Vacation Restoration

We enjoyed our week away. Here are a few highlights:
*daily trips to the beach
*lots of bike riding
*campfires, campfires, campfires
*spiders and snakes and bats (oh, my!)

The highlight for my children were all the hands-on nature programs run by the state park naturalists. They got to handle worms (two kinds), hold snakes, explore a creek for such finds as crayfish and waterbugs and snails, see hundreds of black widow spiders and a tarantula too. These are not girlie-girls. Or maybe they are, but they're not the squeamish kind. Thank goodness for them.

The highlight for me were the times of quiet and stillness I found: standing in the woods listening to the birds and the rustling leaves(while waiting for the Uber-princess to catch up on her little bike), standing in Lake Michigan watching the waves sweep in over and over, sitting beside a warm fire as the sun began to rise, sitting on a sand dune watching the sun set.

The commonality in all that for both the girls and I? Nature. We got good and close to it, in our own ways, closer than we can get in our suburban environment. It was good for my soul and good for their minds.

Returning Home

I am back from a week away from home. It was a good break and the R & R did us all a lot of good, but of course home is better. Home is always better.

I think of that this morning after learning of a church friend's departure for "home". Her time away from home - here on earth - was relatively short. But I'm guessing today she is experiencing that great relief and joy of being where she truly belongs.

I brought Leslie and her journey through cancer to you some months ago, asking you to pray. Now that her journey is over, the journey for her husband and 3-year-old son has just become tougher and perhaps lonelier. Please pray for Tyson and TJ.

Fresh Air

Feel it blowing? Oh sure, it's a little hot, but it's fresh. See, it was getting a bit stale in here. So I thought I'd open things up a bit, do a little cleaning and some updating too.

First of all, I've added some new blog links (so these folks will see a little bump in their Technorati authority). These are pretty much the bulk of what resides in my iGoogle tabs and feeds. You'll find a bunch of writers, a few speakers, agents and any of my friends who have blogs (that I know of).

I also updated my list of what I'm reading. That changes often enough that it's hard to keep up with. And really it's an incomplete list. I'm also currently reading Guerrilla Marketing For Writers and Publicize Your Book - any hints as to what my current project might be? Plus I picked up a Nora Roberts novel at the library today out of curiousity.

That's about it so far. Like my home, this blog gets a bit neglected in the Summer. It's hard to take care of either when you're spending hours at the pool or off on Friday Fun on Thursday outings (I rarely manage to hold Friday Fun on Friday - what's up with that?). Hope it feels a little fresher and more welcoming.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. And no matter how dusty it gets, remember you're always welcome here.

New Shoes

These. Are my. New. Shoes.

(WARNING: Silly dithering about totally superficial stuff to follow. Read at your own risk. Unless you love shoes. Then you'll understand).

Aren't they lovely? I think I've said it here before that I don't like to shop. Really. Except for shoes. And especially when there is a great shoe sale. Today I found one. I knew Carson Pirie Scott department store was having a big clearance sale and I had some coupons to sweeten the deal. So I went in looking for: a bathing suit and adorable shoes.

Bathing suits this year just weren't working for me - and that's with them on the hangers. A lot of browns. But never mind the bathing suits. Now for the shoes...oh the shoes!

The entire stock of Bobbie Blu shoes was 60% off. I saw the sign. And I saw the shoes. And I told myself to breathe deep. Because I love that entire line of shoes. Bobbie Blu shoes were made for this girl. There's not a pair I wouldn't wear (just maybe one or two that would be dangerous for me to wear). They are funky and cute and...and...I just love them! But being the woman of restraint and frugality that I am, I told myself that it simply wasn't an option to buy (or even try on) all of them. So I picked the two most adorable, sweet looking, catch-your-eye pairs of flats to go with jeans. And I tried them on.

Can I say that they are even cuter on my feet than they are on the shelf? These shoes give me happy feet!

Now, while I wait for jeans weather, just what other outfits can I pair these fantastic little shoes with?

I'm Still Here

Just doing stuff like taking kids to swimming lessons (LMH is going to learn a flip turn tomorrow. I'm jealous. I never learned how to do that and I think it would make my lap-swim workout so much more effecient), having picnics at parks with friends or watching Musing Dad play volleyball at lunch.

