A Little Bit of Fun.

Take a look at my answers. Then, copy it into your blog, insert your own answers, and leave the link in the comments section of this post. Have fun!

10 FAVORITES
Favorite Color: RED
Favorite Food: Most anything Mexican, or fresh seafood
Favorite Month: October
Favorite Song: How Great Though Art
Favorite Movie: The original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (hate the remake)
Favorite Sport: Softball, Football
Favorite Season: Fall, without a doubt.
Favorite Day of the week: Friday, with Sundays a close second
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Depends on my mood....mint chocolate chip or something with chocolate and peanut butter.
Favorite Time of Day: When my kids wake up and come right to me for their hugs and snuggles

9 CURRENTS
Current Mood: Calm, content
Current Taste: Not sure what this means......minty toothpast? Or eclectic/vintage/mix-n-match?
Current Clothes: Tank top and PJ pants
Current Desktop: Oh, my. Very messy. Both at home and at work.
Current Toenail Color: Chipped red from Christmas.
Current Time: 10:40 pm
Current Surroundings: Bedroom, again, quite messy at the moment.
Current Thoughts: That it is almost Friday!

8 FIRSTS
First Best Friend: Julie W.
First Kiss: Chris W. (unless you count Brian Q. in the phone booth in second grade)
First Screen Name: scrapnic
First Pet: Jerome, a curly black puppy
First Piercing: Ears and only ears.
First Crush: Kirk B. or Craig M.
First CD: Wow, can't remember. Probably something by Amy Grant.

7 LASTS
Last Cigarette: I have never had a cigarette. The smell is enough to make me gag.
Last Drink: Cabo, Mexico.
Last Car Ride: Home from work tonight on very snowy roads
Last Kiss: Tucking my kiddos in just a couple of hours ago.
Last Movie Seen: Charlotte's Web.
Last Phone Call: Telemarketer
Last CD Played: I-Pod, I don't really play CD's any more.

6 HAVE YOU EVERS
Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: Yes
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Yes, plead the 5th.
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes.
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes, in my former days as an athlete.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: No.

5 THINGS
Thing You're Wearing: Green terry PJ pants.
Thing You've Done Today: Baked cupcakes for my daughter.
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: The sounds of ER on the TV.
Thing You Can't Live Without: God and His mercy and blessings.
Thing You Do When You're Bored: Daydream or chew my lip. Start thinking about my next scrapbook page.

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY:
My classroom at the university
My office
El Burrito for lunch
HOME, Sweet, HOME

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO
Matt
Kendra
God/Jesus

2 CHOICES
1. Black or White: Black...though white t-shirts are a staple for me.
2. Hot or Cold: Hot soup and beach weather; cold crisp sheets and CF Diet Coke.

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: Can I have two? Travel to every continent.....though I could take or leave Antarctica; and design/build our dream-home.

February Welcome.

Pure sweetness. Browsing through some old photo files from previous Februarys, I ran across these shots of my kids doing some of our typical February activities. For us, February is all about hearts and flowers and red and pink and chocolate and handmade cards and conversation hearts and stuffed animals and L-O-V-E and hugs and snuggles. I know, it sounds kind of sappy. Like we could single-handedly support the gift industry this month. But I love the idea of taking time to celebrate love and relationship and warm-fuzzies. Yes, of course, we should celebrate love everyday. But, let's face it, in the world in which we live, that rarely happens. We're too busy speeding along to stop and just be with the ones we love. To savor our relationships. To know--really KNOW--those around us. Sometimes we just need a reminder to celebrate the simple joys that come along with loving and being loved. Like construction paper hearts. Later in the month, I'll share our annual tradition that I have come to cherish nearly more than any of the many holiday traditions that we have in our family.....the making of homemade valentine's. No six dollar cards for us. We prefer the construction paper, hand-stamped, glue-smeared, made-with-love variety. And yes, while my husband may appear to be a big- manly, football-coach who is all business, he does have a very sensitive and creative side and--GULP--has been known to pull out my stamps and scrap supplies for this occasion. I have the photos to prove it!

And, of course, Valentine's Day and love are all about RED. So, this month on this blog, I am going to highlight things in my home and scrap room and life that are red in color. I thought this might be a neat way to give you some additional insight into what makes me tick, how I like to embellish our home, and how I've splashed red in every room in our house. But for tonight, I have cupcakes baking and a son wanting another rendition of "The Napping House", so that's all for now. It's OK to let the love bugs bite this month, but don't let the bed bugs bite.

