Does he Even Know???

Does my child have any clue whatsoever, how much he is loved? How many lives he's touched in his short 10 years, so much so they'll go for bat for him no matter what? How much his educational future has occupied my every thought this week so much so that I was unable to concentrate to get my work done at work. I am sure they understand. This is why I am not in a position of any significant responsibility because um....my kid is more important. And kid responsibility is more fun than life insurance. Heck a trip to the gynecologist is more exciting than life insurance. Just saying....sorry I'm sure none of you needed that visual.
It would be very wrong of me to not mention a famous authors death today. Madeline L'Engle today at the age of 88. A Wrinkle in Time was a book that molded my childhood and made me an adventurous reader. And as an adult Walk on Water more rescently gave me an entirely new perspective on my creative life and how so closely related it is to my spiritual life. Heck I now think of them as one in the same. What an amazing author!
So I guess I owe my husband big time. 2 weekends in a row where he was forced to mingle among strangers, and put on a happy face and act like he was into the social scene. The reunion wasn't so bad since he could drink several beers to loosen up, and was able to socialize with strangers, and laugh at the folks from Mt. Healthy attempt to dance like they still got it. I honestly don't think I ever lost it, I just look way funny attempting to get my dance on like I did back in the day. Much fatter and older.....
Then there was the alumni picnic, where less booze was consumed....actually none by the respectable law abiding classmates. Of which I am one....hello park ranger.....things started getting a little tense at that point for Mr. Anti-social. He did know a few people who have been my friends before I knew him so he tolerated that with little to know complaining. Well then we hit the big time uncomfortable in you face social situation. Dinner at the senior pastors house. Hello Nigeria team. Now keep in mind I attend a church of several thousand, Ron knows maybe 2 people well enough to carry on a conversation of which he'd probably not start. I now have thrown him into a house full of people whom I barely know but have been praying for since the beginning of the Nigeria project. Not just that but they are church folks who are trained in the art of getting to know strangers. He was ready to go the minute he walked in the door and had to put on a nametag. Once he had some food and got to sit in his own space for a while without speaking to anyone he relaxed. And then when he saw what an intricate part of the team I was, and the thanks from many on the team for the praying I do......I think secretly he was impressed and proud of me.
For those of you praying in regards to the IEP meeting from HELL.....and I mean HELL......keep praying it ain't over yet, I'm afraid it'll be worse before it gets better. Most importantly I am doing this for what I feel is best for the P-man. And someday when he's an Artist/Missionary/hair dresser/president, he'll thank me!

I created....

And it felt so good, after the enormous amounts of stress I had today. And I didn't even go to work. Don't even ask.....not exactly the outcome I desired....will require for me to do a whole lot of grown up crap. So in order to get my mind off being a grown up, I played with Cloisonne.....that's right.....that ain't your mama's embossing enamel....do not be jealous that I have some, considering I don't think they make it anymore. I covered some chipboard with it and it was way way cool. If I get enough requests I'll post a picture. Continued prayers are much needed....they are working keep it up!

I might Barf....

Or cry. IEP meeting tomorrow. They never get any easier. They always seem to get harder. Doesn't matter I know what to expect. It's crazy. A whole new set of teacher I have to instruct on how to treat my child. Lets hope they are as accomidating as last year bunch or I might have to bust some ass!!!!! JUST SAYING!

Send up some words I don't barf, or cry, and I maintain my damn dignity! God uses Perry in special ways to touch people all the time let this school year be no different. Thanks God for a great kid!

She's having a Baby

Amy and I, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

In California, and I'm sad, she's so far away! Oh this is Amy one of my very best friends from High School. We relived our college years this weekend, and danced like we were in our 20's. I suppose I could board a plane and go see her but that's like going to another planet. Plus the man and his budget. Class reunion was off the hook. Still recovering. Heres a link to the slide show of pictures. (click the word slide show.) If you click the "i" in the center of the picture on the slideshow it'll tell you who those people are. Enjoy.

4th Grader

Much, much, to share. I'll try to maintain my focus and appear to be fairly organized. I am finally feeling less stressed about the beginning of the school year, but man until this evening I thought I was going to be completely consumed with stress, and busyness! Which I am still crazy busy. Honestly it's almost like I thrive on being busy, not sure what I'd do if wasn't busy. Probably get more sleep for 1. Ok so school started, and *I am not embarrassed at all to point out my pillowcases do not match my bed sheets. Heck they don't even match each other. This is a little something I like to call....."They're clean who gives a crap?" Ok so now you know a little too much about me... The blogs all about honesty!
Prince Perry had a good first day. Why Prince Perry you say? Well in an effort to make the first day fun and to hide the fact that I was freaking the heck out, I offered breakfast in bed. And in an effort to provide a healthy breakfast you see there an organic scrambled egg, a banana, and some organic milk (not pictured). Maybe the organic milk will fight off him maturing too quickly and it'll postpone the teenage years to happen when he's actually a teenager and not when he's 11.....just saying. So after breakfast in bed while watching Curious George (anyone else love this show besides me?) we head outside for first day of school pics.


I am sure my anxiety has everything to do with change, the unknown, and PMS. Truely the real routine doesn't start until Monday, which means I'll just have to be stressed all over again. I just hope the new teachers will utilize all the stuff they did last year since it worked and they made progress. The IEP meeting is next Wednesday, slightly nervous, again change, the unknown new teachers who have to learn to deal with me and what I want for Perry. Thankfully I won't be dealing the PMS then and I won't end up crying in front of a bunch of grown women. (Lord please don't let that happen, I'd like to maintain some dignity...thanks that'd be great!) This is the part where I do a little whining about not wanting to be a grown up anymore, and I didn't sign up for this....you've heard it all before. It makes me stronger, and someday when Perry's a grown man and an animator for Disney and he's hooked me up with a nice nursing home he'll thank me!
Ok no pictures for this story, but I may be able to take some tomorrow. Except Prince Perry's Palacial Pad is barely up for any sort of public viewing. So in his room he has one whole wall that's framed from floor to ceiling. Within that frame is half corkboard, and half chalk board. The corkboard is full of artwork. The chalkbaord gets little use but occasionally he'll draw on it. Last night after he'd been in bed for 30 min. I heard him rummaging around. I was like Perry what are you doing go to bed. "He said I'm looking for my remote......" He doesn't have a TV in his room. Never has.....I asked remote for what? He said for my TV, and pointed to his chalkboard.....where he had drawn an old fashion TV set complete with antennas.....the remote, was made out of cardstock with button drawn in the right spot and everything. He found his remote and quickly got back in bed. So I went with it....and said "you can watch TV all night if you want as long as the lights are off." Shocked he asked....."Really??" I said "yep, and if you close your eyes, you'll get better channels." Puzzled he asked again....completely serious..."Really??" I said yep, and with that he said cool, closed his eyes and "watched TV". Tonight he climbed into bed with his Tigger and Fred (the frog Webkinz) grabbed his "remote", clicked on the TV, and I said are you gonna watch TV he said "yep" closed his eyes, and "watched TV".......Ahhhhh may it never ever get old! Have I mentioned lately how much I love my kid? Few parents get to experience this unique kind of joy, I am truly blessed more than I deserve.

Consumed...

Pretty much way overwhelmed. P doesn't have a care in the world, he's not the least bit nervous about school starting. Even knew his room number without me even telling him. I was shocked. Me however, I am falling apart. I'll tell you how life is in a week or so. P even prayed on his own for a good day tomorrow.....my kids awesome.

Drowning.....

I feel like I'm drowning in the business of life. There are little things that give me air to breath. Like hearing a friend from church just had a beautiful baby girl. She's having major surgery as I type this so send up some words for her and her family, she was just born on Thursday, she's strong and should be fine. Her name is Caroline Grace Baker....such a great name!

