Quilt Therapy

As you probably know, we’re ate up with scouting.  Son-man is a Webelo in the Boy Scout program and two of our daughters are in Girl Scouts.

The manly man received new OBS shorts from his grandma (a little late) for his birthday, and he got all dressed up in his finery for his Pack meeting on Monday evening.

He turned to his dad and said, “Wow Dad, I look like a real Boy Scout!”

We agree – and are SO proud of his accomplishments!

My husband didn’t believe me.  Nope, he thought I had finally fallen off my rocker.

He was wrong.

We drive to church along Highway 16 in the Texas Hill Country.   Just about halfway to town, we pass Escondida, a spa resort owned by Bob Phillips, the Texas Country Reporter.  Anyone who’s anyone knows who Bob Phillips is, as his television show has been around for years and years.  We used to be so tickled when we lived in Utah and could get RFD-TV and watch Bob in the middle of the night – a taste of Texas home up there in the high desert. 

So, we get on the road to church Sunday morning, and I just happened to mention that I had the camera (the kids were performing in church, yaknow) and if we saw the Texas Country Reporter auto, I wanted the hubster to hop out and take a picture.  Well, he’s not hopping anywhere – but, he questioned me.

“Really?” he said, as DD#1 took matters into her own hands and opened up my camera case and handed him my camera.

“Yes, really,” I replied.

He looked at me like I’d completely gone over the edge.

I looked back at him with one of THOSE looks – and he resigned himself to the fact that I was quite serious and he had a job to do. 

And he did it – my night in shining armour!

When he got back in the car, still trying to figure out if I’d lost my last marble, one of the kids in the back seat piped up — hey, we got our own PAPA-razzi!!!

You can see the Texas Country Reporter website here, and view some of their videos here (make note that at the end of some of the videos, the vehicle you see above is parked in that exact spot, for the ending of those segments).

Sitting at a potluck lunch at church yesterday, enjoying conversation with our retired pastor and his wife. 

I excitedly proclaimed that our new little chicks had started laying eggs! 

But, golly, their first eggs were quite small – just a tad bigger than quail eggs.

When I told this to Pastor and his wife, they said, “Wow, will they get any bigger?”

Oh gosh, there was yet another idiom question – and I sure had a hard time not letting myself guffaw aloud!

I calmly (though with a smirk) explained that the current eggs we have received will NOT grow any bigger … but, as the hens grow, so will the eggs they lay. 

Danged city-fied yankees sure make for fun fodder for me!

Anyone know what this is?  Let’s make this a contest!  The first person who can identify correctly what this is, will receive a very special, moootiful prize from me!  Be sure to leave your email address!

Tammy’s Note:  Jean had surgery four months ago, and her recovery has been slow – but, she is finally feeling better and wanted to celebrate with a giveaway!

(from Jean):  Hello All:

Today, I am feeling a bit chipper.  Though my nights are still tough, I walked around my block today on my own and tomorrow I will try a 4 hour work day.

I wanted to let all my quilting, sewing and crafting friends know I am having a giveaway and there will be 3 prizes.  

• The first is a Lighted Needle Threader, I just love mine, so wanted to share with all of you.
• Second prize is some Fall/Thanksgiving quilting squares
• Third prize is one dozen 6″ square pink flannel quilting squares.

Just follow this link and enter often!
http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com/2009/09/fabric-and-notion-giveaway.html

Jean
I quilt with my hands. I give with my heart!
http://quiltingranny.blogspot.com

Son-man came to me with such excitement, I thought he was going to burst before he got my office door opened.

Behold – a grub from our compost heap, worthy of the saying that everything is bigger in Texas:

And no, son, he CANNOT sleep in your room with you until you can take him to scouts next week.  ewwwwww

We don’t have a landline, and I like it that way.  I’m not constantly interrupted by phone calls, which makes working from home a truly virtual experience.  Our cell phones don’t work in the hills where we live, so we can’t use them.  I don’t even have voicemail set up on my phone, it’s just not worth leaving a potential client in the lurch because I never know when I’m going to town or whether I’ll actually remember to turn my phone on.  If folks want to get in touch with me, they know by now (we’ve been here three years) to email me.

But, there are a few of my friends or relatives who don’t live on the computer as I do, therefore, I try to take the time to call them every once in a while.

Last week, I called a relative.  I hadn’t spoken to her since the beginning of summer, and I happened to be on the road for an hour and figured that’d be enough time to catch up and chat with her.

Let me just start by saying that my feelings were hurt and I probably won’t be calling her anytime soon.  First, she had to tell me all about their lives (which is good), but when she asked questions about our lives, she would interrupt me with something else about their life (which is not so good).  Then, her house-guest walked in and she carried on a conversation with him WHILE I WAS STILL ON THE PHONE.  Then, she asked me about my extended family and as I was explaining some things, she immediately said – sorry, I have to take this other call.  Bye, love you. 

And.  She.  Hung.  Up.  On.  Me.

I have no time for rudeness from my children or anyone else.  I have no patience for people who say they love you, but don’t listen to you.  I have always tried to maintain a relationship with people I don’t see often (and since I’ve lived in so many places, there’s a lot of folks I don’t see often) – but, not at the expense of my time being wasted. 

I’m going back to live in my virtual world – it’s the only way I can maintain my peace of mind!

I just happened to accidentally catch the elementary principal when I went and picked up DD#1from cheer squad practice yesterday – and couldn’t help myself.  I asked him who I complained to about the PE issue.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to hear me out (he’s a nice guy, so was making a joke), but one of DD#2’s teachers was standing with him, and she was very supportive.  I explained my dilemma, and that it wasn’t just my child who was sick (three of them got sick).  The teacher thought my daughter was actually sick – and I explained that that wasn’t the case – once she came home, had some water and rested a little bit, she was fine.  No fever.  No rumbly-tummy.  No other symptoms.  The problem occurred BECAUSE of PE and nothing more.  Mr. Principal said it was probably the humidity, but he’d look into it further. 

Then, the teacher and I discussed the fact that we are very aware that three of our kids are very NON-athletic.  But, that doesn’t mean they can’t get somewhat in shape – IF we had some direction.  I used the analogy of their previous school, where we received a summer reading list, so the kids read books during the summer and were ready to analyze and discuss the books once school started.  Wouldn’t it just make sense for the school athletic teachers give us some type of direction on where our children should be when they return to school???  For instance, if they were expected to be able to run a mile by the time they started their next grade, we’d be able to schedule time at the track during the summer, working toward that goal.  She agreed, of course, and said she’d see if she could help give my idea some legs for the summer next year. 

I hope DD#2 has a better day in PE today – and I hope her teachers realize that they can’t push unathletic kids into being athletic by starting them at the TOP of the bar…instead of working TOWARD that bar.

Yup, it’s happened again.  Except this time, it’s with DD#2.

We received a call from the school nurse that our second daughter was lying down, because she’d had to run very hard at PE and she vomited afterwards.

WHAT IS IT WITH PE???

Why do these particular PE teachers run a child so hard that they get sick or hurt?  WHY is THAT important???  She will now miss nearly an entire day of school — you know, EDUCATION / LEARNING, because of the insensitive and abusive (IMO) behavior of the PE teacher. 

I’m livid.  Trying to remain calm so as to not upset my children.  But, you can bet I’m trying to soothe myself enough to write an intelligent, yet demanding letter to the principals of the school. 

I won’t stand by while they abuse my children.  If they think that’s ok, they’d better think again!