It's Black.

That's right...that dark color on my walls is black. I won a ten dollar gift card at Lowes and decided to paint it black. Not sure why, just really liked it in the Hollyhock House and thought it would be cool. I think I like it. And it makes our stuff look cool...if its good enough for a museum, it's good enough for me!

i think it's like porn

You know how they say Hugh Heffner isn't even really interested in sex anymore? I think that's how I am getting to be with all my vintage stuff. After four weekends of hauling home the goods, I just don't care...I'm looking around my house thinking a bonfire would be fun.

huh.

Quick poll...

All those who have used hot rollers or brush rollers, please say "aye."

And those of you who have had a perm....???

Rollers and perms...I had no idea these would ever go out of style. I was just checking ebay for rollers since I got a bunch inside an old suitcase today. Thought there would be hundreds listed, but not really that many.

Just wondering.

So THAT's why they call 'em clams!

cause when you find a giant clam shell in the garden of the estate sale where you were digging for treasure, you can sell it on ebay for big money.

I had to go out and bring it in from where I left it to catch rainwater by the front door.

So now you know....

Don't let the door hitcha on the way out !

While I don't often watch The View, I was sick of Rosie. I was sick of her screaching at Elisabeth. I was sick of her nastiness. I don't care what her political views are, there is just no reason to be such a witch. Yeah, I know she was good for ratings, but for the same base reasons as any other show that promotes controversy and bad behaviour.

And while I am at it, I just want to say that this guyseems to have a really good sense of humor. I know he's a lousy singer (although better than me, so what am I saying?) but he seemed to understand his role on the show as ratings generator and all around whipping boy. He doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously or running out to sue Simon for "emotional damages." I find that pretty refreshing, quite honestly.

Now...go Jordan, Blake, Lequisha, and Melinda...in about that order, I guess. Don't mind the other two, just don't think they are as good.

Looky what I found...

Found this (and the funky little teacart) on my adventures last weekend. A FUN find!
Been looking for a coffee table I like for years.

Snip Snip

Charleigh's hair was getting so long it touched the toilet seat when she was tryin' to potty, not to mention the inordinate amount of syrup she was collecting with it. So...here's her new 'do.

She looks even more like the little spitfire she is.

A couple of things I forgot...

I steal pens. Good ones that is. I can't seem to help myself. If I barely know you, I might be able to control myself, but if we are good friends, or I'm related to you, I WILL take your nice pens.

And also...I am as dumb as a rock sometimes. FOR EXAMPLE....I worked like a fiend yesterday listing on ebay because I saw the little announcement that listings were only 20 cents instead of the usual 35. Listed 27 items, only to discover the sale is TODAY, the 24th.

Went to bed feeling dumb, realized I forgot to get coffee ready for the morning. Got up and made it, and out of habit...turned it on. So a perfectly nice pot of coffee brewed without me and was YUCK by morning.

Dumb, I tell you. DUMB.

100 Random things...

This is a popular post I have seen recently on several blogs, so here is my list of random things about me.

1. I have a spit thing...anything that spit touches, grosses me out. And yes that does include eating from the same fork as my husband.

2. I was born in PA, and have subsequently lived in NYC, MA, MI and now AR.

3. I refuse to make any more cross-country moves, so I am determined to like AR.

4. Johnny Cash helps me like AR.

5. We've moved 8 times in the 10 years we've been married.

6. I have an older brother and two younger sisters.

7. My parents are still married and their parents were still married when they died.

8. I wanted to be a Pastor's wife when I grew up.

9. I was not a Christian then.

10. I graduated from a private school where our skirt had to touch the floor when we were kneeling and blue denim was verbotin. Other colors of denim were okay.