We've been camping, bike riding, disc golfing and pulling weeds. I've put nearly eight coats of varnish on these perler bead circles that the girls have made to sell as markers at disc golf tournaments. And they sold twenty-plus bottles of frozen lemonade at last month's tournament.

We've memorized about a third of Philippians 4 and worked through hundreds of workbook pages. Each of the girls are learning new things like how to write lower-case letters, how to play the flute and piano, how to improve their disc golf throw and how to juggle.

I've read Ninety Minutes in Heaven, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and am three-quarters of the way through with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (if you've read it all, don't share any spoilers).

Hope that explains the occasional lapses in blog posts. Hope you're out doing fun stuff too. If you have any fun ideas for things we can try this summer, let me know in the comments below.

Happy middle of Summer (yes, we passed the half-way mark here in our fair city)!

You Gotta See This

My dad pointed me to this amazing video today. It is unlike anything out there, so it's hard to describe. It's beautiful and funny. And it captures this great global sense of community. Don't let the brash title keep you from watching it.

Old Playgrounds = New Experiences

Where we live our children are blessed to play on the latest, newest, safest playground equipment. There are monkey rings and spider web climbers, zip lines, rock climbing walls, roller slides, and tons of fun play stuff. When we moved into our house five years ago the nearest playground at the grade school was undergoing a complete overhaul. Since then other parks in the area have been redone too.

I appreciate all this new equipment. I'm glad my kids can have the best of what's out there. But until this past weekend when they got to play on a hopelessly outdated playground at our campground, I didn't realize what they were missing.

Remember the merry-go-round? Not the carousel type with horses that go up and down. I'm talking about the circular platform with metal bars that is kid-powered. Or how about the seesaw/teeter totter, which is basically a wooden board with two handles that rests on a bar? Aside from the monkey bars those had been my favorite parts of our park when I was growing up. We'd play this game on the merry-go-round that involved trying to keep your balance while standing in the middle as the other kids spun like crazy. And I remember sitting endlessly on the seesaw, just floating up and down while a friend and I ate popsicles and chatted and played make-believe.

Those things no longer exist on modern playgrounds. They're considered dangerous. Oh heck, they are dangerous...but fun! Well, my kids got their first taste of a merry-go-round this weekend. And they learned about centrifugal force when their friends' dad showed them how to lean outward and then pull in to the center to speed up the rotation. And one of their friends learned the necessity of hanging on (at least I think he did, after being flung off more than once).

There weren't any seesaws there. But now I'm on the lookout for them. I've realized what I'm missing about our playgrounds. Never mind my kids, they're safer without these things. But me? I'm just yearning for another chance to float up and down on a seesaw while chatting with a friend -- and getting a good leg workout in the process.

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know

Ed Gilbreath at Reconciliation Blog tagged me for this meme. And since it's Summer and I'm on vacation, I figured I'm game to go with it.

Here are the rules:

* Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
* Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
* Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
* Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven Facts About Me:

1. I'm sitting in my pop-up camper right now in Coloma, Michigan. Because you know, camping is all about getting away from it all and enjoying the wide outdoors. The RV across the road has a satellite dish set up. Yep, we are all roughing it here!

2. Weird fact: two of my toes are permanently curved. To straighten them would require breaking of bones. Therefore they remain forever curled under.

3. As I kid I preferred soft serve ice cream to hard. So when we scooped ice cream at home (preferably chocolate) I would mush and stir 'til it reach soft serve consistency. These days? Who has the patience?!

4. I don't watch TV, except for The Simpsons (with my husband, because it's his thing) and Ugly Betty, which I watch online while folding laundry.

5. I once worked for my hometown weekly newspaper as a receptionist/classified ad taker. The best day of the week was Wednesday when the week's paper was put to rest. The owner would give me the keys to his fancy Lincoln so I could get lunch for the staff. It was always a big celebration.

6. I have never played in a curling match. This probably comes as no surprise to my American readers, but when I worked for a Canadian company, my co-workers were just aghast at this. I later learned that there actually is a curling club in Chicago, so there may be hope for me yet.

7. I'm an incredibly indecisive person. And I'm learning from a book on character that I'm using with my children, that indecisiveness is a vice (not a virtue). I can't decide if I agree with that or not. I also can't decide which seven bloggers I'd like to hear from. So...I've probably done this before, but I'm doing it again: if you'd like to be tagged, consider it done and leave a link in the comments below. And if you don't want to be tagged, tell me what you think about indecisiveness - is it a shortcoming character-wise or not?

