idontbelieveingrammar

Shaun always starts some kind of project with my pregnancies. This one was a big garden ( I think he is trying to escape the house!). Him and O dug and planted a few months ago and go and water most nights. They planted lots of things like corn, sunflowers, tomatoes, basil, mint, dill, peppers, carrots, and more. About half has survived. We have enjoyed some of the fruits of their labor. I used the basil, chewed on the mint, admired the flowers and sliced up the cucumbers. They have also produced some of the largest tomato plants I have ever seen. They have dwarfed O in height and look lusciously green and healthy. They are often covered in blossoms. However, no fruit. ( Yes, tomatoes are technically fruit). Shaun was talking with a client over lunch about his garden and asking for tips on his vivacious tomatoes. The advice was surprising. Stop watering them. They are being over-watered. They are putting all their energy into growth and aren’t producing. I can’t help but ma...

Lately in some of my attempts to save money I have been buying alot more things generic. You know the plain store brand package rather than the brand names we have come to love. Sometimes generic just doesn't cut it. For example, maccaroni and cheese needs to be Kraft. Dr. Thunder is no replacement for Dr. Pepper. For the most part however, the stuff is the same. I hear alot of it is even produced in teh same factory and tehy just slap on different labels. We are paying extra for the pretty labels and commercials and comfort of old friends like: Betty Crocker, the Green Giant and even the Keebler Elves. Somewhere along the way, all the commercials and ads seemed to convince us that these brands were better and well worth the extra change. Jesus came in one of those plain labels. Some people missed out because they expected a much more sparkly package. They wanted more hype than he was willing to give. They wanted a sales pitch. Jesus wasn't really into selling himself. He...

Owen is addicted to Band-aids. Diego and Spiderman are his favorites but he has been known to sport: Mickey, Big Bird, Camo and even Dora in a pinch. He will even wear the "flesh" colored ones. ( Although I do wonder if anyone actually has flesh that color?). It isn't just the sticker or cartoon figure...but O seems to think they have magical powers. They can make almost any ow-ie better. It can be a bug bite, a bruise or a scratch or an ow-ie that doesn't even leave a mark. Blood or no blood. I think he could break his arm and would still ask for a band-aid. Even if the wound doesn't hurt anymore or is a week old....he can still cry until the band-aid is firmly attached. My son is also very feng shui and must have balance. If one knee has a band-aid, so must the other. He displays them proudly and will gladly show strangers his band-aids and tell them about what they are covering up ( if anything). I wonder when we grow out of this? When did band-aids sto...

I grew up on a country club golf course. No I didn't have friends named Muffy. I didn't get a Benz when I turned 16. And my parents didn't spring for the name brand jeans ( Guess, Cavaricci, Gibeeaud or Calvin Klein...if that dates me). I never owned a white tennis skirt.....but I did play. I would run ( fearing for my life) across the driving range to play tennis or swim. I was never all that comfortable there. Once I took my friends ( that did not live on the golf course) and they jokingly started singing the 90210 theme song as I signed us in. Suddenly it donned on me that this was not how most of the world lived. My parents worried and argued enough about money that I never realized we had any. When I say we, I mean them. This summer I purchased pool passes for me and O. Public pool passes. I am not trying to make any kind of political statement ...although I might if I had the choice to make. The public pool was really the only thing in our price range. But I...

I am convinced my son is the anti-napper. He must be like Oprah and not need much sleep. Most nights I am asleep before him. Currently, let's blame this on the homestretch of pregnancy. During the school year I will blame it on a 5:45 am alarm setting...but I have always needed at least 8 hours. I think toddlers are supposed to need like 12, but O is out to prove them wrong. I do wake up before him, but only because I tend to wake up when Shaun leaves. Kicking begins, I have to pee and am famished. So I get up and squeeze in 15-20 minutes or reading, blogging or unanimated TV before O rolls out of his bed ( usually still before 8 am) requesting strawberry cow milk and a poptart ( or something equally un-healthy which I will glady give him for another 15-20 minutes of reading, blogging, or brushing my teeth in peace). Then I spend the next 5+ hours trying to exhaust him so I can get a nap in. I think I can nap while he naps, wake up an hour before he does and get something pro...

initially they stink. 1. integrity is expensive. I have a 3 year old that is tiny. He wears 18 month shorts and they still sag. My point is when I go to the zoo, or movies or fly on a plane ....3 is no longer free. But 2 is. I pay for him, but I am alwyas tempted to not. To make it even worse, at the zoo the other day they even tried to stop me and I had to say, no he is 3. Just small. They still charged me the 8$ for O's ticket. 2. accountability is cheaper but that is exactly what makes it unfun. We are trying to ammend our seriously wasteful spending habits. This means being accountable for all of our expenses. Like thinking twice before going out to eat, getting coffee or buying a new book. I haven't been inside a Target in over a month. I have eaten leftovers for the last 3 days in a row. This morning I wanted to go to breakfast....but ate cereal instead. I don't like accountability either.

this is a post I put up on my writer's group site a week or so ago. When Jesus was asked to clear up the whole “who is your neighbor” question. He answered in true Jesus fashion. With a story. The Good Samaratian. A tale of an expected enemy caring for an injured man. I have heard lots of takes and sermon on this parable but all of them are about loving not just the person across the street, or your friends, or the people the same color as you, or the people that believe what you believe but love that is bigger and broader than any of the labels we like to put on people. Love that doesn’t always come naturally. Lately, I have been reading a few books that are fleshing out some of the conflicts going on across the globe. Last week it was, A Long Way Gone: memoirs of a boy soldier by Ishmael Beah. It is a firsthand account of an orphaned boy struggling for survival amidst the recent conflicts in Sierre Leone. Although the civil conflict has been officially declared over, t...