Ouchies.

We had an ouchie casualty today in our family. Thankfully, it did not end up being serious, but it was quite painful for my little guy and he looks like he has been through it. You see, Hayden was at work with me. I work at a University, and my office is in the athletic center which also houses a large bronze sculpture of a flying eagle, our team mascot. This sculpture is big and is just one of those things that seems to scream to passing kids "Climb Me!" As we were readying to leave the building, Hayden started to climb on the sculpture. I said, "Hayden, please do not climb on the eagle or you will get....." Too late. He tried to climb up and fell against one of the protruding branches of the bronze tree limb on which the eagle rests. Immediate blood. Now, this really was more a puncture wound than a gash, and upon inspecting it, my first impression was "He needs stitches." So, of course, as a mother at one of these types of moments, you go around and around in your head regarding whether you are overreacting or whether he really needs medical attention. Of course, I had an appointment and really did not welcome the inconvenience of sitting in the doctors' office for who knows how long. But, because there was a gaping nature to the injury, I decided to risk the "overconcerned mother" syndrome and took him to our doctor. As it turns out, he didn't need stitches, and with a good cleansing and some butterfly bandage for the next 5 days, he was out the door. And, as you can see, a good blue sucker seemed to take away a lot of the ouchie's sting.....doesn't blue candy just do that? (See previous post wherein I philosophize about blue-colored treats). Of course, after I knew he was fine, I was frustrated and tempted to get angry that he didn't listen and obey my warnings.

But, then I stopped. After all, isn't that how I am myself? God warns us about things that will hurt us and, when we threaten to do things that will cause destruction, He pursues us and gently reminds us that He knows best. The Holy Spirit prods and pricks....."Come back, I know what's best, my child." I am just like a little 3-year-old boy a lot of times, really, when it comes to listening and obeying. So many times, though I know what I need to do and know what to avoid, I go ahead and do it anyway. Insist on doing it my way. In my time. Without thought of the consequences and pain. And then I fall and there is a gaping wound which needs attention and takes more time to heal. And God, the Great Physician, sees and feels our pain and reminds us that His blood, His sacrifice, has already cleaned the wound as if it were never there in the first place. White as snow. We may bear the scars of our decisions in this life, but He sees us as white as snow. He forgives and pursues us. Stop and think about that. He pursues us, regardless of whether we as His children heed his leading or not. He pursues ME. Though I fail to listen and often disobey, He is there and continues to guide and shape and mold and grow me. Just like a parent whose job it is to mold and shape and grow their children into people of character who are sold out for Jesus.

Wow. Funny what you can learn about yourself and your spiritual journey through being the Mommy of an energetic, mischievious and sometimes disobedient little 3-year-old boy. I love you with all of me, My Little Guy.

Daddy's Train.

For me, this bright-colored vintage Fisher-Price train brings back fond memories of my childhood. My siblings and I had a train like this growing up. We spent countless hours upon hours playing with Little People--setting up worlds and enacting scenarios. In the house, outside in the sandbox, in leaf piles, those Little People were very special companions to us and entertained us for hours as we developed and explored our imaginative powers. This train is actually the same train that my husband and his eight siblings played with. It is definitely my son's toy of choice when he goes to Grandma's house. As I watch him play with it, I often envision my husband as a little boy, rolling it along the floor, making train sounds, and filling the cars with people and animals. This is a connection to a piece of my husband's past that bridges the past to our kids in the present. The power of play to connect people and generations never ceases to amaze me. Maybe one day my kids' kids--my grandkids--will also play with this little train. I would love to obtain a full collection of the vintage Little People sets--the house, school, zoo train, and school bus--to share with my grandchildren some day. While I love the new Little People, too, and have several sets for our children, there is just nothing like the classics. So, which toys bring back fond childhood memories for you? Maybe it's the Easy-Bake oven? Or the banana-set bicycle? Or the sit-n-spin? Or the Lincoln Logs? Or Tinker Toys? Whatever your special memories, I urge you to try to share some of the joys of these classic toys with your own kids. This past Christmas, we bought our kids Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs. I vividly recall evenings spent upstairs in my Grandpa and Grandma's attic building houses with the Lincoln Logs. And, sure enough, I still love building with Lincoln Logs and even moreso now that I can share this simple joy with my own children.

