The Boss is STILL the Boss

Photo © 2008 Columbia & Thrill Hill Productions, Inc.

Ok, let me say this:

I don't care if the man is pushing 60, Bruce Springsteen still rocks. I have seen Bruce in concert 3 times now, and man - he's still got it!! Plain and simple - he is a rock and roll legend. Last night was awesome.

Ok, let me back up. Saturday started out rough. Derek had been sick all week. Yesterday morning he woke up and he did NOT look well. He went to the local urgent care and found out he had acute bronchitis. Great. He couldn't go to the concert; he was just too sick. I thought briefly that maybe I should stay home with him, but c'mon! And miss the Bruce Springsteen concert? (Oh calm down. Derek was basically fine. He just needed to rest.)

So now I had an extra Springsteen ticket. Sadly, besides Sam who was already going with me, none of my friends were big Boss fans. (Wow. That truly IS sad. I call these people my friends?) BUT, I called my friend Khristina and she agreed to go. (I mean it wasn't too hard of a sell - the man is a rock and roll legend! Have I mentioned that yet?)

Anyway, so the three of us went - me and my friends Sam and Khristina. The first stop? The Space Needle! We had a wonderful dinner up there, and I got kind of a cool shot of the Seattle skyline:

Next, it was SHOW TIME! We walked over to the Key Arena, stood in line to get our arm bands, and down to the floor we went. Yes, we had tickets on the floor in general admission. Surprisingly, we were pretty close to the stage! The show got started an hour after the 7:30 showtime, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

Bruce opened with a song called "Trapped" followed by one of my favorites from his "Magic"album,
"Radio Nowhere." He sang most of the songs from "Magic" including "Livin' In the Future" and a big favorite, "Long Walk Home." And, of course he sang classics like "No Surrender,"
"Badlands" and "Born to Run." It was just....awesome! As you can see, I smuggled my camera in and got a few shots. This face shot (taken off the screen) is probably the best. But just to show you how pretty close we were to the stage, here's one more below of Bruce on stage:

So anyway, all in all it was a fantastic evening! I will say that it was not easy to stand in the 'mosh pit' for three hours straight. I'm not sure I will do that again. (I'm not getting any younger!) I kept looking over at the lucky dogs sitting comfortably in their chairs. But then, we had such a great view of the stage, it was worth it. The only song that Bruce didn't sing that I was looking forward to was "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." But lucky for you, I found a video of the song on You Tube for your listening pleasure (C'mon, you know you want to:)

I think all three of us had a great time. (Hopefully Khristina did? I think "Born to Run" was the only song she recognized. But she was a great sport for going with us!)

So today is my last day off before back to work tomorrow. Poor Derek is pretty sick, so today will be spent relaxing and healing so we're all good to go for tomorrow.

"But 'til then ... tramps like us - baby we were born to ruuuuun"

Look What's Growing in the Garden!

Today, between snow showers (yes, we're STILL getting snow,) we decided it was time to 'till up the garden to get it ready to plant. So my husband got out his brand new (well, new to us - from Craig's List) rototiller, rolled it over to the garden, started 'er up, and was just about to get started, when we heard Lexi's blood curdling scream, "STOP!!! STOP, DADDY!" She was jumping up and down pointing at something in the garden. At first we didn't see anything:

Do you see it?

There is a bird nest in the garden - with 4 little eggs! This type of bird that nests on the ground - the Killdeer - nests quite often around our place. Sometimes they nest right on our gravel road! But this funny bird decided that our garden was a perfect place for a nest. So, needless to say, we did not rototill today. :) We shall wait until the babies are hatched and moved out. (Or until my husband gets tired of waiting. Which ever comes first.)

In other news, I'm savoring my last few days of Spring Break before going back to work. Wow, it sure did go fast. I didn't do a heck of a lot, but that was on purpose. It was nice to take life slow, for even just one week.

I did continue my quest to get the house Spring Cleaned. I even got the kids to chip in. Today? Gage, my 11-year old, was supposed to vacuum. I reminded him, and then I went outside to gather eggs from the henhouse. All the while, I happily heard the vacuum running in the house. Aaaah! Yes! Gage was doing as he was told. AND, I thought, when I get inside, the house will be nice and vacuumed!

