Warning: Surprises by Nature Cause Unexpected Results

There is no surprise more magical than the surprise of being loved: It is God's finger on man's shoulder.
~Charles Morgan

My Week:
This was actually over two weeks ago. I began feeling rather unappreciated. I complained quite a bit that week. There was dirty dishes left in the sink as if they are going to jump into the dishwasher magically all on their own. There was the empty toilet paper roll as if a new toilet paper roll in the closet would escape and replace it. There were piles of personal items left here and there as if they were squatters with no other homes. There was my daughter who referred to the beginning of our weekday as doing "doom and gloom" lessons, which I reminded her that I sacrifice many things I would like to do in my life to homeschool her and that it is time we spend together so when she refers to it that way, it hurts me. Yeah, by Thursday of that week, when my upper back began its nagging aching, I was miserable and probably even more miserable to be around. On Friday, I was starting to come out of the mood...sort of, as I was trying to look forward to the weekend as we had plans with some friends.

The Plan As I Knew It: 
I would pick up my friend to go to the women's meeting at church on Saturday morning. While we were there, her husband and her daughter would come over to my house so that afterward we could have lunch and play a game while our daughters play together. Even though there is a difference of 5½ years with theirs being the younger, most of the time they play well together.

My friend and I were talking about her upcoming birthday that we planned to celebrate the next weekend by going to her favorite restaurant, Bahama Breeze, so I had been thinking about the orange  glass bead bracelet (like my love bracelet) I was going to give her, because the woman loves everything orange and having to do with pumpkins; it reminds her of autumn—even her daughter's middle name is Autumn.

The Arrival Home:

My friend's upcoming birthday was foremost on my mind as I walked into my home and up the stairs from the basement garage and saw that the top rail was decorated with crepe paper streamers and balloons. When I reached the top of the stairs in the living room and turned toward the dining room to see more decorations there. I was a bit exasperated at that point saying to my husband "I have not even wrapped her present yet!" and immediately following that I heard a child say "Happy Birthday, Mama" to the left thinking that sounded like my child, but surely it was theirs.

Even as I looked around at the color scheme I wondered why they would use purple and green which are my favorite colors together instead of orange for my friend. Okay, I admit that was beyond just being dense, but honestly I have never had a surprise birthday party in my life. My birthday was forgotten in my mind as it was two weeks past when my husband was working away from home. When it finally dawned on me this was for me, I immediately dropped my exasperation and enjoyed the leopard printed paper plates and table cloth. Yes, these were definitely decorations I like.

Their Secret Plan:
All week, even when I was melting down and the temptation to let the cat out of the bag was so great, so my husband told me, my husband and friends had been conspiring, but I suspect the real ring leader was my daughter, who can keep a secret about a party since she was three, even under extreme duress. My husband told me he was not sure how it would work out between the leopard print and purple and green, but our daughter knows how to pull a party and the decorations together. (I think she even plans parties in her sleep.) The balloons, still meandering in a slightly deflated state in her bedroom, were purple and gold. Even if the decorations looked silly together to anyone else, I truly enjoyed them: I felt loved and appreciated.

We had fried chicken from Publix (which is the best fried chicken, better than any restaurant—except maybe Chick-Fil-A) and a cake with ice cream. My friend gave me a pumpkin roll with a cream cheese icing filling (I did write that she loves pumpkin, did I not?) and I had my love bracelet on. I also had just received a new cover for my Kindle that I ordered from Amazon because the bright green one I had was falling apart and the new cover was—can you guess?—a lovely leopard print! Yes, this is about as good as it gets in my little world.

My Friend's Birthday
For her birthday the very next weekend, my friend wanted to eat out at Bahama Breeze, her favorite restaurant to which I have never been before, but my traveling husband had. I was concerned that I might not be able to go or that I might dampen the mood. I was on the tail end of a flare up with my upper back that day and normally I would not have gone to church as sitting up always makes it worst, plus those hugs many like to give can be quite painful. Thankfully, I did get better after the service as the day progressed.

We went to the early church service as we normally do on Sunday and then we stopped at Carlton Farms, which is nearby, to get raw milk. The girls took off to the petting farmyard area. My friend was hoping to buy a pie pumpkin but even though the farm store is always open to sell milk and eggs, they were not ready for selling pumpkins until noon when they also open the corn maze, which was another 30 minutes after we had gotten the milk.

We decided not to wait, driving both vehicles to our home, dropping off the milk that would stay just fine in the cooler, since it is kept just two degrees above freezing at the farm, until we got home later to prepare it for freezing. (We place it in half gallon containers because then we use it all before it begins to clabber.) We left their car at our place and drove together in our van to the restaurant. I liked the atmosphere and the food was good too. My friend loved her orange bracelet present.

Another One Coming
Next weekend, two weeks after her mother's birthday, it is their daughter's turn to have a birthday. Her mother began planning it last weekend while she was beating us at Uno after we returned from the restaurant. They discussed Chuck E. Cheese as that is what their daughter wanted since she had been to a birthday party there, but her parents decided on inviting her entire school class and a couple others outside of her class like my daughter to a birthday party at their home. As she was brainstorming, I offered to do face painting, but suggested that she have an activity where a child could be pulled out during it without missing something. Leave it to my friend to come up with painting pumpkins! Yesterday she asked me to bring our Twister spinner as she is going to spray paint red, yellow, green, and blue dots on the lawn so everyone can play at the same time. It seems it will be some party!

