In Which I Prove AGAIN That I Am A Dork; Or, What's In A Name?

I am such a dork. A big, huge, ridiculous, dork.

I believe I have mentioned once or twice that I'm in a rock band. *grin* Well, we rock band members often communicate via e-mail. Just a few moments ago, I received a message from one of the band members. The email was sent to the entire group although the content was directed at one member in particular. This member's name is Jon. My name is Jen. (I just like to pretend to be Guinevere Meadow. It sounds so much more mysterious and foreboding.)

Anyhoo. This email said "Hey Jon, please send us all the pictures you took at such-and-such an event last week."

Because I'm a dork and I didn't read carefully, I thought the message said, "Hey Jen, please send us all the pictures you took at such-and-such an event last week."

Trouble was, I wasn't at this particular event. I certainly didn't take any photos.

So I hit "reply all" and proved to the whole band that I can't read. I said something to the effect of, "Hey guys, I wasn't at this particular event, and I certainly didn't take any photos."

I am sure I will be mocked mercilessly for years to come. They're still mocking me for the time spell-check changed "Jen" to "Ken" and I didn't catch it.

To try and desperately recover some shred of dignity, I sent the following three emails to the group once I caught my blunder:

****
Oh for heaven's sake. I'm such a dork.

Ignore me, please.

Jon, Jen, Ken....

****
And would it trouble you all to know that just prior to reading Ivy's message and mistaking "Jon" for "Jen," I was writing a lesson plan to teach a kindergarten student about phonics and letter recognition??!!! Yes, I really was...

The letters are just swimming around on the screen. Perhaps I'm slightly dyslexic.

Ken, I mean Jen, I mean Jon, I mean Ron, I mean Rob, I mean.... who the heck am I??!!!!!

*****
and finally,

I hereby insist that we change the spelling of Jon's name to "John" so that I won't get confused again. Or maybe we could just rename him to something else entirely that won't be confused with anyone else in the band. "Eugene" perhaps, or "Geraldo."

-Jim Ken Jon Jo-Bob Billy Sue Luanne Suzy Q.


LOLOLOLOLOL

I'm glad I have a sense of humor and can laugh at myself.

In Which I Explain The Economics of Guinevere

I am helping to improve the economy.

How? you ask.

Excellent question.

I am diversifying!

I used to shop for clothing at one store. Just one store. It was my favorite store. (Pay particular attention to the past-tense "was.") The sizing was always accurate, the clothes were of high quality and lasted, and were just trendy enough to stay in style for several seasons. I got lots of wear out of everything I purchased there.

I don't like them anymore. The last 5 times I have been in there I have been appalled at the rudeness and inconsideration of the store employees. Their promotional materials lie to me about what is and is not on sale. They advertise 2 skirts for $25, yet if you just want 1 skirt, it costs $29.50. HUH??!!

So I have been spreading my dollars to other sectors of the clothing market. I am helping to provide jobs for whomever it is that makes the clothing which ends up in my closet.

The great thing about it? At these other stores, I am one size smaller.

Makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it?

In Which I Contemplate My Dorkiness

I am such a big dork. Allow me to tell you why.

I've never been one of these I've-got-it-all-put-together-and-I-always-dress-well-and-I-remember-everything moms. I am rather disorganized, in fact, which kind of surprises me because when I was a full-time college student, I was *very* organized. Then I had a kid and it all went out the window. I leave the house without checking to see that I have diapers in my diaper bag. I tell someone I'll be somewhere, then I forget about it completely. I freak out because I've lost my keys when they're actually in my bag the whole time. I meet someone out in public who obviously knows who I am,but I am completely clueless.

Well all this is going to change because as of today, I have something that those other moms have.

A calendar in which to organize myself.

Do I hear giggling?

