My Failure to Blog

...apparently has nothing to do with whether or not I'm with people! Sorry, Mom--I know it's been four days. It's Jon and Em's fault. They gave me some books while I was up there and I've been spending my blogging opportunities curled up in my chair with them!

I failed to mentioned that I had some ALONE time when we got home on Friday. We got back from our trip mid-afternoon and Sister Grimes had a pounding for us that needed picked up. So James and the kids stayed home and unloaded the van while I--yes, I!!!--drove into town to fetch it. She felt bad about asking us to come and get it, but she really didn't have the room to keep it. I told her she was crazy--she got us a pounding, the least we could do is go pick it up! Anyway, on my way into town it suddenly occurred to me... "I'm alone. I am all alone. There is nobody with me in this vehicle... no husband... no children... it's just ME!!! I'm going to town BY MYSELF!!!" James runs 90% of the errands around here and the other 10% are done by our family, all together. I'm pretty sure this was the very first time since we've lived here (nearly a year and a half) that I've gone to town all by myself. It was glorious!!! Oh, how I need some alone time every now and again. (But only if there aren't PEOPLE to be with--as if that makes any sense! Ha!) I called Sister Grimes and told her the wonderful revelation I'd just had and said I was going to make the best of it and would be just a little bit later coming to get our pounding. :-) So I went into a Tuesday Morning (seemed to be similar to a Big Lots) and then strolled around Hobby Lobby, just for fun. Afterward I decided to go to the Family Thrift Center (nothing like celebrating my big night on the town!) and I'm so glad I did! I was able to get a pair of jeans for Joe, 2 dresses for Katie ($2 apiece!), and three dress shirts and 2 ties for the boys. Wa-Hoo!

We got our things pretty well unpacked that night, then I crashed. Blogged, then finished up the book Emilee had given me while we were in Colorado. On Saturday I did about 8 loads of laundry and stayed up until 2:00, I think, working on 2 weeks worth of ironing--lots of dress clothes. Bleagh. Still, it felt GREAT to get it all done.

Sunday was a good day; good service, good dinner, good nap, good service. Here are the kids in their new shirts, ties, and dress from the thrift store. Sam's Looney Toons tie was a big hit with all three kids--they thought it was just the coolest thing in the world. I did, too--for 99 cents! :-)

After church that night I started the book that Jon had given me and quit at about 1:30, half way through it. I hate stopping in the middle of a book (!) but I have learned a little self-discipline. :-)

Yesterday was a good, full day, though I don't have the house back in order yet like I wish I did. I spent the bigger part of the day working on invitations for Tammy's baby shower. True to my nature, I vastly underestimated the task at hand. Ha! No, it really wasn't that bad and I thoroughly enjoyed doing something "crafty," though they are fairly simple. I just think it should be illegal for somebody to have that many friends--Tammy must have about 5 times as many as I do! Ha! It was fun. I mangaged some school with the kids during the day and James was good enough to cook some pork chops and potatoes on the grill (they were so good!), so it was a great day for me! When we got the kids put to bed I grabbed Jon's book and finished it up by about 1:30... again. I really enjoyed it--I think you'd like it, too, Em. I'll bring it back to you at Camp.

This morning we loaded the family up and headed to town to hit some flea market type places. James has been itching to do that for a while, so today was the day. It was fun, though I was really tired from my series of late nights the past... month??? We had a good time and came away with a really nice picnic basket (we've been looking for one now that we actually live in a place where we like to go have picnics!), a pitcher for my kitchen, and a couple of skirts. James took us out for a nice lunch, then we came home in time for me to nap for about 20 minutes before taking the kids to horse lessons. Right now I'm blogging while they are piled all over the floor doing school. I usually make them use the table, but it's just one of those days, you know?

So now I'm hoping I'll get a surge of energy and be able to get some things done around here tonight. The house ain't lookin' so great and I'd really like to get it cleaned up nice so we can enjoy being home a little better. That's my plan.

~sigh~ As for the incident that I mentioned but couldn't make myself expound on last week... I still don't want to! It's one thing to be endebted to Dustin Hays but quite another to actually put it in writing so it can never be questioned, nor forgotten. Still, I seriously doubt he'll let me forget it anyway. ~sigh~ To make a long story short, my kid puked in his van. The guys were all riding to revival service together and I had no idea there was a problem until we pulled up next to them at the church and Brother Dustin hopped out of his van and delivered a rather urgent message. ~Ugh~ I still can't believe it. There are no words to express how terrible you feel (nevermind the kid!) when one of your children does such a thing in somebody else's vehicle. I know, because I've searched for them. Absolutely horrified, aghast, thoroughly ashamed, totally and completely mortified--none of them can aptly describe the feeling. Then it's multiplied 100 times because it wasn't just anybody's van... it was Dustin's van. It's like the final curtain dropping and a deep sense of foreboding begins to seep into your soul; a dreadful, hopeless sort of feeling. The kind you would get if you suddenly found yourself beholden and indebted to your worse enemy because of some horrific event like your kid puking in his van. Oh wait... that is what happened. ~si-i-i-i-i-i-igh~ It's just so wrong. And despite that smiley, friendly, agreeable front that Mr. Hays commonly displays, I'll have you know he is anything but gracious in such instances. Can you imagine somebody taking the opportunity to smother an already guilt-ridden mother with even more blame and mercilessly bringing the event to her remembrance time after time after time??? Just for a small taste, here is one of his entries from Balderdash a few days later. The title of the movie was Where the Green Ants Dream. And here is the plot he submitted: "Green ants live in a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan owned by an innocent pastor. The ants' dream comes true when SOMEONE else's child throws up in said van on the way to a revival service." Oh, the cruelty! Oh, the heartlessness!!! ~sigh~ It's just so not right. I tried to tell Brother Dustin that it's probably a subconscious thing with Joe. He probably threw up in his van (and did one other incredibly unseemly thing that I'm still not talking about) while we were there in retribution for Dustin dropping that massive, gargantuan boulder on him last year. Of course, my guilt was still such that my presentation of the theory was rather weak and unconvincing. I just HATE having to play defense. It's usually so easy to keep the upperhand against such a foe that I'm quite unpracticed at this part of it. All I can do at this point is wait it out until Dustin or one of his children pulls a big one and turns the tables back where they belong. Knowing him, it shouldn't take too long. I'm holding on to that hope, anyway.

Here's the big sick-o.

Don't be fooled by that innocent look on his face. He's the one who slung everything out of balance. I even told Brother Dustin he could drop another boulder on him if he wanted to! Ha! Of course, he refused. It was far more monstrous of him to keep me wallowing in guilt than to even out the playing field for me. ~sigh~ Jerk. ;-)

Okay, gotta run. Sam is waiting for me to help him take care of some cleaning around here. He's all ready to get busy! Love that little worker. Especially since he doesn't puke in other peoples' vans. ;-)