Potluck slushie

Just so you know, we're all alive and well. Or...mostly well.

Dale's day Saturday actually went ok. No more trips to the potty with his hands clamped over his mouth or anything. After a couple of hours he was asking for a popsicle, but I was ahead of him. Inspired by Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network I made him a granita. But instead of using fruit juices or anything scrumptious or dessert-ish, Dale's was a Gatorade Granita. But we just called it a slushie. :)

He acted like he felt great all day. Then all of a sudden at bedtime he had a fever! It went away through the night, through all of our great parenting ministrations. ;) But since Dale was border-line and Alan has a snotty nose, Greg stayed home with the boys and I went to church.

As soon as church was over my parents and I headed over to my grandparents' church for lunch and the dedication of their new fellowship hall. OH the food! Oh yeah, and fellowship with family and a great dedication service. And all that food. I love being Baptist. ;-)

Have a great Monday, everybody!

This ain't my idea of a weekend

Well.
Friday, 10:30pm - Went to bed. Expecting Greg home between 12:30 & 1:00am.

Sometime in the night - Woken up by crying.
A moment of alarm: Greg isn't home!
Notice the time: 12:39am. Relieved

Crying turns more to shrieking. It's Dale. Having a nightmare, maybe?
I rush to his room, as he is starting to sound pretty panicky. It is then that I understand what he is saying/crying/almost screaming: "I need to throw up!"

We run to the bathroom. Dale soon feels better. I call Greg. He is 5 minutes from home.

Saturday
1:15 am - Greg is home. Dale pukes again.

2:00 am - We decide that's all we're going to hear from Dale and we go to bed.

Almost 4:00 am - Alan is awake. Nurse him back to sleep.

A little after 4:00 am - I'm back in bed

5:59 am - Alan is awake. I get up with him.

7:30am - Alan and I crawl into bed w/Greg.

7:40am - Dale is awake. And puking.

8:00 am - Alan is asleep. Dale pukes again.

8:15 am - Greg and I 'enjoying' coffee & donuts. Dale pukes again.
Under my breath, while Dale's head is hanging over the toilet, I whisper, "poor baby."
Dale finishes his deed and sits down on the stool. I cool him with a wet washcloth.
He says, "Why'd you say 'poor baby', Mama, why?"
At least he doesn't know to feel sorry for himself!
I on the other hand, see a long, long day ahead. ;-)

"Correct thy son..."

Ok. I cannot let today's "Daily Snippet from the Word" (see right sidebar) go by without commenting.
Since it is likely to be different by the time you read this, at this moment it says:
"Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul." Proverbs 29:17

This is a hot topic in our house lately, as we daily see more and more evidence that Dale very much has a mind of his own. And it is made up. Always. And it usually doesn't agree with whatever the current figure of authority has just said.

One of the parenting gurus for the last 20+ years, Dr. James Dobson has a phrase for kids like this: Stong-willed child. I think the next time he publishes a revised version of his book, he is going to put Dale's picture in it!

I joke, but it is something we are taking really seriously around here. We firmly believe that now is the time for us to teach Dale the value of submitting to authority. First us, and then later his Saviour, the Bible, employers, teachers...the list goes on.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not 'dissing' Dale. He is smart, funny, sweet. My precious first-born. My little buddy. But he is stubborn beyond stubborn. Some kids can be disciplined with a look, a talking-to, some gentle redirecting. (I was one of those.) Others, I am quickly learning, need a little more. Okay - a lot more, in some cases. But he's learning. And so are we. :)

A giveaway!

A fellow Texan is hosting a give-away!

Life in a Shoe is hosting a giveaway of Vision Forum's exciting new adventure series, Ballantyne books.

Sounds like something fun to read-aloud to my boys, if not now, then not too far in the future! :)
Be sure and visit Kim and her gang!

Life, rest, joy, peace

I may have mentioned this before, either here or on CaringBridge ...I can't remember.
Every once in a while, I will suddenly see a hymn in a fresh, new way. It's like the words and the message of the song are suddenly clear and new. Yesterday was one of those days. Instead of me analyzing and telling you what all it meant to me, I'm just going to leave you with the words, and let you soak them up for yourself.

'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take him at his word;
Just to rest upon his promise, just to know, "Thus saith the Lord."

Yes, 'tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease;
Just from Jesus simply taking Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I'm so glad I learned to trust him, Precious Jesus, Savior friend;
And I know that he is with me, will be with me to the end.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him! How I've proved him o'er and o'er!
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust him more!

