In retrospect, I think I would have gotten a lot more out of being in Colorguard in high school if I’d had a clue about football. I had a couple of guy friends who played on the team, but I could scarcely follow the ball, much less understand what plays or penalties were being called.

Sic 'em, Bears!

I still don’t know a whole lot about plays and penalties, but I’m getting better as an avid fan of the Baylor Bears!Even my 10-1/2 and 12yos understand various technical aspects of the game, so I have to keep up with the boys!

I wanted to show you this super cute t-shirt that my mom gave me. She said it reminded her of my blog! 😉

Seriously. I don’t even remember when we bought the soccer goals; they are that old. The poles are showing signs of rust; the nets are completely frayed and torn. The pair have been taking up space in a corner of the driveway, waiting to go out for the trash, and I finally set them out tonight for Friday morning pick-up.

No. 2 threw an ever-lovin’ fit.

“But we USE them!”

“I can recycle them and make them into something NEW!”

“Pleeeeeeaaaaase!”

“You see trash, but I see 50 different ways to turn them into something!!”

Oh. my. gosh. It’s just a pair of no-good kiddie soccer goals, but he was – literally – in tears about my decision to throw them away. I couldn’t decide if he’s just a packrat or extraordinarily creative. So, I told him to write down his plan: where will he keep the soccer goals (out of my sight, out of the way, not in the yard/driveway/his room); what ideas he has to recycle them; why I should let him keep them.

Ten minutes later, he came back with a list – complete with sketches – of what he thinks he can do with the rusted, torn soccer goals. The list includes repairing the torn trampoline net (with the torn soccer net?) and reinforcing the shed door.

So, I gave him a week. He has until next Thursday evening to come up with a solid plan of action about how to recycle the goals; otherwise, he is personally taking them back to the curb for next Friday’s trash.

Please tell me that I’m encouraging my son’s creativity and not just a glutton for punishment by letting him bring trash back home.  O.o

The first grade classes presented a Readers’ Theater play before the school’s annual Thanksgiving lunch this morning. In a nutshell, the kids took turns reading from a script to give them practice reading aloud in front of an audience. I was getting my camera ready to snap photos of my two guys, and a little girl’s voice caught me off-guard when the play started:

“I’m tired of this shi*!”

Wha?? It took me a few seconds to realize that she said ship, as in, Mayflower. Her character was complaining about how long the journey was and that she was ready to be on land again.

Heeheehee

I forgot to post the link to the Life: Unmasked blog link-up today. What a great way to discover new blogs and be encouraged that we don’t need to wear masks; we can be real together.

P.S. Next week’s prayer devotional topic is Leadership, and this week’s reminder to “get real” is stirring some things in my heart that I look forward to sharing with you on Sunday.

I married someone who is very far on the introvert side of the personality scale, so compared to him, I probably seem like a solid extrovert. I’ve always gotten along pretty well with most people and build rapport rather easily with others, so I used to assume that I was an extrovert. The truth is, though, I actually score slightly toward the introvert side on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator inventory. (I’m an ISFJ, if that means anything to you.)

Realizing that I’m slightly “i” of center helps to explain a few things … like the fact that I work well with people but also enjoy working alone on projects … or the fact that I would rather write a long essay than do a group assignment for class. It also sheds light on why I enjoy socializing but am happy to leave when it’s time. Unlike an extrovert, I don’t get energized by being around people. I need my alone time, too.

With this grasp of my personality in mind, my current work situation presents an interesting — and challenging — scenario. Four months ago, two of the four people in my office were relocated to another part of the building. Six weeks ago, the third person also moved. That left me all alone in a four-office nook on a completely different floor from the most of my department (there is a call center next door with one colleague who often works nights when the student callers are on duty, so I seldom see him).

There are days when the quiet is nice. There are days when the solitude is maddening.

The elder two are on a mystery errand with Nana, at the moment, and the younger three decided that they wanted to sit on the front porch and “draw nature.” By all means, I said … after all, I still have two pages to write before this term-paper-that-never-ends will be complete … and sent them to the porch armed with notepads and pencils to sketch sticks and ferns.