11. I still remember most of the other rules in our school handbook, which was about 50 pages long.

12. I like the KJV of the Bible, but I don't recommend it.

13. I have a BA in Bible and High School English education.

14. I've never taught English.

15. My entire life turned out the way it did because I got cast as the lead role in a Greek tragedy.

16. I have three children and have been pregnant twice.

17. I can't find my college diploma.

18. I super-glued my eyes shut.

19. I have been tested for syphillis and herpes by overzealous physician's assistants who watched too many episodes of ER.

20. I've been happily married to a pastor for over 10 years.

21. We once recieved an insurance settlement for soot damage from a ship cleaning its boilers in port.

22. I've been burglarized by a drug addict who pooped on my floor.

23. I've been accused of looking too young, but that was years ago.

24. I had my appendix removed when I was 7 years old.

25. I still have two wisdom teeth that don't really fit in my head. That might be a metaphor.

26. I plant flowers and veggies every year but usually have nothing to show for it after about two months.

27. I have lived through at least 3 tornados in 3 states...which all claim to NOT have tornados.

28. I have never wrecked a car.

29. I did spin a car into oncoming traffic doing 75 mph in four lanes of heavy traffic outside of Boston while 4 months pregnant and with my mom in the car.

30. My mother won't ride in a car with me.

31. My favorite snack is microwave popcorn and peanut M&M's...together.

32. I know how to treat Diabetic insulin shock.

33. I prefer painting, sanding, and wallpapering to laundry, dishes or vacuuming.

34. I hate baths.

35. I love freshly plowed dirt.

36. I know a little bit about everything, but not enough about any one thing.

37. I google things constantly during the day.

38. When something breaks in our house, I try to fix it.

39. I HATE snakes. Even rubber ones.

40. My children put a rubber snake in my Christmas stocking and I screamed.

41. I have bungee-jumped.

42. Mostly, I bungee-jumped because it was free, not because I enjoy doing crazy things.

43. I rarely pay more than 5 dollars for anything that I wear.

44. I once bought a diamond worth 600 dollars for a dime.

45. I once bought a change purse for a dime and found a gold wedding ring inside.

46. I once bought a map for 2 dollars and sold it for 700 dollars.

47. I consider myself a professional treasure hunter.

48. Ebay is my friend.

49. I never had a best friend until I met my husband.

50. I never had my hair cut until I was in 7th grade.

51. I've been to Niagra Falls at least 5 times, but never been to Florida...yet.

52. I like to fly. On airplanes.

53. My grandparents have all died and I miss them terribly.

54. I've lost count of the number of funerals I've attended.

55. I used to sing in a travelling girl's singing quartet. We had matching dresses and everything.

56. That might be part of why I had no friends.

57. I have a lot of pathetic stories from when I was a kid that make my husband laugh....hard.

58. I accidently immitate people's accents when I am talking to them.

59. I wouldn't hesitate to paint a wall black or any other color...besides white.

60. I love to attend auctions.

61. I could eat southern bbq with a cold beer anytime.

62. I've had dinner at the Skylon restaurant overlooking Niagra Falls, the BC Club, which only allows Boston College Faculty, and a couple of swanky places in NYC..and I knew what to do with all the forks.

