Thankfulness

Wow....its been a long time since I've discussed my Mondays! There are much fewer now than there were. Just a year of Mondays left. Since my last entry we are in a different year, a different season, and we have a different number of people living in our home.

Today I am going to focus on one special difference. Today I am married to a 40 year old.

 Let me tell you 40 things that I know about the man I love most in this world:

1. He loves Jesus. More than he loves me, and that's the way I want it. He loves to tell people about Jesus and how His love will change your life.

2. He loves me. He is often better at showing it than I am I think. He loves to bring me little presents and just sit and talk with me. I am very blessed :)

3. He loves our children. He is proud of them-even more than they realize I think. Sometimes they may think he is hard on them, but it is because he sees what wonderful kids they are and doesn't want to accept their second best.

4. He is so smart! If I have a question most likely he will have an answer to it.

5. He is creative. (see number 4 ;) )

6. He is talented. You probably have seen the pictures he has taken, but you should also see the pictures he draws, the music he plays/sings, the things he writes....he amazes me :)

7. He loves peanut butter. This is pretty much common knowledge by now, but you don't know how deep this love goes. Its pretty intense. We're talking peanut butter, bacon, and pineapple sandwiches.  (See #5)

8. His musical taste is quite eclectic. He loves 80s hair bands, bluegrass, Italian opera, church choir music, and classical piano to name just a few.

9. Despite his love for music (and most likely because of it), he won't let us sing in the car. For real. Not a note.

10. He has an amazing vocabulary. If you have ever played words with friends with him (which I do not) you know that he can come up with amazing words. He doesn't cheat. One time I learned this really long word for stupid (and now I don't even remember the word, but I bet he does). Anyway I came home and used it in a sentence, knowing that THIS time I would stump him. Nope. He knew what it meant. No hesitation. He is no fun.

11. He is allergic to shrimp.

12. He likes to take pictures of the sky. Now, even when he is not with us, we sometimes say "Daddy would take a picture of that sky." He has given us a greater appreciation for the beauty of it.

13. He loves little red cars.

14. He-often-recognizes a person's need for friendship when I don't.

15. He's an introvert. I can hear you..."wha...??" Yes. My sweet, talkative, can't-get-him-into-the-car- after-church-cause-he's-visiting husband does not draw his strength from being out among people. He needs quiet and home and family.

16. His favorite color is green.

17. He wore a red tuxedo to prom.

18.  He was baptized in the ocean on a youth trip.

19. He shoots Canon. Period.

20. He's an awesome cook!  One of my favorite times of day is when the two of us get to cook together. 

21. He's an encourager. He can see when people are down and just builds them up. Many times its me. Many, many times its me.

22. He always wants carrot cake for his birthday cake. The sweet, spicy smell of cinnamon and brown sugar is the scent of November 4th at my house.

23. He does amazing impressions of people, and sometimes its not even voluntary. I can almost always tell who he is talking to on the phone when its a friend or family member because his voice naturally matches theirs.

24. He likes Chuck Taylors.

25. He likes Roy Orbison.

26. His favorite artist is Bouguereau. He even takes pictures where he tries to recreate his paintings.

27. He is in love with Romania. He is passionate about sharing the love of Christ with those who, are not under communism anymore, but still live with its effects. (see #1) He is even working hard to learn to speak Romanian so that he doesn't have to go through an interpreter. He has come a long way!

28. He will always have one more thing to tell you.

29. His favorite author is C.S. Lewis. He has a C.S. Lewis quote for just about any situation you've got.

30. He is a Florida State Fan, but also pulls for Alabama because of me (and vice versa :) )

31. He looks just like his mother (only she has hair-but no goatee)

32. He is an awesome teacher. He relates so well to teenagers-in a way that I don't think I could. He has taught many book studies and cooking classes for our homeschool kids, Awana, Sunday School, and in the past Jr. High Awana. He relates with kids so well.  Maybe its because he is still half kid himself. :)

33. His earthly hero is his Grandfather Jester-I never met him because he died when Daniel was young, but I know what an amazing man he was just from listening to Daniel talk about him. 