Giggle away. I belong to a mom's group that meets weekly. (Well, we've taken a break for the summer but that's neither here nor there.) At least half of the moms who belong to this group are the moms who appear to have it all together, arrive with every hair in place, lost keys are never an issue, their diaper bags are well stocked AND they have a spare in the car just in case they have an extraordinarily rare lapse of thought, they always remember my name, and...they all have the same exact calendar. (Amy Knapp's Family Organizer.) I know this because our group is very active and we often do things outside of our regular weekly meeting. When it comes time to plan events, all these moms whip out their identical calendars, check their schedules which have been handwritten with perfect penmanship, color-coded for each family member, and I sit there and watch and hope I'll remember whatever it is we're planning. If I'm lucky, I've got the back of a receipt from the depths of my purse that I can scrawl down a date and time if I'm also lucky enough to borrow a pen from one of these super-moms sitting near me.

Today was my lucky day. I decided to take an outing with Lance to the bookstore because I received a 25% off any item coupon in my email inbox this morning. I decided to take the plunge and use that coupon not on the latest novel I'm dying to read or the new CD by my very favorite artist, but on something boring, practical, and very grown-up: a calendar.

Ha. Try buying a 2008 calendar in the middle of June.

I was about to be disappointed when I found it. At the very end of the shelf, trying to hide from me: The Amy Knapp Family Organizer. It was not a 2009 calendar like all the other ones around it; well, not completely. This calendar begins in July 2008 and goes through December 2009! SCORE!!! I'll be able to start using this calendar in about a week and a half. I'll definitely need it come August when I begin my internship.

So now I'm one of the cool moms. I'm a member of the club of moms-who-have-the-potential-to-have-it-all-together.

See? I'm such a dork!

In Which I Write a Week's Worth of Posts in a Single Day

Well, I haven't been at my computer much this week, but I've been writing blog posts in my head.

Here is the reader's digest version. If it's possible for me to be succinct, that is.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Magnetic Monday"

I've been having so much fun with this magnetic poetry! Even though I have yet to actually make it on a Monday. LOL!


"If some were to demand that religion shimmer in electric glory, then they would never learn to whisper in patient belief."

And once again I am surprised at what my subconscious brings up when I write these. I had nothing in particular in mind when I stood at my fridge arranging words!

* * * * * * * * * *

"The TiVO Generation"

It becomes evident that your child belongs to a far more technologically advanced generation when at 18 months old, your son brings you the TiVO remote control because Elmo isn't in this particular scene of Sesame Street. No joking, this happened to me this morning. He knows that the remote control can fast forward the TV. All the other monsters were on the screen except for Elmo. Lance looks at me, points to the remote control, says "Elmo!" emphatically, and is only happy when I forward to the "Elmo's World" segment of the show.

* * * * * * * * * *

"In Which I Break Out of My Comfort Zone"

This week, my church is participating in a week-long event called Festival of Caring. Every small group (bible study groups, committees, musical groups, etc) in our church is performing a deliberate act of kindness for the community during the week, and on Friday we are hosting a gigantic block party for the whole city. (Amber, I bet you would ROCK at organizing something like this!!) Anyway, during the week they are asking church members to go door-to-door inviting people to our event. We are Methodists. Door-to-door stuff freaks us out. We just don't like it. Fortunately, they have brought in a team of people from all over the state who are trained to do just this sort of thing, so they pair us up with them. I did this Sunday evening. My husband and I, along with a trained team member, canvassed a street in our neighborhood. We passed out party invitations, asked if there were any prayer requests, and were on our way. I was surprised that I was actually able to do this! No one was rude to us. People were often cautious at first, but when they realized we weren't selling anything and were just inviting them to a party, most of them were very gracious. It was kinda fun to do something so out of character for me!

Tonight, my bible study group is preparing dinner for the trained team members who are camping out in our Sunday school rooms for the week! I've got a veggie casserole baking in the oven as we speak. Yum! I hope they like it.

* * * * * * * * * *

"In Which I Prove Once And For All That I Am, In Fact, A Rock Star."

The band that my husband and I are in will be playing music at this Festival of Caring block party, as described above. One of our other band members designed a poster to promote the event with a picture of us on it. It is a very professional-looking poster. (Nice job, Ivy!!) The posters have been hung in various places of business where people will see it and come hear us play. Only rock stars have their pictures on posters that people will see to advertise concerts. The fact that I am in this picture proves that I am a rock star. My face is all over town. Behold.



