i worked ALL day cleaning the basement. sorting toys. putting away legos. HOW MANY LEGOS DO 5 KIDS NEED???? throwing away. ooops, did I just suck up some legos in the shop vac? dressing barbies. then promptly putting their big boobed, perfect waist, long legged, plastic bodies in a big purple, not clear rubbermaid. oh, did you want to play with the barbies? i'm sorry, i don't know WHERE they got to:). after everything was sorted, put away and thrown away, i vaccumed the rest. when i got to a corner of the room, i noticed a very large spider creeping along. in a effort to protect my 4th born child, who i would die for, i stomped with my big foot and crushed the very large spider. only then did i notice webbed in the corner...an egg sack. all of her little babies left motherless. alone. deserted. just like bambi. i was sad for about 2 minutes, thought of my OWN baby and her complete and utter fear of spiders, took the nozzle of the shop vac and POOF ended their tiny, little spider lives. ahhhh.
oh and to all of my friends who are grammar police....i spelt killed kilt on purpose:).
Friday, September 12, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
my brain is full
of the ice age. of mesoamerica. of abc's. of algebra. of long division. of preschool and high school. did i really MEAN to have 5 kids? do i really WANT to homeschool them?! my fear is that it won't be good enough. luckily, i'm married to a scholar. he pulls up the slack. he checks the math at 10:00 at night. luckily, i have a GREAT co-op. all of the classes that i don't feel comfortable teaching (most of high school:)) can be taken there. in truth, i do love teaching my kids myself. i love seeing their enthusiasm when they learn something new. i crack up at my older son's ability to be smarter than me. i am challenged by my 6th graders questions. like, "i'm not sure if i can do this curriculum if it doesn't have a christian view point". HUH? you don't even go to church...what is your problem? the best part is that i am thinking more than i ever have. my brain is full. i get to re-learn all of those things i forgot. can i get a new transcript?!
Monday, August 25, 2008
something light
the other day i fixed elias's breakfast. i put his pancake on a plate and just placed his sausage on the table next to the plate. he said "you are KIDDING me!". yeah, he's a controlling 3 year old. what else would you expect from a strasser babe? i hung my head and wandered back into my domain....the kitchen.... to get the young prince a plate. that made him happy.
Friday, August 15, 2008
my husband and the cop
if you know my husband, you would know that the two don't mix. however, he has had many chances to mix and it never turns out pretty. yesterday at the coffeeshop a car was parked in the do not park between 4 and 6 lane. it was 4:15. H went out to see if there was anyone around who owned the car. the cops are obnoxious about giving tickets for that particular offense. he noticed a police car coming around the left lane of traffic into the right lane. he went back into the shop to see if it belonged to anyone there. a woman said it was hers. he told her that she needed to move it really fast because a cop was making his way down right behind her car. she ran out and left. H noticed that the cop drove past the shop and he went out to see if he was going to follow her. when H got outside he saw that the cop had pulled into a handicapped spot in the parking lot next door. of course, H was curious as to what the cop was doing. he walked down the block a bit and saw the cop in skyline ordering up a cheese coney! SO, my husband decides to sit on the bench in front of the parking lot and wait. when the cop walked out H approached him and said "do you have a minute?". the cop said he did. H proceeds to ask the cop if he knew that he parked in a handicap spot. the cop said "yeah, i guess i did". H asks him if he sees anything wrong with that. the cop says "well, there aren't any handicapped people around and i was only running in skyline for 2 minutes". H says, "but you parked in a spot you're not supposed to park in and some people around here would really love to see someone who is the law show some integrity, follow the same law and do what is right." then the cop asks him what he has done all day. H says" losing money". the cop then says "so, you just sit and wait to crawl up someone's ass?". then the cop went on and on and on about being important and needing to park close because he might get called to a robbery or something. THEN another cop drove by and motioned to the cop H was talking to wondering if he needed help! so the OTHER cop pulls in the parking lot and comes and stands behind H with his hands on his hips. (might need his gun, ya know). at this point H just stared and said nothing. the cop says "what do you want me to do, write myself a ticket?" H says "yeah, that would be nice. if it had been me parking there you wouldn't have thought twice to write me up." the cop then says H needs to find something else to do with his time and my lovely husband replies "i'm just trying to change the world one person at at time...."