34. He loves Disney World, and introduced the magic to me and the kids.

35. If a sacrifice has to be made in our family, he is always the first on to make it-even if the kids don't always realize that, I do. 

36. He doesn't know how to type correctly and probably types faster than I do.

37. He is really good with analogies. And uses them. a lot.

38. He's a cat person, not a dog person-but if he ever did have a dog it would have to be a beagle.

39. He may not always know what to do, but I always know that things will be taken care of when he is around.

40. He is 40 years old today, and I am Thankful for him :).

The ants go marching three by three-Hurrah??

Want to know about this past Monday? Yes, I thought you did. But first, let me back up to Sunday.  On Sunday both Daniel and I were not feeling well. We didn't go to church, and laid around for a good part of the day.  That night I was trying to decide what to cook for supper, but did not feel like cooking at all! To save either one of us from having to cook, my sweet husband ordered Papa John's for us. Understand, this is a RARE treat. We NEVER order pizza.  We do go by and pick up Hot'n'Readys sometimes from Little Caesar's, but having a custom ordered, brought to the house, didn't have to make any kinda effort to get it here pizza? no. never. It was soooooooooo good. Mine and Bethany's was LOADED with veggies. Thin crust..mmmmmmm. I am kinda drooling a little now just thinking about it.
So after eating, the Papa John's box with crusts and a couple of half empty glasses of tea were left on the kitchen table...cause why should someone take the time to throw that stuff away, right? Mama will do THAT stuff in the morning! Sha!
This is what greeted me bright and early Monday morning-a gabillion ants enjoying the remnants of our special Papa John supper. They were all over the kitchen table, all over the benches, all over the window sill. It was kinda Alfred Hitchcocky. *shudder*.  I got them all cleaned up, disposed of pizza boxes, etc. and then happened to notice that the book shelf that we use as our pantry was covered with them too! What were they after here? Graham cracker crumbs. Stupid ants. Daniel called the exterminator and I emptied the shelves of anything that they might find appetizing.  The exterminator is coming tomorrow. This morning I awoke to more ants in the pantry shelves!! I thought I had gotten all the stuff they would be interested in, but I missed the crackers. Crackers?? These must be some desperate ants. Stupid ants. Why are you in my house anyway?? It isn't flooding, and it rains every afternoon. Its summer-go find some seeds or berries or garbage. Leave me and my crackers alone. And for heaven sakes I might have WANTED those pizza crusts!! 

Power Naps and. the Fun-Size Candy Bar

Let me tell you what, I love a good Power Nap. In fact, I would love one right now. The beauty of a power nap is that you can take one really quickly, sometimes before the kids' radar even detects that you are asleep and registers that they MUST ask you something NOW. My standard power nap is 20-30 minutes long.  I awake feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to continue my day. My husband refuses to believe this is possible.  "How, he asks, can you possibly sleep for 20 minutes and feel better?? That would just make me mad!!"  He is the type of person that has to have at least an hour and a half, minimum for a nap.  If he can't have an hour and a half, he'd rather not even take it.
I can understand this-it is the same concept as the fun sized candy bar. I am certainly not the first person to say that there is nothing fun in a fun size candy bar. Its just enough to make you mad that there isn't more. If you have seen "O Brother Where Art Thou?" recall Everett's line when offered a gofer. "No thank you, Delmar. One third of a gopher would only arouse my appetite without bedding it down.."  This is exactly how I feel about fun size candy bars. Now...five or six fun sized candy bars..now you're talking. Daniel, on the other hand, can eat one fun size candy bar and stop.  Will of steel, I'm telling you-will of steel. He kills me because he can buy some kind of special treat and make it last FOR.E.VER. I want to eat mine in the first 10 minutes of having it. I think this is because he was the oldest and I was the youngest. I had to fight for the treats and eat them quick or they'd be gone. He could just do that thing to his sister where he put his hand on her forehead and held her at arms length while she tried to grab his candy. Yes, this is definitely the reason.
Mmmm....now I want to sleep for 20 minutes and then eat a handful of fun sized candy bars. 

