Thankfully, we were safe. We got a new roof, our ceilings were repaired, and our vehicles got new paint jobs.
But I still miss this huge tree.
This is my favorite “Charley” picture. The fence is gone, but the gate is still standing. and locked.
Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts over at is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom
We don’t have snow days. We have hurricane days. Well, in this case, tropical storm days. The kids started school last week on Wednesday and I started catching up! Making some serious progress. I was in the zone! Then. School is canceled. So far, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. The kids are VERY happy: Three days of school, a weekend, one day of school, two days off for a tropical storm, two days of school (if all goes well) and then another weekend.
Am I being punked?
So. What do I do when I have to cancel everything because a tropical storm is completely interfering with my “zone?” And my client schedule? And my walking?
Well, I certainly can’t change my circumstance, so I have to change my expectations. I decided to catch up on my blog reading while we still have electricity.
In this case, I was catching up with Amy at God’s Work in Progress. Her post from Monday, entitled “Worth of a Soul – Hope Chronicles 63” included the lyrics to the song “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.” Click on over to see Amy’s entire post, but these words give you a glimpse:
“I see myself as that old violin. I’ve been battered and I’m scarred . . . Hopefully it makes me look at the battered person on the bus more kindly or the woman on welfare differently.“
Amy makes a difference in other people’s lives in a way I sincerely admire:
Take a Child By the Hand one (in the life of an overwhelmed mom),
The One Who Waits, (in the life of a small child in a heartbreaking situation),
Little Girl Lost (in the life of a child she may never meet in person).
Throughout her writing, you can see examples of her selflessness and empathy, while at the same time she is very open about her weaknesses and struggles.
I love the book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”
It sent me on a flash to the past and inspired some writing of my own:
When I was in high school, I worked at McDonalds. I started on “fries and shakes” (back when they actually MADE the shakes – with ice cream and syrup and a real shake machine). Over the years I worked every job, from birthday party hostess to counter to drive thru to grill . . . even manager trainee.
During my senior year of high school, I was assigned to work drive thru with another girl from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. One of us worked the window and the other “filled the orders.” Back then, McDonalds only had ONE drive thru window. Back then, working the window meant taking the orders at the speaker AND taking the money AND handing the orders to the customer. So, one of us stood in the same place for 4 hours every day and the other ran around like crazy, filling the orders. When I worked the window, I would take the order from the customer at the speaker, take the money from the customer at the window, turn around, grab the already filled bag and drinks, hand them out the window and repeat. All the while my friend and co-worker bobbed and weaved through the employees working the counter to grab food and fill the next bag. Some shifts I worked the window and she filled orders, some shifts she worked the window and I filled orders.
WE. WERE. FAST. Our goal was the “30 second drive thru” McDonalds constantly pushed. If the manager kept the food coming from the grill and there was an assigned “fry” person, we were very, very often able to meet that 30 second mark.
It got boring . . .
So, we looked for ways to make things more interesting. First we tried pranks and jokes. Like writing “HELP! LET ME OUT! on an empty bag and placing it where the filled order should go, that kind of thing. That got boring. What to do. What to do . . .
(continued in “don’t react. respond.” over at Pragmatic Communion)
Meanwhile. I hope the generator gets to stay in the shed.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 1:31-2:3 (emphasis added)
A little over a year ago, I wrote a devotion on this verse and what it means to me. With school starting this week and piled up, neglected work and clients calling me asking for it and . . . I’m . . . overextended. And with the holiday season coming up and the frantic pace that can so easily go with it, I pulled this devotion to present at a women’s meeting I’m scheduled to speak at this week. I just needed the reminder. Maybe you do too? If so, check out “even GOD rested.” at Pragmatic Communion.
Word-Filled Wednesday is hosted by Amydeanne at the 160 acre woods.
Warning! Julie did not write this entry. She may even be a little embarrassed to see this published on her blog. I’m good with that. (by JSM – I’ve been “blogjacked”)
Eighteen. Julie and I just celebrated our eighteenth anniversary. The kids and I made dinner, we broke out that special bottle of wine we’ve been saving for that special occasion, and had a nice celebration. You may wonder why we didn’t hold on to that special bottle another two years for the big milestone. She’s already got that one planned and it involves much more bling than comes in a bottle of wine. PinkGirl and FavoriteSon were our serving staff and handled it great for as long as a 13-year boy and a 7-year old girl can work peacefully together. Julie presented me with a card she made especially for the occasion and that’s why I’m writing this post. We are both a little competitive and I figured I could one-up her card by posting where all her friends in the blogosphere can see.
