Punkins!

One of my favorite things about this season is the abundance of pumpkins. It's such a happy... veggie? ... fruit?* (I would check that out for certain, but I know there are those of you out there who will do it for me, so just message me on Facebook if pumpkins turn out to be a fruit. And then I'll go in and edit this post. Go on... check... you know who you are!)

Punkins, punkins... how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I love thee in my tart warmer, wafting fragrance every way...

I love thee in my coffee cup, as I start the brand new day...

I love thee in the tastiness of Krispy Kreme delights...

I love thee floating in the air from on the light so bright...

I love thee sitting on the plate where oft my punch bowl rests...

I love thee by the front door, greeting all our guests.

*My beloved punkins are fruits. Although... they do fall (ha ha ha ... bonus points for being punny) into the category of fruits that most people always call veggies, right along with cucumbers, tomatoes, and gourds. My, my, my... even our favorite cartoon series has fallen victim to cultural tradition over science. Oh, well. I still love my punkins!

Tracey tagged me so now I have to toilet paper her house...

No... that's not Tracey's house. That's my house. And I'm not REALLY going to toilet paper her house. She doesn't have nearly enough trees.

Bless her heart... and I really mean that... Tracey tagged me with the daily schedule tag. Since ours is in transition right now, I'll go ahead and do one from a couple of weeks ago.

5:55am - Hit Snooze

6:04am - Hit Snooze

6:13am - Hit Snooze

6:19am - Alarm off ... Go wake Kelsey, Zane & Zack

6:20-6:40am - Shower and get dressed

6:41-6:46 - Daily Light

6:47-7:05- Toss a load of laundry in, go downstairs for breakfast, lunches, drink mug of coffee, fill travel mug for trip to school, gather indescribable amount of STUFF.

7:06-7:09- Yell, "If you don't hurry up and get your stuff and get in the car, we're REALLY going to be late this time." Scurry around gathering football pads, homework print outs, jackets, shoes, life rafts, dinosaurs, Skittles, travel mug of coffee and whatever else helps us make it through the day.

7:10-7:30, depending on traffic on 540 - Drive to school, listening to the Q-Crew if they're decent. If not, or it there are too many political ads, we go to the oldies station. I prefer tobyMac CD's, but evidently I listen to them a bit much and my children refuse to ride in the car with me when they're on.

7:30-7:40 - Carline at NRCA... trying not to hit little high schoolers and their siblings as they dart through traffic anywhere but in the actual crosswalks. Wave at the other teachers and smile a "I don't have to do carline because I'm sub-parttime" smile.

7:40-8:00- Sit in car and pray. Real hard.

8:00-8:50 - Go to teachers' workroom, watch Fox News (it's the ONLY channel EVER on) and check email and talk to Nate, Suzanne, and Holly... and a few others who float through now and then. Jamie makes phenomenal tiramasu-flavored coffee. Kathy comes in and out. Occasionally I edit. And sometimes there's photocopying. Ooooooohhhhh!!! Don't you wish YOU could photocopy in the teachers' workroom?! You have to have a code to make the copier work. I can feel the sense of power coursing through my veins even now...

8:55-9:45 - I enlighten young minds about journalism. If you want to see what they've learned thus far, go to my Journalism Class blog. That's not all they've learned, but it's the start of something beautiful. I hope. First issue will be out in a couple of weeks. We'll see then!

9:45-10:30 - Finish up editing, writing, interviewing, grading, photocopying, chatting, laughing, etc. and head to the gym.

10:50-11:50 - Work out... weights & cardio - MWF; cardio only - Tu & Sa... and ponder, "Why?"

12:00-2:40pm - Home, quick shower to wash off the gym funk, eat lunch, play ball with Pepper until she falls over. Towards the end of the ball-throwing she sounds like Thomas the Tank Engine as she's panting and panting. I check email. Then I read The Drudge Report. Then the WRAL.com. Then Fox News. The I stalk tropical systems through the National Hurricane Center. Sometimes I check out Craig's List for ping pong tables. Then I check all the blogs and Facebook. Somewhere in there I switch the laundry around a time or two and put away clothes and do the Fly Lady's five minute room rescue somewhere. Grab another mug full of coffee and run out the door.

2:40-3:00 - Drive BACK to NRCA

3:05-3:30 - Pick up Zack and go to the SuperTarget to get a snack.

