Life is to short.

We lost a dear friend on Saturday night. He and his wife have been very close friends for a long time. He was 34 years old and some one I have known all my life. He had a kind and gentle spirit. He was a wonderful daddy and had in fact spent the whole day building a tree house for his boys. He died at his house after sitting in the swing with his wife, his soulmate. He died quickly from a heart attack. While one day I know that will somehow comfort me, right now it does not. You are not supposed to have a heart attack and die at 34. His boys are 9 & 6 and now do not have a daddy for some of the most important years of their lives. That is not how life is supposed to work.

It has been a long couple of days and by the end of this week it will feel even longer.

Life is short and sometimes it just sucks. Sometimes it does not make sense and I am not ready to have comfort in knowing he is in a better place. I want him here. With his family. Sharing his smile and laugh.

Lyn

Recipe Thursday

So I go into my local grocery store and they have pork loin chops on sale. They look wonderful, so I grab 2 packages. I think I came home with a total of 18 chops. Big, nice sized, juicy chops! I didn't just want to make them the regular ole way with gravy and rice that my daddy always made. No, I wanted to try something different. The search started and ended here! These will be made again in my house, probably next week (since we now have plenty of chops in the freezer). They were very good. I did use one extra egg but other than that the recipe was right on and EASY! Which is always a plus. I added a fresh salad and cantalope and we had a wonderful meal.

Lyn

This is a photo test!

Meet four legged one!

A tad bit frustrated.

Why, OH WHY am I getting rid of so much stuff and my house still looks cluttered?

WHY?

I will continue to purge but I hope I see results soon. Oh, I do see results but ....... I just wish I were seeing more.

Lyn

Quote Monday

"Taking control of your body means taking control of your mind. And with that,
beautiful things can happen." Runner and author Karen Bridson

In twelve short days I will be 34. Yes, thirty-four years old. THIRTY-FOUR, 3-4, three tens and four ones, however you look at it it is still thirty-four years on earth. What exactly can I say for the past thirty-four years? That is something I am pondering........

One thing I wish to change is my body. I am overweight by about 40 pounds. I weigh 167 and wear a size 12/14. I wish to be a size 8, which is the size of most of my clothes in my closet. I wish to be fit. I wish to be healthy. I wish to have energy. I wish to be happy with my self image. After 34 years I think I owe my body that. It has served me well and in the last 8 years I have taken it for granted and I am starting to see the signs of.....age. Not that I mind the signs of age, per se, but I mind I am not aging as well as I should because I am not making it a priority.

So the above quote is something I am going to meditate on daily. I am making it a priority.

Lyn

Just in case

I went through my closet today. Ruthless I was. And it feels great to see those things go. Freeing. I let go of shorts that I have had for TEN YEARS! Now, mind you I have not fit in them for at least eight but I wanted to have them just in case. Just in case???? I want water, just in case. I want some extra soap, just in case. I want some saltines and chicken noodle soup, just in case. Spare sheets, just in case. Shorts that haven't been worn in eight years are NOT a just in case item!

Let go of something that is weighing you down.

Just let. it. go.

Lyn

Recipe Thursday

We had this for dinner tonight and it was DEEEE-LISH!!!!!!!!!!! (I used a thick cut turkey sandwich meat instead of the turkey cutlet.) Add some fresh fruit and iced tea and you have a wonderful summer meal. Wise One made the avocado spread and was very proud of himself, very simple for a young cook. He even tasted it. He is not a fan of avocado but understood that chefs have to learn to taste to adjust seasonings.

Enjoy some fresh food,

Lyn

Thinking and thinking some more.

This post and this post have made me think. And think some more. And clean. And reorganize. And look at a shelf differently. And ask "when was the last time I used this?" These posts made me wonder if we, my family and I, are suffocating in STUFF! Why yes, I think in a way, we are.

I know, for my sanity, I must purge. I must clean DEEPLY. I must. I will be in this house day in day out with my little darlings teaching and learning and the clutter will make. me. crazy.

So.....the cleaning continues. Daily. Sometimes hourly.

Lyn

It's official.

I mean really official!

I submitted my resignation to the school district. I am now an unemployed homeschooler!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy Cr*p!!!!

H.O.L.Y. C.R.*.P.!!!!

Lyn, who is working on breathing at the moment. I am having some trouble..........................

Quote Monday

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

Dolly Parton

Amen Sistah!

My tush is sore. My hands ache. I have a bruise on my arm and my foot. My nails are dirty.

