Dance, dance. . .

How many of you, when you read the title of this post, think of Fall Out Boy? How many of you just read the words? How many of you hear your teen daughter tell you, "MOM, don't sing that!" whenever you sing the Fall Out Boy version?


This is my china hutch, bought from my friend, Bonnie. Until earlier this year when I purchased it, these dishes were kept carefully wrapped and protected in plastic containers. When my grandparents both died, my Aunties had the long and difficult task of going through their things and dividing them among the family. My Dad told them to give any dishes he'd be getting to me, his only daughter.
It was like Christmas, unwrapping these things when they arrived. How well I remembered them from Gram and Gramps! I added my own things, too. I just love old dishes! Notice anything strange about the placement?

Here's a closer look. Hmmm. . . . .a bare looking shelf . . . .

Hmmmm. . . .a crowded looking shelf . . . . .


To the left of the hutch is the opening to our living room. Our living room is where the band practices. Loudly.

The theory is, the dishes vibrate across the glass shelves and end up in one corner.

My theory is; they're forming a mosh pit.

Monday Morning Haiku

Evening migraine stays
Two classes to teach today
The pain will not win

*Update:

Noon brought sweet relief
Encouraged by prayers of friends
Turning head grandly

Before and After

Ok, so this is how I feel BEFORE I go in to see Ruthie at Colour Lab:

And this is how I feel when I leave there:

Ruthie's the best. The reason I know she's the best is because I know what isn't the best! Ruthie's the stylist to follow around until you're both 80 and she retires. At that point, go to whomever she recommends because she can be trusted that. much. When I worked in a salon, I only hoped to be as good as this girl. I wasn't, so I went home.

We used to have a sign in the breakroom, posted "privately" but exactly where the clients could see it when they were being rinsed and shampooed: I'm a Beautician, not a Magician.

Ruthie is a Magician! Here is my gray in glorious display . . . .

This is Ruthie, carrying my colors . . . .

It takes no fewer than three colors to make my hair look natural. THREE. She is a color (or Colour) master. Not kidding.

We met her when Kelly was in a wedding and Ruthie did everyone's (including Kelly's) hair. She did the entire bridal party, unassisted, and we all got to church on time. You tell ME that's not amazing! Here we are, and my mouth is already flapping away. Ruthie and I love to talk.

A woman in the salon gasped, "You're getting your picture taken like THAT?" She was horrified. She must be from the South, and not California. Us Californians don't care what we look like when we're trying to tell a story!

During the school season, this is where I grade papers. I was supposed to bring a book I'm pre-reading for Kelly, but I forgot it. Ruthie supplies me with juice, water, tea, whatever! She also brings me cheese or peanut butter crackers when I get to feeling puny. Yeah, she's good like that.

Snipping off those dead ends after a marvelous shampoo. . . . can you just hear my hair break out in celebration???

At the front desk, I always book the next appointment ahead of time. If you want to spontaneously have your hair done by Ruthie, you'd better give her some notice. I had to cancel my last one and she couldn't fit me in for another month.

She's.

That.

Good.

I love it! Before: After:

Thank you, Ruthie!

Keeping up

So far this week, I've been keeping up with everything; school, laundry, cooking dinner on time, etc. AWANA starts soon and that will add to the busyness. Also, I haven't had to grade any papers from my classes yet! One good migraine will knock me out of the park, so please pray that doesn't happen.

Today, I'm finally getting my hair done! I had to put it off and she didn't have another spot available for an entire month. Just for fun, I'll post before and after pictures later.

Distractions

Remember this? If anyone can load our "stuff" into one small space, it's Himself. When people are moving they call Himself (pre-back injury) because the man can pack, people!

See what I mean? My favorite part is when he throws stuff out and I never miss it. He's really good at not throwing important stuff out. The space in the middle is where we park the bikes.

Work continues! We are SO CLOSE to doing school OUT of the house and all in one space. No more running back to the house for the dictionary or thesaurus, then taking it back into the house so the humidity doesn't ruin it. SOON, we will have our own perfect school place!

For my friends who haven't been here, a short tour. I'm standing at the school room door. That's my cute kid, Glenna, in Himself's Escape (pronounced es-KA-pay by the family and others, Spanish style).

That's my neighbor's new motor home. He's selling his house and he and the wife will live in this for a while. Yes, they're that close to us, but fortunately he's a great neighbor. It's only bad when I'm in my bathrobe, taking the schnauzer out to potty, and I get a cheery, "Good morning!"

They're putting wood up under the eaves to close it off. Then we'll vent it, then the rats will stay out. See the window behind them, partially hidden by plywood? My long-term goal is to turn that into a french door as well, then have a covered, courtyard patio between the house and the school room. Here in FL, it's easy enough to screen in that entire space. I could then open everything up in nice weather. Lots of people do that when they screen in their pool areas - makes this big outdoor living space. Nice!

This is the back of the house, with one lonely hibiscus bush. Don't judge me.

Actually, I'm waiting for irrigation to be installed. I don't want to plant a bunch of stuff and have it die.