Another little thing was Perry was so pleased with how I decorated his 3 ring binder for school he hugged it. I was afraid he'd hate it and think it was dorky. Might as well take full advantage of fun alterable school supplies while I can, someday he will think it's dorky. I'll post a picture of it later.

The anticipation of my class reunion helps me to breathe. Getting a nice e-mail from one of my peeps who can't make it because of surgery. Letting me and a few of my other friends know how encouraging we've been these past couple months while planning gave him the strength to do life a little more responsibly. Happy Tuesday!

CHEESE!!!

Cheese defines how I feel after a LOOOOOOONG day of dealing with STUPID PEOPLE. Do not hate me for loving cheese. Seriously if I could act like that and get away with it, I WOULD. Seriously do you people have any idea how many STUPID people you can come in contact on any given day? It's flippin amazing.....and often stupid people are disguised as smart people, and then they start talking.....OMG....


WATCH IT PEOPLE...OVER...AND OVER...AND OVER AGAIN! You'll feel so much better!

GOOD GOD IT'S HOT!!!!

We're talking full on face melting HOT. I was feeling ok about being in the Parade today because it was suppose to be "cooler" in the morning today and only get up to like 89 degrees. Well apparently the asphalt was still hot from yesterday when it was like 102 degrees. 2 weekends in a row walking 3 miles, yet it felt like 100, since it's so flipping HOT. Ron crashed when we got home and napped for like 2 hours.

Um Wheres Perry?
What did I do for 2 hours? I watched The 2 Coreys. It's very possible I'm dummer now. Seriously is the shit scripted or is Corey Haim that jacked? OMG....dude your carreer is over. Except the fact that you were a cute child actor, and now you should probably go get a job in construction or something cause you can't act. Heck you are having trouble doing life in general. Can you believe he's 35? I didn't realize he was so close to my age. I don't think he's ever had to be a resposible adult. He makes the other Corey look very good. I can't help it, if it's someones reality I need to watch it, cause I'm nosey like that.

Shout Out to Mt. Healthy Class of 1987!!

Ok I have 1 week to lose 100 pounds. You heard me. It probably would have been more reasonable to think about this say in December. Or maybe a year ago. But now it's crunch time and my 20 year reunion is a week away. Or maybe some of my alumni can just post a comment here and say "I'm fat too", and I'll feel better. Besides even if I lost 100 lbs, I'd still be all flabby, and wouldn't even look like my former self. I couldn't find a picture of myself when I was in high school on my computer and I'm too lazy to hunt one down and scan it in. Trust me when I say I was a dork. At least I'm a hip fat person, at least fairly hip anyways. So heres a picture of me when I was 4, with my dog Tippy. For the most part all the people I know from High School, have gained weight so I'm good. Maybe not quite as much as me but some. So if you are Class of 87 and you'll be at the reunion be sure to show me some love in the comments. Even if you won't be at the reunion leave me some love.

In other news....BUDGET.....damn it sucks. I am happy to report I went to the grocery and spent only 58 dollars and got everything I needed except chicken since I couldn't bring myself to buy a small package for $5 when I can get a huge bag at Costco for 10 and it'd last me longer. So I think the mans going to allow me to purchase chicken at the Costco. I even bought organic Milk. I've decided Milk is one thing I will buy organic from now on. Crazy hormones in Milk is what I've decided has made giant children....girls develope sooner, and become sexually active sooner, and boys "want some" sooner because of the hormones in the milk. At least that's what I've decided. Oh and Jasmine rice, it's organic also, and amazingly way more yummy than Minute Rice.....a million times better. Oh and organic frozen fruit for smoothies.....I've yet to make one I like, but Ron slurps them right up. So if you have any smoothie pointers gimme a shout.

God Show'd up Today.....

I love it when that happens. God shows up pretty much everyday, but I love it when he's loud about it. He first show'd up with Dave Ramsey, on his podcast. He's good about dropping all kinds of pearls of wisdom. Today he said "Don't let the good things rob you of the best things." in reference to premarital sex. Could be in reference to a lot of things but I liked that quote.

Then I wrote down another quote last week while listening to This American Life.

"To the ambitious for him neither the bounty of life nor the beauty of the world suffice to content , it comes as penance that life for them is squandered, that they pocess neither the benefit nor the beauty of the world. And if they are unable to percieve what is divine in nature which is all arund them how will they be able to see their own divinity which is sometimes hidden." Leonardo Divinci

That my friends is an amazing quote. Which leads me to Erwin, as if I wasn't feeling profound and deep enough at this point. He was talking about as Christians we work hard and intense to discover what is true. That can come easy, reading the bible, and spiritual maturity. I think I am past discovering what is true, I get that. Now I am beginning to discover what is REAL. Erwin has a profound way of putting it. Basically said look into your soul, is Jesus there? Is he real to you? Seems to me so many people are just going through the motions.
Whoa sorry folks got super deep, just keeping it REAL!

Teenagers??

Ok so take a moment and remember 14 would ya? Heres what I was doing at 14. Crushing on boys at school. Nothing ever went any further than that with me. Heck I was lucky to score a date my senior year. We're talking about 14 here.....For excitement my mom drove me and a bunch of my friends to Showbiz pizza place on friday night for Teen night hosted by Pat Barry a Q-102 DJ at the time. While there folks would enter contests lip syncing to Madonna and Morris Day. Steve Barnett won week after week doing the "Bird" a song by Morris Day and the Time. People would wear their parachute pants and break dance.

What do 14 year olds want to do now? Desire to go see a band at a bar in Clifton (scary college town). It's Bogarts people. I didn't go to Bogarts until I was in charge of my own life and lived down the street from the place. I was of legal drinking age, and the band I saw the first time was They Might be Giants, which isn't scary but many scary bands play there. It's across the street from a place called Sudsy Malones....a bar/laudramat, (yes I did laundry there ONCE). Poor kid calls me thinking I'm going to be on her side and help her get there. UM NOT! "Um Aunt Jodi, if mommy doesn't take me will you take me....." LOL......What? Good Lord is it at all possible to freeze a kid at age 10? Why are there not any teen-nights anywhere?

Dang and I was having Fun!

Ok so the man took some time yesterday to take a look at the budget. I was really hoping that wasn't going to come up again. It's rather stressful. So Dave Ramsey has moved back in. Damn it. I had him convinced we didn't need Dave and we could just spend money like we had some. Then there appeared to be a lot less money in our bank account than there should be, and well that was the end to the fun. Time to act like a grown up. So between Dave Ramsey and Weight Watchers, it's quite possible I'm going to be a raving lunatic. But I'll be skinny and debt free this time next year. Plus our food budget should be less since we are eating less.....right.....Pray for me!

August Camping Trip

*This is Ben and Perry. Perry is 7 months older than Ben, yet Ben is a whole foot taller than Perry. Granted Ben is abnormally tall for his age, and Perry is abnormally small. It's just funny when they stand together. It'll be fun to watch them grow.
Finally Scored a campsite at Winton Woods. Was wondering what all the hype was about Winton Woods, it's in the suburbs of Cincinnati, at a park I've been going to my whole life. And theres always a 2 week waiting list to get a campsite. Well due to a cancelation we scored a campsite at Winton Woods this weekend and now I know what all the hype is. It's beautiful, inexpensive, quiet, tons to do, and seriously the cleanest bathrooms I have ever seen at a campground. All this meant an enjoyable end of the summer camping trip for everyone involved.