So with no further adieu and in honor of our 18 years of marriage, I’ve compiled this list of 18 things I LOVE about Julie. (by JSM – Thank you, FirstHusband. This was such a sweet, wonderful surprise. This open-hearted list is so romantic, thoughtful, loving, sneaky and affirming! To anyone who reads this: It makes me sound like I’m perfect – but please realize FirstHusband is slightly prejudiced. I’m sure I’ve got my own set of “18 things people hate about me” but nobody has ever compiled them in a list before. No volunteers, please.)
18 – Excellence is a way of life for her. Julie never settles for “good enough”. I don’t even like to use those words in her presence. If you see links, words bolded for emphasis, or maybe even embedded video in this post, it’s because Julie will not accept an average post in her blog. Even though she would never post any of this material herself, she will be compelled to make my post better… and that’s why I love this trait in her. She challenges me, our children and mostly herself to be excellent. I am a better man for it.
17 – She sings down the Angels. Julie and I met in a college ensemble. I was one of the better vocalists in the group until Julie joined and since then, I’ve never struggled with pride in my singing again. There is a richness and quality in her singing like few people I’ve ever heard. I have no doubt you would have already heard her on the radio if she had ever decided to completely sell out to music but she is much more balanced than that. She would never make the compromises needed to be a star and therefore only those of us in closer proximity are lucky enough to hear her. When I’m singing at my best, I can just sit and listen to her… and save a little room for the Angels who came down to listen with me.
16 – She is our family historian. Julie loves to capture the moments. In writing, with video, with pictures, and now on her blog, Julie captures special moments and saves them for our family. I don’t always appreciate this trait while I’m in the moment. Julie will be surprised to know I even admire it because I’m not always gracious about the added logistics burden that goes with the camcorder, camera, computer, etc. But, I’ve never regretted the extra burden when the experience is over and recorded. I’m a regular Compendium reader, especially when I’m away from home. She captures moments I’ve missed and lets me share them vicariously.
15 – She is the family appointment-maker. I’m a visionary thinker. I like the big picture, the five-year plan, developing a strategy and seeing it come to fruition. I HATE making appointments. I think it’s the combination of in-the-weeds detail and personal interaction with strangers (o.k. I’m more than a little introverted) but I just don’t like making appointments. This leaves making all appointments to Julie. Not just those for the whole family, but also those for me. Dentist, doctors, teachers, haircuts, you name it… Julie makes the appointments for all of us. I don’t think she has ever really complained about this even though it would be well deserved. I really appreciate it.
14 – She loves sci-fi and sports movies. I’m an engineering geek. I’m a sports junky (especially all things Nole). Julie not only indulges me watching these movies again and again (we’ve seen “The Core” and “Starship Troopers” more than I can count) she actually seems to enjoy them. She especially likes sports movies; Major League, Bull Durham, Hoosiers, The Replacements, and more. What man wouldn’t be thrilled with a wife who likes sci-fi and sports movies.
13 – She is an overcomer. Julie hasn’t lived a privileged life. Very few worthwhile things have come to her easily. There is no need to get into any of the details but what matters is that none of the obstacles Julie has faced in life have become excuses. Julie defines success in her own way and then achieves it. She doesn’t let obstacles stop her.
12 – She puts up with me. Everybody has their quirks. I probably have some of yours. Julie accepts and works with mine. She gives me more room than I deserve even when she sees me squandering time in ways that have no redeeming value.
11 – She is a voracious learner. Julie lives the idea that there are very few unique experiences and therefore, someone has probably written about what she needs to know. She doesn’t just like to read, she reads to learn. I am in the process of reading two books and recently completed three others. I can’t even begin to count how many books Julie is currently reading, highlighting, taking notes from and cross referencing. As I sit at her computer I’m looking at bookshelves and cubbies bursting with knowledge and freakishly organized. Julie will never be limited by her experience. When faced with a problem, Julie will research, study absorb and apply knowledge from wherever she can find it.
