Slower Happenings

I am having such a "easy" week. My schedule has been almost completely clear, which is really unusual. So I've been getting a lot of painting done. I finished up the boys' room yesterday, repainted and varnished the upstairs landing and today I'm painting the downstairs bathroom. Because of the basement work, Paul has shut off the water to the upstairs bathroom so we've been using only the downstairs one - it's going to be a trick today to let the boys use it without messing up my paint job!

Next week I plan to buy the paint for the outdoor jobs I want to tackle. I wonder how long that will take. I have quite a bit to do out there. I'll be glad to get it all done.

And the weather has been so warm and sunny all week. You know, with the winter we had, I didn't think we'd see spring until mid-May. But it came right on time this year! One can almost forget about those months and months of ice, cold, and snow! Almost.

That's one of the official pictures from Prom Alternative last weekend. The two couples on either end were the chaperons. On the right is my friend Melissa in the black. She is the one I shopped with for 11 hours a couple of Saturdays ago for that dress! She looked amazing! Will is in the middle row on the far right. You can kind of see his head. They went to Biaggis for dinner and then up to this huge waterpark by Mall of America. Will said he had a really great time. I had fun on Friday taking him to church and then watching as all the kids arrived - seeing them so spiffied up!

Last Sat Paul's parents came up. They brought their backhoe, which was appreciated. I had to take Ben and David to softball practice and when I got back just Dorothy was there. She asked me, "Were you here when all the excitement happened?" Since I didn't see Paul or his dad, my first thought was that Paul had another run-in with our neighbor and he had ended up getting hauled off to jail! I love how my mind works. Then she started telling me about this accident Paul had on the skidloader. So my next thought was, "he's in the hospital!" But that wasn't the case, either. Paul and his dad had just gone to the store to go get a part for the machine. Whew!

It could have been very bad. Even Paul, who tends to laugh most serious things off, commented that it had been a "near tragedy." He was driving the skidloader, which was attached to the backhoe when suddenly something popped on it. He was hovering over the edge of the 9ft hole that will be our basement. Suddenly, he was pitched forward off the machine and thrown into the hole. He landed on his dad who was standing down there. Once they scrambled out of the hole they saw that the only thing holding the skidloader to the backhoe was a single hydraulic hose - and it had snapped. Why those two machines did not fall into the hole, too, on top of the men, is a mystery. Paul's dad was fine. Paul ended up with two purple fingers and a gash on his butt. It's lots of pretty colors now, but healing just fine. I wasn't there, but I'm still trembling with the possibility of what could have been!

I found my cousin on Facebook about 10 days ago. I was so excited! For some reason, I just happened to think of him, thought to look him up on FB, and there he was! It took him over a week, but he finally got around to confirming me. I have not talked to him since the very early 90s. I had no clue that he was remarried or a stepfather now. I should tell my mom, I guess, since he is her nephew. Maybe she already knew this stuff, though. I love Facebook! Paul's mom was going through it with me last Sat. and finding all kinds of relatives on Paul's side of the family.

I've been concerned about Will's writing abilities in recent months. I've always known that writing wasn't his "thing." That's fine. I don't expect him to crank out anything Pulitzer Prize-worthy or to be an English professor someday. But I've been increasingly concerned about his ability to function in a future college classroom when his idea of an assigned essay is to turn in 7 lines of something - usually repeating thoughts and without proper sentence structure. BUT - I found a solution this past week. There is a homeschool co-op for highschoolers on the north side of Des Moines at a church. I've always heard about it, but didn't know much about it. But I started looking into this week and fortunately, I already knew the director of it, and she's been very helpful with my questions. They have a writing class that teaches these fundamentals that Will needs. It meets once a week during the school year and the cost isn't too bad, I didn't think.

So I was mulling this all around in my mind Monday when I dropped Will off for softball practice. Well, the coach's son was there and he happened to be wearing the official "Network" tee the kids have to wear when they go to class. I asked him about his experience there and as it turns out, he is in the very writing class this year that I want Will to take! He was very enthusiastic about it. That was a confirmation to me that I'm on the right track here.

To get in, Will has to have had some recent testing done. I had planned for him to take his ITEDs this winter at the school, but he begged out of it. I should have made him do it anyway. So, now I have to take him up to DMAAC (community college) this Friday and have him take some tests up there. And then hopefully, he'll be accepted into the Network and I can face his upcoming college days with a little more confidence.

