My chipped jam jar can actually hold some GREAT stuff!!

MOTHER!!! YOU'RE COMMENTING!!! YAY!!! I told her that the day she started blogging, I would eat my hat and post it to my blog!

You know you MIGHT not be the most miserable person in the world if any of the following occasionally happen to you:
1. Your husband puts a new coat of paint on the orange "fire walls," paint that you picked, while you are at work, and since you love it, he loves it.
2. Your 3-year-old's ABSOLUTE DELIGHT in the unique riding area on some of the Home Depot shopping carts proves to lift your spirits unexpectedly.
3. The pharmacy's worth of Mannatech products you are taking all of a sudden kick in, and when yesterday (and the 5 days before that, and the 30 days before that, etc.), you felt depressed, old, and tired, today you feel young, vibrant, alive, energetic, and HAPPY.
4. Your husband is very patient and loving in your pre-Mannatech-effected state.
5. Your son's rabbit who was kept in the laundry room and constantly soiled it, took a walk out the cat door.... and didn't come back. And your son is not heartbroken. Nor are you!! Mu ha ha ha!
6. You sacrifice day in and day out to home school, and yet, you learn SO MUCH and are blessed to have the amazing quality time with your child, who is learning great VALUES and BIBLE, as well as cool middle ages stuff (at this juncture).
7. You ask God to help you make your money S T R E T C H, and He does.
8. You don't live in a "GREAT NEIGHBORHOOD," and you're not "RICH ENOUGH TO GIVE YOUR CHILDREN EVERYTHING THEY COULD WANT," but your daughters have a great friend next door(with a hot tub and fun-loving parental units), and your son has a great Christian friend across the street. On the other side of you, they have a trampoline, and they share! In the back of you, they have go-carts and an undeveloped area where your kids can roam around looking for "treasures."
9. Your son has a friend at church whose dad likes to bring him along to do things like fish and clam. (This weekend, Zach went clamming for razor clams for the first time. He had the best time ever. I learned how to clean these clams for the first time and make fresh clam chowder. And yes, there IS a difference when you use fresh clams!!! It tastes like the ocean instead of the can. :) )
10. Whereas not too long ago, you constantly were thinking how small and crowded and UNFINISHED your house was, you started realizing what a prize a craftsman bungalow is, and now you are into researching authentic decor and feeling PROUD of your great house.
11. You are not impressed that your midsection is growing and prospering(rather than your savings account), but you are still mobile, pain free, limber, flexible, strong, enduring, and youngish.
12. Your 9 new red primroses cheering up the front yard were only .60 each!

Does your cup runneth under?

You know you might be a pessimist if any of the following are true:
1. The proverbial "glass half full" sounds like a lot more than your cup ever holds.
2. Everybody else's glass is prettier than yours.
3. Your glass is a chipped jam jar.
4. Your glass is 1/3 full of 2 day old water.
5. You caught the cat drinking out of it.
6. It was only tap water, not even purified. It probably has lead in it.
7. Somebody should care enough to bring you something decent.
8. You could get up and get it yourself, but you're too tired because you've been pouring water for everyone else ALL day.

Well, it sure does feel springy all of a sudden, thank God!! The blossoms are out, the air is balmier, springier, pollen-filled, and my hayfever started a few days ago. Argh.

We had another very nice weekend, which went too fast. I promised the kids quite a long time ago that I would take them to see Narnia at the theater. I think it's just about done showing there, so I took the 3 olders on Saturday. It was awesome, of course!! We got back and had grilled cheese sandwiches and apples and then headed to Chris' work! This was our 3rd Saturday we went there to....lift weights!!! Wow!! Chris' boss recently bought a weight bench and punching bags and such, so we are doing some couples' lifting while the kids skate or scooter around the shop. Chris used to lift weights in high school for football and early in our marriage. I've always been interested, but only sporadic in my activity. He pushes himself and me--he's motivated and motivating!! It's fun to have this new family activity/couple activity. We don't go to all that many places as a couple or as a large, unrich family. This is free and fun and healthy! Yay!

Yesterday was very, very restful. I enjoyed my 2 hour rest/nap upstairs while Chris did the first round of dishes--yay!! We read the paper, watched TV, had chicken breasts baked with olive oil, garlic, balsamic vinegar, sage, salt and pepper, and spaghetti with spaghettic sauce. I was dying for dessert, as usual, but I had a handful of granola instead. We managed to do family devotions after dinner, which doesn't always happen.

Well, Zach is doing a grammar worksheet, and he'll be done soon. I will then read a chapter from the medieval fiction book we are reading, A Door in the Wall.

Dull moments few and far between

We had the strangest scene at dinner tonight. One minute there was relative normalcy as the kids got into their chairs, talking, joking, teasing. The next minute, wild laughter and crying at the same time! It all started innocently enough: I brought in a bib to put on William, but I must have really been taking a hike mentally. As I was chatting with the kids and not paying attention, I calmly proceeded to put the bib on Zoe! (She is 8). I was thinking, "Boy this is tight when you snap it over her hair. Hmm....Oh well!" (Like totally!!) But then I immediately stopped thinking about it and went to sit down. Then it dawned on Zoe. She HOLLERED, "I'M NOT A BABY!!!!!!!!!" and immediately started crying and storming off to her room, of all things! If anything, I would have thought she'd have said, "MOM!!!!!" and laughed and looked at me funny! She was SO UPSET!! (Is she sleep deprived right now?) Meanwhile, the rest of of us were rolling on the floor, laughing till we cried at the absurd airheadedness of my space-out mistake and her indignant, surprising response. This only made Zoe madder in the other room, and she continued to cry and yelled out, "IT'S NOT FUNNY!!!! I CAN HEAR YOU!!!" (Yeah, and she's not even a teenager yet. ) After I got control of myself, I went in there to tell her AGAIN that it was an accident, REALLY, and not meant to humiliate her to death. She tried to be stern when she came out, but failed miserably!!! Tee hee! Thankfully, she got some good laughs in, after all!