News story on James and Sheen

Hey friends.

WICS News Channel 20, the ABC affiliate in Springfield, IL aired their segment on James and Sheen's story last night.  I am really impressed with the job that was done by reporter Andrew Hansen, himself a practicing Catholic.

If you want to watch the story please follow the link.  It's worth watching just to see how stinkin' cute James is at the end of the clip.  Seriously!  Adorable!  (You can even faintly hear Andrew call him a ham.)

Also, every time I tell the story of what Travis said to me in the Labor & Delivery floor I misquote my husband.  I think he said, "James is alive and everything's going to be fine," but I still have no idea.  It's the same thing, really, in the end...

7 quick takes

1 - Is that Biz Markie?

2 - I've been sick all week.  Sunday night was horrible.  I thought I'd be better by today.

3 - Today my eyes are goopy.  GOOPY!  Like when I woke up my eyelids were crusted together from dry goop.

4 - Today I call the doctor.

5 - I've got a family reunion this weekend - I need to be well.

6 - I'm supposed to make Thomas birthday party invitations with my Crafty Katie tomorrow.

7 - I need to do these things without hacking on Grandma or getting goop on the special craft supplies.

Hope you're better off than me!

flux capacitors and t-shirts

In my post "The wait was well worth it" I mention my flux capacitor t-shirt and I've been wanting to share a funny story related to that shirt.

First, the the history of that shirt.  When I was in college I did a summer internship in San Francisco at 826 Valencia, a non profit writing center that encourages kids to write and read and also offers free tutoring.  826 Valencia was founded by author Dave Eggers and at the time the same building that housed 826 also housed McSweeney's Publishing.  So I was surrounded by hipsters.

One day a couple of high school boys came in (they were being mentored or something) and one of them was wearing a t-shirt that he had made that said "flux capacitor".  Because I grew up loving Back to the Future I loved this shirt because, as we all know, the flux capacitor is what makes time travel possible.  Or so Doc Brown says.

So when I came home from SF I bought me some iron on letters and a light blue t-shirt and made myself a shirt that said "flux capacitor".  I only did it because I loved it and I really thought that no one but my brothers would get the reference.  I was wrong.  Guys loved that shirt.  And when I explained to them why I was wearing a shirt that said "flux capacitor" (answer: because it makes time travel possible) they would buy me drinks, ask for my number, and so on.

And then I fell in love with a super awesome guy and got married.  Travis had never seen Back to the Future and didn't care about my shirt.  He just thought it was weird but we never really talked about it.  One day my husband, a bit of a gear head, told me that the flux* capacitor in our car had gone out and I was shocked. 

"What do you mean?!"

"I mean it doesn't work any more."

"Our car has one?!"

"Yes," he said slowly.  "Do you know what a flux* capacitor does?"

"It makes time travel possible!!!!"

"No it doesn't."  And then he probably told me what a flux* capacitor really does and I probably didn't understand him.

And so in the end my t-shirt only impressed guys who really didn't matter and made me look like an idiot in front of the one guy who does.  But it makes for a funny story.

UPDATD TO SHOW YOU HOW DITZY I REALLY AM!  Travis just told me that there is no such thing as a flux capacitor and so it was just a simple "capacitor" that was out in our car.  So when he told me some capacitor didn't work in the car I assumed it was a flux capacitor and he would have never used that word.  But it's okay... you did notice how I tagged this "I'm an idiot", right?

an incoherent post by a post partum woman

When I first began blogging I wanted to be honest about things.  Motherhood was tough and I just came right out and said it.  With my fourth baby I will say that motherhood is still tough but the loneliness and sleepless nights are nothing compared to how I feel now.

I always assumed that the older my kids grew the more heartaches I would have.  I did not, however, foresee how short my patience would run, how overwhelmed I would feel, and how I would feel sucked dry by the end of the day.  One of my children loves to chat, to be the center of attention, and to receive heaping amounts of physical affection throughout the day; I like silence and to not touch or be touched.  It is very hard for me to fulfill this child's needs.

