What Kind of Farm Do You Run McDonald?

This morning on my way into work, I had Dawson with me. We passed a house that has roosters that run around wildly with no fence to keep them in and they were being LOUD. It was morning, after all and the sun would be up soon. So I was talking to Dawson about roosters and the cock-a-doodling they do.
Then Dawson breaks into song.

"Old McDonald Had a Farm" Dawson's version:

editors note: several e's and i's were neglected during the singing of this version

Old McDonald had a farm e-i-o.

On that farm he had a DUCK (proclaim loudly) e-i-o

With a moo moo here, everywhere, everywhere

quack quack

Old McDonald had a farm e-io

Yay! (followed by clapping)

Perhaps Mr. McDonald got a little greedy. -Got carried away with his farm and went all black market selling mixed breed animals?

Dawson hasn't bought any. He just sings about them.

Husband Meme

I stole this from Mindy's Alter Ego. Because sometimes I steal things.

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1. He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen? The Grill Master

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What is one food he doesn’t like? Black Olives

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? Um no we didn’t.

5. Where did he go to high school? Lakota

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10 ½ Extra Wide. Or 11 (long middle toe).

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Jeeps

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Philly Cheese Steak on most occasions.

9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could? Skyline Chili

10. What is his favorite cereal? All kinds. Whatever Dawson is eating!

11. What would he never wear? Thong underwear

12. What is his favorite sports team? Doesn’t do much sports. He likes the Colts.

13. Who will he vote for? ME! Or…McCain. But me if I make it on the ticket.

14. Who is his best friend? Josh

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Keep things inside

16. How many states has he lived in? Ohio, Florida, Indiana

17. What is his heritage? German (mom's side)

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; white with buttercream frosting

19. Did he play sports in high school? Yes, but he always quit.

20. What could he spend hours doing? Work on his Jeep.

Can You Keep A Secret?

Oooh! I’ll bet I caught a few eyes with that subject line.

Doesn’t it just drip with the insinuation that this post is going to be about GOSSIP?
I just discovered that word insinuation contains the words IN SIN. But that has nothing to do with anything and that’s what makes me so special.
Back to the gossip.
Actually, there is no gossip. Seriously. Gossip is for valley girls. I’m totally like so not a valley girl. Gag. Me. With. A. spoon.
To get to the point…

This is the reason for the subject line:1st Corinthians 4:1So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

I’ve had to think on this. Can I be entrusted with a secret? A secret so big that God keeps it? Because you all KNOW I talk too much. What kind of secrets does God have? I have to find out. And if I do, God, I’ll really try not to post it here. For all the internet to read. Okay?

Have you seen a commercial with an annoying jingle that stays with you and you can’t get it out of your head? It stays with you all day? I have a song like that, which I’ve taken to recently, only it’s not annoying. It’s meaningful. I’ve been listening to it, and singing it in my head over and over. It’s the final stanza that gets me every time. And the music that goes with it is so powerful. I get goosebumps. Do you say goosebumps, or goospimples? I say goosebumps because I don’t like the word pimple.

"In Christ Alone"

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand

The version that sings in my head is by Travis Cottrell. It's a medley with "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand".

Just in case any of you would like to check into actually hearing it.

Good-bye with a quote for the day:

"Always remember you're unique; just like everyone else".

Tabgha

Knock knock.

Jodi?

Are you there?

Here it is!

Remember how I was saying I used to be the lead singer in a band called Tabgha?

Proof of my existence:

That's right. We had business cards!

Talk about extreme.

But that's not all:

The front and back of the song sheet we passed out at performances so people could sing along.

Jodi, do you recognize it?

Jodi was our groupie.

She also married the guitar player.

Groupies are always trying to do that.

77777777777777777777777

I like the number 7.

And that's my transition to talk about Dawson now.

His imagination has started getting to his toys. They talk back to him now.

Storm Clods

Today, I'm giving spell check a reason to smile.

I have found my 2nd grade "creative writing book".

My 2nd grade brain was so stinking creative that storm clods, -dark stormy clods made me screme!!

But my favorite of all is that I'm pretty sure I spelled the word "because" the way I pronounced it:

BEUCKS.

Please, I'll be signing autographs for my book deal after the Storm Clod presentation this afternoon.

But what could possibly be better than being A FAMOUS AMERICAN?

For my own purposes, I have chosen to keep you in suspense dying to know how I ended my story. Only I know the ending because I'm able to flip the page over and read the back.

Oh the Cruelty.

Look what else I found!

It's SUPERBOOK Joy!!

@@@@@@@@

I received my very first ever Cassette tape "Carman" all folded up in this little plastic hand puppet bag one year for Christmas.

Because I like my name. It's great.

Has anyone out there ever seen the cartoon, Superbook?

Leaving you with video of Dawson and his incredible talent of shape finding.

Pick Me!

I just got back from the funeral of my best friend's mother.

It's always death that causes people to take a step back and review LIFE isn't it?

What is the meaning of life, have I served my purpose, am I significant?

Have I truly devoted my life, my calling, my all to Jesus who is the only One that will matter when my life on this earth is finished. When I have taken my last breath?

Questions like these rolled through my mind along with tears that rolled down my cheeks on my way back to work from this funeral.

Tears for my friend Mindy who has gone through more in a few months than most people go through in many years worth of time. Her car broke down. Her washer broke. The struggle sometimes to make ends meet.

She has a cat, Art, that farts and it really STINKS.

The loss of a baby she had already called her own.

The loss of her mother...

Let me tell you a little something about my amazing friend Mindy.

At the bottom of each and every email I have gotten from her for YEARS now, is this thing called a "signature". Which is this:

"After he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold!"
Job 23:10

One day after talking her through all the crazy events taking place in her life I flat out asked her,

"Mindy, seriously. Are you looking to come out as platinum

here? Because that's the way your life is headed."

