Mandatory Participation

Because I can, I decided to add the poll feature to the blog. The way I envision it, I will now have a simple tool to use on days, much like today, when I am feeling pressured to blog but have very little to say. Also, it will allow the 20 or so of you (yes, i'm watching you with another nifty little tool called "sitemeter"), who refuse to comment for various reasons, to participate without actually forming your own sentence. I've given you several from which to choose. So let's have 100% participation in the poll, people.

Schwank

In preparation for the day we all get our $ together and rent our own island, I've become a mystery shopper for high-end restaurants and hotels. :-) OK, that's not actually the reason, but I'm still pushing for the island thing.

I used to mystery shop in college, but that was only for one nice restaurant in College Station (that's nice, like I used to think of nice...not nice like the places I'm evaluating now) called Cafe Eccel and Church's Chicken. This is not at all the same experience. But I digress. Last night, C and I got to go eat at a hoity-toity (C wants me to use the term "Schwank") place in Dallas. This was fun for many reasons, the first of which is the fact that we were allowed up to $145 on the meal. that's right, $145 on a meal. So we had to dress up a bit in order to appear that we might actually be able to afford such a meal. And I guess I did ok on that, bc when B saw me he said, "Mom, you look rich."

Another fun-ity of the evening was that we were to arrive separately so that I could, alone, evaluate the bar. Now our instructions were to get there between 8-9:30 and meet up at the bar. I'm wondering, how many married couples have circumstances forcing them to arrive separately at a place like that at that time on a Saturday night? I guessed that anyone noticing might think we were having a clandestine meeting. So there I was, sitting at the bar and waiting for my secret tryst to begin. At this point, I was both rich and sinful.

My job was to inquire the bartender about an "interesting summer drink." This was, in particular, a challenge for me, because I could not know LESS about the subject of alcohol. I guess I pulled that off, too, though, because the bartender was all ready to fix me "The Perfect Summer" when I told him that on second thought, I'd just have tea instead.

After Clay finished with the valet service and perused the grounds for a bit, he came in to find me and had trouble. This was another fun part for me, because I believe he may have begun to panic, thinking that I had left with some strange man who hypnotized me with his worldly charms in my 10 minutes alone in the bar. :-) After all, I DID look rich....and alone. But we found each other and went on to enjoy items from each course, as if we had not a care that there are, in fact, starving children in Africa. The food was simply delish, as I imagine the two men who were holding hands in a quiet corner booth would describe it to you. Here's to me doing a good job on my report so that we can evaluate a schwank hotel next time, as I am certain that will provide us more bloggable fun.

Maybe Her Parents Were Artsy, Too...

A has a friend over right now who is writing the music to go with one of A's songs. They're upstairs on the keyboard. And I just have to say that it is awesome. I'm not really referring to the quality of what's going on up there, but the very process of it. I wish you could be here to "overhear" them with me. They're FOCUSED. But I must say that I didn't know that A could be so bossy. Tempermental artists....

C is busy selling our group's unused tix for this girls' conference in Dallas next weekend. They're posted on the women of faith website. (who cares...i know...but i have to tell you this in order to share the real gem>>) Today he got a call from a woman named Kissie Mouse. Now I've heard of some crazy names in my day, but folks, now we have a winner.

My Own Private Island!

So I was doing a little research tonight, and I found what I want for my next birthday. It's the perfect gift!

http://www.4beachnuts.com/vacationrentals/Bahamas/lodge2022.html

I figure if all of us pitch in together, we could all stay there for at least 30 minutes or so.

