The Absent Professor

Our Laundry Pile Professor, the man that I love, the one who keeps me grounded while letting me soar, the Single man who would probably "get me" (other than Jesus) has been gone for a week.

I miss him.

He does handy stuff that I often forget to do.

Like put away the cheese.

Or bread.

He'll even do dishes and laundry.

He won't be home for another week.
He'll miss Mini-Me's 11th birthday. It was just the way it was going to happen. No way around it.
He's away for business ... and he's where he's needed.
So I'm not sad that he's gone.

I just miss him.

While he's gone, he's working nights and sleeping days. When we have the chance to chat, it's during Our evening - when he's getting ready for his day. The kids always, ALWAYS tell me to tel him "Good Night!!!" -- I've tried explaining to them that daddy is up for the day...but they don't get it.

So I just pass along the word. We both chuckle and move on.

Mini-Me was rather bummed that The Professor was going to miss out on her birthday, she wanted to save him a piece of cake. Week old cake is not the Professor's idea of fun.
In tears, she came to me and told me that she wanted to wait for the Professor to come home before celebrating her birthday. I chatted with him, and he encouraged her to go ahead and have her birthday on the 26th.

The 26th is actually the best day for my mom & Brother to come. If we wait - the y might not be able to make it.

After explaining the situation to her, Mini-me has opted to split her birthday in half. She's going to have cake on Monday and celebrate with my family. Then we'll have another birthday when the Professor gets home. :-) I was proud of her for such a grown up decision...and the willingness to wait for her gift. She knows what we're getting her (A Nintendo DS).

So we're counting the days down to our two big events: Her birthday and the return of the Professor. :-)

On a funny note:
J-man started flailing his arms into his big brother. Thud thud thud went the fists on the back - like a windmill.

I sputtered my words out, trying to ask two questions at once - "What are you.... Why are you... HITTING your brother??"

Calmly, the five year old replied, "He was askin' for it."

It was really hard not to laugh.
It didn't explain anything and calm or not, He still got in trouble.

Oh -- my NaNoWriMo post.
You guys made me laugh with your encouragement..
and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one out there that peruses through the flair buttons. For Fun. You guys rock. I'll try to keep you posted about it, I'm actually excited for it to start. The story is aching to get out of my brain!!

As if I didn't have enough to do....

As some of you know, I've always loved to write.
Which is one reason this blog has been such a draw for me. I'm not sure I would have stuck with it, if not for the awesome Bloggy friends who faithfully leave comments, though.

One thing I know, A writer likes to have feedback.

When I finished my recent first draft, giving it to my Beta Readers, my writing passion did not stop. I knew I was going to write a sequel...but mostly, I started rummaging through the "Flair" on Facebook.

I love flair.
For me, It's like popping bubble wrap. Which is good - because I don't have any bubble wrap.
My kids love stomping on bubble wrap ... so it doesn't last long enough to be therapeutic.

In my rummaging of the Flair buttons..I searched for things like "writing" and "pen" and "author" -- looking for the most fun ones, I could find. Of course, I also search for "Bones" (the tv show) and random words that just pop up into my brain. Which could be scary. Especially if I was thinking of my brother, at the time. He can be -- well... a donkey meanie head.

There is no flair for that.
I've checked.

In my searching I kept finding some of the funniest flair that also had "nanowrimo" written on them. So I googled it. HEre...I"ll save you the hassle. Link for your convenience. The goal is to write 50,000 words -- in the form of a novel -- over the month of November.

I'm signed up.
I'm ComfyDenim (no surprise there) -- and I'm a First time WriMo.
My Genre is Fantasy.
Nice to meet you. Another link for your convenience.

I was struggling with my book that is in the editing process. It would be pretty cliched.
My awesome friend pointed out that they got to be cliches -- not because they were unpopular.

And one day I was trying to catch a few zzzz's while Bubbles napped, my cliche filled plot line jumped into my head and I was thrilled.

I've jumped into this who experience with both feet and am dragging the kids with me.
I've apologized to the Professor in advance -- and am gearing up to write my cliche filled NaNovel...with the goal being to have fun and create the skeleton of a novel. Flesh can be added later.

I love The Professor and A&E Mom because they listen most kindly to my crazed plot ramblings.
They don't think too much if I tell them, "An assassin walked into my story today and he seems pretty set on staying."

My kids are repeating everything multiple times at me to get my attention - and probably prepare all of us for the even-more-distracted-than-normal Mom in November.

