Shhh! Don't Tell!

You ever do something stupid and hope nobody finds out, but it's so stupidly funny you have to tell everybody! Well, here goes...

We built a house and moved in about 2 1/2 years ago. We picked out the light fixtures and all that jazz for every room in the house. Well, the fixtures we picked out the girls' bedrooms are ceiling fans with a single bulb globe. Their rooms are 12' x 14' and we put in a 60 watt bulb because that's what most fixtures allow as a maxium wattage. (Sidebar: Are "stupidly" and "wattage" real words?? Ok, back to the story.) This 60 watt bulb was more like a night light in these big rooms. The dark color of wall paint didn't help things either. So we bought all kinds of lamps for both rooms so they would have enough light to even dress in there!! Reading and doing homework in there was almost impossible! Well, Ky's light bulb on the fan blew out about a month or so ago and the only bulbs we had in the house were 100 watt bulbs. So Matt climbed up on the step ladder and removed the burned out bulb and started reading on the side where it tells you what kind of bulbs are acceptable. Lo and behold, a 100 watt bulb is perfectly safe in this fixture!! Oh my goodness, their rooms are so bright now that you practically need sunglasses when you go in! I just wanted to tell myself, "Well DUHHHH!!" But how bad is it that we made them sit in the dark for over two years!!! Live and learn!! There's you a laugh for today!!

The Youth

To my surprise, I have enjoyed working with and being with our youth group at church. Jr. High and Sr. High kids have never been on my ministry radar. As a matter of fact, they've never been on any radar screen-ministry or otherwise. I've never understood the purpose of teenage drama, even when I was a teenager, and therefore veered away from any form of the likes. Maybe because I am now the mother of a Middle-schooler, I have a heart to reach out to these kids! I know...I'm just as shocked as you are! Just a reminder that my ways are not God's ways!

Our church sponsored a bonfire and hayride last night that I attended. There were probably about 20 kids that came out for it. Our youth minister planned for us to roast hot dogs for dinner and marmallows for s'mores. The guy who built the huge bonfire decided not to start the fire until after the kids arrived. I think he secretly wanted to show off his bonfire skills. :) The problem with that is that we were suppose to eat first and then go on the hayride. The fire was so big and HOT that we couldn't get close enough to the fire to roast anything but our hands and faces! I think most people just had the chill taken off their dogs because that was as long as they could stand to be that close to the fire! So afterwards we went on a hayride, and I thought it was a pretty good trip. The kids all seemed to enjoy it. They did take them through a cemetery and tried to scare them with guys in costumes carrying chainsaws. Unfortunately, the scare tactic was a little lame! The biggest scare the kids got was when some redneck let his dog loose from his house to chase the trailer full of kids! Some people are just idiots! We made to it back to the house safe and sound though! The irony though was that the fire was just right for roasting when we returned, but there wasn't anything left to roast! Ky had invited a friend to go with her, and needless to say, on the way home we stopped by Sonic!!! ;)

I really had a good time. I have to find that balance though of chaperoning and letting Ky have her space. She doesn't seem to want me around as much any more. The joys of living with a pre-teen! I would post some pictures from this event, but I forgot to take my camera with me. So I'll post a picture from See You At The Pole that was in September. This was our first time to participate. It was an amazing time to see these kids gather in front of their school to pray together.

Isn't this one of the coolest things you've ever seen? These kids were there at 7:15 a.m. Most of them probably don't even crawl out of bed until then! It makes me proud to say that most of these kids are friends of Ky's. It's nice to know the kind of people she is hanging out with.

New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know!

There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=370743&altf=Mpsj&altl=NdDbjo


Jot a note to let me know what you think!

Uncle Olen

Mom just called said my Uncle Olen just passed away. He is one of my dad's older brothers. This picture was just taken a couple of weeks ago at my parents' house. (Uncle Olen is the one sitting in the chair.) It looks like they were doing what they do best--singing!

I last saw him about the middle of August. He was in the hospital at Hot Springs. Matt's dad had been in a motorcyle accident, and when I called my mom & told her where we were, she told me that Uncle Olen was there too. I got to visit with him several days while they were both there. He told me then that he was feeling well enough to sing! I think Uncle Olen had been serenading the others at the hospital!

We'll miss him dearly.

Winnie-the-Pooh's new "Rabbit"

This is mom's new turnip patch. My parents planted these were the old house was that they tore down next door. She sent me this picture yesterday and I just had to laugh! The sign she has posted says "HELP YOURSELF" What's so funny about this picture is that my parents moved to this smaller house in town about a year ago. They came from a house that was about 1800 sq. ft. on 20 acres to a house that is about 1200 sq. ft. on one city lot. The whole purpose was suppose to be so that they would have less to take care of. Earlier this year they purchased the lot and old vacant house that was next to theirs. And they have done more work, and created more projects for themselves than they EVER had at our old home place!! Now they have planted enough turnips to provide greens for the entire county!!

Here's the old house that was previously on this site being demolished. One of the first things they did when they bought this lot was clean out and tear down a fence row that went ALL the way around this lot! It was grown up so much that you barely even saw the house sitting on the lot. The local people stop by often and tell my parents what an improvement they have to the lot and the neighborhood. The man that lives on the other side of them has even started cleaning up his lot!! I guess they've been an inspiration to others! :)