Yesterday after a routine trip to the library, I was accosted by my eight-year-old sister
with a question about books-on-tape, which the children always ask for.  I
remembered that someone had asked earlier for a particular set.
“No,” I said. “I couldn’t find Little Women, actually I couldn’t find any tapes with her books, and we were in kind of a hurry…”
Wide-eyed she gazed up at me and said, “Oh, they don’t have Little Women–remember we ruined them?”

too tired lately to be brilliant
(or even ordinary),
and you know I can’t mess up the facade.
which meant i stayed away,
mostly.
i figure it’s time for someone
besides Mr. Collins to make the top of my list.

i want to travel again.  horribly.
(how can you horribly want something?–that’s like wanting green beans!)

i’ve spent hours today looking up hotels
and hostels in Paris for Michelle’s class. 
and living vicariously through the
pictures and maps all the while. 
*sigh* 

or as Mrs. Meers would say, “Oh, poot.”

p.s. have you ever seen a mosquito run around like a spider, trying to get away?

Next time you need to break the ice at an
awkward dinner party you could start with this:

“What a superbly featured room and
what excellent boiled potatoes. 
Many years since I’ve
had such an exemplary vegetable.”

(It helps, of course, if it is a nice room and there are potatoes on the menu.)

“…those were the days when Indians
kept life from being monotonous to the settlers.”

quote of the day, from Anne of the Island

That has to be the strangest birthday weekend I’ve ever had.  I am
just now recovering.  

Not from partying, you sillies, from being sick.  Never been ill for my own birthday before. 
Well, it wasn’t really on my birthday, it was Sunday, but it does
explain why I felt so blah on Saturday.  I was sick at my party
(on Sunday) and I should not have eaten the cake and ice cream, but it
was a new plum cake recipe and Blue Bell’s new White Chocolate
Almond. 
It tasted great.  I regretted it later anyway.

It did turn out to be a good day, though, because when my
Dad came home from something later in the evening, and I was all achy
from the fever, I got my favorite birthday present so far: a head-rub,
neck-rub, foot-rub, and even a hand-and-arm-rub. 
*sigh*   It was almost worth being sick for
that.

Feeling better now, though I’m not sure I’m completely well. 
Fortunately my current lifestyle allows me to sleep a great deal. 
And I’m losing weight on my current diet of white rice and clear
liquids. 

(My mom told me broth would be a good clear liquid, and that there was
some left in that little pan on the back of the stove, so I poured it over
my rice.  Nice warm chicken broth.  Isn’t that what you think
of when you hear the word broth?  It wasn’t.  It was “broth”
from the cooked carrots they’d sprinkled over the chicken spaghetti
dish that I wasn’t allowed to eat at supper.  I should have
thought to wonder when I had to strain orange pieces out of it.)

Later I have to share the story of my birthday breakfast.  My siblings are the most imaginative children ever.

glorious.  

     “ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
      Nor have entered into the heart of man
      The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

birthday date with Daddy…

good conversation. wise.  building.
and he likes to have me in the car
because i don’t freak out over his sudden moves in traffic.

my present: running shoes designed to work with my stride. 
shoes that all but run for me.
i had no idea the right shoes could so improve
a sport i recently discovered i enjoy.

more drive-time, more chats.
he takes me by some of the grand homes they’re doing.
i realize it’s been a long time since i walked a job-site with him.
and we go by George Bush’s neighborhood.
the mall.
the cheesecake factory.
good service.
excellent food, light but filling.
and, of course, i have to bring some home for
everyone to taste.

walking off the meal, window shopping.
peaceful strolling.
smiling at all the people moving past.
being with daddy makes me feel beautiful.

saved our trip to B&N to come home
and watch a movie with siblings.

a quick run in my new shoes.
best run i’ve had since i was ten.
i feel stronger and thinner already.

*smiles*

tomorrow will be special…

~from Baby Van Gogh (Baby Einstein)

Yesterday
~four hours of sleep because you stayed up late to watch Pride & Prejudice with little sisters
~sitting on the floating dock in the warm morning sun
~screaming for friends in really close races
~relaxing in camp chairs and beach chairs with friends while your “spot” gradually becomes the cool hang out
~dozing in the half-shade of the trees while conversation flows around me
~tuna sandwich, cold pizza and chocolate milk out of the ice chest
~ants on my empty tuna salad bowl that i thoughtlessly set down for a minute
~finally cooling off in the water, where we really weren’t supposed to swim, so we waded out and sat down
~distant thunder
~summer rainstorm
~getting to see Jonathan in the middle of his time at camp and hear what God is doing there
~more rain
~getting cold from the rain
~laying on the asphalt road to warm up
~being outside in a severe thunderstorm
~watching the teenagers play duck-duck-goose in the storm while the adults huddle under a tarp shelter
~watching lightning strike the lake
~watching crazy boys run and flip off the end of the dock in the middle of the severe thunderstorm
~your body turning into one big cramp because you couldn’t control its shivering
~lake water that feels like a hot bath because you’re so cold, it even hurts your sunburned legs
~shivering so hard you can hardly talk and your friends start to worry
~some friends’ mom who mother-hens and finds you a marvelously warm blanket
~finally getting into dry clothes
~good food, old friends (and new), great stories, and lots of laughing
~Phantom of the Opera soundtrack, my stunt driving music, and Pink Moon for the drive home
~seeing the Houston skyline at night and realizing how much i love coming home
~rocking my baby sister to sleep because they kept her up to see me

Today
~sleeping in
~hot tea when i wake up
~discovering a sunburn in places i didn’t expect (shins?)
~discovering no sunburn in the most typical of places (the wisdom of wearing a baseball cap)
~Dad’s burgers and my beans
~the beach
~playing shark with my brother and going after the little children in the inner-tube raft
~floating in the tube with my sister and talking about things no one else can hear
~finally getting clean from yesterday–my hair was rain-washed but i was nervous about getting my sunburns in the water
~good movies with mom and dad and sisters