Mi Cabeza Esta Loca! – My head is crazy

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Posted on November 15, 2008

With no time to blog, I am already shaking my head in disbelief and I haven’t even boarded the plane to El Salvador. Adventures have already begun…

I went to FedEx/Kinko’s to make copies of my passport this evening. I haven’t stopped moving since this morning, it’s ridiculous how much I need to do before tomorrow at 4am.

After running many errands, I returned home and began arranging my suitcase with all the junk I’m bringing. My husband was on his cell phone talking to our oldest OS at West Point. Lorraine, the missionary we will be visiting, called from El Salvador on our home phone. As she was talking to my husband, I heard my husband saying to Lorraine, “Bring your passport.” Apparently this was in response to something Lorraine had said on the other line.

So that got me to thinking…where is my passport? “Hmmm, I wonder where that little passport of mine is located?” I thought to myself. And thusly, I began shuffling and rifling through everything, I got this sick feeling. My search soon turned frantic when I realized that I had two copies of my passport but the original was not among the stack of papers I had with me from FedEx/Kinko’s.

I’d like to say I gently spoke to my DH and requested his help but that would be a lie. I FREAKED OUT! I’M BOARDING A PLANE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND MY PASSPORT IS GONE! GAAAAAAA!

The time was 8:14pm and I knew for sure that the FedEx/Kinko’s was closed and my year long prayer to go to El Salvador was not going to happen. This particular store is located in a less traveled part of town, there was no way they would be open. I was doomed.

But I was wrong! Mark called the FedEx/Kinko’s and to my amazement, a human person answered the phone. They were still open! When he inquired if they had found a passport, the guy said someone else found it:

IN THE PARKING LOT

IN THE DARK

IN THE RAIN

ON THE GROUND

Without delay, we raced over and it was like seeing an old friend as I kissed my beautiful passport and praised the Lord for this small miracle. Y’all, the store closes at 9pm. I had only 46 minutes to retrieve that passport before I would have created a whole lot of trouble for myself and others. Maybe even had to cancel the trip! The way I see it, the Lord put all these pieces together and reacquainted me with that precious document with little time to spare. There is no other reasonable explanation. I am still shaking my head in disbelief at my own stupidity and forgetfulness and even more so at the awesome God I serve.

Mi cabeza esta loca that’s for sure! I’m leaving on a jet plane,

Here I am Lord, send me!

And the winner is…

2 Comments

Posted on October 13, 2008

Thanks for all your suggestions about blog posts. I am particularly impressed with apeasofmylife and thehokeypokeyplace‘s challenge to combine all three of my potential posts into one. I appreciate your confidence in my ability but I’m not sure I’ve got it in me.

So I hope you can settle with my post being about…

BRAINS (I will do posts about boxing and beds in the near future, promise!)

Just as I was finishing up my time with a broken foot, Ike decided to tear some ligaments in his foot! Can you believe it??? Last Sunday, I went to church with my orthopedic boot and Isaac on crutches. People are beginning to get worried about us! With limited mobility and a two week fall break in front of us, I had to do something with my son since running and basketball were out of the question. That’s when I came up with a brilliant idea…let’s make a brain!

With our oldest OS away at West Point, we could use an extra brain around the house. He’s like the smartest guy in our family and we have been feeling his intellectual absence. Maybe your family thinks they are super duper intelligent, we know we’re not. No sense in trying to pretend.

You might think brains are made of grey matter but that would be wrong, my friends (said in a John McCain-y kind of voice;). Bet you didn’t know that brains are actually made of corn starch, gelatin, water and food coloring! And incidentally, they smell kind of icky too.

For Christmas last year we bought our OS a Disgusting Anatomy Brain kit with Bonus Eyeball Kit! It’s been sitting in the closet ever since then and so on a beautiful autumn day, we began to make our disgusting brain.

Isaac stirred the gelatin into the water then the corn starch and in no time at all, our brain was placed into the mold to congeal overnight. Amidst the fresh produce and condiments, there sat our brand new brain, chilling out.

And it was ready just in time, too. As this video clip demonstrates, suddenly we found a family member in DIRE need of a brain. That sometimes happens with 14 year olds…

We sure were glad to have that slimy brain ready for delivery! We performed a minor lobotomy and thank goodness, Aaron has a mind of his own!

(This is part one)

We still have enough stuff to make at least one more brain, give us 24 hours and we can have one ready for you too!

Mothering is fun!

Ten reasons why it’s better to be a dorky 6th grader than a plebe

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Posted on July 15, 2008

1. You are a higher form of life. There is nothing lower than a plebe (well, almost). Note chart.

2. You can enjoy unlimited chews. No one is counting your bites. You can even swirl food around in your mouth and it’s all good.

3. You can sass at your superiors (although still highly dis- couraged) and not have to do push-ups. You may suffer other unpleasant consequences but not push-ups.

4. You can also pass gas and not have to tell everyone or make noxious fume hand signals in the air to everyone around you.

5. You have a first name and you have heard it said in the last 24 hours.

6. You can say “Hey!” “How’s it going?” “Hello, my friend!” or even make up your own salutation. These are just a sample of myriad greetings available to you as a dorky 6th grader!

7. Your bed can be slightly messy and you can sleep under the covers.

8. You do not have to memorize your mama’s dinner menu six days in advance.

9. You enjoy unlimited time for bodily functions! Woohoo!

10. You shower alone.

Four reasons it’s better to be a plebe than a dorky 6th grader

1. Cool uniforms with your name on them.

2. Better fireworks.

3. Honor, duty, country.

4. Huah. If you need a translation, you just don’t get it.

So which one is your personal favorite? Which one would be the most challenging for you???