Ummmm....would you mind repeating that?

Two weeks ago today I purchased an item online.

Twelve days went by and I hadn't heard a word from the company and I didn't have my item.

So on Monday, I sent them a little email. Not rude, but no smileys.

And I didn't hear anything.

On Tuesday (yesterday) I sent them another little email. Not rude, but pretty ... firm.

And didn't hear anything.

Until now.

This is what I found in my inbox at noon today:

YOUR ITEM HAS BEEN SHIPPED. WE ASK HIM FOR EXCUSE FOR THE DISADVANTAGE BUT THE MAIL LOST HIS ORDER AND WE SENT, IF YOU RECEIVE 2 BUNDLES PLEASE REFUSE AGAIN THE SECOND ONE. ONCE TIME WE HER ASK FOR THOUSAND EXCUSES FOR THE EVENTS.

HAVE A NICE DAY, THANKS.

Ummmm....

...ummm....

ok?

My guess is the person(s) on the other side of this email either:

1 - Are not speakers native of the English (ya think?)

or

2 - Are somehow related to Miss Upton

I'll let you know when my item arrives (or when the tracking number they so thoughtfully included actually starts to work).

I WON'T BE AGAIN HOLDING MY BREATH FOR THE DISADVANTAGE OF MY BUNDLE.
... or something like that.

Why I don't like Halloween, part 1

oh. my. heck.


About this time yesterday morning I sat down in the rocker in Alan's room to put him to sleep for his morning nap, leaving Dale sitting at the kitchen table with a snack.


I had barely settled in when Dale appeared at Alan's door, voice shaky and on the verge of tears.

"Mama, there is a huge, huge, black spider in the second kitchen window. Can you come and kill it?"


Despite his calm bravado, I could tell by his emotion he wasn't reporting just any bug, so, even though Alan was just minutes away from being asleep, I went to check it out.


oh. my. heck.


This is what I saw...






Geez louise what was I going to do?


Well, of course, first things first, I took a couple of pics. Obviously there was a very good story developing here, and what's a good story without a picture to go with it?

Of course, it goes without saying, had that spider even dared to move from where it was I probably would have thrown the camera at it and run, so...... I didn't waste too much time on the photo op.

And, while I was playing photographer, I was also thinking about my next move. I had to do something to get rid of the thing.

Call Greg? Yeah right, he's just gonna hop in the truck and run the 90 minutes home to take care of a spider for me. Even if it is a monster spider.

Call my dad? Hmmm....somewhat of a better option, but he could be anywhere in the county. And he is working. At his job and all.

Come on. You can handle this.

Still thinking of my dad, I remember he came by the day before with a can of wasp spray so Dale could (finally) use his slide again. It's the best thing I've got (ok the only) in the line of Poisons in a Can. And while I usually try to avoid poisons in the house (especially those that spray) I glady made an exception for monster spider.

I sat Alan in the living room and stood Dale close to him, but where he could see the ... thing. I told him to watch it in case it moved so he could tell me where it went while I ran to the shed to get the wasp spray. I can't believe I left them alone in the house with that thing. I can't believe it, but I did.

I read on the can as I ran back to the house "sprays up to 20 feet". Excellent.

Positioned myself for a clear shot, without having to spray directly across the dining table.... and... Spray!

And the spider drops from the window.

And runs in my direction.

Holy smokes.

I scurry backwards, ready to shove Dale out of harm's way and scoop up Alan, thinking now we must have an angry killer spider on the loose.

I can't see it. It's got to be somewhere around the computer wires and chair legs. I go for the broom so I can beat it to death. I didn't want it to come to this. It could get messy.

Thankfully, when I come back, I see the wasp spray has done its job. Spidey has curled up and died precisely where I had stood to spray.

And for the next hour, every time my clothes moved against my skin, or I felt my hair on my neck, I jumped, I shivered, I swatted, and broke out into goosebumps. Again. Because I was covered in goosebumps throughout the entire episode.

And Dale? After it was all over, I was considering trying again for Alan's nap. Dale said, "nah. He can stay up. You just stay in here with me." I decided he was right. Safety in numbers, you know!

And I have shuddered at least a dozen times while writing this story. Every time I typed the word s-p-i-d-e-r or went back to read any portion of the story.

Because it was just. that. bad.

And that, my friends, is just one of the many (though less principled) reasons I do not like Halloween.