Not Just Another Teenager

I thought someone switched babies with me at the hospital.


And I brought home an Indian baby. None of my kids had hair as dark as Sarabeth.


But her skin did lighten up.


Her hair got lighter


Then redder


Blonder & straighter


My little angel


Grew up & became a teenager



And then she was 20.

The Lost Day

Today is Wednesday. Or is it? I have no idea how I lost a day, but honestly I thought it was Tuesday today. I posted a Tuesday Truths today, was going to post a Kitchen Tip Tuesday on my recipe blog. And our gas station has cheaper gas on Tuesdays. I'm glad I didn't actually stop. I didn't really need gas, but usually fill it anyway on the cheap day....Tuesday. But someone told me it is Wednesday.

How did I lose a day???

That means it is someone's birthday tomorrow. I knew that. I knew it was on Thursday. So why did I think today was Tuesday????

Sigh.

That is what lazy summer days do. They fry your brain.

Tuesday Truths

The pets I've owned (or shared my home, meaning they were pets by someone in the house.) Six of these feed on live food. One of these I never really did have as a pet. Don't go by the photos as they aren't of my actual pets, except for one.

1. Rock

2. Firebelly Toad

3. Gerbil

4. Chameleon Lizard

5. Cat

6. Guppy

7. Dog

8. Hamster

9. Oscar

10. Poison Dart Frog

11. Catfish

12. Toad

13. Snake

14. Mouse

How Have You Been?

I received an email that started like this:

Dear Joanne,
I know how you have been lately.

I thought to myself, okay, how HAVE I been? Crabby...unfriendly...selfish...busy, all of the above? Oh my, talk about a reality check.

Another email arrived immediately afterwards that read:

Dear Joanne,
I left out one word in the phrase: "how busy you have been"

Whew! But truthfully, it was good to meet with such a challenging statement. Made me think real hard about how I have really been lately.

50, really?

It was a Sunday. The pastor asked the men who were fathers to stand. The church wanted to honor and acknowledge them on Father's Day. Bravely, the man stood to his feet. "Psst!" A voice whispered. He turned to see Jack standing beside him. "You aren't a father yet. Sit down."

"Actually," my dad replied, "I became a father yesterday." Indeed he had. Fifty years ago my dad began his fatherhood journey. At the time, my mom wasn't due until August. She hardly looked pregnant and the parishoners at church had only recently noticed. Much to their suprise, my sister arrived on June 20th, just in time for Father's Day. Born at a cutting edge facility Carolyn was the youngest premature infant to survive. The hospital was experimenting with a new technique that later became standard practice when dealing with preemies. I believe it saved my sister's life. Well, that and her determination to live.

My sister's first months of life were without a voice. Mom describes going in to check on her to "see" if she was crying. The doctors didn't know if her vocal cords would ever develop. But once they did, according to mom, Carolyn has tried to make up for lost time when she had no voice.

Carolyn loves to talk. She is a story-teller. When she doesn't have a tale to tell, she makes one up. Her imagination is incredible. I grew up believing witches lived on our roof. I heard of their secret visits with my sister and she proudly displayed gifts they gave her. Many lates nights I lay in bed, listening to Carolyn tell of her adventures with "Witchie" and "Warlock." She really should have been a writer.

In high school, I found a notebook. It contained the most amazing words. Carolyn penned passionate poetry with powerful emotion. At that moment, I desired to be like her. I yearned for her ability to breathe life into words, springing them from the paper, to implant in the heart of its reader. My sister has this gift.

In honor of this Father's Day, I'd like to wish my dad a Happy 50th anniversary of being a great Dad, and a very big Happy Birthday to my sister-I won't say how old she is.

Happy Birthday, Carolyn. I love you so much.

Carolyn, daughter-in-law Lauren, Me, my sister Laurie

How well do you know your rashes???

(Update: Hilary's back is beginning to improve, in spite of the rash spreading. The dr. is 90% sure it is contact dermatitis. In other words, she is allergic to the shampoo/conditioner she used.)

Anyone know what this might be???? I took my daughter to the doctor yesterday for it. And no, it isn't a bad case of acne. I thought I knew my rashes pretty well, but was a little stumped.

