What I'm working on

My eyes hurt a little, but I think I like this one. I will probably think of it as "the Forgiveness table" as I was listening to Rob Bell's teaching on forgiveness while I was working on it.

Vinnyism

"Narnia would be better than real life because they don't have high fructose corn syrup in Narnia."




I don't even really know what to say about that.

Two Things I Love About Summer....

the pool. And all the kids who swim in it.

SWEET!

I obsessively check to see how many "hearts" I have on Etsy. Today I got my 669th heart from user "Weird Wolf." Turns out, she's kind of a big deal.


: )

Thanks Tara!

The K-Man

Look who came knocking at my door to play this morning.

I love my neighbors.

Proud of This Guy

Some you have yet to meet my adorable big brother who has all of my angst and then some, but chooses to channel it through humor with wonderful results. He has begun the adventure of becoming a writer (read, working really hard for next-to-no money) and is making some great progress. Here's your chance to start reading him before he makes it big...which makes you feel really cool and smart, doesn't it?

Read his book review by a syndicated writer who personally asked him to do the review.

Read his interview in the Globe and Mail about being a "Daddy Blogger."

Hear his essay on NPR: I believe in Humor



And of course, be sure to stop in and read his blog: Clark Kent's Lunchbox.

Sigh.

There is a raging game of Marco Polo going on in my back yard right now. Two neighbor kids have joined us for the first time in the wonder that is our Intex Pop Up Pool.

The back yard is a disaster. It's not mowed...hasn't been for awhile now. The mower has been broken and now the weed-whacker is dead. The fifth pooper-scooper we've purchased in about as many months broke too. We need another shock treatment for the pool but that will have to wait until payday. If I have anything left after getting another sumo-size container of animal crackers, Popsicles, apples and Gatoraide mix.

The credit card bill held all the wonders of the trip to Florida (which will mostly be expensed away, thank goodness!), a tank of gas, a trip to Taco Bell or two, as well as the extra expenses created when the ignition broke in the car a couple of weeks ago...a quirk of the Ford Focus that a Class Action suit hasn't yet forced Ford to deal with honestly. We were fortunate...we did a bit of research and hired a locksmith instead of having it towed to the dealer.

There will be other extras this month. Two doctors bills...one to the Drive By Clinic in Walmart, and another for a real doctor....that one will also include a little thing they call "a new Patient fee" to the tune of about 145 dollars. I expect a hefty fee from the lab as well for a mono test....negative fortunately. And a prescription. But at least Vin is finally better. He'd been sick for weeks.

It's summertime now, any my Etsy sales have been cut in half. I keep listing a few things at a time, hoping for one good sale a week at least, besides the 3 and 5 dollar sales that float in.

The brakes are squeaking. The tires balding. The kids need to go to the dentist. Groceries. Air conditioning. Shots for Peggy. Vin's birthday. Our bedspread has a hole in it. The girls' bunk-bed is wobbly. Pool supplies. Gas money. Re-stocking the Etsy store. Summer camp. My clothes are suddenly and inexplicably terribly out of fashion. The kids clothes are suddenly and inexplicably much too small. All these things play in my head like a bad commercial jingle.

The economy.
The economy is bad.
"What's the deal with the economy, Mom? I mean, I never noticed it before now." my ten year old commented the other day. Wait. She's nine. She just tells me that she's going to be 10 so often she must have convinced me to round up subconsciously. Little stinker.

Some of you read this and think, "It could be so much worse!" and some of you read it and think "EWWWWW...you haven't taken your kids to the dentist this year? What kind of person ARE you?" You are both probably right.

I finally said it out loud to Robb this morning. "We probably won't be able to buy a house before December, will we?" It was more of a confession that I knew what he already knew. We've been working so hard to pay off the debt created from that first year here in Arkansas when the house in Michigan sat empty. It was a lot of debt. We have been convinced that if we could just pay it off, we could buy a house, get that tax break, pay down some of the mortgage in MI, be able to refinance it so that the rent might cover the mortgage or maybe even, if we were lucky....sell it. For dirt nothing, but still ...we'd be free of it...

He nodded. "One more year in this house wouldn't be sooo bad."

I felt something like a rebellion rise up in my chest. "ANOTHER YEAR?!"

Another year in the house we tried to get the landlord to give us a six month lease for....because our house in MI was certainly going to sell and we'd only be in for a short time.....that was....3 years ago now. Eleven hundred square feet for five people and two dogs and a home business to boot. And the grossest carpet you've ever seen.

"You are going to have to pray for me." I told him. "Pray that I will be submissive." His eyebrows raised inquisitively. "Submissive? Really?"

"To God. I think He's telling us 'no' to buying a house."

He kissed me goodbye as I worked feverishly to get boxes out to the curb for the post man to pick up as if by getting them there, I would get some kind of Community Chest "Go Directly to GO! Collect 200 dollars!" if I made the deadline.

***********

"Mom! Can G------ and M------- get in our pool?" Calvin hollered.

