Celebrating our Freedom

It's a rainy, gloomy day out, just like our Fourth of July yesterday!

Fortunately, Pleasantville had already arranged to do their fireworks on Saturday, the 3rd, because of the 4th being on a Sunday. I think that's neat that they honor it that way. I commented to someone recently that Pville lets all their students out early on Wednesdays for what they call "family time" but I was told by the school that was because so many kids go to church on Wed. nights. This person said back to me, "Well, Pleasantville's a pretty religious community, isn't it?" I didn't know what to say to that. It's not any different from anywhere else that I'm aware of, but maybe it does fall more into that category.

It did start to sprinkle on the way down there but it was just a passing cloud. Sat. had been such a hot, sticky day, but by the time nightfall arrived it was downright cool! This was our 2nd year in a row going to the fireworks without Will (he left Sat. morning to go up to camp to work for the next week). I suppose I should be getting used to it, but it's more fun when we do things as a whole family! Anyway, the fireworks were just fantastic! They always are, but this year they were better than they ever have been before. We lived in the Omaha area for 12 years and they cannot even begin to compare to little Pleasantville's display!

As I watched them I kept thinking about "The Star Spangled Banner" and specifically, the line that says, "...the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air..." and from there my mind went to the story behind the song - the shelling of Ft. Henry and how it was the patriots dead bodies that held up our flag. The next morning as I awoke, WHO was airing a recording of the telling of that story again. That was neat and kind of set the tone for the 4th.

Oh, that's Sam up there, waiting for the fireworks to begin. He did really well this year. He snuggled in Paul's lap for the whole show. In the beginning, he said, "Sam scared!" but that didn't last long. He was oohing and ahhing with the rest of the crowd. For some reason, they had had quite a few fireballs on the ground this year and I think he liked those best of all! Sam called the fireworks, "firetractors" - so cute!

And then yesterday was church. I subbed in the 2-4 yr old SS class. I should have had help. Those kids were wound up and really couldn't care less about learning how God made the fish and birds! We had a potluck dinner, which always stresses me out. I hate those things! And then we had a quick evening service right afterwards and got to go home. I felt yesterday like I was in a bit of a mental fog. People would talk to me and I just had very little to say back. Anymore, I just feel tongue-tied actually talking to people. It seems to be that the more I write, the less companionable I am in real life! Is that normal?

We came home. Paul slept and I cleaned house. Then we watched a couple hours of tv together. I did some more work and then Paul asked where my FaithWriters entries were on the computer. I about fell over dead! He's never taken much of an interest in my writing before. I think it's more of a time thing than anything else. When he's not at work, he's working at home. With this basement project, he literally gets home, changes his clothes, and heads downstairs until bedtime. Plus, he's a very slow reader. It took him over an hour to get through 5 of my pieces. I can zip through them in moments, but I've always been a bit of a speed reader. At any rate, I was touched at his interest.

Oh, it looks like it's raining out again. What a nasty holiday! Plus, I'm still dragging, physically, so the fatigue from that, coupled with the grayness outside, makes me just want to crawl right back into bed! Gotta keep moving, though.

Tonight I'm scheduled to go to Culvers with a friend of mine. Pray for my friend Malissa. She has lost multiple babies over the past couple of years. She conceives easily, but her body won't let her keep them. Last week she lost twins, a little boy and girl, and she's hurting. I hope I have the right words to minister to her heart tonight.

The Missing Moon and Fourth Plans

It's a beautiful, sunny, 80ish day out today. Tomorrow we're supposed to have the heat and humidity normally associated with the 4th of July holiday, but today is good. I'm painting today - this time the back of the neighbor's steel building that is on the edge of our property. Have I mentioned how much I dislike painting? Nothing's changed there! But it will be nice to have that building all one color rather than the varying shades of white and gray that it is.

