Hot Tip for Tuesday

Along the lines of columnmom's great tip regarding things to avoid getting on your contacts....

I had to share this warning label...


which is attached to this product....
Now I've burned all sorts of body parts with hot hair styling instruments: fingers, neck, forhead, ears; but I have never, ever come close to BURNING my EYE with a flat iron!!! What brilliant legal mind thought up that warning label?

Redneck Riviera

Yesterday we went to hubby's brother's family's house on Caney Creek. Caney Creek is several miles long and eventually dumps into the intercoastal water way on Matagord Bay. We lovingly refer to it as the Redneck Riviera. Folks have had second houses and fish camps down there for generations. People are friendly, love to fish, drive their boats fast and start drinking beer before noon. The kids love the water, playing with their cousins and tubing behind the boat. Above: The kids are waiting for a boat to come zooming down the creek so they can ride the waves from the wake. Despite the fact that I am sitting just a few feet from this passel of kids n the water, the grandmothers up on the deck are yelling at them to get closer to the dock because the boats are going to hit them. If a boat takes out a kid, where the kids are in that shot, it is going to take out yours truly on the dock as well!

Below: Docking the boat proved to be a bit of a challenge for brother in law (at the helm) so hubby tossed the kids overboard to swim for it before guiding BIL into the dock.
When we had our ultrasound when I was pregnant with the first one, and the U/S tech said "It's a girl!" Hubby said the firs thting he pictured was his little girl breaking his heart riding away on the back of some motorcycle with some punk kid. Yesterday he had his first taste of it when Natalie got a ride on a four-wheeler with one of the Riviera locals. She LOVED it!

The most wonderful first day of summer

Said by my 7 year old as she was blissfully swinging in the backyard. Now that is one happy kid.

Summer is here....

Yesterday was the last day of school. Everyone is now out of school for the summer, except me of course. I have to take Gov't 2 and U.S. History 2. I could have my own separate little rant about that. I sooooooooo don't want to do it. I know it won't be "hard" but I just don't wanna, like I don't wanna do housework or I don't wanna exercise. It doesn't help my attitude about it that there is a small possibility that I'll take them and it won't actually be necessary. My rant is causing me to digress.

We need to do some decluttering over the next week. I love doing that but three little girls, not so much! They desparately need to clean out their lockers (cabinets that my dad built for them). End of the school year seems a very logical time to clean out a locker to me but it will be a challenge for them. Probably ought to clean out the play room. I'd love to get rid of some stuff but I'm not sure they are really ready to get rid of the play kitchen, dress up clothes etc.

I want to institute a no T.V. no computer before noon rule and am trying to decide whether to do that after we get back from vacation or before. They'll have about a week at home, then vacation so I'm thinking that i'll tell them it will start after vacation. That would give them a week to totally veg and enter into the slower pace of summer. Then with the transisiton of vacation over we could start our limited screen time rule. On the other hand, if I'm going to institute a rule maybe I should just do it. No delay. After vacation is winning at this point...

Need to go to the library this week for vacation books. I'm sure I'll have history and gov't reading to do but who in the world sits on the beach with a text book. Now that will ruin a tan! Want to read "Rethinking Thin" by Gina Kolata. Heard a portion of an interview with her on NPR. Also want to read "A Wise Birth" by Penny Armstrong. Recently read "A Midwife's Story" by her. It was inspiring! Oh and there was a book I saw at Barnes and Noble a while ago about the evolutionary benefit of certain diseases that I want to read. Have to find out the title and author. Need some fiction to go with these three non-fiction health tales. I wonder if the gal who wrote "The Time Traveler's Wife" has any other titles out. What a great book. So dear readers, read anything good lately?

That's it for, this, the first day of summer break.

Since we are on the subject of watching sugar.

(That title makes sense to at leaast one of my readers.)

Overheard while making cookies with my youngest.

"I'm really good at opening the sugar canister. I had to learn how when I was little and stealing sugar. So now I'm really good at it!"

If you need a self esteem boost

Check out this site and click on the portfolio section. As you roll over the pictures it will show you before and after professional photo retouching. I KNOW they retouch picutres like crazy these days but that is just ridiculous. I'm not going to feel bad about my freckly skin, lines under my eyes, pores around my nose or shiny forehead every again! Seriously, this made my week.

"This is Going to Be the Best Summer Ever"

Said by my 10 year old on the way to school this morning on the last Tuesday of the school year. And you know what is funniest about that statement....She has no idea that in 3 weeks we are going to Disney World! Hehehehehe. Almost makes me look forward to summer.

Almost.

So the good things about the summer are:

• Vacation to Disney, cousin's house and the beach in Alabama.
• Our annual church family camp at Mo-Ranch.
• The slower pace without school taking up 7 hours every day.
• Hopefully a road trip to San Antonio to go to Sea World (we got season passes after going at Spring Break).
• Swimming a lot. The girls are old enough that means that mom gets to sit on the deck and read a book!
• Maybe getting hubby to tile the master bath (a girl can dream!)