~ Thank you, my Lord, for good friends and celebrations of life! ~

First Impressions

I believe in first impression but most importantly I believe in God’s impression. ~Bernard Kelvin Clive

The Princess has had her first real impressions, that is, she had her ears pierced on Saturday.

My husband asked me some days ago how old I was when I had my ears pierced. I think I was 12 or 13 years old. I had them done by a doctor for $10. He numbed them with a spray coolant and used a gun. The studs he put in were surgical stainless steel and considered hypo-allergic...and that probably would have been true for anyone without a nickel allergy. Back then such metal allergies where not well recognized, so I did not know why it took so long for my ears to heal, and since I only bought cheap earrings most with stainless steel posts, I just thought that itchy, red, irritated ear lobes after wearing earrings for as little as 30 minutes was just the way of it for me. My mother could wear earrings for days, but my sister and I could not. Not until I met my husband, who gave me a set of 14K gold earrings, did I learn I could wear earrings for days on end without any problems. I even forgot I had earrings in my ears!

Being concerned that the Princess could have inherited my allergy, we decided we would get her gold earrings for the piercing and after they are healed, she could try the few earrings I still have that are not gold. We went to a well respected jewelry store from where my husband has bought jewelry for me now and then over the years (not in the last five years, but I am not in any need for more). The Princess wanted a deep pink stone, but she approved of a pink tourmaline, which is a light pink. The back screws on with a gold insert into what looks to be a silicone disc: it will be comfortable and not as easy to lose. They cost around $60. Although company had the earrings, they were at the warehouse and not in the store, so I picked them up on Thursday at the end of our errands.

My husband had also asked me where we should get the piercing done. I suggested going to a tattoo and piercing place where people do it for a living and not going to the mall or Wallmart where someone could have been hired just last week. I also thought it would be good for the Princess to go to such a place because of some of the things she has said in regards to people who have piercings and tats. Her first impressions of such things has turned a bit judgmental. We did not want her to have piercings and tats, but we also tried not to allow her to develop preconceived ideas about people who had them either.

My husband and I have never desired any permanent body art, but I can appreciate the art itself, as a artist and face painter. My husband picked a place nearby that would charge $20 per piercing. We dropped off the earrings for sterilizing at a very clean office. It could have been the reception area of a chiropractor or dentist. They had a screen that showed slides of body art and a few notebooks with samples, but nothing terribly objectionable. When we returned, the earrings had not yet been sterilized and there was a crowd of people!

My husband had talked to the man who does the piercings on the phone to make the appointment and told me he was nice. At our first impression, he had tats all over his arms, a few small white ones near his eyes, and stretched earlobes, but his heart left the greater impression; he was very sweet to the Princess. He told her that he had just pierced the ears of his six year old niece last week and had the smaller needle for children's ears. He told us it was good that we came to a professional as the guns used nowadays are more damaging to the skin. He was careful to make sure everything was sterile and marked her lobes to get them even, saying she had the most even lobes he had seen.

I held her hair back out of the way. There would be no numbing, but he assured her that it would feel just like a pinch. The first ear was done and she mentioned it hurt, but there were no tears. The second one hurt more, she said, but still no tears. He told us we picked well with gold earrings and excellent backs. He also told us how to care for them to keep them from getting infected.

When all was done, the conversation turned. The Princess mentioned that the church had told her that tattoos were bad. I reminded her that it was not the church that taught that, but that these were the sentiments of some of the members. We also reminded her that one of the former woman pastors had a tat. She seemed confused and said she had never seen it. Well, it was on her low back where it would not be seen unless she was wearing a bikini. You see, the pastor was stationed in Hawaii when she was in the Navy, so she chose a traditional Hawaiian design--that tat was the talk of the district, she told me. Anyway, my husband mentioned that we no longer go to that church and the man started telling us about his pastor having tats. His church is just a few months old and small but growing and we have added it to our list of churches to visit.

We had a talk with the Princess about how tats and piercings are not important and we cannot judge people by them or any other outward appearance; God looks at the heart. The man who did her piercing obviously loved the Lord even with all his tats. These are the people that Jesus loves and went out to meet.

We might have passed some of our former prejudices onto her when what we meant to do was steer her away from certain desires, but now she (and we) needs to mature into be lovingly accepting of all people, who need the Lord, as He was.

~ My Lord, this was such a good lesson for the Princess. Thank you for guiding us to a Christian man for her piercing, even when we had not asked. It was a good teaching moment for her and reminder for us about loving people with Your heart rather than with our eyes. ~

It All Started with a Horse

Let me 'splain.
[pause]
No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
~Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride, 1987

I am writing as fast as I can because I have this really merciful gift of forgetting the details of bad things that happen by the next morning, so I am sure that I am only writing the highlights of what I remember, believe it or not!

Friday April 29th
Friday evenings we have been going to the Miss Annette's to help feed horses and clean the barn and generally do whatever Miss Annette needs to be done. Last weekend we were to have a 4-H Work Day on Saturday, but Miss Annette never passes up the opportunity to begin a job early so she started us all Friday evening. My husband worked with other men preparing to put up new fencing. Began I walking and clearing the fence line of the back pasture of growth and found the breaks and grounds of the electric fence, which would explain why one horse in particular was escaping earlier that week.

