Life just got away..

It's been four days since I posted. Usually I pride myself on planning ahead and never going that long without blogging but this week, well, life just got away from me. For the past few days life, and my brain, seemed to be wandering all over and getting myself focused on blogging anything wasn't going to happen. 


Ah...such is life right? Even now my brain is racing with a thousand different thoughts.


Tomorrow is parent teacher conferences. I'm not worried about Yip and Yap's academic performance. They do very well. But last year their kindergarten teacher reported that both of them talked more than the girls in the class. Geez, I know some of those girls are darn yacky. That news made me sink in my chair. I'm hoping not to hear a repeat tomorrow. 


I miss the fall leaves and colors of Indiana. Kansas barely has any trees anyway  but the ones they do have are either turning from green (the ones that were green during the drought) to brown or they are ugly cedar trees that look as comforting as a rampaging porcupine. (Do porcupines rampage?) Thanks to my sister who drove around Lafayette and sent me half a dozen gorgeous photos of the river road. It sure helped. 


Speaking of Kansas. Temperature patterns are nonexistent out here. Today is going to be close to 90 degrees but by Wednesday the high is only going to be 50. How is that even possible? Despite what you Hoosiers say, Indiana weather is VERY predictable! 


A year ago my brother fell off the tailgate of a truck and fractured his skull. I was 900 miles away and could do nothing but pray. He's fine now. Still stubborn and sarcastic. During that time his wife kept a journal of what went on. She's been posting it on her blog this week and it still makes me cry to know they were in such pain and I couldn't be home to help them. 


Yip and Yap have one more football game. Over the weekend I think they were FINALLY getting the hang of what they were supposed to do. Granted, of the 11 on the time they are 2 of 3 first graders. The rest are 2nd graders and I imagine all the other boys watch a lot more football on TV then my boys do. Yip and Yap haven't quite learned aggressiveness yet but I'm guessing with former athletic parents like DR and I it will show up eventually. 


Have you heard of Rural Women Rock? It's a blog that was just recently started to socially connect rural women together. During the week rural women, and their blogs, from all over the country have been country have been featured. Check them out. You'll find someone that you have something in common with. 


So there is the contents of my brain today. All over the map. Hopefully I'll get some focus soon, and a plan, because the next few weeks on my calendar are packed to the gills with stuff to get done. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll find some time to keep blogging and not go crazy in the process. 


Sincerely, 
Prairie Mother, the distorted. 

Blog Break!

Whoo...I'm exhausted folks! This summer has already worn me ragged but the past few days have just about knocked me over! I've been working on Vacation Bible School and Playgroup stuff. I spent today filling our freezer with 1/2 beef and 1/2 hog after a 2 hour trip to go get it. The 4th of July weekend was busy with traveling and we are entertaining Indiana family this week too. I'm too tired to fold laundry much less to blog. I have plenty of things I could blog about but my fingers ArEn"T cOoPeRatIng!
Not to brag, but I've had a pretty consistent blogging history in the last year so I think I can a break without any harm to this little ol' blog of mine. So if you don't hear from me in the next few days have no fear, I'm just recuperating and recharging! I'll have plenty of things to talk at you about soon :)

Just Five Things...

5 Things I Enjoyed Today

watching my boys jump off the diving board for the first time

eating oatmeal cookie dough

drinking a lot of iced coffee

 working in my garden, yep, I even enjoyed those weeds

 reading The Tragedies of the Medici (yeah, I'm a nerd that way)

5 Things On My To-Do List (Someday) 

run a marathon and not hire a babysitter to train for it

hike the Grand Canyon with my kids

paint a mural in a public place (hmmm, does a bathroom wall count as public?)

live in a house for at least a decade (that's a biggie!)

visit the Louvre in Paris just to see Michelangelo's David if nothing else

5 Things I would be very happy to not have in my life

Jehovah Witnesses coming to my door

900 miles separating me from my family

plumbing problems

 (I had leak under my kitchen sink the other day and when I pressed on the pipe to find the crack my finger went right through the pipe. Yeah, it was a bit old and rusted.)

