Question

Yesterday morning Mark asked me, "Do you consider me to be tall, dark and handsome?" Lance overheard and quipped, "I consider you to be short, skinny and annoying." Mark knew his dad was (mostly) joking.

Thankful!

I try to have a grateful heart all year long and not just on Thanksgiving. I enjoy noticing small blessings and "tender mercies" that God grants me on a daily basis. Of course, I'm grateful for the all of the "big" blessings--faith, family, friends, but I am appreciative of the "small" things, too.

Here is a small sampling of some of the "little" things that cause my heart to be happy and grateful.

*Getting a good parking space in a very crowded Costco parking lot.
*Staying healthy when others around me are ill.
*Being able to share Thanksgiving with all of my immediate family (including my married daughter and son-in-law).
*Mark's wonderful report card and positive parent-teacher conference.
*Finding a good gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie recipe.
*Buying one of the last 5 pre-brined turkeys at Trader Joe's.
*Receiving notes and letters from friends.
*School teachers who understand my children's unique needs.
*Lower gas prices.
*Finding just the "right" gift.
*Knowing I am loved.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

This is 15-year-old Zachary. He is a handsome boy. He is a nice boy. He's even very polite. Before tonight, his hair was wild, curly and untamed. His parents had many discussions with him about his curly locks. Zach was fond of his tresses. Although his mother (me) loved to run her fingers through his hair, she wasn't fond of her son's scraggly looks. His father also frequently mentioned his desire that Zach's hair be shortened. Zach resisted. He resisted until he wanted a certain XBOX game. The parents agreed that they would purchase the game IF they could cut Zach's hair. Zach consented IF the parents would also sweeten the deal by buying a "cool" baseball cap for him. The baseball cap arrived in the mail this week. The mother cut the son's hair tonight.

Which look do you like best? The after (above) or before (below) picture?

Ticketed!

I received my first traffic ticket this week. (Surprising, I know, because I'm such an excellent driver. Just ask Lance.) See if you can decide how I "earned" this ticket based on the following information.

*The ticket was addressed and mailed to me.
*I was neither the driver nor a passenger in my car when I was ticketed.
*A moving violation wasn't committed.
*It will not effect my car insurance rate nor go on my driving record.
*The ticket is legitimate.
*Failure to pay the ticket will result in legal woes for me.
*The amount of the ticket is $52.

Any guesses?

Today's Homework

Mark's Time For Kids homework assignment was on "Reading Election Results." Question 6 was:

Imagine you are a reporter. Your assignment is to tell people how the results of the 2004 compare with the results of the 2008 presidential election. List three facts that you want to be sure to include in your story.

Mark's answers:
Obama won 78 more votes than Bush.
Unlike Bush, Obama is a Democrat.
Unlike Kerry, McCain cheated on his wife.

"Everybody's Doin' It"

Facebooking. Everybody seems to be "doing" it. I joined Facebook Saturday night. Not sure how I feel about it yet. I love connecting with long-lost friends, but there's not a whole lot of privacy on the site. Some of my kids haven't wanted me to join for fear I'd embarrass them (I think), but I will try to behave. If you want me to be your "friend," just send me an invitation!

What A Boy Wants

Mark accompanied me to the grocery store this evening and I promised to buy him a little treat. The treat he chose was a bag of "poppers"--the kind used on New Year's Eve and Independence Day. As he put the poppers in the cart, he said, "Nothing pleases a boy more than a bag full of explosives!" Now you know.

The Changing Face of Roadkill

I usually experience at least a twinge of sadness when I see a dead animal lying on the road (unless it's a rat, then there is no sadness at all). The first several years after we moved to Washington most of the roadkill was opossums. The last couple of years it has been raccoons. Now we rarely see opossums and just a few raccoons. The "newest" animal we just started seeing is coyote pups. What next? I hope it's rats.

Question of the Night

Sara came upstairs from downloading music on our computer and asked me, "How come you haven't exposed me to more soul music?"

My response was, "Probably because I'm not too fond of it."

Oprah Was Wrong!

Apologies to all of the Oprah worshippers, but Oprah was wrong. I'm not referring to her support of Barack Obama, but to her Oprah Book Club pick. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski is a very disappointing read. The ending totally ruined what could have been a decent story--one worthy of Oprah's praise. There were enough good parts to keep me hooked for about 556 pages, but the last 6 pages left me feeling empty, hollow and horribly disappointed. The ending was tragic, and many questions were left unanswered. Not my kind of book.

Driving my children home from school today, I told them about the book and how I wasted many of my precious hours reading it. Fifteen-year-old Zachary said, "Well, Mom, you may have wasted hours of your life reading it, but don't waste hours of your life complaining about it." Well said.

The Award Goes to . . .

. . . Congressman Norm Dicks!!! He is running for re-election to the US House of Representatives, and his radio ad was only one of 2 completely positive ads I've heard this entire election season. He didn't ONCE bash his rival, and the ad only focused on what he would do if re-elected. There wasn't an iota of negativity in it. Good going, Norm. I can't vote for you because you don't represent my district, but I'm proud of you anyway!