Every day I lose my temper.  I say things I shouldn't.  I ignore kids who want me because I really, really don't want to give any more of myself.  Every day I can see how much my kids want my love and approval and at some point every day it is very hard to do that for them.

Recently someone commented that me and my blog are "dumb happy".  I'm not 100% sure what that means, having never heard the expression before, but a Facebook survey amongst my friends says it means "slap happy".  So I guess, at least to one person, I am obnoxiously happy - which is interesting to me because I do not feel that way or even view this blog that way.

I write how I speak.  It may not be very polished and I may frequently end my sentences with prepositions, but I don't care.  This is my voice; this is who I am.

But I no longer feel like I have to be super honest.  I don't want my kids to grow up and have our misbehavior and every feeling of frustration directed at them documented on the internet.  I love, love, love them and I don't want them to ever be embarrassed or hurt by what I type here.  So maybe in the end I come off a little more positive (but I really don't think I do...).  I also think there's great good in representing all the perks of the married life.  Enough people in the world complain about their husbands, put down men, and laugh a little too hard at jokes about drinking hard liquor to get through a day at home with the kids. (Not that there aren't days when I really want a stiff drink.)

I started this blog to share adventures of with friends and family.  Pictures of our cute kids, updates on the house renovation, funny anecdotes from our days would be posted for a smallish group of people who know and love us.  But now there are a couple hundred people who check this blog on a regular basis and I don't know who they are.  I like them (I like you.) and I love it when they comment and email me and share their lives with me, and so now I find myself writing for them, too.  (Jordan on the West Coast, I often write and pray for you.)

For awhile I tried to make this blog something more important than it is.  I thought I should try to grow my readership, write intelligent and insightful things, throw my two cents in along with all the other bloggers.  But now I don't really care about those things.  My pride got the better of me and I became tired trying to be more interesting than I am. 

What am I even saying here?!  Heck if I know.  I guess... just know that
I'm sorry I don't post more often,
I hope you like the dumb songs I post every Friday,
thanks for coming along for the ride,
I hope I really am not obnoxious,
there's nothing wrong with being happy,
this blog isn't important,
honesty is important but so is respecting my family's privacy and showing the good,
I'm probably going to only post 1, 2, or 3 times a week and never on a regular basis except for 7 quick takes,
can you tell that I'm postpartum?

I call this "baby brain".

7 quick takes

1 - This song is just delish.  I hope you enjoy it.

2 - Here's something else I love:  Lisa and Joel Schmidt's blog The Practicing Catholic.  They have all kinds of great content, they update frequently, and they're just plain wonderful.  Seriously, you can read the fluff I write, or you can read something interesting.  Or, you know, you could do both.  And ps - Lisa was one of our bloggers at the 2012 Behold Conference.  Pretty blonde with a baby.

3 - Also have a new found love for Kathryn Whitaker's blog and tweeting.  Check out Team Whitaker.  I especially appreciate what I've read under her Motherhood and The Preemie tabs.

4 - Lastly, Karen Edmisten has a great blog and a new book that I really, really, really want to read. 

I have a lot of respect for Karen and I'm so, so grateful that she's written a book about miscarriage.  I wish I would have had a good Catholic book on miscarriage when I was going through the loss of Peter, and I think it would probably still be helpful five years later. 

5 - I'll be honest, the internet sometimes makes me feel like I'm a freshman in high school looking across the cafeteria to the upperclass cool kids table.  (Doesn't that just sound so dorky?  But it's how I think.  Dork.)  Don't get me wrong, I have a very full, fun table myself and I love the friends I have. Sometimes I wish I knew - in real life - women like Lisa, Kathryn, Karen, Grace, Hallie, Dwija, Katie, the Bright Maidens, Sarah.  They seem to be just as fabulous as my friends who I share playdates and texted prayer requests with.  And if you don't know them yet I strongly encourage you to check out their blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter feeds.  They're funny, kind-hearted, and Catholic.

