Don't Even Know What To Say

So, today I promised I would have a great blog.

Well...I have written TWO blogs today; but, neither are great so I'm not posting either one!

I think I jinxed myself!

So, tomorrow, I will have a mediocre blog. :)

Hmmm...

Blogging every day is HARD!!

I read a few blogs of ladies that blog every day. Of course, one of them gives "Deals Around Town"; another one homeschools and cooks and lives on a farm -- she has lots of daily stories; and two others blog every day and if they don't have anything to blog about, they take pictures of the food they bought at the grocery store that day...

I did go to the grocery store today; but, I didn't figure anyone cares what I purchased for my family this week!

Anyway, I have NO idea what to say. (And, yes, Chris, this blog does count toward my 60!!)

I'll work harder tomorrow! :)

Different Types of Genes

I am always amazed how children that come from the same two parents can be so different. Same DNA, right?

Take my sister and I for instance. Pretty much complete opposites. She has four children under 9-years-old and would have many more. She home schools three of them. She has the patience of Job. Me -- two kids are plenty, I can barely do homework with my boys, and I have no patience! There are enough differences in us that my mom often says, "I know they are sisters because I was in the room when both of them were born!"

As my boys get older, I am seeing more and more differences between them. Connor has always been strong-willed; Colby is more laid back. Connor is very competitive; Colby is not as much. Connor is all about English and History; Colby loves Math and Science.

Colby also is interested in art. In fact, when we were in Washington, D.C., he really wanted to go to at least one art museum. This picture tells the difference between our boys and their love of art.

Colby would go around the room looking carefully at each art piece. Connor would plop down on the couch and get out his phone to text a friend!

Colby has become quite a little artist. Back in May, I blogged about him "winning" a spot in his school district's art show. About 15 students' art work were picked from each school to be displayed for the year. In fact, we hadn't gotten to see his piece until today. We received a formal invitation inviting us to an Open House to view the art pieces on display at the Administration Offices.

Halls and halls of pictures from students in kindergarten through 12th grade were framed and hanging for us to view. We searched and finally found it!

This is ' "Meet" Eater '. Colby's first masterpiece!

Maybe one day, I will be able to take a picture of my son looking at his masterpiece in the Smithsonian Museum of Art!

Con #1

Well...my loyal readers noticed that I didn't post yesterday. So, here it is...

I spent the day floating in the pool while my boys worked in the yard. :)

We then took both boys to two different friends' houses to spend the night. Yes, Chris and I were alone all night long at our own home!! We don't get that often. In fact, we have maybe had three nights like that ever! We do go on getaways when we can; but, there is something about being alone in your own house.

Chris made reservations at our favorite sushi place. While sitting there maneuvering our chopsticks, we decided to be wild and crazy and go see a movie after dinner! Inception was a great movie -- but a long movie! It wasn't over until 10:15! We had gone to see Dave Matthews Band on Friday night , which meant we didn't get home Friday night until 11:30! We were definitely feeling our age after two late nights!!

Driving back home last night I told Chris that I wished we could have a night away every weekend. It then occurred to me that that is exactly what MY parents got when my sister and I were growing up. Danette and I thought we were so lucky to get to spend Saturday nights with our grandparents. We would go get some kind of fast food and come back home and watch Hee Haw, The Lawrence Welk Show and Love Boat! We'd get to sleep in the living room on the fold-out couch and ride in the church bus with Grandpa on Sunday morning!

Now that I am a parent, I realize that it was my parents who were the lucky ones! Having both sets of grandparents in the same town made it almost a guarantee of a night away every weekend!

Yep, living 900 miles away from grandparents is definitely Con #1 on my list!!

Your Door

While we were in Albuquerque in August, we visited Las Golondrinas. Las Golondrinas is celebrating it's 300th anniversary this year. It was a stopping place on the El Camino Real, or the Royal Road to Mexico City.

This door is close to 300 years old and it is beautiful! When I saw it, I thought, "Wow! That is a beautiful door!" The intricate carving, the gorgeous wood. I would love to have a front door like this on my home.