I collect typos

2 Comments

Posted on July 8, 2008

To the pooper who wrote a really dumb message on my blog- shame on you! So much for that whole honor thing, huh? I thought West Point raised people of integrity, if you are reading my blog again, Mr. Nasty Bitter Guy who claims to have gone to USMA, go call your mom. You mentioned that you don’t even speak to her anymore…you don’t need to write on my blog, just go and fix things with the woman who grunted you out of her body. I can’t imagine her deserving such mistreatment and one day you will regret your actions. Been there, done that, my friend…sounds like an apology from YOU is in order…

and while I’m at it, welcome to the gun show! HA!

Now back to regularly scheduled blog posts…I collect typos. Here is one I found at a deli in Fishkill while we were dropping our son off at West Point. It made me laugh which is more than I can say I did about the stinker who left the blog comment which I have since deleted. I ate a really good portabella mushroom sandwich. They make good typos and sandwiches!

Hope it makes you smile, I thought it was pretty funny!

Awkward carrot

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Posted on May 11, 2008

My dad amidst his bountiful tomatoes.

My dad was an avid gardener and I guess I thought it might be in the “genes” as they say.

But I do not have a green thumb.

The Hubs and I are not great landscapers and do not have an eye for flora and fauna.

A while back, we decided we would try a garden.

I love fresh veggies and would take a fresh, warm tomato over a piece of chocolate any day.

Over the weekend, Mark was weeding the “garden” when he traipsed on into the house with this…probably the funniest looking vegetable I’ve ever seen!

According to the seed packet, we should have enjoyed this carrot and all its orange friends a LONG time ago. Our carrot has taken a major time to grow, to say the least

There is a spiritual connection to all this. The Bible speaks about bearing fruit, fruit that will last (John 15:16).

So let me ask you a personal question, what kind of fruit are you growing?

According to the seed packet, we should have enjoyed this carrot and all its orange friends a LONG time ago.

Our carrot has taken a major time to grow, to say the least.

How are you maturing in the Lord?

Can you see growth or development or are you in a weird kind of place, stuck in a rut for years, much like our carrot?

Do you know how long it took for this beauty to grow?

Three years.

That’s right, for three years we have been waiting for something to sprout from our pitiful little garden.

Take a look at the picture, I think it must be a boy carrot. How perfect that a mom of three SONS would receive such a treasure! We have had a lot of laughs with its most awkward shape and at the risk of impropriety, I had to share it.

But I pray you find yourself bearing fruit of a most abundant variety from your verdant figurative garden of faith and if you’re so inclined, from the literal garden the one you might be growing this season.

A Surprise in the Bathroom

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Posted on May 5, 2008

Since Nathan’s appointment to West Point, life has been moving at a very fast pace. Nathan’s last dance at his school, Nathan’s first prom at a public school, the list of significant beginnings and endings is growing with each passing day. We are preparing for those milestone events which leave this mama near tears almost constantly. Today I cried at least on four different occasions but I’m not going to blog about that (this time).

We did have a funny moment this afternoon. Mark came home from playing Frisbee golf and he said he had to go potty. He walked into the bathroom and this is what he found…

Talk about AWKWARD!

Apparently Nathan forgot he had left this crazy thing in the bathroom. A half-torso is not a normal restroom decoration in our house but Nathan was preparing a few pranks for Senior Skip Day and he left it on the toilet!

Tomorrow our ingenious son plans to place this half-man stuffed with newspapers in one of the boy’s stalls. Yes, we are so proud. The gag is that all the guys who use the restroom at school on Monday will think there is a student stuck on the toilet with a REALLY big digestive issue. I’m not sure how it’s going to work since the stall will be closed but whatev. At the very least, we know the prank worked at our house, Mark wasn’t sure what in the world was going on but we had a few giggles.

All I know is that I’m glad my mom or my 87 year old grandma were not visiting. I wonder what they would have done or thought.

There are a lot of silly things the seniors have got planned but it was fun to have a little, accidental practical joke played on Mark. We might have to do this on April Fool’s Day. Feel free to borrow this very mature idea at your next dinner party or church potluck!

Hide and seek

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Posted on January 31, 2008

I can let him stuff his face with cotton candy and then conveniently drop him off at his house with a sugar high that hits da roof- I like that!

With all this college stuff looming in the horizon (can stuff loom?), I need a diversion.

Two-year-old Jon serves that purpose. So does his baby brother Si but this post is about a delightful time I enjoyed with Mr. Walking Backwards Guy (aka Jon). He likes to walk backwards every time he sees me.

One day while visiting my sister and the babies, Jon and I played a game of Hide and Seek.

We would take turns hiding and it was so funny to see him looking hither and yon for me. He had a preferred spot for me to hide which made the game rather unchallenging but still immensely fun.

When it was my chance to find Jon, I would pretend to be completely baffled trying to locate him. I looked in the curtains. No Jon. In a pair of shoes. No Jon. In a drawer. Astonishingly, no Jon.

Every single time he hid in the exact same spot. When it was my turn, I’d tuck myself under the dining room table and wait for him to “find” me. He must have thought, “Wow, Dees (that’s his name for me) is pretty dense,” since I usually hid in the exact same spot. But that’s one of the hidden rules of the game with Jon.