Spongebob Squarepants, Barney the Dinosaur or any other equally annoying children's TV character

...okay, I must have a pretty happy life since I could only think of four things for that last list.

How about you? Do you have 5 things?

The plumbing...

Geez, I never thought blogging about my plumbing problem would elicit so many responses! Everyone keeps wanting to know if my plumbing is fixed.



Yay, our plumbing is fixed though. And with a lot less pain and agony than I feared. The plumber came, the first time, and put some caulk around the bottom of the pipe hoping it was a simple leak. And then commented that if the caulk didn't work he might have to tear up the concrete floor. (So in all reality it's the plumber's fault I freaked out!) 

Why do plumbers say stuff like that? Just to cause an anxiety attack over the weekend when DR couldn't find the problem either? Doctors are like that too..."Oh, yeah..you'll go into labor, in a couple days, by this weekend." (Ecstatic me!!!) Then 10 days later when stubborn little Yahoo still wasn't born, "Huh...guess I was wrong." GGGRRRR!!!!

There are just a few situations when professionals shouldn't play with your emotions!!

 Labor and Plumbing. (they are kinda the same when you think about it)

Back to the plumbing. So DR couldn't fix it over the weekend so Mr. Anxiety Causing Plumber shows up a few days later (after I've lugged all the clothes in our house to the laundromat with 3 kids in tow) and straightened out a wire coat hanger, dug around the drain for half an hour and had everything unplugged. Three loads of laundry later and no water on the floor!! Simple and easy...gggrrr. Why couldn't I have figured that out?

Although I'm ecstatic that no concrete was harmed in this process it irks me that the plumber even suggested having to tear it up. Isn't he the professional? Shouldn't he have a better idea about the problem before suggesting something as drastic as tearing up concrete? Shouldn't he know that the thought of a torn up concrete floor and no washer for weeks would put any mother into a state of panic?

*deep breath*

My plumbing problem is fixed, thanks for asking.

My clothesline is full and my world is once again an ocean of calm. (snort) At least until the plumber has to come back around....then I'll just curl up in the fetal postition in my closet until he leaves.

Belly Bling and Shotguns

Miranda Lambert has a song out on country radio right now called Heart Like Mine. I heard it for the first time this week and had to smile at the lyrics, "Daddy cried when he saw my tattoo, Said he’d love me anyway".

No, I don't have a tattoo but let's flash back to the spring of 1998 shall we?

A senior in college and twenty one years old, I had just finished my student teaching and was on the verge of college graduation. In a few short months I would be plunged into the life of responsible adulthood which would include a full time teaching job though I didn't know it at the time. I felt like I was at the edge of a the high dive about to jump into a pool with the knowledge I'd never be back on the high dive again. I had to make this leap memorable! 

So I went and got my belly button pierced. It was hidden. It wasn't permanent like a tattoo. It was just a bit rebellious. It wasn't any different that pierced ears in my book. But....I wasn't shouting out to the world about my little bit of belly bling. Oh, I told my sisters and a couple close friends but that was pretty much it.

Fast forward a few weeks to Easter weekend. My two other sisters were home from college. It was a warm and sunny Saturday and we were enjoying being home with Mom, Dad and our four other younger siblings. All in all it was just about the perfect day. 

Then my sister and I started bickering. I don't even remember what about but I was probably being a bossy older sister trying to convince my 19 year old sister that I was smarter than her. (What a load of bull, she is SOOO much smarter than me by the way!) And by means of putting me in my place she retorted, quite loudly, in front of everyone, "Yeah! Well at least I didn't get my belly button pierced!"

My dad looked straight at me. At that moment all I was hoping for was that I would sink through the floor.

All he said was, "Did you?"

"Yeah." was my feeble reply.