3:30-4:00 - Reading homework with Zack... in the car, where all great students do their best studying

4:00- 5:00 - Go to Kelsey's volleyball game. Cheer really loudly. Watch Zack run in and out of they gym and up and down the bleachers.

5:00-5:30 - Watch Kelsey take down the volleyball net with the team. Watch Zack run around the gym.

5:30 - 6:00 - Sit in the car and wait for Zane to finish football practice, doing more homework in the car. BRILLIANT!!!

6:00-6:20 - Go home.

6:20-7:00 - Cook dinner; help Zack with spelling words and memory verse, while Zane gets a shower and Kelsey either does homework or gets on Facebook

7:00 - 7:30 - Family dinner. Our objective each family dinner is to get SOMEONE laughing so hard that he/she shoots milk/Coke/water/MelloYello out his/her nose. It's not pretty. But it's FUN!!!

7:30 - 8:00 - Help Zane with math homework. Stop laughing. I am truly the best math student in the house. Pray for our children. Make sure Zack gets clean one way or another. Clean up kitchen. Clean out backpacks. Sign forms. Repack backpacks. Watch TV. Watch YouTube videos with the kids. Do another load of laundry.

8:00-8:30 - Family devotions and prayer time.

8:30-9:00 - Zack reads, gets 3 songs and goes to sleep.

9:00-9:15 - Tuck in Zane and stand on his ladder and listen to him talk about the day or plan for tomorrow or realize he forgot something that necessitates a late night trip to Wal-Mart or an unplanned load of laundry.

9:15-9:30ish - Tuck in Kelsey. Listen to her talk about her day. Wonder where 14 1/2 years went.

9:30-11:30-More laundry. Talk to Jimmy until he falls asleep in his recliner. Read more news websites. Work on blogs. Plan for teaching. Edit. Facebook.

11:30 - 12:30ish - Go upstairs and wash hair. Iron everyone's clothes for the next day. Fold laundry. Have a true Quiet Time.

Sometime between 12:30am and 1:00am - Go to sleep!

That's a day without evening commitments. There are also football games and parent meetings and church functions and Jimmy's business dinners and other things that take us out of the house at night.

Man... just reading that makes me tired.

My favorite part of the schedule... driving up to the house with my babies in the car, knowing we're home for the day.

I love my front door!

OK... now let me see if I can get my house toilet papered... hummm...

Karen...

Tina...

Tag! What's your daily schedule?!

The New Old Book...

Look! It's a Dr. Seuss book published in 1940! And, yeah, it kinda smells. But it has a wonderful message.

If you know Horton Hatches the Egg, you can join in with us. OK... the words are right here. ANYONE can join in.

Alltogethernow:

I meant what I said
And I said what I meant...
An elephant's faithful
One hundred per cent!

Al's Fries...

One more treasure...

So obvious! For anyone who's ever been here, you know this one sits on the kitchen counter, but you probably don't know why.

This "Sun Tea" jar is one Jimmy's mom had. She used it just about everyday to make sun tea. She was a huge tea-drinker. Loved the stuff. Jimmy... HATES tea. Even the good kind that requires an insulin shot afterward. (We call that kind "Granny tea," after my sweet Granny, Ethel Southern.)

I can't drink tea much for reasons that would fall into the T.M.I. category. Suffice it to say that my digestive system is very delicately balanced and tea does it no favors. Once in a while, I love it, but I just can't on a regular basis.

One of the things Jimmy chose to bring to our house when he and his brother, Tommy, were sorting through Nana's things was this jug. OK... He hates tea. I don't drink tea. The kids don't care for tea either. Why in the world did the man choose THAT, of all things? You know the answer... it was all about his mom. She loved tea. She made sun tea all the time. When he saw that jug, he saw her. So...

What on earth do you do with a giant sun tea jug when no one in the family drinks tea? I'll tell you...

You fill it with something.

With what do you fill a giant sun tea jug when no one in the family drinks tea? Bouncy balls, of course!