Sanjaya Returns

Tragedy was narrowly, nay, miraculously, averted this week. Since 2 of us are allergic to all things furry pet, we have fish. B has a beta in a little beta tank in his room and A has a beta in a little beta tank in her room. (Flash, the bearded dragon, returned to the earth a month ago while we were on vacation.) You might recall that A loves her fish, and that she named him Sanjaya.
Tuesday morning as the kids were getting ready to leave the house, I noticed that Sanjaya's tank was looking sad, so I decided to change the water. His tank has a little plug at the bottom in order that you might slowly drain the nasty water and replace it without actually removing the fish. I might note here that this is a very small tank, certainly no larger than a goldfish bowl. I took the tank to the laundry room, pulled the plug, and set it in the sink. This is, I believe, the moment when Sanjaya and his draining tank left my mind completely. (Did I mention that it's early when everyone is leaving the house? 7:05, to be exact.)
A got home from school at 3:20. We were talking over the day and I was putting up clean clothes in B's room. I saw his beta, Sally, swimming happily along and asked A if she had remembered to feed Sanjaya that morning. From her room, she inquired, "Where is my fish?" This is the moment when said draining (er, drained) tank reentered my mind. In a panic, I shouted, "OH SHOOT!!!!" and sprinted through the house to the laundry room sink, where I found a completely drained tank, as you might imagine. It was, after all, a full 8.5 hours later. I came out of the laundry room, where A stood, perplexed, and said, "I killed your fish. I'm soooooo sorry!" and then began to recount the events exactly as they had happened. She cried. I cried. We hugged. Then, I don't know why unless it was the Spirit of God, I felt inclined to make sure that Sanjaya had indeed, met his untimely death. I reentered the room of certain death and turned the water faucet on over the tank. It filled, and a couple of seconds passed, but then....up from the pebbles he arose! and began swimming about with seemingly no ill effects from my attempt at fishslaughter. I don't think that his tiny little fish brain even knows that anything bad had happened. A and I began to laugh joyously and she exclaimed, with tear-streaked face, "I bet a neon would have died."

small electric appliance

Today began cross country mornings for B. He has to be at the athletic complex at 7:30 in the a.m.s to run before school. And that's about when school starts for A, so the quiet of the house is happening early these days. This means that I will eat breakfast earlier, which means that I will begin looking forward to lunch earlier. (Don't mock me...my very world revolves around food.) Anyway, I made a brilliant purchase just weeks ago, making lunchtime even more anticipated than before. I bought a Panini Presse' (look at Target trying to be all fancy) and I researched my favorite panini sandwiches from such eateries as Panera and Corner Bakery. I'm making a mean Chicken Pomodori and even have kettle chips for a side. It's tasty, I tell ya'. And as a responsible blogger, I just wanted to inform you because you might not even know that such an incredible' appliance' exists.

off the hook...er, couch

clay's phone has been ringing all night. it's pretty funny, because the phone # for Dallas Cowboys season tickets is only one number off from his cell phone. I'm not kidding. He's fielded at least 12 calls tonight alone. And I'm not judging, Cowboy fans, but every caller has sounded much like this: "Uh, yeah (add strong Texas twang here) Ah was callin' 'bout thu Cowboy tickets." (or so I've been told.) Clay has strong suspicion that none of these callers could actually afford the tickets, so maybe it's a good thing they're writing down that tricky number wrong. We're wishing we had a credit card machine right about now. Or I wonder if we could talk people into using our paypal account??? (note: these evil thoughts were put into my head by my minister-husband. tsk.)

i must make some life changes. it's time. i am now ready to admit that i cannot drink Coca-Cola (regular variety), eat chicken biscuits, and Oreos willy nilly. Also, I'm going to have to go to bed before 11:30 in the p.m. The first week of school is kicking my posterior. And what's up with starting, then having a holiday the very next week? Just when we're starting to get used to the early mornings, we'll undoubtedly succomb to the temptation of sleeping in (in honor of Labor Day, of course), and then the whole sick cycle will start again. For the love of Pete (i don't actually KNOW Pete...)

Welcome, CJS to the blog...maybe you could show TC proper commenting etiquette! :-)

twelve.

Yesterday was B's 12th bday. And in a little over a week he'll begin the 7th grade. Bday celebrations are entirely different at this age and I kinda like it. low key, just a few guys hanging out playing pool & ping pong, eating pizza. There was no theme or favor bags. Really, they didn't even need me at all and even better...little parental cash is required for such a gathering. OH, and I didn't have to wrestle with one toy to get it unwrapped or buy D-batteries or anything like that.