I'm looking at a pile of laundry and ungraded school papers and thinking -- I really didn't need anything else to do -- but now that the plot bunny has bitten me and I've met my characters...It's a loss.

I'm going to have to learn how to multitask like I've never done before.

It should be fun.

They have sporks.
And flair.

I don't want the shirt...

I had a favorite pastor once tell a short story.
It seemed that his wife noticed a car driving by that said "Chaplain" on the back.
She mentioned it to him and asked if he would get something like that for his truck.
He told her (and subsequently us) that the last thing he wanted people to know when he's driving was that he's a pastor.

I feel that way about mommy-ness.

I don't wear a lot of "Christian" tee shirts.
Firstly, I think they're really overrated. I would say cliched - but I don't mind most cliches.

I like the clever ones.
I wish they could all be clever instead of .... well, lame.

Mostly - I don't think I want advertise that I'm-such-a-devout-christian-that-I'll-wear-this-t-shirt-to-prove-it! That's just asking for trouble, in my opinion.

Invariably, one of the kids *WILL* push my button. Or stomp on that already frayed nerve and..

I'll snap.

Talk harshly.
Or swat a bottom.
Or even stomp my foot.
There have been those times when they seemed to gang up on me. ... and decided to ignore everything I said..but the need for the product outweighed the urge to go home and send them to bed.

If I could hand out a flyer to any passerby at my moment of frustration, i think it would say something like "Please forgive this woman. You don't know what they've done. The many loads of laundry caused by the many potty accidents. The many fits thrown in a day. The sibling fist fights. Hissy fits. She's truly trying her best. Please do not think harshly."

There are two types of observers...
The Non-christians who judge me by how they perceive I should act.
And the Religious Pharisees - who thinks I'm not living up to the letter of the law.

It irks me...because if I could tell the non-Christian anything it would be -- "I'm so far from perfect -- but Jesus loves me."

If I could tell the religious person anything they wouldn't hear it.

Sigh.

There is a third observer - the mom, dad or grandmother that's been there and has the scars to prove it. You can never tell if they fit into a category.

One time I got kicked in the nose by one of my own kids, and had to slam the door shut before I really lost my temper. The lady looked at me quickly and looked away quickly. You just know she's a mom.

I don't put things on the back of my van that proclaim my belief in Jesus, cause I know I'll cut someone off in traffic and push them further from the truth.

I won't wear "Jesus Gear" on any normal type of day - because I know I'll mess up.

I'm not perfect. I never claimed to be perfect. I'm a mess.

And that's why even in the midst of the messes - it's not the t-shirt I'm wearing, it's whether or not my light is shining through.

It's whether or not I can take my mess and let God turn it into something amazing for His glory.

That's the hard part of it all.
Knowing that God loves me - even when I mess up - and is willing to take me again back out into the world and give me another shot.

I'm glad he never gives up on me...especially when I do.

That's the hard part.

It would make a good t-shirt.
I'd wear that one.

Random HTML from the Laundry Pile

I woke up with part of this song in my heart -- and now it won't leave. :-)
I share it with you so you can worship with me.

Unless you don't want to. And that's fine, too.




Yesterday I took this Blogthings Quiz and really just liked the answer very much.

You Are Silver

You are down to earth and unpretentious. You don't feel like you need to show off, and you're very secure with your place in the world. You are understated and elegant. You carry yourself with poise, and you're more known for what you don't do than what you do. You can fit in anywhere from a country western bar to a black tie gala. You are adaptable and adventurous. You are blind to social class and background. You see people as who they are ... not as where they came from or how much money they have.

Are You Silver or Gold?

Blogthings: Cheaper Than a Therapist

Open up the sky...

I heard this song in my heart this morning and decided to post it.
The Lyrics are profound...

not wanting to settle for anything ordinary...

Fire Drill

Someone shared this with me on Face book - by telling me it reminded them of me.
Huh.

Go figure.

I haven't tried this yet -- but I'm tempted.

and ... It made me laugh.

For another genius, home-school comic strip -- you can visit Juggling Paynes.
Who also knew the name of this strip was "Rhymes with Orange". :-) Because she's well-read and so are her kids!!

Unexpected treasures...

We had to go to our W*l-M*rt on Thursday.
I have come to hate this store. Typically they are poorly stocked, understaffed and often They don't have what I need. They are just five minutes away where as everything else is over 20 minutes away. So proximity wins.

Often, I compromise on a purchase -- or change my plans all together.