Now to get ready for School to start. God help me! This includes Cub Scout madness as well. Fasten your seatbelts people....it's going to be a non-stop crazy fall. Thank God Perry does not play a fall sport, or I'd have to quit my job!

Top Secret Mission round 2

Completed. And let me tell you, there is ALOT of stupid criminals in Butler County. I shouldn't call them stupid they go to great lengths to get into the trouble they get into, they just make really bad choices. Heres to making good choices and staying out of jail. Visited the jail last week and lemme tell ya, it's cleaner than a hospital, but incredibly sad.....as in depressing. Which I suppose it's not suppose to be loads of fun. Heres what they feed those in isolation. I was offered a taste, and thank God I declined now that I see the ingredients. BARF!

Warden Burger Recipe
1 large can tomato paste
13 pounds of flour
3 pounds dry milk
13 pounds oatmeal (or oats)
19 pounds beans
30 pounds ground turkey a pinch of salt
Mix with the following items that need to be shredded or ground semi-fine:
13 pounds cabbage
13 pounds carrots
13 pounds potatoes
5 pounds onions
Cook (bake) for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.Serve with two slices of bread. Makes about 144, 8-9 ounce servings. (Enough to feed to 48 inmates, 3 times a day.)

Off camping this weekend. Stay out of trouble people, jail is no picnic!

So Amazing......

God that is. On about a bajillion different levels. I am so amazingly blessed to be a part of an awesome team at my church. On more than one occasion I feel so unworthy to be a part of such gifted people. I felt the same way when I was on the Alpha team. The Vineyard staff does such an awesome job equipting people to do just what God has called them to do for whatever season they are in, in their life. Being part of the Nigeria team is so flippin cool. The team I was praying for returned and we got the report of what went on during that trip this evening. It's just so very cool to be a part of God's work. It makes everyday life completely doable.

Smell the Rubber....

loot, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

Man I seriously love the rush that is Stampaway, call me a nerd all you want, but I hope theres never a time when I can't go. I want to be like the older lady who has been there 14 years. It's like crazy women high on the smell of rubber, spending lots and lots of money (not me) on all things arty and rubbery. I didn't get the memo to wear a black shirt, khaki shorts, black mary jane crocs, and carry a black bag......I always miss those memo's for some reason!

Behold my partners in attempting not to spend too much money, however getting as much rubber as possible. They do look cute, don't they? If you just glance at the photo, it looks like Julie (tan one on the left) has a face growing out of the back of her head. She doesn't have that in person.

Signs of End of Summer

It's that time again...time for Stampaway!

Is anyone going??? Leave me a comment and let me know you'll be there and we'll hook up. Man I love Rubber!

Did someone say WW?

Ok I generally try not to mention when I am infact doing the WW. Because then if I fail miserably no ones the wiser. Or if I stick to it and suddenly drop some weightage then everyone will be shocked. So lets just say the Sexton's are eating healthier.
0 point tip for the night Tomato's.....big fat juicy from someones garden tomato's.....MMMMM....a tomato fairy or maybe a Garden Gnome dropped some off on my porch....thank you, whoever you might be. We had a super low point dinner, these yummy sausages made out of chicken and apples....sounds odd, but oh so yummy....and organic (they were nice to the chickens before they turned them into sausages). They were 4 points each, we (the grown ups) each had one and a half to make for 6 points. Some red skin potatoes sprayed only with pam (who knew that was possible) ok I lied a lot of pam, but not enough to create pointage. Cut up some onions up in there....yummy.....3 points for a cup....and then some 0 point tomatoes. By snack time I had 14 points left (dude I'm still fat I still have enough points to sustain me) So PB&J it was with skim milk....MMMMMM....
Onto my guilty pleasure. I've been listening to the local pop station lately off and on, because they are the only station who plays John Mayer....so in the process I am catching up with some off the hook dance music, cause lets be honest that's where my roots are, and I must prepare myself to get my groove on at the 20 year class reunion that is a few weeks away. So I present to you my guilty pleasures. OH and my boy John was singing the chocolate rain to the tune of my girl Nelly's song Say it right......she's beautiful! Timbaland ain't a bad looking black boy either.....



And then theres this which I've been driving my husband CRAZY with. It's what I do, I get part of a song stuck in my head thank God it's not the song that shall remain nameless...chocolate rain.....
and I'll sing those lyrics over and over and over again....hummmm, wonder where Perry gets it. To the point where I am chased from the house and locked out. Well this song by Mr. Timbaland....talks about "if you strip, you could get a tip..." Needless to say the mans yelling at me DO NOT SING IT UNLESS YOU MEAN IT......

Avoid it....

Seriously don't even go to Youtube and do a search for Chocolate Rain....it will take over your mind, and you'll forget your name and where you live. I do believe it's part of a terrorist plot. It took several hours of John Mayer to get it out of my head. Which is not bad therapy by the way. But as soon as I was done with that therapy a co-worker just said Chocolate Rain, and the therapy was in vain. All things pop-culture has a way of taking over my life for brief but meaningful periods of time.

I'm happy to report I've lost 2 lbs since the last time I weighed myself which I can't even remember when that was, I just know I was so shocked at the number I suddenly had a fear of being on a fat reality show, and praying to God it wasn't Big Medicine. That show....man, theres a fairly low percentage of those surgeries that go bad, and all the ones that do go bad are on that show. Theres the Biggest Loser, and the new Fat March. My goal is to not be on those show's and become famous after I'm skinny, for a crazy video I put on Youtube singing something I wrote similar to CHOCOLATE RAIN.....seriously don't do it, you will be tortured for days!

Flavorice......

MMMMM, I sure do love me some Flavorice! More importantly it's 0 Points, gotta love that. However, could someone inform my husband that anything that is 0 points eaten in excess=points. Plus we have a whole case of flavorice, and it'd be embarrassing if it lasted us less than a week.....

Cool Video....

Our World is full of the most amazingly talented and creative people.

I'M FAT....

I could have shared that pack of pens....there are so many. But I'm not cause I love them too much to share. Ron was lucky to get the black one.

Ok so I'm fat, whatever....I excersized, I should be skinny tomorrow.

That is all!

Think about It....

Been thinking about some things lately. It started with purchasing one of the very large packs of pens at the Costco...pretty colorful gel clicky pens. Most of the colors Ron would never use so that means mine all mine! They are the pilot G2-07 pens....and they are glorious. Ok so all this waxing poetic about pens because I was thinking, I wish I had a reason to use the damn things other than work related and list making. Heck I don't even write in a journal anymore because well I blog. So I was remembering....letter writing. Man I loved to write letters back in the day, before I could type 60+ WPM, and text message, and IM. I'd write a letter. One of my BFF's Abby and I would send at least one letter a week talking about all sorts of nonsense. And when PC's came about we'd fill our letters with crazy fonts and fun clipart....this was before they perfected e-mail. I had two close friends move away when I was in elementary school, we kept in touch via letter writing well over 20 years. Now it's just an occasional christmas card...this past year may have been the first year I didn't get a card.

We have so many ways of being connected these days. Yet it seems so impersonal, and less creative. I can be in touch with a friend in a matter of seconds and a few keystrokes, yet I feel like I know my friends less intimately. An e-mail seems so impersonal I guess....probably because we are all so afraid it's another stupid forward we're going to have to check snopes for. Not sure where I am going with this, maybe I'll write a letter this week, on a piece of notebook paper with a funky pen.....Abby (I doubt she reads this....see what I mean about not connected) be watching your mailbox. YOU BETTER WRITE BACK!
Just told the kid to "count sheep", he'd never heard that expression and has scampered off excited of the idea of counting sheep as they jump over a fence......

