Ever Feel Like Hiding Under a Table?

     Have you ever felt like hiding under a table from pure embarrassment?  Have you ever said anything in which you realized right in the middle of your sentence that you just put your foot in your mouth?  You would think it would be safe playing basketball in your own backyard from some of these humiliating situations but my son found out that these horrible situations can arise just about anywhere! 

     It was a nice autumn afternoon..  The kind you just crave to get outside and do something just to smell the autumn air.  My son had convinced his dad to shoot some baskets with him in our backyard.  He hurried and laced his shoes up and before running out the door and called out , "HURRY DAD!"
Finally the two of the are shooting baskets when they heard some digging sounds from the yard next door.  The neighbors have an  adorable dachshund  who usually comes to our fence and greets us with a bark or two.  The digging sounds ended, however, that apparently didn't stop my husband from stopping the friendly basketball game to walk over to the neighbors backyard.

     The neighbor family were all out in the backyard.  Surprisingly, even the neighbor's sons who have moved away were all huddled together standing in a group.  I think my husband could have thought they were having a family barbecue??  But what about the digging sound?  He wanted to know what that digging sound was!!! So he had to ask! "Hey there," he greeted the family,as he laughed, "I think the dog is digging some holes around!"  The family glared at my husband.  At that point, my husband looked down at their feet and saw a mound of dirt.  While the family is still looking like they could attack my husband, the neighbor's wife, with precious tears in her eyes, tells my husband,  while holding her sons back "we just buried our dog."

Oh no!

    As their mouths dropped in unison, slowly and ever so numb, my son, looked at his father, and said, "way to go, Dad." and dropped the basketball and walked home.  My husband scrambled for words of sympathy and excused himself.  Both boys meet our family in the kitchen and my son informed me that the neighbors are really mad at dad! 

(two weeks later...different dog...)

     Two weeks later, we go to a party for a friend.  The mood in the room is cheery.  Everyone is laughing and enjoying each other's company.  Suddenly my husband walks in and sits down and looks at a lady sitting next to me whom he hasn't seen in months.  "How's your dog?" Everyone stops their individual conversations and looks at my husband.  The room that was once full of laughs, for some odd reason, NOT, grew rather silent!   I immediately glare at him across the table.  I literally can't believe he asked this.  Just months ago, this family's son called my husband sobbing because their dog just got hit from a car and died.  My husband had totally forgot! He is the ONE who told ME!   I am sitting next to this lady and apologizing up and down, while looking at my husband in complete shock!

      "What was his name, "Crusty?" my husband asked?  Why does he put me in these situations?  Doesn't he know when you are married you are "one?"  The lady sternly looks at my husband and replies, "WHY, would I name my dog, Crusty?"  (Crusty?? Really, Crusty??? )  Her son then lets him know that when the dog was hit, his eyeball fell out. The boy is smiling because it sounded nice and disgusting.   Now this obviously was not the son who called my husband in tears. I am thankful the boy who called my son was not in attendance at the party.  Her younger child in her princess voice kept asking, "Why are they talking about my dog?"  Thankfully the people at the party know my husband's heart and know he loves their family. 

       I don't hide under tables anymore, but I must admit, I used to when I was younger. That is  another story entirely.  It is pre-elementary years and confidential!    I let God handle things now.  Although it must be interesting to watch my face go through all the shades of red during one of these episodes.   The above stories were written about my husband just because they happened within weeks of each other and they were strangely both about dogs.  He thinks and breaths dogs lately.  He has had a change of lifestyle and is doing it ever so gracefully.  I have said before, we are so blessed!

"Forgiving Can Impact the Course of History"

     I picked up a book this summer with some of the most life changing wisdom in it.  It isn't the Bible, which
is the our ultimate handbook to life, but this book was written by a man that I shared some of my life with since I was a very young girl.  It is funny, I have never met him, but it is amazing how this man has had an impact on my life.  His name his name is Fred McFeely Rogers (aka Mr. Rogers). 

  
     The book is entitled, The World According to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers.  The book is a compilation of thoughts, quotes and songs from Mr. Rogers and  Mrs. Joanne Rogers wrote a touching foreword about her husband throughout the fifty years of their wonderful loving marriage. 
    
     There is one particular quote that stuck out to me this summer that hasn't left me.  I wanted to share it with you.  Tell me what you think:

      "A high school student wrote to ask, 'What was the greatest event in American history?'  I can't say. However, I suspect that like so many "great" events, it was something very simple and very quiet with little or no fanfare (such as someone forgiving someone else for a deep hurt that eventually changed the course of history?)  The really important "great" things are never center stage of life's dramas: they're always "in the wings."  That's why it's so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial."
   
                                                   Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers


     What do you think?     

                                                            

                                          

Restoration of Desks Project

I will soon be holding  sessions in January on Wednesday nights at NCF in the Art Room.  Participants will be able to take one of our tattered worn out desks - FREE OF CHARGE . However, you must provide your own paint colors and primer.  We have stencils, coffee, tea, etc to go along with these nights!  More details will follow after you sign up!  These classes are open to the public, so feel free to contact me! (We will not begin the sign ups until January!)

Old Rusty Desks

My daughter is in process of making a monogram-not finished!

Checkerboard-Game Table Desk!

Another view!

Fish Desk

Carbonation Cravings...

     Every so often, I would say, maybe once every other month, I have found cans of pop open in our house with most of the cola remaining.  It is as if someone only had time to take on drink and then they had to run and leave the can.  What's even more peculiar is where I find these cans of pop.