Next on my paint projects is the side of the house that faces the deck - should not take long. I had not intended to paint that but then I had to do some touch-up work when I painted the window edging black (I dripped). Well, the gray I'm now using is a couple of shades darker than what I originally painted that side of the house with - so it all has to be re-done now. Then, I'll be moving on to the kitchen. I had intended to paint it khaki, but I suddenly decided a couple of weeks ago that I like the yellow we have out here in the back room so much that I'm going to use it in the kitchen, too. Besides, this back room will not always be yellow. The plan is to take out the wall that divides it from the living room and make one big "C" shaped room. At that time I'll have to repaint so that the big room is all the same color scheme. I don't think I'm going to get out of painting any time soon!

We may be adding another vehicle to our fleet. Yesterday Will was thumbing through a local sale paper that comes weekly and calling out possible vehicles for himself to me - asking what I thought about different makes and models, mileage, etc. The kid has saved up a chunk of money over the years and is anxious to get his own vehicle because of a certain birthday arriving in 4 months! I guess I wasn't all that worried about it, figuring we'd figure out something for him to drive. But then this morning Paul was telling me there are two auctions next weekend nearby and both have vehicles for sale, either of which he thinks would be a good possibility for Will. Will doesn't have enough saved up to buy one all himself, but we don't mind helping him out, especially since we'd probably be using it, too.

So - yeah! We'll see what happens, I guess. I can't help but remember the 2 year old Will I once knew, the little, quiet guy who would studiously line up all his matchbox cars on the floor of our little apartment. Where did he go?

Sam's been a little more easy the past couple of days. He has discovered our sprayer in the kitchen sink and has been amusing himself with that quite a bit. I've been cleaning up a lot of sprayed water. I guess I could put a halt to that, but it keeps him busy and he enjoys it. He's getting picky about his clothes (shades of David). Today I wanted to put overalls on him, but he wouldn't wear that - insisted on a shirt and shorts. But he did cuddle with me on the couch last night as I watched the reality medical show, "Boston MD."

Sam's big thing is the moon. He is always quick to point it out when he sees it in the sky and more than once, he has dragged me outside, just to look at the moon with him. The other night we got home from church and Sam couldn't see the moon because - well, I don't know why. I guess it was hiding behind trees or something. So he dashes into the mudroom, grabs a flashlight, and announces his intent to go "find the moon." So cute! Paul took him for a walk and then eventually did find the moon and Sam was happy.

Paul and Will got quite a few blocks laid last night. The walls are taller than Will is now. It gives me hope that we may have this done before winter! Will leaves tomorrow for a week of working at camp, so Paul will be on his own, work-wise, this week. He goes on back-up the 9th and on first call a week later, so I'm not sure how much work he'll actually be getting done on the house, anyway. But he's been putting David to work, which is good.

I have just physically been dragging this week. I had a head cold a week ago which went away pretty fast, so I don't know if it's leftover from that or something else. It has just been such work this week to keep putting one foot in front of the other! And I'm SO tired and achy. I probably need to increase my Vit D intake.

Tonight is date night - I'm looking forward to that. I'm mostly looking forward to not having to cook, though! I suppose that means I'll have to scrub all this paint off my skin, though.

Tomorrow is Pleasantville's parade and fireworks since the 4th is on a Sunday this year. I think we're planning on making those. Then Sunday we have a potluck at church, an early afternoon service, and then we're on our own. Except, it's supposed to rain, so I'm not sure what, if anything, Paul will be able to get done on the house. We'll see.

Better eat lunch and then it's back to painting. Oh, and Sam just came in with wet pants - gotta do that first.

Happy 4th of July, Americans!