6 - Back to things I love.  This picture:

This print was done by the awesomely talented Jude Landry.  His wife Alisha and I met at a local Catholic moms' group and then they moved back to the South from whence they had come.  I don't think there was a direct connection between the timing of our meeting and their moving.  If you want to buy this print or something else similarly great check out Jude's store.

7 - And lastly, I love the tulips my loving husband brought home yesterday because tulips are my favorite flowers and I am overdue.  What a good man.

Have a good weekend, lovely people!  And check out more Quick Takes over at Jen's blog!

Tag - I'm it!

Here's a bunch of gibberish all about me.  I was tagged in this fun little blogging game and I'm going to play along because after a week of recouping I finally feel social again. 

The rules:

1. The first rule is to post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself then write 11 things about you/your life.
3. Answer the questions for you set in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter to tell them you have tagged them.

I'm the one on the right with a large mouth and glasses.  This was at a FOCUS conference back in my campus ministry days.  I wonder if I still have that watch somewhere.  I loved that watch.

Eleven things about myself:
1 - I'm conflicted about Kanye West.  He's a great rapper but man-o-man is he ever inappropriate.
2 - I really suck at Lent this year. 
3 - I used to think of myself as funny but I don't any more.  The only thing that's changed is that before I was fat and needed to be funny.  Now I'm fat and I've decided to put effort into being kind rather than being clever.  I hope it's working.
4 - My Christmas lights are still up outside.  It would take 5 minutes to unwrap them from the banister but it still hasn't happened.
5 - My husband and I honeymooned in Scotland because #1 I love Braveheart #2 I didn't want to go anywhere hot - especially a beach.  Instead of a bunch of pictures of me in a bathing suit laying around (a thing no one wants to see - even from my thin days) I have all these awesome pictures of me looking cute in jeans and turtlenecks exploring castles. 
6 - I was first runner up in a beauty pageant once upon a time.
7 - I really dislike New York City and Chicago.  They're big and smelly.
8 - I dislike dogs and cats.  We had a dog and a cat when I was growing up but I never had an emotional bond with either.  I had typed out a whole list of things that drive me crazy about dogs, cats, and pet owners but it's better that I deleted it.  I will say, though, a house is never clean if you have small children or pets.  And in my experience it's far worse with pets.
9 - I think New Girl is hilarious.  There's too much sex, of course, but I feel like the jokes were written exactly for my sense of humor. I actually laugh out loud while watching it, which I cannot say for most shows and movies I watch.
10 - I have two brothers and I'm very glad I have them.  But I also wish I had a sister. 
11 - My son Bennet is adorable.  Sometimes it's hard for me to discipline him because of how stinkin' cute he is.

Cynthia's Questions:

1. Mini-van or other?   Mini-van.  It was a hard pill to swallow but now I love it.
2. Favorite clothing item?   Right now it's maternity dresses / skirts.  I've given up on pants at this point in the pregnancy.
3. Best friend in the whole wide world? Why? Travis is my best friend, but when it comes to girlfriends I would probably say Sr. Miriam Caritas is tied with Katie B.  This is a hard question to answer, though.  Friendship as an adult is so different than when I was a child or teen.
4. Favorite movie? For a long time it was a tie between Sense & Sensibility and Braveheart.  Now I'd probably say 3:10 to Yuma.
5. Your favorite trait about yourself? I take excellent naps.
6. Best concert you've ever been to? NKOTBSB.
7. Most difficult decision you've ever had to make? too personal to share here.
8. What did you want to be when you were little? President of the USA.  This is because all my teachers  would talk about how we could be anything when we grew up - even the first female president of the United States.  Now there's no way I would want that job.  God bless the men and women who run our country.
9. Favorite quote? "In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."  Luke 1:78-79
10. Most expensive item [at the grocery store] that you have ever purchased?? formula, probably
11. Best television series you have ever watched? Lost.  But we'll see how Downton Abbey turns out - it might just tie or beat out Lost.