Saturday April 30th
Saturday people were assigned all kinds of jobs from putting new fencing and repairing old fencing to cleaning the barn bathroom and moving items up to the loft from out a room to be used as the new larger tack room and making signs for the Spring Fling the next weekend (which was this weekend...but we are not there yet). Anyway, I worked on finishing what I had begun the night before all alone in the back pasture with gloves and clippers enjoying the sounds of nature. I guess Miss Annette thought I was more than capable of handling it all by myself. I was thinking that I should have been somewhat sore from the work I did the night before, but I was not. I was not sore that night either, tired but not sore. In fact, oddly, I have been stronger than I ever remember being since I was a teenager--no kidding! I think it has something to do with just being around the horses. Anyway, I finished and did some cleaning of chairs and started the children on the signs and we ended up being there all day...all day with another all day commitment for the next coming weekend, which was this weekend.

Tuesday May 3rd
Tuesday was the 4-H awards ceremony. The Princess was thrilled to get a larger trophy this year because I actually kept track of the points for when we volunteer time (and all the other things) and we volunteered quite a bit of time this past year.

Thursday May 5th
My husband birthday is exactly one week after the birthday of the Princess. Only was this my errand day and he worked really late, so we planned to celebrate the next evening. Plans are such funny things!

Friday May 6th
The real excitement started on this Friday night. A trainer came to work with one teenage girl and her boarded horse, Duke. He is a large horse, newer to the barn, but generally good-natured. Apparently, though, Duke is a bit on the nervous side about certain things. The trainer worked with a pole that she would use to eventually tap the horse. He is supposed to stand his ground with his rider, but Duke, even after a few training sessions with it, has not yet made peace with that pole. He took a step back, but eventually he stood in place while she tapped him on various places. Although I was busy in the barn, I would look over from time to time and see him shiver with nervousness, but he did well. Then there is an exercise where they place a shirt on the pole. The rider is supposed to take the shirt off one pole and ride up to place it on another. Duke just did not like that idea at all and the rider was down on the ground right after she took the shirt from the pole. The girl was all right with just some bruising and scraps. The trainer calmed Duke and began to use the shirt around him to the point she lightly waved it over to touch him on various places on his body. Again, I could see Duke was tense, even more tense than before, but he stood his ground.

Then I was up by the house and had a bad advantage point so I did not see what happened later. I also am not a trainer, but my aunt trained horses for a mounted women's police group and they could put firecrackers under the horse without it bolting...eventually. I learned much from her, but some of it is just what my grandfather called "good ol' horse sense." I have been raised to appreciate there is a delicate balance in training between challenging a horse and giving him time to get comfortable with something he fears. It is a special relationship and even a good trainer can be surprised by a horse's reaction, but still.... Seeing the building tension in Duke, I would not have done the thing she did next, which was tie on a plastic bag of rocks on his saddle with no rider. This not only makes a get deal of scary, noisy sounds behind the ears of horse, which tends to make them want to bolt, but if he does take off, they hit him on the sides and back as well, which keep him going.

Off went Duke...really off! He jumped the fencing of the inner arena and was out with the other horses, who had not been put out to the back pasture. Then the herd of horses together did what herds do when frightened, which in this case was to run in a frenzy around the outer paddock. My daughter and some other girls, who were in that paddock, were grabbed and pulled into the arena by another mother. At this point I can only see dust but others saw the previous week's fence escape artist, Senoya, a boarded mare owned by another 4-H'er who was there, had decided not to jump the wire fence between them and the miniature horses paddock, but she was too committed and could not stop. She fell into and over the fence, breaking it down and two mini's joined the herd. Senoya got up and was back running with the herd also with Duke's bag of rocks slapping him and making a great deal of noise.

Now there is a danger having miniature horses in with large ones. They can get trampled or kicked in the head, so Miss Annette, a 4'9" woman with bad knees and hips, was working her way to the minis trying not to get trampled in the process herself and I was right behind her knowing that she was determined to separate them from the four large horses and two ponies. Finally the two minis and one pony split off on the opposite side of the arena of the rest on their own. One teen grabbed one mini and Miss Annette, who was smart enough to grab a lead rope before she went into the paddock, got the other. The one mini was not not in the mood to be held and I walked quickly to get a lead for the teen. During that time my husband cut the bag of rocks off Duke's saddle with his pocket knife while the trainer held him.

With horses now standing still and breathing hard, everyone was in the paddock accessing them for cuts and scraps, which thankfully were fairly minor. The three injured horses, including Duke, were brought into their stalls. With the girls holding and talking softly to them, I sprayed every injury with an antiseptic. Duke was last and he was still quite tense, but he allowed the doctoring with only a couple of hoof stomps and nervous snorts. He was also given oral antibiotic, because of the three he had the worst injuries.

My husband, in the meantime, had begun work on the fence as Miss Annette's husband was quite ill in bed and could not. This required pulling a fence pole back over and reshaping wire. I dug out the broken cement and he cemented the based of the wooden post.

