Monday, November 18, 2013

Christmas List link

I recognize that I have my standard 3-5 readers, and I often think if I could get into the flow of linking up with some of the big dog bloggers, I might actually get some comments.  Since I am such an old mom with almost grown kids compared to most of the big dog bloggers that I am referring to, I may have something to say that is worthy of being heard.  So when I came across the link up for Christmas lists and Jake's list has been staring me in the face every time I go to the refrigerator, I figured this was a no brainer.  Without further adieu here is Jake's list.  At the present time, I am fairly certain he still thinks it is Santa who is going to bring some of this stuff.  Every time I attempt to bring up the subject, he shuts me down, clearly not ready to hear it.
Visit Colleen for more Christmas list.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Will wonders never cease?

I had to google that phrase because I wasn't sure if it was "will wonders ever cease"  or " ...never..."  Apparently it is the latter.  I'm still not exactly sure what it means, but it seems fitting for a blog title, when I'm on such a role and posting two days in a row.

Speaking of not knowing what something means, I came across the word 'sanguine' twice recently on the internet.  I've know for quite some time that it is a temperament word (I thought that would didn't have an a in it, but it does...temperament I mean, not sanguine).  Anyway... sanguine means confident.  I always thought it meant melancholy.  Doesn't it sound melancholy?  Actually I'm not even really sure how to pronounce it, but the way I say it in my head sounds melancholy.  Am I making a point?  Not sure, but in the two ways that I saw the word recently melancholy didn't make sense so I looked it up, and lo and behold,  it means confident. 

Interestingly while spell-checking 'temperament', blogger told me that 'internet' is wrong.  I was pretty sure it wasn't, but I searched it in my trusty paperback dictionary that helped me with 'sanguine'.  I thought this dictionary might predate the ole internet (sad huh?), but actually it is there and it's supposed to be capitalized.  I'm not doing that, it doesn't seem like it should be capitalized.

Would you believe I actually had an idea of something to write about today, and none of the above is it?

Remember how yesterday (well really the night before into yesterday) Jake had a party?  He's on a Hunger Games kick so the plan was to play that game at least in the morning.  The neighborhood version of Hunger Games is basically multiple house hide and seek with a few plastic swords and back packs that may or may not have bananas in them.  No one gets killed, no one is even supposed to get hurt.  Why do I say 'supposed to'?  Maybe because as the game was winding down and Jake and a friend were running to pick up some nerf bullets, they tripped over each other's feet.  Jake fell on top of his friend more or less smashing the poor friend's face into the road.  It was a very sad scene and like Jake, this poor guy is also in A Christmas Story which opens in just a few days.  The poor kid's face is all scraped up, and Jake feels horrible about the whole thing.  I don't feel very good about this either.  For one thing as the mom, I of course "knew that something like this would happen".  I also know however, that Jake could not wait to have more than just the neighborhood kids here to play this fascinating game.  So I allowed it.  How many times do we as parents let our kids do things that may be fraught with danger?  Basically after being a mother for 18 years, I can confidently answer, "ALL THE TIME!"  Ugh, life is hard!!  Really, REALLY HARD!  Sometimes you can just be running along having the time of your life and all of a sudden your face (or someone you care about's face) is dripping with blood.  Sometimes it's enough to make you want to stay on the couch all day.  There are too many dangers out there, between falling and getting hurt, or saying the wrong thing and beating yourself up for the rest of the day, or finding out that someone's cancer has taken a turn for the worse, or finding out that people whom you respect are not nearly as charitable as they profess to be, or finding out that people aren't as loyal as you thought they were.  It's just a mess sometimes.  People are flawed.  I don't want to get hurt and I certainly don't want my kids to get hurt.  It's painful.  Seriously life is painful. Love is painful.   Pain and love are two sides of the same coin, I think.  If we don't open ourselves up to love, there may be a lot less pain, but what would be the point of that.   Even the guy with the bloody face thinks that the game was all worth it in the end.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Jake and stuff

I guess since Jake is finally having a birthday party tonight, almost a month after his birthday, the timing is probably right to put up a little birthday post for my 11 year old! 

This picture is Jake's head shot for the Christmas Story program.  He will be playing Schwartz in A Christmas Story when it opens in a few days.  Schwartz is the kid who tells the other kid (Flick) to lick the pole.  Since I need to kill three birds with one stone, this is actually Jake's "school picture" turned black and white via instagram, and his 11 year old picture.

Jake is really thriving in school.  We really are homeschoolers at heart, and he will definitely be home again next year, but I'm really happy that he is going to that sweet school this year.  They put on a really touching Veteran's Day program on Friday that Madi and I went to.  Jake and his classed 'signed' God Bless the USA and sang the Armed Forces Medley. 
 
 Now it's the next day.  I had planned to write more, but that's not happening, so I'll leave you with a few more pics...
 






 
 
and remember when...





Leaving the sideways one, it's an illustration of my lack of time and energy.