10 – She is our children’s advocate. Julie values our children as people. She loves who they are. She respects them. Most important of all, she stands up for them. Read “Be a Champion” on Pragmatic Compendium and “freedom to be different” on Pragmatic Communion (yes, Julie did/will add the links as I predicted in #18, above) and you will see what I mean. I love that she doesn’t let anything keep her from standing up for our children.
9 – She is the glue that holds our family together. I travel for my work. Sometimes I travel a lot. When I’m away, Julie takes up the slack. She gets the kids where they need to be, she keeps them fed, and most importantly she distracts them to the point they almost don’t notice I’m missing. Even when I’m home, work is demanding and stressful. She frequently picks up my slack there too. Although she tries hard to keep me from noticing how much she covers for me, I notice enough to be grateful.
8 – She taught me most of the soft skills I have. I’m an introverted engineer and a geek. However, compared to most introverted engineer geeks, I have well developed people skills. Much of this is due to Julie’s patience and perseverance in teaching me “soft skills”. Even today, she always listens to me and adjusts my perspective on people to something much more in line with the rest of society.
7 – She inspires people to be what they can be. Julie doesn’t have much patience for “if only”. She won’t listen long to “woulda, coulda, shoulda”. She is so used to overcoming obstacles in her life, she excels at helping other people see past the obstacles in their life. I can’t count the number of times I’ve overheard her questioning people about what they want from life and challenging their notions of why they can’t get it. I’m certainly better for this and I believe others are too.
6 – She is a problem solver. When faced with a problem, Julie doesn’t waste energy with worry or regret. She thinks, researches, plans, and solves. The type of problem doesn’t matter, technical, personal, emotional, you name it, she solves it. Not bad at all for a non-engineer.
5 – She makes life special for our kids. Julie is constantly thinking of things she can do to make our kids feel special. Little things like putting comics in their lunchbox, big things like the perfect summer camp or decorating their room the way they want it. Julie cherishes our children and makes sure they know it.
4 – She is a successful entrepreneur. FavoriteSon had just been born. I had just started a job with a small company with a small salary. Julie quit a well-paying and stable job to start Pragmatic Computing. Thirteen year later, her first client is still her best client. Her reputation in her community is such that all she has to do to get all the work she wants is to make a few phone calls. She continues to refine and recreate her business model to flow with the times.
3 – She created the underwear principle just for me. Really. Eighteen years ago in our starter apartment, I really did leave my underwear in the same spot on the floor by the bathroom door every day. Rather than fight or get mad about this, Julie put the clothes hamper right under my underwear pile. Throughout our marriage, she has applied this principal to bring order to our marriage and home.
2 – She told me to buy a boat. Now that we have one, she is telling me she wants a bigger boat. Enough said.
1 – She really is pragmatic. Pragmatic isn’t a theme or a cute naming scheme for Julie, it’s a way of life. Practical application, results oriented, sound application of fundamentals, making the complex simple, etc. Her decision making, her philosophy, her freakish organization, her life. Julie is pragmatic.
I’m lucky to have been married to her for 18 wonderful years and I’m looking forward to many more than that to go.
I win.
(by JSM – After I read this, he asked me to make one little edit, at the bottom of the post. He tricked me into typing his last two words.)
First – the title of this post – what movie is it from and who said it? (The answer is at the bottom of the post.)
Now. This is weird. Linda, at Mocha with Linda did the left brain/right brain test she saw over at The Preacher’s Wife. I decided to try it out. It appears Linda and I have even MORE in common than we originally discovered. Check out her test results and then compare them to mine. I’ll bold the words that are the same in both our results. My comments are in red.
Julie, you are mildly left-hemisphere dominant while showing a slight preference for auditory processing. This overall combination seems to indicate a well-working blend of logic and judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance. (ooo. blend of logic, judgment and organization, with sufficient intuition, perception and creativity to balance that dominance? does that mean my freakish organization is overshadowed by my . . . wait. I got nothin.)
