One Part Inspiration...

They went camping. The boys. Just the boys. Vague invitations were issued,....But I read the signs, and decided to give them the freedom to be boys, without mom peering over their shoulder worrying about how close they were to the fire, or mentioning in just a bit of a panicky voice that the edge of the cliff was just a half step away. I did help them get their gear together. (Make that the food). They packed the rest of it in the truck and the trailer and off they went. They waved goodbye and tried to make it seem like I would be missed. However, once they were on the road, I knew there was nothing stopping them from 'wahooing' and 'high-fiving' their opportunity to get a taste of the open country they love. I waved too, and then went inside and 'wahooed' and 'high fived' myself, and began a 'Mom's Weekend Off'. I made a pretence of going to town to do 'errands'. Once there, I wandered over to and used my gift card to en...

A victory party was held today. A large celebration, an elaborate display. Crowds had cheered loud, urging her on, She shouted "hurrah" as she burst upon, The finish line. The end of the race. She saw pride written on her Coach's face She'd run it well; she'd fought the fight. A "Well done" received would be her delight. Arms opened wide, and face to the Son, She claimed the prize for which she'd run.

On the reason why I don't take risks. I usually get hurt. Like the time my friend and I decided to jump off the moving hay wagon and walk the rest of the way. I paid for that with a broken rib and a bruised ego. Like the time I decided to conquer the water slides. As I went down the second one, I felt myself flying down out of control and put my arm out to slow my progress, which resulted in a muscle wrench so strong, I could hardly breathe for three weeks. Like the time I decided to be a kid again and sail down the ramp while 'riding' the grocery cart. I ended up with a bruise in the middle of my stomach which exactly matched the shape of the coin drop in the cart. Like the time I thought I'd be a smart Alec and take the car out of gear when my sister got out to talk to her husband. The car very nearly missed the tree. I have now added the dangerous job of vacuuming to the list of 'risky business'. For the second straight year I have a broken toe [albeit a dif...

"stop world i want to get off. " my mom used to say this, in moments when life threatened to steamroller over her. today i am echoing the sentiment. summer is drawing to a close. decisions have to be made about school, and work, and soccer, and life guard lessons, and driving tests, and guitar instruction. clothes need to be bought . shoes need replacing. groceries occupy daily thought, with two boys returned from camp. stuff has to be sorted. boxes have to be packed. tidying up the farm has to be done. renovations loom. summer-time decisions seem so much simpler . stop world. i want to get off.

Two months before: Realize you have a lot of stuff. Decide that instead of boxing and bagging it up for the local charity group, you will collect it into a 'garage sale pile'. Do this off and on for two months, until you can hardly walk around the collection room without tripping over large bits of nothing. One month before: Announce to your friends you have picked a date. Change the date a few times because your son suggests waiting until he gets back from his summer work assignment. One week before: Remind yourself a million times to put the ad in the paper. Call the paper and inquire what the cost will be. Keep that number in mind, so all profits are calculated appropriately. Buy ad. Begin the arduous task of taking all the stuff from the collection room up to another collection area, to be sorted and priced at a later date. Keep looking around the house to find more things you might as well put in - since you're doing this anyway. Day before: Ask husband for the ...

Last week, I was doing a program on " Changes ". For the music portion, we took familiar songs, and changed up a word or two, or sometimes the whole song, just for fun. One of the songs was " Bring Back My Bonnie To Me ". I asked the group for ideas of something that perhaps they had lost, that they would like to have back. To help them along, I said " Bring back my __________ " with a big pause. People called out things like " family ", " good health ". We wrote them up on the board so that we could remember what they were and then added them into the chorus. I asked for another suggestion, and one man called out " Bring back my tape measure ". I guess his sons had gotten into his tool box! He was on a roll that day, because the next song we changed up was " Let Me Call You Sweethear t". I lined out "Let me call you _________". The group members responded with words like " honey ", and ...

This is a project I started more than a year ago. When we got married, my mother-in-law-to-be gave me this small binder. In it, she had transcribed recipes which she used in her kitchen. I thought it was the best gift. Very personal. She had dividers in it to categorize the recipes. I have used it often, and transcribed my own recipes into it. Well, I have to say, that some of the recipes I only used once or twice, but still, the book became one of my 'go-to' books when I was trying to come up with something that had a vague resemblance to a meal or a dessert. The book has begun to show signs of wear though, especially in the past two or three years (cookie dough being dropped on it, writing smudged from thumbing through it). The size and the shape of this binder also meant I had to put it into the shelf sideways to get it in. Although I'm not obsessive-compulsive, I did notice it every time I tried to put it into the shelf, that I had to turn it. I have a couple of other b...