Tuesday Truths Exposed

Was this confusing? These were all "I nevers...meaning things I've never done or that have never happened. If one of them is false, it means it DID happen, lol. Just wanted to clarify. So the answer is:

9. Been struck by lightening

Now this is an interesting little tidbit. Every time I highlight my hair, I am struck (or experience) a bit of "lightening." Because of the typo, this truly makes this statement false in a riddle sort of way. Because I've had my hair lightened many a time. I love a good riddle. Don't you?

I've also experienced a bit of "lightning" too. Maybe not a direct hit, but one that crackled very near. Close enough to zap me as it traveled down my umbrella. There was a spark, the zap that was stronger than static electricity, and I let go of the umbrella.

It's a double whammy. Number 9, typo and all, is false. Twice.

Quotes from today

"I let my tummy do the talking." (El, recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease)

"I just ate hot wings, off the bone, yikes!" (Sarabeth, who won't touch or even look at chicken with bones in it.)

Tuesday Truths

I've Never....

1. Eaten sushi
2. Played the viola
3. Gone skydiving
4. Gotten a brainfreeze
5. Watched the show "Lost"
6. Said the word _art (begins with an f)
7. Been given a speeding ticket
8. Eaten a chocolate covered grasshopper
9. Been struck by lightening
10. Enjoyed a peanut butter & jelly sandwich

(All but one of these is true.)

Satisfying Saturday

Yesterday, after a late night (still working on that post) I got up late. After making a mental list of all I needed to do on Saturday, the phone rang. Christina & Ethan had an extra ticket to the circus. Would I like to drive down?

You don't have to ask me twice.

(I posted a few more pics on Ethan's blog.)

Wordless Wednesday

Because I Take My Alcohol Seriously

I shared with you that Michael and I went to North Carolina & to the beach on Bald Head Island. But did I mention critters? Not the cute fuzzy ones. The kind that bite and make you itch?

I first noticed what appeared to be mosquito bites. Each day I had a few more. I found 2 on my face on the plane ride home. I couldn't wait until I got home and could sleep in my own bed. But the next day, and the day after, I had new bites. So I did what any of you would have done. I got on the internet.

I searched for words like scabies, ticks, bedbugs, sea lice...anything that could possibly explain the red, itchy welts. I didn't like the things I read. Paranoia seeped into my being. I began cleaning like crazy, but I couldn't figure out why I was the only with spots. Michael and I sleep in the same bed, just as we did on vacation.

It didn't matter. I was determined to make sure no critters came home with me. In addition to Bendadryl gel and Cortisone cream, I began rubbing my spots with alcohol. I ran out of alcohol, so made a quick trip to the store. Once there, I grabbed a bottle and was about to leave when I noticed this:

I've always bought 70% Isopropyl alcohol. But wow, 91%!? More is always better, right? I snatched up both kinds of rubbing alcohol and brought them home.

I also decided to wash all of my clothes. I don't normally mix whites with colors or darks, but I did. Afterall, they were MY clothes. It turned out to be a small load, so at the last second, I threw in 1 shirt and pair of jeans that belonged to another family member. They'd be fine. And they were fine. It was my clothes that weren't. Who puts an ink pen in their pocket???

It went right through the wash and straight into the dryer-where I didn't notice. But when I pulled the clothes out of the dryer, including 2 new shirts, boy were they decorated prettily with indigo blue ink. Ugh!

I was so happy that I'd bought two new bottles of alcohol, especially that 91%. These are the spots:

I poured a bit of the alcohol and look at that ink dissolve. (And this is a week later when I got around to it.)



Would you look at that?! It's like a miracle.


A close up of the bigger spot:


I did use half a bottle. Like I said, I take my alcohol seriously.

My bites are gone. And so is the ink. I love alcohol.

6 Truths No Lies/UPDATED

Hi Mom! We’ve hijacked your blog. Surprise!
As your children we so thoroughly enjoyed being stumped by your truths that we figured you would enjoy a good stumping in return.

6 kids and 6 truths that have, until this point, remained secret
Some of them are funny, some of them are naughty but all of them are incidents that you don’t know about…which if you know anything about yourself; it’s pretty hard to keep a secret from you.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to correctly match each kid to his/her secret truth.
Your prize: the satisfaction of being right…again…like always…

1. When I was 16 I was pulled over for going 15+ mph over the speed limit after curfew and talked my way into a written warning.

