A Different Generation

Beau was talking to his mom the other day and he asked her what the devil looked like.

She explained different ideas of what the devil looked like. Some people believe he still has the form of an angel of light—a very beautiful creature—as he was created before he fell. Other people think he looks like us to make it easier for him to deceive us. Some people even picture him as a red demon with horns, a tail and a pitchfork.

He thought for a minute and then said, "Well, I know what God looks like because I saw a picture of Him in my Bible.... I guess we will just have to Google what the devil looks like."

Camping over Father's Day Weekend

We fished. We camped. We cooked. We played.

Then we went to the Quad Cities Air Show. More about that later.

The church in the former big-box store

We've all seen them. Those former big-box buildings that are now churches. We were passing one today and I got tickled thinking about what the announcements might sound like. It would be really easy to utilize the old intercom system:

"Communion, aisle six."

"Nursery, you have a call holding on line two."

"No waiting at altar four."

"Ushers please start your evening zone."

I know. I'm a sick little person.

Exept for the "Organized" thing...

You Were an Achieving Kid

When you were a kid, people often remarked on how mature you seemed. You acted quite adult. You excelled at school, and you actually enjoyed it to a large extent. No one had to ask you to do your homework. As a kid, you were probably a bit picky. You liked structure, schedules, and organization. You had trouble being friends with regular kids. You probably were only friends with other serious children.

What Kind of Kid Were You?

Yeah, I wasn't real organized but I liked school, I made good grades and the grown ups called me "mature."

¡Bajo cero!

I'm working on my Spanish. I took Spanish in Junior High (middle school), High School, and College but I haven't used it in a while. I'm functional but no where near fluent. In the course of my week, I have about 30 or 40 contacts who speak predominantly Spanish. I let them practice their English on me; I practice my Spanish on them. It really is fun.

I had a very funny conversation this week with one of my friends. After the all to common "hace muy frio" (It's very cold), I continued to tell my friend that the temperature that night was predicted to be "veintinueve grados bajo cero" or 29 degrees below zero. Incredulously, he asked "¿bajo cero?" "Sí, bajo cero." Over and over the rest of the time, he just kept muttering "bajo cero" and shaking his head.

All day the next day, every time I looked at my desktop thermometer, all I could say was "bajo cero."

Resolutions

You Should Make 3 Resolutions

Lose Weight Save Money Get Fit

What Should You Resolve to Change Next Year?

Too true

What Your Thanksgiving Meal Says About You

When it comes to the holidays, you follow and love the big traditions. You look forward to them every year. You see the holidays as a time to be close to loved ones. It's a good time to reconnect and make memories. You like the aspects of the holiday that remind you of your childhood - opening presents, treats, and old favorite foods. During the holidays, you are likely to feel comforted. At your worst, you feel a bit over-indulgent. You consider yourself to be a bit of a purist, and you're proud of it. You tend to spend your holidays sharing and pitching in. You'll do whatever needs to be done.

What Does Your Thanksgiving Meal Say About You?

A Special Category

I've decided that the Mommy Olympics should have a special category for Grandmothers. There's all kinds of events that could be held in this category: "Shopping for grandchildren," "Keeping the mouth shut when you disagree with the grandchildren's parents," "Crafting for grandchildren," and "Babysitting grandchildren."

My mom should be posthumously awarded a special medal for that last event. Ten days after my mom went to heaven, my Hero and I said goodbye to Samuel Mark Cannon. The little guy surprised us. We didn't even know he existed when he made his trip to heaven a little more than 4 months after he began to take form in my womb. Through our tears, we laughed at the idea that my mom, "Nanny," couldn't even go to heaven to escape babysitting!

Right now I spend my time training for the "Figuring out what the grandson is pretending to be" event. My form needs work.

The Mommy Olympics

I think there should be Olympic competition for the real life skills. And who has more real life skills than a Mommy? There could be the obvious events like "diaper changing," "laundry folding," and "speed vacuuming." But then there could be advanced events like "cooking while nose wiping without cross-contamination" and "helping an 8-year-old with math while burping a baby."

I think I would win the "listening to inane chatter while maintaining a smile" event.

What other events can you think of? What's your best event?

I'm a Cherry Popsicle

You Are a Cherry Flavored Popsicle

You are sweet and friendly. For you, summer is all about doing your favorite things. You are a nostalgic person. You love old fashioned things like ice cream trucks. You savor everything. Every taste of summer, the feeling of the sun, the smell of the beach... Of all the types, you love summer the most.