Then Dad got up and went to his gun safe and got out his shotgun and a box of shells. My knees were knocking together. I had no IDEA what he had in mind. I knew he wasn't going to shoot me or anything but was he mad enough to shoot my car or something? My mind was racing in that instant, full of awful scenarios!

Dad calmly opened the back door and walked outside. I watched him as he walked out behind the barn and moments later we heard the shotgun. He was shooting targets out behind the barn where, as a family, we often would waste away an afternoon.

I turned to Mom, "Is he really that mad?" I was really worried. I had never seen my dad react to anything like that before. I really wished he had yelled and screamed and fought with me when he found out about my belly button ring. This total silence was really unnerving.

Mom just grinned. "Don't worry. He'll be fine." I didn't bother telling Mom it wasn't Dad I was worried about. I was much more worried about my own well being!

Dad came back over an hour later. I guess he could only stay out behind the barn for so long after he ran out of shells. He walked up to me; I cringed. He looked at me and said, "Alright. Let's see it." I didn't ask twice what he meant. I showed him, he looked and then he said something to the effect that I was old enough to make my own decisions and the he still loved me.

I can't put myself in Dad's mind. I don't know what he was thinking. Maybe this was tough for him to take because I was the oldest; the first to hit all those crazy kid milestones and who in a few short weeks would be the first to graduate from college. I was probably the most adventurous of my siblings which I'm sure wasn't easy for Dad to handle at times. (I would take road trips by myself and not tell him where I was going so he wouldn't worry. Mom always knew, she just never worried.) Poor guy. I think I was kind of rough on him.

I should tell Dad not to worry; I'll get my payback for causing him so much stress. I'm pretty sure Yip is going to be my rebellious adventurer. On the other hand, I might be the one egging him on to do some wild and crazy stuff....with the hope he'll invite me along.

The Art of Teenagers

Yesterday I was a substitute teacher for an art teacher. It was half day which works well for Yahoo and me. I had a class of kindergartners (with Yip and Yahoo!) and a group of high schoolers. The kindergarten class was fun and all, we got to draw birds, but it was the high schoolers that really made me miss teaching. I taught teenagers way before I ever imagined myself married with kids.

As typical high schoolers are they tried to get out of working for a sub or tried to sneak out their cell phones to send texts. And, like most high schoolers I've ever subbed for, they were curious about me and asked me all kinds of questions; where I'm from, where I've lived, what are my kids like, etc. And in turn I asked them all kinds of questions about Kansas. One kid told me there are lots of trees in Kansas. Obviously he'd never been far from home.  

What really made me laugh about these teenagers was the extreme polarity of their self confidence. For example, a few of them got into a deep and heated discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of President Obama, each extremely adamant about their point of view, yet a moment later they didn't have the confidence to choose a color of paint. It's like their brains aren't completely wired up yet.

They also reminded me of how much I knew when I was 18 and how little I knew when I was 21. When I was 18 my parents drove me up the wall because they didn't know anything and sure didn't understand me. But when I was 21 I couldn't get enough of their advice. I still like getting their advice. (Yes. Send it this way.)  

But despite all of that I still like teaching high school kids. They have such individual personalities which makes teaching this age such a unique challenge. I enjoy some of the crazy identities that high school kids create for themselves too. I once met a kid who dyed his hair in rainbow stripes with Kool-Aid. They can be cynical and stubborn and argumentative....and sometimes I like em' that way. Because occasionally that means they are really thinking.

DR and I figured up that when Yahoo is a freshman in high school, Yip and Yap will be seniors. Oh boy.
Three argumentative, opinionated, stubborn, completely individual teenagers in the house at once. Ha! That's about what their personalities are now! But still it will be interesting to see what kind of teenagers they will become.

Yesterday one girl, who was a senior, mentioned how much she'd miss high school next year. I can't say I ever missed high school (do you?) or that I'd ever want to return to high school (would you?) but I can say I miss spending my days with teenagers. Because they are sure entertaining.