We love our bouncy balls. From Harris Teeter, Old Navy, Wal-Mart, birthday parties, Fall Festivals, even Christmas stockings. We get them from everywhere. I tried throwing them away. I didn't think anyone would notice. Goodness... we have millions of the things. Yeah... you know how this one ends:

Zack: Mommy, where's my blue bouncy ball?
Mom: What blue bouncy ball?
Zack: The blue bouncy ball I like.
Mom: (!!!!!) Bubby, you have a million bouncy balls. Go look in "the drawer."
Zack: I looked already. It's not there. The other blue bouncy ball is there, but not the one I like.
Mom: OK
Zack: Where is it?
Mom: Where is what?
Zack: The blue bouncy ball I like.
Mom: Did you look under the sofa?
Zack: It wasn't there.
Mom: Did you look in your special box next to your bed?
Zack: It wasn't there either.
Mom: Did you look in the car?
Zack: No.
Mom: Go check.

*****
Zack: It's not there either... *eyes watering* What if I never find it?
Mom: Use another blue bouncy ball.
Zack: I can't. That one has the blue and white swirlies. It looks like the world from outer space.
Mom: Paint swirlies on another ball.
Zack: But I like that one. And I'm playing space shuttle and I need it to be the world.
Mom: Sigh... I may have thrown it away.
Zack: WHEN?
Mom: The other day. I cleaned up a lot of stuff. I can't remember for sure, but I may have cleaned that up too.
Zack: NOOOOOOO!!! That was my favorite bouncy ball!!! I'll never have another bouncy ball like that one again!!!
Mom: If it was that important, why did you leave it in the middle of the floor? That's dangerous. Someone could have tripped and broken a leg on that thing. If you're going to play with bouncy balls and you don't want them to end up in the trash, you'd better put them away.
Zack: But where?

... and thus was born the Sun Tea Bouncy Ball Jar.

Nana's Treasures...

Today Kelsey and I went through Nana's jewelry box. Nana was Jimmy's mom. She lost her battle with lung cancer in 2000. It was the same rare type of lung cancer that claimed Jimmy's dad's life nearly 20 years ago. We have to work at it a little to make sure that our kids connect with their dad's side of the family and one of the ways we do that is by periodically going through the heirlooms.

Nana loved jewelry. Papa Jerry loved boats. We've been blessed to inherit things that stir up memories of the passions they had for their favorite things.

Nana had a ton of jewelry. So much, in fact, that we hadn't even gone through the things in this particular jewelry box. We've sorted through a couple of others, used some things and given some away. But this time we were looking with the thought of repurposing in mind.

Kelsey found some lovely large-bead necklaces that she's putting into her own jewelry rotation. It's funny how styles go around. The things I would never wear because, "My mom wore that!" are the things that Kelsey latches onto as trendy.

As we sifted through the layers and layers of necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, we discovered quite the collection of pins. Oh my! I knew from my mom's jewelry box that there'd been some pin-doings in the '50's and '60's and '70's, but this was a sight to behold.

I snapped some shots of a few of them. Believe me when I tell you that this barely scratches the surface of the collection. These are just a few of the ones that stood out to us in one way or another.

The daisy and the butterfly pin.
My mom has one similar to this too, if it hasn't been decluttered yet.
Must have been quite stylish in the 1970's.

The silver artsy flower pin.
I think this one is gorgeous, but it does disturb me
a bit in that it looks a little like something Jadis might be sporting.

The delicate flower cluster.
I just like this one. I don't really know why.

The elliptical (or is it more parabolic?) beaded flower pin.
I love to bead myself, so I stand in awe of whoever
worked all those tiny seed beads into this pin.
The craftmanship is amazing.

The other beaded flower pin.
With this pin, the beads are actually sewn onto the backing.
Maybe someone gave it to Nana as a handmade gift.
I don't know.
Nana didn't label a whole lot of her stuff.
Labeling would be helpful.
(Hint, hint...Gramma!)

The pin Zack has claimed for his wife.
It's not the style pin that I would pick myself, but... I'm hoping she'll like it!
Zack was curious about the treasures and I explained
that they belong to Kelsey and his and Zane's future wives.
Zack decided his future wife will like this one best.
So now it waits for her!

The repurposed pin.
It's the reason we started looking through Nana's jewelry box in the first place.
We realized that we could take these pins, put a dab of hot glue on the back,
and glue them to a regular push pin or thumb tack.
Now we can enjoy them everyday.

This bee pin is especially precious because Papa Jerry was a entomologist.
What a sweet family treasure!

How Zack became a fan of chocolate milk...

OK... Here's what happened.

