Rush To Post

It is no secret that I like talk radio. That includes my buddy Rush. I really think he is very entertaining and I cling to the notion that people who do not like him have only a) listened to sound bites or advertisements for his show OR b) have never listened to him for an entire show. He is like Howard Stern (before he went off the DEEP end)- a shock jock. He says things for shock value. He is a great thinker and pushes you to look at politics a little deeper. So anyway, all this to say, today on his show he was talking about women. He made the comment that women judge each other harsher than men. He went on to say that women will launch a full judgmental attack even on women they are friends with.

Those words have me pondering this weekend. A LOT. I really struggle with most of the female relationships in my life. I have always had problems with them. I am going to do alot of thinking while I'm cleaning this weekend. I would love to hear what you think and lessons you have learned in this subject.

I WON!

No, no, not any of the many contests at Pioneer woman's site. I won a blogging award from ShortyMom. Thank you. I strive to keep all my scrap honest. Shortymom is one of my favorite new reads. Especially now that I know she is shy in real life. It just makes the things she shares that much more meaningful.

These are the particulars:

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

1. Mamamia
2. Hulagirl
3. Amimental
4. Amahoney
5. Sara M
6. Steph R
7. Sara D-she is an AMAZING photographer!!

I'll leave comments later (maybe)-but you know who you are!!

Show the winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Scrap.” There’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

List at least 10 honest things about yourself:

1. My phobias are heights, bridges and water. Cincinnati is a scary city to me all because of that bridge!! The bridge tragedy in Minneapolis confirmed all those fears in a very terrifying way.
2. I think drugs suck and they are the root of the mess our country is in.
3. I cry a little everytime I hear the phrase, "I don't vote because all politicians are crooks." or really any excuse preceded by "I don't vote."
4. I would rather read than talk but I don't allow myself to do it. People over fiction when it is possible and they are conversational.
5. I am VERY easy to scare in a "BOO!" kind of way, but not easily frightened in other ways.
6. As I get older, I am also getting more introverted. I now enjoy solitude-especially in crowds and it used to terrify me to be alone anywhere-anytime.
7. Having children improved me in so many ways. I would not know where to start the list.
8. I love my children and I am not happy about the world they are growing up in. Our country is becoming a country that no longer protects its children from anything. The songs, commercials, TV programs, art, and cartoons geared at kids makes me crazy!!
9. My best friends are also honest scrappers. I love people who are real. Really real. No pretense.
10. Jesus, not church, is the key to life. Religion has hurt alot of people, but Jesus is the answer to everything. Find a church where you can find Jesus and the people will still hurt you but Jesus will teach the gift of giving and receiving forgiveness. You will also realize that everyone hurts someone whether they like it or not. Not meaning to doesn't change the hurt.

There's No Place Like Home

Count your many blessings!!

1. I am not a youth/family/or associate minister/minister. (Whatever the title-hard work!!)
2. I can still love and minister to the youth of our congregation-or anyone else! All of the fun, less of the not as fun.
3. That my body will bounce back from sleep deprivation.
4. For a heads-up from God that my children need to be briefed a bit more about the REAL world.
5. For good friends who know the meaning of "confidential". That I am one of those friends.
6. HIS mercies are new every morning.
7. I am improving at giving those I love a clean slate and another chance.
8. Old friendships breathed back into life.
9. My past-like Monk's OCD, it is a blessing and a curse.
10. Returning home with more money than I thought I would. GO ME!!
11. Winterfest was awesome. Great preaching. Great art. Great dramas. Great music-oh yes there was!
12. Our youth group is so sweet and I love them all despite the fact that teenagers scare me silly.
13. Gatlinburg got snow. And it was beautiful and the roads were clear. ( :
14. We had the best bus driver EVAH.
15. Hugs and snuggles from Lilly.
16. Dogs that missed me and made sure I knew it. "Wag your whole body if you missed me! Give Mommy a hug."
17. Comfy buses.
18. John Mark's riddles.
19. Emily S.
20. Brishee L.

