Just too busy

I haven't posted for over a week. It isn't for lack of ideas. I have several half-written posts in my mind, but I've been a little overwhelmed the last couple of weeks.

So I didn't post about the St. Michael Conference or Pastor Stuckwisch's encounter with a bottle of Dr. Pepper as was requested by at least one friend. (By the way, Andrew is very sorry!)

I didn't post about planting our trees, although I may get to that yet.

I didn't post about planning my class reunion, lost library books, teaching a class of 6-17 year olds, or myriad other topics that have spun through my head.

Maybe I'll get to some of them. But first I need to clean my office. And play Scrabulous.

An ego boost

A post on my friend Karin's blog reminded me of something that I wanted to tell all of you last week.

Now, first, everyone remembers that just 13 days ago my oldest turned 21. Right? And some of you remember that I celebrated my 40th birthday in Florida a few years back. Right?

So, last Friday morning,

I GOT CARDED!

I was at the grocery store buying bread, Doritos, beer, and cheap wine. The girl at the register said, "Can I see your ID?" I thought she meant the little scanny-discount-card-thingy so I handed her that and she swiped it. Then she kept waiting. "Can I see your driver's license?"

Still not getting it, I pulled it out and gave it to her. I thought that maybe the store had switched to a new system and needed ID for my debit card or to make sure I was using my own BigBrother discount card. I was just getting ready to ask her why she needed it when she looked up at me and back at the ID. "Wow! You look really young!"

I think I floated out of the store.

Just for grins, here I am at 21.

I think my attire may have had something to do with it. I was carded about two years ago when I was wearing a sweatshirt, tennies, etc. This time I was wearing a pale pink fleece pullover and jeans and cute earrings. And then there's the whole Doritos & beer thing.

Book stuff

I am home--exhausted--after a day of running kids and teaching my class. (World history and geography. 20+ kids. 6-17)

I am relaxing by playing with a book-related site that a fellow homeschooler led me to. Goodreads. Come be my friend.

Bunko

A bunch of ladies from our church and assorted friends have been playing Bunko one Sunday night a month for two years now. We never worry about having even tables of four, but it almost always works out. We have food, wine, and lots of laughing.

Look! My dining room table is clean! No scrapbooking stuff!

This is the tiramisu from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. It was incredible! Although I do know two things that I want to do slightly better next time. Some of my lady fingers weren't quite soaked with the espresso, and I want to use a slightly smaller pan. (The Pampered Chef pan is bigger than a true 9X13.)

Yellow, hmmm...

Saw this on Barb's blog. Apparently we're even the same color.

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

The birthday

We had a wonderful time last night at Buca. The food was great and the family had a room to ourselves. Bethany, not being the big drinker, had about 1/3 glass of Chianti. Several of us tried the Limoncello, but I think it is best diluted a bit. I poured a bit into my ice water and that was yummy!

A bottle of good Chianti was an important part of the experience, because the fiasco is signed by everyone present to commemorate the evening.

Bethany with her brothers on Monument Circle.

Buca, with the Artsgarden in the background.

Bethany climbing off her chair after the waiters had her stand on it for the singing of Happy Birthday.

Opening gifts with the oldest of her girl cousins, Kate.

Bethany with her fan club, aka, brothers and cousins.

Photo Hunt: Music

Another photo from Symphony on the Prairie for this week's photo hunt. The theme is music. You can see some of the reenactors presenting the colors in front of the stage.

There's nothing quite like live music.

One of the biggest, bestest days of my life

Wow.

Twenty-one years ago today, September 7, 1986, I held the first of my children in my arms for the first time. I can't say I became a mother, because I'd already been a mother for about nine months, but the absolute joy that I felt when I first looked into my daughter's eyes that morning has rarely been matched.

She was an adorable, precocious child who has grown into a beautiful, smart, hard-working, lovable adult. I am happy to say that she is not just my daughter, but is also one of my best friends.

Happy birthday, sunshine.


(I tried and tried to find a picture of Bethany alone. Every picture has a cousin, brother or someone else in it. I finally picked this one because I like it!)

I may try to scan a few older pictures from her younger days later on.

This is how behind I am

I went to my Snapfish account today because I want to be really organized for my scrapbooking retreat in November, which is one of the highlights of my fall.

Oh boy.

I have not uploaded photos since last Labor Day weekend. I have an entire year of photos to upload. How on earth did I let a year go by without doing this? This order could really cut into my Starbuck's budget for the next few months!

I'm trying not to get too bogged down in looking at pictures, but it has been quite a year! And I can't believe how much all of the kids have changed. So I may have to share a few favorites, such as this one of my mom and step-dad with my brother on his fortieth birthday.


Or maybe this one of my hubby, also taken at Buca.
Or maybe this one of my kids and sweet nieces from Symphony on the Prairie this year:

A friend brag

Can I just take a minute to brag on my friend Jen?

She is walking in the Breast Cancer 3-Day this weekend and I am so proud of the determination she has shown in getting prepared for this. As I have watched her struggle through these months of preparation, I have prayed for her in her discouragement and watched her push through.

And she's going to do it. Go Jen!

Homeschool carnival

The 88th Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Consent of the Governed. I'm sure this carnival will be full of good things. (And her blog looks pretty interesting, too.)

How we spent our Labor day weekend...

If you haven't seen our garage in the before state, these pictures will mean little. Picture this: five years in this house, one very fast disorganized move-in, two garage sales with leftovers, and no thorough garage cleaning to date. We spent hours hauling stuff out, sweeping, hosing down, even swiffering the garage walls.

Then I was tyrannical about organizing what went back in. After eleven hours we all gazed in exhaustion at our beautiful, clean organized garage.
Organizing the newly clean shelves.
Patrick isn't going walkabout. He's just making the long trek back in with the camping equipment.
The side yard at the height of the chaos.
A moment of fun before the hula hoops are put away.

Yesterday was a lovely day of rest. Today we labor again.

Heavy sigh...

I will not write posts with any attempt at humor. I will not write posts with any attempt at humor. I will not write posts with any attempt at humor.

Now that I've been suitably punished:

Some of you got my earlier posts on dressing as what they were. Maybe because you know me. Maybe because I declared my curmudgeonly intent at the beginning. Sarcasm and exaggeration were present in abundance.

So for those of you who don't know me:
I have friends who dress well. I have friends who don't. I don't care.

I don't care if you wear a baseball cap in a four star restaurant, unless you're with me. (But, guess what! It's okay for me to have a little pet peeve about that!) I do on the other hand care if you wear shorts so brief that I'm seeing parts of your anatomy better left unexposed.

I don't care if you wear jeans to church. I'm not going to, but you can if you want to. And that is an entirely different conversation.

I do, however, think that the way you dress shows respect--or lack thereof--for where you are and what you are doing. I don't think that the growing casualness in our society is a good thing. Businesses and schools are recognizing this. There have been a number of articles lately discussing the retreat from casual attire in the workplace and many schools and school districts have instituted uniform policies or stronger dress codes, because they know that how people dress has an impact on how they think and act.

As for the guy in the baseball cap that some of you seem so concerned about: The baseball cap was just one thing. If it had been a good match she could have trained him not to wear the hat at the table, inside a building, while talking to a lady. (And yes, for those of you who don't know me and have judged me to be judgmental, I have a HUGE grin on my face as I type that.) It just wasn't a fit.

(Oh--and for anonymous if you are curious--there are many websites with proper hat etiquette. You are fine with your hat on in the mall. It is considered the same as a street. But as soon as you go into an eatery, it should come off.)