In December of 2002, we had a winter weather event. There was a little snow. There was a lot of ice. The power went out just about everywhere.

We were living at Crooked Chute and while there was a wood-burning fireplace, we didn't have gas logs. Or a generator.

Since it was as cold as _________________ (fill-in-the-blank with your own favorite simile), we all piled into the family room, putting sheets over the doors to the kitchen and the office. Mind you, when the power is out in 23 degree weather, nine-foot ceilings are NOT a selling point for a house.

Once we managed to scrape together a small pile of fire wood, we tried to stay still and close to the fire. It wouldn't have been too bad if we never ever had to get up and go down the icy hall to use the bathroom. Brrrrrrrr!!! On so many levels.

After 24 hours we and our next-door-neighbors, the Przybylas, realized that the power was going to be out for a while. We pooled the contents of our refrigerators and what we couldn't cook for dinner on the gas grill outside, we put into coolers on our back deck because: a) outside it was below freezing while inside it was a toasty 48 degrees, so the food stood a better chance of staying fresh on the deck, and b) if you put a whole bunch of really cold things together, they tend to help each other stay cool.

At dinner we learned that Joy is, like, the best cook EVER! She made these kabob things that were the best I've had. Joy rocks. She should have a post too. She's from Texas originally and has a hospitality streak a mile wide. She's the only person I know who still knocks on your door with a glass of tea in her hand and says, "Can we visit?" Amazing.

Anyway... Joy, being the superwoman she is, had a carton of chocolate milk in a cooler on our porch. And it wasn't just any chocolate milk. She took plain whole milk and mixed it with the exact amount and kind of chocolate her kids liked.

At night the Przybylas headed home to sleep by a gas log fire and our little family all huddled together under blankets in front of the wood-burning fire. Zack was around a year old and would drink a bottle now and then, especially at night. So when he woke up around 2:30am and it was SOOOOO cold and he was crying, Jimmy grabbed a bottle and filled it with the milk from our cooler so Zack would have a snack and go back to sleep. Only Zack drank the milk and declared it "Party Time." He was up over two hours and we were dumbfounded as to why.

In the morning light, Jimmy went back to the cooler to get Zack some milk and was perplexed as to why the carton was so full. He knew we'd given Zack a bottle in the night, but the milk looked as if it hadn't been touched. Then we had a thought... "Uh oh!"

Sure enough, there was only about 1/3 of a carton of chocolate milk left in Joy's cooler. Oops! We gave Zack a bottle full of chocolate milk. It WAS Party Time!

From that moment on, if we gave Zack a bottle of plain milk, he'd refuse to drink it, but chocolate milk... look out!

Harris Teeter redo

Ever since the Ice Storm of '02 our boy Zacky has been addicted to chocolate milk. It's along story that deserves a blog post of its own, but I'm not going to explain it here.

[Focus, Norma. Focus.]

Have you seen the price of chocolate milk?! Oy! The good kind he really likes is nearly $5 for a half gallon. Seriously. So... we're letting Zack get hopped up on hormones and drink regular milk, but he's drinking a LOT less of it than he used to, so it evens out.

I found chocolate milk in a GLASS milk jug at Harris Teeter. Yeah, that's right. Harris Teeter. Glass milk jugs. I know! I didn't know they still exist either.

Anyway, it's a pretty little glass jug and I couldn't resist using it for flowers. Aren't they just darlin'? Yes, they are from my yard. And yes, I'm cheating as I took this picture a couple of months ago. The hydrangea bush has pretty much maxed out. But back then I just thought I had a cute vase. Now I'm celebrating the rebirth of an object that would have otherwise landed in the recycing bin.

No, I'm not going all left-wing militant environmentalist. I'm just trying to be a good steward of the resources with which the Lord has blessed us. And it's really kind of fun!

Feedsacks...

I am blessed to be the daughter of Melvin Bennett. She's my mom. Yes, I know Melvin is a boy's name. She does too. My Granny, Ethel Southern, thought Mom was going to be a boy. She'd picked out the name "Melvin Louis." When Mom turned out to be a girl, Granny added an "e" to the end of her middle name and thus was born "Melvin Louise Southern."

Growing up I heard all sort of stories about the olden days. I had a few favorites as a little kid. But as I approached adulthood, got married and began having children of my own, I came to treasure the wisdom of these two fine women of God.