SOOOO MANY MORE!!!

Sleep, glorious sleep.

Good night.

Look Out...

...LONG BLOG POST Ahead!!!

Some old stuff to share first!! My 37th birthday(Feb 3) right smack dab in the middle of the ice storm. Don't have a Feb. birthday. The weather is seldom fun. Although, I hear leap year Feb 29th birthdays are fun. The girls decorated my cake with decorator icing. They really enjoyed it! It was very cool.

The big 50 year anniversary. (Jan 31st) Also in the middle of the storm-before my birthday. See our make-shift 0 candle? That is called "making do" and we had about 10 days of it. Who arranged those beautiful flowers? Janjanmom. She added some pine twigs for greenery that were all about her front porch. So easy to pick. She also forgot to add water to the flowers and so they were dead the very next day. Memories...of forgetfulness. Precious.

...My blog posts have been much abbreviated lately and there are things I must tell. In fact, this could be called a tell-all because I must tell all the things floating around in this noggin so a whole new round of things can pop in and occupy space. It's the circle of thoughts. Does that mean thought death is the blog? Hmmm. Maybe better to just see it as the words living on eternally in blogland. So that would make blogworld the afterlife for thoughts? See this is what happens when you try to take something and make it into religiosity-it just won't go. Square peg, round hole. (ahhh, memories of early Christian music)

Now, random and odd-of course IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, bullet style!!

• Insurance adjuster is good man. We like him. He pay fair check. (It's in the mail. Uh-oh) He find things we not find and pay us for them. Good man.
• Youth trip is tomorrow. Laundry is almost done. Excitement is in the air. Yes, children, we will be leaving the house. We will be socialized for a whole weekend. Monday is going to be quite an adjustment.
• I almost enrolled Lilly in school for next Monday. Then I thought of the school lunches, homework, special projects, parent teacher conferences(when your kids is doing well-boring and silly), parent teacher conferences(when your kid has a problem-and no one really knows what to do-awful and with tears), the days your kid forgets stuff(and it is their fault), the days your kid forgets stuff(and it is your fault), the mad dash before school, the insane hunger after school, the mean kids, when your kid is the mean kid, how much money that free education really costs-school lunches plus snacks plus fees plus fundraisers plus the book club. All of that snapped me back to my senses and I enjoyed our school day much more. Not every homeschool day is a wonderful adventure in learning. There are days when I question what I am doing and why.(Which really has nothing to do with the aforementioned list-those are just a few of my favorite things that I DON'T miss.) Ultimately, I return to my decision and commitment, but please don't think I am the stepford mom poster mom of homeschool.
• I am doing the Beth Moore Bible study of Esther and today her video broadcast was wonderful. I loved it. I'm considering showing today's lesson to them. I'm considering doing the study with them. If you get the chance, I think it is my favorite yet. It IS very tough to be a woman.
• Only one of my daughters is over-run with hormones. Sometimes I have to pray that I don't take her life. What on earth is it gonna be like when we have three, excuse me 4 hormone crazy women in this house????????? I'm very scared.

• The don't mess with Memaw face. Don'cha love it? We do. They didn't mess with Memaw either. She is the perfect balance of tough and love.

• Little Debbie has really let me down. This purchase is my biggest case of buyer's remorse evah!! I think it would be better to just write on a regular box-for 100 calorie LD cakes, only take one bite and save the rest til tomorrow. I paid more for this box-even with a coupon than a regular box costs. I BEEN CHEATED!!!
• I sometimes think of doing a little bloggy get-together with my bloggy friends in KY. There are several that I have come across by accident(and some of course that I know) and I think that is real cool. KY bloggers, what do you think? Bluegrass Bloggers UNITE!

Sadly there is more, but I have much to do and it must be done. I may not blog until Monday...or I might. You never can tell. Have a wonderful weekend.

