There are days when only an online test will do

You're The Hobbit!

by J.R.R. Tolkien

All you wanted was a nice cup of tea when some haggard crazy old man came into your life and told you it was time to do something with yourself. Now you're all conflicted about whether to stick with your stay-at-home lifestyle or follow this crazy person into the wild. While you're very short and a little furry, you seem to be surrounded by an even greater quantity of short folks lately. Try not to lose your ring, but keep its value in perspective!


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

H/T Entropy (who took it a few times).

All things considered, I think I can live with The Hobbit. My sixth grade teacher had us read this as a class. I couldn't stand the pace the class was reading at and finished before the week was over. One of the Best.Books.Ever. And a pretty great sixth grade teacher, too. Thank you, Mrs. Hayes.

Happy birthday . . .

. . . to me!

I was the last of my mother's miracles. That is what she always called us because as a young woman she had been injured to the point that one of her ovaries was totally destroyed. The doctor had told her she would probably never have any children. She and my father were married five years before my oldest sister was born and then two years later my other sister was born. Five years -- and I don't know how many miscarriages later (Mama doesn't remember anymore) -- I was born prematurely. Soon after I was born, I started to develop jaundice and was lucky enough to get the last incubator available at the hospital. I have heard different stories over the years about just how sick I was and just how long I was kept at the hospital -- I think the last version was that I stayed in the hospital for about a month and had at least one complete blood transfusion.

In a warped tradition that has developed, Lawrence will not wish me happy birthday first thing in the morning. One year (1997) he didn't wish me happy birthday until the morning of the 30th. He had been so overworked he was a day behind and thought he was being the first to remember my day. Unfortunately he was the last. Now it has become standard for him to not wish me happy birthday until the last possible minute he thinks he can get away with before missing it totally. Most years that means 11:45 p.m. We'll see how late it is today -- last year was 1997 all over again with him not remembering at all until I told him the next day I had lost a bet with a friend who thought he wouldn't wish me happy birthday until 11:58 p.m.

I'll add a comment tomorrow to let you know when he remembers this year. :)

Seen today

Isn't he cute? He was caught in a humane trap which was left outside a friend's house by accident. They were a little shocked to see him this morning.

Now I just have to make William understand it is not meant to be a pet.

Relatives are great

My darling husband's Aunt Tara E-mailed me last week to ask what size shoes the kids wear. I let her know and today the mailman left a package on our deck:


The kids are thrilled to finally have some Crocs. And they are pleased with the colors and the Jibbitz Aunt Tara picked out. She is incredible. We love her very much.

Posts for 24 August 2007

More from the musical dad

Pachelbel's Canon in D(ad)

We (sort of) made it

More from the musical dad

I couldn't help it. When I was listening to Pachelbel Bedtime for the nth time, I decided to see if he had any other videos posted. Thankfully, he did. Again, make sure you pause/stop the Project Playlist in the sidebar before starting to play these.

Sneetches



Spoiled Bumblebee

Pachelbel's Canon in D(ad)

Almost three months ago, I shared Momsense with you. Today it is time to hear a dad's point of view.

Make sure you hit the pause button on the Project Playlist in the sidebar before you hit play on this. I hope you like it as much as I did!



H/T: Kerry

We (sort of) made it

Wednesday was the first day of school for the (three) big kids. Olivia had been one of the littles up to that point. Now I am down to just one little. Just don't call him that, though. :)

As sad as I thought I would be, William was more upset. I had to go to Lawrence's office that day so William had to go to a sitter. He and I left the house before the others went to school. To say he was not happy with the whole situation would be an understatement. He cried most of the way there and attached himself to me when I tried to drop him off. At some point after he had begun to settle down, he told one of the workers to leave him alone because he was not a baby and didn’t need to be there, he should be in school. When naptime was over, he looked at the other children there and, since they weren't his family, he went over to a corner and went back to sleep, waking up a few minutes before I picked him up. Let me tell you, that five hour nap made for an interesting evening.

