Effortlessly....

Today was one of those days that make me think I am supposed to be learning a lesson ... but just wasn't sure what.

It was a tough day on the emotions.
With the kids.
With staying on task.

I want it to be effortlessly -- and maybe that's the problem.
My brother tells me that if it wasn't hard, it wouldn't be fun.
I'm not necessarily a sadist ... and I find things happier when things happen easier.

maybe that's the lesson in this -- if it were easy, the rewards wouldn't be so sweet.

Until then -- I'm going to listen to this song because it suits my mood.

Tomorrow, is soon enough to find the fun in the difficult.

A Tale of Two Houses..

No...this is not a Charles Dickens story.

Not even close...

It's the clash of families ....

No, not Romeo and Juliet

It's the battle of the ages...

and it's not wrestling....

It's the Laundry Pile.

The Professor grew up in a house that was Quiet.
I don't meant .... Quiet. I mean quiet.
They rarely talked to each other... conversations were not normal.
The professor spent most of his time as a kids with Legos. ..

I grew up in a house that was Loud.
not LOUD -- but a normal sort of loud.
My brothers were constantly wrestling.

His brothers, 10 years younger, were not physical. They were mental.
Video games, board games, card games, action figures, comics...
not much loud even when they came along.

Since This mom grew up in a loud, wrestling, playing, goofy, talking sort of house..

and I'm the one that's home with the kids the most...

Guess what sort of household the Laundry Pile contains.

Boy you're good.

I don't like bickering, drama and whining -- but loud boisterous play is quite aloud (except during school time) (snicker -- aloud...snicker)

Sometimes the Professor comes home to LOUD ... and I think he feels like the Teapot holding the tempest...he's not sure how much he can hold and the look on his face tells me he's afraid he'll break.

My professor needs a study -- or a tower where he can escape the noise and ruckous ...

and I don't have to worry about making the kids do something I'm not capable of doing --

which is being quiet.





Until I can find a study or a tower -- I guess we'll modify things a bit...

or buy some ear plugs.

Thinking...

Mini-Me, who really isn't a lot like me mentally (she just looks like me) (but so does Bubbles...) says, "What do you think is the easiest word to spell?"

Oh- probably "is" - says I without giving it much thought. I was focused on breakfast.

"I think it's 'a'." she smiles, "because it only takes one letter to spell."

*nods head*

Maybe she's more like me than I think.

An odd sort of family....

I have an odd sort of family.

There's Mini-Me, the 10.5 year old who merrily proclaims, "I'm the smart one."

There's G-man, who is so much like me and so very different that often I don't know what to do with him. He loves Jesus and that's all that matters.

J-man is the class clown. He also sees no problems in hitting a sibling should they not comply with his wishes. Or if they annoy him. Or cough on him. I guess I could call him "Knuckles"..... but I won't.

We went to the local "StuffMart" on Saturday. Me thinking it would be fun to have a movie night...but forgetting how UN FUN going to the store can be. Especially on a saturday. Especially especially when Knuckles....I mean J-man wants to act out his computer game through the aisles of the store.

Standing in line to check out, J-man says, "That's a big, fat guy, just like you, Mom."
I shushed J-man because we didn't need to talk about people so loud the entire store could hear him -- the Man saw the blabber mouth get in trouble and tried to shhh him. Telling me, "Most kids think I'm Santa Claus"

Whimper.

I may be jiggly but I'm no Santa Claus.

Then There's Bubbles. The very cute, very small tyke who reminds me of Me .... and many other short, power mad future dictators. ..... I mean, World Changers....

Who told me, "I yike you, mom. but I don't yike dad."
Uh huh. Sure. Go to sleep, kid.
She only 'yikes' me more if it can keep her awake.

You've met all those kids...but what I haven't told you is that I have other children, too.
They've been with me for several years now, I don't talk about them much because, we've been getting to know each other. Our relationships have changed and developed...

There's the thief who thinks that's all she'll ever be.
There's the Prince who likes to break with tradition....I think deep down inside he'd rather be a spy, but it's not really an option right now.
There's the Prince's best friend -- who is definitely a glass-half full kind of fellow
and even the Pirate. to round out the group with .... well what kind of family would it be without a pirate??

They've been keeping me awake ....

and mentally occupied ...

and Typing. ....

and not blogging.

But family comes first, right??

Even if it is an odd sort of family.

An odd song to start the day with...

I grew up listening to an odd collection of music.
Classics and chamber music.
Big Band and swing.
Oldies Rock.
Show tunes.
Some Blues because my dad liked BB King.
Some country - because one of the favored albums in the house was Willie Nelson's "Red-Headed Stranger"

So I have an odd collection of musical memories. I don't really mind. Until "I shot the sheriff" gets stuck in my head.

Yesterday was an odd sort of day. It started in an odd sort of way.

Remember when I said that I had that awesome song Newsboys song came to me in the shower??
It didn't happen twice in a row.

Yesterday, when I rolled over in bed I heard the lyric....

"The night they drove Old Dixie down and all the bells were ringin'..."

Excuse me?? What's that??

I know God talks to me through music. Especially music in the morning.

But I haven't quite figured out if that song was because
God was having fun (because He does that),
sending a message (he does that, too) ,
or the MP3 player in my head shuffled because I rolled over (a thought that amuses me because some MP3 players are motion sensitive nowadays).

I haven't figured it out. I'll have to ponder it for a while... until I figure it out...I guess I'll sing along... I mean, what else can I do until the Mp3 player shuffles again??




Na, na, na, na, na...

First Day of School...

It's the first day of school here in the Laundry Pile.
I'm not sure what it's going to look like - but I think it will be fun.

When in the shower, I began to hear this song play in my head.

Had to share....



If this is playing in my head - that means it's going to be a good day.

Head meets teeth

Sunday at church I hear a scream!
It's a scream of screams.

I announce that there had better be blood - because I knew exactly which child was screaming.
He likes to scream when he doesn't get his way.
And often, he just likes to scream.

There's no blood - but there is pain.

Apparently he and a friend, a petite young lady of the age of 5, were playing...and there was jumping.

I'm unclear who was jumping where and how. Just that there was jumping.

His mouth met her head.
She looked a bit stunned as she rubbed her head and looked at me. I kissed her head after making sure she was okay. J-man, however was beside himself (neat trick, huh?) ... He showed me his mouth and I announced there was no blood. He cried and wept, "Check my teeth - are they cracked?"

That was a new one.

I looked again. No broken teeth.

He wept as I took him down the hall way to find ice.
He's still positive that his teeth were broken.
I told him, "Sweetie, you didn't hit hard enough to break your teeth, Sweet Girl isn't even crying."

He wailed louder, "BUUUUT I AM!!!"

I laughed. I did.

He's fine, by the way.
It took a great friend to offer to pull his teeth for him to decide that maybe his teeth were fine, after all.

Oh --- so much to do -- so little time...

Hi.
Miss me??

I'm here.
There and everywhere...

I have a great thing in mind to show you what I've been doing - because I miss our chats...but Sunday -- I got to playing "Fallout 3" with the Professor ... and Then I got to playing it again on Monday during naptime..and before I knew it, it was dinner time. Oh my.

There's so much I want to say -- so many of you I want to visit -- and today..

TODAY

The clutter must be conquered because ....*gasp* school MUST start soon.

BUT .... BUT ...

I can NOT get this song out of my head to make a clear and concise blog post (as an example - I leave you with the above ramblings) ...