Thinks By Me

Even at 11 years old, it is fun to take an afternoon for playing army on the back hill. Brainy Boy has dozens of Bionicle robot models that he's built. But the real enjoyment is covering the rocks with the models and pretending to have World War III.

Who would you say is winning the mega-ear contest? And who would you say is losing the "no dogs on the beds" battle?!

We are sad today because our grandpa, great-grandpa and generally all around wonderful guy went to Heaven yesterday morning. Muh Main Man has flown to Florida to attend the funeral of his granddad, John Francis Olsen. Gramps was a guy who lived life to the fullest, working well into his eighties, helping us every day when we were building our house eleven years ago and generally enjoying his life and his family. He left a legacy of generosity, kindness and Christian living that we are diligently trying to pass on to our own kids. He was especially close to Muh Main Man, being his namesake and all. Muh Main Man worked at his granddad's car dealership as a teenager and they spent lots of time together. Even though he died of old age after having a full and wonderful life, we still weren't ready to let him go.

I am generally a laid back person, at least on the outside. I tend to keep any fretting and fuming well concealed. Every once in a while, though, a bug gets under my skin and I undertake a mission just on the sake of principle. If you read my blog much, you know I made a resolution to celebrate all holidays and birthdays with gifts on time this year. Frankly, I've done pretty well so far. So it went with Mother's Day as well, with me ordering a corsage for my mom as well as Ma-in-law on time. Imagine my dismay on Sunday when we called to wish the Ma-in-law a Happy Mother's Day, to learn that Hobe Sound Florist had not delivered her corsage! I checked my credit card statement, saw that I had not been billed for it and assumed they'd gotten too busy to follow through. I made a call to the flower shop on Monday and didn't get an answer. I assumed again, that they were closed on Mondays. Tuesday I saw the charge come through on my card and called the florist and...

Poor Little Chic! After an entire year of being well and making it to school every single day. She is home with a sore throat of three days and a fever. This would have been the first year for her to have perfect attendance and she is very disappointed at the prospect of missing out on the Perfect Attendance Prize at the end of the school year. I assured her it was not likely to be a $25 gift certificate to Toys R Us or anything, so I'm confident she'll survive the loss. Her sore throat started as a nagging irritation but has progressed to being really painful and with the fever today, so Mean Mom overruled the nine-year-old's judgment and kept her home. We briefly considered the option of sending her to school for attendance and then me picking her up to go to the doctor's but with the fever, Mom-mode kicked in and squashed that plan. She didn't really feel like it anyway. The disappointment is tempered with the fact that she has gotten a quarterly certificate...

I am not a morning person. Not by a long shot. So I was ever thankful when Muh Main Man agreed to run my Ma up to the airport at 5am so she could make her 5:50am flight this morning. As luck would have it, he got a serious medic call last night and was whooped by the time he got home. We switched roles and I agreed to take Ma if he would set the coffee pot up and also get the Short People dressed and to school. He thought that was a great deal. I wasn't so sure. I fretted half the night that I would oversleep and got up bleary-eyed, threw on some clothes and headed straight to the coffee. Muh Main Man kept his end of the bargain and set up the coffee pot, but didn't have it start until departure time. In desperation, I clicked the button and held my cup under the spout as it drip-dropped x-tra strong brew into my cup. We arrived at the airport in record time and against my better judgment, I left as I saw Ma approach the kiosk to check in. Twenty minutes later, just a...

I love it when dynamic Christians hit the mainstream media and do Christ proud. It's been interesting to see how American Idol has been influenced by Christian music this season. It turns out that last night's songwriting winner, Scott Krippayne , has killer songs on Christian radio, so it was awesome when he and his pastor friend, Jeff Peabody won the contest for This Is My Now . It's also been exciting to watch Chris Sligh, Phil Stacey and Melinda Doolittle, all committed Christians, perform and place in the top 12 this season.

Times have been good, but busy. I am revisiting a stage of life I thought I never would - the potty training stage. Although, I have to say that I appear to be much more successful in this endeavor with the canine species than I was with my own offspring. It's much less stressful too, being able to crate the peeing one when I'm not able to hover over in potty-watching state. The Short People have taken wildly to our new DogSpot, although MonsterPaw is thoroughly irritated at us all. We've had to move the cat food and litter box out of the prying paw-ness of the puppy and MonsterPaw is beginning to forgive the intrusion just a bit. We have found a few nice surprises along the way - DogSpot doesn't mind sleeping all night in her crate and waiting patiently to go outside in the morning. She is also a very polite passenger in the vehicle and rides nicely to school with the Short People every morning. DogSpot has only barked twice - once at first sight of the cat and o...

I think she's gonna like it here with us. I know we're gonna like it here with her.

After searching like maniacs as if we were on some type of deadline, we have brought DogSpot home. She is a Jack Russell mix, reminiscent of our beloved HyperDog. She is mixed with what-we-don't-know, but she has beautiful white fur with a brown spot on her rear. Her eyes are a very unusual half blue/half brown in both eyes, making us think she may be mixed with a boxer. Little Chic was afraid that the picture might make readers think she was bald, but I assured her that I would inform you that indeed, she is not a hairless dog. In any event, she has quickly decided that we are A-Okay, as we have her. She was a star passenger, sprawling on the back seat between Brainy Boy and Little Chic. As you can imagine, she is particularly fond of Little Chic, sitting politely when hoping for a nibble of some unexpected crumb. She has indulged all the pretend and play fantasies so far and has not been a disappointing playmate in the 2 hours she has been at home. Hopefully the potty tra...

