to her about the dogs. I haven't heard from her. (I don't know whether she talked to Gary while I was at HOPE tonight, but I doubt it.)

I took Brody back to my yard and tied him to a tree so he could rest. I was afraid to put him back in his own yard since I didn't know whether or not he'd learned his lesson about crossing boundaries and I didn't want to find out. Plus, I wanted to make sure I got a chance to talk to his owner. I sent Tim over the fence to get some of his dog food, but the dish was empty - probably stolen by Stewey.

We all enjoyed playing with him all day until his owner came to get him when she got home from work. I told her all about what had happened and she thanked me profusely. I suggested that she keep him in his crate in the house while they're gone, rather than leaving him outside all day. I hope she'll do that. He's a really sweet puppy but he'll start learning a lot of bad habits from the other neighborhood dogs if he's left to himself all the time like they are. The proverb that says, "A child who is left to himself brings grief to his mother" is true for dogs, too!

I have been wanting an opportunity to get to know my neighbors a little better, but I didn't expect it to have to be like this. I don't want to be the one to be complaining about their dogs, but I am honestly getting tired of being the dog police around here.

I don't even own a dog!

Resurrection Day Picture

I know it's two weeks overdue, but it's been a lot longer than that since we all had our picture taken together. Thank you, Beth!!! So, here it is - our family with both sets of grandparents, all together for Resurrection Day, March 23, 2008!

I always seem to find things to comment on when I look at a picture of our family - things like:

Gary's dad, as usual, has something profound to say.
Collin, as usual, needs a haircut.
Mandy, as usual, is making funny faces.
I, as usual, am wearing the same dress I wore for a family picture in October of 2000 and for several other pictures since then. After more than seven years, I think it's time for a new one...sigh! I have the pattern and the fabric ready...

But, don't take this the wrong way - I have NOTHING to complain about! How many families can say that both sets of in-laws get along so well? And look so good in the same picture together? We're more richly blessed than I'd have ever have dared to imagine.

Fourteen months is WAY too long!

That's how long it's been since we last saw my mom and dad - fourteen months! The last time we saw them, they helped us move across the country from northern Illinois here to southern Texas. They stayed almost two weeks and helped us get settled in our new home. It's been such a blessing to have them here this past week for our Lord's Resurrection Day.

Our heart's desire is for them to be able to move down here, too. All our married lives, we've lived two states apart from each other, and it would be such a blessing to all live close enough that we can see them more than once a year. We've spent a lot of time this week driving around looking at houses and neighborhoods, and getting a feel for what is available and what they're looking for. It's probably not quite time for them to move down here, yet, because we saw a lot of what they can't afford, and nothing very appealing that they might be able to afford. We looked at a few model homes, all of which are sitting on lots the size of postage stamps. We're amazed at how densely packed in they are. You have literally five feet of yard on each side of the house, and if you're lucky, you get ten or twelve feet of yard in front and in back. The house itself takes up the rest of the lot. And some of the houses aren't all that big inside - they start at around 1100 square feet.

One of the model homes was obviously built in a real hurry. I think this was definitely a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, or something like that (not that this house's kitchen had room for that many cooks!). There were also three full baths in this very little house...one in the master bedroom, and the other two right across the hall from each other. Very intelligent. This house wasn't really big enough for a family that would need three full baths, as far as I'm concerned.

And I think it might have been that same house that had another goof which my dad noticed - the access hole for the attic had a rafter that went directly across the hole, and electrical wiring strung across the space as well. One obviously wasn't supposed to have access to this attic, at least not through this access hole. Hmmm...

So, we looked at a few more model homes, and then decided to come back to reality and drive through some more established neighborhoods. They need a place where my dad can do his woodworking, so a one-car garage isn't an option. It would be nice to have it near my neighborhood, or better yet, IN my neighborhood - please pray that one of our neighbors will move out and sell their house CHEAP (and take their yappy dogs with them).

We're praying that the market in Tulsa will pick up and they'll get a good price for their house there. We're convinced that God has a house already in mind for them here and when the time comes, He'll make it possible.

Girls' Day Out!

On Thursday, Amy and I went out for a Girls' Day Out - for the first time in I don't know how long!! First, we had lunch at La Madeleine, then we went downtown. We parked the car, took a nice, leisurely walk on the Riverwalk, and then went to the Majestic Theatre to see "Phantom of the Opera." It was absolutely incredible! The sets and costumes were amazingly elaborate. I think the most interesting set was the scene where the Phantom is taking Christine on his boat across the lake to his hide-out. They used fog machines to cover the stage with fog, and with the lighting and all the candlelights that came up from underneath the stage, it really created an amazing effect of water.

I took some pictures of the theatre, though they didn't turn out all that great. The setting I used really requires the camera to be on a tripod. Of course, I took them BEFORE the performance started, because they'd have confiscated my camera if they caught me taking shots of the actual play. I'd love to have taken some pictures of some of those costumes, though!

Amy posted her thoughts about the performance on her blog, too. I agree that the main characters' voices were more to our liking in the movie than in this production, but there's just nothing like seeing a Broadway musical live on stage. No matter how elaborately done, the screen just doesn't do it justice.

I was blessed to have been able to buy the tickets online at a group rate, for a limited time in December! You have no idea just how hard it was to keep it a secret for two months! Well, it was actually a month and a half. I finally broke down and told her a few weeks ago. I got these tickets for her birthday present, so it was nice to be able to celebrate her birthday a second time!