Momma Never Said

I slept in this morning- 9 a.m.   Partly because I was finishing a computer gamelate last night (11 pm), partly because I had a pain in the stomach (literally, not the kiddos) most of last night. 

The only reason I woke up from this non-routine sleep block is because I was so vividly dreaming that I was giving the “pep talk” for VBS to the volunteers that I’m scheduled to give Sunday after church.

Until I woke up from that dream, it was still humorous to see the other Committee members (who have all solo-directed VBS in past years) smiling and giving gentle advice as if they are post-partum moms and I’m in my 36th week.  You know what they say, “The pain is horrible, but you don’t remember it later.”

Now that VBS has invaded my dreams, the cliche is not so funny…

Simple Does It

How did that happen?  Everyone in the family agreeing on a dinner entree? 
The crock pot cookbook calls it “Potato Casserole”.  Original, huh?

1/2 bag frozen hash browns (shredded, diced, whatever) in the bottom of the crock pot.

1 lb ground deer (beef, turkey, whatever) and 1/2 pack taco seasoning, browned and drained as the next layer.

1/2 bag frozen hash browns as the next layer.

Mixed 1 can evaporated milk, 4 Tablespoons melted butter, and 1 can cream of cheddar soup. Pour over as top layer.

Low setting, 4-5 hours.  The kids are going back for 3rd helpings even as I type.  Nice!

Amazing Choices

“Amazing Choices” is the theme for our VBS this year.  We hope the kids will understand that they need to do more than sit and listen to folks talk about Jesus- that they need to choose whether or not to accept His death as payment for their debt to God.

Of course, I’m seeing choices in my own life- both recent and past.  I told our Korean exchange student a couple of years ago a fact she had trouble accepting: We choose whom we will love.  Disney had been trying to teach her otherwise, with more color and frequency (not to mention better singers) than I.

Found out from Facebook that an acquaintance is a “old school” Trekkie like myself.  Saw the acquaintance in person today, and we both smiled with more genuine warmth for each other than in the past 2 years of being acquaintances.  In short, I think we are choosing to be friends now, not just acquaintances.

My friendship with Rootie (of Because It Really Is Personal, side bar) was a conscious choice, and is a continuing encouragement to my #1 kiddo, who constantly worries that “New Person #4,563 doesn’t like me!”  Rootie and I quietly disliked each other for a couple of years before we made the choice to be friends instead.

Dear Sister in the North sent me a book about healthier marriages that mentioned an exciting choice:  A married couple chose to devote the next five years of their lives to becoming each other’s best friends.  Wow- what a worthwhile choice!  I’ll bet their marriage benefitted in a thousand ways from that conscious devotion!

So, who are you going to choose to love today? 

Too Old for This Stuff

The cat was sick at 2 am.  Mr W was snoring by the time I got back to bed, so I’ve just stayed up.  Needed to make VBS calls anyway.  (I write everything down, so even if I make the calls half-awake, the info is accurate later when my brain is working.)

The kiddos are microwaving leftovers for their lunch and watching a documentary about pyramids so I can make the calls without interruptions.  They are good kids.

Heard a good joke Friday, the shoe fits today:

Why was the lamp failing her classes?  She wasn’t very bright.

And one that grossed me out:

What do whales spread on their toast?  Jellyfish.

I’m so thankful for machines.  The laundry is already done, and the first load of dishes.  Mr W made this incredibly good blackberry cobbler from the wild blackberries on our place, and topped it with leftover vanilla ice cream from #3’s birthday smoothies.  I do not exaggerate: it is the best dessert I have ever tasted.  And me a chocoholic!  So, OK, there’s a second load of dishes waiting to go into the machine. (Don’t even talk to me about hand-washing until after VBS, ok?)  But with the memory of that cobbler on my tongue, I can be unfrustrated by the dishes in the sink.  Oh, baby!

Laundry List

OK, I wimped out and told the kiddos, “No homeschooling next week.”  Too much VBS stuff going on.

(Please pray for me- my eye itches, and a family we pal around with has pink eye this week.  Hypochondria?  Maybe, but just as distracting as the real thing.  Since I haven’t been on medical insurance for 6 years, that’s worrisome, too.)