(If you can't make it out, the band's name, emblazoned across the top of the poster, is "Renanah." It's a Hebrew word that means "joyful singing and praises." Appropriate, no?)

* * * * * * * * * *

And there you have it. In which I write a week's worth of blog posts in a single day.

Bwa-ha-ha.

Am I Awful?

It's 1:30 pm.

Lance is napping.

The housework is acceptably caught up.

There is a thunderstorm outside; no chance of me driving anywhere for the next couple of hours.

Can I have a glass of wine?

Magnetic Poetic

OK, OK, so I know it isn't Monday. You can pretend it is just for the sake of this post. Yesterday, I just didn't feel like sitting down at the computer. It was a rainy, dreary afternoon meant for napping, so when Lance took his nap, I decided to have one, too, rather than blog. (Yes, I'm afraid napping is a priority over blogging. At least it is on rainy, dreary, afternoons.)

Here is the gem of the week:

She creates symbols of fiery grace with original rhythms and canvases of radiant color.

Once again I got a horribly lousy photo, so I decided to make it black and white and all contrasty, just for fun.

I got to thinking about what goes on in my head when I write these. Usually, I don't have any particular meaning in mind when I start playing with the words. I just pick out a word, find another word that sounds good with it, and then build it from there. I'm often surprised, however, at what I end up with. The subconscious mind is a very powerful thing. I think this Magnetic Poetic is my favorite so far. I think it sort of describes me. I sing in a Christian contemporary band, and our songs are often about the grace of God. I think anyone who knows God would agree that He is both graceful, and fiery at the same time. While I can't claim to be an artist creating original paintings, I do enjoy photography, so I often find myself capturing images of things in nature that make me think of the things of God.

Hmm. Very interesting.

Trouble With Checkups

Today was Lance's 18-month old checkup. Up until now, he was a model patient. All the staff at the office just loved it when he came in because he didn't fuss or squirm or scream.

All that has changed.

I had to bring him in last week to have a burn checked out. The Dr. wanted me to bring him back this week so she could check to make sure it was healing well, and also to do his well-child exam at the same time. I think he was traumatized from last week's visit, and as soon as we walked through the door from the waiting room to the exam area, my easy-going, well-mannered child became a screaming, clingy monster. He screamed his little head off the entire time-- while he was being measured and having his temperature taken; when he was being weighed; when the doctor checked his eyes and ears.

Then they wanted to administer vaccines.

I said no, not today, thank you very much. My child is obviously very frightened.

One thing I like about my doctor is she values my opinion as a mother and doesn't fight me on things like delaying vaccines for awhile. ( I have been vaccinating him, but a little bit behind schedule. I don't want him to have too much too soon.) However, today they had to do a finger prick to check his blood for lead. We were supposed to do this at his 12-month visit, but things got crazy and I never made it to the lab, so she had the nurse do a prick today.

I don't know why this particular nurse is in pediatrics. She's apparently afraid of children and has little patience with mothers who want to hold their children on their laps instead of just dumping them on the table. Argh.

I didn't schedule his next checkup. I'm going to find another pediatrician. I like the doctor all right, but her staff is awful and her office is not well-supplied. It's dingy, smells bad, and since we've moved it's a half-hour away.

Sigh. We came home and I let Lance have a popsicle and watch Sesame Street. Now he's taking a nap.

Poor little guy.

My New Hobby!

Now that I have a yard in which to plant things, I have decided that I want to try my hand at gardening. The previous owners left a very neat and tidy yard, with a nice privacy hedge about 7 feet tall on one side of the yard. The other sides are hedged on the neighbor's side of the fence, but there's still some privacy there.

In this hedge can be found a variety of butterfly and dragonfly species. Blogger Holly from Tropic of Mom, who also happens to be my very best friend in the whole world came over yesterday and gave me some ideas. She has a lovely wildflower garden in her backyard, and as far as I am concerned is the foremost expert in native Florida plants.