Water, Ministry, and the Teachable Twos

The sun is out today. Maybe it will dry up all the water - or not. Central Iowa is once again experiencing flood conditions. This just happened 2 years ago and 15 yrs prior to that! Things aren't quite as bad in 2008, but they're pretty close. We have the run-off from Lake Red Rock on the outskirts of Swan. It has crept all the way up West St. and half our city park is flooded again. The water is all over Hwy 5, which is our only way to Des Moines. So, now we have to detour through the Palmyra Township, which adds a good 10 minutes to our drive. Thursday should be the worst day. It's been dry and sunny all week and if that continues, then things shouldn't be as bad as they could be.

Last Wed. night Paul was called to go fix our neighbor's AC. They are such nice people. A couple of weeks ago, the husband, James, stopped his truck on the road and talked to me for a bit and it occurred to me then that I really ought to make more of an effort to go visit he and his wife. So, I got home from church Wed. and I ran over to their house while Paul worked on their unit. Well, I had to detour since the rottweiler down in the Swan "slums" was barking at me, salivating, and I couldn't be sure that he wouldn't jump the fence and eat me. So once I walked clear around, I got over to their house. Charlotte and James were thrilled to see me, which made me feel so bad. I should have made an effort long before now to go visit with them. They both have such severe health issues and are pretty much home bound. I know they're struggling financially, but on top of paying Paul, Charlotte pressed a ten dollar bill into my hand and told me to go buy ice-cream for the boys! I am going to make an effort to visit with them more often. They're lonely. I walked away feeling pretty convicted about how I let my busy life get in front of ministering to others.

I have decided that I just don't care about Iowa's gubernatorial race anymore. After the primaries when Bob Vanderplaats lost, I thought that I would probably be voting for Branstad this fall just to ensure that Culver doesn't win again. But I've changed my mind. Two things happened that changed it for me: Bob gave his first post-election interview last Friday on WHO radio. I listened to the whole thing and was filled with utter disgust for Branstad. Bob was not trashing him, simply relating things Branstad had said to him and now there's no way I'll vote for him. And then Branstad went and picked a Sarah Palin wanna-be for his running mate. It's laughable, how he is trying to appeal to another side of the voting public, by picking a woman, a conservative, and very attractive, to boot. It's not going to work with me. I have decided that I just do not care who wins this election. I can't see that Branstad will be all that different from Culver, anyway. And it bothers my conscience greatly to think of voting for someone for whom I have deep disdain and mistrust. I've always been more of a pragmatic voter. After all, elections are held for the purpose of electing someone and I've always thought it pretty silly to write in a candidate, knowing full well that a third party will not win. And, I suppose, overall, I am still more of a pragmatist. But not this time. Like I said, I just don't care anymore. I'll vote, but it won't be for Chet Culver and it certainly won't be for Terry Branstad. I don't know who I'll vote for.

I've been having some good success lately with my "cheapness." I've been on a mission to cut expenses around here and I shared recently how I bought all these little 1/2 C containers and have been making my own individual fruit, yogurt, and pudding servings. Here are some of my other recent successes: homemade bubble bath, dishwasher detergent, taco seasoning, baby wipes, buttermilk, evaporated milk, and waffle mix. I bought a cheap binder this week and I'm going to type these household "recipes" up and put them in the binder so I can keep them handy. Not everything I have tried has worked out, but I'm pleased with the amount of success I am having. I actually did come in under budget when I did my bi-monthly grocery and Walmarting this past Monday. Now, I don't think that is solely because of my penny pinching ways, but it was a nice feeling since I usually go over!

I should get back to my to-do list - and my children. Sam has been especially demanding lately. He screams when he doesn't get his way and expects his brothers and me to attend to his every whim. When we don't do his bidding, he throws a tantrum. When we were in Council Bluffs over the weekend everyone kept making comments about how cute Sam is. It's just the hair. I think human beings are naturally drawn to blond curls. But I don't even see the hair anymore - all I see is this little dragon monster who wants to engage in a battle of wills with me every single day! Every single suggestion I make to Sam is met with, "No! Don't want to!" He refuses to eat his cheese unless it's a perfect square. If a corner gets broken off, he claims it is "broken" and won't touch it. He won't potty train, insisting to me that he is "empty" every time I put him on the toilet. But yet, two minutes after I get him off, he's wet his pants - again. He makes messes that he won't clean up. But if I scold him, then his chin quivers, his mouth turns downward, and he cries and cries, so then I feel terrible and end up spending a lot of my day holding him (all 38 pounds of him) and assuring him that everything is ok. I feel like a first-time mom all over again! He is just so unlike I remember the other boys being when they were two! It makes me wonder if we've given him so much attention that we've spoiled him a bit. Or maybe he's just two - that age when babies turn into little boys.

