1000

You know what's funny?  This is my 1000th post.  Ever since sometime in the 800's I've been thinking I should have some kind of wonderful post for my 1000th, but all of this wonderful, delicious, messy LIFE kept happening, and here I am, typing this out with one hand while Jimmy wiggles on my lap.  Katie puked on MJL (who has the sniffles) today and Anna helped me grocery shop and then there were baths and in two minutes I'm due upstairs to watch Poirot and fold a mountain of laundry.  Thank you all for sharing this life with me.

I'll leave you with one picture from today.  It's not a bit cute.  You know how you're supposed to clean out your dryer?  Not just the lint trap, but some other part?  Apparently you have to take screws off to get there.
  

MJL did that today.  This is 1/2 of what we removed.  After the first 6 handfuls to the trash can he stopped getting up and walking to the kitchen and started piling it up.  The dryer works great now!  For years I thought the timer was broken because the "more dry" auto stop quit working.  It looks like it was just covered up with lint.  Oops.  Thanks, God, that we didn't catch the house on fire!  

So go clean out your dryer.  Probably you all do that.  But just in case.  You might need a screwdriver.  :)  

Here's to 1000 more!  

Biografiesta

Wanna hear about my new job?

I decided to make the big crazy goal of reading all of the books in the library.  I have a 5 year plan.  The kids  love it/think it is crazy.  This semester I'm reading all of the biographies.  547.  If I read 6 per day I can do it.     I made a poster and I'm keeping track of my progress there, and online with our school library software.  The kids can see what I'm reading on the program, and one boy came in today to check out something I read yesterday.  He was excited "You read this one!  Is it good?"  I did really like it, and he checked it out.
  A Pocketful of Goobers

Reading biographies every day has proven to be very inspiring.  People do amazing things!  I've challenged the kids to read 20 this semester, and I have grand daydreams about the wonderful things they'll achieve once they've read some biographies and realized what they are capable of.

I also recommended my very favorite book of all time to a 6th grade girl last week.  I was nervous.  I didn't know if kids would still love Anne of Green Gables.

She came in yesterday, holding the book above her head.  "This is a GREAT book!"  Her eyes got big when I told her there were 8 books about Anne.

I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but that's OK.

Vitally important opinion poll.

Can I get my hair cut like this?

(image source)

Or will it just drive me crazy because, you know, hair would touch my face?

I discussed it with my hair friend (stylist sounds funny to me) and she suggested we go for it in summer, because I'll be in the pool all summer anyway, and if I hate it it won't matter too much.

I can't decide if the hair is cute, or if it's just that Ginnifer Goodwin is cute.

Emergency dishes

I saw a set of dishes the other day at Goodwill, and tried really hard not to buy them.

But they were pretty, and in nice shape, and I thought they kind of went with my dishes, and I knew I could use some extras, and I ended up bringing them home.  MJL laughed at me and when Anna asked, he said they were emergency dishes.

But this week we've fed lots of hungry workers, and we've used my new bowls several times already.  So there, world!  I did need them after all.

MJL did point out that even if I am able to resist the dishes 9 out of 10 times, we are still going to end up with too many dishes.  He's right.  I just love dishes.

The cat came back

When I was little I had this white cat that my Grandma Madge painted on my dresser.  I loved her.

I got her from Dad's house and she's on my dresser again.  She makes me happy every day.  Isn't she regal?

Juxtaposition

My favorite thing right now is listening to my ipod on shuffle.  Now, that's always fun, but right now, I have a Dramatized Audio Bible on there along with the music.  



So at any moment, we could hear a chapter from the New Testament, and then a song after that.  

For example:  

Acts 12:23:    Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

And then Adele's breakup song "Someone Like You"

It's super fun.  And quite thought provoking.  

Candy Cane!

I've been having trouble with the video on my camera for months-but I figured it out!  It was set on "fine" which doesn't work well with my computer, apparently.  Now we're all set, which is good, because 2 year old talking is about as good as it gets, video wise.

Please enjoy dirty faced Katie asking for a Candy Cane after dinner.

Jackpot!

Anna and I ran into town last night for a church meeting, and since we had no babies with us, we stopped by Goodwill for a quick look, and found something that I have been wanting for a really long time.

I think I actually gasped when I saw it.  I registered for this when we got married, almost 14 years ago, and then kept waiting to get one, and then they were discontinued.  I've had one on my Amazon wish list-$259.95!  

 I thought about wrapping it up for Matthew for Valentines Day, but I was too excited.  We opened it up and counted all the letters-all there!  Yippee!  The first year we were married Matthew and I played Scrabble all year and kept score for the whole year.  It was really fun.  2013 rematch?

Halloween Bags

In 2012 I had lots of resolutions.  

I did pretty well with them, I think.  My favorite though, was that last minute, tacked on because I couldn't resist, "silly" resolution to make something once a month.  In all the bustle I sometimes forget how much I love to make things.

