Smells of Superman

I must tell you about my son Tucker. He is so imaginative. Tucker loves his older brother Kevin and longs and pretends to be just like him. About two weeks ago, Tucker came in saying "Smell my Arm Pits". Whenever anyone tells you this, you want to run, unless you are a junior high boy, but as a good mother, I "pretended" to smell them. Tucker was so proud. I asked him what he did, and his reply was, "I put on my yogurt." I was quite confused until he revealed to me his brother's deodorant. Somehow in his little mind, "yogurt" and "deodorant" are very similar. This was not the end of this fascination with smelling good. Today he came in all dressed in his little Superman Undies (on backwards of course, because he cannot see the big pictures on the back if he has them on the right way- note to Fruit of the Loom). He yelled at Darren, "SuperDad", "SuperDad", until Darren recognized his new name. "Smell my armpits!" Tucker again revealed his brother's deodorant and informed SuperDad that it was his "Fresh Collection." I am not sure if he has watched too much TV or been to Bath & Body too many times. I think Tucker might have been influenced by marketing......

Summer, el fin!!!

Where did the summer go? I always thought that once I was out of school, I wouldn't get that sick in my stomach night before the first day of school feeling. This isn't true... I got a break for a few years, but now that Kevin is in school, I have that feeling again. He on the other hand is very excited to go to school. Summer has been wonderful, but way too short. It seems just like last week that we were planning everything we were going to do. Now it has come and gone. Summer began with Christin Taylor coming to visit. How fun!!!! Memorial day started time at the lake, jumping on the trampoline, skiing, attempting to wakeboard, watching Kevin and Darren successfully wakeboard, jet skiing, and just sitting soaking in the sun. I do not know why God planted me in the middle of Indiana. I am for sure a warm climate person! June was the Tree of Life annual Lake Day. It was the coldest day of the summer, but still tons of fun. June flew by with the setting up of a new store at Cornerstone University and then 4th of July had already arrived. Fireworks on the lake is always a huge highlight of the summer! The stomach flu visited our family for 3 weeks, which was not very cool. On a much better note, Sam & Rosie & Eisley and Todd came to visit!!! It was so great to be together again. For sure a highlight. There was a family trip to Chicago and several trips to Grand Rapids. Kevin's 8th birthday arrived and we spent the day together in Indianapolis and of course visited Chucky Cheese (oh, my!) Darren's family came last week and just left yesterday. For sure another highlight! Why does time go faster and faster the older we get? The ultimate invention would be to have a time rewinder and just revisit the hightlights. Well, summer vacation is over, but I guess offically, summer is still here a few more weeks. If Kevin is happy to go back, then I should be as well. I still have that night before school sick feeling, though.

All Women

Yesterday as I walked the beach of Siesta Key, I observed the women walking up and down the beach. There were all kinds. College girls with the newest swimsuits and belly rings paced the beach hoping to be spotted by some group of college guys who were Spring Breaking as well. Thirty something Moms who had been those college girls just a few short years ago, were now chasing toddlers down the beach and digging in the sand with plastic buckets. Their discovered college guy was right beside them attempting to impress his toddler with an elaborate sand castle. A group of ladies paraded their class of 1961 shirts as they lined up for pictures on the beach. I could not decide if they were high school or college friends who had continued to spring break well beyond the spring break years. Ladies, who had left their homes in November who were still here until the spring had come to the north, passed by on their daily walks. There were junior high girls trying to hook up with a few junior high guys. One girl was ruling the roost, while another tried to edge in, and the third really didn’t care. On the public beach, there was even more variety. There were ladies with coolers of beer, there were ladies with umbrellas, and ladies with layers of tanning oil. There were a group of four college age girls who were Muslim wearing their black drapes in the hot sun still enjoying the beach. There were ladies who were trying to sneak into a pick up volleyball game and others who observed so called “cool guys” trying to boogie board on the waves. As I walked back to where I was staying, I observed five Mennonite girls in their simple ware coming out of their condominium. They were giggling and trying to decide who was going to take each other’s pictures.

I had to review the walk in my mind. All of these women were so different, yet very much alike. They all were on spring break, holiday, vacation, or winter retreat. They all wanted to be accepted and loved. They all wanted to be noticed in their own way. They were all women. The Mennonite girls were by far the most happy and the college girls were the most hip. But no matter what background, they were all women with the same needs and emotions. It was just a slice of the pie, but it showed me how much we are all the same..

Where Did the Glass Go?