Wrong.

The carpet was still a mess. "GAGE! I thought you were you going to vacuum the carpet. Get it done! NOW!"

Gage: dead serious - "Oh. You want me to vacuum the carpet? You need to be more specific, Mom."

Okay. That's disturbing on several levels. The thing that bothers me the most though? I heard the vacuum running when I was outside. What the heck was this kid vacuuming, if it wasn't the carpet? Sigh. I don't even want to know.

What else? OH!! Perhaps the biggest news of ALL! TOMORROW night is the Bruce Springsteen concert! That's right, Peeps! Woot! The best part? I'm going with my dear friend Samantha. Sam and I have been friends since college, and we went to a Springsteen concert 20 (eek... really? TWENTY?) years ago. Remember The Tunnel of Love? Oh yeah, baby. We were so there! And we're reliving the madness tomorrow night! (Well, reliving it minus the big hair and mini skirts.) And, of course Sam and I are SURE that when Bruce comes out on stage & scans the crowd, he will see that Sam and I are not only the coolest people there, but his biggest fans, and will invite us backstage. (Hey. Shut up. It could happen.)

Anyhoo, more on the concert soon I'm sure.

Ummm...HELLO? I thought it was SPRING???

It doesn't snow in the Seattle area very often. -- A couple of times a winter if we're LUCKY. But snow in late March? Unheard of. But right now it's snowing HARD.

And it's sticking:

Correct me if I'm wrong...Isn't APRIL just a week away?

I mean, don't get me wrong. I love snow!

In DECEMBER.

Edit: It's 10:45 pm, and it's STILL snowing. We have about 3 inches:

Sigh. I'm going to bed. :(

Wordless Wednesday: Scenes From a Farm

A couple of people have suggested that since this blog is entitled, "Notes From the Farm" I should show more pictures from around our farm.

Agreed!

So since I'm up late, & can't sleep, here is this week's Wordless Wednesday, posted a little early:

Spring Break, Spring Cleaning

The last few days I've been cleaning. Not just ordinary cleaning, mind you. Out and out, get-your-chemicals, open all the windows, don the gloves, beat the rugs with sticks, get out the garbage bags, scrub down the floors, down and dirty CLEANING. And BELIEVE me, my house needed it.

Disclaimer: Normally, my house is very clean. I am a clean freak most of the time. But ever since I started working full time? (Sadly - almost 2 years ago...) My house and it's cleanliness have suffered.

So as I said, I've been POWER cleaning. I've only really gotten the kids' rooms done, but still! It feels darn good. Because the kids' rooms were...gross. Just gross. And in serious need of mucking out.

Because I know you're riveted to this very interesting post about me cleaning, I will now list strange and bizarre items found during my Spring Quest to Scour the Kids' Bedrooms:

• t-shirt, size 2T (distressing mainly because my kids are currently aged 7, 9 and 11)


• various and sundry rocks and pebbles (Cole went through a rock collecting phase a while back)


• 23 yogurt lids (evidently a yogurt lid collecting phase, as well)


• 1 small tooth in a baggie (I'm thinking this is the handiwork of that careless tooth fairy. Dang her.)


• roughly 5,417 legos (the little itty bitty kind - the kind that when the tender sole of your foot steps squarely on said lego in the middle of the night when you're up going to the bathroom? You hop around and hiss various curse words through clenched teeth. Not that I would do that, you understand. I'm just saying some people might.)


• a fuzzy piece of shriveled petrified fruit (banana? apple? test results are still pending)


• $1.57 in pennies nickles and dimes (which was promptly added to the Mommy latte fund. Or possibly the Mommy margarita fund. Actually, these funds are interchangeable on an 'as needed' basis.)


• a folded up note labelled 'Top Secret, Don't Open - That Means You' in which Lexi has laid out a covert plan describing how she plans to hunt, locate, torture, and destroy The Enemy (her brothers) complete with diagrams, maps, and illustrations.