Scary things about the summer:

• No school to take up 7 hours of the day. I love my kids but I'm just not the kind of mom to miss them while they are at school.
• The heat. I think I dread that more and more each year.
• Stressing about T.V. and computer use. They do it too much but it's too hot to do much else. I alternate between thinking it is fine and fearing that they are all going to be fat and brainless because I didn't insist that they go outside and play.
• Taking government and history online while the girls are all home all the time.

So we're ready for another summer with the good and the scary. I'll keep you posted on which side is winning!

New Template

Somehow, my previous template went wacko on me and moved all of my page elements down to the bottom. Perhaps in all my html errors I erased something vital, I dunno. But changing the template fixed the problem so I hope you like the change!

Met Richard Mouw

I got to meet him and shake his hand and tell him how much i loved his book. He suggested that we meet up sometime at the airport in Vegas! What an interesting guy. Great, engaging speaker and quite a leader for Fuller. Didn't get him to sign the book though, because our copy was at hubby's office not at home. But it was still a fun night. I also got to see someone I haven't seen in about 14 years or so. She was my boss at the church I worked at the summer hubby and I really got serious. Back then she was such an honest to goodness grown up, married, pregnant, etc. I really respected her and considered her a mentor. Now, we have kids the same age! It was great to see her.

Oh and here's a Prom picture, er, I mean, picture from last night before we left.

HTML errors

I just have to say that getting that last post published was PAINFUL! I got HTML error after error trying to make hyperlinks and a blockquote so I HOPE YOU ALL APPRECIATE HOW PRETTY IT IS and link back on EVERY SINGLE ONE of my reference links!!!!!!!!

Off to another gala

Ah, such is the life of every pastor's wife right? Just gala after ball after soiree. This one is a fundraiser for Fuller Seminary's new extension campus here in Texas. Richard Mouw, the President of Fuller, will be there and will speak. Now fathful readers, you know I met Newt Gingrich at a recent event. That was cool just because, well, he's a quasi-celebrity and I met him but he certainly sin't on my "People I'd most like to meet list". Richard Mouw, I think might be. He wrote this great little book called Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport. It turned me on to theology in general and got me on my current passion that theology matters.... A LOT!

From Amazon: "What do the Canons of Dordt mean to people in the Las Vegas airport—and does anyone there even care? In the movie Hardcore, a pious Calvinist elder tries unsuccessfully to explain the TULIP theology of his Dutch Reformed faith to a prostitute in the Las Vegas airport. This incongruous conversation demonstrates how Calvinism is often perceived today: irrelevant,harsh, even disrespectful.Beginning with this movie scene, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport addresses the weaknesses of Calvinism and points to its strengths.

How does Calvinism shed light on today? Instead of reciting the Canons of Dordt, what’s a more compassionate way to relate to nonbelievers? What might it look like to live out the doctrines of TULIP with gentleness and respect? This conversational book provides answers and shatters some stereotypes. "

When our friend died in the plane crash 18 months ago , the chapter on suffering was the only thing I had read about suffering that was the last bit helpful. It also pointed me to another wonderful book called A Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser which was written by a guy who lost his mother, wife and daughter all in one car accident. I read this in the first couple months after the plane crash and then passed it on to our freind's widow. We both read a lot of crappy stuff suring that time. Stuff that made us feel worse, not better. Sittser's book was phenomenally helpful and insightful.

So the question of the day. The purse I usually carry with my little black dress is a little antique beaded bag. Not big enough to hold my copy of Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport. So first, is it Kosher to bring my copy along in hopes of getting it signed? Second, do I sacrifice the perfection of the little purse so that I can fit the book in a larger purse to get it signed? Lastly, do I gush about how much I love this book or does that make me sound like someone getting a New Kids On The Block tape signed?

Mother's Day

This comes from Have Children Will Travel... http://havechildrenwilltravel.blogspot.com/

So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died.
Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and
nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this
mat in our bathroom.Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they
were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli
really loves chapstick. LOVES IT. He kept asking to use my chapstick and
then losing it.So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep
my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to
put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try
to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are
fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at
the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has
long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job
that is motherhood.We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the
car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round
the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying
mychapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . rear end. Eli looked right into
my eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is
right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't
seem to mind. And the onlyquestion to really ask at that point was whether
it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the
hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it
reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little
creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using
your chapstick on the cat's butt.


So I read that last week and it made me laugh out loud. I thought it was hysterical! Then my 10 year old treated me to three different kinds of lip balm for mother's day. Is she reading my blog or trying to make up for something that I don't know about?

A little more technical than "Owies"

Got this email this morning from some folks at church asking for prayers for their son...