Where did the glass go? Glass Coke bottles, glass medicine bottles, glass milk bottles? (I don’t remember glass milk bottles, but they sure looked cool.) I crave the old Coke, before they made it Coke Classic, in those tall skinny glass bottles. I used to go with my Dad to sell pigs, and we would each get a Coke in one of those bottles out of a special Coke machine at the hog market. That was always the most refreshing. I remember my Mother would always try and remember to take the empty cases of Coke back to Kroger to get the deposit money back before we bought more Coke. They were the best! There is not anyway to get that kind of Coke anymore. My husband recently bought me a case of the little cute bottles. They are charming and as close as you can get to the old recipe, but they still aren’t the same! Where did those bottles go? Once when I was in Mexico, I bought a Coke in a tall bottle. Did they decide that glass was bad for the environment, so they shipped all of the tall glass Coke bottles to Mexico? Why are we now using plastic? The carbonation isn’t the same and the liquid never gets as cold as it used to in glass bottles. They did away with the tall bottles, but at least they still had those shorter chubby glass bottles, that are now substituted with the plastic 500ml bottles. I really don’t like those at all!! I see people in the grocery with those hanging over their shopping cart, and I just want to say, “Please don’t buy those. Join the boycott of Coke in plastic bottles, and maybe they will hear our plea and return to glass!” But I think people are impressed that the plastic ones in the 6 packs, will hang over the sides of their carts, and I think they would probably just turn around and walk away from me or report me. Does anyone feel like I do? We have been cheated!! They have substituted a plastic bottle for the glass! Did they not think that we would notice? At first I thought that it was for the environment, but wouldn’t it be better to reuse a glass bottle over and over rather than make a plastic one and hope that someone would recycle it? (Don’t they know that really only people on the west coast and those in cities with socialized trash pickup recycle?) Most of us are just pitching the plastic bottles and they are accumulating in trash dumps all over the country. How many landfills will it take just to hold all of our unrecycled plastic Coke bottles that once held flat Coke? We could have used the glass bottle over and over again. For goodness sakes, we could have even bought our own glass bottles and just went back to get them refilled! Well, the beverage and glass industry will probably not hear my plea, but at least I have been heard by those who might dare to read my blog, and who might dare to care. Until I find the glass bottles, boycott the plastic ones!

My husband

I love my husband! We have been married almost 10 1/2 years. You would think by now that I would be just ho-hum. And sometimes marriage can be that way. But tonight I was reminded just how much I love him and how very special he is. This is, I guess a bit personal to put on my blog, but I do not mind letting others know how I really feel. My husband is a visionary! I love it! Sometimes I get annoyed at his idealism and just want him to be realistic, but that is usually when I don't think people will understand where he is going with the dreams. His dreaming is a gift. I am just realizing that being a dreamer is not something that everyone can do or be. It is a unique talent. I love it in him! He always sees way beyond what others see and he truly believes that those dreams can be reality! I love that!

I am so thankful that God has blessed me with Darren. I can't wait to see what the next 10 1/2 years look like in our marriage! Darren, thanks for this great Dream!

Childhood Memories

Do you ever have a random childhood memory pop into your head? Well, tonight while I was trying to go to sleep a most hilarious memory came back to me. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to blog my memory.

If I remember right, I was probably in Jr. High when this memory occurred. It was a unique night, for my Mom had gone somewhere and my Dad was home with my sister and I. I grew up on a farm and we were rarely not all together in the evenings. My sister and I got a wonderful idea to make milkshakes. We had a favorite recipe that Mom would make. They really were more like Frostys than milkshakes, but we decided to try it on our own. I can still remember what the recipe book looked like. It was one of those that came with the blender and therefore did not have much color or pictures. ( I don't think they give out recipe books with blenders anymore. Too bad.) We found the recipe book and were ready to blend. How hard could it be? Just add the sweetened condensed milk, the chocolate, and lots of ice. Things were going quite well. We even remembered to put the center of the top back on after putting the ice in. (Even a junior higher knows that the milkshake will spray all over if this part of the lid is not reinserted.)

What happened next will always be in my memory when I make milkshakes and when I use a wooden spoon. Things went really awry! Lots of ice was our problem. The blender started to bog down as they do when the liquid is too thick. My Dad luckily came to our rescue and grabbed a wooden spoon out of the drawer below. He took off that center piece of the lid and stuck the wooden spoon into the operating blender. This was not your $9.99 blender and therefore did not stop at the obstruction, but continued to blend whatever came in its pathway. When we heard the chopping noise, we knew that we were in trouble. I do not remember what happened next or how Dad got the spoon out or the blender off, but he did. I remember him revealing to us the blended wooden spoon. A chunk of the wooden spoon was missing. Dad then decided that all would not be lost and he would remove the wooden pieces from the milkshakes. Now my sister and I were not educated in cooking, but we didn't think this was a good idea. We preferred to just throw out the shakes and snack on something different. Dad insisted that it would be fine and that he would just remove the large piece missing from the milkshake. And he did. All was well, until my sister and I sat down in front of the T.V. to enjoy our wonderful milkshakes, when little shavings of wood began to appear in our mouth after slurping up the milkshake with our straws. Have you ever had wood in your mouth? It is not an experience to be quickly forgotten. Thus, here I am many years later, trying to sleep and remembering the wooden spoon and the milkshakes!

Thanks Dad for the great memory!!