63. I met Elizabeth Hasselbeck before she was on Survivor.

64. I used to babysit for a professional football player when I was in highschool.

65. I am not now, nor have I been at any other time in my life, "neat."

66. I need glasses but frequently forget to wear them.

67. I don't have many pet peeves....but please don't put my syrup in the fridge.

68. I think cigarettes smell fantastic.

69. I've never smoked one.

70. I got really drunk once. Just to see what it was like.

71. I collect antique photographs of houses.

72. I got a C in typing and Spanish and Algebra.

73. Our next-door neighbors when I was first married were lesbians named Big Liz and Little Liz.

74. I stayed out all night once in high school, but my parents didn't get mad at me because I was a "good kid."

75. I've always wanted to be a redhead.

76. I like my name.

77. I would take a steak over salad any day.

78. I cut my family's hair.

79. I know how to sew. But I don't do it much.

80. I drink a pot of coffee a day.

81. I'm old fashioned and traditional.

82. I've been to Atlantic City and liked it.

83. I always wanted to live in a Lighthouse.

84. I've never tried sailing, but I bet I would get seasick.

85. I've had food poisoning twice.

86. I can play the piano and sing at the same time.

87. I have a guitar that I like a lot.

88. My kids think I work too much.

89. I do work too much.

90. Strangers rarely annoy me. I figure I won't have to put up with them long.

91. I prefer natural fabrics.

92. I love McDonalds even though it's so bad.

93. I hate Burger King.

95. I'm not good with numbers.

96. I'm not a pessimist, I just don't think there really is a glass.

97. I'm easy to please.

98. I could eat berries every day.

99. I hate politics.

100. I think about going back to school to become a nurse.

101. I don't have any quirks, really.


...and you?

WHAT THE ?????????!!!!!!!

But Seriously, Folks...

All toiletries discussions aside (A lives a couple of miles away, but I'm pretty sure after Tammi's last post, I heard him run screaming from the room....) there are some pretty amazing spiritual events happening here.

We have begun a series at Vintage called, "Life Together" which is a 40 Days of Purpose study. Our first small group meeting was Tuesday night, and I cannot tell you how good it was to be in a group again. I am so looking forward to living in close relationship with these people...sharing and learning together. So many of the really bleak days of the past two years were the days when I had no physically local group to lean on and share with and laugh with.

But that is also how this blog was born and I hear over and over again about someone who reads it and that it means something to them. I want you readers to know that I feel a sense of responsibility to you to continue to share my experiences with you all...to think together and laugh and be silly together.

I know it was orchestrated by God, but we have experienced a real shift in our home life...there is a renewed goodness in our marriage and our attitude as parents. This was definitely NOT something we geared up so we could be all spiritually healthy for the the 40 Days, but rather something I think God has been bringing into focus for a awhile now. Although I picked the fight, I think God was behind it all. And thank God! There is something really dangerous and unhealthy about being "too tired" to fight with your spouse. To quote the pre-shark-jumping Grey's Anatomy, "There is a land called Passive Agressiva, and I was their queen." It took me a while to recognize that I was doing it, but I had a lot of bitterness and resentment built up inside. And I wasn't taking responsibility for myself...always reacting, but never acting to make things better. It's a vicious cycle and one that was definitely NOT working for me or the rest of this family. I tend to take responsibility for things that really aren't my concern...and to avoid taking responsibility for things that are...

Like being happy. I determined to stop living in the land of "when...then." When Vintage is bigger...when we have more money....when we move into our REAL home...when the kids are older...when the house in MI sells...when we are out of debt....

I've lived suspended above my life for too long. I had a little packet of hollyhock seeds that I stripped from my flowers in MI. I've been saving them all this time to plant in my "real" garden. No more....the seeds go in the dirt here. This is where I am and this is where I live. I know this is part of what God was whispering when he said to me, not long ago, "Be faithful with what you have." I have the dirt. I have the seeds. I have this life. I have this moment. Nothing else is promised to me.

It helped to have a little health scare. I had all the symptoms of cancer. What an amazing wake up call. Got the lab results yesterday and everything is fine. Just a little infection (or two). But oh, how it puts things in perspective!

And another thing happened...my brother is making plans to move here. HERE...to where I live! I've never lived close to a family member before. And to tell the truth (which is what I do best)at first, I was a little weirded out. You feel a certain responsibility to make sure they like it, that they aren't lonely, etc. At least I do because I take responsibility for things I'm not necessarily supposed to : ) But I was thinking about it last night and I thought...This is part of God's plan for me. This is in keeping with what He is teaching me and is one of the ways He might be trying to bless me... I am really excited about this! I can't tell you how lonely I have been at times for my family. I've had to leave them so many times when all I wanted was to stay. And always, I had to leave because God was calling me to some other work. It would be wonderful if He was calling me to be close for a change. So if anybody handy to the area has a great job for a guy with management and military experience, especially in project management for construction, email me!