Why do you ask? I weeded an overgrown flowerbed, trimmed trees and moved bricks around. The rainbow appeared after I sat on my porch and looked at my hard work. Ahhh!!

Lyn

Recipe Thursday

1 ~ 2 liter Welch's Grape Soda
1 ~ can Eagle brand condensed milk

Mix and pour into ice cream maker. Sit back and wait. And then....

Enjoy! This is so yummy!!! We have tried rootbeer, Sunkist Orange, Ginger Ale. Really anything that your family likes.

Find something to ease the heat for a bit.

Lyn

Quote Monday

"I have learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness
or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances. "
Martha Washington

Noise

In my house at the moment I hear:

Chosen One vacuuming! Ah what a wonderful sound! AND

Rowdy One singing SOMETHING at the top of his lungs. It is a few words but lots of growls and yeah, yeah, yeahs.....who knows. That kid just likes to make noise and the later in the day it gets the ROWDIER he gets. It's bedtime and he is acting like he just ate breakfast and is ready to start his day.

Noise..................oh and the baseball game in the background of my typing.

Lyn

Our version of camp.

Wise One just left for "camp". He will be spending the next 5 days with my aunt in this big Texas city. He will be swimming some, walking the dog a lot, kayaking some, he will be hiking some, eating junk food a lot, he will be on his own in a wonderful big city with the fun-est aunt on the planet that will try almost anything. He will have a grand time.

Hopeful he misses his mommy abit!

Rowdy One on the other hand is already long faced and about to cry at the drop of a hat. His brother, whom he is almost always attached at the hip to, has left him for greener pastures. He is sad. He is lonely. He has never been an only child. He doesn't know what to do. Maybe this will help him get over his lonesomness!

Happy Weekend!

Lyn

100 Posts, 100 Things

I am sensitive, but I hide it (very) well. (the word very was added by Chosen One)
I multi task WAY too much. I am working on it.
I love Rock & Roll.
Can barely handle Country.
I could care less if my kids track mud in the house.
I love rice with any kind of gravy.
I have had stitches twice in my head and twice in my tummy. Thankful I remember none of it.
I have never broken a bone.
I don’t really enjoy talking on the phone.
I drive an 8 year old minivan.
I am blind as a bat.
I have a tattoo on my ankle.
I hate to sweat.
Hate. It.
I have always lived in the same town.
I was an only child for 9 years.
Then my sister was born. We both feel like only children.
My grandmother passed away when I was in 6th grade. I miss her so much. I often wonder what a conversation with her would be like now. I wish she could give me advice on raising my kids.
I could wear a t-shirt everyday. Every. Day.
I love reading but do not read well.
I have a dark sense of humor.
My first concert was Ricky Skaggs with my parents.
My next concert was Metallica. Without my parents.
I married a man to sweet for me.
I prefer to be alone.
When I was a kid I was an incredibly picky eater.
Now I will try almost anything.
I do not enjoy drinking, liquor that is.
I read fairly quickly.
I can not spell to save my life!
I once ran a home daycare.
I once cleaned houses.
I once answered 911 calls.
I once inventoried items from crime scenes.
I once fingerprinted inmates.
That was actually my favorite job.
I was married when I was 19.
Divorced by 21.
Married again at 23.
I am still hanging on to him.
I take college classes and think I know my major but can never really decide.
I just enjoy learning.
I like to paint my walls too much. So says Chosen One.
When I was young I looked forward to spring break so that I could clean all the closets in the house.
I was diagnosed with OCD when I was 32. Go figure!
I used to FREAK out when the clothes were not sorted like the colors in the rainbow.
Now I am medicated and could care less.
Almost!
I am not good with hand eye coordination sports. ie~ tennis, racquetball, baseball.
I often make lists and then OFTEN never look at them again until I find them days later underneath something.
I have awful skin. I think my first break out was at 12 and it has not ever stopped. Luckily though I do not have scarring, it was never that bad but has been constant.
If I could have plastic surgery I would have a mole removed from my nose and a tummy tuck after I am done having kids.
I do have nice feet, though, that counts for something.
Chosen One says I have nice hands.
I am ADDICTED to Dr. Pepper.
When I was 11 I went to church camp and they scared me so badly about a ghost that I am still scared of the dark.
I don’t think I will send my kids to camp because of it.
I love the color green.
And purple.
I am not real big on shoes. As in I have only a few necessary pairs.
I always have my toes painted.
Sometimes I am to harsh.
But always honest.
Some people don’t want honesty. I have learned that more as I get older.
I love my feet rubbed but will only let Chosen One do it.
I am very ticklish.
When my sister was born I couldn’t even be in the same room when my mother was putting baby lotion on her. I am that. ticklish. Makes me giggle just thinking about it.
I like to hear someone really laugh.
I love “You’ve Got Mail”. I want to have a “shop around the corner”.
I am always drawn to people that are older than me.
But I married someone younger.
I want to go to Africa.
I love books. Of any kind. I have too many. So says the Chosen One.
I have never watched Star Trek. Not one single episode.
I wish I could be an artist.
I do not drink coffee.
But I MUST have a Dr. Pepper.
I love me a sharp pencil. What is that about?.
I do not like homemade mac and cheese. I prefer the stuff in the blue box. Really.
I sometimes eat just hominy for dinner. With a little salt and pepper. This grosses Chosen One out.
I like pictures of trees. Just trees. Nothing else.
I wish I could be on Jeopardy.
But I know I would embarrass myself.
Coming up with 100 things is hard.
I have loads of girlfriends.
But very few close friends.
I have a hard time walking away from a friendship.
I think I have only done it twice in my life.
I suffer from migraines.
I can remember being in elementary school and coming home and going to bed with headaches.
I love to sleep. I mean A LOT.
I will only sleep on satin pillowcases. My mother taught me how to make my own.
I learned to sew when I was four, with my grandmother.
I file my nails everyday. Just a touch up here in there.
I am stuck on routines. I sometimes get lost if I get out of step.
I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era.
I have a headache right now that is making it hard to concentrate.
But I am almost done.
I am a procrastinator when it comes to paying bills.
ONE HUNDRED: I strive to be an honest, genuine person. Every single day. Sometimes I get caught up in the “regular stuff” and forget my mission but am always thankful I get to start over fresh the next day.

