It was one of those signs that the message can be changed with removable letters. It was a daycare center.

What the sign really said:

This is a FALLTASTIC place to be!

What I thought it said:

This is a FATALISTIC place to be!

I seriously did a double-take - those poor children! Oh, wait…

It’s not the Lasik’s fault, it’s just my brain.

to my morning coffee. I had to go out today before I could have it and by the time we were home at 9:30 my head was pounding. Went ahead and made the coffee. Relief. I haven’t had a coke in about 2 weeks which is very unusual for me. It wasn’t planned, but it just didn’t appeal to me so I went with it. Iced tea has sounded better so that’s what I’ve been having when I want something other than water. I’ve even resisted Coke Icees which are usually a major downfall for me.

Speaking of coffee, I just put away my drip coffeemaker in the cabinet over the fridge - that’s deep storage for me - because I am exclusively using the french press I got for my birthday now. I love it’s simplicity. The drip machine will only come out when I have company and need more than the press makes.

I also think I’m addicted to decluttering. Even when I try to take a break from it, I’m thinking about it and sometimes go add something to the donate pile or throw an item in a trash bag. I’m in the middle of doing the kitchen a little at a time and was planning to do the linen closet today all at once. Until my head started hurting and I realized I had to go run an errand in the middle of the day. Maybe after the errand I will get started. But I’ll for sure be thinking about what I can get rid of.

This is the funniest thing I have seen in a long, long time. It’s worth watching if you need a laugh!

One of my long-time favorite homeschool suppliers is Timberdoodle Company - a family-run operation out of Washington state.  I end up ordering about once a year for things we need for our school year.  This year I noticed a couple of books by Bob Schultz that sounded intriguing so I ordered both of them. 

We’re about halfway through the first one, Boyhood and Beyond.  It is composed of short (3-4 page) stories, each with a powerful message about becoming a man, and a few discussion questions at the end of each story.  I love it so far, and my boys seem to enjoy it as well, although many times the message hits awfully close to our weak points.  The second one is called Created for Work.

I’m often reminded of a quote that I’ve heard attributed to Major Ian Thomas.  This is the way I remember it, it’s close enough, I think:

“I’ve heard it said that boys will be boys, but that’s not true.  If you wait long enough, boys will be men.  The same thing happens to girls, except of course, they become women.”

My goal isn’t perfect children, it’s godly men. 

It’s a Fisher Price Kid Tough FP3 player - got one for our 4 year old. It came preloaded with some kiddie songs that he couldn’t stand so we got rid of those and put in songs we listen to in the car a lot. He fell asleep on the way to church Sunday with it on and it was pretty tempting to see if he’d stay asleep if we carried him in with it but decided that 1) church is not a good place for electronics, ever and 2) he’d probably wake up screaming that he wants U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday on there. That would probably make quite a stir in church!

And I need to get that song on there for him soon so he can stop complaining to me about it. Sorry, dude!

Our church has recently gotten a new lead teaching pastor, I think is what they’re calling him.  He has not yet moved here, but visited yesterday and spoke at church.  It was the first time I’d heard him because we were out of town when he came a few weeks ago. 

During his message, he asked everyone to take a minute and write down the names of the people that have influenced your spiritual life the most.  I started to think, and a name popped into my head.  More thinking… “There is NO WAY I’m writing this name down… no way.  What’s this guy trying to do?  Did he do this on purpose?  Doesn’t he realize that I can’t be the only person in the room to think of this name?”  I eyed him, maybe I glared, I don’t know.  I was trying to read him.  Where was he going with this list thing?  I was going to be mad if he was doing this on purpose, to make so many of us think of this person.  It’s been a year almost exactly since he’s been gone.  This is not nice. 

Then I felt sad and thought, man, if he mentions him, I’m going to cry!  Already I had cried in church because I’d had a bad mommy moment that day and it would be easy to cry yet again.

Later he told us the names on his list.  He did not mention who might be on our list specifically.  He did say to give that person a call or write them a note to let them know how they shaped your life.  Well… I don’t even know where that person is right now and to be honest, I don’t know that I could bring myself to do it even if I did. 

I was recently reminded  that the Bible is full of imperfect people that God used, flaws and all.  He didn’t hide their flaws from us in his word.  He could have, but he must have wanted us to see that.  It used to bother me more that these people were so flawed, like I expected better or something.  How silly of me.

I’ll probably remain on my guard for awhile.  I think that’s a natural reaction to what our church has been through, but I will try to be open and not too suspicious.  He and his wife seem like nice people, and I’m sure they are.  I will pray for them and our church during this transition.

Two or three years ago I started reading the Miss Julia series and caught up to the author.  I forgot about them and realized there are a couple more out now, so I requested them from the library and picked them up last night.  The one I started reading seems familiar but I can’t tell if it’s familiar because I had read a preview - or because I’ve read the book!  Seriously, I’m reading it and still can’t remember. 

At least they’re a quick read if I’m reading it for the second time.  And Miss Julia cracks me up!

…to drop off my best friend (my husband) at the airport today. It was a Tuesday 6 years ago when our country was attacked by some cowards on airplanes. He asked me if I was okay with him flying today. He was willing to fly out the night before. I mulled it over for a few minutes - on one hand, that sure would be a dramatic thing to do again on the anniversary. On the other hand, I have a feeling security will be extra high today so it might just be one of the safest days to fly. I think it honors the victims more to go about our lives without fear than to hide on that day. So I told him to book it for 9/11. I feel at peace.

My prayers are with the families today.

We participate in a homeschool co-op on Fridays that started last week. A week ago today I learned that the Lego Robotics course I was assisting in would have no teacher. *panic* The teacher that had planned to do it got a full time job but in an agreement that her girls could still attend, she would provide lesson plans for me. This had been known to the leadership for awhile, but no one told me so it was quite a surprise for me - they were hoping someone would be able to step into the role. At least they took me out of the science course I was co-teaching, whew.

I got the first day’s plans right before class started, like minutes before. My dear husband was able to help me tremendously - led the class even - and we made it thru the first day.

One thing that was funny is that the day before I learned about this class situation, a guest speaker at our church had done a message about casting our cares upon Him. It was a great message and I really tried to take it to heart. I think I wasn’t doing a great job of casting because my face was breaking out and finally on Thursday I had a mini-breakdown. Thankfully, even when I fail, He doesn’t. He extends grace to me and puts me on my feet again.

I’m going to try to do better this week with my casting.

Today we started our Kick Start purging per It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh.  It means doing a quick purge of “lazy clutter”.  You’re not supposed to deal with the emotional stuff, just the easy stuff.  In preparation the other day, we went though the whole house and gave each area a number from 1 to 10 - 1 being least cluttered, 10 being worst.  Then we listed the areas from worst to best and decided to start with our worst areas and work our way down the list. 

We scheduled two sessions for today, one in the morning, one in the afternoon.   We got to our second area on the list in the afternoon but did not finish.  It’s our master bedroom closet, wow, what a lot of stuff we have in there! 

And although we’re not supposed to do the emotional stuff, I did bag up some baby blankets and those cute hooded towels that were being stored in there.  I cried for just a few minutes but I do think it’s the right time to let those go.  I kept a few items, but most of it is on it’s way out.    I’m pretty sentimental about those baby things.  *sniff*