Pepe La Pew

Last night my dog high tails it to a shadowed corner of the yard then comes right back at top speed and starts wildly rolling in a small patch of dirt. "Maya, that's enough." I say this because she's just had a bath and usually saying this is all it takes to make her get up but she was like the deaf. Then it hit me, a wall of overwhelming, eye stinging, gag inducing stench that can only be a skunk.

Even though she was banished to the backyard, after a short treck through the house to get there, I think the smell must have been seeping in through every possible crack in the house. With my eyes burning and the aroma permeating the house, putting me in a nauseous stupor, I played in my mind how the skunk attack must have gone down in those deep shadows of the night.

Maya: Wow! Cool cat, never seen a cat like that before! Hi cat! Hi cat! Hi cat!

Pepe: Oh, hi there, umm yea, I'd love to meet you, just let me turn around and let you sniff my bum, as is your custom...KABLAM! Take that you creep!

Maya: Run away, run away, run away! Find mom. No! Roll in the dirt. Can't get it OFF! Jeez, a dog can't even be nice and welcome a new cat the the neighborhood anymore.

Me: What the heck is that dog doing now. Oh, crap, Maya, oh (cough cough gag) Come through the house Maya. Go out. NO, don't roll on the living room carpet! OUT, OUT, OUT! (shut door. quickly re-open to shove food and water out)

Maya: What is wrong with everyone tonight? Must be a full moon or something. Hey, wait a minute, why am I in trouble. It was the CAT mom!

The Circles of Hell

So which circle of Dante's hell would I be in if I had been pinching pennies so hard my fingers were turning blue and starting to die because in a week I'm closing on a new house that would get our family of four under the same roof after 6 months of separation and I'm scared to death that somehow we won't have the down payment and then the central heat and air goes out in our current house, which we've been unable to sell but will be renting out to someone so is still in our possession and our responsibility to upkeep, and it breaks at 5 o'clock on a Friday when calling a CH/A guy out would cost an arm and a leg, on top of the normal arm and a leg, and the evening that it breaks I turn on the news to hear "this weekend will bring the start of our hottest weather this summer..." and by the end of just one day I'm so hot I'm sticking to myself and my dreams consist solely of lying naked in a bed of ice under a fan and not moving EVER, and my boys can't fall asleep for their naps because it's so stinkin' hot so I get no break and they turn into heat crazed psycho monkeys from a different circle of hell than whatever this one I'm in is?!

The Ways of the Pappa

I think every father from the beginning of ride on farm equipment has taken part in this tradition. Summertime is filled with this sight and it's one of my personal in-love-with-watching-my-husband-be-the-Pappa-of-boys favorites.

Lil' Spitfire helps Pappa clean up around the edges.

The Bohemian Life Part VI

Baby steps. We're taking baby steps and it seems to be finally moving us out of our situation. The Bohemian got to move out of the apartment that he affectionately calls "the cave" and I "the nasty hole". He's met another youth director in town who's parents are angels. They have a large house, are empty nesters and feel that it's their responsibility to share what God has given them so they house people who need it. And my husband needed it! I can tell by his voice over the phone that it has made his life better.


I'm almost afraid to mention it for fear of a jinx but we have found a house in Hot Springs and have a closing date, July 31st! Even though it's not at all our preference for a house, even less than our last try, I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! By the time we move in it will be 6 months of our living apart. And as soon as we decided to trust that God would take care of us if we took the leap to buy this house he sent us two people interested in renting our current house, after two months with a for-rent ad in the paper and no takers. Soooo, the moral of the story, TRUST GOD! You'd think I'd have that down by now.

Going Through The Motions

Samuel leaned over the basket and put his finger against the small palm of one of the twins and the fingers closed and held on. "I guess the last bad habit a man will give up is advising."

"I don't want advice."

"Nobody does. It's a giver's present. Go through the motions, Adam."

"What motions?"

"Act out being alive, like a play. And after a while, a long while, it will be true."

"Why should I?" Adam asked.

Samuel was looking at the twins. "You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow."

Adam did not asnwer, and Samuel stood up. "I'll be back," he said. "I'll be back again and agian. Go through the motions, Adam."

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

I'm stuggling hard to go through the motions.

Best Toy Ever

Mr. Golden Curls practicing for his future life as a brooding artist

For Mr. Golden Curls' fourth birthday we got him a Kidizoom digital camera by Vtech and it's awesome! The flame case and face plate is actually Fischer-Price but it fits. We had to cut part of the face plate to keep from covering the flash but you can't tell. The Kidizoom seemed to get better product reviews than Fischer-Price's kids camera but had boring cases so we went with the best of both worlds! It doesn't take high quality pics but how cool that my baby can take his own photos of the things he loves, and I love seeing the world through his lense. It was a bit of a debate since it's a pretty pricey gift for a kid but I'm so glad we did it. It also has some extra fun features like being able to put clipart hats, mustaches and other decor on your subject, adding audio to your pics and taking short videos. A feature I could do without is video games. Once the kiddos figured out those were there they were less interested in the camera functions. If I wanted video games I would buy them video games. Small flaw though. And one of the games makes puzzles out of the pictures you've taken so that's kindof cool.

Gallery of Mr. Golden Curl's Photography

Keys on the window sill

A church through Grandma's car window

Grandpa's boots

The moped of our beloved Carl Dog through the window screen

Kiddie Collage 101

Yesterday Mr. Golden Curls came up to me and said "Mamma, is it ok if we do some scrapbooking in my Thomas scrapbook." I was so excited before I remembered I've already packed all that up. That seems to happen about a million times a day, the boys asking for something and me having to tell them it's packed up and ready to go to our theoretical house in Hot Springs. "How about we make a collage instead, it's kindof like scrapbooking without the pictures." I can feel collage artists everywhere cringing at this definition but it's the best I could come up with and figured it'd do for a 4 year old. "Yeah! Can it be a Thomas collage!" "I'm sure I can dig up something Thomas-esque for you collage."

Note to self: Choose the box marked WASHABLE!

I made the first attempt at helping Mr. Golden Curls write his name, you know, without my holding his hand and making him write it. He did a great job for his first try but it was a bit painstaking, he was not at all thrilled that I was making him try it on his own. "I'll mess it up! I can't make it look right!" All this before he's put marker to paper. Poor little perfectionist first born!

I loved Lil' Spitfires collage. It was his first try with scissors, did the glue by himself and he actually managed to not destroy anything! He was very meticulous too, every piece of paper got it's own Disney sticker, only one each (well, until the very end when the Happy Feet stickers came out) and he was so deliberate with his little markings. Lil' Spitfire's mellowing in his old age.