There you go, Lyn in a nutshell!

It is a sickness.....

I know!

But I have been counting down to this!

Truly!

Lyn

Quote

"It is easy to love those who are far away. It isn't always easy to
love those who are right next to us. It is easier to offer a dish of rice
to satisfy the hunger of a poor person, than to full up the loneliness and
suffering of someone lacking love in our own family."

Mother Teresa

A little bit of goofiness.

In order to distract myself from troubling world affairs like this and this we spent most of the three days reading some silly books. They kept us/me laughing and a few made us think!

I wasn't able to find this one on Amazon but she does have other that I will be checking out.

There's A Frog In My Throat! 440 Animal Sayings A Little Bird Told Me by Loreen Leedy & Pat Street

A couple of our favorites that we have worked into our conversations:

Does a chicken have lips? meaning No! No! No! (the boys find this hillarious and end up forgetting what they originally asked me for!)

mouse potatoe meaning frequent computer user ~ Wise One

watch it like a hawk meaning guard it carefully ~ Rowdy One

Geogra-fleas! Riddles All Over the Map by Joan Holub

Turkey Riddles by Katy Hall & Lisa Eisenberg

What Do You Hear When Cows Sing? and other silly riddles by Marco and Giulio Maestro

Plenty of giggles!

Lyn

Oh my!

Happy Fourth of July!

We are all crowded around the TV watching Discovery and all that goes with this launch!

Lyn

Oh. My. Gosh.

My EIGHT year old just rolled his eyes at me!

Oh. My. Gosh.

I need a moment.

I am NOT HAPPY!

Please, make it stop. Shrink him in to the cute, chubby little 2 year old that did things and I could brush they off as he is a baby and doesn't know better. And he was so darn cute I just couldn't get upset with him.

Now he KNOWS better. And he AIN'T that cute anymore!!!!!!

UUUUHHHHHGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the problems....he so takes after.......ME!

Lyn

Really, what do they think in their little minds?

Rowdy One "Mommy, does cousin C live in the country?" as we are leaving cousin C's house and driving down a winding road that has nothing but wide open spaces around it.

Mommy "Why yes, Rowdy One he does live in the country. I wish we lived in the country. Will all this space to run and play and hear all the birds."

Rowdy One "Not me! All they can listen to out here is country music!"

Mommy "What?" trying to hide my giggle.

Rowdy One in a quite disgusted tone "Mommy, they live in the country all they get on their radio is country music."

Geesh woman I am surprised you can get us from here to there you are so out of it! That is what I think he was thinking!

We continued the conversation and I believe I convinced him that they could, in fact get, other radio stations out in the country!

Really, what do they think in their little minds?

Lyn

Bed In Summer.

In winter I get up at night,

And dress by yellow candle light.

In summer quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day,
I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown up people's feet

Still going past me in the street,
And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

by Robert Louis Stevenson