And I suppose, as I think about it, age two is not a whole like unlike age 13. That's when children start pulling away, while at the same time still desperately needing you, as they try to step into adolescence. It's a raging stream that they need to cross. You can't carry them across, but you can be right behind them in case they slip. So, every so often, they're turning around to check to see if you're still right there and you're nervously hovering, wishing you could just scoop them up and carry them to safety, while knowing it's a process that they have to manage alone.

So that's probably what is going on with Sam. He's shedding his babyhood and stepping into boyhood, trying to figure out just what he can get away with. He's only two, fortunately - there's still plenty of years left of hugs and childhood fun with him, as long as I survive age TWO!

Off to make lunch for the troops and to make sure that I only serve Sam a perfectly square, unbroken piece of cheese (oh and another one of his quirks - he insists on eating the same lunch every day - a piece of bologna, cut up, the cheese, and chips. But I get in trouble if I put the chips on his plate. Those have to be served on a napkin, placed to the right of his plate.) Am I creating a monster?

SW Iowa Weekend

So much to catch up on! I'll start with our last weekend. We went to the annual Heywood Family picnic. That's me at left there, chatting with Paul's cousin, Eugene's, new girlfriend. It's a good snapshot of what the whole picnic was like.

We arrived out at his parents' around 3 on Sat. afternoon. There were all these cars parked all over their property and all kinds of people milling around. We had no idea a pre-picnic was in the works! Saturday it was broiling (heat index of something like 105 degrees) so most were in the air conditioned house. I was meeting all these people I'd never seen before in my life.

Sunday was the actual picnic. I still haven't figured out why it was such a big deal this year, but it was. The local paper even did a write-up about it. And get this - I just now figured out that there were 17 kids in Paul's dad's original family. All these years I've had it in my mind that there were only 16. But Paul's cousin corrected me. I didn't believe her so I went to one of the family books they have printed up that list each child and all their offspring - and sure enough, there were 17 of them! Although, when you're talking about that many children, I guess one more or less really doesn't make much of a difference!

The Sunday picnic was much more enjoyable, weather-wise. It was cooler and there was a good breeze. I missed the beginning because Dorothy forgot her potato salad that she had made and I volunteered to go get it for her. That was fine with me because I always get stressed out in potluck situations, trying to get Ben and Sam's food, along with mine. This way, Paul took care of it!

So, the whole thing was not as miserable as I was anticipating. It doesn't mean I'm anxious to go back next year, but I managed to make it through this one. Ben spent his time swinging and Sam and David spent the entire time on the playground.

The only thing that marred the picnic for me was some disturbing family news I received from Paul's brother. I'm not trying to be secretive and I wish I could just blurt it all out in my blog so I could work through it with writing, which is how I best think. But not everyone knows yet, so I'd better keep quiet for now. Actually, I'd probably be safe here talking about it because to my knowledge, nobody on Paul's side of the family reads my blog! But on the off-chance that they would suddenly develop an interest today and do so - I'll be quiet. I'm heartbroken at the choices I see being continually made in this family, on both sides. And I'm equally upset with the cavalier attitude that seems to be adopted by those that see it. Sin is not viewed as sin anymore and many innocents are being harmed and propelled into their own lives of self-destruction and despair. Ambiguous enough for you? I'll post more when I can.