With all calm and repaired we went home to what was supposed to be my husband's birthday dinner. I was in a hurry as it was so late. I turned on the oven as I began throwing together my homemade pizzas, one white sauce and one tomato with ground beef, as he requested while he and the Princess fed the rabbits. Eventually, I opened the oven to find...the remainder of the Princess' birthday cake and the partially melted plastic container it was in--No, I am not kidding! I had put it in there to keep safe as it would not fit in the refrigerator and we planned to have it that night, but since it was 9:30 PM before we began eating, that was unlikely anyway. A bit of the icing had dripped down to the bottom of the oven and, as I was cooking the pizzas, it began smoking. I could just see how adding our fire alarm going off would complete the evening, so we opened windows which was all the invitation a few flying bugs needed.

My husband also showed me the handle of a rather expensive paring knife that was in with the cake had some melted areas, but it can still be smoothed out and used, but I was sick about it. This one being a replacement of one that I accidentally threw away with a pizza box some years before.

At that point, I just gave up and just tried to eat my dinner thankfully. My husband, seeing I was at the end of my rope for the day, decided to clean up the oven himself--isn't he sweet? While looking for oven cleaner that I did not even think I had because I rarely use anything besides a good scrubber, he found that water had been leaking under the sink from the connection to the dish washer, the one that is still broken and currently in our garage. He turn it off and pulled things out to dry. After that bit of news, I just pulled the covers over my head in my bed. Actually, we all went to bed as soon as we could because the next day, which was yesterday, we were to be at the 4-H Spring Fling early to set up.

Saturday May 7th
I face painted all day, except for a short time to relieve my husband from supervising the horse and pony ride while he ate during a break in business at my own booth. Duke was not brought but the other two large horses that were injured had been and Senoya probably should not have been as she seem uneasy, but we had no incidents there.

We went back to help Annette pack everything away and feed the horses. Then we went home to have clean up and have dinner. With two showers down and the washing machine working, I decided to hold off my shower until after dinner to be assured of having hot water. We have leftover pizza and the twice baked cake, as the Princess called it, which had a crusty icing that my husband liked. It would take the prize for being the ugliest cake with melted icing blobs off the cake, but the cake itself was still moist--if you can believe it! Anyway, it went well with ice cream.

So, I finally get my turn in a nice relaxing shower and I begin thinking about tomorrow being Mother's Day and then...it dawns on me...the Princess and I were expected at the church right then for the Mother and Daughter Tea. I took a deep breath and resigned to we were not even going to try to make it, even though I really had wanted to go. The past week had been rather busy with 4-H stuff and I was tired. We all fell asleep early and my husband's sunburn looked like he might have a touch of sun poisoning.

Sunday May 7th
Well, we all made it to church and all the mothers received the nicest little notepad to stick in our purses; I so appreciated that. The Princess also made a present of hugs and kisses: the hugs being an outline of her hands attached to the outside of a quart canning jar filled with Hershey chocolate kisses, which I also greatly appreciated the jar and the chocolate as I never have enough of either one.

We stopped at Publix to get a fried chicken dinner as they are so much more reasonable than fast food chicken and tastier. We saw a teenager working there, who used to come to our church but goes to a larger one now and she had been on a short missionary trip recently. She was standing with an icing tube to help children decorate heart cakes for their mothers. We were not planing on another cake, but it was small and the Princess had fun doing it with her. The day's plans were to watch a DVD, mostly likely Avatar for the first time, with my feet up and have popcorn later on, as working outside would not have been good for my husband anyway.

Those, folks, were just some parts of my crazy week. There was more, but I am too exhausted to type it and the memory of all the bad stuff is mercifully fading...except that one thing: My husband put in a different memory card for our camera and told me the camera was already for me to use to get face painting pictures, but then it kept saying it needed formatted and would not let me format it so no pictures. He rarely messes up like that, but when he does...but in a day or two I probably will forget it also...he hopes.

~ My Lord, I am very thankful no one, including the horses, were seriously injured this week and that my husband was there to repair the fence. ~

Counting to Ten

Take a deep breath, count to ten, and tackle each task one step at a time. ~Linda Shalaway

There are times when pictures say more than words...this may not be one of those times. The Princess is now ten years old...ten years...TEN...a whole decade! One fifth of my life has been focused on the caring and educating of this one child. Amazing! I want to slow it down. Will this sign work? Will she slow down so I can continue to watch out for her as a child? Probably, not. More importantly, will she remember what I tried to teach her and those little special things I tried to do for her, some not that easy and quite time consuming?

There is one thing I do for my daughter's birthdays, usually: I make and decorate a cake. I am no expert but you can see that I have made significant improvements throughout the years, even though I rarely make more than one cake a year. (I would not want to do this for a living.) For the sake of privacy, I am showing the cakes without her name on them, but most of them had her name and age on them.

1

Note to self: Do not place icing in freezer to cool it because it can change color, hence the color difference in the bear's fur. But seeing blue icing smeared on a one-year-old's lips is precious!

2

Outlining in a nice unbroken line is definitely NOT my thing, especially with black!

3

Wooly lambs are far easier to do!

4

We had so much stress that year that we did not take many pictures, not even for her birthday. I remember making a rocking horse cake but sometimes I get too busy living life to document it. The picture is of a furry Christmas tree cake I made for Christmas to celebrate Christ's birthday. This is a tradition we do not do anymore, because there are too many sweets to go around then as it is and it took too much time away from guests.

5

The Princess wanted a castle...this did not really qualify, but at least it was pink!

6

We spent her sixth birthday with her God-parents and my aunt and uncle. Her God-mother wanted to get a heart-shaped cake with pink roses, so I did not make a cake this time.

