I Love Emo

Although she's no Ninja, Hope is pretty darn funny. I feel like this video is especially relevant for us bloggers who should appreciate the value of words. In fact, I might start bawling right now.

A Quick Note

Make sure you don't miss this post by Mary from Owlhaven. It is absolutely beautiful.

Why I Am weird Part 2- A Meme

Wow, it's been a long time since a good old meme went around these parts. I think I did a different version of this awhile ago but there are plenty of things to add to the list. Thanks for tagging me PastorMac's Ann.

Nine weird things about Heth:

• I have a PDA to keep track of appointments and such, but that doesn't keep me from writing reminders on the back of my hand with an ink pen. I know, it's so seventh grade of me, but whatEVAH!
• When I eat M&M's, I sort them by color and then eat them one little batch at a time.
• I rarely finish a beverage. Whenever I go to my parents' house, I leave an almost full glass of ice water sitting on the counter. Rootbeer? Now that's a different story.
• Milk needs to be cold. VERY cold.
• I am so very proud of myself, excessively proud, for re-learning how to drive a stick. Sometimes I can even talk on my cell phone without a hands-fee device and shift at the same time. If you see me while I am doing this, you may want to move to the far lane.
• When I load the dishwasher, I leave the water running almost the whole time. Sorry environment!
• My purse is very small and is so crammed full of stuff that it cannot even be zipped shut. But this does not bother me enough to get a bigger purse, because I will then fill it with more junk and I won't be able to zip it either. So I will continue to pick up everything that spills out when it gets knocked over.
• Sometimes when I read, I mispronounce names and words in my head. Then when I have to say the word or name outloud, I realize that I am no where near the right pronunciation.
• I CANNOT start my day without breakfast. If for some reason I miss it, I have to eat something breakfasty for lunch. I love breakfast oh so very much.

Tagging Melanie of are they aLL yours? , Goslyn of Wishful Thinking , and Super Mom of What Makes a Housewife Desperate?

A Survey

Keeping with my past history of procrastination, I have an assignment that is due for a class that meets tonight at six thirty. ACK!

The assignment is to take a survey of at least 5 people asking them their opinions. If any of you want to help me out, you can answer these questions in the comments section or email me privately at:

laundrylady (at) mchsi (dot) com

On to the questions:

Do you believe there was a universal flood thousands of years ago? Yes/No
If no, what has kept you from believing the Genesis 6-9 account of the flood?
If yes, What caused the flood?

and question number two:

Do you believe Jesus Christ is coming again? Yes/No
If no, why don't you believe He is coming?
If yes, what do you think His coming will bring? Are you prepared to see Him? How have you prepared for His coming?


If you are game and want to help me out, send me an email or leave your answers in the comments. THANK YOU for bailing out a last minute lady.

*edited to add: PHEW! Got it done on time! Thanks everyone for your help.

Humiliating Myself on the World Wide Web

My friend Karen over at the Big Trade Off is very close to having a brand new little baby. We all have begged for pictures and she has very graciously obliged, giving us beautiful pictures of her glowing self. But now she has turned the tables on her readers. She is asking for pictures of US when we were pregnant. So Karen, I will give you the good and the UGLY.

This first picture is me at 34 weeks with little Gemma. (baby number 6)

Now, this next one is a big stretch for me. (Deep breathing Heth) It is I think maybe the day before I had Jack. (number 5) I can't believe I am about to do this, but I give you possibly THE ugliest photo ever. And here I am, posting it on the internet?! Karen, you said even your nose was swelling, well how about your eyelids? Feel free to burst into uncontrollable laughter. Here goes nothing......



Ok, now I am going to go crawl into a hole and die.

Wordless Wednesday- You Never Know What A Day Will Bring

More Wordless Wednesdays at Five Minutes for Mom.

Warning: Extreme Boringness Ahead

Continuing on with the laundry saga, I knew you were all waiting on the edge of your seat to know how it was coming. I'm working on it, slowly. Today was a breakthrough. As soon as the dryer beeped, I ran to it, threw open the door and announced to my family at the top of my lungs: "WE HAVE TOWELS!" It the little things in life.