     I was dusting shelves one day and low and behold, I see this can hiding behind some picture frames, opened and full of pop.  I have also found them in shelves in dark closets, and in the worst places of all, bathroom counters- eww, where people flush and tiny particles fly in the air....!!!!

     It wasn't until I was in the garage the other day when I found another one of these opened cans full of pop when I had a flashback, to a young five year old, too many years ago to count.  As hard as it is to admit
I myself used to sneak down into what we called my Grandma's cellar (basement) in her home in Michigan and took swigs of pop! GASP!

     My Grandma didn't have the type of pop that a 5 year old would normally drink, she had what I now love, Vernor's Gingerale.  Now at the time, I detested Vernors.  However, it was POP, and it was carbonated!  I would take about 2 sips and it was over.  I couldn't stand the taste any longer and that was enough.  I would then leave the evidence behind.

My older sister and I  (I am the cute one :) )

     Now, as a mother, finding these cans around my house, I can't help wonder what my Grandma thought when she would find "my hidden bottles" with only 2 sips taken ?  As I stood in the garage, I just smiled, how can I be upset?  On some days, I really miss that little 5 year old, but  apparently a part of her is living in my house now.

The Big Yellow Bus

    My children have had the wonderful opportunity this year to experience for their first time in their lives...to finally get a chance to in ride in one of those BIG YELLOW PUBLIC school buses!  For years they wondered what it would be like to take a ride in one of "those beautiful, shining, golden school buses." Oh, how they dreamed of how life would be so much more liberating if only they could gain access through the accordian like door!
   
   Much to their surprise, sadly, their private school inwhich I would drive them daily,was forced to shut down.  Their dream of riding a yellow bus was about to become a reality. The night before the first day of school, we rehearsed the bus drill.  After school, they were to go the bus line, get on correct bus, and I would be waiting at their bus stop.

The Beautiful Views at "The Bus Stop!"

 
    I waited that first day at their bus stop wondering how their first day of public school went, but more so, how their first bus ride went.  Finally the bus arrived and the driver turned out to be the same driver who drove this route 20 years ago for my youngest sister.  Relief set into to my heart.  I will call the bus driver, Sally for privacy sake. Sally if you ask me, must have a heart full of gold to transport wiggly 5 year olds to hormone enraged teenagers for twenty years! AMAZING!  It takes a certain breed of character-a true hero in society.

    My children get off the bus each day with some of the funniest stories.  Sally loves her children that she transports and runs a tight ship to prove it!  She possesses a wonderful sense of humor which I know helps her with her sanity -especially in this type of work! 

    Sally prohibits baths taken with stinky, smelly, glittery goo-goo lotions on the bus.  If Sally smells a lotion bath that has taken place, the perpetrator must place their hands outside of the window for the remainder of her ride. My daughter learned this quickly.  After slathering some of that smelly stuff on-enough to make your head fall on a table, Sally got a whiff.  "Excuse me," came over the intercom.  "What is that smell?"  Quickly Olivia's friend explained Sally's rules and instructed Olivia to sit on her hands to hid the smell immediately!

   Sally also discourages all Divas and future American Idols from showcasing their talents on her bus.  Especially when they can't hear  their crooning with their personal earbuds on.  However, one day, my son discovered that Sally herself loved to sing.  It was a special day just the two of them.  He was the only one left on the route.  They began to sing, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."  Oh how my son's heart soared with love for Sally.  He had found another side of his bus driver!  The next day with great anticipation, in the middle of the bus route, my son stood up and belted, "Sing it with me Sally, "Take me out ....    oops.

    I know my children have learned that to some it probably is "just a school bus."  But they have found on Sally's bus that once you open the doors, you are entering a world of its own- a "separate family" away from home, away from school, where their bus driver protects her kids like a mama bear protects  her cubs.  She talks with them and makes them laugh but most importantly, she listens to the day they had a school.  Sally is one amazing lady in our house, their isnt a day that goes by that a kind word isn't spoken on her behalf.  My children are blessed.

Miss Lulu Brinkley

      As many of you know our daughter saved a lab/german shepherd mix a couple of weeks ago on the way home from her older sisters concert.  I was shocked  that my husband actually aided her in her mission.  Is he getting a little more compassionate for dogs in his middle age????  My kids have always begged him to rescue poor animals that they have seen on the sides of roads and he has not once given in to their merciful pleadings.  Nevertheless, something was different with this dog.  We called the Humane Society several times daily in attempt to find the dog's owners.  They actually knew us by name.  I even took Lulu there twice.  

     The Humane Society kept assuring us that no one had call and that they did not have a crate for Lulu to sit in 24-7.  The Humane Society kept urging us to keep the dog if we had any fondness for her.  Well in a nutshell, that is just what we did.  (well, kind of, in a round about way....) 

     First Lulu was going to stay with my husbands parents, who didnt like the name LULU. ( Origin German/Female, meaning : Famous in Battle)  Apparently, from younger sources, I have heard my nephew named Lulu, "FLICKA."  When I think of Flicka, I tend to think of , FLICKA my BICa...the lighter or Flicka by Booger. 

Miss Lulu Brinkley

    
     Lulu eventually returned back to our home when it was determined she was a wee rough.  Indeed she has that tendency but ONLY when it is playtime!  Thankfully, my husband's parents were gracious and welcomed our little fox.  I welcomed the trade.  I have always wanted a BIG dog like LULU BRINKLEY.  There has not been a day that I have not regretted by husband's  decision to help our youngest daughter by saving Lulu that late evening.