I never got around to posting our Halloween bags.  Anna sewed these together.  She's in "Clothing Construction" for 4H, so she sewed the bags together.  She added the handles to her own bag, and let me finish the rest.  They were fun and quick and are much easier to store than plastic pumpkins!

I think I'll add this to my resolutions for this year too.  Take a little time to make things, just because it makes me happy.

Bossy Betsy: Poirot

I was thinking of doing a whole "Bossy Betsy" series where I tell you stuff you need to do.  I think I'll post them on Mondays.  So far I can only think of two, but bossing is one of my favorite things to do, so surely I have more than that.

Here's the first one:  Watch "Poirot".  It's streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  There are at least 6 seasons available.  It's funny and wonderful and tricksie and funny and wonderful.  Especially if you loved "Monk" and you're sad it's over.  Hercule Poirot had to be the inspiration for Monk.



It's the sort of show that I think about the next day and laugh, and the sort of show I want to quote endlessly,  and I'm excited for bedtime so we can watch the next one.  BUT!  Not the sort of show that sucks you all in so you have to watch them one after another.  Just a perfectly non-aggressive television treat.

Use it!

My friend Katrina gave me two beautiful hankies for Christmas.  

In their original packaging.  

 I like that these are "full size".  It's important.

Even the tag is cute!  But, having beautiful hankies in their box is not really the point.  So now that they've been documented in all their glory, I'm going to use them to blow my nose.  And enjoy them.  

Jimmy's Portraits

About a month ago, when Jimmy was almost 4 months old, I finally took his 3 month portraits.  

 I can't believe I started taking pictures and didn't notice that I forgot to button his shirt.  Gah!

Here I enlisted Anna to come stand behind me and make Jimmy smile.  

 Sister is funny.  

Really funny.

 

He can't stand it.  Too. funny.  

Who knew?  Taking pictures of boys is just as much fun as taking pictures of girls.  :)  

Winter 2013

Let's see what I hoped to do in the Fall...

Fall 2012 goals:
1.  Snuggle Jimmy, play with Katie, talk to Anna.  There is nothing so important as that. 
2.  Feed my family.  Maybe planning ahead will help? I don't know if I can cross this off.  Not great.
3.  Make some Christmas gifts.  Just some.  No fancy expectations.   I think just some bread.  
4.  Make Halloween bags with Anna. 
5.  Plant Mums in my pot, decide what to do about roses, and deal with old tomato/pepper plants.
6.  Sterilize garden area for next spring. 
7.  Go back to work and start learning to be a librarian.
8.  Finish 1st Library class.
9.  Do one thing every week to practice Spanish.  Nope.  
10.  Finish editing Abby's senior pictures.

Not too bad.  My Spanish is a real problem.   I'm not sure what to do about that.  Not being a Spanish teacher is a very strange thing.  It's hard to find the oomph to practice and seek things out when there are so many other things to do.  And I think it all makes me a little sad too.  I have a translation job to do this week, I'm hoping getting back into it will help.  And I got some new Spanish music for Christmas.   Which is good and wonderful, but there was this weird moment when I thought "Why Spanish music?  I'm not a Spanish teacher anymore."  As though loving Spanish is not this central part of me.  I don't know.  I don't like it.  

Winter 2013 goals:

1.  Relax.  Look around and breathe in the chaos and laugh and enjoy it.  
2.  Get passports for the whole family!
3.  Make a 13 list for the kitchen to replace the Manifesto (Anna's idea!)
4.  Put the binding on my quilt for the couch.
5.  Figure out a way to integrate Spanish into my new life. Kind of.  I'm doing some more translating.  
6.  Move the files-old year out, etc.  
7.  Hallway and 8x10's for 2012.

I feel like there are some things that I wanted to do that I'm forgetting.  That makes me feel crazy.   Lists make me feel less crazy.  

Happy 2013!

Very Important Items

For Christmas my Dad gave me a super cool little bag to keep my emergency things in.


I took my currrent kit out of the very uncool plain tote bag and transferred the contents into my new cute bag.

 
Kit includes:   1 umbrella
                      1 flashlight
                      1 floatie.

If this drought breaks and I need to get to a hotel pool that is too deep for Katie in the dark, I'm all set!

What else would you add?

I miss blogging

I miss connecting with all of you!  I hope to get back to it.  Let's start with some 2013 stuff.

As usual, there are 50 million things I'd like to do, but I'm trying to breathe and focus.  So.

My big goal for 2013 is to get out of bed every morning and kneel down and say a tiny prayer.   I'm thinking I'll start with this one:

God be in my head and in my understanding. 
God be in my eyes and in my looking. 
God be in my mouth and in my speaking. 
God be in my heart and in my thinking. 
God be at my end and my departing.

From A Catholic Prayer Book (via CatholiCity)

There's also this which has different prayers for each day, and this Morning Prayer which I'll link to so I can find them later.

So far, I don't remember at ALL to pray first thing, but I'm optimistic!  I'll just have to pray when I remember, and hope that begins to scoot back earlier in the morning as I go through the year.  :)

Happy 2013!