One thing that is very much hindering the laundry process is two little words, packed with much negative connotation.

potty training

Really, I don't want to talk about it.

So there you have it, world's most boring post. Also, just to add more content, Tyler is home sick today after his teacher told him yesterday that he might want to stay home tomorrow. I suppose the fact that he and his friend went through a new box of Kleenex in one day was enough to tip her off that he might not be feeling well. Or that he is a single use Kleenex kind of a guy. The poor thing is missing "sock day" at school. In honor of Red Ribbon week, the kids have specific ways to dress each day. I am proud to say that neither of the girls wore dirty socks today. Clean towels, clean socks, what more could a family want?

Fairweather Friend

We have been having a particularly crabby day around the Laundry Pile (which by the way is huge and never ending this week). Let me just say it for posterity's sake.

I. Hate. Laundry.

It just never stops. Tyler was asking for clean socks this morning and know what I told him? Go look in the dirty laundry pile. Can you believe I have stooped so low? Ah well, it's not gonna kill him.

Annnnnyway. Jack and Caedmon are up to their cold weather antics and they are mentoring Gemma quite well. Today they pulled couch cushions off, snuck into the fridge, tried to make forts out of the sheets that were on the beds but now aren't. *grumble* It has been one thing after another and I am just grouchy about it. But one thing made me smile. Jack. He could see that I was having a bit of a bad day so he just let me know: "You're my best friend Mom." Awwww. Isn't that just precious? I won't tell you that he uses it for evil as well as good. Sometimes, when he is in trouble or being scolded, he makes sure to tell me that "I'm not gonna be your friend Mom." Ok, whatever, but I'm still your mom and you still aren't going to sneak spoonfuls of sugar straight out of the sugar bowl.

Wordless Wednesday - Toes

A New Internet Time Killer.

Sorry, nothing to say. I'm having too much fun listening to this site. Go try it.

Sandbox

Previously, our back yard was graced with a sandbox that was intended for 1.2 children. The 2x2 Ft square was just big enough for Jack and 20% of Gemma. That didn't go over well with the children, especially considering that most of the sand was busy constructing a mini hill surrounding the box. That didn't go over so well with the Lawn Nazi Nate. So we pulled the old sandbox out and grew some grass there instead. It's now a lovely little hill in the middle of our backyard.

A new sandbox was in the planning stages. I was trying to figure out a way to make it a win-win situation for the kids and the dad. How could we make something big enough for a small army of kids that also met the standards of Mr. Lawn care and his grass obsession. Lawn+sand=bad. While browsing through an artsy-fartsy kid's garden catalog, I found my answer.

We asked some farming friends if we could raid their rock pile. Let me tell you, there were some serious boulders in that corner of their field. I was like a kid in a candy store, who knew I loved rocks so much?! I was barking orders, "Nate, I want this one and this one and this one. Your back? Eh, you'll be fine" While I was cracking the whip, the poor guy had to carry out all the labor, and he did an amazing job.

We put the whole thing together inside the landscaping and outside of the lawn, thus no need to mow around it. The sandbox consists of a bunch of rocks in an odd shaped circle with a few plants thrown in around the edges to make it look natural. The artsy fartsy magazine would be proud. We now have a sandbox big enough for all of our little diggers and any neighbor kids who drop by.

*grumble*

Last night we were dusted with a powdered sugar sprinkling of snow. The grass is poking it's little green spikes out from under the white stuff. And boy oh boy am I crabby about it.

I love having a big family. These six little kiddos are amazing. Winter, however, takes everything to a whole new level. I can no longer throw a pair of flip flops on a toddler and run out the door. We can't get by with whatever hoodie is hanging by the front door. No siree. When winter comes, we have to bring out from the basement the equivalent of a sporting goods store's youth section and try to find places to hang everything. This little burst of winter caught me a bit off guard and this morning was a chaotic scramble for hats and mittens and winter coats. I gave up on boots and just sent them in shoes, I don't even want to think about trying to figure out which pair fits who.