Okay, so now I'm going to break the last two rules because I am still exhausted.  It honestly took me four days just to answer those questions.  I can't think any more.

7 Quick Takes a little late

1 - This is a bit of an odd song, but one that I've loved for a long time.  I hope you like it, too.

2 - In case you missed Rose and my live television interview here is the link for CatholicTV's This Is the Day.  We begin around 8:10.  We were supposed to Skype in so I actually used the blow dryer.  Bennet had to ask what it was, that's how infrequently it is used.  And then no one saw my nice hair.  Oh well.

3 - A little while ago I asked to borrow a maternity dress for the Behold Conference.  I put the request up on Facebook and about a week later I had about 9 new-to-me dresses and several tunics/shirts to wear for the rest of the pregnancy.  Facebook - I love you!  (When I don't hate you and the way you suck the life out of me.)

4 - I have this sorta cheesy book - The One Hundred Greatest Poems.  I got it when I was in college and loved it then.  But after college I was so tired of reading that I barely read for, well, for years.  But recently I picked it back up because it would be simple and a no-commitment read.  But instead I've fallen back in love with a lot of the poems and I am hungry to read more.  I like how they demand to be read slowly, weighing the significance of each word.  It's very different from the majority of the articles, blogs, and simple books I've been reading the last few years.

5 - My favorite, I think, is Dulce Et Decorum Est.  Maybe you read it years ago in some Brit Lit class.  Read it.  The end is the best.

6 - All of yesterday and today I've been praying for my friends R and N.  R was induced today and I keep checking to see if she's had their baby yet.  Please say a prayer for them, too, please.  It's been a long, hard, emotional journey for them.

7 - The registration deadline for the Behold Conference is coming up, ladies - March 1st!  Make sure you register - scholarships are still available if money is making you hesitate.  The day is going to be so phenomenal - I sincerely hope you can be a part of it.  And, if any of you bloggity people out there come please introduce yourself!  I'd love to meet some of my blogosphere friends!

7 quick takes

1 - You may not like country music. Sorry, this week's song is not for you. 


2 - This is what happened in my kitchen last night:

Me - Whoa!  Jeff Cavins is following me on Twitter!  That's crazy!  Why would he do that?  (Feeling all kinds of pressure to be holy, funny, intelligent in my forthcoming tweets, especially since in my head I was thinking, "oh shit!".)

Travis - What?!  I bet it's because of James and Sheen.

Me - Maybe.  I'm gonna check into this...  Oh.  He's following over 6,500 people.  I'm not that special after all.  He doesn't know me or James or anything about us.  Well, that changes things!  (feeling of sweet relief mingled with a touch of humility)

3 - I am a product of public schools.  I am a fabulously lousy pre-school homeschooling mom.  But I totally loved this video.  He brings up a lot of great examples of why I'm a little jealous of my friends who do homeschool. 



4 - Watching the Republican debate.   I didn't even begin to follow this stuff until the candidates are more "manageable".  Four is manageable.  I can research their voting records, go over their websites, etc now that there's four.  In recent history Mikhail Gorbachev said that what Ronald Reagan was able to accomplish with the Cold War Obama never would have been able to do because of Reagan's character:  strong, but a gentleman.  I think Gorbachev would say the same thing about Newt that he said about Obama, and I think that matters. 

5 - Kate Wicker has a guest post up at the Behold blog called "Glorify God in Your Body".  It's great and will give you a little glimpse of what Kate will be talking about at the Behold Conference.  Check it out!

6 - I'm so tired.  So go read Dwija at House Unseen instead.  She's funny and hospitable - what a great combination.