Catching my Breathe

This song was the theme song for Cincykids this year. Matt Redman could sing the phonebook and God would show up. I'm convinced of this. He wasn't there but they played his song with words much like this, and the kids worshipped....it was good stuff. This could very well be my very first post with 2 videos....
I know that's more excitement than you non-comment leaving lurkers can handle. That excludes Heather she always leaves me some love. The rest of you are just as wierd....errr...I mean as busy as I am and read blogs but don't comment. Every once in a while it's fun to see who gives a crap about my busy life. Anyways that's the other song they sang at Cincykids, and it's beautiful. Salvador isn't bad to look at either.
OK heres my PSA for the month: If you'd like to go camping near your home at a place you don't think anyone will be camping at, well because it's raining and it's close to your home...call ahead. Apparently this place is happening, and booked for the next 3 weekends.....WHO KNEW? So because I ain't camping this weekend I'll use that time to catch my breathe, maybe clean my house cause it's rather funky. Or just throw some water in the camelback and go hiking at the park I'm suppose to be camping at....they can't keep me out! Crazy campers!

Sometimes.....

God just shows up. Even if it's from a far away country. 3 weeks ago, I met up with a friend very briefly while walking into church. She was my apprentice leader for a small group years ago. One of those friends you can go without seeing or talking to for months and when we see each other it's like we talk to each other everyday. We completely understand each other....I love that kind of connection. This particular morning she was a bit frazzled. She has 3 boys under the age of 5, the youngest being just a year old, so she was at the end of her rope, and responded with my typical Sunday morning greeting "Hey, how's it going?" As she's holding her youngest she responds with......"I'm not sure I'm fit to be a parent....I should have moved to New York and became a ballerina!" You have to understand she makes being a mom look amazingly easy. She's always so organized and keeps her boys on a strict schedule. She has her moments like we all do, this being one of those moment I believe. Not only is she a great mom, she's is an amazing servant of God, it comes so natural to her, it's just who she is and it's part of how she lives her life. So I said something positive, and we parted ways off to our perspective seats in the Sunday worship service. Fast forward just one week later, I get an e-mail that they are the host family for Asubuhi, so not only was that saying to her she's a fit mother, but she's so fit he's giving her another kid for a short period of time, one with a health problem and one who doesn't speak English. It was such a blessing to hear this story, caused a whole lot of cube crying. Shout out to Cyndi for hooking up Asubuhi with a blanket with his name on it to treasure all the way back to Tanzania in October. And thanks for the article link too.

*I purposely didn't share my friends name since it's not in the article and I don't want the paparazzi showing up at her house. It's hard knowing celebrities, you have to be careful.

Big, Big God!

Haven't been feeling great past few days. Blech......2 words, ORGANIC CORN, try it at your own risk. I'm just saying.
Cincykids is this week. And wow what a difference in Perry from last year to this year as far as comprehension of what's going on. He LOVES it. Again the interactive prayer rooms are so special and touching to him, as he places his little feet on Madagascar and promises to pray for that country each day. As he places his little hand on Jos, Nigeria and prays for the people who live there, who don't have clean water, and for the team from our very church who will go there to help them get clean water. As he traces his foot on a banner that will hang in an orphanage in Nigeria, and writes I will pray for Jos, and Mommy writes "I will pray for you each time I brush my teeth."
As he sings "Lord let me shine, shine like the moonA reflection of you in all that I doLord let me be a light for your truthLight of the world, I wanna be used to shine for you." I truly believe he means every word.
For the next week I am going to be praying through this scripture because Kande asked us to...and also because it's a really good thing to do, maybe the 4 people who read my blog can do the same. Cut and paste and print it off and put it somewhere, to remind you of what a big God we get to serve!
"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. "Ephesians 1:15-23 (NIV)
I am praying this scripture for the folks in Nigeria we will be serving and for the folks in my life who don't yet know how big this God is or who just need to draw closer to him. Or desire to grow stronger in their faith, whatever that looks like.

Pardon my Absense....

I've been eaten alive by by all things cubscouts. You think I'm kidding? From what I've been told, it's how boys become men. We'll see what happens.



In other news I had a fabulous weekend. Had one last to-do with Alpha peeps at a leader retreat at Camp Kern. We had a ton of fun, and we did the Amazing Race Which was way more fun than grown ups should be allowed to have. It was a nice way to end my involvement with Alpha as I transition into Cub Scouts....which was not by any means a gradual process. Needless to say I will miss Alpha, but I am sure I'll be back in a few years after P bridges to Boy Scouts....but I'm sure they will need my help too. We shall see what the future holds, God's always got something crazy up his sleeve. By the way if you have been part of an Alpha table in the past 7 years, you should go to this.

Cub.....What?

By the time cub scouts starts for the year, it's a good possibility I am going to be sick of anything blue and yellow.....or tan and navy blue for that matter. Agenda done, uniform bought, standby for family portrait. I'm outa here for the weekend, last event with my Alpha peeps, an overnight it'll be bittersweet.

I'm in Over my Head!

Well kind of. Heck when I start out on a new adventure it just wouldn't be any fun unless I complained about. For years my BFF (I feel so young when I do that...) and I planned scrapbooking retreats. We planned really fun scrapbooking retreats, that many people looked forward to twice a year. We did the bulk of our planning at the very last minute. I'm talking the weekend before. Complete with packed goodie bags, schedule of events, games, prizes....good Lord a bajillion prizes donated by various local scrapbook stores. Anyways my point is, I've given up one of my church volunteer things for Cub Scouts. I gave up Alpha for Committee Chair......WHAT THE? I've been doing Alpha for 4 years, I know what I am doing, it takes very little preparation. It's 10 straight weeks out of my life twice a year. Oh but now, I am committee chair, I have really no knowledge what that means exactly. I know I gotta coordinate a WHOLE LOT OF CRAZY STUFF, not to mention encourage, finagle, beg, force people to do stuff, um they are suppose to volunteer. I am sure it's not going to be hard......right....they told me I'd be good at it, they being people who have only known me for a brief period of time. My husband....the Assistant Cub Master (which means dude does nothing but look official in his Cub Scout Leader uniform) of the same Pack is quite excited at the prospect of the whole damn family in a uniform. I see a family portrait in my future. GOD HELP ME!

Ok Ok rant over. It's the right thing to do, my kids only a kid for so long and then those years are gone. I still got my things I do, theres just less time to myself. Note to self: Schedule some me time.

Keen Sense of Direction.....

That is not me.....nor is it my BFF Layni. My husband however with a GPS in hand, we should listen to him. It was a proud day for the letterboxing adventures. We sent team Perry (their last name not my kid) into the woods to find the series of letterboxes we found on the 4Th of July. Pumped them up with all sorts of confidence since we knew they existed, and with specific instructions to bushwhack and not to give up. We also sent Perry (my actual kid) with them for help....(right as if he paid attention to where he was 10 days ago) While they searched for those we had big plans to replace a damaged letterbox in a different part of the same park. Except I left my fancy letterbox I made AT HOME....what the? My only responsibility....good heavens. So after scarfing down a 6" Turkey Sub, Ron and I headed home to retrieve the letterbox. By the time we returned, Team Perry was on letterbox 3 of 5......woohoo the race was on. We dashed into the woods retrieved the damaged goods, placing our newer fancier letterbox in the same spot. Then hightailed it back out of the woods just in time for Team Perry's arrival....ready and willing to search for our newly planted letterbox. It took them all of 10 min. to find it....our mission was complete, but not entirely. There was one more Letterbox to be found, why leave a perfectly good park full of treasures.

(my face is red because it's sun burnt, and from scaling a mountain, I am much more attractive and thinner in person.)