She suggested I plant a butterfly garden! She told me that to have a successful butterfly garden you need to have a variety of plants: the larvae/host plant for the caterpillar to eat and in which to build a cocoon, and the nectar plant for the adult butterfly. Fortunately for me, the nectar plants are gorgeous flowering varieties that grow very nearly year-round in our tropical climate. Woot! (Is that the correct usage of the exclamation "Woot!" I've seen it used around the blogosphere, but I can't say I know the exact definition.)

To begin my butterfly garden, I have planted two blue porterweed shrubs. Right now they are very low to the ground, but they should get taller and they will bloom with purple flowers that butterflies like to sip on.

It doesn't look like much yet, but I've seen these fully-grown and they are very nice! In case you're wondering why I put rocks all the way around it, it was because our landlord pays for a lawn service (thanks, landlord!) and I didn't want them to mow down my brand-new plants. I didn't dig a bed for these because there were already a couple of "dips" in the ground that we had filled with rocks to prevent ankle-twisting, so I just got a shovel and deepened the existing holes a bit. Once they get a little height, I'll take the rocks away, and maybe lay down some mulch.

Just to the left of this shrub, which is not shown in the photo, is the perfect location for me to dig a flower bed for a full butterfly garden. I have a great view of this area from my patio and from the window of my breakfast nook. It's a rather large area and will be a big project to prepare the soil, so I'll probably wait awhile. I also need to check to make sure it's OK to dig so close to the pool and find out if there are sprinkler lines down there.

Anyhoo. Holly loaned me a big stack of gardening books and I have been devouring them. I've learned which plants attract which butterflies and have figured out from there which of those plants would flourish in my yard. I'm so excited! Hoping to make a trip to a local nursery to see these plants in person, get an idea of price, etc. I'm thinking of growing the butterfly plants from seed in order to save a little money; we'll have to see!

Magnetic Monday

I *love* Magnetic Monday!!

This week's gem of brilliance:

I want to believe in a silhouette of peace

Profound, isn't it?



And now.....the WINNER of the Magnetic Poetry Kit is...


Brento!!!

He had the coolest idea to use the magnetic poetry as "eco-friendly spray paint" and use it to write graffiti on bathroom stalls. He promises to photograph his "Magnetic Graffiti." He also left me the best wacky sentence:

Guerrilla poets wage war on dark, dank spaces.

So Brento, guerilla poet that you are, if you'll be so kind to email me your address, I will mail you your very own set of magnetic poetry. I'll be interested to see what sort of graffiti you can create with words from a Christian-themed set...lol!

To Nap or Not To Nap...

...This is the question.

Lance can't seem to make up his mind if he wants to take one nap a day, or two. He's in that pesky sleep-transition stage that I just simply detest. I don't care either way, I just want him to make up his mind already!!!

Yesterday he only took one nap. For 3o minutes.

Today he took an hour nap. We didn't think he would go down for a second nap, but sure enough he did, and he's been asleep for another hour now.

I know I just need to be patient, that he will settle into a routine, just as he did when he went from napping on and off all day as a newborn to taking 3 naps a day: morning, afternoon, and a little evening snooze. Then, there was another awful transition time when he gave up his evening snooze and went to just a morning and afternoon nap. Now we're in another icky transition.

I'm a creature of habit. I know I should have learned by now that with a young kiddo, routine and habits are irrelevant. But I can't help myself.

Sigh. I'm sure in another week or so he'll get himself settled into a new routine. For now I'll just grit my teeth and get through one day at a time.

Another Fun Morning

Yesterday, I had a fun morning.

Today, I had a fun morning! This is a good trend.

I met up with blogger Holly from Tropic of Mom for an impromptu mall outing. A few days ago, I saw a skirt I absolutely loved, but decided to wait a few days to see if I still wanted it. (Trying to stop my impulse buying!) Well, two days later, I still wanted it. I also had a gift card for Bath and Body Works that I was saving for their annual summer sale which is going on now. So I called her up this morning, found out she was planning on going to the mall anyway so we decided to meet up and do our shopping together.

