wish it was wordless wednesday

alas. with nothing of real substance, i give you…

not sure what this says. i don't read chinese. hope it's clean!

Wish it Was Wordless 

Wednesday Haiku

my mind is a blank

clever thoughts eluding me

must get back to work.

{crickets chirping, no doubt}

where has the time gone?

my baby will be 19…

she's so grown up.

my lawn is so brown

summer drought is upon us

crackle crackle crunch

what's on your mind today?

please…

respond in haiku

or if you must…

…a {clean} limerick.

post it note tuesday: the novel version

if these actually WERE post its, i probably would have gone through an entire package. thankfully, i haven't watched TB yet, or i more than likely would have.
hold on to your diet cokes, friends. this is kinda long.
and rather meaningless…
but it is my world.
i can't help it that my world isn't more exciting…
or more clever…
you can read back a few days (like yesterday) when i actually had something to say. for now, it's PINT.

brought to you by supahmommy. go visit her, check out what she has going on. while you're there, leave a comment. {for that matter, leave one here, too. comments make my heart sing, in this self-indulgent needy kind of way}
every tuesday, supah hosts a fun meme… your world on a post it note. wanna play? it's simple. go here, make your posts its (directions are right there, and if i can do it anyone can!), and add your name to the list.

happy tuesday.

life rearranged.

as is our habit after church, we went out to eat. (thank you for the places that are open and folks who work on the sabbath. my stomach thanks you) bama girl and her friends sat at a nearby table, and we occupied one nearby. we were greeted by hearty hellos from the table as if it had been weeks since we had seen each other.
it has been, actually.
bama girl has been taking a class at a local college to get a requirement out of the way before going back to bama in a month. anatomy and physiology. sixteen days of pure hell. she's not seen the outside of her room for a month, with the exception of the 15-20 hours she's been working. her last class is today and she'll rejoin the land of the living. and we'll begin seeing the girls at the house again. yay. i love those girls.
and the boys have been working full time at an adventure camp. they finish work at 4. they crawl, exhausted, to their cars and go someplace cool and quiet. after 8 hours in the 90+ degree heat, it's a necessity.
because of this pattern, the grass is growing back in my front yard. no wiffle ball for three weeks now. i'm having withdrawls.

anyway, i digress. (shocker, i know)

back to lunch.

on one side of us, a rowdy table of college kids all talking at the same time and enjoying catching up after not seeing one another for the last month (many of them are in summer school).
on the other side of us, a dad with his pre-teen daughter.
the hubs had a clear view of them, watching them interact and share time together.
sigh from the hubs.
"that dad and his daughter," he began. "she has downs."
"i noticed."
"i can't imagine the feeling of looking down at your new baby and realizing that the future you had planned for her is going to look so different. your entire life altered in a single moment."
"yeah. like life rearranged."
"not that this life isn't full of blessings and possibilities… just different from what you expected."

he looked over at the table of college kids… then back at the dad and his daughter.

it was quiet at our table for awhile.

life rearranged. 

made me think of a blog i follow. amazing stories of folks whose lives became rearranged for various reasons. and a vehicle for giving back. it seriously is the coolest thing…. please visit. and give.
your heart will be blessed.

fried basil and fireworks

the father's day ice cream was a huge hit. (so much so that bama girl has asked for it for her birthday next week) i left the ice cream maker outside the back door and planned to dump the salt water over the fence into our easement behind the house. no worries of the dogs licking the salt or destroying any plant life that we didn't already want destroyed.
i didn't get to it in time.
the hubs, being ever-so-helpful (really, no sarcasm there… really) watered the basil and our planter with…
yep. the bucket of majorly salted water.
of course, when he saw the huge chunks of kosher salt in the dirt of our planter, he said oops. i couldn't hardly get angry. it was my fault for leaving my toys out.
i flushed the soil with lots of water and crossed my fingers.

but sadly, it doesn't look like basil likes salty water.

i'm sort of scared to think that i'll not have a single daffodil greet me next spring.