So off we went. We didn't really notice the directions said "steep" hill....holy hell, they should have mentioned you'd be scaling the side of a mountain for God sake! I am way to old and fat to be mountain climbing....but this didn't stop us....lots of heavy breathing. We made it the top, only to find we'd be scaling back down halfway to retrieve the actual treasure. We opted to send someone younger and more in shape after the actual goods, So Ashton retrieved the goods and brought it to the old folks at the top of the mountain. The directions instructed we were welcome to "take a card" if we liked....it was Mormon cards.....with the teenager Jesus on the cover, we opted to leave them for folks who weren't yet acquainted with the teenager Jesus. So now we were left with a dilemma....we were at the top of a mountain after all, which meant we'd have to get down from that mountain to get home. We decided to take a new different route back, one that looked less mountain like, more of a gradual down slope......which was more than twice as long....LOL.....not to mention no idea really how to get out of the woods from that direction. Layni mentioning her keen sense of direction so we "trusted" her....sort of...Ron in the back of the pack with the GPS saying without much authority I might add...."um guys the coordinates say go this way...." Yeah we've attempted to follow those GPS things before only to find ourselves miles from where we needed to be (except we aren't good with numbers either of us, this includes longitude and latitude.) After hiking what seemed miles......it was a much better plan because we came upon some yummy blackberry's. Not to mention a tree with giant thorns, and a killer dog (behind a fence thank God) We finally decided to listen to Ron, and headed left, which took us to the trail that Perry and I got lost on just a year ago....SCORE! I never doubted.....after all I'd been lost in those same woods before. Besides the new route brought us right to our cars!!!

Civic Duty

Thanks to everyone who offered me a Latte or Milkshake....you people suck! I was serving on the Grand Jury. Lots of criminals in these parts see, and they need my opinion! Mega sized migrain going on right now so.....that is all. I'd probably have less of a migrain had someone...anyone offered to buy me a latte.....

Top Secret Mission

I can't tell you what I am doing this week. But it's way more exciting than what I normally do on any given day, and I get to enjoy my top secret mission for a whole week. That is all you are allowed to know. If you'd like details you'll have to arrange a meeting at an undisclosed location, say Sonic, and you'll have to buy me a Banana Pudding Milk Shake. Or a Grande Cinamon Dulce Latte, either of those two things and you might get something out of me. You offer me nothing and you'll get nothing. I'm just saying.

Few folks seem to be concerned about my depression....however brief it was....it is gone now, sort of. Felt a little disconnected I suppose. It's a given, we all have busy lives and I don't get to connect with folks near as often as I used to....whatever I'm over it, it's life deal with it however you need to. I spent money, got a few lattes, and then got my debt card taken away.....so there you go.....it's no wonder I'm depressed. I need shoes, then I'll feel all better.....donations gladly takens seeing as I got no debt card.....I do however have a checkbook! Shhhhh....don't tell!

The Mayer...on TV today...

jmcincy036, originally uploaded by ms. andrea.

It's a good day to be sick. Fancy to-do going on all over the world, called Live Earth or is it Earth Live...no it's Live Earth....I'm sickly so I've been watching it all day....somehow I missed Jack Johnson....who was in Sydney...but I did not miss The Mayer! To create mass awareness for a greener planet, thank God they found some folks other than Al Gore, that dude creeps me out! GO GREEN!

Letterboxing, Webkinz, Outdoor Movie, and 4th of July....Oh my!

How do I fit it all in? Probably why I feel sick now, all stuffy....yuck. So I had been feeling depressed sort of for a few days, tired and just no energy at all. I hate even saying depressed cause it can mean a lot of things for a lot of people, but it is what it is, nuff said. Figured out why, I needed to move. I was much, much happier after a long hike yesterday, when we scored a total of 5 letterboxes! It's great fun to get excersize and have a sense of accomplishment finding all the letterboxes you went into the woods for.

So the P-man got a Webkinz, much like Toontown only cheaper, however just as addicted for me mostly. He takes too long to get money to buy stuff. The problem is I'll go in play a bunch of games build up his money, and he'll get on and spend it on food.....when I want to get a backyard to build a garden.....we're having a problem working together here. LOL.....yeah we got problems.

I am so out of order .....but it's my blog and I can if I want to, no rules here. Last weekend we had a to-do, "Splashfest 2007" if you will. Invited over cub scout fams, with instructions to BYOWG.....Bring your own watergun.....LOL, so they did and had a blast chasing each other with their waterguns. We then watched a movie outside, thanks to my brothers projector DVD player....good times. We watched Nacho Libre.....which the fam and I watched at least 3 more times in the past week....cause it's just that funny!

You've Got Mail....um Everyday!

You've Got Mail....um Everyday!, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

Holy crazy packages Batman, friends, family, teachers, co-workers and random scrapbooking peeps, went above and beyond the call of duty. The P-man was the hit of Cub World, much to his fathers embarrassment. He got so much loot, I'll be eating candy for the next several weeks at work, and theres still enough for Perry to have at home. He shared quite a bit and still came home with a tote full of candy and small trinkets.

Other than the crazy fan mail. P and Ron had a great time at Summer Camp. I'd choose this adventure over the usual send your kid away without you for a week kind of summer camp over anything. The previous 2 years I got the joy of climbing a hill that nearly killed me on a daily basis, only to be greeted by a sewage plant before getting to the pool. Eating kid size portions of prison food.....this year it was even worse since there was no salad bar....(whats up with that?), sing crazy songs, sweat large buckets, drink large buckets, only to sweat it all off, learn to shoot a BB gun, while laying on a mattress, shoot a bow and arrow, hike to a dried up creek and learn about trees.

Oh but this year it got better....which is why I let Ron go! They got to stay in canvas tents, that smell like an old mans armpit. Sleep on beds made for a 4 year old child upon a paper thin mattress. This would be a spider infested canvas, no zipper kind of tent....no electricity either. Which means no window to close to keep out critters, no electricity to run a fan. Which I had the first 2 years. They did get to go up to Bear Hollow Ridge (I think that's what it's called) apparently it's just for Webelo 1's, it was their special place they hiked to when Webelo 2's were at outpost. Outpost is what will happen next year so you'll have to learn about that then. This year they did less crafty stuff and more scout stuff, like hiking and nature type stuff. Seems once they become Webelo's they've figured this scouting gig out, as in when you put "signs up" (2 figures thrusted in the air is suppose to make all scout shut up) they just stop talking cause that's what you do. Previous years you got crazed grown ups yelling "signs up" so kids will be quiet.....which defeats the purpose, and kind of gets on my nerves. Just sayin.... If you click on the photo it'll take you to the rest of the pictures in a set labeled Cub World Adventure Camp 2007....enjoy and leave comments it'll make Ron happy you care! It's always fun when you leave notes on the actual picture too.

Heres what a 10 year old little boy looks like after 4 days of Cub World Adventure Camp Madness!

I still Got it!

And this photo didn't make it go away. Both Layni and I were intrigued by Johns fancy footwork that he does when he sings. He'd roll out on the side of his foot, or he'd roll it inward, it was totally due to the shear passion he has in his music, thus the reason why he makes crazy faces.


I have this thing for musician who have a lot of passion the dude who played drums for many years at my church Josh, makes crazy faces when he's playing....and he's the most amazing precussionist I've ever seen. So I guess if you are that talented you don't care how you look when you are doing what you love. Man I wish I had those kind of skills!

Until it goes Away

jmcincy049, originally uploaded by ms. andrea.

Maybe I'll post John pictures until the excitement of seeing him live goes away, I still got that "man that was just really cool" feeling so lets continue the John love fest shall we. Calm down I still got mad love for Switchfoot. This is just a new kind of sweet sweet grown up love.....did I just say "grown up"? Wierd.....

