I'm keepin' this runt.

Remember this native? Ya, the one who was all shmoozy with the dentist's nurses. Giving them all big brown eyes.....telling them he is going to miss them.

This morning he got up, took care of the babies, took care of the dogs, made the babies breakfast, made me breakfast in bed, AND cleaned up the downstairs.

If it were any of the other natives I'd say he was sweet talkin' the nurses for some more cool free prizes or trying to get something out of me but it is this native we're talking about. He's just nice that way. No ulterior motives. Just doing what he does best. Taking care of others.

I'm never gonna let him leave this house or get married. We'll sell off the others eventually but this one I'll keep to myself.

I'm a hypocrite!

Yesterday I had a great day so I decided to take all of the apricots that the natives had picked last week and make them into habanero apricot jam and apricot syrup.



Spent several hours and when I was finished I was starving! Got me some lunch, sat down, and it started. The baby natives needed me for this that and the other.



Finally after being interrupted a gazillion times I said to myself, "Grief! If only I could sit down for just one minute"!! WHAT???? You little hypocrite! I hurried right then and there and looked up towards the ceiling and said, "KIDDING"!

P.S. Having fun with aperture. Which of the two bottom photos do you like better and why????

What ever he's on.....I want some...

Took this native and his sister to the dentist this morning. I was sitting in the waiting room........uh, waiting.....for them and out comes this native.

Native: (Running up and hugging me) I don't have any cavities!
Me: That's great!
Native: Ya, I've NEVER had no cavities before!
Me: I KNOW! That is soooo awesome!
Native: (Gets sad look on his face) I'm gonna miss this place.......
Me: Excuse me?
Native: Ya, every time I come I have to keep coming back and get my cavities fixed. I don't get to come back again until like six months! I'm just gonna miss these guys.

Note to mom: Figure out what they are having my son snort back there so I can get me some!!

I will NEVER baby my baby.......more words I've been eating.

I love my baby. I love him a lot but he has some serious social issues. He doesn't know how to be discreet or how to let you down gently. If he doesn't like you he has no problem telling you.

The little lady approaches my baby........




He's not buying it. He doesn't care how she tilts her head, how she looks up through long eye lashes out of big blue eyes........




He gives her the boot and pushes her away. He's other things to think about like when's dessert or how many legs can he pull off a grasshopper before it can't jump anymore.




This can be very discouraging to the lady in waiting who turns to the closest thing she can find to lay her head on.




I figure I've got about twenty years and then I'll work on this social problem with my son and to all the little hearts he breaks in the meantime.......I'm sorry. What can I say? He's my baby......and I'll still be saying that when he's 20.....40......70.....and still spoiling him like I said I never would.

Grandma's Buttons

I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that the SM and I had inherited this old house. It was more like a one room huge cardboard box but it was very old and was given to us.




On the far side of the room was a dormer window and in that dormer were shelves upon shelves and on those shelves were little boxes. Hundreds of them. Old and dusty. They looked like check boxes. About that size.


I went over and opened up one of the boxes and it was full of money. Dollar bills, five dollar bills, tens, twenties.......I couldn't believe my eyes! I opened more boxes and they were all full of money. As I sat there looking at all of the money the wind started to blow and the sides of the house started to cave in. The SM stood against the cardboard wall next to me so it wouldn't fall on me and we talked about the money and how it wasn't ours and we needed to find who it belonged to.

The End!

Now that I'm awake I'm really irritated. Hello! I had skads of money and I wanted to find who it belonged to??





When my grandmother passed away and it was time to clean out her house my parents and sister found money stashed all over. Coins in little purses behind books, in drawers, crannies and nooks. Grandma knew what it was like to go without. She knew what it was like to survive the Great Depression so she saved everything. One of the many things she saved were buttons. She would cut buttons off of clothing when the clothing was no longer wearable.

I have grandma's buttons now and like my babies I like to look through them every once in awhile. When ever I use one of them I think of grandma and I thank her for saving her buttons and, "Look grandma! Look what I made with your buttons"!

The End!

Or is it........Oh hey! Maybe there's a message in this dream I had! Ya! Maybe I'm supposed to take Grandma's buttons and sell them on e-bay. Vintage buttons will make me tons of money and I'll hide the money in card board boxes and.........then I need to bury them so they don't get blown away!

YES! If you see me out digging in my yard in the middle of the night........go back to bed. It's nothing. I'm just irrigating....or turning over the compost.....

I've been stripped buck naked. Now what?

Last night I was sitting on my front porch thinking. The family was gone for the evening and I wasn't feeling well enough to join them so I had some quiet time to contemplate things.

I thought about the things that I used to identify myself with and I realized something. We all identify ourselves with something. It might be a persons car, or their singing, their writing, their looks, their athletic abilities. They might be a talented speaker or artist.



For me, I felt like I could do anything if I wanted or tried hard enough. I loved to run and push myself in exercising and running. I loved to do things for others. Take people meals, clean for them, do their yard work, etc. I could clean the house, can and process food, do laundry, and ironing all in a days work. I took pride in being a hard worker. It is how I was raised. My identity was in a body that could run forever.

Take those things we identify ourselves with away and what are you left with? You've two choices really. Those who can't get past where they'd been and all they can talk about is what they used to be like, how it used to be, etc. and they become angry and bitter or those who move on and I don't know. Create a new identity? Or maybe those people who despite being stripped down had more to them so that when their "identity" was taken away they are still wonderful to be around because they know that the identity the world associated with them was just that. Something of this world and they know who they are. Children of God. What better identity could you have?

My dad told me once that fancy cars get rust, sexy bodies wrinkle and sag, it is the things of this world that you take with you to the next that matters. The relationships that we build here. The families that we have. Being famous or popular here on earth, having tons of money and having expensive things means nothing. Strip that all away as we will be in the next life and then what?

So, as I sat there last night contemplating who I am now that I've had my identity stripped away so to speak I realized it doesn't matter because underneath it all I'm who I've always been. A daughter of God.



Now, remind me of this the next time I'm wallowing in self pity when the desire to go running is over powering and my body won't let me and don't be offended if I tell you to stick it in your ear......it's the identity crisis talking.

Nuffing!!!

When ever Levi is in trouble even before you get a chance to say anything he says, "NUFFING"!

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and there was Julie (Levi's dog) looking at the closed laundry room door. Dead give away. If Julie is staring at a closed door it means Levi is behind that door and behind that door in the laundry room is where we keep treats. Namely Cost-Co trail mix.

I opened the door and Levi jumped back from the shelves and yelled, "NUFFING"!

How am I supposed to get after him when he pulls stuff like this? Nuffing???? Well then where pray tell are all of the M&M's that are supposed to be in the trail mix? Suspiciously, they are missing! Nuffing..........That is absolutely correct. There is "nuffing" worth eating now that the M&M's are gone.....punk!