2. After being involuntarily placed in the back of a cop’s car I was able to talk my way out of it.

3. I got suspended from school for skipping class and talked the administration into letting me sign the parent notification form.

4. I was handcuffed by cops when they broke up an underage drinking party but talked my way out of it by fabricating a bogus medical condition.

5. I violated numerous traffic laws when I drove the wrong way on a street and in the process damaged one of your vehicles to the point of needing repair.

6. When I was 16 I snuck two six packs of Smirnoff Ice into my bedroom and drank them by myself.


THIS WAS NOT WRITTEN BY JOANNE (LIVE4TRUTH) BUT BY HER CHILDREN
Christina, Christopher, Lauren, Elisabeth, Sarabeth, Hilary
(Elisabeth's comment in revealing the answers:WELL! Mom you didn't do very well, but, you and dad tied for first place with 2 correct answers. But I guess you have waited long enough, here are the correct answers:
1. Hilary
2. Lauren
3. Christina
4. Elisabeth
5. Sarabeth
6. Christopher
The good news is, none of us got in trouble for these incidents..
Hahahahaha We love you :))
Originally posted 6/2/09 8:07 p.m.

Mom Wants In On The Action

Okay, these were too good not to post. My mom (grandmother to lots of you) made these comments, and in case you missed them, this is what she had to say:

"Okay, your Dad directed me to your blog about the 9 truths and 1 lie. I had it down to two and one was the lie. I think I would remember if a child of mine came home hurt. But how well do you know your mother?????"

1. I was sitting behind my boyfriend on his motorcycle, when he took off so fast that he left me sitting in the middle of the street.

2. I once jumped off the roof of our garage and hit my head on the clothesline pole and knocked myself out.

3. After attending an all night party I went to sleep in the backseat of a car in a parking garage while my boyfriend was taking a three-hour test for a job.

4. I spun around 360 in my car on the freeway but did no damage to the car.

5. I once had a major toy company steal one of my creative ideas. I found out about it when it was published in a toy trade magazine.

6. After being pulled under the water in the ocean by an undertow, I was washed ashore.

7. I had an out of body experience during childbirth with my fourth child when I stopped breathing.

8. While eating a salad in a restaurant, a worm crawled out of the lettuce.

9. After wearing out the sole of my shoe, I had to stuff newspaper in my shoe to wear them.

10. I once was pulled over by a police office for going too slow on the freeway.

I'm not going to say what I think the answer is right away. I want to hear from others, especially grandkids, what they think is the correct answer. Then I will share my guess (since I do know some that are true for sure.)

Thunk Thursday

At the grocery store, on the cereal aisle, I noticed like cereals were not place next to each other. They were sorted by size. I took a picture of a 12.2 oz. box of Apple Jacks on the left, and a 17 oz. box on the right.

Why would I buy the smaller box, when I can buy the bigger box for 40 cents cheaper and get nearly 5 oz. more??? Oh wait, maybe the free camera I can send away for costs more than the free Disney Pal that is already packed inside the box.

I'm going for the cheaper price & the free toy, lol.

The First Day Of Summer

Thursday May 28th, 2009
I slept in this morning. I was very tired last night, but that didn't keep me from staying up late. After watching the Denver Nuggets lose to the L.A. Lakers, I watched the George Strait special. For those who don't know, while in North Carolina we went to a George Strait concert. Did I mention how much I love George Strait's music?

And then I stayed up later, just because I can. Today is the first day of summer vacation. No getting up at 6:15a.m. to an alarm clock. No lunches to pack. Blissful sleep.

Tuesday June 2, 2009
It doesn't feel like summer. It is 46 degrees outside and raining.

Creatures of N.C.

Furry Friend


A friendly fellow

Turtles

One armed crabs

Sorry, blurry beatle

This is supposed to be the alligators

But it was cloudy and they didn't come out that day.

When it was good and dark, we went to see bioluminescent plankton. It was the most amazing thing. I've never seen a firefly before, but this is a similar phenomenom. After the waves of water would wash ashore, if you stirred up the sand just a tad, it sparkled like stars.

Some beach finds.

We had a lesson in Poison Ivy & Michael had a run-in with a tick.