i think that was the end. the cop decided to leave. i really wish H would have just gotten his camera, taken a picture of the car, taken a picture of the cop in skyline and sent it to the enquirer or city beat!! H and authority have never gotten along. must be why we get along so well. i hate it when people get on power trips. i just don't have the guts to say anything. i LOVE my husband's big mouth! i LOVE that he was standing up for the person who might have needed that spot. i just think he might need to take some martial arts or something......
i think that was the end. the cop decided to leave. i really wish H would have just gotten his camera, taken a picture of the car, taken a picture of the cop in skyline and sent it to the enquirer or city beat!! H and authority have never gotten along. must be why we get along so well. i hate it when people get on power trips. i just don't have the guts to say anything. i LOVE my husband's big mouth! i LOVE that he was standing up for the person who might have needed that spot. i just think he might need to take some martial arts or something......
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
on church
a friend just wrote a great post on offerings in the church setting. i would link you to her, but she likes to be anonymous. basically, she was really happy that her kids didn't really know what "passing the plate" meant. they go to a vineyard church and vineyards are typically pretty discreet about the giving part of the service. i made a comment that i was glad my kids don't really know what church is. i lied. they do really know what church is and they know it in a much deeper way than i ever could have. in fact, i didn't really figure out what church is until i left college. to my kids the church is the people around them. the ones who step up when we need help. the folks we hang out with. do we pray with these people? rarely out loud. do we sing worship songs with them? never. do we enjoy our lives with them? definitely. can we count on them in a tragedy? definitely. do they love our children and are walking with us in raising them? definitely. so when i say my kids don't know what church is, i really mean they do not quite understand a church meeting. to them life is church. god is everywhere. the spiritual abounds in the sounds at night and a gentle rain. for awhile i felt guilty that my family does not attend a church meeting on a sunday. i've given that up. i think it was when my 14 year old handed a $10 bill of his own money to a homeless guy.
i do have to say that i think church meetings are a good thing. i think it's a place where you can find community among believers. i especially love this place. lots of great things can be learned in a corporate worship setting. i guess i just finally feel free. free of the "have to go" mentality. my entire life i had to go to church and i had to dress up and i couldn't EVER wear shorts and i couldn't be late and i could NEVER skip out. god was there and he might miss me. and what would people think? i was the pastor's daughter, ya know. i never missed a potluck, a sunday night, a wednesday night, a choir practice, a sunday school, a anything. i couldn't WAIT till i was old enough to work in the nursery. i was a social being, so i suppose i didn't mind as much as i seem to as an adult! plus, it was just what i was used to and didn't experience anything different until i went off to college and could CHOOSE! thus began my slow awakening to the possibility that one did not HAVE to attend a church meeting. but the GUILT! would i lose my chance to go to heaven? would my parents despise me? what would everyone think! gasp! over the course of the next 20 years, my way of thinking was re-trained. in reading books by brennan manning and hanging out with fellow revolutionaries my brain was un-brainwashed in believing that my salvation depended upon my attendance record at the local meeting house. so, my children are being raised in a completely different manner than i was. it's kind of interesting. my husband and i are the sunday school teachers. my husband and i and our various friends are the pastors. our children know god because they see him in our friends and our world around us. it's a lovely, lovely freedom.
i do have to say that i think church meetings are a good thing. i think it's a place where you can find community among believers. i especially love this place. lots of great things can be learned in a corporate worship setting. i guess i just finally feel free. free of the "have to go" mentality. my entire life i had to go to church and i had to dress up and i couldn't EVER wear shorts and i couldn't be late and i could NEVER skip out. god was there and he might miss me. and what would people think? i was the pastor's daughter, ya know. i never missed a potluck, a sunday night, a wednesday night, a choir practice, a sunday school, a anything. i couldn't WAIT till i was old enough to work in the nursery. i was a social being, so i suppose i didn't mind as much as i seem to as an adult! plus, it was just what i was used to and didn't experience anything different until i went off to college and could CHOOSE! thus began my slow awakening to the possibility that one did not HAVE to attend a church meeting. but the GUILT! would i lose my chance to go to heaven? would my parents despise me? what would everyone think! gasp! over the course of the next 20 years, my way of thinking was re-trained. in reading books by brennan manning and hanging out with fellow revolutionaries my brain was un-brainwashed in believing that my salvation depended upon my attendance record at the local meeting house. so, my children are being raised in a completely different manner than i was. it's kind of interesting. my husband and i are the sunday school teachers. my husband and i and our various friends are the pastors. our children know god because they see him in our friends and our world around us. it's a lovely, lovely freedom.
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