I remember his Toy Story party, his Tonka Trucks party, and his Tarzan party. ANd then there was the time we loaded up his friends and went to the Lamesa drive-in...45 min. away...to see Spy Kids 3D. And the time we loaded up his friends and went to the Ennis drive-in...25 min. away. I don't even remember what we saw that time because it was kind of a pain to unload all those chairs and order everyone food. The parties are definitely easier now. Still, thinking about those days makes me a little bit sad....

it doesn't get any better than this

today i fell asleep at about 2:00 and had a dream that i was taking a nap. :-)

Alto!

i just had shrimp and crab dip and grilled shrimp enbrochette at the aquarium restaurant in kemah. don't hate me. :-)

this morning we went to the san jacinto monument and battleship texas. the ship was very cool and educational but the monument was only so-so because the elevator was closed for maintenance.

we rode the boardwalk beast at kemah today. that's a big speedboat that goes pretty durn fast. upon boarding, the kids asked the crew, "where do you sit to get the wettest?" and so we did. and i'm not talking about a little bit of wet. i'm talking like we might as well have taken a shower with our clothes on. that's how wet we were at the end of the 25 min. ride. makin' memories.

so i know i haven't shared any mission trip stories yet. and i'm sorry about that. but we had a great trip. and there's way too much to write about on here, so you'll just have to pick up the stinking phone if you really want to know. but i will say that on the first day in matamoras, clay was distracted by a man stepping out into the road in front of us. clay ran a red light and (we had been in mexico a total of 2 minutes at this point) a non-english speaking officer of the "law" pulled us over. i say "law" loosely bc apparently there are no laws about jaywalking or standing in the street breathing fire or accosting passersby with your spit rag to clean their windshields. but there are laws about running red lights. anyway, it was exciting there for a bit bc there was very little communication happening but we did understand it when the man took clay's drivers' license from him. i know, i know...a mexican prison would have been a better story, but still, it was a little scary since his license was gone. a few of our students were about to wet their proverbial pants at this point. but in the end, all clay had to do was go to the transit authority a couple of hours later (with 2 spanish speaking friends, wisely) to pay his $14 fine and get his license back. hey, this ending kind of reminds me of the gas station story from earlier this summer.

Meh-hee-co

Generally you blog about events that have already happened. It's nice to share anecdotes and tales of adventure and all, but this time I've decided to go in reverse blog order. It's revolutionary, I know.

All 4 of us are heading down to Mexico Saturday morning on a mission trip. We're going with about 30 other people and 30 more are taking a different mission trip to New Orleans. We'll be staying in Brownsville and driving over into Matamoras each day. Half our group will do construction on a church that we've partnered with for the last few years and the other half will do VBS type stuff with kids. I'm really excited about going and am glad the kids get to experience serving in that kind of way. So if you could pray for us that'd be bueno.

Gracias and Adios!

Good Times

B loved Matt Bullard basketball camp. Here's a pic of him with the former Rocket and 2-time NBA champ. They're tight. They dress alike and everything. And 6' 10" is taller than you might think.

Before that, we hosted 5 nieces & nephews here at the house for 2 weeks. 2 for one week and 3 for the next. It rained a lot those weeks, but there were some non-rainy moments and all of those were spent on this:

our friends left town for a week and we got to use their home waterslide on steroids. I'm saying the waterslide is so big it's on steroids. Not us. Except for Brandon because he's always on steroids for his asthma, but that's a different story altogether. anyway, the thing was a lifesaver.

we also got to go out on Lake LBJ w/ other cousins earlier this week, because we went there after leaving The Woodlands last weekend. They have a really nice boat and fun tube and wakeboard. B & A loved the tube and couldn't seem to go fast enough or get flipped out violently enough. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that bc I left my camera on land. Nor do I have a pic from our visit to thesharester's casa. Also very sad. But we had a great time there enjoying some tasty burgers on the deck while misters and a fan kept us pleasantly cool.