"Sure." We've been getting to know them this summer. They are good kids...we just never hung out before. But they must have gotten acquainted being in Gifted and Talented class this year. Our street, in fact, boasts 5 GT kids, with William next door being a shoe-in when he's old enough. All good kids. I don't mind having them over and handing out hotdogs and Popsicles to whoever is involved in the latest baseball game or war or army-baseball-nerf gun-tag-hide-and-seek-scooter-race they happen to be playing today.

In fact at any given moment, there could be as many as 13 kids playing together outside my front door. I don't mind any of them. Ok, maybe one or two drive me nuts, but that's not bad, really, all things considered.

If we were to move, I guess we'd make new friends. But it takes time to build the kind of friendship where your neighbors are willing to watch your dog or mow your front lawn because they know your mower is broke, or even give your church a chance. That takes time...

The kids began squealing as they dropped into the pool and the cool water took their breath away in the 90 degree weather. I headed down the hall to change the laundry. And something inside me whispered, "Really? Has it really been that bad living in this house? Just think how much your kids would miss these friends." I smirked to myself, knowing that God was cajoling me. Bringing me around to His plan, whatever it is, with the laughter and the shouts of "Marco! Polo!"

Early

Well, here it is at 4:53 a.m. and I am seriously hankering for a donut and some coffee, thanks to a facebook status update from Bankok. I see some of my other friends are also awake. Robb is off for his last book-buying trip to the sunny and exotic land of ....New Jersey. Fortunately this is a short trip and he'll be back very soon.

We had quite a weekend. On Friday, I was anxious to go hit the garage sale circuit and restock my Etsy store. I'm actually getting close to having everything I've got out there in the cave of wonders listed. It's going to be interesting to see how business fairs for the summer. While we don't exactly count on it for the budget, it does pay for the little extras like broken weedwackers, cameras and dvr's. Add to the that list cell phones (Robb's conked out on Saturday) and of course, the long, long battle with our lawnmower.

But it rained. No it poured. It was actually more of a monsoon situation. So we came home and put on our pajamas and "curdled up" for the afternoon. Eventually, the sun came back out and we had some homemade pizza for supper. Robb noticed that the Drive In was playing UP and Hannah Montana...so we herded the kids into the car and wouldn't tell them where we were going. Armed with a box of icecream sandwiches, the wrong size batteries for the cd player, and an appalling lack of bug spray, we pulled into the gravel drive, whereupon we were informed by Charleigh that we were "ROCKSTARS!" and by Mattie, "THE BEST PARENTS EVER!" Vin agreed to put up with Hannah Montana for the sake of UP.

The Drive In is awesome, btw. For one super cheap cover price per car, you get two movies that aren't completely ancient. Unlike the cheeseball commercials they play for Coke and other concession stand favorites, straight out of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It's a dive, but we love it.

UP was precious. I couldn't really begin to tell you how great it was. Great family fun with no cringe factor whatsoever.

I confess that that was also the first time I had sat through anything Hannah Montana and I was positively surprised that there wasn't anything in it that I hated for my girls to see. (Vin was out like a light by that time). I'm not about to run out and buy any of the disgustingly over-marketed Hannah Montana stuff, but I didn't mind my 9 year old watching a movie about a girl with a good daddy-relationship, country roots, and an adequate sense of humor.

Mental note: take jumper cables and bug spray to the Drive In next time. A dead battery and malaria can really take the fun out of a good movie night.

On Saturday morning, we dragged out of bed a little too early. I thought I might just go to the estate sales I missed the day before, as well as take my flower pots over to Barbara's Gardens. But we decided to make a family day of it, and Robb threw together some great car snacks and we grabbed one of the kids books on CD. They are all big enough now to get in and out of the car unassisted and it makes for a fun time, treasure hunting. Mom of course, it WORKING, but that doesn't stop us from having a good time. With the proceeds from the flower pots, I was able to get a nice re-stock for the store as well as a good big pile of mosaic supplies. And when we found slushies at one sale later in the day when the kids were getting bored, we were again told that we are the "BEST PARENTS EVER!" Not too shabby, eh?

A bathroom break at Gulley Park led to wading in the creek, which for Vin, led to "slipping" in the creek and being soaked. Not the best thing for a guy who's been battling an ear infection and just generally not feeling good for two weeks now. He's had one course of antibiotics already and thought we were doing better, but his ears are tender to the touch and we are headed to the real doctor today....not the drive-through-clinic at Walmart.

And then we wended our way home to get chores done, make some grilled chicken for supper, have Saturday night baths, and get ready for a good day at Vintage. Which we had, followed by a potluck meeting, and a drowsy afternoon reading the paper and catching up on blogs and getting organized for the week. It will be a busy one....
but it was good to have a recharging weekend as a family.

Robb mentioned that he had seen a Business Week article listing the top cities for families and Springdale was on the list. I can see why.