I had coffee with a friend yesterday. I always knew we were cut from the same cloth, but we had never actually managed to have a conversation without kids and husbands and everybody else around. I just love her...she is just one of those comfortable people that I feel an immediate "click" with. I hope we have coffee again because I need the laughs!

All of this is incredibly spiritual activity in my mind. There is something truly HOLY about trying to live and love with other people. I feel like I am waking up from a long winter in my soul. I'm delighted to find some green shoots of hope and change and fun sprouting up.

Couple of weird days in a row...

I just need to say that the last couple of days have been really out of the ordinary...I guess it is the changes we are implementing in this household (see upcoming posts), but it might just be the way life swirls around like the water in the toilet bowl...

I spent 3.5 hours yesterday in a dirty waiting room with 3 year old in tow, watching the Midas guys put my car up on the rack, take it down, put it up, take it down, put it up...Charleigh actually freaked out completely, wailing in terror, "Those guys got our car! I want my Daddy!" I actually had to call Robb to have him tell her it was okay. I needed to call him later to have him tell me the same thing...new brakes and three hundred dollars later, the car shimmies violently for inexplicable reasons and is therefore, back on the rack today.

I commenced to buying groceries in the afternoon, only to forget for the 8 millionth time to buy stamps. Buying stamps at the grocery store is really nice and convenient, but it would be good to put up a nice big flashing sign that says, "Did you want stamps with that cartload of groceries?"

And like Tammi, I too found myself in the toiletries aisle, deeply pondering the benefits of wings, no wings, scented, unscented, long, short, tall, round, pearly, with wipes, without wipes....which was only exascerbated by my handful of coupons. Despite my ALWAYS (ha ha)careful choosing, I came home last time with things that folded smaller than a post-it note and unfolded and inflated to something like a raft. Helpful, really. Don't they realize that if you need those products, you are probably so BEYOND making a decision that you would just as soon stand there and weep uncontrollably over your inability to locate the correct product?

Woke up this morning and put the following items out by the curb:

income tax payment to state of AR
final car payment (note irony of paying off car that is in shop)
expensive prom dress
inexpensive silverware
and a hat destined for London.

Okay, so not by the curb for the garbage men, but by the curb for the mailman. Mail-Dude...I implore you...don't bonk...that's big stuff I set out for you to take care of.

We have small group tonight for the first time. The last time we started the 40 Days of Purpose...the power went out. This time, the Theater Manager overslept by nearly 1.5 hours. The last time we were about to start our small group, Mattie split her head open on my great grandma's antique music stand. Wonder what's up tonight? I thought we were destined for another bout of strep with Vin, but he assured me this morning that his throat felt much better. I surely hope so.

Well now that I have the metallic tast of irony out of my mouth, I guess I'd better get some work done. More blogging to come of a more thoughtful nature. Won't that be nice?

Want to blog

...but it seems inappropriate to blog about lighthearted things after the school-shooting yesterday.

It makes me sad.

"Are you Okay?"

yes. I'm gonna be fine.

Had a doctor's appointment and a long talk with Hubby and a stellar week on ebay and tomorrow I'm gonna see a bunch of my good friends and I talked on the phone with some of my other good friends...so yeah, I'm gonna be okay.

But I'll tell you this, it is really, really nice to just say so when you aren't okay. It helped so much, I actually started to feel better just because I said it.

Blogging...cheapest therapy there is.

Neosho Mo

We drove up to a little town called Neosho, Missouri today to see what their 19th annual town-wide garage sales would be like....despite absolutely miserable weather-freezing cold and bone-chilling rain, it was GREAT. The kids watched a movie on Robb's computer and He and I had a little taste of how fun it used to be to hit the sales together. He is so humble, really, just carrying whatever I hand him, from awkward paintings to bags of woolly sweaters. He used to raise an eyebrow and ask, "REALLY?" to the stuff I bought, but he has begun to simply trust my judgment. The only "REALLY?" I remember him demanding today was the sign on a rack of hanging clothes in a garage that read..."Clothes not for sale." Oh...no, there were two...the next sale had a half used package of DEPENDS for sale.

