Adieu, Adieu, to you and you and you...

Obviously, my plans to keep this blog updated were an epic fail, seeing as how it's been an entire year since I posted. Maybe someday I will pick it up again, but for now I'm saying goodbye. I won't be deleting this one (in case I ever want to come back to it or have it printed as a journal or something), but I'm not going to lie to myself that I will keep updating. So for anyone who may or may not still check on occasion, you can find me over at lesspinningmoredoing.wordpress.com if ever you need a fix of my crazy life. So long. Farewell. Auf Weidershen. Goodnight.

Of Humming, Pinning, and Hotdogs

What I learned from my 5 year old at breakfast this morning. "Mom, did you know you can't hum if your nose is plugged?"







You just tried it, didn't you? And you got about one second in and realized that unless you opened your mouth, there was nowhere for the air to escape, right?

I started a new blog all about another website that is all about stealing other people's ideas and pretending to yourself that you're going to try them someday when really, you know that you won't. Only, I decided to start trying them, hence the new blog. But don't worry, it won't be taking the place of this personal blog - you'll still get your quarterly updates. :p

Things that have happened since we harvested all that stuff from our garden: Turtle's in kindergarten (I think he may have started before I posted that, but whatever); Bunso started crawling and is now close to walking; Chicken Little changed his name to "Hotdogs" and discovered the amazingness that is pirates; Ricochet turned 8 and was baptized.

There you go, everything you ever wanted to know about my life in the last few months. And now you can carry on with your life until your next quarterly dose of awesomeness.

For the Beauty of the Earth

Apparently, when you stick a little seed in the dirt and give it enough water and sunlight, things grow. Ben is the resident gardener 'round these here parts, so this year I haven't done much in that arena except the [very] occasional weeding and running out to grab something so we could eat it that day. Well, I decided that we've been grossly neglecting the garden, so yesterday we spent the morning there as a family. We weeded and picked all of the fruits of our labors that were in any state to pick. We've picked a few things here and there to eat and to give to friends, but yesterday was a knuckle-down-and-see-what-we've-got-and-what-we-need-to-do-with-it day.


Apparently, what we need to do is learn how to make pickles.

I don't even like pickles. But Ben and Turtle do, so there ya go.


We also had enough zucchini for one or two of loaves of zucchini bread.

Who am I kidding? We were sick of zucchini before we ever picked those monsters (or the two other monsters that we already gave away).


And we need to find a good way to store some yellow squash too.

And there's beets and cabbage and corn and the 4th time we've picked green beans too. Although, we did eat that corn for dinner today. Mmmmmm.

Not bad for one week, eh?

Aside from all of this, we have pumpkins and watermelon taking over the entire garden, onions, carrots, garlic, peppers, more corn to pick, probably some more green beans, cucumbers and squash and tomatoes that are just starting to turn red. I don't even like tomatoes. Why do I grow them? "Because I'm an old Southern woman and we're supposed to wear funny looking hats and ugly clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt. Don't ask me those questions. I don't know why, I don't make the rules!"


First one to name that movie wins a cucumber.

"I didn't want to lose it"

Dear Charlotte,

Oh children. Dear dear children. One child, who shall be called Turtle, will surely be the death of me. Or himself. It's not the first time I've said it and it certainly won't be the last.

Saturday we were visiting with family at Grandma's house. Grandma occasionally has these unseen visitors called Sand Pixies who leave coins in the sandbox, so the grandkids like to dig through the sand in search of buried treasure. Dear dear Turtle found a quarter. A quarter that had obviously been left by the Sand Pixies loooooooooooooong ago. He was very proud of that quarter. Dad told him to put it in his pocket so he wouldn't lose it. Less than an hour later, they were on their way to the urgent care clinic for an x-ray to make sure said quarter would fit through his intestinal sphincter without getting stuck.

When the doctor asked dear dear Turtle why he put the quarter in his mouth, he said, "I thought if I put it in my pocket I would lose it and I didn't want to lose it, so I put it in my mouth."

That makes sense.

My Amazing, Incredible, So Good, Very Awesome Idea

Dear Charlotte,

I just have to start by saying that I'm sorry if this post makes you jealous of my fabulous skills. I can't help that I'm awesome, so really, don't hate me for it.

So you know all those paper slip covers that come on some movies?