I haven't had so much fun at the mall in a long time! Lance is at that stage where he no longer wants to ride in the stroller, but doesn't have the self-control for me to let him walk next to me. He'll run off, or yank things off the shelves. Today however, I kept him contained with goldfish crackers, a sippy cup, and a blue rubber ducky from Bath and Body Works. (It was $2. I think $2 is a VERY good price to keep a toddler happy in a stroller!)

It seems everyone is having their summer sales right now. The skirt I wanted was on sale, so I bought two of them. (I kind of had to, because they only gave you the sale price if you bought two. Grr.) I found flip-flops for Lance that were 2/$5. I got a pair of swimming trunks for Hubby that were also on sale, and then I made out like a bandit at Bath and Body Works. My gift card went a loooong way with all the great deals that were in there! I only had to pay $1.06 out of pocket for 11 items! It was great!

Lance is sleeping now; time for me to do a little housework and get some exercise. Have a lovely day!

A Fun Morning

I hosted my very first playdate today!

A few times, I've had one of my girlfriends over with her child. That's different.

Today, I had three girlfriends over with their four children, ranging in age from 16 months to 2 1/2 years old. It was a blast! We all splashed around in the pool for awhile, then when the kids got hungry, everyone got out and we all sat down to lunch together. The kids all played in the house while the mommies got to chat about grown-up things. (It's nice to not have to refer to yourself in the third-person!)

I think we'll be doing this often! Lance and I get in the pool pretty much every day anyway. My friends all brought their own lunches over, so the only work I really had to do was, um, open the door and let them in.

They all had a great time, too! It's nice to have a break from your routine, especially when you are a stay-at-home mom to a very young child. It is work to keep up with a toddler all day *and* care for your house, so when the kids have friends over, they keep each other entertained so your mommy brain can get a little rest!

I have come to realize that caring for a toddler is much more mentally exhausting than physically exhausting. I realized this when I was washing dishes. Previously, washing dishes was a fairly mindless activity. I could sort of just "shut down" and put myself on autopilot, allowing my mind a short respite. Now with a toddler underfoot, your brain is always on the alert. Always paying attention. You don't realize how important those few minutes here and there of brain-rest can be until you don't have them anymore!

Anyhoo. It was a fun morning. Our kids had a good time, we got to laugh and chat with each other.

A very pleasant morning indeed.

Bob

When I can't think of a good post title, I'll just call it "Bob."

I really want to write something fun, lighthearted, and witty, but I can't think of much to say, so I'll just ramble on and maybe something going on in my head will be of interest to you.

I can't stop thinking about chocolate cake. I'm craving a gigantic hunk of gooey, moist, chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a scoop of chocolate ice cream on the side. There's only one time of the month that I crave chocolate like this. Unfortunately, there is no chocolate cake in the house. There *is* a brownie mix, though. Is it crazy to make brownies at 10:00 pm?

Lance is figuring out how to pit one parent against the other. Oh, dear. Tonight I put him to bed. He quite willingly went into his crib, but he took offense to being left alone. (Most of the time he puts himself to sleep just fine. He might fuss for a few minutes.) Tonight though it was an all-out war. "DA-DDY!" "DA-DDY! Come rescue me from the evil Mom-lady!"

The man is weak.

But Lance is sleeping.

Did you know they have an American Idol game for the Nintendo Wii?? It has a microphone and it can analyze your pitch accuracy-- and you get feedback from the judges!!! SO COOL! Husband made fun of me, but if he's allowed to play Guitar Hero, why can't I play American Idol?????? I'll be dropping hints for this year's Christmas gift. lol!

There is an ant crawling around on my computer screen.

Speaking of ants, I occasionally find them in the bathtub. Why there? I would expect to see ants in the kitchen, but the bathtub? I don't get it. Maybe they're just particularly clean ants.

That's all I've got for now. Good night, world!

Update on Lance

Yesterday, I posted about how Lance got hurt in our church nursery. (Since then, our senior pastor, our "education director" and one of the nursery workers have all called me personally to apologize and to assure me that nothing like that will ever happen again. It's very nice of them to apologize, but really? Too little, too late. I'm not the sort of person to hold a grudge, but it seems to me they're just trying to cover their bums.)