Here's the front of the house! I love sitting on the porch with tea. I have bird feeders, birdbath, and it's fairly quiet.

Another picture of the front of the house. After I took this one, Glenna noticed a rat/mouse/type thing running across the front porch. So THAT'S what's been gnawing the plastic container where I keep the bird seed! I promptly went to Walmart and bought a metal one.

Anyway, back to work. How easily we're distracted! Himself displays the "measure twice, cut once" theory.

Speaking of easily distracted, look who found his sister's bike?

Himself calls him back to task. Uh oh. . . there's a calculating gleem in Ty's eye . . . . board . . . bike. . . boy. . . . .

Kelly! Look at my ramp! What do you think?

Which will break first? The board, the bike, or the boy?

Himself nixed the first ramp, but even he can't help but look at the progress of ramp two.

A couple of tests reveals it too flimsy. Find better board.

Note the girl in the tree. Kelly stuck by him through the entire process. Here he rides slowly up the ramp and then down. So far, so good!

Ready. . . . set. . . . . GO!

Perfect landing!

The Fan is impressed. The sunset sky is beautiful. Work is progressing.

Look who just found out it was HER bike being used?

Speaking of distractions, you can see by the time that I've missed my "start school at 9" deadline this morning. I should have uploaded these last night! There was so much going on and it's so hard to stay focused on . . . .

. . . .oh, look! A butterfly!

When God Made Woman

I'm honestly not holding it against him. I'm sure all he wanted was to snuggle up with his wife, but Himself woke me at 5 this morning and I've been up ever since. I did make his coffee to show there are no hard feelings!

Things your children ask to make you go, HUH?

"Mom, are we out of silly-string?"

Just so my friends know, I don't usually keep a supply of this.


There's a song out by Keith Urban titled, "When God Made Woman." I've been listening to it and loving it lately . . . it makes me so happy! The chorus is:

When God made woman

He must have been proud

Yeah He must have been cryin' or laughin' out loud

Must have felt like the first time getting kissed by the sun

When God made woman

The melody and music are so happy and joyful! It makes me think of God's utter delight with His creation. One of my favorite scripture verses is Zephaniah 3:17:

"The Lord your God is in your midst,

A victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy,

He will be quiet in His love,

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."

God is so tickled with us, He just shouts out loud for the sheer joy of having us around! Another version reads, "He will rejoice over you with singing." We make Him burst into song!



Oh, how I love Him. How I love being His child!

Kelly, Friends,and School Room

This is our project, and this is our "before" picture of the little garage closet. Himself spent Sunday afternoon dragging all of this out and rearranging it. Where was I? Oh yeah . . . . Islands of Adventure. What a hubby!

This is Mr. G. I'm a firm believer in the barter system! Last year, I taught two of his boys English and US History in exchange for his help with our school room. He's one of those Engineer guys so he does carpentry so well. As you can see, our garage is detached. In the background is the back of our home and our carport. Oh, and Glenna's bike.

I may have gone overboard on the light fixtures. I think there are over 10. Himself had to cut each and every one of them out with a razor knife. There are going to be spots all over these pictures because drywall was flying everywhere.

To the left you see the unfinished "closet" wall. There he goes wearing a toolbelt again. . . be still my heart.

This is not the hired help, nor did she barter for anything. However, this is one stick-to-it girl! She jumps right in on any project and doesn't quit until we're finished. See all the stuff in the background that we had to work around? (Sigh)

I have no skills when it comes to carpentry. None. Zilch. I tried to put one screw into the wall and was told my angle was all wrong. I handed the drill back. BUT, I can hold up drywall!

Sometimes, I even work with the people I'm supposed to be helping. Sometimes.

At this point, I'm staring at a focus point. I think Lamaze breathing was coming into play, even.

Oh PULEEZE put the darn screws in already! This was just before I started my one-arm-at-a-time shuffle. Still, I don't think I was sweating nearly as much as Himself and Mr. G.

These next pictures are of the semi-finished room, but at least I was able to teach in there yesterday. The girls were given the lockers by our neighbor and they're so excited to have them! They even purchased some cute locker accessories.

From the teacher's podium, looking over the classroom. I love those French doors. The blinds are between the window panes so they don't get dusty.

More of the same.

From the back of the room, looking forward. Notice the window air unit is by ME? Bonus, I don't die. Down side, I can't hear the soft-spoken and mumbling masses. EH?

Let's get started!!! We just found out the insurance company IS actually going to pay us the money they owe us, so we'll be able to finish this room entirely. Yeah!

And now for something entirely different:

Friday night, Kelly had some friends stay over. It didn't even dawn on me that they were coming over for her birthday . . . I should have baked a cake! Poor kid, her birthday is always right before we start school and I'm running around like mad.

It was comical because her friends are so busy, too. Two of the girls in this picture had to leave early. Two more came for a while, left, then came back. How amazing is that? I would have said, "Sorry, I'm busy." Not Kelly's friends! They definitely go the extra mile for each other.

Kate (green top) has been dubbed the "best back tickler ever." She had a line of people awaiting their turn.

How I love these girls!

Time to head off to History of the World co-op!