No Doubt

She Speaks was a great conference. As a writer, speaker and blogger I would have loved to have sat it on almost every workshop they had. As it was, though, I ended up on overload with all the information I gained in the ones I did get to. Translating it all to my life will make a world of difference.

I mentioned in my previous post that it was more than just a conference. It had all the makings of a great retreat: awesome worship sessions, Bible-centered keynote talks, tranquil prayer room and good bonding time in small groups. With the high caliber of speakers they had, I found myself reaching for a Kleenex not only in the main sessions, but also just about every workshop (okay, so in the "What Not to Wear" workshop it might have been tears of lament over having to give up my terrific oversized handbag that's not proportional to my medium-sized body). I've been summing it up for folks as a "10-hankie weekend".

On Saturday evening, Renee Swope spoke on "Beyond the Shadow of Doubt". At the end of her talk she invited everyone to write down on a postcard the doubts they were having. And then we were invited to come forward and lay those doubts at the foot of the cross and take a verse card that was there -- verse cards that had been prayed over, seeking that each one would answer the doubts and needs of the receiver.

It was amazing to see the universality of doubt. Every woman there seemed to experience it to one degree or another. Many were crying as they came forward.

It was also amazing to see how the verse cards truly did meet the needs of each one's heart. One postcard placed at the cross went something like this: "I'm feeling like I'm only second-rate and not worthy of doing anything significant". The verse that person received? "You are precious and honored in my sight, and I love you. Isaiah 43:4."

There is no doubt that God is using Proverbs 31 Ministries and the She Speaks conference to equip women ask writers, speakers, women's ministry leaders, and yes, bloggers. It is unlike any other writers' conference I have been to.

This Northern Gal Goes South

Being in North Carolina this weekend for the She Speaks conference was such a delight. I could almost feel my pulse settle into a slower rhythm while I was there. The highways weren't so crowded or frenetic feeling. People in shops and restaurants were friendly and polite. And then there were the drawling accents - the langurous "y'alls" and "girlfriends" that peppered conversations with Southern sweetness.

The best part of this was listening to my inner voice pick up that drawl and carry it into all my interior monologues and thoughts. I was much kinder to myself while down South. Even if I had wanted to say to myself, "What were you thinking, you idiot!" after some social misstep (which always generates that kind of reaction from my inner voice - it's a very, very hard-to-please type), "Well now, what were y'all thinking, girlfriend?" always comes off half as harsh. Which had me wishing there was some way I could stay.

And then there was the sweet tea. I'm a tea drinker through and through. Die hard. I brew my first cup while still in my pajamas. Hot or cold, I love tea - with LOTS of sugar. Around here, you get your tea without sugar, or if it's sweetened, it's only mildly so. But sweet tea in North Carolina? Now that I could live with every day. Yep, I was thinking I could have me some sweet tea like that all the time. Y'all know what I mean?

But this Northern gal is back home now. And while she may be driving faster and talking flatter, her pulse is still lazing along Southern style. It was such a pleasure to visit North Carolina and be treated to a retreat-like conference hosted by the wonderful team of Proverbs 31 Ministries. I'd go back in a Northern heartbeat.

Eating in the Car

Who knew it could be so fun? To me it’s something I do only out of necessity. But this summer I’m finding for my kids that it’s a treat.

It started last week when we were delayed meeting friends for a picnic at a children’s theme park. As we drove there I encouraged my kids to make the most of our time by eating their lunch in the van instead. I waited for the groans and complaints. Instead they cheered.

With them being 9, 7 & almost 5 it actually worked. LMH kept control of the cooler and divvied out the food. By the time we pulled into the parking lot of our destination everyone (including me!) had finished eating. And when we found our friends they were packing up their own blankets and getting ready to move on to the fun.

Fast forward to this week. My children are tired of getting up at 6:30 to eat breakfast before taking LMH to her 7:30am flute lessons. It’s summer. They want to sleep in. I want them to sleep in. So we’ve found a new arrangement that everyone loves. I let them sleep until 7am and then they pack up a little container of dry cereal to munch on in the car while they wait during lessons (and LMH takes her own container to eat on the way home - not before, lest she blow cereal bits into that precious instrument).

Now as I’m packing for the She Speaks conference I’m thinking this same thing might work well for my plane trip. Instead of eating breakfast in the airport, I could take one of those individual serving boxes of cereal that we have in our pantry for camping. With some milk from the flight attendant I could have breakfast on the plane. That works for me!