REALLY.

Still not sure what my best pick of the day was, but it might be the bakelite 7-up Dice.

Favorite seller was the lady that said, "I'm only asking a quarter for that little vase, but I betcha it's worth some dollars...like 2 or 3 at least!"

For me, the road to a better place has some garage sales on the way.


And here are some pics for your amusement...

I found it...

My very favorite email foreward of all time...makes me laugh until I cry every time.

FYI

Since you can always count on me to be brutally honest about pretty much everything, I will say this: I am not now, nor have I been for some time now, in a "good place." I hope to be in the aforementioned "good place" sometime in the near future and if you so desire, you may pray that I get there soon, but for right now, i will continue to hide behind the cute pictures of my children.

And the superfluous banter.

Brainstorm with me...

I've been thinking for several months now about writing a book about the inner life of being a pastor's wife. While there are several books along these lines, few of them have much grit and are are more of a "how to" as opposed to food for thought. I think I'd like to raise questions and encourage people to think about it diferently than they do currently.


Would any of you read it?

Wow...this is cool...

So I had been wondering a bit if I really should continue with eBay or if I should try to get a real job. I prayed about it a while ago, and I've explained to Robb that it has grown pretty frustrating at times...my iMac is getting older and is very clogged with lots of photos and such, but the worst part is how uncompatible ebay is with Apples...which is rediculous, but true. I had been using a program I bought about 9 months ago to create my listings, but it is insanely slow and tends to lock up completely if I attempt to use Firefox or iTunes at the same time...which has led to a pretty boring work time that I tend to dread between having no music to listen to and being force to use a browser I hate...Safari (Safari and Ebay are like Jews and Samaritans).

Throw in the fact that I had no forseeable cash to buy stock, and I was getting pretty discouraged.

So the tax money came and there is plenty there to invest in stock.

Then Aaron's sister was getting rid of a Dell laptop she doesn't use...for free...SO my price. Although I am the third owner, it is working great and is so comfortable for me. I've never been a desk person and I feel so much more creative sitting on the floor or on the couch while I write descriptions. I'm getting used to PC's again and have to laugh at how much they are like the commercials, but so far, it is working and that's what I care about the most.

And then to top it all off, I stumbled across a wonderful listing service called Auctiva. Because it is web-based, I can work at in on either computer. It is totally free and combines all the elements I had been using in the past together in one place...like picture hosting and free scheduling and design templates. The only thing it lacks that I have found so far is free counters. It is a little tough learning a whole new process to list, but I have to say, it was really kind of fun adding all the sharp elements I have been seeing for a while in other people's listings, wondering how they got them to look so good. My favorite element is a scrolling picture flashplayer that shows all of my items for sale in every listing...I can already see the watcher numbers going up on my listings.

I had a hard time finding much conversation about using Auctiva on message boards at ebay, but I think that is because the people using Auctiva are listing instead of hanging around on the message boards complaining like most of the other people there.

While there are some things I am still dragging my feet on, like the awkward bulk picture loading, I am a little bit proud of myself for not getting so stuck in my ways that I can't try something new. Which is in sharp contrast to the people who are currently putting out a petition to ebay to keep Turbolister 1 from extinction because they are too brittle to get used to the improved version. (Turbolister, btw, is eBay's own bulk listing service, which frankly, sucks...but hey, they came up with one good idea, you can't really expect them to do everything well...)

So I apologize for the technical stuff, but just click on the link to see how great my new listings look...all made from the comfort of my squooshy chair. Now excuse me while I go delete Turbolister from my new laptop.

Do you ever...

want to just pull the covers over your head and sleep for a couple of weeks?