friday mornings are my early mornings. the hubs goes to his friday morning men's group (affectionately called the moose club) and leaves the house about 6:25 as i continue enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the paper.
since boy wonder has to leave the house at 7:15 every day, i don't linger in bed much, since i want to love on my son by making him breakfast and making his lunch. sure, he's a little spoiled, but it's something i enjoy doing and is appreciated as boy wonder's love language is acts of service.
anywhoo…
i saw some left over slice and bake cookies in the fridge as i was getting out lunch stuff and thought i'd pop them in the oven so BW could have a little sumpin-sumpin extra in his lunch. so i preheated the oven and went about my business.
it wasn't too long before i noticed a popping/sizzling noise and wondered who has spilled something on the oven and what was burning off…
i put the dogs outside. i've learned the hard way that if the dogs hear the smoke alarm, they go berserk {a vast understatement}. and with still sleeping people in the house, the last thing i needed on a quiet friday morning was three screaming dogs and a shrieking smoke alarm.

i opened the oven door to my own private fireworks display. with this cool electrical hum/popping thing.
close the door.
hmmmm. what the heck?
what spilled on the element?
why is that glowing sparkler feature snaking from one end of the element to the other?
turn off oven.

hmmmm. what the heck?

i should probably unplug the oven, but i can't quite manage that.
should call the hubs.

hmmmm.

well. the element is shot. the oven light no longer works. but the burners up top still work. don't know what this means other than i wanted to make BW fresh baked cookies (notice how i didn't say homemade).

on to the toaster oven. not perfect, but they'll do in a pinch.

good thing this wasn't monday. i probably would have gone back to bed.

be my guest!

imagine my surprise when a friend of mine invited me to be a guest blogger for her while she was on vacation…
i almost forgot to link up here… head on over to mama4real to see what's on my mind today.
it may not really be that big of a deal (kind of like "winning" one of those blog awards… not that i'm discounting their function) but i was pretty flattered. i think the world of julie and hope you'll not only visit today (because i know you're dying to leave me a comment over there, considering i'm such a shameless comment whore) but also when she comes back to her own blog.
so go on now… go head over to mama4real.
thank you and see you back here tomorrow. i have an ice cream aftermath story that i need to share.

laughing on the inside, sweating on the outside

i'm laughing over the fact that i can blog about the dumb ole bachelorette on post it notes and get a dozen comments and then post some epic essay that i work really hard on and it gets two comments and crickets chirping. oh well, such is life in the land of blogdom.
yesterday was the day after summer soltice (yikes… the days are getting shorter already!!) and perhaps the steamiest day here in east tennessee. {that is until today probably.} perfect time for the AC to go out, dontcha think?
i tried the usual things… because this has been happening for the past few weeks… our AC just randomly decides to cut off. a retripping of the untripped breakers, a flick of the thermostat switch… it's usually enough to get it jumpstarted.
not this time.
and the hubs was gone until almost seven.
it was about 83 inside. and 95 outside. opening windows seemed like not the smartest thing to do.
nor did turning on the oven to bake crescent rolls or make dinner, but i did.
the hubs found some fusebox on the AC unit and determined that it was an old fuse. off to home depot for a replacement.
dude. i'm so glad that place is literally within walking distance. he could have walked it, but hey, can't say i wouldn't turn down an air conditioned ride across the street either.
it was the fuse. and our unit took hours to recover from being off for several hours. {i'm so spoiled, seriously, i hate how dependent we are on stupid AC… but it's not so stupid when you don't have it!!}
i could have gone outside and sat on the front porch and watched the lightning bugs, but i think they're took the night off because their butts would have heated up the atmosphere too much.
it was a steamy one last nite. the air was still and the humidity was way up there.
made me want to have some of that father's day ice cream… but it's long gone.
bama girl has put in a request to have it for her birthday in a week.
good. gives me an excuse to make it. it's a guilty pleasure.

here it is, in case you want to feel guilty too.

white chocolate raspberry ice cream

1 pt fresh raspberries
2 lg eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
2 c heavy or whipping cream
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 c milk

2 squares baker's white chocolate, chopped

{raspberries are amazingly flavorful and pretty tart, so don't skip this first step thinking you want the tang of straight up raspberries. you're going to want to sweeten them up with sugar.}

toss the raspberries, 3/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. 

meanwhile, beat the eggs in a mixing bowl for 1-2 minutes till they're fluffy. continue beating and slowly add the remaining sugar until completely blended. add the heavy cream and milk and mix to blend. drain the juice from the raspberries into the cream mixture and blend. 

mash the raspberries and stir into the cream mixture along with the white chocolate. transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions. makes 1 quart of heaven.

