mosaic!!

A woman from our church has taken Janie and I - along with a few friends - under her creative wing. She is in the process of covering every door in her home with the most amazingly beautiful glass mosaic. Woven into her mosaic is a "journal" of her walk with God. They are absolutely amazing. This year, she decided that we younglings were ready to take a stab at it. And she encouraged us to do something BIG. So we did, and four months later, we're still working! She is one patient lady! And very generous, too, because she lets us use all kinds of material in her studio...it's like being in a candy store! And she asks wonderful questions during the class and says things like, "I love to see the colors you choose, because it tells me so much about you!".

I thought I'd share a little of our progress. These were taken a short while back, so we've covered ground since then. The first two are of Janie's. She's covering a wooden "cube" cabinet. Mine are the second two..the top of a dresser that belonged to my sister and I when we were little. It has been so much fun to learn this art...it's like a therapy session once a week! :) We'll post more as we cover more surface! Thanks for letting us share!

mothers day work crew photos

These are a couple of pics from my mothers day work day before my camera battery died....

My weird mothers day gift request......

Today was one of the best mother's days ever. As of yesterday, we really didn't have any plans, which was kind of nice. So we decided to surprise my mom by attending her church this morning (which also happens to be the church where I grew up). I knew she was going to be a part of a skit, too. She was really excited to see us, as it has been a LONG time since we've visited due to our commitments at our own church. It was an amazing service, and the skit about the seasons of a woman's life made me cry like a baby. We ate at Hungry Hobo afterwards. Yum.

The weird part of the day came when, after many inquiries about what I'd like to do on mothers day, I came up with the perfect thing. I've been feeling bogged down lately by the growing list of things to fix/maintain/upkeep around our house and the lack of time to get any of it done. Soooooooooo, I told my eager-to-make-me-happy family that I would like to have a family work day.

*can you hear the crickets?*

That is honestly and truly what I wanted to do. And NO, I did not sit inside and eat bon bons while they all worked. I'll admit right here and now that I would never be able to enjoy the bon bons because I'm way too controlling about the to-do list and how it's done. I'll deal with that issue later. Besides, I wanted it to be a "together" thing. So, here is the list of accomplishments:

1) moved everything out of garage (crew: everyone)
2) organized scrap wood, tools, electrical materials (crew: everyone)
3) blew leaves, sawdust, and dirt out of garage with leafblower (crew: Tim)
4) recovered from respiratory distress from #3 (crew: everyone, plus a few neighbors)
5) moved #1 back into garage in much neater fashion (crew: everyone)
6) weedwacked (crew: Tim)
7) mowed (crew: Tim, and introducing SAM!! He mowed the lawn!!)
8) Swept, shoveled and bagged about 3 tons of helicopters (crew: Mom, Janie, and Sam)
9) Trimmed unruly dogwood bush (crew: Tim) note: I tried to do this once, and it looked like a four year old had gotten to it with a chainsaw. Thank you, Tim for your trimming expertise.
10) One gutter cleaned (crew: Janie and Sam, supervised by Tim) This job was a bit of a rabbit trail on Tim's part, and I was not excited about J and S being on the roof. So that's why only one gutter was cleaned. The stink was awful. Gutter rot.
11) Huge pile of bricks moved from front yard to back yard. (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
12) cilantro and basil planted (crew: Mom)
13) garden watered (crew: Janie and Sam)
14) dirt under swings watered and mud pool created (crew: Janie)
15) mud tracked everywhere thanks to mud pool (crew: Janie, Sam, Joe, Pete)
BONUS ITEMS:
14) Chocolate cupcakes made from scratch..frosting and all (crew: Janie)
15) Country Style run at the end the day (crew: everyone)

Yes, dessert twice.

Can I just tell you what a lift to my spirits it is to have those jobs out of the way? I know it's not the normal mothers day fare, but it sure made my day. The kids were great workers (I only had to threaten naps and no ice cream a couple of times, and I think that was only for Pete, although he really was a good little worker :). I was proud of them, we had fun, and we got a ton of stuff done. Maybe we'll make this a mothers day tradition. Or maybe next year I'll feel like tea and cucumber sandwiches. I guess that's the sweet thing about mothers day!

apologies..

Sorry about yesterday's post. I apologize if it was uncouth and unprofessional of me to discuss business situations, but you just have to laugh about some things. And it was late, and I was punchy. And, actually, you really should look for that movie scene on youtube. It's stinkin' hilarious.

On to other things....how about a few "Peter-isms" for a Thursday morning? Here you go:

Pete: I'm never going to get my driver's license.
Me: How will you get to work when you're a grown up?
Pete: My wife will drive me.

another...

Pete: Mom, will you read me that story about the cats' mittens?

I think today is going to be a good one. The coffee was brewing nice and early, the sun is shining (which does WONDERS, doesn't it?), and it's a new day. I'm so thankful for that. Yesterday I was a grouch. So grouchy that I gave the following speech to the boys after being ON THEM all day to get their stuff done: "If you don't learn to be diligent and stay on task, and if you're lucky enough to get a job someday, you're going to take an hour to do something that should only take five minutes. Then you'll get fired and won't have any money and won't be able to pay for food or a place to live. Then you'll have to live under a bridge or something." I actually said that to them. I could have said, "and don't come knocking on my door for a place to stay", but I didn't. Quite the character lesson, don't you think? :) (um, no.)

I think I should re-name my blog, "Non-Stellar Parenting Moment Confessions."

So yes, I've got high hopes for today, and I'm claiming God's grace to erase, or at least heal, days like yesterday. I hope you have a great day, too.

how much for just one rib?

Okay, I haven't blogged in so long that when I went to sign in, my blog didn't recognize me. :) I actually started a post about how uncreative I've been feeling, and how overwhelmed with the "needs to be done" list. But I scrapped it...seriously, who needs to listen to that? And who else is in the same boat? (high fives all around...)

I closed up my computer and turned to Tim's desk to help him appropriately word a work-related email. The contents of the email dealt with a situation that pops up now and then. (I'm trying to be ultra-professional about this :) I felt the need to post about it. Here's why:

Okay, anyone who knows me knows I'm a bargain girl...Goodwill all the way....clearance bin junkie. So I can appreciate folks who want to stick to a budget. But every now and then Tim runs into a situation on a building job that brings to mind a scene from the classic flick "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka!". If you've never seen it, by all means do not rent it and subsequently wonder why you're friends with me. I only say that because I think most of the three or so of you who read my blog aren't really the "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka" type. (Although a certain good friend and librarian from Cedarville University actually OWNS this movie. *shakes head* ) I can't remember the exact dialogue from the scene, but I think you'll get the picture. It goes something like this:

Chris Rock's character walks into a rib joint and asks, "How much for a order of ree-ubs?" Apparently the price of the ribs was too much, so he says, "How much for just ONE ree-ub?...I sho' am hungry!" Then he asks for a soda, and the price is too high for him, so he asks for just a sip..."pour it in my hand for a dime!". While fishing around for money to pay for his one rib and sip of soda, he says to the man, "you got change for a hundred?"

Sometimes Tim will come home from work and say, "How much for just one ree-ub?", and I'll know exactly the kind of day he's had!

(you can find the scene on YouTube if you really must! :)