Lawrence took the older three to school -- even though we are on the bus route, he enjoys those few minutes of drive time with the children -- and called me to say that even though she said she was excited, Olivia had a deer-in-the-headlights look about her. We went out for dinner that evening to celebrate her first day and heard about some of the friends she made and a little bit about what she had done. She seems to be following in Allan’s footsteps because we can never get details from him either. Marie, as usual, was very forthcoming about what she had done and told us she was happy to see some old friends and to start a new writing journal.

As we did good night hugs and kisses that night, I asked each one what was the best part of the day. Olivia said it was playing. Marie said it was her journal. Allan said it was coming home. If I had asked him, I'm sure William would have agreed with his brother.

One word, no explanations

Courtesy of Angela, the One Word, NO Explanation meme:

1. Yourself: tired
2. Your spouse: workaholic
3. Your hair: brown
4. Your mother: lonely
5. Your father: deceased
6. Your favorite item: books
7. Your dream last night: caterpillars
8. Your favorite drink: tea
9. Your dream car: Mustang
10. The room you are in: family
11. Your ex: uncaring
12. Your fear: failure
13. What you want to be in 10 years: healthy
14. Who you hung out with last night: family
15. What you're not: wealthy
16. Muffins: blueberry
17: One of your wish list items: books
18: Time: morning
19. The last thing you did: breakfasted
20. What you are wearing: casual
21. Your favorite weather: autumnal
22. Your favorite book: AAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH
23. The last thing you ate: Poptart
24. Your life: changing
25. Your mood: depressed
26. Your best friend: Dana
27. What you're thinking about right now: school
28. Your car: minivan
29. What you are doing at the moment: thinking
30. Your summer: over
31. Your relationship status: committed
32. What is on your TV: Disney
33. What is the weather like: dreary
34. When was the last time you laughed: today

I tag Dana, Christi, and Christine. I'd tag new blogger Nate, but I don't know if he wants to do memes.

sad

I've been quiet lately because we have been very busy getting ready for school: meeting the teachers, buying the supplies (why must we be so specific as to require a particular size of Post-it notes, a size which turns out to be Not In Stock?), getting a physical, and today's errand will be driving to Richmond to get a copy of a birth certificate we can't find.

But first this morning Olivia and I stood on the deck together waving goodbye to Daddy when he left for work.

And that is why I am sad. The physical, complete with getting shots updated, and the birth certificate are for Olivia.

Tomorrow she starts Kindergarten.

Tomorrow she will be in Daddy's truck with Allan and Marie.

Tomorrow -- since William will still be asleep -- I will stand alone on the deck waving goodbye to those I love, waiting for them to return home.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer

If you read nothing else today, read Whymommy's post. She has recently been diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

I discovered my lump after a bout of mastitis. Thankfully, mine was simply scar tissue from an injury caused by my seatbelt in a car accident. I hadn't been doing monthly BSEs. It's something we all need to do. BUT...

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Learn about the symptoms and, please, take care of yourselves.

For Christi

Christi, who has a delightful blog and 12 wonderful children, left a comment and wanted to know how to add a playlist.

Here goes:

Go to Project Playlist and sign up -- it's free (I like free). After you create your account, search for music by title or artist. There are two buttons by each song -- a play button and one with a plus mark. Play the song first to make sure it works; not all songs do. Hit the plus sign to add it to your playlist. You will be asked to again play it to make sure it works.

Once you have the song or songs you like, you can arrange the play order on your playlist. Follow the links for adding your playlist to copy the code. In the Blogger dashboard choose Edit Layout and add the Page element for HTML/JavaScript. Paste the playlist code there, save the change and, voila, you have a music player on your sidebar. Once you have a playlist, you don't need to change the code in your sidebar to update it -- it will update automatically.

See, that's not hard. If I could do it, you can do it.

I'm feelin' hot, Hot, HOT

That was the temperature display in my van this afternoon when we went to the library and the grocery store.

And for Angela in Canada, here it is in degrees Celsius:

The kids and I were very.very.glad to get home!