Day of RECKONING

At least, I reckon that is what you would call it. Today the insurance adjuster comes over to survey our damage. And we learn our fate. We have so much damage it is very depressing to look around the yard. We also have not had the time (or motivation) to put in more work days after the killer workday we put in to clear out the trailer (to use it for clearing!)and clean the front yard.(Especially when fresh limbs fell into the yard again where we cleared. GRRRR.) Most of our trees go untouched in our yard. The front yard looks pretty deceptively clear. Stepping around to the back of the house tells a whole other story. Today there are big winds blowing and the giant limb poised over our house makes me very nervous.

We got estimates from a couple of tree guys and the prices made me crawl into my bed in the fetal position. I may have sucked my thumb. I understand why the prices have to be so high-I really do. I just don't like it. Not even a little bit. I think I am going to like my insurance coverage even less. I hope that I am wrong. I hope this afternoon I will be pleasantly surprised. However, for some reason, I just don't feel very good about insurance companies and their desire to do the right thing. Not even a little bit.

Gifted, It Is The Best

Not too long ago, hubby and I had a conversation. Our living room has seating for five. And there are five of us. Usually we all stetch out and drape over one another but someone always ends up on the floor because it gets ridiculous. I wanted to add a couple of recliners to the mix. Then we priced them and I decided adding one would be nice. Hubby disagreed and preferred to save our money toward actual needs.

So, in a lucky twist of fate, my friend Sandy was gifted with new recliners from her parents. That left them with two older fuctional rocker recliners. They were nice enough to gift us with them and now we have two "new to us" recliners. You should've seen the big smile on Erik's face as he sat down with the remote. Utter joy.

Thanks John and Sandy. We love them. Utterly.

SOME PEOPLE...

...want to fill the world with silly love songs. What's wrong with that? I'd like to know.

I found the greatest love of all happening inside of me. The greatEST LOVE OF ALL is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.

You can tell everybody this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done...I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down the words. How wonderful life is while you're in the world.

I'm listening to oldies, can you tell? And doing all the things I didn't get to last week.

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell. I know right now you can't tell. But stay a while and baby then you'll see-a different side of me.

Don't have a bad day.

Listening to Both Sides

I am trying to listen to both of the people on my shoulders. It doesn't work. I'm not getting anything accomplished and I'm not even rested at the end of my non-accomplishments. Oh well, today I did make it to Bible Study AND tonight I will drive my daughter and another kid to chorus. Plus I am cooking supper. OVER achiever, extraordinaire!

The People On My Shoulder

The little angel on my shoulder says this:

• Let's get all that Goodwill stuff boxed up and out of the house.
• Let's do the three loads of laundry that have already piled up.
• Let get out that rainbow and vacuum this place.
• Clean the kitchen floor-it will make you smile to see it glow.
• Clear the bar-it needs to be done.
• Plan out a wonderful supper-it will make hubby really happy.
• Then you can relax for a few minutes before the running starts.

The little devil on my shoulder says this:

• You worked hard ALL DAY yesterday, take a break. It's not like anyone will come along and do it for you-it can wait until tomorrow. Find the couch and the remote. Relax, make some brownies. You have been through a very tough time, savor the down time. You've done school-that is a biggie, right? Frankie say RELAX.

I'm thinking the red guy has a point, what do you think? Maybe I can pull out my supermom cape and do it all.

Life Goes On...(And a book review!)

And so do we. Yesterday, church as usual. Our CARE group did not meet because we were not good co-leaders or communicators. I don't think anyone minded as they were likely sawing logs-really, not the snoring kind-like us. Then the older girls had youth care group. We finished moving back home. All our stuff is home now and yet not in its home. Today I replaced our depleted groceries while the girls had their 4H meeting. WHEW!! I needed more time before life and all the running it involves got back to normal. However, it has been a good return to life for the kids.