Nooks and Crannies

I had such a productive day yesterday! Wednesdays are sort of turning into my "get the house really clean" days. I don't know why exactly, other than it isn't Monday and we don't have Summer Splash to go to. The kitchen is nice and sparkly, the living room is all put together-I even got all the nooks and crannies.  Usually it is the kids job to clean the living room because usually it is the kids that have made the mess.  The problem is that the kids are blind to about half the stuff they leave in the living room. Flip-flops, papers from church, metal balls from magnetix (that no one has played with in forever-so WHY do they keep turning up???), friendship bracelets, doll shoes, pony tail holders, origami...it all finds its way into the nooks and crannies of my living room. As of yesterday I also realized it finds its way behind the table that has the turtle tank on it.  Much easier to put it back there than put it away, right?? They also think putting it on the coffee table equals cleaning it up.  All of that stuff got cleaned out (and tossed-muahhahhahhaa), and the WHOLE living room got vacuumed-not just that area in the middle. I got the little edge thinga-ma-jigger and went along the edges and everything. I just want to sit in here and stare at it and dare a kid to put anything down. (Can I just stop here for a second and say that "vacuumed" is one of the most awkward looking words ever?-I swear I spellchecked it).
I also organized a couple of  deals using coupons in which we would get free ketchup and free cat litter yesterday. (By organizing I mean I read on a website "print this coupon and go to this store and you will get this-those are my mad organizing skillz).  It would have been free publix brand cat litter and free publix ketchup.  The people at publix knew NOTHING about these deals. Now I got this off of iheartpublix.com.  Obviously, these people love publix. They want to promote publix. They are not going to sabotage publix by putting up fake deals and sending you to the store to pick them up, only to be frustrated.  So-there WAS a deal. Maybe it wasn't supposed to start until today. That is entirely possible, though our ad starts on Wednesday from my understanding.  But, wouldn't you think, that the manager would know about the deal a day ahead of time? Even if he can't GIVE you the deal, wouldn't he be able to say "I'm sorry, that deal doesn't start until tomorrow" so that you feel justified-so that you don't feel like a crazy loon? My theory? The manager of publix is a crazy loon. (the phenix city publix, btw). However, we DID get some Five Alive, which is one of our favorite breakfast drinks that we can't get at Winn Dixie, so it wasn't a total loss.
After dinner I noticed, as I was cleaning up, that the floor was sticky. I blamed Daniel and the Five Alive-definitely not me and the cough syrup. It was time to mop anyway, so I gave the floor a good mopping. Problem solved.  This morning, I got up to get myself a nice cold glass of Five Alive and write to you fine people, and the SAME SPOT was STILL STICKY! I think these cats are having Five Alive/cough syrup parties in the middle of the night. Ahh well.
Today is going to be a beautiful day :)

Just another manic Monday.....or not.

Today goes down in history as the day the Legacy of Ladonia Cookbook was submitted for publishing!! I realized last night that today was the 27th, and I had to have everything to Morris Press by the 30th.  I went into PANIC mode.  This morning I hit the ground running to finish it up.  My alternate cookbook person, Marlana, and I were texting back and forth all morning while I got the forms filled out.  We had decided the first page would be a dedication page, with a picture of the original church building.  The next two pages would be the church history, and the last a poem. I went to the church website and looked at the church history.  It was...well..dry. All the facts were there, yes, but..it just needed something.  Marlana called Mrs. Eula Ridley and Mrs. Doris Davis, and they met me up at the church. They have been members at LBC for forever.  They told me so many cool little interesting things to add to the history. It was like spreading a layer of strawberry preserves over dry toast!
Shortly after lunch the cookbook was all submitted-the rest of the day was pretty much useless. We all laid around, watched TV and did nothing. It's nice every once in a while, but I am looking forward to a busy day of cleaning and cooking tomorrow because I didn't do it today. And that's good too :)

...................