7 - Congrats to all of us for making to the weekend. 

a moment of brilliance

Did you know that you can spend $1.70 on 2lbs 14oz of pure applesauce or $.70 on 6oz of babyfood applesauce?  Did you know that it's the same flipping thing but one last much longer and will save you all kinds of money?

Did you know it took me 3 children to figure this out?

What a nincompoop.

inappropriate comments at the grocery store.

Monday my big, pregnant belly, my three kids, and I were grocery shopping in the late morning.  A couple, probably in their 60's walked by and smiled at us. 

The man said, "What do you do in your spare time?!" implying that I would have no spare time. 

I responded, "Look at all these kids, what do you think I do in my spare time?!" implying the kids are the fruit of my spare time. 

He didn't laugh, nor did he look at me again when we met up in other aisles. 

It was awkward.

When I told Travis that night he laughed really hard and told me he was embarrassed for me. 

Serious.

That's what I am, people.  I'm serious.  Serious about Lost.

I have become a lame version of the person I once was because I am so consumed by this show.  And I was pretty far from cool in the first place so this is bad news.

Take, for example, the following song.

I've been listening to it on a regular basis ever since the episode where Hurley gets the Dharma van filled with beer and Roger's corpse started.  Do you even remember that episode?  Or this song?  Someone please say YES!

I'm in Season 6.  And let me tell you when it's over I'm going to be sad.  Maybe I will drown my sorrows in beer.  Probably not. 

And here's my other problem:  I cannot watch Dexter.  I tried watching it before at the encouragement of others and realized that the American public and many of my close friends are sick, twisted, dark people.

Let me leave you with one last piece of Lost loveliness.  A quote from the episode I watched today during nap time / picking up the kitchen.

Miles to Linus:
Why would I need your money when there are a couple of jabonies under there named Nikki and Paulo who got buried alive with $8 million in diamonds on top of them.

blue and red lights on a Saturday night

There I was sitting on my sofa in my pj's, pink robe, and slippers.  James was down for the night in the next room over and I was watching How to Tame Your Dragon and sending some emails.  Travis, Lydia, and Bennet were all gone for the night.

All was good until I heard a noise.  Unsure of what it was, I told myself that James had just snorted/snored rather loudly.  But then I heard it again, the sound of a ping pong ball dropping on a hard floor and then bouncing across it. POP pop pop pop pop pop.

My heart started to pound.  I was afraid someone was trying to break into our house, having come through our cellar door (which is twice locked) and then up the basement steps (the door to the basement is also locked, and blocked by a large toy.  Hear that, bad guys?!!  You can't get in!)  My other thought was that a mouse was in the house and had knocked over a toy. 

A mouse is equally terrifying as a robber in my book.

So I called Travis because if it was a robber and he attacked me then Travis could call 911 and tell them where I was.  I mean, if I'm being attacked I can't tell a dispatcher my address and emergency, can I?  No.

Seeing that all was still in the kitchen and with Travis safely on the phone I walked into the downstairs bathroom, continuing my investigation.  The bathroom smelled bad, and there was smoke right above the sink. 

If there's smoke there's gotta be a fire.  I was afraid it was coming from the outlet - there was nothing else that could have caused it and it smelled metallic.

If my daring husband had been home he would have had me go to James and quickly done some investigating.  But he was on the road, driving home from Wisconsin with a friend and so I was on my own.  I hung up the phone, got James, and sat in the mini-van to call 911.

I knew that if I called 911 they would send all kinds of people.  I was right.  I police officer responded right away.  I heard his siren and saw his lights before he turned down my street.  I was impressed with his bravery as he went into the house.  A county cop then showed up and went in, too.  He was calling for more people on his shoulder walkie-talkie. 

