Fun Monday

Our wonderful hostess this week is Ari who is going Beyond Her Slab with this assignment:



It's time for show and tell. What does your kitchen counter look like right now? (And no fair cleaning just for the picture!) Do you have any favorite or unusual items on your counter?



A typical kitchen will have a potted plant or possibly a flower like this orchid...

..and a bowl of fruit and possibly a banana stand....

...it is quite possible to have some trivets lovingly made by the children who reside in the house..

...maybe some artwork on the wall that gives a glimpse into the personality of the person who spends a lot of time in the kitchen.


Of course my kitchen has all of the above. I am very fortunate though. As you know I live with a 9 year old boy and he LOVES to play on the kitchen counter. I regularly find other interesting items on the counter. Usually these items are legos (either in pieces or formed into an interesting creation), books, cars, trains, etc. This is what I found on the counter today.

A car that crashed and rolled and landed upside down. I am not sure what was the cause of the accident, and I didn't ask.

A train complete with its tender.

R2D2 laying down, I hope he is just taking a nap and is not passed out, you just never know with these Star Trek characters. The yellow/green puff toy is an animal he made in art class. I am sure it has a name but I have forgotten it.

A silver truck that has mysteriously come apart. It may have been involved in the crash with the white car, I am not sure, sometimes it is better to not ask any questions.

The Awesome Book of Sharks! What household is complete without this book?

Now I know you all know what this is! What? You don't know? I am surprised at you! It is a wigwam, of course. This is a project for school. Michael made the framework out of pipe cleaners and paper maiche'd the covering. He then painted it brown.

And last, but definitely not least....what kitchen is complete without an ongoing science experiment. This container is growing triopes, a prehistoric creature that resembles a shrimp.

That concludes your tour of my kitchen...thanks for visiting. To tour more kitchens, feel free to visit all the other Fun Monday participants.

Just the Other Day

Just the other day I took this picture of my daughter. It was on her First Communion Day. She looked like a little angel, so sweet and beautiful.



A few days after the above picture I took this picture of her. My sweet little angel girl, so precious and kind. She was always willing to help, never uttered an unkind word. She was so innocent and young.



Today I took this picture of her. How did this happen? Yesterday she was the girl in the previous pictures. How can she change so much overnight? She is still young and beautiful.

She is still kind and sweet and innocent.

The only difference now is that she has added a few new features to her personality. Coincidentally these features were added when she started adding new features to her physical presence.

The eye rolls, the groans, the tears, the drama....I don't think I signed up for this portion. What happened to the little girl of yesterday? At times I still glimpse her and I am sure she is still there somewhere. Hopefully she will return someday, a more mature version of her.

I do need to count my blessings though. Cassie is very innocent and sweet. She is still very helpful and she has a kind soul. She will go far in life, we just need to get through the next four years.

She is graduating 8th grade this year and will enter high school in the fall. Today we took graduation portraits and I snapped these pictures before we went to the studio. Her beauty brings tears to my eyes, both her inner and outer beauty.


Just the other day we were bringing her home from the hospital....what a journey it has been.

Night Happenings

Last night was a very strange night in our household. As you know, I have been battling the plague this week and my sinuses are a wreck. It is OK when I am upright, but at night the breathing becomes very difficult. Apparently, this makes me a very loud sleeper and because my husband is a very light sleeper...well you get my point. At around 2:00 am this morning Dave had had enough and went to sleep on the couch. This is not strange by any means, but what happens next is very strange.


I woke up when he left our room and continued to doze off and on the rest of the night. At one point I "heard" him walking back to our room, but he wasn't. Later I heard the TV on very loudly for an instant before the volume was lowered. I didn't think much of these instances until I spoke with Dave today. Here is his version of last night.


He was laying on the couch but couldn't sleep so he had the TV on very low. He eventually fell asleep only to be woken up by the volume on the TV increasing. He woke up confused and turned the TV off. He then heard the door to the garage opening and closing. He said other strange noises and occurrences were happening all night.


After he told me what happened to him, I told him that I was sure I heard him walking in our room, but he wasn't. He was very troubled by this and thought that maybe someone was walking around our house last night. I assured him that is was not a "real" person because our dog would have barked or attacked or something. But, I do think "someone" was walking around our house last night. I think this spooked him more than a real person.


I wonder if he will sleep tonight??

Back to Reality

Thank you for all your well wishes, your chicken soup, and your lovely comments. We are on the mend finally. The kids are back in school today and I am going into work at 1:30. I feel like we are entering the land of the living finally. It rained every day we were sick and today the sun is shining and the sky is blue. It is the perfect compliment to my mood.


For some reason I cannot send email, only receive it. I apologize in advance for not being able to reply individually to all your comments.


Oh..one more thing...we still don't have lice!!! Life is good!

Quarantine

We have the plague in our house right now. Michael, Cassie, and myself are affected, or should I say infected. Dave was smart and left home to go to work today. Hopefully he will bypass the plague. Symptoms of the plague - vomiting, diarrhea, cough, sore throat, stuffy head, fever and body aches. So much fun!! I guess it could be worse...we could also have the lice problem that is going around the school!


I am off to cycle the laundry. Please send healing thoughts our way...and some chicken soup!!

Fun Monday

Our wonderful hostess this week is the lovely Gattina, and here is her assignment:


Please show us what you wear on your feet inside your home ! Do you wear slippers, flip flops, shoes or nothing ? just take a picture and show us your feet !

Sounds simple enough! Here are my feet:

Ooops...sorry...those are my dog's toes....here are mine...

These are my winter feet, in the summer my toes are painted and my legs are hairless. I always go barefoot in the house unless it is really, really cold and then I put socks on. Up until last year I wore socks 24/7 year round, now I only wear socks when I put shoes on. I attribute that to the perimenopause phase I am entering!!

The Perfect Valentine

Nine years ago at exactly 7:11 am we were given The Perfect Valentine. A seven pound, eleven ounce bundle of joy emerged from his warm cocoon into the arms of the beautiful woman who carried and nourished him for nine months. This selfless woman looked at him with love in her eyes and welcomed him into this world. She then looked at me with love in her eyes and said the following words as she placed him in my arms - "Here is your son".


Those four words said with love and sadness, hope and joy were music to my ears. That little bundle has grown into the handsome boy you see in the above picture. He makes us laugh, he pushes my every button, he has angered me beyond belief, he fills my heart to bursting with love. He gives the best hugs and will still fold himself into my lap for snuggles. His sweet little boy smell is more appealing to me than expensive perfumes. He is stubborn, strong willed, intelligent, funny, sweet, kind, lovable, meticulous, and handsome. His brilliant blue eyes have a sparkle in them that will light up a room.


He is my son, my Perfect Valentine. I am eternally grateful to Laura, his birth mother. Her selfless act, done with love and heaviness in her heart, fulfilled my dream of being a mother for the second time. I can never repay her, but I can raise him, our son, to the best of my ability. My hope for him is to grow up to be a responsible, kind, loving adult. That was her wish for him, that is how we will repay her.


Happy Birthday my Perfect Valentine.....Thank you Laura.