Yesterday, we cleared most of the debris from the front yard and a little in the back. Trees make a huge mess when they are all brokey mcbroke. We have until the 18th to get all the stuff cleared so the insurance guy can walk the property and give us the news of just how much they will cover. We aren't having high expectations, our deductible is pretty high. We hope to break even. We will do everything we can do ourselves and bring in the big dogs for the big dog stuff we can't do. The big dogs cost alot of money. Money you get reimbursed for later. I don't love our wooded lot nearly as much as I used to.



AND NOW...A BOOK REVIEW

This book by Dr. Earl Henslin was such an interesting read. I was pleasantly surprised at how well he takes alot of medical mumbo-jumbo and makes it understandable for the average Joe. I started this book with one opinion about medication (especially for kids with ADD and ADHD) and finished the book with alot to re-examine and think on. I also want to go and get a SPECT brain scan. The information in this book is very new science but has years of data to back it up.

I also love how he ties together so many sources (including the Bible!) for whatever your particular brain "problem" is. Oh yes, I almost forgot my FAVORITE part. There was a TEST!! I love tests. I take tests and then I pretend I am someone else and take the test and see what their test reveals. (Have I mentioned how analytical I am? Like Monk, it is a blessing and a curse!) The test lets you know your problem area and then he gives you several pages of ways to help your brain get back to joy.

This self-help book is both an easy read and a helpful read. I give it 5 stars.

50,000 Words

We'vegot Power, Yes We Do...

...We've got power, how about you? It turns out we have had power since 10 o crock last night, we just didn't know it. Oh well, ignorance is bliss. Soooooo, when we were home today, if I had turned the main breaker on, I would have discovered power. This means, we are staying another night here because we have two truckloads of stuff here and it is just easier to wait til tomorrow. I think Jerry and Martha will miss us...a tiny bit. We really were prepared to wait another week and even being good sports about it. Two more loads of laundry-one in the washer , one in the dryer and all possible laundry is finished. WAHOO!!

So tonight we celebrated with a pizza party and a beer. Actually, I had two. And I don't even like beer. Except on hot days at the zoo and with pizza. I feel so, you know, ENERGIZED. Cheers!

Antidisestablishmentarianism

That title has nothing to do with anything, just proving to my children that I can spell it. Mostly just the child staring over my shoulder. Nosy girl. (I typed sex and she went away.)

We are still in the dark, at least at home. I got my fridge side of the refrigerator cleaned out today. It is all empty and ready to be filled up. Come on power, we are waiting for you. I also got the rest of our clothing that was dirty from the house to finish up. I'll have enough to do without adding laundry to the mix. We have all the comforts of home here and we are sitting pretty. Jerry took Erika and Lilly to Sam's and the grocery today. He let them pick out any cereal they wanted. You would have thought they had won the lottery. Kayla went to the house with me and I made her work. She did not want to go to the grocery. She also didn't complain about any of the work I made her do, so that was nice. She is really helpful now. Able to do all of the things I can. Those of you with little ones-it does get easier, physically anyway.

I vacuumed the whole house here at the guest house. It was easy to do and so little to repay the ability to stay here and have power. Plus, we ARE the ones making it messy!! ( ; It has been gorgeous weather and is supposed to be for the next few days. I just hope we don't get the rain we are supposed to get. Our lineman need things to be easier and rain and storms won't be easier.

Some day, I'll make it home and show you pics of our yard. Don't hold your breath-I don't anticipate power before next week sometime.

Welcome back to electricity Shortymom-I've been praying for you. Glad to hear you are powered up. Some day the land of Reid will get re-enrgized too.

Still Living With In-Laws

And loving it for the most part. Especially loving this wi-fi laptop. Way cool. The girls never want to go home. Memaw has Disney channel now that the power is on. They weren't hatin' it when there wasn't any power. Erik and I however, are missing home. We have ALOT of work to do and it would just be easier if we could live there to do the work. We have cleaned out our freezers. The fridge is mostly cleaned out but I didn't focus on it near as much as the freezer full of berries.