• Valentine candy (or possibly Halloween candy? Circa 2007? 2008? Not sure, but inedible nonetheless)


• 3 tokens of various sizes & unknown origin (Chuck E. Cheese? car wash? arcade?)

Pretty weird stuff, I know.

So 3 garbage bags and 2 Good Will bags later, I am done. I am exhausted but ready for tomorrow's challenge. For then I shall tackle the laundry room. I can't wait! (Yes, THIS is how so very sad my life has become. I'm looking forward to cleaning the laundry room.)

So with that, I'll leave you with this little tidbit from last night's conversation with Cole:

Cole: outta the blue..."Mom? When I grow up, I hope I have lots and lots of chest hair."
Me: "Well, you just might. But why, praytell, do you wish for that?"
Cole: "Well...if I had lots of hair, I could shave words on my chest."
Me: "Yes. There's that."
Cole: "Like, I could shave, 'Yeah!' in my chest hair."
Me: "Yep, you sure could." Afraid to ask, but, you know, I had to...
"But why? WHY in the world would you want to do that, Cole?"
Cole: thinking...thinking... "Wait! I know! If I was at a football game, and my team won, all I would have to do is.. THIS!" At which time he ripped open his shirt to expose the imaginary 'Yeah!' shaved in his imaginary chest hair.

Me: "...."
and to my husband sitting happily & obliviously in the other room..."Honey? In 10 short years when Cole goes off to college? He is sooo not allowed to join a fraternity."

And even though my husband heard nothing of the chest-hair-word-shaving conversation, he wholeheartedly agreed.

An Easter Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for the gift of HOPE
You gave us on Easter morning. Because of You we know that no problem is too difficult, and even death does not have power over us.

Thank you for the gift of JOY
You gave us when you were resurrected. Because of You we know that no matter how challenging life may be, in the end we will rejoice again.

Thank you for the gift of LOVE
You gave us when You laid down Your life. Because of You we know that there is no sin too great to seperate us and we are incredibly valuable to You.

Thank you for the gift of LIFE
You gave us when you left the tomb. Because of Easter we know this world is just the beginning and we will spend forever in heaven with You.

We celebrate you, JESUS
with hearts full of praise and gratitude for who You are and all You've done for us!

Amen. (written by Holley Gerth)

Please take a few minutes and watch this video from You Tube:

This clip illustrates in a powerful way how the sacrifice of Jesus must have completely broken the heart of God the Father - and how Easter should also include a time of expressing our gratitude not only to Jesus, but to the Father as well.

This clip is also more than just a video. It's actually based on the true story of a real man who made that exact sacrifice.

This week over a billion people will celebrate Easter. We celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ came back from the dead after paying the ultimate price for our sins. We celebrate the fact that salvation is available through trusting in the risen Savior of the world.

But even though we celebrate, sometimes we forget. There was more than one sacrifice that was made on that hill where Jesus hung on the Cross and poured out His life. Think of the sacrifice God the Father also made for us.

That's why this Easter we need to remember and celebrate not only the earthly side of the gospel message, but the heavenly side as well.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8)

Happy Easter, everyone.

A Few Peas Shy of a Casserole

Today, while driving to work this morning, a car pulled out RIGHT in front of me. I mean I was this close to hitting the guy. I had to slam on the brakes. (And no, as much as I wanted to, I did not scream out obscenities. I had the kids in the car with me.) But the kids did watch the whole thing. After we composed ourselves, Cole said, "Wow. That guy wasn't so smart, was he, Mom?"

And of course, I wholeheartedly agreed. And followed with, "Nope. He certainly is not the brightest bulb in the pack. And, he's for sure not the sharpest tool in the shed."

Well then, I had to explain what those sayings meant. (Yeah, I know. I'm not up for the Mother of the Year award anytime soon.)

So then, Gage pipes up and says, "Yeah. He's really not the tastiest nut in the Snickers bar." Ha ha! Good one! Yeah, I know it really doesn't make sense. But it made me laugh.

