if you...

...have ever been in a car accident, I highly, HIGHLY, advise you to never get in a go-cart. Especially on a track where other people are out to get their friends and you just get in the way of them being crazy. The sounds, the feelings, the flashbacks are all way, way to real of a time past.

I was NOT in my happy place.

A New Food Lover

I have a new food lover (over there on the left hand side). He does love food. Especially ice cream. And bbq sauce. And cheese. But one of his greatest loves is not food. It's maps. Hence his blog name. The Misadventures of a Cartographer. What is a cartographer? This answer I do know only because I asked him while sitting here in his office. But I'm not going to tell you only because I want you to go visit him here. And then you can ask him. :)

A Touching Elephant Story

Just a little story that was sent to me by my hubby....

While on holiday in Kenya and walking through the bush a man comes across an elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seems distressed so the man approaches very carefully. He gets down on one knee and inspects the bottom of the elephant's foot only to find a large thorn deeply embedded. As carefully and as gently as he can he removes the thorn and the elephant gingerly puts its foot down. The elephant turns to face the man and with a rather stern look on its face, stares at him. For a good ten minutes the man stands frozen - thinking of nothing else but being trampled.
Eventually the elephant turns and walks away.

For years after, the man often remembers and ponders the events of that day. Years later the man is walking through the zoo with his son. As they approach the elephant enclosure, one of the elephants turns and walks over to where they are standing at the rail. It stares at him and the man can't help wondering if this is the same elephant. The man climbs tentatively over the railing and makes his way into the enclosure. He walks right up to the elephant and stares back in wonder. Suddenly the elephant wraps its trunk around one of the man's legs and swings him wildly back and forth along the railing, instantly killing him.

Probably not the same elephant then.

fun, food and family

Last night Ed took Sam out to the biking trail to ride. So that meant us girls were home and needed something girly, fun to do. So I decided we would paint our nails. I did Alina's first. She sat so still and I only had to redone one fingernail. She had her little hands on her knees to dry and her toes out in front of her so they wouldn't go on the carpet. I then decided that I needed to be brave and let her paint my nails. She wanted to do all the colors, but I limited it to two. It was so much fun and even my toes got a new look.











After painting, we took pictures of each other and I'd say she did pretty good. I didn't think you could have this much fun with a two year old. :)

So that was the fun and family. Next is the food. I made this salad last week and I would eat it every night if I could. it was SOOOOooooo tasty. And so very simple. I got it off the Kraft websight and modified it some. It's called Greek Chicken Salad. Instead of frying the chicken, I grilled it. All's it is is grilled chicken, lettuce (I used Romaine), olives, cut up tomatoes, cucumbers (I used zucchini), red onion and feta cheese. All but the chicken is mixed together with Lite Done Right Zesty Italian Dressing and then I put it on plates and cut up the chicken (which I had marinated in the same dressing before grilling) and that was it. Ed loved it and so did I. I'm making it again this week.

So there you have it. Fun with the wee little girl and a tasty recipe.

sorrow and joy

First came the sorrow. A loss.
What to say?
How to encourage?
No words, but just being present I think helped fill her void some.
Lots of hugs.
Lots of praying.
Second came the joy. 12 hours later. A new life.
How can this be?
In a matter of hours, two opposites.
Two extremes.
My heart crying with hurt and joy at the exact same time.
Incomprehendable and so very intricate of how we are made.
To feel polar opposites in one heart beat.
Intertwined with each other, yet so separate.
Sorrow and joy mingling together.

observations

This morning I decided I better do something about getting in shape and popped in the pilates tape. Both kids were up, hubby was at work and so I had an audience while working out. Phrases like "your spine is your life life. Keep it supple. Keep it strong." and "sit up straight like there is a crane pulling a string through your head". Thank you Denise Austin. I will imagine that while all of my muscles are trembling and screaming at me. All was quiet until doing scissor kicks. Then I hear this:

Sam: Mommy, you're legs are supposed to be straight like hers.
Me: (In my head I'm thinking. yes. yes I know that!) but I said: I'm trying Sam. My legs just don't go that straight.
Sam: Well, why?
Me: (with trying to breath and count and not die) Because right now, they aren't made to do that.

End of conversation. Not one minute later I hear a little voice say, "Good job mommy". Thank you my son. With those three words I was able to make it through the rest of the video. I think I should have him down there more often...

our beautiful backyard...

Is now all torn up.
We have our new septic tanks in. Ever wonder what septic tanks look like? Well today is your lucky day!!
In a matter of 5 hours, we had dump trucks in and out of our front lawn, a crane truck come in and a front loader digging. A 10 foot deep hole, no flushing of toilets or running of any water for 2 hours, and lots of noise. The new tanks remind me of coffins. My friend Becky told a coffin joke. What did one grave say to the other? There's something in you that's coffin. ok...you know...I don't know if I even got it right.
So now we have a huge pile of dirt in our yard. They still need to come out and dig up a 10 foot deep by 66 foot long hole behind the deck for the drainage field. Which means more dirt and trucks and more torn up yard. But then we can make it look nice and purty again.

This is what our yard looked like before:














This is from our bedroom window. See?? All nice and green and beeeeauuuutiful.

This is what it looked like when they installed the new tanks:














See that little hole over to the left? That's our old septic tank. Made of cement bricks. Lovely isn't it? It was hand made. Over 60 years ago. It had some issues. Maybe it'd be considered an antique and we could get a historical marker on our house...

I don't have a picture of the current state of the yard. Just imagine the above picture all filled and covered with dirt. Then a mound on top of it.

More exciting backyard adventures to come whenever they come out here and finish. The neighbor came over and asked if we were getting a pool put in. I just chuckled and said, "ummm. no".

tagged

I was tagged by my dear friend Anne with the 5 things in things things. :) So here we go.

Five things in my closet:
shoes
clothes
hat
Ed's clothes
Ed's shoes

yeah...nothing exciting there.

Five things in my fridge:
a left over piece of chicken from two weeks ago
broccoli
cheese (of assorted variety)
blueberries
two bags of lettuce

Five things in my car (truck):
two car seats
change
bottle of pink nailpolish (so I can polish my nails on the way to church Sunday mornings when we're on for playing and I wear my flip flops on stage).
nail clippers
assorted crumbs from natives eating snacks

Five things in my purse:
Uuuuuuhhhhmmmmm....I don't have a purse. haven't had one for the past 5 1/2 years. Don't even carry a diaper bag either...

That sure wasn't too bad! thanks Anne :)

recap

Our party on the 3rd was a barrel of fun. Hillbilly golf, fireworks, food, friends, and no rain! It was wonderful having a house full of people and kids running all over the place and just being able to see and hear people laughing and talking and just hanging out.

Our 4th consisted of family time. We rode our bikes to the parade, ended up with a gallon baggie full of candie and headed to another little town/village for their little fair and a hamburger. Home to crash for naps and then it was bonfire time to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. We hauled the sprinkler out (not that it's heavy by any means) and the kids eagerly donned their swim/bathing suits (in our house swimsuits are for boys and babbingsuits are for girls according to Sam). It was a great day as a family and very relaxing. A wonderful way to end a holiday.




***UPdate: here's a picture of what a hillbilly golf stand looks like... I do not have any inkling as to who these people are though... Hope this helps! :)

a crazy day

After getting back last night from camping since Friday, today we are having 40+ people over for a bbq and fireworks tonight. Right now, I would not let anyone in this house. So...I must go clean. And feed two kids who are waiting oh so patiently for their breakfast.

Aaaaaannnnddddd I'm off!!