I took Lance to his doctor this morning and she confirmed that it was a 2nd-degree burn. She encouraged me not to keep it covered with a band-aid but to let it "breathe." However, in the car on the way home, Lance bit the blister open so I decided not to do as my doctor ordered. I brought him home, put more neosporin on it, and promptly covered it with band-aids. I left it loose right over the blister though, so some air will still get in.

He doesn't seem to be in too much discomfort, thank heavens! He doesn't like having his bandage changed, but once it's on, he seems OK.

I'm still fuming about this whole thing. I know nobody was trying to hurt my son, but that doesn't change the fact that someone hurt my son because they weren't thinking. The nursery worker who called me today admitted that she was the one who brought the glue gun in and left it unattended for a few seconds while all the kids were playing in the back corner. It seems she was trying to blame Lance for being a curious toddler and running up to examine the mystery object while her back was turned. She then proceeded to tell me how bad the other nursery workers are, how they don't pay attention to Lance, how they don't give him his food, how they don't see when he gets hurt, etc etc., trying to make herself look good. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the rest of the nursery workers!!

This is the same woman who is supposed to watch Lance for me 3 days a week while I do my student teaching.

I'm starting to rethink that decision.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

The good news?

I found out where I'll be doing my student-teaching internship this coming fall!! I also got the grade I requested! (5th.)

The bad news? It is neither the school I requested, nor is it in the city I requested. We are allowed to make requests, and they say they will honor them if possible, but it's not guaranteed. I knew this going in, but...

I requested a particular school that is very close to my house. Additionally, I said that if I was not able to obtain a placement at that school to please place me at a school in my own city because I would be having to take my son to a babysitter every morning.

They put me in a school in the next city over. Grr. Now, it's not really that far because down here, the cities sort of bump right into each other, but it happens to be in the opposite direction of the babysitter's house.

Good news? Hubby said he would take care of dropping off Lance in the mornings so I wouldn't be in a mad rush at 6:30 am. (So Holly? You'll get a little longer to sleep each morning!)

I'm happy to know where I will be, just a little frustrated that they didn't honor either one of my requests. Did they even read my "special considerations" portion of my application? I think not. College faculty just aren't friendly towards students who have children.

Ah, well. It will be over before I know it and I will be a college graduate.

Yay!

Argh!

Argh, grumble, rant, grumble, argh, bad words. Lots of bad words.

Is it too much to expect basic competence out of the people who care for my child while we're at church? We have a lovely nursery, staffed with lovely ladies who truly care for the children, but...

It seems there have just been too many "mistakes" as of late. I can forgive a mistake or two. I know that accidents are bound to happen whenever at least one child is in any given room. But when bad things continue to happen to my kid because someone didn't take the time to think something through, well, then I run out of patience.

This morning during my Tuesday Morning Moms group bible study, one of the nursery ladies came in to get me. Lance had gotten hurt. "Don't panic," she said. (Anytime anyone begins a conversation with the words "don't panic," PANIC!) "He's OK, he just stuck his fingers in the hot glue we were using for our craft today."

Ummm, excuse me? Did I hear you right? You're using a hot glue gun for a craft project for toddlers!!?? Yep, sure enough, they were. According to the official accident report, the ladies were working one on one with the children gluing macaroni onto something or other. Lance went up out of curiosity to the hot glue gun that was placed within the reach of infants and toddlers, stuck his finger in the glue that was dripping out of the end of it, and the end of his finger is now blistered and swollen.

I took him home right away, of course, and did my best to settle him down. A bottle of chocolate milk and lots of cuddling finally did the trick, but he was in some serious discomfort for a long time before he finally succumbed to sleep.

In what universe is it okay to keep hot glue guns in the reach of small children? They might as well have left matches and knives lying around.