So THEN, not to be outdone, Lexi says, "Nope. He's not the brightest ketchup stain on the ol' dress shirt." Ha! I'm laughing hard now. 'Cuz that one made a little more sense, and was pretty funny.

Cole listened to all of this, and really didn't know what to say. And even though it had nothing to do with anything, he came up with, "Well, I just think Mom is pretty." Awwww...yeah he sometimes says the sweetest things.

To which Lexi says, "Mom? Cole is such a suck-up. And, you know what else? Cole for SURE is not the first chicken on the rotisserie."

Yeah. I have no idea what that means either. But I nearly snorted my latte outta my nose, I was laughing so hard!

....And then, of course - Cole: "I am TOO the first chicken on the rotisserie."

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Storm

I'm participating in Wordless Wednesday this week. Yay for me!

Except I'm gonna use some words, so it's not really wordless.

We had the coolest storm roll through this past weekend. It's hard to see, but it's just POURING rain and hail. Afterwards the most beautiful rainbow emerged. I LOVE storms!

Wax on, Wax off

As long as there's been women and facial hair, there's been women trying to get rid of that facial hair. We tweeze, we bleach, we pluck, and yes, we even wax.

I have to admit though, before this weekend, it had been over a year since I'd been in to get waxed. Why? Because the memory of the sheer PAIN of it all was fresh in my mind. Even after a year. I mean GEES. Basically you're sitting there, and this cheerful perky lady takes gobs of hot molten WAX and spreads it on tender parts of your face. Then she gets little white strips of paper, presses them on the wax and then rrrrrip ... rrrrrippp....rrriiiipppp. And all the while this is going on, she's smiling and chatting away with you. Like it's perfectly normal to have little short bits of hair, along with the first layer of skin RIPPED from your upper lip or eyebrows. It's really not fun. And you're paying this woman to do this torturous activity. Oh, and being waxed down there? I don't even want to THINK about THAT. I'm pretty sure no one has lived through THAT to tell the tale.

But I must say, on Saturday, RLG and I went in to get waxed, and it was almost pleasant! Well, pleasant is a strong word. I mean it's still hot molten wax, and hair being ripped from your face, but surprisingly - it didn't hurt! I don't know if my threshold for pain is different now, or if they've improved the waxing technique since I was last in, but I was pleasantly surprised.

And the best part? When I got home, Cole examined my eyebrows and said, "Wow, Mommy! You left here with 2 giant furry caterpillars on your forehead, and now it's like....ummm...now they're just 2 little worms."

Hey. I'll take little worms over giant furry caterpillars any day of the week.

What else...Oh! Look how big our pigs are already:

They're growing so fast! And, they're so funny. They have such personalities. You know what else? Pigs are very clean. They 'do their business' in one corner of the pen, and it's far away from their shelter and their food. I never would have thought. I mean, cows just poop where ever and whenever the urge strikes. Even if it's on the head of another cow eating right next to them. It's really pretty gross. But pigs? Very clean animals. They're fun to watch.

Happy St. Pat's Day everyone! Hope you remembered to wear greeeeeen!

Just the Secretary

Not too long ago, I received the following little gem of a phone call at work:

Him: "Yeah, I'd like to speak to someone about the Science Fair."

Me: "Oh! You're speaking to the right person. How may I help you?"

Him: "Well....um... who are you?"

Me: I said my name when I answered the phone, but anyway...
"This is Diane. I coordinated the Science Fair this year. Is there something I can help you with?"

Him: "Sooooo. Ummmm.... Do you work there?"

Me: No. I'm some derelict that wandered in off the street. I heard a phone ringing and I answered it.
"Yes, I sure do. I'm the secretary here. Can I help you?" (For the 50th time?)

Him: "So let me get this straight. You're JUST the secretary down there, and they put YOU are in charge of the Science Fair??"

Me: cringing that he said 'JUST the secretary.'
"Yes, that's right."

Him: "Don't take this the wrong way, but why in the world wasn't a teacher put in charge of the Science Fair? Or someone at least with a science background?"