7

I was pleased she chose the Bob and Larry cake shape knowing that it might be the last time and I wanted to make it special...without black outlining. I found a recipe for a butter cream fondant and this was my first attempt with it. I loved that my back was not hurting the next day. It was actually fun working with something like a oily play dough and I was done in record time. I vowed to do more fondant cakes in the future.

8

You can read about Sammy Lamby with Hunny Bunny (why they mean so much to us) at Sammy Lamby Cake. I did part in fondant, but the swirls of wool are of a tastier butter cream icing.

9

Last year was the first time we invited friends over for the Princess' birthday. We made it very special as you can read at Our Victorian Princess Tea Party. This cake was entirely fondant, but a different recipe so that it would have the matte finish. I enjoyed making this one so much and was quite pleased with how it looked and tasted.

10

The rocking horse shape was used to make this chocolate, fondant-iced cake, but the Princess wanted something more real life as she is into horses so it was to be a grass pasture rather than rockers. It looks like a rather fat pony to me, but she loved it. Although I love chocolate, I usually am not fond of chocolate cake, but this recipe was pretty good.

You are a welcome to come by for a sample, if you would like....

~ Thank you, my Lord, for this young life that has enriched my own so much. Thank you that I can bring her a bit of pleasure and teach her that a person can be creative with anything, if they are willing to try and learn. One day, I suspect that she will be making one of her cake creations for me. ~

Our Victorian Princess Tea Party

Tea for you and tea for me.
Will you please come for tea?
~Unknown

The kingdom has been in preparation as the Princess wished to have a very special tea party for her birthday, as you may recall from this earlier message. Three young princesses were invited, but only one could accept the invitation as the other two were previously obligated. No matter, though, as my Princess was overjoyed even with just the one.

Preparing for tea...

This tea pot was brought from Florida from our great aunt's place. It is musical and plays "Tea For Two" when lifted up. The three boxes hold one precious gift in each, a bracelet of fresh water pearls with one rose quartz bead, for each of the invited guests; two will be hand delivered at a later time.

With all in preparation, the Princess awaits for her guest princess to arrive.

She passes the time by reading books about princesses in her princess castle tent, a gift given to her by her Royal Grandparents some years ago.

Her guest arrives. A servant (me) curtsies, "Welcome, Milady." The Princess also curtsies and welcomes her guest princess into her castle tent to show her around and chat. Soon afterward, they are presented with a choice several exotic teas. They both choose English toffee tea. While it steeps and then cools, the guest princess chooses to have her face painted with a blue butterfly with white polka dots to match her dress.

The Princess chooses a smaller design near her eye.

May I pour your tea now, Milady?

Will you be taking sugar to sweeten your tea, Milady?

The Royal Baker (me) created a cake depicting the kingdom.

Just a closer look...

The princesses are served the cake.

The cake and ice cream meet with approval!

Afterward, the story of The Princess and the Kiss was read by the Royal Story Teller (me) followed with games of Hot Potato, Blokus, sword fights, and just being giggling girls.

All the things my now nine-year-old Princess loves.

~ Thank you, my Lord, for giving us this child nine years ago. She truly has been a princess graciously given to us by God, as her name means. ~

She Wants a Birthday Party But....

Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings! ~Author Unknown

The Princess will be turning nine years old in a month (and a week later is her daddy's birthday). With Resurrection Day, piano recital, consignment sale, planning for standardized testing as required of homeschoolers in my state, perhaps a 4-H Horse Day Camp and/or starting riding lessons, and preparing for a yard sale, April for us is nearly as busy as December...AND then the child wants a birthday party—actually she has always wanted one.

I am really torn on this issue. I like doing special things for her birthday, but more as a family celebration. The unfortunate part of this is that we have no family around and the ones who would like to be here cannot travel easily. I usually make and decorate a shaped cake of her choosing. We give her a few gifts and we spend the day together. I would not mind inviting a friend or two for cake and ice cream, but I am not sure I am ready to do a party or even if we should. It seems to me that once a child has one big birthday party, she believes she should have one every year thereafter.

My husband and I really did not have birthday parties like this where a number of children were invited, games were played, and loads of presents were given. I cringe when the same people, who are being given support from others or are barely getting by, think it is a necessity that each one of their children have big birthday parties. Some people think nothing of dropping down $200-$300 and even more for the party alone with inflatables or skating or video and arcade games, not to mention the presents they purchase as well. Even those simple home gatherings necessitate a decorated cake, usually store-bought, decorations, and games with prizes, at least. It has become such an expectation in our culture that some tend to look down on the parents who don't do it, as if their children are deprived.

Do I want my daughter to have friends and fun? Of course, I do. However, it has never set well with me that children are invited to a party where it is expected that the guest of honor receive a present just because she is one year older and they were invited. As I see it, for weddings and baby showers, gift giving has a far more practical purpose, but every year a birthday party with presents from everyone...?

I admit that I might feel this way, because our daughter has more than enough already and people tend give presents that I would never give her myself. For instance, I have been trying to steer her away from desiring Barbie dolls; she has two Barbie-type dolls, one is a Snow White doll and the other a NASA astronaut, and that seems to be a compromise that works for us, as neither is promotes the latest in scanty fashions.

Sigh!