I need to buy some craft supplies- not much, and Mr W promised I could go by myself Monday morning.  Ya’ll are witnesses!  Then My Favorite Deacon (a la “My Favorite Martian”, if you’re old enough to remember that show!) would like a detailed list of any other little thing we need for VBS, so “the church” can get it for us before June 1.  Nice!

We have 3 past VBS directors serving on the major Teams- Lessons, Games, Music- and they gently and humorously remind me of stuff I need to accomplish.  I feel like a baby chick in a nest- nothing to do but learn to sing and fly!  Sweet!

At home, I need a grocery list for the next month, and time to get to the store.  Remember how well the last trip went?  This month, I’m dropping soup from our menu.  No one eats the gallons of leftovers.  I also want to put sandwiches on for Sunday lunch, since I’m discovering that getting up from a nap after church and espying the ton of dirty dishes almost makes me lose my religion each week.

The kiddos, having escaped the dreaded Homeschool Week, should be good to do the household cleaning before Rootie shows up and we hit VBS Hurricane.

Besides crafts supply shopping, making encouraging/prompting phone calls, and prayer, I need to make nametags for the Team Leaders, copies (One of our deacons runs a print shop.  Convenient, eh?) if registration forms, schedules, and scorepads, and jot some notes for the Team Meeting on Sunday (“Quit talking to each other and minister to the kids!”) and Opening Ceremony on Monday (“Quit talking to each other and obey your Team Leaders!”).

New mantra: In 13 days, all this will be over. 

Food

I don’t like fruit in my coffee, thanks.  But a lemon-filled donut with a cuppa hot black is not makin’ me mad this morning! 

Yeah, if I were responsible I’d be getting lunch into the crockpot.  ‘Specially since we’re probably going to be the last folks out of church this morning, VBS questions piling up and all.  Lotta ladies will be hanging at the church until the bridal shower at 2, and looking for someone to chat with, and VBS questions would be a good excuse, eh?

COR.  Clean Out (the) Refrigerator.  Six bags of Ramen noodles in the cupboard.  They’ll live.

 

Heeeeere Comes the Weekend!

I am about to shoot Mr Wonderful.  Last week he told me, “I’m done tutoring, so I should be home right after school every day next week.”  He did not make it home before 7 (school gets out at 3) any night except Wednesday, when we had to rush to the AWANA awards ceremony as soon as dinner dishes made it into the washer.

Grading papers, writing final exams.  Easier to concentrate at school, I’m told.

Half of the frustration -OK, a quarter- is not being able to communicate with the man about things like the power going out during the hailstorm, having a guy come over to interview the kids for a Father’s Day video, and plans for #3’s birthday.  The other frustration is that, based on “Papa will be home”, I promised #2 we would go out, just she and I, on Monday night.  I have been backpedalling, “Well, when Papa gets home tonight, we’ll go.” every day since.  Yes, she understands I can’t leave #1 and #3 alone, but she asked about a “date” with me two weeks ago.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Mr W and #1 (who did not finish her AWANA book) will be heading to his school to finish painting a mural on his classroom wall.  No, he won’t be teaching there next year.  But, he decided on Wednesday he wanted a mural in that room, so he started it, and it isn’t finished yet, so he “has to” go in on Saturday, the day AFTER school is finished, to complete the mural.  After all, he’s taking #1, doesn’t that count as “spending time with the family”?

Did I mention it’s #3’s birthday tomorrow, and we told Mr W that #3 wants to go to Planet Smoothie for dinner on his birthday?  Ooops, sorry #3- Mr W doesn’t think he’ll be finished before 6 or 7 p.m.  Maybe we can meet up at Planet Smoothie for a quickie around 5? 

#2 and #3 did finish their book, and have been invited to a “Book Party” along with the other Clubbers who finished, from noon until 2 tomorrow.  Games, crafts, snacks- #3 is pretty excited about being rewarded for his work over the year.  I’ll serve #3 coconut shrimp (his other “favorite food on my birthday” request) for an early lunch.  I suppose we’ll either catch the cake around 8 (if Mr W gets home before the kids’ 9 pm bedtime), or keep them up late, or “too bad, it didn’t fit in Mr W’s schedule” the cake to Sunday after church.

