You Don't See That Every Day

What do you value in this life? Does what you value here affect what happens when you die? Just some thoughts running through my mind today. We got a link in our email inbox today and both my husband and I found it pretty powerful. I'm not one to be very pushy but I think this one's good. We've learned all our lives that our actions affect others around us. You know, like in our young school years when we were given the illustration about a stone being thrown into a pond, and the ripple effect ... Well, it carries on into our adult lives. What we do now, what we say now, what we watch, hear, think, feel, act out, vote upon, it all has an effect somewhere down the line. At some point our choices today - whether good or bad - will have an effect on our lives and who-knows-how-many other lives out there. If you haven't seen it yet, please take a moment to stop and watch it and think about it. Thanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=D9vQt6IXXaM&amp ; And tha...

When I woke up this morning I had no idea what was in store. It has been a busy day and yet I felt as if I have not accomplished anything. It started out as normally as any other day: make the lunches for those leaving the house; grade the homework; eat my breakfast and get the girls moving on theirs; check in with my emails and facebook. And that was when everything changed. Emails can do that to a person's day. A few lines written in another town and sent out amongst the masses can change the direction of the day. My dad wrote to tell all of us that my mom had gone to the hospital. Of course those first few words can make a child's stomach drop. As I read on and tried to explain to my girls what was going on, I got a bit emotional. My 6 year old asked, "How old is Grandma?" And not in the mind to think hard I said she was somewhere around 76 years old. And my girl replied, "Oh, she's not that much older than Dad." And I had to laugh; even with te...

A glimpse into the life of our family this past week: Little K. likes to play 'sleep' on the couch. Her latest words in her ever-growing vocabulary: cloth-wash (for washcloth); tootbrush; The girls got some special towel wraps for shower-head, which they like to wear a lot. Miss M is playing basketball and getting better every week. She actually dribbled the ball up the court this weekend. Little K loves her siblings. So much that she takes any opportunity to lounge on them We've finally hit the back of the woodshed and had to go get some more wood. Our furnace is still our of commission, so wood is our heat source. Puppies are hilarious. Especially when they sleep. Any position seems comfortable for this one. Sometimes we catch her with her head hanging off the step. And I got the box tops ready for the Boy's school contest. I wonder if his class will win. Either way, I'm glad they are all out of the drawer and going to hel...

I couldn't get any of my early attempts at a post to be just right. So I mushed a bunch of thoughts all together here on one. I've got many things running through my head, and many events running through my life. Running being one of them - which is where I do some of my best thinking. I haven't been on a run in 3 days, so you can get the brunt of how my mind works if you're so inclined to read on: I'm reading the classic book, Little Women. We watched the 1994 movie this week, and I was struck by how odd it seemed in relation to my memory. Not that my memory is very good, but I do recall the book being different than the movie ... go figure. And as I read I have concluded that yes my memory is intact. On this issue anyway. The book is so so so much better than the movie. Which is often (but not always) the case when Hollywood tries to capture a book in a movie.  Summer around here seems busier that the school year! What? Why? I'm suppose to be relaxing in the...

I lay awake from 4 until 6 this morning; tossing and turning and trying to stop the tide of mental gymnastics. Baby K is sleeping 4 to 5 hours in a row at night this week! It feels great, but my body is slow in adjusting, as evidenced in the toss and turn. Last weekend was a great one; I had wanted to post about it earlier in the week but never got around to it. We had a call previous to Saturday that someone wanted to come and check out our house! We had just been talking about pulling it off the market and then we got the call. So Friday was a flurry of cleaning and straightening and cleaning! We had been pretty relaxed about being realtor ready. Well Sat was a beautiful day, and the house *sparkled*. The realtor came and went. And they made an offer - on a different house. So we are back to wondering, "Do we stay or do we (lower it and) go?" Sunday we still had some sunshine - rare for here this month - so we went on a picnic! I had made ham and cheese biscuits the night b...

Have you ever had one of those moments when you stop and think, Is there a camera on here? Where's Allan Funt? Yesterday I felt like I was in a movie scene. I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner; I decide to cook up the hamburger patties that were sitting in the refrigerator from the weekend. Baby is sleeping, kids are playing, all is good. My sister calls, and after chatting a bit she convinces me to broil the burgers instead of pan fry like I had originally planned. (The rain was coming down too hard to put them on the grill.) So I started cooking. It's all going well ... and then ... Baby K wakes up and starts to wail, at the same time the smoke alarm goes off b/c of the smoke from the broiling, and it's loud! The dog, who had been sleeping peacefully in the other room, darts for the hiding place - under the computer where a child is playing, and a small ruckus ensues. And then to top it off - while I am 'helping' my son fan the air around the shrill alarm, and m...