Children and food

I was reading Danielle's blog this morning and followed her link to this. It is an interesting study -- children as young as 3 appear to be influenced by branding.

Sixty-three children, ages 3 and 5, were given five foods to sample: chicken nuggets, a hamburger, french fries, baby carrots and milk. The first three foods all came from a McDonalds; the carrots and milk from a grocery store. All five food samples were split in half to be served in plain packaging and in McDonalds packaging. The foods were exactly the same, but the children thought the foods in the branded wrappers tasted better than those in plain wrappers.

So what? Well, something else I've read recently (and I can't remember the source or I would cite it) said that our children are subjected to one food commercial every five minutes. That works out to a possible three hours of food commercials each week. You can google that phrase and you will get 74 hits for that exact wording. You get about 1.85 million if you don't have the phrase in quotes.

I am not anti-fast food. We've eaten our fair share of it. (In fact, we've eaten enough of it that we gave up fast food for Lent -- and for those people who think that's not suffering, all I can say is you've never been in a van with four children who think a trip into town requires fast food.) Maybe as mothers it's time to rethink our approach to what our children learn about food and marketing. I will be.

Which Disney Princess are you?

Angela is Belle and wondered who other people were. Well, here I am.

Which Disney Princess Are You?
	You are Cinderella. You are hard-working and never complain, however, your trust is sometimes misplaced and people sometimes take advantage of you. Still, you are beautiful inside and out, and one day you will realize it and find true love.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Who are you?

Sing it with me

Like I said in an earlier post, I have added Playlist to the blog. Currently there are six songs on my playlist. Most people popping in here will only hear part of one. :) I'm prepared for that.

The player starts with Ave Maria by Schubert. This is a very beautiful song and one I have only learned to enjoy within the past year or so. Schubert composed this when he was 28. He is reported to have written to his father and stepmother that people "wondered greatly at my piety, which I expressed in a hymn to the Holy Virgin and which, it appears, grips every soul and turns it to devotion."

The second song is Deeper Than the Holler by Randy Travis. A rather large leap between the two, I know. This is the first song my beloved sang to me. It is "our" song. 'Nuff said.

Third is El Shaddai by Amy Grant. This was a favorite of several of my friends in college and it became a favorite of mine.

Fourth is Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash. I like Johnny Cash. My father liked Johnny Cash. I grew up listening to Johnny Cash. I also grew up hearing stories of my father as a very young man playing guitar for a group called The Tobacco Tags -- don't bother googling it, I've tried and can't find anything. The Tobacco Tags supposedly did some back up work for The Carter Family from which came June Carter Cash.

Fifth is Wildwood Flower by The Carter Family. Reread the last two sentences of the previous paragraph. This song is also an inside joke for Dana.

Last but not least is Family Tree by Darryl Worley. I like this one a lot. It had been around for awhile but it finally sank into my brain when I was expecting William. It was playing in the background when I let Lawrence know I was expecting William. Is it any wonder he gives me the "Are you trying to tell me something" look when I play this song?

UPDATED: Every now and then I will rearrange the order of the songs and add a few more. I have also switched it so that you must click play instead of it starting automatically.

Little things

Sometimes, when you least expect it -- especially when you least expect it -- something that you do helps someone else.

I had been feeling bad about not posting anything substantial on this blog. I know I can write; I'm just afraid to write right now. I'm slowly trying to get back into it, but real posts are few and far between. Mostly I've been tweaking the layout of the blog.

There are a few new pictures on the sidebar -- at least they are new to here. They are WWI and WWII posters. V for Victory has several in her sidebar and I googled the phrase on one and found several more that I like. I hope you enjoy them, too.

And I added Project Playlist. I have six songs saved to my playlist currently. The first one is Ave Maria. It is an incredibly beautiful song that touches many. Thankfully it touched Angela the other day.

I may not be writing moving, thoughtful, beautiful posts, but at least the music on the blog did something for someone just when it needed doing. And that's what is important, isn't it? I may not have done some great and glorious thing, but God took what was available and did what needed to be done.