That would be really nice.

Easter Pics

Here are some pics for our mom's benefit : ) That last pic explains why I was overwhelmed by a triptophan induced coma yesterday afternoon.

Gonna Party like it's your Birfday

Happy Birthday Charleigh!

Never a dull moment with her!

I'll fix you...

I just sprinkled cayenne pepper on my flower garden to try to keep the dog off of them....she keeps digging up all my stuff.

Got any other ideas?

Good

I really should be quicker to post good news and answers to prayer, but they come in such unexpected packaging that I, in my half-blind state, take a little while to recognize what they are.

I have been for some months now, working myself into a knot of anxiety over the fact that we had no forseeable money to buy new ebay stock. It is the season of sales now, when I generally head out every weekend on my treasure hunting ventures...Now three or four of those weeks have passed and I have refused to even read the paper for fear of seeing a glorious estate sale that I couldn't buy anything from.

And of course, no stocky, no money.

And thus the fractious terror...

The short answer is that hubby did the taxes and I'll be able to use part of the return to restock. "There art thou happy."

Some of my seeds that I planted last week are popping up...and while some of them got smashed into dust by a certain 2-soon-to-be-three-year-old-with-a-fascination-with-things-mummy-said-not-to-touch...others
are promising to grow up strong and lovely...including the handfuls of morning glory seeds I sowed from last year's seed pods. "There are thou happy too."

I did go to an estate sale on Saturday that we "happened" to find while doing errands. I had about four dollars, most in quarters, left from my garage sale stash. It was an odd sale, but all the clothes...most of which were new with good makers...were marked a quarter each. I emerged with 16 items, one of which made by a famous 70's designer who was a favorite of Goldie Hawn...and her clothes are highly prized by collectors. "There are thou happy."

Good news.

Now somebody guess where the quotations come from.

I have an idea...

I proposed this to Robb awhile ago and I think it is a great idea...

TV shows should have term limits.

Yeah, if it's a good show that makes the first season cut, they automatically have a four year term limit. We all know the deadline, so we're all gonna tune in faithfully to see how they spin the story out.

If they are so good that they deserve to be on again, they take a break for a year, see if anything better comes along, and then they can be re-elected...they could gage people's interest by internet polls.

Shows like Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Funniest Videos and American Idol could be like the Judicial Branch...life appointments.

Yeah, no more shark-jumping, Grey's Anatomy.

And here is it is....your moment of zen.

Attack of the Busies

That's Busy personified and multiplied

(or actually, the way I pictured it, more like a crowd of zombies).

Anyway, last week was busy, with something going on every night of the week. Thursday night, the cat was finally out of the bag on the SECRET I posted about last week...Sara's boyfriend Carl flew in from Maryland to surprise her. His flight was delayed so we couldn't pick him up until 11:30 p.m., which made for the pretty funny sight of waking Sara when we dropped him off there. I asked Robb if we should leave, and he said if he was going to be up in the middle of the night, we were gonna have the fun of seeing Sara's face!

Robb surprised me like that once....it was wonderful.

The kids are back to school...Mattie dragging her feet and Vin excited to see his teacher again, since she was on maternity leave for the last 6 weeks.

I walked the Lake Fayetteville trail yesterday afternoon...5 glorious miles. I went feeling like an alien was going to burst out of my chest, but a couple of hours in the woods was so soothing. Words would utterly fail me if I tried to tell you how the dogwood trees look and how the smell of warm violets just fills the air. I'm already trying to figure out when I can go again...2.5 hours of pure bliss.

Robb did the taxes while I was gone. If you ever feel like parenting is a thankless job, just take a look at those deductions! Whoo hoo!

So this week, we're fielding a birthday, music practice, a parent teacher conference, premarital counseling session, Easter prep, a meeting for church stuff, and the Good Friday Service.

But before I get to work, here are some pics of the War Eagle Mill, which we stopped by this weekend for the last fun thing of spring break...