We are hanging in there after the departure of our sweet HyperDog. It appears that we are a re-bound type of family, rejecting any suggestions to wait a while before re-entering parenthood of a new dog. We all want a new dog. Now. We miss our HyperDog immensely and it is just too depressing to each of us not having that wagging craziness greet us at the door. We began scouring every known source for a new family member over the weekend and have yet to find the furry one who is looking for us, but I'm sure it won't be long. It's amazing how you can't seem to find a mutt when you are looking for one, but all sorts turn up when you aren't. Our requirements are few. Small to medium size, short hair, under a year old. Mutts and runts okay...after all, we all have a little of that in us.

I am overwhelmed with sadness to tell you that our sweet HyperDog died in an accident on Saturday morning. We've had our faithful little sentry for six years and our kids don't even remember life before her. We were crazy about her. She was an icon around our house, welcoming everybody who came near in an embarrassingly undisciplined way. We loved that about her. She heralded everybody who came within sight, and tried to gain rides in the vehicles of the oil man, the cable guy, the mail man, the UPS man, the drycleaner man, the flower delivery guy...well, you get the idea. She was the only dog I knew who was thrilled with the idea of getting a shot at the vet as it meant riding in the car to go see more people. She loved our house, she loved us, she loved the deer in the back yard, she loved the cat...even though the cat didn't love her back. She just loved. She was the eternal little Swiffer Vac and dish pre-washer, believing that any and all crumbs were good to t...

We all know the saying, "When it rains, it pours." I've definitely had my share of pouring the last month or so, and this week is just zipping along like all the others! I'm actually looking forward to a dry spell, so to speak, and I keep peering at my calendar to see when there is a day that has nothing on it. I haven't identified one on this page yet. I'm a gal who likes to keep busy, though, so I keep reminding myself of that fact. Little Chic had her final fourth grade orchestra and chorus concert Tuesday night and she was quite the sight. The older she gets, the more serious she is about what outfit she'll be wearing, what hairdo she'll be sporting and all that jazz. I enjoy spiffing up, but I generally go for the no fuss style - but not Little Chic. The more complicated the hairdo, the more she likes it. Unfortunately, I'm not that gifted a hairstylist and we have to visit the hairdresser for the really fancy schmancy stuff. Luckily s...

I figure I'll post an extra one, just to make up for lost time. Little Chic is playing her first season of girls softball and is absolutely loving it. She is really impressing us with her skills and she was awarded the "game ball" last Wednesday for her great playing! Her only prior baseball was a year of T-ball when she was four, so she really is a newbie but catching on quickly. Her batting and fielding are as good or better than some of the other girls who played last year! The game ball is signed by each team player before the game and the coach awards it at the end of the game to the girl who shows outstanding spirit, sportsmanship, most improvement, etc. It is especially fun to watch a group of 7-9 year olds play because the most important issues are: 1) What number is on the back of your shirt, 2) What color is your shirt uniform, 3) What cheers you are going to do during the game while you are on the bench waiting to bat.

I'm attempting to get back into a quasi-regular blogging schedule but my attention has been dragged to and fro over the past couple of weeks. Thankfully, Brainy Boy is suddenly progressing splendidly after a somewhat anxiety-ridden (for Muah) slow road. I was about at the breaking point with worry that we'd done the wrong thing with his foot surgery when yesterday, he took a drastic turn for the better. His limp is beginning to disappear and he's no longer walking as if one foot is two inches shorter than the other. This happened suddenly and starting yesterday morning, the only sign of abnormality is that he walks with his legs a bit further apart than would be normal. This is due to the fact that his Achilles tendon is still too short, but we are confidently expecting physical therapy to take care of stretching it out so that no further surgery is necessary. I'm not an outward worrier, and generally nobody knows that I'm an internal basket case. Muh Main Man...

Due to recent events, including birthdays, softball games and a weird migraine incident on Monday, I have not told you about one of the more exciting things that happened last week. I got to see a long-lost friend who was up visiting in my neck of the woods! We had known each other through middle school and high school and hadn't been in touch since my wedding, way back in 1989 (yeah, I know I look entirely too young to have been married in that year, but hey...) Any-who, I reconnected with Debbie in December 2005 via the blogsphere, and we've been in touch ever since! Debbie does amazingly awesome pottery and she brought me a glazed tile for my birthday that a friend of hers made - so I have my first very own handmade piece of artwork! It even says "Fresh Coffee" which shows how faithfully Debbie reads my blog. You can imagine how shocked I was to learn that she was coming to visit the nether regions and that we'd be able to meet up. We ended up having brea...

It doesn't seem possible that Brainy Boy has turned 11 today. He's turning out to be quite a kid. I overheard him talking to several family members who called to wish him a Happy Birthday and he told all of them, "Only 7 more years until I can vote!" We are going to his beloved Red Lobster for dinner and then to Toys R Us and Barnes & Noble where he can spend the bulk of his birthday money. He opted for mostly cash rather than gifts because he wanted to see what a "spending spree" was like. He's been dreaming of several hardcover mega-sized Dilbert and Far Side comic books so I'm sure we'll be needing another bookshelf by the end of the night.