Me: Yeah, thanks, I'll try not to take that the wrong way.
"Well, you know, I do happen to have a 'science background'."
(completely irritated that I have to defend myself to this dude.)
"I have a degree in Microbiology and worked many years as a Medical Technologist."
OR maybe you'd rather have a teacher with a degree in Home Ec be in charge? Not that there's anything wrong with a Home Ec degree, you understand, but you want someone that doesn't know the Scientific Method from a hole in the ground running the thing? Not that an elementary Science Fair is rocket science. But still.

Him: "Oh...."

Me: How do you like dem apples?
"So, sir, HOW CAN I HELP YOU?"

Him: "I just wanted to pass on that I thought the Science Fair was well organized this year."

Me: Oh gee - thanks.

Him: "And I was just curious...if you supposedly have all this science background, why are you there? Why are you just the secretary at my son's school?"

There's that 'just the secretary' nugget again.

Yeah. I'm not sure if this guy was trying hard to be JUST an idiot, or if it came naturally.

But I do get asked that a lot. Why am I the secretary at my kids' school? There are many answers to that question. Sometimes, to be honest, I don't have a CLUE what I'm doing here. Coincidentally, this clueless feeling usually occurs on the days I'm cleaning up puke or helping a kid who just peed all over the floor.

I used to think I was here because I got 1/2 off my kids' tuition by working here. (Don't get me wrong - that's huge! That's why I accepted the job. But that's not why I stay.) I'm here for a lot of reasons. I have a lot of stories I could tell that answers that question. But I'll just tell one today.

There's a little girl that goes to school here. When she started in September, she was very angry. She never smiled. She did not talk. And every single morning she was tardy. But I didn't mind, because as I wrote out her tardy slip, I smiled at her and told her I hoped that she would have a good day. She never smiled back and never said a word to me. In fact, she glared at me most mornings.

She gets in trouble. A lot. She's in the principal's office all the time. She struggles academically. And she was even moved back a grade. The other kids don't play with her because they say she's not nice. The teachers dog her because she misbehaves. All of this made her even angrier.

I don't know much about her home life, but I know her mom is a struggling single mom, and she tries hard.

So here it is March. I have spent six months smiling at this girl, winking at her in the halls, giving her quick words of encouragement, with nothing back. Zip. Nada.

That all changed this week!

This week, this little girl has started to soften! She smiles back! She winks back. And yesterday? Yesterday she paused in front of my window until I looked up, and then she smiled. She smiled first.

Maybe that doesn't sound like much to you. But I know that I am making a small difference in this little girl's life. I'm not sure why she's softening, I'm just glad she is. I'm thankful she's here in our school. And I'm thankful that I'm 'just the secretary' at this school.

That's why I'm here, Mr. Jerk on the phone. I'm here for the little girl that smiles at me now, and a million other little reasons. I could be in a lab someplace making a lot more than I do now. And, maybe I will do that again some day. But right now? I'm here.

I'm here because I believe God placed me here. I believe He wants me to do what I can to make a difference, as small as it is, in the lives of the children here.

Isn't that what it's all about?

(Oh yeah. And also? I get a month off in the summer & Christmas and Easter breaks off. Don't forget THAT.)

Shakin' Things Up

I'm pretty sure God has an incredible sense of humor. I really do. I think He sits up in heaven and finds ways to shake things up down here. And, I think that's why He gave me my son Cole.

Don't get me wrong. Cole is a wonderful boy and I love him dearly. Of all my kids? He's the one that has the warmest kindest heart. He's the one that loves to cuddle. He is the one that notices when I get a haircut, or a new pair of shoes, or whatever. And he loves Jesus with all his heart. Cole is really a delight in so many ways.

But my first two kids are Rule Followers. And Pleasers.... like their mother. I am the Queen of all Rule Followers.

My third one though - Cole? Yeah, not so much.

I remember one time when Cole was about three or so...My Dad was coming for a visit. I don't see my Dad much, so I wanted this visit to go perfectly. (Yeah, I know. Not possible. Especially with three little ones.) I prepared everything I could think of so things would go as smoothly as possible. I cleaned and cooked and got everything just so. My Dad wasn't used to being around little kids much, so I went over things with my kids - what manners they needed to practice, the way they could and couldn't act, blah blah blah.