I found a good quote about front doors: The front door is an expression of the personality of the owners of the home.

On our street, there are different kinds of front doors. Most are wooden -- some are nicely varnished and kept clean, others are weathered-looking because of the sun, and others have glass that allow you to see into the soul of the house.

In China, a red door is the same as a welcome mat. It symbolizes luck. In early America, travelers would look for a red door as a sign of welcome and safety. In Scotland, people painted their doors red to indicate they had paid off a mortgage!

In the Indian culture, a door was painted blue to ward off bad spirits. Chinese Fung Shui uses blue for those homes who want to send off a calm, soothing and prosperous feel.

Green represents people who are carefree and enjoy life. In China, a green door symbolizes the life cycle and growth.

If your door faces northeast, northwest or southwest, Fung Shui recommends painting it yellow to channel positive energy.

I have become enamored with doors. One of the new trends in photography is taking a family's picture in front of an old, weathered door. I really like the weathered, distressed ones the best. The stories they could tell if they could only talk. Whose hands had touched them? What weather had beat on them? They have lots of character as my dad would say.

Doors are a lot like our hearts...we can put a lock on our heart to protect ourselves; we can open it up and invite others to come in; we can have a joyful heart or a sad heart and our faces will reveal what "color" our door is.

I hope that when I am old, my "door" will be weathered with all of life's good stuff. I want a little bit of every color on it. I want it to be weathered by all the hands who have touched my life. I want it to be strong and still operable! I want my personality to be apparent. I want those who look at it to say, "Wow! That is a beautiful door!"

Kids

Today was my first day back as library volunteer. I love this volunteer duty--no doors to knock on asking for money, no milk boxes or gogurts to open after kids mouths have tried...

The class comes into the library, leave the books for me to check-in and shelve and then sit in a circle to listen to a story from the librarian.

Today she read a book about Jacques Cousteau. She began by prefacing that when Mr. Cousteau was filming sea life, it was a big deal to see it on TV. There was not a Discovery Channel--Shark Week was non-existent. In fact, she told them, there were only four channels on a TV-- NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS.

I am thankful that I was bending over reshelving books at that moment because the shock wave that followed might have blown me over!

"What?!?", the kids all asked in unison.

Yep, life was hard 30 years ago!!

Take Out Or Delivery??

Proverbs 31:14-16

She is like the merchant ships,

bringing her food from afar.

She gets up while it is still dark; she provides for her family

and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

As much as I would like to be the proper Proverbs 31 women, I'm far from it! I might be like her in the fact that I bring our food from afar -- of course, Wal-mart is only about 10 minutes away! I do get up while it is dark -- but that is to pour a bowl of cereal for my boys before school and pack a lunch full of convenience items like prepackaged chips, cookies, etc! We did try to grow a small garden one year, but raccoons or squirrels ate our crops before we could pick them...

When Chris and I got married, I didn't really know how to cook -- heck, I really didn't know how to do laundry either!

He came from a Southern mom who cooked everything from scratch. I came from a mom who liked to go out to eat. :)

At one of our wedding showers, my mother-in-law gave us a recipe book filled with handwritten recipes of all of Chris's favorites. Hmmm....

For the first three years, Chris did all the cooking. Then, he got a job and the cooking responsibilities fell on me. As hard as I tried to be organized, I could guarantee that as soon as I got every pot out and began cooking, I would realize I was missing the key ingredient and have to run to the store. Needless to say, cooking is not my thing.

I would love to love cooking - except for the fact that I just don't LIKE to cook. Heck, I watch lots of shows on Food Network. Unfortunately, osmosis doesn't work! I have even thought of taking some cooking classes.

My most favorite meals are the kinds that don't make a big mess and don't take a lot of time.

Crockpot meals!

I haven't had much luck at finding great crockpot recipes. Usually everything is very dry and ho-hum. So, I was very excited when one of my friends on Facebook asked for crockpot ideas. She received about 25 of them and I quickly wrote them down. We are trying the first one tonight.

Tonight we are having a Beef Stroganoff...or, we may be ordering a pizza!