The End Is Near

Just a few short days of freedom left. What did I do on my last day off, while my sweet darling was working?

Here Comes Grace!!!

Got the word on the prayer chain---our friend Sarah is having a baby! AAAaaaghghgh! The suspense is killing me! Her baby shower is (was) this Saturday--she can't have a baby yet, we haven't given her the diapers! Her due date is next month! (hand wringing) And she's in Charleston, an hour away. Aaaaghghgh! Sarah, we are encircling you with prayers, Darlin'! Can't wait to meet Grace!

"Romans 5:20 But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down...Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

Do You Think This Is Funny?

Because I don't. Well, maybe just a little. This is what happened yesterday.



Me: "La la la, I think I'll get the mail. Because that's one of the things people do. Get their mail. Hm hm hm, do do do."





Me: La, la, la (yelp!)






Okay, the backstory is (before you go lecturing about how this is the kind of thing that happens when your mailbox has no door) that the mail carrier knocked off the door. With her firm technique, with the car, we don't know. Greg buys new mailbox. Carrier rips off door. Greg makes decree: "There shall, from this day forward, be no door on yon mailbox". (Incidentally, the very day this happened, I saw our very responsible neighbors' mailbox door laying on the ground--the latest victims).

So, I think I will leave the nest in there for a while. You know. Just to see what happens. It's one of my social experiments...

Happy Fourth!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Independence Day! Today we watched the parade AND went for a bike ride. Wow. Now that's a vacation.

Pickin'

Today we picked strawberries. "We", as in Becca and the kids, yay! Lacey said it best when she said, "I wanna doe back to da nice cool house!" Yes. At the strawberry place I picked up some regular and eight-ball zucchinis and a pound of peanuts, which are boiling right now. (West Virginia doesn't count as a Southern state--unless we're being judged by Northerners or those eerie mid-westerners...Mid-atlantic, people, we're mid-atlantic...--so I learned about the boiled peanut phenomenon while on a trip to Florida some, uh, several years ago.)

Then at the farmer's market I got some endive to plant--yessss!--and a loaf of lovingly homemade wheat bread.

This is a good kickoff for my summer break (or, brake). I'm planning on riding my bike again really soon, my skin is nearly grown back.

Off to make some jam, pies, a rhubarb-strawberry crisp, etc. I'll post some pictures from school soon.

I've been busy, ok?

So skip April and May and head right on through to June. Let's see, what has June held in store for us so far...?
- Last day of school, YEAH!!
- Staff work day(s)
- Bonfire kickoff for the Connection
- Awards Ceremony for school...I love it, what a festivus!

Um, also I happened to crash a kick scooter. At a very high rate of speed. Please, keep all of the "Bet you'll never do that again"s and the "Now you know to stay away from scooters" and "Next time you should use the brake"s to yourselves because, trust me, I've heard these sentiments many times since Monday. I'd go into the whole horrific tale but there were so many, many witnesses that the chances are good you already know it or will very soon. Road rash is very miserable when it's on a part that bends. As Ralphie says on the Simpsons: "Tastes like burning!"



More later on this weekend's festivities...

Peace?

Okay, the last two days have been chill. I don't want to think about it too hard, or even make direct eye contact with this phenomenon, in case it vanishes upon closer inspection. That being said, God gets the credit for this improvement. Work has been, uh, rough lately, and we all have been praying...very hopefully...for a break in the storm. A couple books and blogs have come my way recently that have made a difference in my own personal person, too. This one, and this here one. And this one. And of course my favorite, this book right yere.

What you get, folks, if you smoosh all that together is pretty close to my beginning-of-the-year philosophy, which, somewhere along the way, got yanked down and trampled and left in a ditch next to mile marker eleven, or so. Anyhow, said philosophy is a cozy fit for me (all of us?), and it's good to be back in control...yet less controlling. Thank God for the reminder and the refocus. I realize this post makes no sense unless you are Tiffany.

At any rate, it's good.

But, oh, no, the entry deadline to the West Virginia Writers' competition is in, ok, three days. Yeah. Gotta go.

Another Snow Day...

...and just like that she started blogging here instead of there. Which is a relief. To me, anyway. Hello, everyone.

Lots of things are piling up to make this a weird day. Firstly, the time change. I remembered it was happening until it actually was time to set the clocks forward. Then I forgot. Typical. So when I woke up this morning (late), I had to figure out if all the clocks were on time because they ALL automatically reset themselves or because they ALL didn't reset themselves...So I'd know if I was a half-hour late or an hour and a half. Oh, boy, won't my carpool buddy be pleased!

But, as it turned out, it didn't matter. Church was canceled. Actually, it was canceled last night but we were on the phone so...yeah. Suddenly, I'm no longer late but *early*. Back to bed?

NO! We went for a walk. I really need to get Slarty some boots for this. I'm certain we have the worst weather anywhere. You heard me. Anywhere. We have floods but are still considered to be in a drought. We have low humidity, but it's in the winter so your skin cracks off and blows away. We have warm weather but then, of course, it's super-humid. Most of the winter is cold rain, but then, when you're ready for spring: a big snowstorm. I shouldn't complain. That drought last summer was glorious, and I should be content, fingers crossed for another.

Anyhow we went out and it was like this:



So I decided to make these:



A little burned and gooey-centered, but it's only the second time I've made 'em. And since I don't make English muffins every day, I had to gut the pantry to find the yeast. So I reorganized it. Because I had to take everything out anyway. How long does 'Flaked Hominy' last?



So for the rest of the day, I think I'll be shockingly irresponsible and write some stuff and maybe draw some stuff, watch a movie I borrowed from the library, a totally dowdy British chick-flick. Hope and pray for school to be canceled tomorrow!