So that was pretty much our weekend. Paul did repair a couple of air conditioners while out there. While he was doing that on Sat. evening, our 29 yr old nephew took Will out for supper and even let him drive clear to Bellevue (south side of Omaha). Chris has always been my favorite. He's pursuing a pharmacy degree and living with George and Dorothy while he goes to school. I guess he and Will were up past 1 am playing video games, too, which might explain why Will was so droopy on Sunday!

He's droopy today, too. It's almost lunchtime and he's still sleeping. Of course, he did get up at 6:30 for weight lifting this morning. Next week Will will be back up at camp - no more late nights and sleeping in for him!

Wisdom From Pete Seeger and King Solomon

Here's my second fiction piece that gave me my first, first place win. You'll find a lot of "me" in this one, although, ahem, Will was born a full 20 months after we got married! ... But, like the heroine, my babies came quickly and with some regularity and I hated to even be asked back then about how my writing was coming along. It wasn't! The only thing I got written in those days were grocery lists. Early motherhood was so overwhelming and I remember feeling as though my dreams of writing were probably gone because of the life I had chosen. It was my mom that told me I was "collecting life experiences" to write about later and I inserted that into this little story. I've never forgotten that and it was such an encouragement to me at the time because it was so hard for me to envision a "later."

I wrote this last week while Paul and the boys were away at camp. Sam was sleeping and it was just heavenly to be able to write in piece and without any interruptions! I am starting to dream dreams of having my own laptop computer and a cabin far away from civilization (well, at least a mile - I don't want to be too far from fast food or pantyhose, though!) where I can escape and lose myself in my words. Someday!...

Our assigned topic was "The Writer's Challenge." I mulled on that for a few days and then thought about what my greatest challenge is as a writer. The story tumbled out from there!




Wisdom From Pete Seeger and King Solomon

“Mommy! Max’s eating his crayons again!”

Oh no! Tena hurriedly finished wiping Baby Sophie’s bottom and slapped a fresh diaper on her. Depositing the baby into her bouncy seat, she ran out to the living room, where three year old Max was, indeed, chomping away on his crayolas.

“Max, no! You can’t eat these - remember, we only eat food!“ Tena plucked the crayon away from her son, sighing as she did so. If rescuing Max from eating inedible (and often indigestible) items wasn’t an almost daily occurrence, this might have been funny. But it was just another strange behavior that Max’s autistic mind produced.

“TURN! TURN! TURN!” The television set suddenly blared to life as Max punched the buttons. Tena quickly lowered the volume, but had to laugh as she watched the furry puppets on Children’s Television dance and sing the old 1965 hit by the Byrds. That song was older than she was! As Tena hummed along, she thought about Ecclesiastes 3, the passage of Scripture from where the song was derived. Solomon assured his readers that seasons come and seasons go and there is a time for everything. But Tena couldn’t help but think she was stuck in an eternal season.

From the time Tena was young, she knew she was destined to be a writer. Her teachers raved about her literary talents and sent her to every advanced writing class the school offered. By Tena’s senior year of high school, her future was planned--four years of college pursuing a journalism degree, a job writing for one of the country’s leading news sources, marriage to her long-time boyfriend, Nick, and somewhere --way, way, down the road--maybe a baby or two. Tena vaguely thought she might fit in motherhood while cranking out a few best selling novels.

But a positive pregnancy test shortly before high school graduation, followed by a quickie wedding, and then nine pound Luke a few months later, changed everything. Tena never went to college, but stayed home changing diapers and coaxing finicky preschoolers to eat while Nick worked in the lumberyard by day and attended college at night.

Tena mourned for what she had lost. She knew God was One of grace and forgiveness, but it hurt to know that her dreams had to be set aside. Tena still had no doubt that she was supposed to be a writer, but how could she do that now? There weren’t enough hours in the day to care for three young children, tend to the house, and take care of Max’s special needs. It was a challenge to just take a shower most days, let alone find time to write! While Tena loved her family, she fought to not feel resentful at times that they were taking away the time from her that she was supposed to be spending contributing to the world and developing her talent.