For more fun tips check out Rocks in My Dryer's Works-For-Me-Wednesday post.

Happy Sad

Yesterday as we drove past the cemetery in town Timid Daughter asked, "Why do the cars go in the cemetery?"

I was still pondering how to explain this to a seven-year-old when she answered herself (because TD in particular is fond of talking to herself). This is what she said:

"People go there for memories - to remember the people that died. When someone we know dies we're not sad for them. We're sad because we miss them, but we're happy for them because they're in heaven. And that's a good thing for them..."

She kept pondering this for a moment.

"Did you know that you can be two things at once? You can be both happy and sad at the same time."

Then Timid Daughter continued along that thought for a bit more. The idea of experiencing two opposing emotions at once was a new one for her and I think she enjoyed thinking it through.

I thought of her monologue today when I read L.L. Barkat's post, Of Bridges & Violins & Words.

And I thought of these verses yesterday as TD was speaking:

Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

1 Timothy 4:13-18

I hope those words encourage you today too.

A Super Fantastic Wonderfully Superb Day

As we gathered the fixings for some sundaes this evening, Timid Daughter turned to me and commented, "This has been a really cool, fun day!"

I looked down at her grinning face.

"We got to do so many great things!" she exclaimed.

I began racking my brain...so many great things? Let's see:

*we waited in the van for a half hour at 7:30am for LMH's flute lesson

*we did some odd chores, schoolwork, etc. at home

*went to Backyard Bible School (okay, that qualifies as cool & fun)

*ate lunch & went to the library (in my book, very fun)

*then went out for groceries

*washed the van (involved water and bathing suits, which generally constitutes fun)

*read, cooked, ate

*pulled a gazillion maple sproutlings from our yard - among the grass no less

*had an ice cream sundae bar, meaning we got out all the toppings and sprinkles we could find and held a make-your-own (most definitely fun)

It seemed to me like a fairly normal day with a little fun sprinkled in. I'm just glad that those little sprinkles are all it takes to add up to great fun for my girls.

And with posts like this, who needs Twitter anyway?

What's Everyone in a Twitter About?

So I'm noticing Twitter showing up on more and more blogs these days. Whether people are Twitterpated by it or not, is up for grabs. But I'm thinking to myself, now is this something I want to do? After all, it's summer and every minute I'm online is a minute I'm not hanging out with my kids. Which only works to a certain degree. Then it's time to fully engage.

So what about the whole concept of micro blogging? It certainly has it's place. It might be much easier to throw up a quick 140-character post about what I'm up to. But who wants to know that much? Twitter's selling point is connection with friends and family about what goes on in between blog posts. Do you really want to know? I mean I can tell you now that I eat, sleep, cook, do laundry, write a little, cook, do laundry and so on.

I'm thinking it's best at a social interface level. So far I've only seen a few bloggers using Twitter and few in my "inner circle" of blogging friends. Until more of those sign up I think I'm off the hook. But it's gaining popularity and it may be only a matter of time whether I seriously "Twitter" (or "Plurk")... or not.

Any thoughts on Twitter?

Take The Challenge!

This summer I'm implementing a plan I learned at a workshop at the Hearts at Home national moms' conference this year. It's called the "Super Summer Challenge" and the idea comes from Linda Wicks and what she learned from Sanity in the Summertime by Linda Dillow & Claudia Arp. Here's how it is working for our family:

Each child has a list of challenges related to things we would like to see them work on. For LMH it includes practicing flute for 20 minutes, moving up to the next swim level, celebrating someone else's success, journaling about her daily bible reading, making dessert and writing a letter. These and other challenges fall under one of four categories: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Caring/Sharing. Each challenge earns points (more for tougher, less for easier/favorite items).

My kids each need to earn a certain amount for us to take a weekly fun outing. And for every 20 points they earn they get a dollar. Then we have a long-term goal of a certain number of points for the summer after which we will take a big outing (American Girl Place, where we'll do something extra special like get photos done in the studio or eat lunch/tea in the Cafe).

The point is to get our kids trying new things and improving at old things. And the benefit is any time they need something to do they simply refer to the Challenge Chart. No more saying, "Mom, I'm Bored".

Need more boredom busters? Check out the links on Rocks in My Dryer's Works For Me "Mom, I'm Bored" Edition.