Although I am very, very tempted to have a leisurely celebration with just #2, #3 and I, I am sure #3 would prefer waiting until Mr W and #1 are available, and will quietly shelve his disappointment at Mr W not being available on #3’s actual ”special day”.

“Summer Reading”

Angie over at Bloggin-Dazs (see link) reminded me that summer means “Free Reading” in our “spare” time.  There’s a “How to Homeschool Asperger Kids” book waiting for me at the library one county over.  The kiddos and I (after I explained “How to Correctly Use Too Many Quotation Marks”) figured it’ll only cost us $8 in gas to go pick up our requested books every week.  Ouch. 

I’m recommending “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” and “Hunchback of Notre Dame”.  (I can’t seem to log into Google, so I’m precluded from leaving these suggestions on Angie’s blog directly.  But it’s a good topic, so I’ll steal it and post it myself!)  Mr W has picked up “Brothers Karamazov” and “1776″ (by McCollough).  We don’t take “light reading” lightly in our house!

It’s less than 2 weeks until VBS, and I’m getting practice nightly at forcing myself to fall asleep.  Random fears land, like fiery darts (and we all know from which direction those come, eh?) on my nerves.  Honestly, 80 percent of VBS is ready, and did you guess that Crafts is 18% of the rest?  Sounds like the PERFECT time to re-read the Mitford series, which is always soothing and good for my marriage.

That, and a dose of Pandora Radio.  I also stole a copy of Angie’s “Baroque guitar” station, and “Boy Band” still gets me pumped in the morning.  Audio mood enhancers.   Please don’t tell me it’s an addiction until after VBS.  Thx!

Solving the Banana Problem

Reclaiming Ground

My mom’s mom was a practical nurse.  In a small Pennsylvania town in the early 1920’s, that meant she was called for births, illnesses, wounds, deaths.  She was away from the house frequently.  When she got back, she wanted the house to be clean.

My mom was the first daughter (of 9).  Grandma was not kind to those who crossed her.  Mom did a lot of cleaning (and babysitting).

As soon as she was old enough, Mom left home.  In a small Pennsylvania town in the 1920’s, the honest way a woman left home was to go into Service: teacher, housekeeper, private nurse, companion.  Mom, however, noted a poster in the post office and followed her older/only brother into The Service- in this case, the Marines.  She left behind babysitting, but not cleaning!

Mom taught me to clean.  I was younger, I cleaned everything closer to the floor.  My older sister cleaned everything above shoulder level.  We both worked on the middle areas.  I didn’t like vacuuming until we got a nice machine about a year ago, but all other types of housework are OK.

So why is my house not Marine-clean?  Well, it’s only been “my” house for a year.  I was working full-time when we bought it, and left most of the househunting to Mr W.  “You’re the one home in it all day”, says I.  “Pick something you like.”  He did, and decorated and arranged household goods to best cope with a 4-bedroom, 2 bath, 1 newborn, and 2 toddlers.  (It would take millions$$$ to repay him.)

When he went back to work, it was Clowning.  He was still home most mornings, and we split the cleaning.  Finally, 2 years ago, he started teaching full-time, and I started looking around.  After 6 months, I moved the everyday supplies down to my reach. (Mr W is over 6 feet tall.)  Although we weren’t making much money, the thought of “unsellable” prompted me to repaint, in more sedate colors, last summer.

For the last 9 months, I’ve been home full-time.  Not even teaching at the local co-ops.  The decor colors are pretty.  I’ve taught the kids how to self-maintain for most of each morning.

It’s time to reclaim my belief that Clean is Good.  Low income and fear of offending Mr W has kept me from purchasing the cleaning supplies Mom always used.  (You’ll know I’m old when I tell you some of them aren’t even on the market anymore, anyway!) 

I know in my head that God gave us work before The Fall.  Work is included (especially gardening) in His statement “It is good”.  I want to become a person who lives out my beliefs, whose actions match her words.  I want to teach my kids Truth, including the truth that work is good.

Please pray for me.  No, you won’t find me in a garden this year, except miraculously.  But the house could use some work.