Shaking off her gloomy thoughts, Tena retreated to the kitchen, hoping to get a start on dinner before chaos would erupt from the children. As she prepared a casserole, the words from Pete Seeger’s hit continued to run through her mind,

To everything (turn, turn, turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn)…

Tena suddenly smiled as she remembered something Nick had said to her recently. She had been wailing to him about her endless days and how hard everything was (this was after Max had turned on the garden hose, snuck it through the front door, and had sprayed the living room). He had commented, “You know, Tena, I think you’re just living the experiences now that someday you’re gonna write about!”

Tena didn’t know what the future held. She hoped it would involve writing, although it now seemed unlikely she’d ever be contributing to the big news syndicates, like she once dreamed. But you never know! Somehow, though, that dream paled beside reality. She glanced out into the living room where her three children were. Luke was busily coloring his picture, Max held a small car upside down in his hand and gazed intently as he spun the wheels, and Baby Sophie had drifted off to sleep.

This season of life was what God had given her. Another season might bring other things, perhaps even the opportunity to write. But for now Tena could be content as she waited.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…Ecclesiastes 3:1

First Place Smiles

Never mind me in the photo - just look at the gorgeous flowers! I have a head cold at the moment and it shows. So do my flabby upper arms, now that I look at the photo. Man - I really need to do something with weights. Those arms are going to be the size of tree trunk and the consistency of pancakes by the time I'm 60, if I don't do something about them. The boys came back from camp with germies crawling through their systems and have been sneezing and hoarking all week long. Sam is too, and sure enough, my Vit. D wasn't enough to ward off an attack of this magnitude. I just hope I'm feeling better by Sunday. That will be miserable if I'm suffering through a picnic on a hot summer day and feeling achy and stuffy-headed on top of it!

Paul brought me flowers tonight to say "Congratulations." He's so sweet! He's saying congratulations because my latest FaithWriters piece got FIRST PLACE!!!! I could not believe it. I only got 3 comments on that story and I've come to believe that the more comments a piece get, the better the odds are that it will place well. At least, it's been that way with my other pieces that have gotten in the top 5. And I thought the competition was a little more stiff this week, too. But I still got FIRST PLACE!!! Not that I'm excited or anything...

Now I will be competing at the 3rd level, which is called "Advanced." So, I'll be starting at the bottom of the heap again. Or maybe not. Yeah, probably. When I went from Beginners to Intermediate I went straight into the top 5 right away and I don't think I've ever placed below that the times I've entered. That sounds braggy, doesn't it? I'm just thinking outloud here. The competition will be more fierce, though, because I'll be competing against better writers. So, I have to be realistic.

This is actually my first first place win. The rule used to be that once you made it into the top 3, you could then advance to the next level. So, it was with my first third place win that I went into the Intermediate level, sometime this winter. But then they changed it and now you have to have a first place win to go on.

Are you tired of reading about me talking about me yet? I am!
I am just immensely surprised and pleased. It means a lot to me because you all know how nervous I was about submitting fiction. It's an art to be able to write that genre - one that I always aspired to, but never knew if I had the capability. So it's validation for me, as well as encouragement that someday I may, indeed, realize my writing dreams. That's enough hope to keep me going, I guess, as I raise this quadrant of males and look forward to free-er days.

Oh, I suggested to Paul today that I would very, very much like to plan on attending the FaithWriters conference next summer in Michigan. He was immediately agreeable. So, now I have that to plan for and look forward to!

I'm going to post my two fiction pieces now. Enjoy!