It's like my homeschooling friend, Melissa told me (in the picture): "When your kids are little, you are convinced they are the smartest students on the planet. Then they get into junior and senior high and you suddenly realize there is all this stuff that they never learned and you begin to panic!" She should know - she has a senior this year! So, I hopeful now. As long as Will can get accepted into this class, he should have a chance at learning some better writing skills.

One the way home from the previously mentioned practice, Will had wanted to drive. I said no because it was "rush hour" and we were in a busy part of town. He's a good driver, but a young one, so I don't want to take unnecessary chances, either. So I started driving, flipping on the radio as I did so. Steve Deace's (WHO's afternoon drive-home host) voice filled the van. David piped up, "Hey! I thought you said it was 'Rush' hour!" It took me a moment, but I then realized he was referring to Rush Limbaugh who is on the same station earlier in the afternoon. He wasn't trying to be funny either!

I contacted "Our Iowa" yesterday to see where they were on choosing pieces for profiles of favorite "Ma & Pa" restaurants. I had sent them a piece in late January about the Checkerboard. I got a reply back and the editor told me that she honestly didn't know. The magazine only comes out every two months and they try to avoid profiling two steakhouses in a row, giving some variances. But, she told me she did know that the chief editor had marked my piece as one he was very interested in using. So, it may be that that piece just might show up in print at some point! I hope so - and not just for me. I know it could really help out the Fees, who own the Checkerboard. Usually restaurants see a real increase in business once a profile of their business is featured in "Our Iowa."

Someone sent me a link on Facebook last week about a guy who is running for some House seat out in Western Iowa - the seat that is being vacated by Rod Roberts, who is running for governor. Well, I know this guy! Or, I knew him, anyway. We were both involved in CBF at the same time while at UNI 20 years ago. He married the gal who sang at our wedding. And I remember he attended our wedding because he's on our video!

I think it's awesome that he is running and I hope he wins. He's a busy guy and I suspect that his willingness to enter the race has less to do with a desire for a political career than it does a supreme frustration with the disconnect between our state government leaders (and national, for that matter) and the will of the people. But get this - he and his wife are expecting their 11th baby. Their oldest is 15 - and I don't think there are any multiples. Of course she homeschools and according to his website she is the "trail boss" (whatever that is) for their ranch.

I asked Paul the next day, "How does she do it? My 4 drive me absolutely bananas from time to time. How does a person have 11 children and function?" I'm still a bit mystified at that. I know that I have trouble getting it all done, whether we're talking housework, keeping time reserved for relationships outside the family, or educating the children. I cannot do it all to the extent that I would like to. What is lacking in me that I find having 4 children difficult and yet one of my peers is able to tackle 3 times as many children effortlessly? Perhaps it is that lack that caused God to only give me 4! He knew exactly what I could handle. Or maybe it's one of those situations where as you grow in numbers and situations, so does your ability to handle them. I don't know. At any rate, that wasn't exactly a confidence booster for me!

One last thing before I get back to my painting: Last week I was watching a video my friend Joy had made for her brother's funeral a year ago. It was beautiful. She had set a lifetime of photos on a slideshow and then had a number of songs playing during the entire 22 minutes show. The very first song was one I had never heard before but it touched me so much that I ended up googling some of the words to figure out what this song was and who sang it. I discovered it was written by a blind singer named Gordon Motes. I was able to download it, burn it onto a cd, and I've been listening to it all week. It's especially meaningful to me because of Ben, but really, I think anyone who has lost a loved one or even just wondered "why" at some of life's events, could be comforted by this song. Here are the lyrics:

The Other Side Of Time

She holds her newborn baby to her chest
And sings to him a tender lullaby
Although he gently sleeps
He was born with special needs
She loves him so but still it breaks her heart
It's hard to understand what we can't clearly see
But Heaven will reveal life's mysteries

CHORUS

On the other side of time
Broken things are healed
And empty things are filled
As we stand in Heaven's light
On the other side of time
It's more than just a dream
Children laugh and sing
And every heart is free
There's perfect peace
On the other side of time

Some are like stars that brightly shine
But they only glisten for a while
A light fading in the dark
An unfinished work of art
And we'll never know just what might have been
But there's a distant place that's never known a tear
Skies are blue and rainbows never disappear

There's no guarantee that life won't be unfair
But the debt this life owes us
Will all be settled there
On the other side of time

Isn't that neat?

Well, speaking of time, it's getting away from me and I think my trim paint is probably dried enough now that I can stick tape to it without ruining it and start painting the bathroom walls Sensual Silver (the honest- to- goodness name for that color!). I have another post I want to write on coarse talking. It won't be very long, though - just a couple of thoughts and relating two things that occurred just this last week on that very subject.

I'll be back!