Well, No. 5 just walked in with a stamped envelope that he found in the study (it was one that his older brother took to summer camp with intentions of mailing a letter to Nana and Granddad but never got around to sending) and asked if he could “mail nature to Nana.” At that, I looked up from my work and saw that the envelope looked rather thick.

He had filled it with dirt and grass.

He had even decorated the envelope and written “NATURE” in big letters on the back. I had to inform him that I didn’t think you could mail dirt, but he could hand-deliver the envelope to Nana and Granddad for their yard. What a gift … my mom will be so thrilled. :p

I know what it’s like to have to raise support for missions, and I would really, really REALLY like to see Heartline Ministries earn the $50,000 grant award from Giving of Life to support their maternity center in Haiti.

Pretty please take a moment (literally, it’s super quick) to vote for them.

If you would be so kind, please also share on Twitter, re-post to your own blog or shout it from the mountaintop so others will also vote before the Friday deadline.

If you want to learn more about the awesome work happening in Haiti, I highly recommend the blogs by Heartline Ministries, the Livesay family and Sit a Spell!

Thanks! >hugs<

I wasn’t going to say anything, but it’s too sweet not to share! (I just didn’t want this to come across as an attention-seeking, don’t-forget-my-birthday-is-coming-up type of post.) With that caveat behind us, I have to tell you about the week-long present that the boys have arranged between themselves.

They asked what I’d like for my birthday “besides peace & quiet,” so I tossed out some ideas like a pedicure or a trip to the spa (just being silly, b/c they were talking about things they could buy themselves). So, one of them proposed that they could take turns giving me a back massage — one per day for five whole days! — in the week leading up to my birthday. I told them that I thought that was a LOVELY idea!

My first back massage was this evening, and although it wasn’t spa-caliber & I had to ask him not to axe-chop so hard, it was very nice for a 12yo’s effort and so thoughtful. I teased that I was just going to stay sprawled out on the couch, and he took me seriously and went to my bedroom to fetch my pillow & sheet!! 🙂

Oh, and they also said that they would make me breakfast in bed on Sunday morning, so that will be interesting. I’m hoping for No. 2’s specialty sunny-side-up eggs. 😉  Speaking of birthday meals, on the way back from tutoring tonight, No. 1 made a comment that he would take me out to eat for my birthday, but he “only has, like, five bucks.” I told him that was nice, but not necessary.

I’m thankful for the kindhearted boys with their creative present ideas!

Because y’all are so kind to me and put up with my quirkiness so graciously, no one pointed out to me that I posted Writing Wednesday on Tuesday this week. Ha! I guess I was so excited to share about the writing contest that I skipped a day.

Truth is, I’ve been a wee bit stressed out lately. (And by “wee bit,” I mean quite a lot.) I haven’t dropped any extremely important balls, but I’m having to leave myself notes for things like the package that I meant to mail on Monday and haven’t yet, or the birthday party invitations for this coming weekend that I finally remembered to send to school yesterday. (That one may be a mixed blessing, actually, because there is a strict limit on the number of guests allowed, and we would be way over the limit if everyone came!)

All that is to say, I was just introduced to Life Unmasked (thanks, Melissa!) and thought today would be as good a day as any to get real.

Besides the usual goings-on with kids and school that I can usually juggle pretty well, there are other things happening (or not happening, as the case may be) in my life right now that leave me feeling disillusioned, disheartened and discouraged. In one of those areas, I’ve decided that I’m going to try really hard to stop complaining and make a conscious effort to be thankful in the midst of the uncertainty and frustration. I know that I’m good at what I do, whether anyone acknowledges (or even notices) it or not. Besides, I keep having to remind myself that I work for the Lord, not for men. If Jesus signed my paycheck, then perhaps my attitude would be a bit better, ya think?

As for the other area, well, I don’t know what else there is to do. I can’t fix it by myself. I try to be thankful for the little things, but the frustrating things seem to compound like the goods in Bellatrix Lestrange’s vault.

Do you ever find yourself up against one of these?

Sometimes, I wish I had Hagrid’s wand and the secret tap-code to open up the wall. Sometimes, I just want to slump against it, curl up my knees and cry. Sometimes, I want to get a battering ram and bust the whole thing down.