NOTE: If you like a chunkier raspberry ice cream like we do, begin the freezing process without the raspberries and white chocolate and add them when the ice cream stiffens (about 2 minutes before it's done) then add the whole raspberries along with the white chocolate.

homemade ice cream tends to be a bit soft, so it's a good idea to make it a few hours before you want it, so you can pop it into the freezer for a good freeze.

oh my word, i want some right now…

sticky tuesday

i've been a woman of few words lately. highly unusual for me. enjoy it while it lasts, people.

here's the weekly installment of PINT, brought to you by the coolest mom. no wait. the most supah mom. go check out the other post its. people can be so clever. (not that i'm including myself with that this week)
and if i can make a post it, anyone can. seriously. go here.

enjoying the day… the whole LONG day…

it's monday. welcome to a new week. today is also the longest day (daylight-wise, we still have the same 24 hours!) of the year, and if i hadn't just celebrated father's day, i would throw a party for summer. even though it's pretty steamy here in the south, it so beats the cold!! the sun is shining and we have another barn-burner in store for us today. no complaints here, as the memories of gloom, cold and damp of our winter still lingers, and i'll not complain about the heat. i'll instead, be very thankful for my air conditioning, and the ability to pay my utility bills!

i'm also thankful for one of my new OLF, cranberry morning, who gave me this award yesterday.
normally, i'd thank them and move on, but since it's monday and i don't have anything else prepared, i'll play along. The rules to the award (and sorry, but to me an award should just be an award with no strings attached… but in the spirit of keeping the award alive, i'll play by the rules… well, most of 'em anyway). Now, it's my turn to pass on the awards! So, to the recipients whom I will name shortly, my instructions are pretty simple and straight forward:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award. 
2. Share up to 10 things about yourself.  Short & sweet
3. Pass the award along to up to 10 bloggers who you have recently discovered and think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award. -- of course!!!


10 things about myself (like i don't talk about myself enough already). short and sweet.
1. there ain't nothing short & sweet about the way i communicate. this is gonna be tough…
2. i love to read. favorite place to wander is a book store.
3. i like to be crafty but oftentimes get swept up by perfection, which is seriously limiting.
4. i have massive reflux and eat my daily prevacid or whatever, but still could live on tums. 
5. love to pack my children's lunches (they're home for the summer and have to be out of the house by 7 and 7:30)
6. having a love affair with my DVR. the good wife. the big bang theory. burn notice. grey's anatomy. bachelorette (don't judge). most are on summer hiatus, but with a hubster that doesn't dig tv, this is a way for me to stay in the loop.
7. i'd be lost without google. (there. i said it)
8. the hubs and i have three weiner dogs. that makes us lacking in intelligence, but not in compassion.
9. many of my friends are under 21 (comes with the territory of being a volunteer youth leader for ten years). a lot of my other friends live in my computer. cultivating IRL friends this summer. so far, so good.
10. am a faithful recycler, but not a composter. throwing away food garbage seriously hurts my soul, but not sure i could deal with decaying stuff in my backyard. or the papers the hubster would most certainly serve me with. ahhhh. green angst.


i'm passing this on to some bloggers that i love… and it won't be ten, because some of the bloggers i love don't need the exposure, or are dealing with much bigger fish to fry than answering questions and talking about themselves. but if you want to visit them and encourage them, that would be fantastic.


so these are folks that i dearly love, but are dealing with major life issues and could use the prayers and encouragement. leave them an uplifting comment today, would you?
our claire journal (their daughter drowned on memorial day and is slowly recovering)
walking by faith (triplets born at 24 weeks. two boys did not survive, daughter charli fighting and winning. she's now 35 weeks gestationally and weighs just over 4 pounds)
just because i am me (fifth child was born with heart defect and is undergoing surgical procedure {second of many} TODAY. please offer up love and encouragement)


and those that are not all new friends but  i simply love and think their words are beautiful…
mama4real (she even asked me to guest blog for her this thursday!! i totally love her blog and she tweets the funniest thoughts)
4tunate (a mom with four little boys… ie quads… is she supermom or what??)
just breathe (she's my west coast friend and we have some fun things in common. go love on her… her daddy's in the hospital)
a day in the life of kimber (she's adorable and funny and i will meet this person AND mama4real in real life.) 
the art of losing myself (we've been OLF for quite some time now, and it looks like i'm going to get to visit her next month!)