Fruit of the Vroom

I've been working hard and fast on my latest mosaics and these are the result. I am excited to be able to put them up on Etsy, especially since my vintage-thrill-seeking trip was cut short today by a horrendous storm. I found myself watching the tree tops while driving, thinking they can't be very strong after the ice storm. I could just picture a tree dropping on the minivan. I made Robb stay on the phone with me while I drove just in case it happened...I didn't want to be squooshed out on some back road, unable to reach my phone. Fortunately we made it home in one piece and ran for the front door, which was nearly flooded. Safely inside, I was chatting with a friend when a clap of thunder was so loud, it knocked a lamp off our bedside table.

It looks like these storms are just part of life for awhile. Just look at the pictures from when one went through a couple of nights ago. There was a quality to the light that told me for sure to look for a rainbow out front. Sure enough....

Death Comes in Threes....

This time:

the weedwacker

the little latch that holds the memory card inside the digital camera (which my extension, kind of means the digital camera).

and then, the unkindest cut of all....

the dvr.

OH, by the way. If you are thinking about signing up for Direct TV....Don't.

They suck.

I hate them.

The Unlikely Disciple

I recently won this book from Matthew Paul Turner's blog "Jesus Needs New PR." Thanks so much MPT!


You can win a copy for yourself at the richly hilarious "Stuff Christians Like" blog by Jon Acuff. The Unlikely Disciple is a book for any Christians who wonder what we look like through the eyes of the rest of the world. It's a book for the rest of the world to see how earnest, complex and conscience-stricken Christian culture is.

What I deeply appreciated about this book is Kevin's tone. He is, just like many of my friends, respectful and curious about my way of life. I respected his all-out commitment to try to keep the standards that were set forth in the Liberty University handbook, which must have been incredibly hard when that way of life hasn't been drilled into your head from the time you were small. I wish that all of the people who profess to follow Christ were as kind, open, and brave with those around them as Kevin is inside the Liberty University experience.

The other thing about this book is the pure comedy of seeing MYSELF through the eyes of somebody who didn't grow up in this flavor of Christianity. I laughed and laughed and laughed....Kevin's bewilderment was delicious. There is something innocent about his "depravity."

At the very least, as a female graduate of Bible college, you always kind of wonder what is going on in the guy's dorm. Questions answered.

Just Rambling....

So I've had the fleeting thought that maybe I should just shut down this blog since it's not really headed toward Pioneer Woman status. But then I think, where would I work out all my angsty questions and post pictures of my kids in souvenir t-shirts...facebook? Heaven forbid. So I think I'll just keep coming here to sit down and ponder and reflect. Even if nobody comments, it's darn good therapy.

So summer has been here for 4 days so far, and my kids have already had two sleepovers, one trip to the the library, pizza, and of course, tested the capacity of our pool.

I'm still in bed. Again. Because I don't know what I want/need to do with the day. When you reach that absolutely bizarre stage of life when your youngest can make cereal for herself, you must also reach the bizarre stage of life when you have to determine what may be the weirdest question I've answered since Charleigh's last one (on average, about 8 seconds ago and it began with "Why do you...") My own strange question: "What do you want to do?"

This question scares the crap out of me. I'm completely paralyzed by it in fact. It, and by its monstrously overgrown counterpoint, posed to me by a friend on Monday, "What do you want out of life?"

Dang. Every once in a while, you really do have to answer that question just to make sure your inner compass is on track with the trajectory of your life. Mostly, life is hemmed in by "I ought to's" and certainly it is girded with "I have to's" but every once in a while, there is a dead calm and a glimpse from the top of the mountain, and you are free to ponder "I could...."

Todays QoTD

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"You cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it."



thoughts?

Barabara's Gardens

When I did the Jones Center Craft fair, I met some wonderful people. One of them was Georgia, the new owner of Barbara's Gardens, a local garden center in Springdale. She invited me to sell my wares in her shop, and even featured my work in her tv commercial!

Growing up, my dad owned a local garden store and I spent many happy hours dusting and stocking shelves of garden supplies and dead-heading plants. There's a smell about it that I just love. I feel really at home there and it's no surprise that I would gravitate to outdoor mosaics. I have three more pots to create sitting on my work table and I'm just waiting for an idea to pop into my head.

So if you are in the northwest Arkansas area and are looking for some garden inspiration, rare plants, dirt, compost, statuary or even a garden related gift, stop by. It's on 71B in Springdale, kissing the border of Lowell.

Gather Up the Fragments

My sea-shell encrusted chalkboard is featured in this months' issue of Arkansas At Home Magazine, which is available in stores now. You can also see it on the internets here under "Cottage Industry."

Pony Tail Let Down

I used to have more hair on my head than any human really should. Since having kids it's considerably thinner and straighter, but I used to have something resembling a curly lion's mane. Being a child of the 80s didn't help. And when I scrunched it all up into a high ponytail on the back of my head, it still was long enough to reach my back.

When you let a ponytail down, when you pull that thick rubber band out, your scalp hurts. It feels like your hair hurts. The tension goes out of your forehead and you instinctively shake your head. Some of you know exactly what I am describing.

That's how my soul feels right now.