I have not gained any weight-I weighed today when I went to scoop up after the kitties. Considering the lovely food we have been eating this is quite a shock. I guess it just reiterates how little I move. I need to start walking or sumpin'.

I guess that is all for now. Hula, we must be on the same grid. Thanks for all your hard work getting everyone else's power on. You are a trooper!!

WAHOOO!!!!

My in-laws have power!! We are going to check our house in just a few minutes but we are glad to have power here. I may owe someone next year's birthday wish. Let me know!!

Day 10 Without Power

I had a special wish when I blew out my birthday candles. A wish I have never wished before. (At least I've never birthday wished it!) I wished for our power or my in-laws power to come back on. I'll take either these days. It has been OK but as this drags on it is getting harder. "Don't mess with Memaw" has been the mantra and while we giggle, the girls really do obey her much quicker than Erik or I. My girls are not exactly misbehaving, just reacting in very normal ways for kids who have spent way too much time away from home snuggled up with family.

We have all gained about 5 pounds each so far. When all you have to think about is what is for your next meal, that meal tends to be pretty tasty-fat and calories are not taken into account. We are really tired of cooking on the grill though. It really is like camping and while I don't want to seem ungrateful, I'm tired. I also have p-envy. I drive by alot of people with power and I am jealous. Very, very jealous. I've used a birthday wish and everything. The good news is that our gas bill and electric bill should be pretty cheap next month. To add insult to injury, we received this month's power bill in the mail. I am so thankful I don't answer the phones at the power company. 10 days makes some people really crabby. I say a prayer for Hula every night. I wonder if she longs for the snowman six days.

Hubby and I surveyed the damage again at our homestead. We really do have alot of damage but most of it won't be covered by insurance. Trees actually have to damage something when they fall to be covered. We have double digit trees down. Some of them are bigger around than me. *sigh* We are thankful none of them fell through our house, they could have done so very easily. We are blessed and very spoiled. We long for normal. Soon...if you have a birthday wish, I'd love it if you could wish our power back on. ( ;

(Mia, I'm glad my wish got your power back!!)

Birthdays and Anniversaries

Tomorrow will be our one week anniversary-of being powerless and living with my in-laws. It will also be my 37th birthday. Saturday was my in-laws GOLDEN 50TH wedding anniversary. We have had much more festive celebrations. We had plans for more festive celebrations. Man plans and God laughs. The girls and I left Saturday at 11 with promises not to return before 3PM. Just in case some celebratin' was needed.

Erik and the girls and I all went to church yesterday. I charged my phone and my spirits. Most of our church is all in the same boat and it was wonderful to see everyone and know we were all okay. We were the haves and the have-nots. It was easy to distinguish the have-nots by the curly wet hair ragamuffin appearance...at least that's what I felt like. I was also able to go over yesterday evening to my friend Karen's and do some laundry. Thanks Steph for the awesome "message board"-brilliant!! Karen treated me to a movie and a few episodes of "Friends". It was nice to watch TV and do laundry while sipping ICE water. ICE IS NICE. I miss it most of all. I went into her bathroom and flipped on the light and it came on!!!! Unlike ours where I cannot stop turning it off and on despite the fact that it doesn't work. Thank goodness I don't have one of those families who tease about those sort of things!!! HA!! Oh yeah, you did read that right, I was happy to do laundry...heehee. An icy miracle.

Today, we got up before my in-laws, tidied up as best we could and left the building. I left them an "Enjoy the silence" note. I know fish and houseguests both smell after three days and so we are trying to give them a bit of space when we can. After 6 days, we smell!! Not really, gas water heaters ROCK!!!

I may be 1/16th liberal because I love the library soooooo much. Especially when there is no power or internet at home. BLISSFUL. Now I am going to go read while my children surf to their heart's content (up to an hour and a half anyway).

ICE, ICE, Baby.