The boys are back from camp....complete run down this weekend. In the meantime continue to drool!

Have Mercy!

jmcincy038, originally uploaded by ms. andrea.

Still am unable to verbalize how HOT this man is. Mad skills, and dude can play. I mean clearly this photo...thanks Andrea...displays some amazing passion. Tickets said no cameras. Layni attempted to smuggle in one for J-Tim and had to take it back to the car. So we didn't even try this time. Well clearly the security isn't quite as tight for JM, considering they didn't check. Heck we could have smuggled in a firearm and no one would have known. So folks took awesome pics, and videos....sweetness!

I'd see him again, and again...he was that good...and oh so sexy....

Performance Art

So cool. Play this video. Don't just look at it and be like....another video....play it, you won't be sorry. This dude performed this same thing at SOS this year....AMAZING gift!

Recap of the Recap

So I was so exhausted yesterday after the chaos I call my life. I had told myself I'll skip out on SOS on the friday.....right......until I had a HORRIBLE.....I mean full on crappy day at work. It was like 2 crappy days in a row. The one before was worse, but to have a crappy day on a friday just doesn't seem right. It was so bad that the enemy I had pray'd for the night before, satan used them to get at me and I basically non-verbally cussed them out. Like not to their face or anything but had they been in my head.....oh man....not at all righteous or loving. So I decided since I was getting off early I had time to go home scarf down some pizza say "hi" to my family tell them I love them, and go to SOS. I needed to be blessed by the the chaos and worship. SOS worship is like no other. They baptized 50 kids tonight....that's a whole lot of worship. I got to pray for a group that had been (all the groups were) together all week, and had bonded, and had changed lives, so much so it was their team leader that got baptized tonight....so cool. Because of the 800 teenagers that took over our church this week I swear to you when I walked in on Wednesday night the place smelled like an oldmans armpit.....blech!
Ron's like you love that madness don't you. I mearly stepped into the forrier of the south Lobby on Thursday and was instantly afraid of the madness. I told him you wait another 2 years, you and I both will be taking a week off and "embracing the Chaos" all day everyday for the whole week. I can't wait. God is Awesome like that. I seriously have a Holy Spirit Hangover and I'm leaving for C-bus (columbus) in the morning. Not to mention I need to pack Perry for camp....God help me my life is crazy!


Teenagers will fall into hysterics just at the mention of the word Poop...it's crazy and I saw it happen a few times....wierd.

SOS Recap....

I'll need a day to process....I've lost the ability to form a coherant sentence at this point and I am getting up early for work. Couple points I'll need to remember when I do a recap.

• Mosh pit?
• crowd surfing
• Holy Spirit Hangover
• Prayer Team
• Jeremy Riddle
• Poop
• Old mans armpit
• 800 Teenagers
• I'm 3rd
• Screwed up evil world
• Healing
• crying
• more crying

Ok more on that tomorrow. In the meantime go HERE!

SOS 2007

I'll be here all week if you need me. Promptly passing out Friday night only long enough to run off to C-bus for the weekend. Fueled by Caffeine and the HG! PRAY FOR ME!

Quirky Kids

Ok P started a social skills class at Childrens today. One of the best places in the whole world to people watch is a hospital. A childrens hosptal is even more fun, not the sick kids I wouldn't like that. But the psychology wing is where it's at! Quirky kids are amusing. I know this to be true cause I got one. And a social skills class draws from a whole pool of quirky kids. The ones who are vocal are so cute. I think what I love about them the most is that they are ok with who they are and their quirks and they don't care. If they decide to talk like a robot all the time or a cartoon character all the time they will, and they are completely fine with it. If they decide they are no longer listening to you because they are drawing a picture now, except 1 second ago they were telling you a lengthy story about Ed, Ed, and Eddy....in their world that's perfectly acceptable. (as a PSA...I do not encourage you allowing your child to watch Ed, Ed, and Eddy, they in no way encourage any sort of intelligent thinking what so ever, so if you can at all stop the viewing of any such programing I'd encourage that.) Maybe the fact that I think this behavior is acceptableCould be the reason why my kid needs a social skills class. Man I love to watch people. My apologies to those of you who want to break you monitor now into teeny tiny little pieces. Hee Hee.....I LOVE CHEESE!

I swear I'm not crazy.....

Although my hair is still green. And I am thinking about persuading Layni to retouch it before Monday. I think I am going to make it my summer thing. Or maybe my all the time thing, maybe I'll change colors or something. It is after all a patch of grey, distiguished and not obnoxious, but when it's a different color it makes me unique and fun, so for now it's my thing. Until I get my nose pierced cause I want to, and I'm not sure I can wait until I'm 40 cause that's 2 years away. I might lose my sense of adventure before then.

Another session of Alpha has come to an end. Great mix of women this round. When we combined tables we had all sorts of ages so that was fun. Ton's of lives changed, actually all of them expressed some kind of significant change which is always shocking to me since it's so gradual, the whole time almost every alpha I'm thinking these people think I'm wack they won't be back. Apparently God show's up and speaks through me and they return week after week. It's a bittersweet feeling thinking this will be my last Alpha for a while. I'll miss the connection with folks. I'm naturally an introvert and being an Alpha table facilitator forces me out of my comfort zone in a natural kind of way. Now I am transferring my focus to cubscouts, a whole different world, I'm sure it will be a fun adventure. So this being the last week of Alpha I'm like woohoo freetime.....ummmmm nope. SOS starts on Monday, how'd that happen....my good heavens these people need to start paying me! LOL....just kidding I get paid in Gods love that's for sure, and being able to serve and have fun doesn't seem like it should be legal. Teenagers still scare me, but not as much as they did last year, this year I know what to expect so I feel more ready. And 2 of my Alpha table participants are going to be team leaders so that's super cool, I'm excited to get feedback from their experiences. I'm volunteering EVERYNIGHT cause I am that crazy!!! So pray that my family survives and still loves me when it's all over. I'm prayer team all week except Monday I'm easing my way in to it doing hospitality.....but I'll still need prayer. Pray for the whole week how about that. Considering there was a black out last year the first night and they just had one in the area on Sunday right before the 11:30 service.....UGH....causes crazy chaos when you got several 100 teenagers wandering aimlessly....several thousand adults is a little crazy too. Much prayer please.....

Funny Funny....

That's funny stuff right there. I do not plan to miss this show again. I'm totally watching it next week. Hair is still green. Ron and P are off to summer camp in a few weeks. If you'd like to send camp mail gimme a shout and I'll e-mail you the address.

Headed off on a hike this weekend and scored yet another letterbox. This was a Letterbox/geocache hybrid so we sort of scored twice on that one. Now I feel slightly obsessed and want to find more!

It's Green!!!

I told you it was Green people. Ashton's and Maddie's didn't change color....Maddie did green too, and Ashton did pink. Only thing I figure is my hair was wet, Ashton's was a little damp but not wet, and Maddie's was dry. Maddie did the green so it was obviously mixed right since it worked on me. So Thursday we shoot for round 2 of Kool-Aid hair dying....shall I shoot for more green and greener and not covered up slightly....or another color, say ORANGE? Or maybe pink?? I don't know I kind of like the Green. This batch is very subtle, and you have to look for it, I'd like it to be a little more noticable....thus round 2. Can't wait.

Middleaged Rebellion......