Random Meme

Last week Llama Momma tagged me with a "6 Random Things" meme. And since I'm feeling a bit random today, I thought I'd answer it. So here you have six random things about me:

1. The first rock concert I saw was Kool & the Gang. My dad was kind enough to take my best friend and I. His hearing has never been the same.

2. Prior to that I'd been to multiple folk concerts. I remember being so bored sitting through those with my parents - mainly a series held at the YMCA. These days I actually choose to listen to folk music. So something must have worked!

3. I sew one Halloween costume each year. I have three daughters, but only one gets a new homemade one. The others either have to shop our costume closet or convince me to get one at the store (that isn't totally cheapy-cheapy).

4. I wear long underwear from October to April (or May, depending on the weather. Last week I was actually wearing my fleece lined jeans for the third grade field day outdoors at school - and I needed them).

5. I played the flute for nearly ten years before taking private lessons. Today LMH starts learning to play on that very same flute. If she sticks with it we won't make her wait quite that long to get private lessons.

6. I have never been out West besides a ski trip to Colorado and a few visits to California. One of these years we'll take the kids so I can see what I've been missing.

There ya have it. I'm not tagging anyone, but if you feel so led to do this meme - then consider yourself tagged.

Shairing

When I was in high school one of my close friends had Alopecia, a disorder that causes the hair follicles to just shut down. It wasn't something she talked about, even to me. And I only remember one time where her mother took me aside and referred to it rather obliquely. Consequently I didn't have a clue about why my friend's hair was seeming to thin more and more.

Some kids made fun of her hair - not to her face, that I know of. But this specter of being somewhat outcast hung around her. I wish there was more that I could have done. I wish I had known what it was about. Instead I did all I knew to do - I kept being her friend.

Those thoughts filled my mind last night as I sat in a salon watching Little Miss History get her long hair cut off. She donated it to Locks of Love so that some young girl, like my friend, wouldn't have to face the jeers and rejection brought on by a disorder for which there is no cure. I am proud of LMH. After a moment of shock at seeing how short it left her hair, she vowed to go back to growing it to donate a second time.

Here's a visual of what LMH did:

Before: A fish tail braid for our Memorial Day BBQ.

After: a new 'do!

I am so thankful for Locks of Love and the great work they do. Oh, and that friend of mine? She's a beautiful, confident mom of two...who happens to wear a wig.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Warm weather has FINALLY arrived in Chicago. I've been gearing up for it the past couple of weeks - gearing up in the literal sense of plotting out my three girls' clothing for the next season. Mind you, this is no small undertaking.

First there's all the trying on of last year's stuff (because they need to be convinced that their favorite t-shirt/dress/pair of shorts definitely does not work anymore. That's followed by all the shifting from closet to crawl space and retrieval from crawl space to closet. Hand-me-downs are great, except for all the work it takes to store them and then find them again later.

And then there's the big trip to Kohl's with (hopefully) our extra 15-20-30% off coupon. And a trip to Target for whatever we missed at Kohl's. Plus maybe a Gap run and... Let's just say it's a lot more shopping than I ever care to do at one time. But you do what ya gotta do.

So we completed that whole process this week (for the most part). And today when the hot weather arrived, I was one satisfied mom, smug in the knowledge that I'd made the transition in time...until I went into my own closet. I must say that we seemed to have had a particularly hot and humid winter because all my clothes seem to have shrunk. Especially my shorts and capris, along with a skirt or two, which don't seem to be working that well for me any more. But I am determined that the wardrobe shift is done. There will be no more shopping trips or digging in the crawl space. There is only one solution for me.

Must...fit...into...shorts...

Lazy Days?

There's something wrong with staying in bed until 6:30am and calling it "sleeping in". But try telling that to my husband.

Now it's nearly 8am. I've had breakfast and gotten dressed. Time to hurry off to Home Depot and beat the rush of weekend gardeners to get my annuals.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be totally decadent and sleep until 7am!

Midnight Comes Too Soon

With her love for all things royal, it's no wonder that the Uber-Princess locked on to this Steven Curtis Chapman song, Cinderella. It's a poignant song about seizing those moments with his daughters before they're all grown and it touches me every time I hear it. And today, learning of the tragic death of his five-year-old princess, Maria Sue, I know I won't ever hear this song again without tears. Join me in praying for the Chapman family as they grieve their loss.