"he is going for surgery tomorrow around noon at TCH for a broken right ulna and a displaced distal radius. He is going to have general anesthesia to have a closed reduction of the distal radius. "

Mom is a doctor. I guess once a doctor always a doctor but from the tone of the email it sounds like the kid is going in for major surgery, touch and go, months in the hospital, only the best surgeons could attempt a case like this. Hubby read it and said, "Sounds really bad, huh."

Allow me to translate these two sentances of jargon....

"He's going to have a little procedure tomorrow for his broken arm. He broke both the bones in his forearm pretty close to the wrist. One of the bones popped out of place when it broke so they are going to put him under to set it. No incisions or pins, they can pop it back into place manually."

Now I'm not callous to the feeling of having YOUR baby go for surgery. I get weak in the knees when littlest daughter walks through the doors to the OR to get ear tubes placed (she's had four sets). But the jargon speak of an email sent out to a Sunday school class made me giggle a bit!

More seriously though, if you read this pray for this little guy. This family has been through A LOT in the last 2 months. Mom had a mastectomy and is going to start Radiation for breast cancer soon.

Matching owies on my head

Last week i fried a little spot on my forehead with the flat iron. Literally, I fried it. I heard it sizzle when the iron touched it. Didn't really hurt too much but that noise made my skin crawl. I have a little one inch square red spot on the top of my forehead which is largely covered by my hair. Then this morning, I was standing up from the potty (there's an image for you!) when i banged the other side of my head on the open door of the wall cabinet that is above the toilet which I left open when I got TP out of it for one of the girls. Now that HURT!

School update

So I went to orientation...

Met a few classmates (I can hear my mom's voice, "Did you make any new friends today?"). The class is very diverse, old - young, male - female, black - white - latino - asian. They didn't scare us too much. It will be hard but they stressed the 89% retention rate saying that they want us to succeed and will do everything they can to help us get through the program. The schedule is going to be difficult the first semester. I have two night classes and then one early morning clinical (Be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m.!) so I'm holding my family to their promises to help get me through all of this.

The best part though was, gasp, ordering a stethoscope! How official!!!!

So I guess this makes my decision official, I'm going with Hard and Presigious over Cheap and Easy. But for the ultimate in irony, within an hour of when I got back from orientation Igot an email from Cheap and Easy congratulating me on my acceptance!

Off to school!

Today is orientation for nursing school! I have to be there at 8 a.m. which means hubby gets to get the kids off to school! i made it easy on him. They all have lunchables. I'm excited and nervous but mostly excited.

Off to the shower...

Thunderstorms

I just read this post http://krisgirl.blogspot.com/2007/04/morning-deliciousness.html in Krisgirl's blog and the very next night we had a booming thunder and lightning show complete with two of three children showing up to get in bed with us. It seems that even among those who think the family bed is a little odd, a thunderstorm is a good reason to let the kids pile in. I've never heard of anyone letting a kidlet Cry It Out in the middle of a thunderstorm. Perhaps because we parents are instantly transported back to those feelings of being so small in the face of something so loud and out of control. In the face of thunder the difference between a 50 pound first grader and a slightly larger mom is pretty small! I was glad to snuggle those little bodies next to me while the storm boomed itself out and I was glad to return them to their bed when it calmed down knowing they would come back if they needed to.

It was like seeing a celebrity

Today hubby and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts exhibit of a bunch of borrowed paintings from the Met in New York. The show was an overview of Impressionism. I took an Impressionism class in college and loved it so seeing some of the paintings was a little like seeing a celebrity in person. It is amazing to me to see paintings I've read about, seen in books and on various calendars in person! The one on top was ont he cover of my Art history book, The Boaters by Edouard Manet. He painted this other cool one called Olympia. It is in Paris but I would love to see that one. It caused an absolute scandal at the Salon in the early days of Impressionism. Anyway, the other one is called La Orana Maria (Hail Mary) by Paul Gauguin. It is Mary and Jesus depicted as Tahitians complete with Tahitian angels in the background. Very cool!

The other celebrity sighting was last night at my most recent gala event. Wore the dress and the shoes again. Little shorter night so the shoes didn't hurt so much at the end of the night. Anyway it was the Open Door Mission gala and featured Newt Gingrich as the key note speaker. He was actually pretty good. I didn't realize he has a Ph. D in history. Anyway the person that invited us is onthe Board of the mission and took us to the VIP room where we got our pictures taken with Newt, himself. Pretty cool! Now honestly, there are lots and lots of other famous types Id rather meet but hey I'll take this one too! It also explains how people end up with pictures of themselves and the President or some other politico in their office. These meet and greet photo ops must be standard procedure at events like this. That had newt standing in front of a back drop with a line to walk up, shake hands, pose, have two photographers snap several pictures and then move on. We don't actually have the picture yet so the stock headshot above will have to do in the meantime.