Is middle aged suppose to be hyphenated? Oh thank you spellcheck it does not....I did spell hyphenated wrong the first time. So because I didn't pass LOMA . I feel a little bit like a pissed off teenager and decided to dye a green streak with green Kool-aid. Layni called and said they were doing a streak in Ashton's hair, and did I want to play along? Aside from the fact that at first I saw "Kool-aid" and "Steak" and was excited about experimenting with Lime Kool-aid and Steaks on the grill. Then I re-read the e-mail and was like "Oh totally, perfect rebellion and it'll eventually wash out, I am totally down with that. So Ashton did the whole under part of her hair, pink, and I did the grey patch of hair on the side green. So I sit her with a strip of my hair in tinfoil as I type, and I'll put a dope shower cap on my had to sleep in so as not to get green Kool-aid on my pillow and tomorrow, it'll be some sort of Shrek green. Can't wait.....then I'll get canned and have to work at McDonalds.....sweet.....I know that job, been there done that and with my Shrek green hair, it'll be totally meant to be as part of their Shrek campaign.
So because I didn't pass the stupid test, I don't get to see his Lipness John Mayer, considering I got the "stop spending money lecture tonight", and the failing Loma will cost me $$....unless I threw up one of those "donate" paypal buttons right here on the blog. Except I don't see myself as a worthy charity....maybe John will read my blog, and hook a sister up. We could always wait till the last possible minute and score some already bought tickets off e-bay or ticketmaster, people resell tickets all the time on there.....So if you think you owe me like $50 gimme a call I need the money! Pics tomorrow of my green hair. Ron said um what are you going to do tomorrow if it looks like crap? Good question....probably laugh my butt off. Next I'm piercing my nose.....oh you think I'm kidding?
EDITED TO ADD: I e-mailed John himself sort of begging for free tickets. Like he reads his own mail people.......a girl can dream right? Should I e-mail Ben too?

Studying.....

Really I am. Just a PSA, Poptarts, cancel out the effects of ADD medication. I apologize to any sunday school teacher who may have been stressed out this morning because of my kid. He's got the cute factor going for him so even though he may have been Hyper and unable to sit still or stop humming through his nose, his cuteness made up for him being annoying. He survived, and I didn't even check up on him. I asked him if he missed me and he said well yeah but I didn't cry about it....LOL....
Church was good today. Sort of what I got from it was, "are you living the daily good christian life daily, as a routine, or are you really stepping into all that God has for you on an intimate spiritual level, and allowing him to guide you through every single part of your life? Wow....think about it....like while I'm studying (or not studying) God is right there with me, taking a shower (wierd) he's there....in a deep sleep dreaming about whatever....um there. David talked about it in Psalms 139, I encourage you to read the message version it's good stuff. (or just click on the verse and it'll take you right there.)
If you click the link that goes to the video of the message from today, listen to the 2nd worship song. The other worship leader Charlie Hines wrote that song and I LOVE IT! That's the thing I love about folks who have that gift, they write just what is on your heart, or what you want to say but never have the right words. Here's what I could get....

"I want to lay at your feet
all my pain and all I need
in your place let me sing
Help me find one more way to praise

I want to dance before your throne
I want to jump for joy alone
I want to sing because it's pleasing to your ears
I want to shout for all you've done
I want to hope for things to come
You give me life Lord and I lay it at your feet!"

Seriously does that not perfectly communicate how you feel sometimes, so blessed you are unable to verbalize it. Just saying....now I'm all misty....and so are you!

Weekend Madness....

Might I point out how much I love Costco? I do I love the place, they have everything one could ever need in this world. In an effort to go light-green, cause full on "Green" would be insane. John Mayer spoke of it in his blog on April 26th. I've decided to buy organic stuff, only that which I might find at the Costco. Mainly because, for me that's enough, and I don't want to spend an outrageous fortune on say Sugar for instance. Besides Ron's not so much on board with organic so getting him to get the costco organic goods is meeting me halfway I think. Besides organic is good for the mind. I think Perry's mind is sharper already just from drinking organic milk. Organic is Layni's thing, and John Mayer is her man....cause she thinks he's HOT....If I close my eyes and imagine him sexy, and he just sings the blues and plays the guitar, then to me he is HOT as well. So in celebration of me passing the God forsaken LOMA test I am going to treat myself to see his HOTNESS....along with the everso funny Ben Folds....who likes to use the F word randomly in his singing......which can be amusing when you are in your cube at work. I've not passed the test yet....no studying happened today.....I hope to get disciplined tomorrow and have a full on evening of hardcore studying.....and hopefully your prayers will help....no actually I know they will cause I'm that confident that you people know what you are doing. Theres strength in numbers so even if you don't believe in God pray anyways....and someone will listen....

P's at his first sleepover tonight.....I'm sure he's fine....he's an only child ya know, so yeah...ok he's fine really, I'm sure he's fine. He's got his doodle shark, and his slinky's.....fine...really he's fine. Good Night.

Camping Pics

crawdad catchers, originally uploaded by Yoda0419.

If you click the link "crawdad catchers" you'll get a slide show on Flickr.Too busy to give you a rundown of our fun....but heres some pictures. I'm studying...well suppose to be I wll be in a minute. Once the stupid test is over I'll be back and ready for summer....for real. PLEASE PRAY I PASS THIS THING, I ONLY WANT TO INTERRUPT MY LIFE ONCE WITH STUDYING THIS CRAP!

Gravity....John Love...with Extras.

Still too tired to discuss and post pics of the crazy weekend we had. Full on into the business of life which is just one crisis after another, most of which doesn't even involve my direct family but others around me. Everything from Church stuff to, work crap. Why can't I just not have stuff happen?

Oh and I borrowed Layni John Mayer CD to check out. I know, I know the lips...not much to look at. Put a bag over it and listen to him sing, and it's a whole nother story. Dude is straight talented, makes you feel all warm inside for real!

Did I mention that teenagers scare me lately. My mama wasn't kidding when kids become teenagers their minds are controlled by aliens on mars, I ain't even lying!

Memorial Day Weekend.....OUCH MY BODY HURTS!

Um....seriously, I'm not so sure why I camp and sleep so close to the ground.....for a whole weekend, considering my body is pissed at me right now. The pay off is we had a freakin blast. Happy Memorial Day, I'll post more pictures from the annual camping trip tomorrow possibly Wednesday cause it could take me that long to get back in shape.

P and I took some time to visit the cemetary today, love this moment caught on my camera phone.

God Knows Me!

It's that time of year again, when we join the ranks of other faithful campers and get our camp on at Hueston Woods. Problem is we neglected to secure out spot early like you are suppose to so there are no reservable spots left, dang it. So we hope to get our spot on Thursday and pay for an extra day just to be sure we secure out spot for a weekend of over-crowded camping paradise. Nothing is too small for my God, and he loves me so, I am sure he will hook us up.....besides I had a good God weekend last weekend. Will you send up some words? It's just a campsite so it's not a huge pressing issue, which I am sure won't take up much of his time really.....FOR GOD SAKE PEOPLE PRAY!

Weekend Observations.....

Ok it's been way too long that I haven't had something funny to discuss or an entertaining post to my blog. Trust me I got plenty material this weekend. First of all.....

JUST SAYIN'!

Ok the kid on the right is my nephew Zack, and with his tooth missing. Oh man....if his hair was a little longer and a little bit messier, he could take it on the road and make loads of money. I bet you that Alfred E. Newman loves to talk just as much as Zack too. This boy.....WOW....he's a talking machine, pretty much just about anything....He slept over last night....and he talked until his head hit the pillow.

Over heard this morning while ironing a little girls dress for church:

"At our house sometimes we like to lay in the bed naked......" Don't we all!! I mean occasionally...well we don't normally discuss it.....oh heck we are the naked house, do not come by unannounced!! Just sayin!