What Your Medicine Cabinet Says About You.

Here is a creative challenge for you. Take a photo of your medicine cabinet. NO, you may not clean and straighten first. Just open the door and snap a few photos. For those of you who don't have a camera or don't get into picture taking, just open the door and take a mental snapshot. Then answer the question: What does your medicine cabinet say about you and your family?























My husband thought I had really fallen off the deep end of the scrapbooker's land when he caught me taking these photos, but I really thought that the medicine cabinet could say a lot about a family. So, as I looked at this photo of our very packed medicine cabinet, these are just a few of my observations:

1) We obviously have young children.....how else can you explain the fact that we have four different types of Band-Aids including Superman (these are actually for my husband), Backyardigans, Barbie, and Scooby Doo.
2) Excedrine Migraine--a great fix-it for those head-pounding-by-the-end of the day kind of days.
3) Multiple Bottles of Tums--As my husband has aged, his tummy has become less tolerant of tomato-based and spicy foods, so we go through the Tums. This also explains the large bottles of Mylanta and Pepto. Hey, I remember that my grandma used to give us Tums as candy when we visited her house. Strange, very strange. So, in a somewhat morbid way, these add some sentimentality to our medicine cabinet.
4) A large box of rubber gloves--OK, these have come in handy in many different ways. We filled them with beans for a fun game at Sunday school. When Hayden went through his "anal retentive" phase during potty training (very "backed up"), these also were put to use in, shall we say, "aided pooping." OK, enough said. The things that mothers do for their children.
5) A random bottle of glove oil--used to oil our kids' first ballgloves last summer. OK, so I guess we are anxious to share our love of ball with our kids.
6) Suncreen--we have bottles in almost every closet/cabinet on all floors of our house. Makes for easy access for summer swimming and other outings.
7) An assortment of colored drinking straws--I'm not sure why these are in the medicine cabinet, but they make every drink--even ice water--taste better!
8) Children's vitamins--I wish I was better about remembering to give one to each of my kids EVERY day. But, I figure on the days that I do remember, it is better than never remembering!
9) My multi-vitamin--See above.
10) Dimatap--I have vivid memories of this grape-flavored medicine from my childhood. While I have a pretty sensitive gag-reflex and tended to resist most medicines, I never really minded this one. Both of my kids are OK with this one, too.

So, what does YOUR medicine cabinet say about YOU?

New Profile Photo.

Hmmmm....I wanted to update a new profile photo but couldn't find a lot of photos of myself to choose from. Funny how we sometimes leave ourselves out of our own story. So, until I experiment with some self-photos or maybe even get my husband to shoot some, here is one from right around Christmas. That "blondish" curl on my cheek is actually my daughter's hair....but I guess that makes the photo that much more interesting. Until Monday.

Ever Had One of Those Days?

OK, the first thing you can see from this photo is that I haven't quite gotten around to taking my Christmas garland down from the porch. March is just around the corner, and it will be a lot easier to take it down without all the snow and ice and wind. But, the other obvious part of this photo is that large white appliance--yes, appliance--that is currently residing on our front porch. Yes, we have joined the ranks of the Klampetts or the outback Michigan red-neck families who keep broken-down appliances on their porches. This was just one of those days. First, the refrigerator--which has been acting up a bit over the past weeks--decided to die a final, noisy death, leaking water all over our wooden floor and causing some warp damage to several of the wood planks. These will eventually need to be replaced. So, rather than risk further damage, we relocated the refrigerator to the only place it would fit--the front porch. After church, my husband promptly made a trip to Sears and came home with a new refrigerator, stove, and microwave. The good news is: He only came home with a QUOTE for a new large-screen HDTV and not the actual thing! To make matters worse, our toilet exploded and our kitchen faucet is spewing water, making replacement of these two things also inevitable in the next week. You know that expression "When it rains, it pours"? That was the name of our weekend. Those things, coupled with my son deciding to make nice streaks on the off-white carpet with an aqua Sharpie marker, and that is just how the weekend went. Surprisingly, I have been able to maintain a pretty positive attitude despite all the challenges. It's all in the perspective, right? I'm going to be sure to do a scrapbook page about the refrigerator sitting on our front porch and what all the neighbors must be thinking! Ya' just gotta' laugh! Happy Sunday Night.