Muggy Musings

Sure is muggy out today. We had yet another thunderstorm this morning. This rain just has to stop! The run-off from Red Rock Lake is creeping up West St. here in Swan and into the city park. The stop sign at the end of West St. has only about 5" to go before it's completely submerged. There hasn't been this much water in town since June '08, when there was tons of flooding across the Eastern half of the state.

I've pretty much been up since 5 am when the storm awakened me. I hurried out to the back room to shut off the computer. Then, I couldn't get back to sleep, which was probably good because David had to come in my room twice to seek assurance that we weren't about to get blown away in a tornado. Then, I heard Sam from the top of the stairs, "Sam scared shunder!" Ugh. They both got settled onto the couch and then fell asleep there. I finally drifted off to sleep and then my radio came on at 6:30 - breap! breap! I always have it set on the radio, but some kid messed with it yesterday and had it set on the alarm! I had it set early because I had an 8am hair appt. scheduled (why do I do that to myself?). I was so tired by then I decided it really wasn't important that I walk in with freshly washed hair, so I laid on my hearing ear for another half hour, trying to block out Dr. David Jeremiah talking about the Millennium on Paul's radio.

Well, I haven't gotten any more comments on my latest FaithWriter's story. I think I had better resign myself that I'm not going to do as well this week. Or maybe everybody is on vacation and can't take the time to check in an comment...I think I'll go with that one! :)

That's Ben and David a couple of weeks ago on Promotion Sunday with their Sunday School certificates. With a certain amount of fear and trembling we had Ben promoted this year to the Jr. High class. He's using deodorant and it won't be long before he has to shave, so we needed to get him out of the Jr. class! But we are going to delay having him start youth group for one more year. There's enough new stuff coming at him right now.

Last week Sam was running around the house, naked on his bottom half. I was doing something outside while he was in the house alone (I know - not necessarily a good idea!). When I came in I told him it was time to get a pull-up on. I got one out of the drawer, but Sam lifted up his shirt, which had been covering his lower half, and announced, "Already got one, Mom!" And sure enough, the kid had gotten his own pull-up out of the drawer and put it on all by himself!

Later that same week, I spent a laborious half hour matching and folding socks (I think I'd rather clean the bathroom than do that chore!). I got several neat stacks of matched socks and carried out a number of them to the back room where the laundry baskets were. I put the socks in their respective baskets and in walked Sam, arms full of my previously-folded socks. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, honestly! All that work...but he was so proud of himself, being a big helper!

Well, that's all I know for now, I think. We're headed to Council Bluffs this weekend. It's the annual Heywood Family picnic, which we don't really make a point to attend. I don't know the majority of people there, honestly. Paul's dad is one of 16 children and that alone would make it hard to keep track of who is who. But now most of those kids are already great-grandparents so there are multiple generations that show up at this picnic, plus there's all kind of divorce and remarriage situations, so I have no idea who belongs to who. But for some reason, they are making a really big deal out of it this year and all kinds of people are coming into Iowa for the picnic. I'm really not sure why. But, since we haven't been back since December, we figured we'd go. Have I mentioned my intense dislike of being outdoors in the summertime, particularly when I'm expected to eat outdoors? Yeah, I'm not much of a picnic person...

I have to figure out our camping trip, too. With Will working, our summer weekends are just disappearing. To save money and because Paul doesn't have as many vacation days as he thought he did, and because time is at a premium with this basement and addition project, we're only taking a long weekend for a camping excursion. We're just going to go to Lake Red Rock and then take the boys to the Knoxville Race Track. That one doesn't really excite me either! But I'm a little out-voted in this family...However, Kathy and I are hoping to meet up in Omaha for a shopping day before school starts, so the summer shouldn't be a complete loss!

Well, I need to leave shortly to take Ben to Social Skills. I should try to get Sam down for a nap, too. He's been awfully demanding and whiny the past couple of days. That, in turn, tends to make me demanding and whiny! Well, that,and Ben has been up to his old tricks the past few days...grr - that kid! If he lives to adulthood, it may be a miracle!