Toothless no more.

Last week, Puddin' cut his first two teeth. Two teeth at one time.

Poor thing ran fever over 103º which caused him to throw up. Twice. He was also awake more at night, which is something I'm never in the market for.

You know... less sleep.

But he now has two of the cutest teeth on his bottom row. I just love to see baby teeth. The bottom two in particular. And you know, I never once had to intervene with any type of home remedy to hurry them along.

Not once.

Mop n Glo

I'm a lucky girl. My kids like to fix my hair. They love to comb it (and comb it and comb it) and put barrettes in it. All of my barrettes. In their words, they're helping me "get ready for the party". I love it. It feels really good, and they're so cute when they do it, I just want to squish 'em.

This right here? This is the hard work of my Sweet Pickle.

It should be noted that all of the barrettes are carefully placed on the very top of my head. He likes to be able to brush the bottom and "make it look beautiful". My boy loves hair. He likes the hold it, brush it, make knots in by rubbing it way too much... As an infant I even found it in his diaper once. He loves it.

Also, I can't tell you how many pictures I took of the floor or my kitchen countertop in an attempt to photograph the top/back of my head. Just to make sure I could actually take a picture of my head, (because I was starting to lose hope) I decided to look up at the camera. Well, that's much easier, because I can SEE the camera angle and make sure it is indeed pointed in the right direction. It's cheating, really. I know. So this is my face. Ready for the party. (Looking at myself now, I have to wonder what is up with my face? Why is my skin all splotchy and jaundiced lookin'? I look like an over-ripe peach. That needs some make-up. And the gravity has an interesting effect on my face too, because it's not usually so oval. It's much more, um, round. I kinda like this angle though. Only one chin. I could get used to that.)

After all of the photography hooplah, I mopped. All bejeweled, lookin' like a princess.

Charming

I love my charm bracelet. I like looking at it. It's such a personal piece of jewelry that tells so much about us.

• unicorn - only the greatest animal ever created
  
• owl - I really like the way they look
  
• tiny (rusty) locket - I like lockets; I found this one
  
• plumeria - bought on our honeymoon in O'ahu, also, the best smelling flower in the universe
  
• monkey - Sugarhead's favorite toy; this charm represents her
  
• heart - Puddin' charm, because he was the first of my children that I consciously and deliberately accepted and embraced into my heart as an infant
  
• T-Rex - I cannot look at one and not think of my Sweet Pickle who loves them
  
• pinecone - no special significance, just like the way it looks alot
  
• bride & groom - represents my oneness with my man, Stretch
  
• crown - to remind me Whose I am

What about you? Do you have a charm bracelet? What charms are on it? Why those?
If you don't have one, what would be on it if you did have one?

Gratitude/Really Good News

Elizabeth invited me to do a Feel Good Friday. So, here are a few things I'm grateful for today.

• Tonight, Stretch and I have a date. Our 3rd date in 3 weeks. We are on a roll.
• Puddin's taking steps, learning to walk. Even though he's our third baby, I still marvel.
  
• Things are working out well for my good man at his new job.
  
• Mercy. Here's how I define it: The kids didn't press me for more information about lizard copulation.
  
• My children aren't seriously ill or afflicted. Our health is intact.
• I'm not dealing with menopause, or perimenopause.
• I finally have a tan.
• I'm not having to clean out a freezer full of meat gone bad.
• Our dog lives outside.
• Tarantulas are not native to S. La., but boudin is.
  

For more, hippity-hop on over to Mommy, Etc. Because good news is like a health tonic. Good for the bones.

Biology 101

The Specimens

My children saw this. They can spot a lizard like nobody's business. Guess what I said they were doing (because I am nimble-footed and swifty with my mind)... I told them they were making baby lizards. Tell me. WHO DOES THAT?! If there were ever a time I wanted to press rewind and take back what I said..... I felt like just slapping myself in the forehead over and over. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!


Thanks for scaring off my girl with your flashy thing and inability to stand back, Lady-with-an-apparent-lack-of-skill-with-children-and-cameras.

Nice.

It's Coming Right For Us!!

Why do now what you can put off til later. Repeat the mantra.

As much as I like to ascribe to that way of thinking, sometimes the better part of me just needs to get something done. And this, is just the push I need. BooMama is thy name. Inspiring is thy game.

I want to paint our bathroom. I've been wanting to paint it. It's gonna be an ordeal though. Because there are five of us, and only the one bathroom. And every inch of the walls will have to be face lifted. Kiltz. Paint. White. Teal. It's gonna be tedious, but it's gonna be mahhhvelous.

I tell ya, BooMama could not have timed this better. Just this past weekend, Stretch & I went to Home Depot and got almost all of the supplies we need for our Extreme Makeover, Tiny Bathroom Edition.