Now I do have one idea that I dearly like. It came to me when we watched the movie A Little Princess. Sara Crewe treated her guests as if she was having the party for them, rather than for herself. She also gave presents to all of her guests at her birthday party—not prizes but presents. I still think that is the sweetest idea. I am sure that my Princess would be thrilled to do it that way as she loves giving gifts! In fact, I would even go so far as to not tell her guests that it is her birthday party, but just a dress up tea party so they do not feel obligated to bring a present at all (and I would rather they not). Now that would be the type of party I would be willing to do with some fancy trimmings.

Some things to think over....

~ My Lord, I pray that if we do have a party, it will be that my daughter is a gracious hostess rather than the guest of honor and that she will find more enjoyment in giving that getting. ~

Busy, Busy, Busy

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form.
~ Andre Maurois

September was a busy month for me and that is why I have not been adding posts to my blog.

The Princess and I went to four seasonal consignment sales which thankfully were spread out over five weeks this time. Last spring they all were on the same week. I spent over my budget, but this time I found so many nice longer dresses, it was difficult to pass them by. Although the Princess is actually size 7 slim, I bought many in size 8. Of them, most are a bit large, that is, wide in the shoulders, but the Princess doesn't mind. I was hoping to be a seller in two of the consignment sales, but I ended up only doing one. I will be receiving a $135 check in the mail within three weeks, which goes back into the envelop for personal expenses, from which the clothing money came.

My husband and daughter were both sick a few days with a cold-like flu and fever, but if I actually got it, it was so mild that it was just feeling a bit off a few days.

We had an unbelievable amount of rain in just two days time two weeks ago. Something like twelve inches in my county, which caused flash floods and water damage in many houses. These were homes without flood insurance. The Princess became a bit worried about our house when I showed her pictures on the Internet. I explained that we live on a ridge on the second highest elevation in our subdivision. If water gets up this high then there is something terribly wrong with entire the world. I am so glad we did not watch the news channels as she would have been in tears. We had problems finding a route to the airport because many roads were closed on that Monday, but we made it going the long way. The next day the highway was closed as well, so I am glad we did not have to go out that day.

The tent...well, my husband tried to scrub off the old waterproofing, but it did not work out too well, so this past weekend we decided to pack it away for now and work on it in the spring, hopefully. (Yes, it actually has been up in the garage since they camped out the first week of September.)

The Princess was so excited about the first day of autumn and was ready to start wearing long sleeve shirts, but had to change as it still is warm during the days.

I have finished the base coat in the Princess' room and it is now ready to start the decorative painting. The walls have the look of Pepto-Bismol right now, so I am looking forward to doing something more to it to make it look less like something you need to take for an upset stomach. Now that the consignment sales are over, it is my number one priority in our list of projects.

I had my dentist appointment yesterday. As typical of me often not responding to medication as expected, the sedation medication did not work well, however I was quite relaxed. Time did pass quickly for me, but I remember everything which is not typical, they say. I have to go back tomorrow as I found a few rough spots in the filling areas. I am pleased with how my teeth look, but I have concerns with the gums that are not going to be a quick fix.

I have written my article and submitted it before the deadline and I have sent in my monthly attendance records for homeschooling and tonight is a 4-H meeting, so it seems I am all caught up in my calendar--well, my housework is way behind but at least we look good on paper!

And...I did have a birthday tucked in the midst of it all, I think.

~ My Lord, thank you for being with me this past month and for the assistance you have provided for the families who lost so much during the rains. Thank you for one more year that I have been with my husband and daughter, and the blessings you have given us. ~

A Day Spent Exploring Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law: If something can go wrong, it will.

Have you ever had a dream where you are trying to get to school or to work or to anywhere you absolutely must be and you just cannot get there? For me, the most common one was related to school. I would miss my ride or the bus so I would need to walk or get another ride, but before I left something else had to be done or something else got in my way or the car ran out of gas. By the time I am ready to finally go to the school it is in the afternoon and school is almost over. Or, I finally get to school and I cannot remember where my locker is, or I remember where it is but not the combination on the lock. Sometimes I was at the school, but I did not have a clue about where my class was or which one was next and, of course, I could not even remember where the office was so I could get it all straightened out. As if that was not enough, the majority of these can't-get-to-school dreams happened after I had graduated!

Yesterday, I felt almost as if I were stuck in that same kind of dream. I thought that it would be easier later in the week, since my husband was supposed to come home Wednesday morning and would be needing the van the rest of the week, if I could switch piano lessons to Tuesday, but after Trudy told me how she was canceling lessons on Tuesday because she was so ill, I ditched that idea. I decided we would go to our favorite farm to get fresh raw cow milk as well as do a few other errands since it would be too much to fit in on Thursday and we were on our last gallon. Before we would leave, the Princess had to be face painted. Then, I planned to go to PetsMart to get our dog some Greenies, which is next to Michaels, a craft store. Of course, over halfway there I realized we forgot the library books I meant to return on the way. No problem. I decided we could do that on Thursday when we do our usual errands--Yes, we were only doing the unusual ones that day.

PetsMart had what I wanted and with a few aws at the kitties in the back of the store, we moved on next door. At Micheals, I look for a few new brushes and some sponges for face painting as I had a coupon. I spent more time than I meant to there, but that is typical of me so why am I surprised? Now it is nearly lunch time.