Maybe I'm overreacting. This is the 3rd "incident" in recent weeks that has resulted in my child being hurt due to someone not thinking. A couple of weeks ago, he was scratched by another child. I realize that the ladies couldn't have prevented it, but they could have come to get me. They didn't think it was worth it. We didn't see him until he had been in the nursery for two hours and his face was scratched and red.

Not too long ago, I posted about the incident in which a nursery worker was found with a gun on his person.

I don't think I can trust the church nursery anymore. Isn't that a shame?

Magnetic Monday: Experiment With a Psychedelic Masterpiece

It's that time of the week again! Magnetic Monday!!! Below is a photo of this week's magnetic poetry creations by me, Guinevere Meadow. (It is not one long poem, just several random phrases that I came up with during the week.)



Since they're kind of small in the photo, I'll translate for you. ;)

experiment with a psychedelic masterpiece
throughout my absurd waste of glory are metaphors of graceful passion
would my brother ask for every humble strength
the dark inner song

I am having a devil of a time getting a good photograph of my refrigerator. Trying to photograph white magnets on a white background in a dimly lit room is a challenge. I tried using the camera's flash, but it just reflected off of the fridge. Surprisingly, my pitiful camera phone was able to get a better photograph than my big, expensive, almost-professional level Nikon D70s.

Have you entered my contest to win your very own set of magnetic poetry? Hurry on up! To double your chances of winning, go visit my good friend Damselfly who is my partner in crime, er, in poetry...she's also giving away a set!

Do you already have a set? If so, please use it and photograph your work for us that we may all share in the fun that is wordcrafting. If enough people join in, I'll start a Mr. Linky. :)

He's All Boy

Have you entered my contest yet?? Go check it out!

He's all boy, my little man. While he may occasionally pick up a doll to play with or want to wave a pom-pom in the air, it's things like this make me secure in the knowledge that my little guy is all man.

This evening, we were hosting our weekly bible study. There are 5 couples in the group who gather to have dinner together and discuss things of God. We're currently reading a book called "God Is Closer Than You Think" by John Ortberg. I highly recommend it. Anyhoo. As everyone was arriving, Lance comes into the family room and announces "I gotta BUG!" (Well, maybe not in those particular words, in fact it was more like "gibberish-gibberish BUG!" even though everyone in the room knew exactly what he was saying.) In his hands, he held a small dead lizard that he found in a windowsill. The men in the group think it will be funny if they encourage him to bring it to me. I hear a chorus of "take it to Mommy!"

Since Lance is such a compliant, willing-to-please child, he did so. He walked right up to me holding this dead lizard waving it around in the air, and...

drum roll, please....

He put it in his mouth.

I uttered profane, blasphemous things and somehow I managed to leap over the ten people who were milling around in my kitchen and land in the opposite corner, far far away from such disgustingness without hurting anyone.

All the women shrieked along with me. All the men starting guffawing and chuckling.

Thankfully, someone nearby to Lance was able to extricate the ex-reptile from his mouth.

That's my boy!

A Prize! A Prize!

Hi everyone! Many of you seemed to enjoy the new blog feature that my friend Damselfly and I have begun: Magnetic Monday. I was very pleased with the reactions I got from everyone!

Except for one: too many of you bemoan your lack of a set of magnetic poetry.

So I plan to fix that.

One lucky blogger is going to win a set of magnetic poetry from me!! I purchased a Christian-themed set, the same one that Damselfly gave me as a housewarming gift, and I want to give it to one of YOU!

Here are the qualifications:

You may not already own a set of magnetic poetry. If you have one that you haven't used for awhile, dust it off and join us on Mondays!

You must leave a comment on this post or the next Magnetic Monday post letting me know you want a shot at the prize, and,

In your comment, you must prove that you have the wordcrafting skills necessary to fully appreciate such a prize by leaving me a creative sentence or phrase. See my very first magnetic poetry post for some ideas.

You may still enter even if your fridge is not magnetic. I'm sure you have some magnetic surface in your home- a mirror, your dishwasher, a filing cabinet?

The winner need not necessarily reside in the US. I know a handful of you live in other countries. You are absolutely eligible for this prize!

May the best writer win!