I can remember in 8th or 9th grade getting a new dress. My mom said, "That looks like a feedsack dress." A what?

Off and on I'd heard Mom and Granny talk about feedsacks and making dresses and shirts from them. Gotta be honest... I didn't really "get" what they were talking about. But one day I sat with them in my mom's den and we got to talking about the olden days of the Great Depression when, whatever you got, you used it until you couldn't use it anymore.

Take feedsacks. (OK... click here for a primer on feedsacks. And click here to see a nice selection of vintage feedsack fabrics.)

They had a tobacco farm. And they had chickens. Chicken feed came in sacks made of very durable decorative fabrics. Once the feed was out of the sack, they'd wash the sack and make a dress or apron or shirt or bonnet or curtains or whatever else out of it. The bonnets must last forever because I've never heard tell of anyone making a bonnet into anything else. But the dresses, aprons, curtains and shirts eventually wore out.

You'd think that'd be the end of them, wouldn't you? I mean, when we get an ugly stain or giant tear in an article of clothing, even Goodwill won't take it. So it goes into the trash. Rag bag... for what? We use Swiffer Dusters to dust and wash dishes in the dishwasher. But back in the day, they would cut up worn out adult feedsack clothes and make children's clothes or dishrags or, my personal favorite, quilts.

I have a nice collection of quilts that Mom and Granny and Grandma Bennett (my dad's mom) made from feedsack fabric. And I wouldn't take a (Momma, you know I can't say that on this blog)... uh...anything in this world for one of them. I will give them away someday, though. To Kelsey. And to Zane's and Zack's wives. Treasures like those need to belong to women. There's a heart connection between the generations of women in a family.

So, I come by that hey-don't-throw-that-away-we-might-be-able-to-use-it-sometime philosophy honestly. Except that with the help of the Flylady, I have been able to part with some of the old junk. Some.

But before I run out and buy something new, it is my family legacy to look around and see if I can "make do" by using something I already have for a different purpose. I thought I was old school in that, and then the other day, my YOUNG friend, Sarah, made this wonderful post on her blog, "Create." How inspiring!

So I'm going to take a little challenge and see what around here I can "repurpose." Check back in a couple of days. I'll post the results.

Getting an education in education...

I spent two days last week at the convention for a really large Christian school association. There were some good things I learned.

The first seminar I attended was titled "The Battle for Our Families." The speaker was one of the more passionate speakers with respect to the preservation of the family unit in a society that seems bent on destroying it. He talked about having Family Markers, citing Joshua 4. Remember that chapter where the Lord told Joshua to move 12 large boulders over to the Promised Land side of the Jordan and make a monument? The whole point being that when the children asked, "What's that monument all about?" the parents would tell how the Lord delivered them out of slavery in Egypt and into the land promised to their forefathers.

He encouraged the educators as parents themselves to set markers for their own families. His wife is an art teacher and has painted each of their children's life verses on their bedroom walls. He shared about how his own dad sold a piece of property that had a huge pile of rocks on it. That rock pile had been where the speaker prayed in tough times when he was growing up. When he told his dad its significance, his dad had the pile of rocks moved onto dirt that would remain family land. Now there's a literal pile of rocks that the speaker's kids look at and ask, "What's that all about?" And he shares the legacy of faith with them.

Then he hit us with probably the best moment of the whole conference. He showed a clip from the "Opie and the Spoiled Kid" episode of The Andy Griffith Show. It's one of my favorites. If you have 25 minutes and can click the link, you can watch the whole episode. In it Opie learns from a very manipulative new kid on the block to throw tantrums and make demands of his dad. My favorite parts are how Andy handles Opie's tantrum and how Andy handles the Spoiled Kid's dad. Classic.

Earlier I had a lot of other stuff here. Largely stuff the Lord is working on in my heart concerning the philosophy of teaching and why I went back to do it. But in light of a conversation I had with Tracey via old skool email, I think I'm going to cut it off here, with the positive.

And, by the way Tracey, last night my quiet time was Hebrews 10:32 - 12:4. What do you think that means? ;-D

What it was was football... by Andy Griffith...

Pepper got an "F"...

Done.

I am done with blogging about this election. Done.

I'm thinking that the best use of my time at the moment would be in prayer for the election.

Won't you join me?