So when my Dad came for his visit, things were going pretty well. Until it was time for all of us to get in the car and go into town. That's when Cole decided to sing a little song. Awwww, sounds lovely, doesn't it? A nice little song from a nice little sweet adorable 3-year-old boy.

Yeah. Except this song was about ... butt-cracks. You heard right. Butt-cracks.

"Butt-craaaaaaaaaaacks, oh butt-craaaaaaaacksssss.
You see them everywherrrrrre, butttttt-craaaaacksssssssss"

Oh, and this was not a short song. Oh no. This song had multiple stanzas. Like 403 stanzas or something. And remember, we live in a rural area. So the ride into town provided many creatures from which Cole pulled inspiration for his new song.

"Oh yeaaaah, butt-cracks on hoooooorrrrrses, butt-cracks on coooowsssss,
Even birdsssss and goatssss have buttttt-craaaaaaaaaaacks. Yesss theeeeeey doooooooo"

Mortifying.

Luckily my dad has a sense of humor, and thought the 45-minute Butt-Crack Song was hilarious.

But, my point is this: As much as I try to teach and guide my kids? They teach and guide me. Or rather, maybe I should say, God teaches and guides me through my kids. I sincerely believe that. I'm a person that likes things just so. I like things in order. My ducks need to be in a row.

God decided to shake things up. And gave me a child that, among many other things, sings about butt cracks at inappropriate times. (Not that I can think of an appropriate time to sing about butt-cracks. But anyway.)

It's not that I don't like things in order anymore. I do, believe me. But, I've learned to roll with things a little easier now. To not sweat the small stuff as much. To take things in stride. And most importantly - to laugh.

Cole reminds me of that every single day.

And then there was the time Cole mooned his entire Kindergarten class. Yeah. But that's a post for another day.

Spring Forward & Spring Pigs

My 9-year-old daughter, Lexi detests daylight savings time. She always has - since she was about 3 and figured out that we were switching the clocks. ("Switching time - willy-nilly when it suits us" ...as she puts it.)

So now that we've "Sprung Forward", here's what I get to listen to now:

Me: "It's 8:00 kids - Bedtime!"
Lexi: "Well, if it wasn't for the brain child that invented daylight savings time, it would be 7:00 and we could stay up another hour."

Yes, she really said 'brain child.' I do NOT know where this girl gets her sarcasm. *cough cough*

Cole: "Mom? What time is it?"
Lexi: answering for me "Well, that depends on if you want to know what the clock says, or what time it REALLY is, before we switched the clocks for no good reason."

Me: "Hurry up and get in the car everyone, or we'll be late for school."
Lexi: "Well, actually, if it weren't for this ridiculous clock switching thing, we would have a whole 'nother hour to get ready for school."

Yes. Sigh.

It is going to be a loooong 7 months until October when we get to turn the clocks back to, as Lexi puts it "back to the appropriate time - the time that God intended."

In other news, the pigs are here! We are now the proud owners of 10 very cute pink little piglets:

Awwww...aren't they the cutest?!

I can almost smell the bacon sizzlin'...

Speaking of which, to celebrate the arrival of said pigs, I decided to make sausage and gravy for dinner. (I know - sorta twisted.) So Cole walks into the kitchen, sees the sausage cooking, and with a horrified look on his face, says:

"Oh noooo! We're already eating one of our pigs?"

Poor kid.

All the money we're supposedly saving raising our own animals? Will be spent on a good therapist for the kids.

We are the Knights Who Say "Ni"

There are two groups of people in this world: Those that love Monty Python movies, and those that... sadly... do not.

The Monty Python People have seen every movie at least once, think they're hilarious, and can (and DO) recite every funny line from those movies. This invariably annoys the Non-Monty Python People. Also? Monty Python People don't understand Non-Monty Python People. And although I can't say for sure, I'm pretty sure it's vice versa.

My oldest son just walked by my office on the way to the bathroom, and said to me in his best British Monty Python voice:

"Shrubberies are my trade. I am a shrubber. My name is Roger the Shrubber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies."