The blog is acting squirrely and not letting me type a title. But if I could, it would say:
My first and probably last book review

The rain was good for at least one thing. I finished my summer writing a full month ahead of schedule. So now I am officially on vacation, time which I plan to use reading and swimming, reading and swimming. And speaking of reading, I finally started to read Blue Like Jazz a couple of days ago. I say "finally", because it's been the thing to read lately. I generally don't pick up books that are the thing to read, in part because I am stubborn to follow intellectual trendiness. Also, I have not read any non-fiction book except for my Bible in at least a year. You might think this is spiritual; however, it is simply a product of laziness. While I am writing I do not like to source other materials...it slows me down. So I just bypass the temptation altogether by not reading anyone else's thoughts, except for a couple of commentary writers. But back to Blue...I am now about 1/2 way through the book and I'm still not certain what I think about it. The only thing I know for sure is that it is thoroughly thought-provoking.
Have you read it? What did you think? Probably because I read it right after doing a study on Acts, I have felt several times like putting it back on the shelf. I feel sometimes like it's supposed to be extra spiritual and relevant to hold the view that people who want to be obedient to Christ's commands are out of touch and behind the curve...like the strict Jews in Acts with their view of circumcision. But then I read something that might be brilliantly insightful after I think on it for awhile and so I do not put it on the shelf. And it seems like Donald understood my struggle when he wrote this: "I wish I were the sort of person who liked everybody and everything. I feel so negative sometimes. I have friends who can listen to any song, watch any movie, or read any book, and they think everything is just great." So now I have to finish the thing.

Impressive

I can't even imagine how Noah's wife must have felt with the kids cooped up inside for 40 days and nights. After the 16th straight day of rain here, we were about to go nuts. And we even have malls and movie theaters and such. But on Thursday I woke up from a lil afternoon nap and saw a brightness that was unfamiliar in previous days. When I realized this was the sun shining through the windows, I yelled to the girls (A & A) : GET YOUR SWIMSUITS ON! We enjoyed an hour of swimming before the rains began to pour yet again.

B is back from camp and had a splendid time, despite said rain. The missions offering they collected was huge, the camp pastor was great, the Bible study leader was his favorite ever (no offense, none taken), the games and parties were so fun, and the food was great ("Mom, they used REAL MEAT"). He even made it back with $7 in his wallet, which is quite impressive if you know B.

Aunt Cynthia

Summer Update:
C got back from youth camp this past Friday. They went to Pineywoods...my old preteen/youth camp stompin' grounds. This is the place where my stuffed dog, Odie, of Garfield fame, was sent up the flag pole and where, as a counselor at preteen camp I was serenaded by the staffers while I was eating. They, all down on one knee, sang "You Lost That Lovin' Feelin" in the cafeteria the year I had apparently lost interest, since I had started dating C. But back to the here and now...C and his youth campers had a great time and 7 kids that went with our church became Christians! Next stop...Hardin Simmons for Super Summer in July.

B left yesterday morning for Crosspoint Camp. I haven't heard from him yet, but I do know that he scored the back row on the charter bus yesterday, so I guess it got off to a great start. He's rooming w/ his cousin, Brent, who I have discovered is a highly organized (he packed and repacked 3x) , money-saving lad---neither of which are descriptors of my B--so I'm feeling better about all our possessions getting back home on Friday.

A is enjoying the week here at the house with her cousin Alyssa. These two are the most easily entertained individuals...they play together quietly for hours, needing nothing but the occasional snack. Our plan was to swim, swim, swim this week, but it looks more like rain, rain, rain. So we're going to see Surf's Up later today.

I have written 9/14 sessions of my summer writing assignment. If A and A continue their self-sufficiency, I hope to have 11/14 finished by the end of the week! Who knows? Maybe I'll have half the summer left and NO WORK to do. woohoo!

because he can

Anecdotes from the week formerly known as Vacation Bible School

At Summer Blast, all the kids were directed to choose from cheerleading, soccer, basketball, and football as their chosen sport of the week. This serves as their recreation time and they receive instruction in that sport...kind of like a mini-camp. Anyway, the very same trash-talking boy who made fun of Hannah Montana earlier in the year, told A last week that girls can't play football. He scoffed at the very idea. So guess what sport A chose for the week? you got it...she's playin' football. i love that girl.

