A Plethora of Ponderings

Saturday, August 21, 2010

North of the Tension Line

There's a sign in a local cafe' in Houghton Lake that says, "North of the Tension Line", and that's just how it feels when we head up there to visit Joann and Brent and the girls. We headed up last Sunday afternoon and stayed a couple of days, relaxing and playing. Well, most of it was relaxing. We had a pontoon ride that surely could have qualified us for an episode of "I Shouldn't Be Alive" (ok, I'm REALLY exaggerating. The story's way too long to post, so I'll spare you the details.)

Anyhoo, here's a few pics of our tension-free activities:

Pizza always relieves tension.

Chase loves playing nerf guns at Aunt Joann and Uncle Brent's cuz he can shoot over the staircase.

A nice relaxing game of ladder-ball.

The night was cool and the mosquitoes were almost non-existant, perfect for a bonfire and s'mores.

Look, even Natty's relaxing. Of course, since her month-long stay there while we were out west, the Cryderman's place has become Natty's home-away-from-home.

Finally, pictures of Joann and me...now that doesn't happen very often.

This picture was a lot easier to take when the kids were little. We almost broke the slide.

They clean up pretty well don't they?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Favorite Pics

I am learning how to be more creative with pictures on the blog as well as making them bigger. Yippee! This is fun and I am wasting enormous amounts of time on it. If I look up from my computer I can see dirty dishes on my counter, hence I am doing my best to keep my head down.

I love these and have them matted and hanging on my wall just like this.

Livin' Life Baby! Love, love, love his face in this.

These are some photo assignment challenges. The first, Coffee and Chocolate, was depicting smell through pictures. I implore you to find a better smell than coffee and chocolate. The second was perspective I think. The third was to photograph something metal, which seemed boring to me until Jayme suggested I photograph my mountain bike....eureka! The final assignment was color and my Fiestaware fit the bill perfectly.

I have so many more pictures that I want to post here, but dog-gone those dishes, they are haunting me. Ok, I have one more I just have to post.....

Grandma's Love. This picture was totally spontaneous and unplanned which is why it is so beautiful.

Friday, August 6, 2010

License to Kill

"License to kill mosquitos by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill mosquitos at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a mosquito. And a mosquito will never quit - ever. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote." Carl Spackler played by Bill Murray in Caddie Shack. I took the liberty of changing it to say "mosquitos" instead of gophers.

The mission began at approximately 8:30 a.m. this morning with the intent of obliterating every freaking mosquito that dared to approach the Chili residence. The firepower included 3 quarts of Cutters Backyard concentrated bug spray, a spray tank, and 2 cans of Cutters fogging bug spray. The body gear was composed of a long sleeve t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, lined sweatpants, long socks, muck shoes, heavy gloves, and a bandana. After 3 long hours of spraying this concoction all over the back 40, those darn bugs had bitten clean through my sweatshirt and t-shirt, as well as my heavy duty gloves. My shoulders ached from carrying the 3 gallon tank sprayer and my neck hurt from constantly jerking my head back and forth to keep those evil biting machines from eating me alive.

Frankly, I'm opposed to spraying any kind of poison on my yard, but I couldn't take it anymore. My kids won't even play outside. Every time I walk through my yard to my neighbor's backyard it's like walking through the Amazon jungle and I end up running and screaming for cover like some crazed lunatic....and that's strange even for me.

Unfortunately I was unable to dowse the front yard, so even though I hurried to get the door when I heard the bell ring, I was too late. The Archers came bursting through the door screaming for help as they were being ravaged by swarms of pelican-sized, needle-nosed, blood-sucking she devils (only the females can penetrate skin). Thankfully the kids and I were able to revive them and doctors believe they will soon be on the road to a full recovery. Hopefully the tremors and night terrors won't last too long either.

Somewhere a mosquito is hopefully taking it's last breath.....

Monday, August 2, 2010

Fresh Start

Man, it's been 2 years since I posted on this blog. I had high hopes of keeping this thing alive, but I missed a day, then a week, then a month, and then to be honest, I totally forgot about it. Let's blame it on chemo-brain...can I still use that excuse? I believe I can because well, I forget easily and I'd rather blame it on chemo. than on age.

We just finished our month long trip out west and it was everything I'd hope it would be and then some. First and foremost I'm thankful that God watched over us and brought us back safely and also provided some amazing miracles and showed His love to us through the kindness of complete strangers. Second I'm thankful that the punks were great sports and kept the arguing to a minimum and never complained, not even with 2 blowouts that landed us on the side of the road for an hour each time in some pretty hot weather. Third, I confirmed what I already knew and that is that when one endeavors to take on a task that seems too big to handle, one should never give up, but continue one step at a time until the task is complete.

And that is good advice for our next adventure that is both exciting and foreboding. Exciting because it is new and different and challenging and creative. Foreboding because I'm not sure this adventure is the best plan for me personally at this point in my life. But when was the last time I actually made a decision based on what was best for me anyway? All my decisions center around what's best for my kids and, for the next year anyway, I believe that one of the best decisions I can make for my kids is to....drumroll......homeschool them. So there, I said it and that makes it even more real. All three punks are excited about the upcoming homeschool year. My reasoning for this plan began for one reason. Those of you who know me also know that there have been a couple of circumstances in my life that have made me realize just how short life is. Because of that, I want to grab life by the horns and make the most of it and for me that means pouring myself into my kids' lives. What better way to impact my kids than to spend time with them, teaching them, planning grand adventures with them, and sucking the marrow out of life with them.

So for the next year, we will learn together at home and first hand by experiencing things like museums, libraries, nature trails, as well as Gettysburg and D.C. just to name a few. I don't even have it all figured out yet which is half the fun. But, in the meantime, I do have some decisions to make such as what curriculum to use, so if you'll excuse me, I best get to work.

Somewhere a train whistle blows......

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Lemonade Stand

What is it about kids and lemonade stands? Has this been going on since the invention of lemonade? Jamie decided she wanted to do a lemonade stand and although the temperatures were nearing 90, she sat in our front yard for hours patiently waiting for a thirsty traveler to happen by.

After time had passed and no sale had been made, she persuaded brother, with the promise of 25 cents, to dress up in his Darth Vader costume and wave down some unsuspecting passersby. Remember, it was nearing 90 degrees out there!

"Luke, I am your father...now buy some lemonade."

After 2 days of selling lemonade for 25 cents a cup, the kids made a total of about $4, half of which was from our local ice cream truck man who stopped and bought some both days. What a nice guy.