In the end there was a full-sized firetruck, 3-4 fire and rescue trucks, and 3-4 cop cars parked around my house, all with their lights on.  A bunch of men stood around in my yard, shooting the breeze.  More men walked around my house and I thought, "I don't think there's any underwear laying around upstairs.  I'm so glad I cleaned the kids' rooms and the bathrooms."  I was standing on the sidewalk in my bright pink robe, holding a confused and sleepy James.  I knew all my neighbors were looking.  I felt like an idiot. 

And the problem?  It was a lightbulb.  The lightbulb had short circuited or something (they showed me the burn marks on it) though the bulb wasn't busted and the light fixture itself was fine. The cone-shaped lightbulb-cover thing shot the smoke down, which is why it hovered over the sink and not near the ceiling.  They checked for radon and called it good.

I apologized for them having to come out because of a lightbulb but they all reassured me that I did the right thing.  Many of them had been at night our house the night James was born and they were happy to see him.  One of the firefighters, a man named Dennis, I actually remembered from James' birth.  He held my hand while they worked on James, something I thought was incredibly kind.  I thanked him for doing that and the other men looked at him with little grins on their faces. 

So that was my Saturday night.  I hope yours was less eventful!

7 quick takes

-1-   Awhile ago Trav's Aunt Julie made a couple mix cd's for me.  They were great.  (Who knew Aunt Julie had such good taste in music?  I don't know if anyone did, but now that I know about Aunt Julie's good taste I'm letting everyone know!)  Anyways, she put a couple songs by Needtobreathe on the discs and this one, The Outsiders, is one of my faves.  I hope you like it, too.

-2-  When you see/hear the words "the outsiders" do you automatically think, "Stay gold, Ponyboy," or is that just me?

-3-  The fact that Aunt Julie made the cd's for me is quite amazing since I offended her on Christmas one year.  It's a classic story of Bonnie putting her foot in her mouth.  It goes like this:

Me, wearing an argyle sweater and sitting next to hip, beautiful cousin B (Julie's daughter): "B, I'm so glad to see you wearing argyle.  I didn't know if it was still "in" or not.  I used to have a sense of style, but now that I'm older, fatter, and a mom I'm not sure what is appropriate to wear.  I don't want to look too young, but I don't want to dress like I'm 45."

Everyone laughs, my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, sister-in-law, Julie, cousin B - everyone.

Me:  "What's so funny?"

My dear mother-in-law:  "Today is Julie's 45th birthday!"

I'm awesome like that.

-4-  The fact that I am now inept in all things fashionable is why I am so looking forward to my Bloom consultation with the lovely Hallie Lord, aka Betty Beguiles.  I am so excited to get some great pointers from her! 

-5-  One of Lydia's favorite books right now is Love You Forever.  Today she was carrying her lamb doll, which was dressed in a mismatched pair of Lydia's pj's and wrapped in James NICU blanket, and saying to it, "I'll love you forever; I'll like you for always; As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."  It was really stinkin' cute!

-6-  I don't like reading Love You Forever because it makes me cry, sometimes so hard that L and B look at me with great concern.

-7-  Tuesday, September 20th is the anniversary of Archbishop Sheen's ordination to the priesthood.  I'm thinking of making a little pilgrimage on that day, maybe to the Cathedral in Peoria, IL where he was ordained (and where we had a holy hour and Mass when James was 2 days old, asking for Sheen's intercession) or to his birthplace of El Paso, IL.  I could also go to the Sheen Foundation Museum located at the Spalding Center in downtown Peoria.  I say all this because I'm wondering if anyone would want to come with me and the kids to do this.  Is anyone interested? 

wa-hoooo

Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I'm dead tired right now I would be freaking out at the fact that I am now officially published.  Sure it's a blog and I published it myself, but the editors want it that way!

I am fairly certain that I misspelled something or somehow, under the influence of my daughter, wrote poopy pants in the article and I'm too tired to notice.  Plus I've read and re-read the thing like 57 times so it's become one giant blur.  And I'm tired (I already mentioned that, whaaat?) and it took me like 30 minutes to figure out how to upload an image to a website that is not Facebook or Blogger.  But I've done it.  whew.