*ahem* Disney *cough* *cough*

Sorry, had to clear my throat there. Anyway, I have this weird thing about not throwing them away. Don't ask me why. I don't know. My darling husband hates. them.

I can never find a stinkin' bookmark in this house when I need one. I know - totally off topic.
Or is it? I give you:

Bookmarks out my eyeballs!

And in a designated container. On the bookshelf. Never again will we have to wander aimlessly in search of a suitable scrap of paper to save our place in a book. Oh. Happy. Day.

See? That took serious skill.

Don't be jealous.

To the Real Charlotte

Dear Charlotte,

I thought about you today while I was slicing some bread. I thought about how my mom says she used to come home from school to the smell of homemade bread fresh from the oven and how she would always get the coveted heel because she got home first and you would talk to your kids about their day at school while they ate the bread you'd made for them. Like a loaf of homemade love fresh from the oven just waiting to be shared.

I wish I could have known you. I wish I could listen to you play the piano and fill a home with beautiful music. I wish I could be there when your beautiful smile lights up a room. I wish I could tell you how amazing your children turned out - my mom and JoAnn and Dave and Larry and Spencer, who I wish we could find and know he was okay and tell him we love him. I wish you could see your great grandchildren as they grow and learn and share their excitement for life. You have so many and they are so beautiful.

I feel like I could never be the kind of amazing person I know you were from all the stories I've heard. From the people you loved. From the example you left behind. When we finally get to meet, eye to eye and face to face, I want to be able to tell you that I served my family like you served yours - one loaf of fresh homemade love at a time.

Until that day...
Love, Me

I'm Having Issues

Somebody leave me a comment so I know the whole address change thing worked. Because something's not working quite right.
Thanks!

Oh yeah...

Dear Charlotte,

I changed my URL. You know, like in case you have a blog reader/feed that tells you when blogs are updated and it's not going to tell you anymore because the address is different. I'd give you the new one, but if you're reading this, you can just copy and paste it from that address bar up yonder. Okay, so I'll give it to you anyway.

http://mydearcharlotte.blogspot.com

Spoiled.

Sharing the Love

Dear Charlotte,

There are some pretty awesome blogs out there. And funny. And crafty. Something for everyone. So I thought I'd share some of the blogs I've been hooked on lately. In no particular order:

Crap I've Made - a crafty blog where she makes crap. And other things too. Like witty and sarcastic comments.

Medicated No More - a blog about one woman's journey through severe depression and so much more. Start at the first post. And then when you get to the most recent, wait around for more updates like you just can't survive without knowing what happened next. Actually, she just had her FIFTH baby, so give her a break. It'll probably be while before she updates again.

Mostly True Stuff - this lady has a kid with autism and a kid with down syndrome and a couple (or maybe just one?) in between. Gosh, now I can't remember if she has 3 or 4 kids. But she's awesome and tells it like it is. Except when she doesn't. Make sure to read her "FAQs"

Stay At Home Mom Sisters - 3 sisters who post about family life and such. Pretty fun. Often witty. Oh so true.

Have a grand ol' time avoiding the laundry.
Peace out.

Spewing Forth

Dear Charlotte,

Do you stay up later than you should when your significant other is gone for the night? I do. And I do stupid things like scarffing down half a bag of Doritos and watching Whose Line Is It Anyway clips on Youtube. Actually, I've been known to do those things when the husband man is here, too, but it's much more enjoyable then. Because laughing with someone you love is always better than laughing alone, don't you think?

So then after I grow bored of such festivities, do I go to bed? Of course not. I must spew nonsense onto my keyboard and post it to my blog so that both of the people who read said blog can get all excited that there is an update (because I know you got all excited) and then get all disappointed when they actually read it because, well, it's not actually about anything.

What's that you say? Oh, where's the husband man anyway and why did he have to leave so as to inflict you with such ramblings? Father/Son campout. He has been strictly charged with keeping the beginning-to-act-like-a-two-year-old Chicken Little and the no-sense-of-boundaries Turtle alive and in one piece. Well, two pieces really. Because there are two of them. And warm at night. And hopefully well fed. And with not too many bug bites. And preferably not burned by either campfire or sun. But I don't want to come off all naggy, so I didn't mention that last one. Not the campfire part anyway. No one likes a girl who nags, ya know?

All in all I must say that I have enjoyed the tantrum freeness of the last several hours. But alas, nothing gold can stay.