My best friend Mindy is amazing. She has stayed strong through trial after trial. Turning to the One who has made her life significant.

I'm crying now. Please wipe my tears off your screen.

She doesn't know that I'm creating this post nor that I think she deserves a trip to Cozumel. But she does!

And since I'm her friend, I'm thinking she might invite me along by default. Otherwise I'll hold her favorite can of cherry pie filling for ransom.

Editor's note: This post is being submitted to Christian Women Online Magazine so that my friend Mindy can win a trip to Cozumel Mexico. Stay tuned for regularly scheduled and further random submissions about nothing like usual from me.

Cooking With Joy

Get it? Like cooking with the EMOTION of joy?

Man I'm funny.

I made fudge cake from scratch the Betty Crocker box with a little help from Dawson.

Once the cake went in the oven we had family time. I bit of dancing with the help of Phil Collins.

Editors note: Jason has a shirt on!

Dawson wouldn't dance with me so I tackled him. I'm going to do that quite often while I'm still bigger than he is and can take him down.

You know this post is nothing without randomness, so here is my randomness for the day:

Jason and I decided to repaint one of the wall in our bedroom to lighten it up in there a little. Our walls were all brown. So we added a beige border in the middle. We used that same border color to paint one entire wall, which is the first wall you see when you walk in. Jason told me he was ready to roll (no pun intended) so I walked in the bedroom and found this:

He wouldn't let me keep it on the wall. He made me paint over it.

I think it adds zest to the room.

Lastly:

Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

What about the fear of tire innards? Has anyone given that a name yet?

One more:

I love the taste of burnt popcorn.

Apples All Up On My Festival!

Jason yelled at me for taking this picture because I nearly got hit by a car. My cause was certainly worth it! Greater love hath no man than he give up his life for his blog.

For those of you who have never been blessed to share in the wonderful past time that is called The Apple Festival, allow me to enlighten, and broaden your horizons.

Let's start with the parking.

There is no place to park.

So you park in the next nearest state and walk.

This is because this place reaches out to the masses. As is clearly evidenced by my picture of food alley. Wait a minute. The whole festival is about food. So is it really an alley?

Try managing your way around that pushing a stroller. I think some stroller wheels had serrated tires.

Many useful pinkie toes were lost on this day.

All the people who run food booths are required to wear pioneer suitable attire.

Which is why I'm still wondering. Does this guy look like a pioneer to you?

Moving on.

My all-time favorite reason I even allow my pinkie toes to go to the Apple Festival is for one item only: Maple Bun Bars. Or Maple Creams, as some call them.

I also allow Jason to stand in line for me for hours to get this precious commodity:

While Jason was in line, I let Dawson much on snacks:

Jason makes it up to the Maple Cream booth. "TWO!" I yell out earnestly. "Buy TWO!"

And if we look into the paper sack with the prized possessions we will see:

Two Maple Creams. Perfect.

Then we come to the next best part:

Friends. These are our two friends the lurkers. Sorry to have to put you second to the Maple Creams guys. Don't be hatin'.

Now it's time for a walk to main street to see what's in store for us there. AND I was also hungry for caramel corn. But we couldn't find any carmal corn ANYWHERE! Hello! Didn't pioneer's have caramal corn for heaven's sake?! I'm still craving caramel corn. Please Advise.

This little video clip straight from the walk to the main street portion of the Apple Festival will end this blog on a very uplifting note.

And the guy singing looks like the Pioneer version of Doc Ock.

A Day in the Life of the Bangball

Look what I can do.
Does this make me smart brilliant genius?
Oooh. Look at me and my bad self.
Do you know how exciting it is to be able to underline and strike out?
You should try it.

On to better things..
Like 8th grade skinny me with a bangball.
I was Queen of the bangball. It wasn't hard to have a bangball when you had a poodle perm. I'm noticing my luscious lips are to die for too. Oh. Don't forget the way it used to be cool to tie your shirt in a knot in the middle. Actually, I think I kind've look like a gypsy. With my big hoop earrings.

This next part is especially for you Michelle! Had I known your dad previously worked for Pepsi, I would have begged you daily for paraphernalia. And to be your best friend for life. Lucky for you, he's retired now.
I Heart PEPSI. I am willing to admit that I have a Pepsi shrine in our spare bedroom. Well, it's not a shrine, really.
I don't like that word, shrine.

Worth a dime! Costs a Nickel!
Jason bought me those signs for Christmas one year.
Now for the unveiling.

Yes. I bought Jason Pepsi pajama bottoms for Christmas last year so that I could have that tall Pepsi piggy bank there on the left. Selfish? I think not.
He never wears them.
Now to end this post with some pictures of my most handsome hippy-haired son in his tux that he's wearing for "Aunt Nessa's" wedding!!

I may even have him go barefoot down the aisle...

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Tire?

Dawson is.

*Editors Note: We do not endorse child torment.

Jason uses an inner tube from a tractor tire to play games with at some of his campus life jv clubs. This past week, he had to bring the tube home with him because he didn't have time to take the inner tube back to the office after club was over. It was at the first club game that we discovered.. Dawson is deathly afraid of the inner tube.

Anytime we would get near it, he would start to cry, ask me to hold him and then cling to me for dear life. Of course Jason thought it was funny, while I thought, "is there a clinical diagnosis for this?" -unnatural fear of tire innards?

When we got home we wanted to test this out with Dawson...

It didn't take long for Dawson to become friends with the tire. All his fears were diminished.

But not without a little fun first...

*No Dawsons or tire inner tubes were hurt in the making of this post*

If you have an unnatural fear of tire innards, there is hope.

Don't give up.