Thursday was a bit of surprise. The bathrooms weren't working.

BUT we found pull-on pants for the boys. Denim-y ones. They don't like buttons/snaps. So all elastic was a benefit.

The kids, while I was checking out went to sit at the tables of the restaurant franchise housed near-by. After paying for my store purchases, I went and purchased a large drink to pay for the table space they used. I broke a larger bill and pocketed my change.

On the way out of the store, J-man said "Look mom! A band!"

I looked quickly, because I can't look for very long crossing the crosswalk, Bubbles might make a run for it. There's one worker smoking - and another person sitting with his things. One of the things that J-man saw was a guitar case. I knew in that quick glance that he was traveling - and most likely homeless. But when I turned back to watch where I was going - I saw the vision of the money in my pocket. Specifically a $5 & the 2 -$1.

God tends to talk to me in pictures. So I pondered this for a bit of time while I load up the van. I could have saved myself some time by just turning around on the spot - but I wanted to make sure I was hearing/seeing from God before I moved. So I asked for confirmation while I was loading the groceries and the kids were haggling over their new gloves. (We bought some while we could. They out grew the ones from last season.)

When I couldn't get the picture out of my head, I knew it was God. So I looked and sure, enough - I had the $7. I told Mini-Me what I needed to do - and she took control of the van and I went quickly the few feet to the young man.

I'm not naive enough to doubt that the haze I saw in his eyes was probably drug related - but I'm hopeful enough that it was sleep deprivation. When I approached, he was reading - which tickled me. I was wondering what I was going to say... but should have known it wouldn't have mattered.

I said, "Hi!"

He smiled at me. He had two piercings - it's funny what you notice. He had bright, if hazy, blue eyes, sandy hair and a great smile.

God has said "if you open your mouth - I will fill it."

He did.

I started my sentence and God finished it.
"When I was walking by a minute ago God said to give you ... lunch money."

He perked up and looked at me with a great big smile and his eyes got big - "Seriously?"

I smiled and laughed, "Yeah. Seriously."

He took the $7 and said, "Wow! Thanks! God bless you."

I just smiled at him and told him to "be blessed" (which was lame!) - but I had 4 kids in the van.

But really -- God already blessed me. Just with that moment.

If I hadn't had broken the $20 - I wouldn't have had the $7 for lunch money.
And I wouldn't have been able to bless him in a way that probably impacted that guitar player in a way I'll never know.

The enemy would tell me that I didn't tell him about Jesus...but I did. By simply telling him that God saw his need --- and sent me to give it.

AND I got to talk to Mini-Me about doing what God says - and not wonder why.

Yes, he was homeless - and wisdom would say not to give to every hard-luck harry on the street -- but that's why we need Holy Spirit to instruct.

And when we get that nudge to break a $20 at Subway - we might just should go ahead and do it. You never know what "band" is waiting outside the store in need of lunch money.

I want to be.....

The following blog post should be prefaced by telling you that J-man is 5.

FIVE.

This many fingers.

1 -2 -3 -4 - 5

He's five.

This is the kid that told our speech therapist that he wanted to be a Grocery shopper when he grew up - because rescuing animals and saving them would be too much work.

The other day, on the way home from somewhere where we did something, he announced, "I want to be..." he gets excited and starts his sentences over several times. "I want to be a ....

a....

sky diver when I grow up."

Not to squelch his desires, I reply, "Well, that would be fun."

Of course, the joke about jumping out of a perfectly good plane is running through my head.
And I'm thinking of an episode of "The Pretender" where he pretended to be a skydiver to get the bad guy.

The kids finally pick up on his announcement, though.

I was surprised (and greatly amused) by their reactions.

"A SKY DIVER?!?!" Says G-man. "cooooooooooool."

Yep.
J-man -- the five year old is cool. He revels in the attention.

Some discussion is had about the schooling and training needed for skydiving. The professor suggests that he'll have to go into the military to learn it...you know like Rangers. I scoff.

The Pretender didn't have to.

Though - I could totally see J-man going into extreme sports.
So jumping out of a plane to snowboard down the mountain -- just might happen.
I hope he gets good corporate sponsors. :-)

All the excitement of learning that he was destined to be a skydiver might have been for naught.

Last night, J-man told me, as he drifted off to sleep.
"I want to be a news caster."

Between you and me -- Sky diver would be cooler.

I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
I know one thing - what ever it is - He'll be a world changer and a history maker.....and he'll laugh all the time he's doing it.