Before and After pictures are coming. I hope you can sleep until then. The whole shebang will come to a close some time over the next few weeks. And I'm starting to get all giddy just thinking about it! Everybody loves a good Before & After right? It's even my favorite category on Wheel.

If you're participating, let me know! I don't want to miss out on your very own beautification!

Jesus laughs.

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. -- C S Lewis

We settle.

This was the crux of the message in church this past weekend; joy. We settle for what we think is holiness, when "infinite joy" is offered. We are to represent Christ right. I am His representative here on earth. Following Christ is not a solemn, joyless duty. That is not the message of the Bible. Jesus laughs.


I want to laugh out loud more often too.

"...because the joy of the Lord will make you strong/The joy of God is your strength!." Nehemiah 8:10

Girls love Weird Al

And really, who can blame us them? I mean, just look at him. And that's before you ever even hear his lyrical genius. That is the face of a Ladieth Man.

I also just learned that Weird Al is a Christian. Well now. How about that. I guess that's just holy confirmation that I need to add him to my list of imaginary boyfriends.

(I really should compile a list so that I can keep up. I'm so forgetful, and this multi-tasking is tiring.)

Looks like there's a common denominator though between my boy Al and my man Stretch. Can you spot it? Yep. Sweet fake beards. Now you tell me, what girl in the whole universe has the power to stand under that kind of temptation.


Now look at this;

Did you know this was under that? I didn't.

Or that this was under Stretch's beard?...

Oh-ho-ho, I know how to pick em.

I do not shun fancy things like electricity.

The power went out today. No apparent reason. I called to report an outage and the guy said there was a pole down.

I thought: I could never be Amish. They work so hard, and they do it all in the elements. I was immobilized by the lack of electricity. Immobilized. I just sort of w a n d e r e d around waiting for it to come back on; trying not to get too thirsty, because our well is electric and Stretch said something about not using the water because we would have to prime the pump. Or something like that. I tried not to focus on the heat, which truly, was bearable. The kids never complained once. They just colored. But me? I looked around and saw lots of things I could be doing but I didn't want to get overheated. Because you know how it is. Once you get hot, it takes a long time to get un-hot again. Especially without the help of the modern marvel of electricity.

Weird Al, the great thinker, had some insights into the Amish way. He sang a little parody called Amish Paradise:

As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain
I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain
But that's just perfect for an Amish like me
You know, I shun fancy things like electricity
At 4:30 in the morning I'm milkin' cows
Jebediah feeds the chickens and Jacob plows... fool
And I've been milkin' and plowin' so long that
Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone
I'm a man of the land, I'm into discipline
Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin
But if I finish all of my chores and you finish thine
Then tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699

We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
I've churned butter once or twice
Living in an Amish paradise
It's hard work and sacrifice
Living in an Amish paradise
We sell quilts at discount price/We don't fight, we all play nice
Living in an Amish paradise....

I could never be Amish.

My new boyfriend and similar nonsense.

My list of imaginary boyfriends is growing. I'm forgetting who all is on the list. And yet in spite of my forgetfulness, I've decided to add another. Jack Black. Because he's just so fancy.



Stretch (my real boyfriend) and I had another date last night. (Woohoo!) We went to see Kung Fu Panda, and let me just say, if you've been debating whether or not to see this because it's, you know, a cartoon/a kid movie/some other reason... please, I implore you, let me put all of that wavering to rest. Go see this movie! It is a vastness of total and complete awesomeness. It is the stuff of legends. It's legendary.

It's also outrageously funny.

In other news, we've made it through week 2 of Stretch's new job. The second week will be harder than the first. I think that's a Spanish proverb or somethin'. But even if it's not, it was still true for us this past week. I am learning to be more proficient though. Meaning, I am learning to do things myself that I normally wait on Stretch to do for me. Because he's my helper. He helps with things. Like killing bugs, taking out the trash, and getting things out of the shed. I fear the shed. It is the home of all manner of arachnids (which I loathe) and it is, therefore, a scary, scary place for me. But it's also the place of "the ring of summertime sanity". You might call yours a swimming pool.

Whatever. I'm not gonna split hairs over it.

Anyway, I usually call on my man to handle these things. But having him gone from before breakfast till supper is a long time to wait. And everybody knows that an unscheduled day without help from your husband (and of course I use the word "schedule" very loosely) is the devil's playground. So I had to just pony up. Buckle down. Bite the bullet. Bury the needle in the haystack.

I had to go into the shed myself. It was like a rite of passage for me. Which I passed.

So yeah, I'm growing up.

I think I'll just leave the pool out all summer long though. I don't want to grow up too fast.

Also, I ate brownies today. With chocolate chips in them. (My favorite kind.) They were delicious.

Also also, I've been working on my tan. I laid under the boiling sun 3 or 4 times in the last two weeks. It was very hot. So stop calling me fair-complected. I will eat you.

The end.