okay. i'm done now. 
sheesh. blog awards are exhausting! but i'm still honored. thanks judy!

dads

i write about my dad trepidatiously, as there is some disagreement in my family as to the character of the man i called dad.

i'll not enter into a dialog that tries to qualify him as a good dad or one who should have been held accountable for physical abuse. i never suffered at the hand of my father, but then again, i came 17 years after the first kid in our family, and by the time i entered the picture, my dad had adopted a workaholic lifestyle, and i didn't see too much of him. we had our differences, but overall, for me, he had my respect and love.

what i can speak on, however, is the man i married.

he became a father quite by surprise… not that he didn't know about the birds and the bees, but because we weren't quite ready to start a family… but this is what happens when one puts the cart before the horse. our four year courtship ended in a planned elopement, and six weeks before our cruise, i informed the hubs of the child we would have in seven months. he was surprised, but pleased. 

since the first moment he held our son, he's been captivated by fatherhood. he was involved in all aspects of child-rearing and even stepped up during many of the fear-factor moments we all dread… like blow out diapers and midnight vomit on his side of the bed… 

there are a million things he's taught our kids… too many to list… but one of the best things he's taught our kids is what it looks to be a man of God. how to father with grace and mercy and how to love the Lord our God with all his heart, mind, and soul. he leads by example, is selfless, kind, and gentle-spirited.

i couldn't have dreamed up a better father for our children. 

happy father's day, hubster!

PINT saves me from really having to post.

crazy week. but then again i've been saying that for the past few weeks. will be able to elaborate more about that later, but in the meantime, i've taken out some of my aggressions on a few post it notes. it's all i can do not to actually post some of these. in honor of my 21st anniversary, i left out the ones about how we both work, yet i get the lion's share of the extra-curricular home duties. but since i'm celebrating the love, i wouldn't mention that. that would be way wrong of me. so i won't go there.

but if you want to play along with a little post it note tuesday (PINK) head on over to the post it note queen, supah. 

if i can do this, anyone can. so easy a caveman can do it (but apparently they can't aim…). make your own post its here.

enjoy!

winner winner, chicken dinner!

i love to read. i'm always reading something. oftentimes, i'm reading more than one book at a time. i like to have a good "jesusbook" going, i.e. something that is building my soul, and then a leisurebook, something that i read before going to bed.
currently, my jesusbook is the good and beautiful god by james bryan smith and my leisurebook is the used world by haven kimmel.

the good and beautiful god is a book i'm reading for my summer bible study, and it's like cuddling up with a good friend on the beach and watching the waves come in and out. comfortable, thought-provoking and real.

the used world, on the other hand, is just not happening for me. i'm over half of the way through and i'm not sure if it's just because it requires more brain-power than i'm prepared to offer as i wind down from the day or if i'm just thick… but haven's not quite grabbing my interest and i'm unusually detached from an emotional connection with the characters. it would be so easy to "lose" this book, but i'm not a quitter, and so i'll press on.

i am a haven kimmel fan, though. i've read her memoirs and the girl is flat-out hysterical. if i need a pick-me-up, i grab one of her other books. she'll chase the clouds out of a day faster than a cool summertime breeze.
i participated in a bloghop-ish thing the other day on one of my ifriend's (that's as in {imaginary friends}, my affectionate name for my blog/cyberpals) blogs. mama4real has a read-it-forward thing and i'm pretty excited that i won her giveaway.

nora robert's angels fall. i've never read her before, so i'm looking forward to something new. this gives me incentive to finish the used world.
and i'm going to pass on one of my favorite books to julie. because reading is just so fun that way. it's like introducing someone to a dear friend.
what great book(s) have you read lately, and would you care to introduce them to me/us?