Caedmon and Jack were thrilled of course and after fifteen minutes of bundling up, they spent a whole four minutes outside. Little red noses pressed up against the storm doors as they poked repeatedly on the door bell and begged for cocoa. Now that I write that down, it seems a whole lot more endearing than it felt when it was happening. Maybe I don't want to ditch this joint and move to the equator just yet. I'm not sure why this little glimpse of winter sent me into a grumbling downward spiral. It could be the reality that I will soon be wading through knee high outerwear everytime I come through the front door. Oh Indian summer, wherefore art thou?

Wordless Wednesday- Lunch:The Aftermath

More Wordless Wednesdays here.

Theology according to a five year old.

Last night at the dinner table:

Caedmon: "Do we have to beat the end guy of this world?"

A little too much gaming do you think?

This morning as I was laying in bed I heard little voices on the baby monitor. Gemma had just woken up and was crying and Caedmon was comforting her. "You don't have to be scared Gemma, God is in your heart. Don't be afraid, God is in your heart, God is in your heart."

Cracks me up.

Mystery Boxes

So I have some organizational issues. I've admitted it. It's nothing new.

Sometimes when we are doing a whirlwind clean for company and I know I just can't get it all done, I have a top secret cleaning method. Wanna know it? Huh? Do ya? Ok, I'll reveal. I throw random stuff in boxes and containers and then put it downstairs. Genius isn't it?

The other day, we were trying to make some progress on some of the clutter around here and I pulled out a cardboard box with a bunch of stuff in it. When I looked inside I just stood there and shook my head. I could tell immediately that it was one of those "secret cleaning method" boxes. And I'm almost positive it was from quite awhile ago. Like a year ago while ago. Here are some of the very important things I found in that box.

• 4 toothbrushes
• a key to who knows what
• a pacifier
• a hairbrush
• a tooth
• a receipt for $248.75 worth of car repairs
• an eyeglass repair kit
• a ziplock baggie full of Christmas ornament hooks

What. The. Heck?

So you can see that I really missed some of those things. My lifestyle was completely altered because the pacifier and tooth were in a box in the basement for a year. Lesson learned. THROW AWAY THE JUNK HETH!

(I'm not going to give you a list of all the stuff on the top of the microwave. Trust me, you don't have enough time to read a list that long)

Wordless Wednesday- "Trampoline"

More Wordless Wednesdays at Five Minutes for Mom.

From the Mouths of Babes.

I sorted through my inbox the other day. It was a job long overdue. To combat the power of the paper piles that multiply on all flat surfaces in our home, I have implemented a little, tiny, small attempt at organization. Baby steps Heth, baby steps. So we have this inbox type thing and when the kids come home from school, their number one task is to empty their backpacks of all papers and put them in the inbox for me to sort through. This helps so that I don't lose any important papers and end up scrambling around on the morning of a field trip: "You need a sack lunch, bug spray, and fifteen dollars? Today? Ack! The bus will be here in three minutes! Why didn't you tell me?" The inbox rescues me from these types of scenarios.

It's the kids' job to get their papers into the box, and it's my job to go through the box everynight. Well, that doesn't always happen. This past week, the pile was getting higher, and higher, and starting to lean a little bit. On Saturday, I finally sorted through everything. No field trips missed, phew! But I did run across this little writing assignment by Noelle. I wish I had a scanner so that you could experience the genius of fourth grade handwriting.

Gemma and her dangerous teeth.

Gemma is a very dangerous baby. She bites at church, and if you put your
finger in her face she will bite it. (It feels like your finger is being bitten
off.) She crys at night she is very loud, and that's who my sister is.

Yes. It's true. Gemma is a little piranha. But I don't think I would base her whole identity on this one aspect of her little life. She might grow out of it. Or she might grow up and get a scholarship to vampire school.