What Flavor Popsicle Are You?

Sometimes menopause is hilarious

Night sweats, insomnia, and hot flashes are annoying but not unbearable. The only part of menopause that really gets in my craw is the forgetfulness. I have a pretty good memory and this business of forgetting common English words drives me up a tree.

Unless it's funny.

I took my Hero to work this morning. He drives a straight truck for Dohrn Transfer, a regional trucking firm. We were a little early so we were sitting in the parking lot talking for just a minute before we needed to part for the day. We were sitting in the parking lot of Dohrn Transfer. (I just wanted to make sure you got that part.)

As one of the cabs pass us on the street in front of the parking lot, I (remember menopause) blurted out, "Hey, look! There's a Dohrn truck!"

He just stared at me. Then he laughed.

That's not many

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 48 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Out of 304,000,000 people, less than 50 is not very many!

This has stuck in my mind

and the thought keeps making me laugh.

I heard one of those, "When we were kids . . ." things and it said, "When we were kids, no one had to look for their keys … they were in the ignition!"

The really funny part is, it's true. When I was in middle school, there was an advertising campaign to get people to take the keys out of the car! How funny is that?

Cluck!

What type of Mother Hen Are You?
by Montessorimom.com: Educational Resource

I've Been Tagged!

Okay! Okay! I've been tagged! I feel like I'm in one of those eXtreme tag games on the playground when I was in elementary school and there are several people being IT! (Why don't kids play tag anymore? That game made you run!) I was tagged by Starla and Sarah Joy. And here are the rules to the meme.

1. Link to the person who tagged me.

2. Mention the rules.

3. Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about myself.

4. Tag 6 other bloggers linking to them.

5. Go to each person's blog and leave a comment that lets them know they've been tagged.

And here I go!!!

1. I can't jump. No kidding, no matter how hard I try I am earthbound.

2. I rode my pogo stick everywhere for a couple of years when I was 10 and 11 years old. I think I loved it because of the whole "I can't jump" thing. I could pogo up and down stairs. I would even pogo to the convenience store and carry home my purchases because I could pogo with no hands.

3. My Hero and I have had a 27-year battle over the shower curtain. I like it closed and he likes it open. (I think he watched Psycho once too often as a child.)

4. I'm only 5'1" tall. Which makes that whole "I can't jump" thing even worse because I can't reach things high in the cupboard.

5. I've been to 37 states and 8 countries (counting the USA).

6. I've been a Mac user since 1989.

And here are my 6 bloggers that I tagged.

1. Leah
2. Deby

3. Teri

4. Carolyn

5. Gretchen

6. Nikki

Something to Ponder

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

I guess this is good

What Your Workspace Says About You

You are generally fairly organized, but you have occasional slip ups. You find keeping organized challenging. You are hardworking and driven. You have an excellent work ethic. You enjoy your job and don't feel guilty about how much time you spend working. You have a good balance between work and your personal life. You don't switch careers often, and you intend to stay at your current job for a long time. At work, you are an introvert. You don't like people coming around your work space.

What Does Your Work Space Say About You?

It's never a good thing

It's never a good thing when one of your kids calls and asks the question, "Mom, how many points are you allowed to accumulate on your driver's license in a year's time?" (Thankfully, they are all adults and not on my insurance!)

Your Ice Cream Personality

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are. You are incredibly cautious. You rather miss out on something than make a mistake. No one would ever call you wild... but they would call you responsible. You are a fairly open minded person with a wide range of tastes. You are quite accepting of unusual ideas and people. You are a natural multitasker. You feel alive when you're doing more than one thing at a time. You can be a big dramatic and over the top sometimes. You are bold in every way

The Ice Cream Personality Test

Don't some of these results seem a little contradictory? I mean how can I be "incredibly cautious" and "a big dramatic" at the same time?

Maybe the test is wrong, maybe I am just an oxymoron incarnate. Hmmmm…

The Beach Test

What the Beach Test Says About You

You like people, but you're careful about who you get close to. Friendship is important to you... so important that you aren't just friends with anyone. You fall in love with ease and confidence. Even if you've had bad experiences in the past, each new love is a reason to start completely over. You are deeply passionate about several things in your life. You're not passionate about much... and the few passions you have are truly obsessions. Your sense of humor is goofy and silly. You are good at making almost anyone laugh.

The Beach Test