I hope it's not lame that I wrote about a movie that's been out for awhile - the buzz is long over.  If it is just lie to me so I feel better.

Wanna check it out?  The post is called "whatever is noble." 

a tea party for the royal wedding

 Wasn't it beautiful and lovely and even better than any princess movie because it was real?

His uniform, her lace-covered shoulders and arms, that gorgeous, gorgeous veil.

I even liked the trees in the church!

At my house we celebrated with a tea party.  I know, I'm a nerd.

In fact I am such a nerd about this that I couldn't sleep the night before and at 4:30am I realized that I was stupid for tossing and turning - there was a royal wedding on! - and so I came downstairs just in time for the Queen and Prince Phillip to arrive at the Abbey.

I made egg salad while sitting on my living room floor, taking in every moment.

And right there, mayo in hand, I realized that Kate Middleton will now be my #1 fashion influence.

Back to the tea party:

I had hopes of showing the wedding so my friends and I could gush over the dress, the tiarra, the groom, the best man(!) but technical difficulties wouldn't allow it. 

So instead our children ran around like mad and we watched highlights on tv.  We also had a cup of tea with two lumps of sugar because it felt like a British thing to do. 

For further evidence of my nerdiness I actually researched what to serve at a British tea.  So we had sandwiches, off which I cut the crust, home made scones with strawberry jam and cream, and cake.  I also had crackers, cheese, and fruit because I wanted my friends to still like me instead of finding me annoying for only feeding their children cake with coffee frosting and then sending them home for nap time.

(Recipes for the scones, egg salad, and coffee frosting used on the cake can be found at the bonnie dinner table.)

The above picture is from my breakfast this morning. 

I did not eat cake for breakfast but I looked at it longingly.

Longingly, people.

Something In The Water

Small confession:


I used to be a lot more hip when it came to the music I listened to. It was a bit of a status thing - I was the smart, Catholic girl with long hair and good taste in music.

In college I read Rolling Stone and would check out the musicians the critics wrote about. I read liner notes in albums to find out what musicians the artist collaborated with or was inspired by; I then looked into those guys. I also tried out the music my younger brother and friend LB listened to. They were (still are) good at knowing underground - read "cool" - musicians.

However, I have always loved pop music and so I was never really hip enough to be actually hip... but enough that I could be on the fringe of hipster circles. Or, you know, Karl and LB liked me. *shrug*

Anymore I don't have time to sit around reading magazines or liner notes or talk about bands at bars. So I use Pandora and the recommendations of a few friends with good taste in music to keep fresh music coming my way.

Every time I post a youtube song for you I have the following ridiculous conversation with myself in my head:

Oh this song is so good! I hope people love it as much as I do!

- Maybe no one has heard of it and it'll make their day - finding out about a new song or artist! Or maybe it'll make me seem cool because I know about good music.

Or maybe everyone already knows this song and they're all gonna think I'm the last lame person on the bandwagon because I just found out about it.


- Only mean people will think that. And if they already know it then they'll just be happy for another chance to hear it, or they'll be excited that I finally found about it. And seriously, you are lame - you used the word "bandwagon."


And this blog isn't about being cool, Bonnie. It's about being honest and sharing your faith and vocation.

- Well maybe I shouldn't post it because it's not Christian. What if someone is scandalized? That would be bad.


Just do it, it's not a scandalous song. It's a good song. A toe tapper. A dance in the kitchen, sing along in the shower, roll down your windows and crank it song.

- Just post the dumb thing and get over yourself!

So here ya go. Brooke Fraser's Something in the Water. I hope you like it. :

whack job

If you've ever commented here before then (hopefully) you've read the following message:

Anonymous comments will only be published if they are nice, or maybe not at all. Because I say so.