Yes, my friends, this is a proud moment for me. My son has become one of us. After seeing The Holy Grail only ONCE, he can recite all of the funny lines. (I know! Amazing!) I am looking forward to this weekend. For then, I shall introduce him to Life of Brian.

"We are now no longer the Knights Who Say 'Ni'. We are now the Knights Who Say 'Ecky-ecky-ecky-ecky-pikang-zoop-boing-goodem-zoo-owli-zhiv'."

Ah-Ha

The other day I had a 'ding ding ding' moment. (Insert lightbulb here.) Oprah calls them 'Ah-Ha' moments. You know what I mean. And, I can't stop thinking about it.

There's a benefit for which I was seriously thinking of raising money and getting involved with. But, recently someone told me that this particular benefit event supports an organization that I don't... how should I say this.... Let's just say that this organization does things that I don't agree with. (I strongly disagree with...) As my friend RLG pointed out though, they also do many wonderful things. But I can't get past the other. (And keep in mind, it's only a rumor right now. Don't worry. I'm checking it out for myself. I'm waiting for a response from these people.)

ANYway (yeah, I know I ramble) I was talking to RLG (actually we were IM'ing each other) and something she said (typed) really made me think. She said something like, "Well it's real easy to jump on the bandwagon and protest the "sinners." But are YOU doing everything you can - to actually do what Jesus asks of you?" (Yeah, I know I butchered that. I can feel RLG cringing. She said it a lot more eloquently.)

But she made me think. It IS so easy to point the finger at what I think everyone else is doing wrong. I could say, yeah they're bad. Ooooh, look at them and how bad they are. And leave it at that.

That's easy.

BUT, what about me?

I could list all the things I think I'm doing to help the poor, the less fortunate, the disenfranchised. (That was my first reaction to RLG - to be defensive. To say, hey! Look at all the things I am doing.) But a list would be pointless. Because if I look at myself, I know that I am not doing everything I can. Not even close. (Are any of us?)

So yeah. If I find out that this benefit event supports the organization I don't agree with, I can't be a part of it. (On this, I believe RLG and I disagree.) I just will not throw money at something, and support what I'm opposed to. But I CAN and WILL do more of what I'm asked to do. What Jesus tells me to do. So thank you RLG! I appreciate the reminder. :)

(Ummm, but don't get too excited. I'm not gonna run out and become a democrat or anything. So don't go getting crazy and buy me an Obama shirt or something.)

Her Majesty, The Queen

This past weekend we decided it was time to take a peek into our hive. Did you know we're beekeepers? We are! We have one small hive, with two more BIGGER hives being built as we speak. (Because, we have so much fun with one hive, according to my husband's logic, three hives would be three times as fun.)

My favorite part of beekeeping? The honey, of course! Have you ever had fresh honey right from the hive? One word: yum! Nothing better. (Ok, three words.)

Anyhoo.

As I said, it was time to check on the "girls." It's been a long winter, and since this weekend we had relatively warm weather, it was safe to open the hive and check things over. This time, my 11-year-old son, Gage donned his bee suit and helped Daddy. It's important to make sure the queen has survived the winter and the hive, in general is healthy. And yes, apparently we indeed found that things are marvelous in the hive. We didn't actually see the queen (because her workers - the other females - cluster around her in the colder months to keep her warm, thus making her hard to see) but there were signs that the queen was still around and healthy and doing her thing. The brooding chamber had a few active broods so this is all good.

As my husband was closing up the hive, Gage noticed all kinds of little dead bee bodies on the ground.

"Dad, what are these?"
"Oh, those are the male bees - the drones. In the wintertime, the worker bees (the females) expel the drones from the hive. They're not needed anymore after the breeding season is over. So, the males are killed and just tossed out the door."

(Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Gage, on the other hand, did not agree. As was apparent from the look on his face.)

Gage: "Ooooh man. That seems wrong on so many levels."

Maybe so, Gage. But wait until NEXT weekend. When you learn firsthand what it means to castrate a pig.

Heh.