Mondays will blindside you.

I was kind of interested to see what today would bring-after all since the whole premise is that Mondays are more interesting than other days, whether good or bad, I was hoping today would have SOMETHING go on to write about. It did.

I had a coworker named Mrs. Rajan when I was teaching.  She found out just before school let out at the end of May that she had stage 4 cancer.  Mrs. Rajan passed away this morning.

Mrs. Rajan wasn't someone who sugar coated things. She wasn't one who was afraid to ask a question when she wasn't sure about something and she wasn't one who was afraid to share information either.  She was generous.

There won't be a funeral for Lalita Rajan.  She was Hindu, and they don't do that.  Tomorrow she will be cremated.  Next year there will be a new teacher in her room, teaching her students.

But on this day-I remember her.

Daddy

"Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Daddy." 

On Sunday, our church is having a special Father's Day breakfast to honor the men in our life. Our Ladies of Ladonia group (LOL) will be arriving very early to make sausage, eggs, biscuits, gravy..the whole works, to honor them. Bethany is SO excited about this. She is planning to be up at the church with me early Sunday morning to help. For her Daddy. Not only are we honoring all the Dads in our life at this breakfast, we are honoring the young men too.  Any male 13 and over is invited. Why? Because they will be Daddies one day, and the men in our church are starting the process of showing them how to do it in a Godly way.  As the mother of a teenage boy, I really love that. (He does too, but I think it has more to do with the sausage than the mentoring).

I am blessed to have two men in my life that I want to say "Happy Father's Day" to on Sunday, my husband and my father. I love and respect them both so much. I imagine that this blog will be full of references to Daniel, and I certainly am not slighting him, but today I am going to talk about my father. Tommy Smith is kind, funny, genuine, and dependable. He is quiet with a dry humor. He had our respect from birth. I remember a time when I was in church and I started laughing. You know church laughing? You just can't stop and EVERYTHING makes it worse? It was that kind of laughing. I was about 12 or so I guess.  I was laughing and laughing-the whole pew shaking. My mother kept whispering "shh!" "Emily!" "hush" and that was like pouring lighter fluid on a fire. I suppose my daddy had finally gotten enough, and leaned forward so he could look at me past my mother. Nothing was funny after that. That is all it took. His look.  Yet, this is the same man that, when I was told by my mama that I couldn't have any homemade ice cream for dessert because I had not eaten my veggies, wordlessly fed me spoons of it from his own cup. He saved all of his quarters from his pocket change for me when I was in college so I could do my laundry. (This may have had more to do with his desire for me to not bring my laundry home than any kind gesture on his part.) But the thing I will always remember most is something I wasn't even there to see.  My mother told me about Daddy visiting his father, my granddaddy, in the nursing home. Daddy went everyday. EVERYday. Granddaddy loved grapes, so Mama and Daddy and the people in the church kept him supplied with fruit and anything else they thought he might like.  As his visit with Granddaddy was winding down, he handed Daddy a dried up stem from his grapes.  He had been a wonderful gardener in his day, but part of his health issues had caused him to not think as clearly as he once did. He told Daddy, "now you take this home and stick it in your flower bed, and it'll grow." Daddy responded, "Yes, Sir" and took the grape stem.  When they got home he got out of the car and walked over to the flower bed. Mama said "What are you doing? That isn't going to grow."  He replied, "I know it, but tomorrow he will ask me if I did it, and I won't lie to him."   That is the respect he had for his father.  He is an amazing example to me. I pray I can honor him as much as he honored his father.

 Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I love you! -Brat.