I could go on to the farm and have a late lunch, which is common with us, but no, I would go back home and have lunch there, get the library books and head out to the library and farm afterward. We get home and I asked the Princess to bring back the trash cans from the street. I was preparing lunch when she ran in upset about the garage door. It took a few minutes to completely understand that she had pushed the button and it went down fine. It touched the ground, she said, and then when right back up. When she pressed it again, it would not do anything and that was exactly what it did when I pushed the button, too. The door is stuck open and I would rather have it closed, particularly since my husband is away. I clean the sensors and I see the lights on each of the components and I even turn on the light on the unit, so it should work, but still nothing.

I call my husband and he suggests releasing the door from the opener so that I can manually open and close the door. Okay, but here is the part where it gets really weird. The moment I release the door, the motor on the garage door opener starts running. Of course, the door is disconnected so it is not doing anything, but running and running and running. How to turn it off? It is not responding to the remote or the wall switch! Still on the phone, my husband suggests something and before I could do it the motor stops running and all the indicator lights on the components are now off and we cannot even turn on the light. The garage door opener is completely dead....

Lunch time!

Thinking how easily I might lose my mind completely after all that messing around in the garage, I concentrate on something I can control.

Now that lunch is the later lunch I thought we would avoid and the Princess has not even begun to do any lessons, not even piano, I consider my options. I know that I could go the farm another day, as my husband also informed me that he will not be coming home on Wednesday morning, instead it will be Friday evening now, but at this point the day feels blown, so why not just go with it? I called to see if we could pick up some handmade soap from a nearby home business, but I had to leave a message as no one is there.

We leave with the library books this time. We drop them off and the Princess begs to get more, even though she did not look at but two of the fourteen we had for nearly six weeks. I finally said that she could have two and only two. Next time, she could get more IF she actually reads these two. She got one fiction and another on Mozart. Now we are off to the farm. About half way, she excitedly tells me that Mozart was friends with J.C. Bach, the son of J.S. Bach. She has been practicing J.S. Bach's Minuet in G Major so she made a connection there. I am thrilled that she is actually reading the books, instead of just looking at the pictures and making up her own stories!!!

We get to farm, but they moved the large refrigerators for the milk, so it is back into the van and drive over to the new building attached to the landmark silo. On the way back home, I realize that I had completely forgotten about the 4H meeting, the last one until September. It was to be a dressy awards banquet.

We get home and I have a message from the soap lady. I talk to her a bit and then make arrangements to come by to get a few bars. She mentioned someone had just walked into the store. Thankfully, it finally dawned on me that she was not selling and making soap at her home anymore before I left. The store is just a mile from her house, so it is not that far out of the way. Actually, it was right on the way to the library where I had already been earlier. (Duh!) I could have gotten the soap on another day, but they are open late in the morning which would be a problem on my usual errand day, so I went. Now remember that each time I leave and get back home I am having to manually open and close the garage door, which not a big deal but it is just one more thing to do that I have not had to do.

When we arrived back home, we washed the paint off the Princess' face and got dressed for the 4H dinner. We were asked to wear black, white, or green. The Princess wanted a small design near the eye, so I did one to match the flowers on her dress and took a picture of it. Now here the camera is right there in my hand, but the camera did not stay in my hand. We leave and the camera is left behind, so I used my cell phone for pictures at the banquet, which I have never done before so I have not a clue how to retrieve them at this time.

The Princess received a small award--shh, everyone got at least that one--but she was absolutely thrilled! She has so much enthusiasm! The 4H dinner went into overtime and since I did not help set it up, I helped clean up. As I get out of the van, I realize that I had not taken the milk out of the coolers and put it in the freezer, so I obviously needed to do that. It all was still very cold, besides raw milk does not spoil, so it all is just fine.

It is about 9:30 p.m. by the time we call Daddy to say good night. After talking to him about the garage door opener and forgetting, I was determined to make a point to wish him happy birthday. All day I had been looking forward to making amends for not saying it while I had him on the phone earlier. Unfortunately, by the time we get home, I am so tired that I am falling asleep sitting up and barely coherent enough to talk. To my embarrassment, I awoke this morning realizing that twice I talked to the man and both times I had forgotten to wish him a Happy Birthday.

It was just a series of simple mishaps all in one day. Actually, I did a lot, just not a lot of what I hoped to do.

Oh, yes. The Princess and I called Daddy this morning and sang to him. He sounded like he was having the same kind of day with trying to service the machine. I told him it wouldn't be much of a surprise if we had sung to him on his birthday. (He knows that I get that "I meant to do that" attitude from him, by the way.)

There are times when my plans go completely awry and I feel like I cannot get to where I wanted to go, but thank you, my Lord, for being with me, steadfast and strong.

Sammy Lamby Cake

Mary had a little lamb
It's fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
~Sarah J. Hale

For those of you who have not yet met Sammy Lamby, he has been with the Princess since she was a baby. In fact, while taking a good look at him to get an idea of what colors to mix for the icing on the cake I would be decorating, the Princess mentioned that he was quite old: "After all, he is eight years old."

We found Sammy with lonely eyes in a store looking down from a shelf too high for any child to reach him, peering right at my baby girl, and from the moment my husband placed him in her arms there was a connection. She would not even let go of him long enough to be scanned by the sales clerk. Whenever and wherever she was to lie her head to sleep, Sammy was there. She would rub the silk of his "hand" with her own as she drifted off.