I'm pretty sure I put this rule into effect once some anonymous boy called me a monster.  (Here's a blogging tip:  never post about your decision to do something to your son that Jews typically do 8 days after birth.  I dare not even type the word - it starts with "c" - because I am certain there are people who have Google alerts set up when the word is typed.  If you do blog about it, be warned that strangers from all over the world will contact you telling you that it's their mission to stop the practice.  Other strangers will just be mean and ineffective.)

So.... back to the original point of this post...  Recently someone left a simple comment on my post about needing a birthday cake.  It read, "You're a whack job."

Now, I didn't publish this comment because #1 it was anonymous and #2 it was mean.  But really it was funny.  My first reaction was to laugh, my second to think, "You have no idea, buddy." 

I'm not sure if the person thinks I'm crazy because I do home births - which I allude to in the post - or because I have a special cake just for me on my kids' birthdays.  Travis thinks it's because I used a picture of a cake with a frosting-made, shirtless Tom Selleck.  If he's right, then I would have to say that Alicia Policia, the creator of the cake, is the real whack job, although I think she's brilliant.

In the end I think this blog just reaffirms that while some people like me a great deal, there are many people who wouldn't touch me with a 10.5 foot pole.

my favorite game

It might seem silly, but right now one of my favorite ways to relax is by playing this game with the Melissa & Doug wooden blocks.

It goes like this:

Have toddler put blocks back in their box in non-alphabetical order.

Like so

Begin to arrange the blocks in alpha order by moving them around, but without picking them up.

Glory in your brilliance.

PS I cried through the whole thing

Netflix offers are perfect example of how Travis and I sometimes differ in taste: last two movies we got were Rambo and PS I Love You. You can probably guess which one was mine. PS I Love You was a pretty good movie. We both laughed a lot while watching it (yes, Travis did watch it, but only after I told him that Gerard Butler was King Leonitis in 300.) but I also cried through the whole thing. I would be laughing and crying at the same time. Why? Because, as I told Travis while he laughed at me, there is nothing worse I can think of than losing my husband early in life. Just the hint of the thought made me bawl.

Have I ever told you that I hate mice

Yesterday Travis found mice turds all over the counters. He immediately patched up some holes in the drywall and I cleaned everything.

Problem solved?

No.

Today I heard a mouse in the kitchen and when I went out there I saw that I had left the door to the corner lazy susan cupboard (where we keep most the food) open. I heard it in there and then I:
put on my sweatshirt and shoes,
picked up Lydia, wrapping her in a blanket and putting a hat on her,
walked across the street to our neighbor to see how he felt about mice and if he was busy at the moment.
He wasn't home
so I walked to the other neighbor's to find out the same thing, but he wasn't there either.

So I went home and called my mom who was no help - she just told me I had to go into the cupboard and get out the food. Hello?!!! What if the mouse touched me?!!!

She just laughed. A lot.

There was a long period of silence from the cupboard. (did I forget to mention that as I was talking to her Lydia was safe in the living room and I was sitting on the island, broom in hand?)
So I decided to get down and see if the mouse was gone.

Top shelf - all clear.

Bottom shelf - mouse!!!! Right by the cereal!

I screamed like the girly girl I am, jumped or something and ran to the living room. In the process I hurt my ankle and my hip. As I sat on a chair and continued to freak out to my mom, Lydia was beginning to look scared so I made myself calm down.

When I talked to Travis when his classes were done, asking him to come home early he, too, just laughed. He also told me to put on the leather work gloves, pick it up and throw it against the garage. I told him there was no way I would do that, to which he said I could at least put it in a container and he'd kill it. I then clarified that the part I couldn't do was picking it up. (If you think this is cruel, do not read this story.)

In the end, the only thing that showed any evidence of nibbling was the chocolate chips. They got pitched and everything else got wiped down, but only after Travis showed me that there are no holes in the cupboard, proving it was my fault for leaving the door open.