That's right a little girls dress....for church....we had ourselves a coed sleepover last night. Normally one wouldn't have 3 children, because 3 is not usually a magic number, except when Perry's involved. Perry is so into entertaining himself, that if theres another twosome, he doesn't care. He enjoys other kids around, but is fine to play by himself with them around, sounds wierd, but it works and it seems perfectly normal.

Oh and heres the girl of the coed madness.

This is Maddie, she's somewhat of a dog whisperer, she can get Kipper to do his tricks, he can sit and give her his paw. She crashed on the love seat, Perry was on the couch, and Zack was on an air mattress on the floor. Everyone went to sleep before midnight, and no one cried for their Mommy's at least not that I was aware of. They had pancakes for Breakfast and Maddie joined us for church....she was really hoping to see people get dunked in the pool again, but no such luck, last time it was baptism weekend.

Perry had a great birthday party. He got what he asked for....not to mention Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends DVD season 1....GOD HELP ME....Cheese didn't show up until season 2, so I don't have much interest in it.

And as if the coed sleepover wasn't enough kid madness I got to enjoy Kylies company this afternoon for a few hours....we had fun with chalk, and hiding the rock.

Much fun was had by many with Aunt Layni's birthday gift. No one at the park was safe from these two.

The weather was so nice this weekend, and I was blessed to kick it with family and friends all weekend.

I am aware of the time....

And I am completely exhausted. Note to self, one should clean house on a regular basis so that when one is having a party it won't take 2 days to get the house presentable. Seriously what I have to go through when having a todo is seriously insane, where does all this crap come from and why doesn't it ever just put itself away??

Plus I waited until after 10 pm to prepare some things for tomorrow....and I still have to wrap a few gifts. So I'm crazy whatever!

3rd graders taking a spelling test are dang cute. Went to Perry's class today to take Birthday treats.....he was completely surprised and could not have been cuter! Passing out his treats. I took small bottles of water, that I had put in the freezer for an hour so they'd be nice and cold. You would have thought these poor children were from Mexico and had never had cold water. They were placing the bottle to their sweet faces and proclaiming....."ahhhh it's cold...." I took chocolate chip mini muffins. Love those instead of the old standard cup cakes.

Too Much time too little to Do....

Strike that reverse it. Holy crap I wasn't kidding when I said May could possibly consume me. End of the school year, big sigh, we made it through another year. Ok P-mans 10th birthday is this weekend, then camping next weekend, and a LOMA test on June 5th.....oh not to mention an Alpha day away retreat this weekend too.....how on earth can I do all that, and study for that stupid test for June 5th God help me!!!

Good Lord I need to go to bed, I don't even have freakin time to blog. Gimme some love people or I could possibly lose it.

Happy Mudersday.....

Mudersday....love me some Mudersday!! At least that's what my card said as it was presented to me in bed with a baby food jar of colorful sand, that I will proudly display on my desk at work. We had a nice day today, time spent with my Mama, just enough time to enjoy her and not hate her....gotta know your limits I always say. Mom's are always lovable, but they seemed to come with a teeny tiny problem I hope I never have. They want to tell you what to do....not realizing you are an adult and you can now make choices on your own. Someone needs to point this part in the parenting handbook out. The part in the Parenting Handbook that says
#57 Once your child leaves your home you can no longer tell them what to do, nor can you offer unsolicited advice.
This seems to be a problem with many parents so apparently they didn't get that far in the book? Ok so to all the mom's in the world who raised their children to be fine upstanding adults.....HAPPY MOTHERS DAY.....and stop telling us what to do we're grown for Godsake!

No More....

I am all filled up on tragedy, and sadness just read some more sad news about some kids, I'm not even going to talk about it, no sir.....no way.....So anyone got any happy news? Anyone? Nothing......I got my eyebrows waxed when I got my hair cut today.....no more big bushes above my eyes or my lip for that matter. She took it upon herself to do both. I think she takes great joy in torturing people really. My face is nice and shiny and red now....and still hurts a bit....OUUUUUCH!

Teenagers are scary creatures. Just sayin'!

Not a Happy One

This makes me cry. I didn't know him, I didn't know his family. I suppose I felt like I knew him from looking at Jen's pages on 2 peas, and reading her blog. His pictures show him with so much life, yet he suffered so much in the end. I wish I knew why these kinds of things have to happen. If it was my child I'm not sure I'd ever recover.

I had a brother (Jeff) who died of Leukemia when he was 4. I was 11 months old when he died. It definately defined the kind of parents I had. As Jen said in her blog squeeze you kids extra long, let them know what they mean to you.



And in some more sad news Tylers not doing well. Your prayers are needed for that little guy. Last I heard earlier today he was having congestive heart failure.


Pull yourself together people I did enough crying for all of us now stop crying and think happy thoughts!!!!!!


Ok some happy news.....ummmm...it's Teacher a Appreciation Week, show you kids teachers some love. I didn't do all the little gifts that were requested of me by a super creative room mother, sorry I can't think about stuff like that everyday...plus I like to do my own thing and I don't respond well to being told what to do. LOL.....so I made a lovely card and sent some other cards I made for the teachers to use.

Overwhelmed....

Is it just this time of year? End of school, nice weather, crazy messy house, too much stuff going on. I don't plan it, I swear it just happens. I try to set boundries, set limits, but I am still OVERWHELMED! Maybe my boundries aren't clear?

My mom says "I don't know why you are so overwhelmed, I had 2 kids, and a full-time job...blah blah blah...." Yeah I know, not helpful. Yeah in the early 80's there wasn't as much oppurtunity to do stuff. Way way way way more stuff in life to do, and you try and schedule it all in cause you might miss something.

Ok so I think I'll clean my house this weekend along with going out to eat for Layni's b-day, going to see a movie at the park with the cubscouts, Spring Arts fair, church, letterboxing, grocery store, shopping for a gift, shopping for a patio set.... (I'm serious I have plans to do all that!) SEE WHAT I MEAN.....why isn't there more than 24 hours in a day??? Can't somebody fix that? And I have a new cricut cartridge I don't have time to play with.

"Mr. Sexton if you Could place Your legs in the Stirrups.....

So I call to check the time of Perry and Ron's doctor appointment. I neglected to write the time down on something that wasn't disposable. The nurse asked me what I was coming in for. I said "I'm not coming in....my name isn't Perry or Ron, I am Jodi why....do they have me down for an appointment. " She said "no it's Ron" and then she starts giggling. She said the reason I'm giggling is because they have him down for a pap and pelvic. Bahahahaha......good luck with that. Oh had I not called. Dr. Koehl would have been in for a surprise. As would Ron since he's never been to this doctor before, and she's a women.

Overheard while camping.....

I am slacking on my blog so sorry....although no one has been yelling yet. Today is May day...guess your suppose to give someone a flower or something. There are no flowers in my yard at all the magnolia tree hasn't even bloomed yet, seems like it should have by now.

Ok so we went camping with the cub scouts this weekend. Many stayed in a cabin which had a loft. The loft had bunks and on night 2 most of the boys stayed in the loft. Perry stayed on the main floor he's not much of a follower, he creates his own space and kind of sticks to it. But many of the boys had Nintendo DS's, and as they were suppose to be going to bed many of them were playing their DS's....which apparently has a chat feature.....(yeah I know scary) they are starting young. So what on earth do 8 and 9 year old chat about? Well one apparently was entering text for a long time, and the one he sent it to was taking forever to read it, to which I heard...."Ben you have to read what I just sent it took me forever to write that...." All the other boys were anxious to hear what he had sent...."what's it say what's it say....." "Um it says....my butt looks big...." That's when the giggling ensued. It's fun to listen to them talk to each other...about Pokemon, spiderman and what not.