At least 1 of you will really enjoy this story (I'm picturing a young SJ w/pantyhose over her head)...part of Welcome Week for B and the other incoming 7th graders is to partcipate in some wild and crazy games. For example. 3 lucky contestants were chosen for a game of Human Darts, where their heads were covered with whipped cream and their teammates threw puffed cheetos at them. The team with the most cheetos stuck to the head at the end of the time limit wins. that one was pretty funny. But even more enjoyable? was watching B in the pantyhose olympics. He (and several others) was challenged to eat a banana, put pantyhose over his head and then spit the mushy stuff through the hose. Whoever gets the most out wins. Now if you know B, you know about his wildly passionate competitive streak. He shoved the banana in so fast that he immediately started gagging. But he overcame that problem and yanked the hose down over his head and started blowing with all his might. The catch is that you can't actually spit the banana through the hose. In fact, the harder you blow and work at it, the more the nasty mushy banana-substance spreads all over your face...even up into your hair if you're really determined, which he was. Ah, in the youth group just one week and he's already makin' memories that will last a lifetime...

Summer...it turns me upside-down

Well week 1 of Midlothian summer has finally arrived, though most of the state has already been in celebratory mode for a couple of weeks now. Thursday was the last day. Which is nice, since it has seemed for weeks now that we were, actually, out of school for summer but were dropping the kids off for some sort of day camp each morning. Now I don't have to feel guilty about letting them stay up past school-year bedtimes.

Week 1 starts off w/ a bang...B & A have Panther basketball camps put on by the High School, and for the evenings we have Summer Blast for A (the week formerly known as Vacation Bible School) and Welcome Week for B. Today some friends from Midland came to church and lunch w/ us and then we had A's piano recital. The recital was nice, and we got a laugh while reading the program...each child played 2 pieces. The girl before A played "How Great Thou Art". A followed that up with "Rubber Duckie". :-) The pieces were probably pretty close in difficulty, but, obviously, an ocean-like depth of subject matter lie between them. And the husband of the piano teacher talked a bit at the beginning about how much he's enjoyed hearing about all the kids and what they're learning. His examples of pillow talk included: "Did you know that Abby is pretty headstrong?" huh. who knew???

I don't know if I can keep up this pace AND blog, but i promise to give it a whirl. Also, I'm writing this summer. This is a first for me, as I have previously committed myself to absolutely zero work responsibilities while the kids are out of school. It's for next summer's QuickSource that is a companion piece to Explore the Bible for Adults (i knew some of you were wondering). I'm writing the whole quarter and it's on Acts, which I find fascinating.

The little girls are calling the house w/ increasing regularity. Even 5 times in one day. This is a challenge for us since C is youth minister and his job requires that he be nice to middle schoolers. But as long as we don't help B w/ his phone manners, I think the situation will resolve itself. It goes something like this: (while walking to the phone) "How did SHE get my number?" (i have a sneaking suspicion...) and,
(after answering phone) "What do you want?"

:-)

Life in the Big City

Yesterday C, B, and I pulled into a Race Trac in Grand Prairie to get some petrol (whose cost is, in itself, another blog entirely). C got out to fill 'r up and I noticed 2 policemen to my immediate right. They proceeded to walk up WITH GUNS DRAWN to another car that was parked on the curb about 10 feet from the front of our van. (I'm serious and I don't even have to embellish this tale.) Having seen such things only on TV and in the movies, I began to panic somewhat and banged on the window at C. He didn't hear me, so I had to roll down the window to say, "GET IN THE CAR." Naturally, he wanted to know why, so I said in bigger caps, "THEIR GUNS ARE DRAWN. GET IN THE CAR NOW." That got him moving. So we kind of hunched down a little bit and watched them sneak up behind the car just like Jack Bauer would do it, except that they were wearing those cool uniforms. Sadly for you, this is the end of the story because no one was in the car. The policemen retreated and went into the store. I never said the ending was exciting.