From the first moment they met, Sammy Lamby was her security blanket and friend; he still is. She still sleeps with him, sometimes hugging Sammy all the night and other times he is among the growing pile of "friends" she picks to sleep beside her. Without a hint of embarrassment, there are times she still takes Sammy Lamby to church or he rides with us to piano lessons. Much like the Velveteen Rabbit, the love of eight years, from blanketing her as a baby to being her constant sleeping companion to being lugged around to explore the world with her, shows on our sweet Sammy Lamby. He is not as bright or silky, but he is irreplaceable...our Sammy Lamby.

I don't know how many more years it will be before the Princess will keep Sammy Lamby so close to her, so I was thrilled when she picked a Sammy Lamby cake for this year. In the last year, I have noticed that she has become a capable and more independent being, no longer a young child who needs help with everything, but more of a helper herself. Yet, she holds Sammy dear still, as well as Hunny Bunny, who is next to Sammy because that little pink rabbit has been Sammy's companion for nearly all those eight years.

My Lord, it will be a sad day for me should my daughter toss aside things that have been so dear to her. Please help us all to appreciate that life is about change, that nothing remains as it always was. Likewise, this earthly life will pass away and we are promised a new life in heaven and such wonders that we cannot imagine, but to see them we must let go of what we hold dear to us here and now, but I thank you, my Lord, for the memories.

The Princess Turns Eight

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again. ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

Today is a homeschool holiday. My one and only child is now eight years old—well, technically around 7:30 tonight. I let her sleep in for as long as she wanted this morning--truly rare in my home. Unfortunately for the Princess, we are not actually celebrating until the weekend and we are housebound as my husband is working in town this week (so far), therefore he has the van. There will not be much more I can do to make it a special day today other than suspending lessons and just spending some time doing things together we would not normally do and just letting her play.

We were promised nice weather all day with a bit of warm in the afternoon. I am planning to start working on the garden beds a bit at time, now that we have been having near normal levels of rainfall this year. Today I started with the first one people see by the road, the one around the mailbox which fills up with variegated vinca surrounding a purple clematis on a trellis. Grass has encroached the bed as the last two years of drought stunted the usually vigorous vinca. I would rather have had Black-Eye Susans in that bed as a contrast to the clematis, but it just never really did well there.

The Princess has always enjoyed gardening, but even more so since we read The Secret Garden recently. Beside helping me, the Princess amused herself playing outside dragging out every outside plaything she could find. She talked about how everyone must be wondering why she is just playing outside instead of doing lessons. The post lady certainly knew for the Princess blurted it out as she handed the mail to me.

The Princess also looked for all the bird nests in our trees. A dove has been sitting on her nest in the lowest fork of our cherry tree (not the kind that produces fruit) trying to be invisible by not moving, but so low we cannot help but see her. We heard the neighboring hawk when it got the notion to announce its delight of gliding on the air currents far above, but did not see much of it because of all those leaves on the trees! Spring is not a slow process here. It seems to be a flurry of blossoms starting with the hailing of daffodils in the first week of March and ending with the dogwoods and azaleas in mid April. Then as you look around, you realize that all is dressed as summer has come.

I started out in the cool of the morning, but being that this garden is on the east side, I was in the sunlight--In truth, I was in the sunlight longer than I should have been. We took a break and I made Pina Colada smoothie mid morning, which we slipped on the front porch. While I was making them I noticed that my arms were showing a bit of color and I knew I needed to wrap it up for being outside today soon. So after the smoothie, I finished my work on the the mailbox garden and then we went inside. I asked the Princess to pick a DVD to watch and she picked Honey, I Blew up the Kid.

While she giggled through the movie, I treated myself for sunburn. My arms, as it turns out, were not the worse parts—my knees were really red and really hot. So, I treated first with baby butt cream, our name for diaper rash cream, to get the benefit of zinc oxide. Later I alternated with aloe vera gel and shea cream. Typically, sunburns for me are not painful, unless I have clothing or something directly irritating the area, but the heat with the alternating sweats and chills can get to me!

My husband came home with a bouquet of flowers for the Princess and was kind enough to make dinner, because by that time I was not feeling very well; sun sickness, I think. Afterward, the Princess and he played around in the spa while I stayed inside, out of the sun.

It may sound like the day was not particularly special, but the Princess was excited about her smoothie and playing in the spa and, of course, getting out of lessons, these were the highlights of her day. Oh, she also received an invitation to a friend's birthday party for the weekend after this one, which she talked about for an hour, I think, starting over when her father came home. Obviously, she was really excited about that. Her grandparents called to wish her Happy Birthday while she was in the spa also.

The Princess is so easy to please, really. She told us that all she wanted to do for the day was spend time with her family--her MA (the sound a baby goat makes) family--and that is exactly what we did. (Ever since we stayed with my aunt and uncle three months ago, she has been making goat sounds and calling us that, to the point it is beyond annoying, but like everything else, this phase will pass and I will feel all so sentimental when I think of it someday--but, today, I cannot wait for that day!)

It seems as though it could not have been eight years ago when this child was placed into my arms for the very first time, my Lord. Thank you for this precious soul in my life. Please continue to cultivate me into a better mother according to what You wish me to be. I can always use a weeding out of things encroaching on my garden of relationships and a pruning back of me so that my Master Gardener is glorified.