You will at times experience conflict between how you feel and what you think which will generally be resolved in favor of what you think. (to a fault. I have NO confidence in my “feelings” when it comes to decision making and – if I’m totally honest – I don’t have much respect for decisions based on feelings instead of logic. Feelings are unstable.) You will find yourself interested in the practical applications of whatever material you have learned or whatever situation you face and will retain the ability to refine whatever knowledge you possess or aspects of whatever position you are in. (unbefreakingleavabley right. so. I made up a word. In this situation, it is completely applicable.)
By and large, you will orient yourself toward intellectual activities and structure. Though not rigid, you will schedule yourself, plan, and focus on routine and continuity of operations, rather than on changes and disruptions. (this is why my summer (blogging) has been . . . unpredictable. (excuse me, I’ll be right back . . . okay, sorry about that, I’m back.) I love my children. really. I do. (excuse me, I’ll be right back . . . okay, sorry again. I’m back) but they need to go back to school now. love ya. buh bye. see you at car line. 2:30. oh the thinks I can think! When I’m not interrup . . . )
When changes or disruptions occur, you are likely to consider first how to ensure that such disruptions do (the rest of the sentence is missing in Linda’s results too! I think it’s supposed to read “NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!”) The same balance is reflected in your sensory preference. You will tend to be reflective and measured in your interaction style. (Just trying to respond instead of react.) For the most part, you will be considered objective without being cold and goal-oriented while retaining the capacity to listen to others. (Listening to other people makes me think about perspectives outside my own. Makes for better decisions. I also learn a lot too!)
Preferentially you learn by listening and maintaining significant internal dialogues with yourself. (I’m talking to myself? I prefer to call it “rehearsing.”) Nevertheless, you have sufficient visualization capabilities to benefit from using graphs, charts, doodles, or even body movement to enhance your comprehension and memory. (true.)
To the extent that you are even implicitly aware of your hemispheric dominance and sensory style, you will feel most comfortable in those arenas which emphasize verbal skills and logic. Teaching, law, and science are those that stand out among the professions, along with technical sales and management. (I’m a computer and communications trainer, mostly for law firms and I LOVE learning via scientific method.)
But. Yes. I bolded the ENTIRE summary of the “brain usage profile.” (Except for the name.) Linda and I got the EXACT same summary.
And the test isn’t the same for everyone who takes it. FirstHusband took it and I saw questions on his test that weren’t on mine! And he SO did not get the same result I did. The Preacher’s Wife didn’t get the same result either. And we all kinda agree with our individual assessments.
um. Linda? If we went to see the same therapist, could we save time AND money? We could each go to half the appointments and pay half the co-pays! And each of us would be half as crazy!
(Movie Trivia Answer: Ghostbusters. At the end of the movie, after they have roasted the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) tells Louis (Rick Moranis) they would like to get a sample of his brain tissue, to which he replies, “okay.”)
Before I met FirstHusband, I had never heard of this product. Now, it’s the key ingredient to a standard recipe in our house. And the key component in the phenomenon of the disappearing carrots.
Here’s what we do:
1. Brown a roast (usually a chuck roast), put it in the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Top off the crock pot with peeled and cut potatoes on one side, baby carrots on the other.
3. Add water till it covers the carrots and potatoes.
4. Pour in Kitchen Bouquet until the water is . . . dark brown.
(sorry, I have NO measurement for you.)
5. Turn the crock pot on high for 4 to 5 hours.
6. Scoop out the potatoes into one bowl, the carrots into another and the roast onto a serving platter.
(we like our food separated. if you want vegetable chaos, mix them together, we don’t mind.)
7. Make some gravy with some of the broth. Save the rest of the broth for freezing.
8. Enjoy!
(There are never any leftover carrots. PinkGirl ate them like M&Ms on Monday night and asked for more on Tuesday. Luckily we have the leftover broth – cause THAT’s what makes the carrots so irresistible.)
FirstHusband learned about this from his Momma, but it has lots of other uses besides pot roast seasoning – Check out 104 Recipes Which Include Kitchen Bouquet over at RecipeZaar
Check out more ideas and recipes over at Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by Tammy at Tammy’s Recipes!
Sandy at Jesus and Dark Chocolate posted a question:
“How much is too much TV? I also realize it’s also important to monitor what they watch, so what do you think about The Disney Channel and other networks geared towards kids? All thoughts are good thoughts, so bring it on ladies. 🙂 I really want to hear what you think!!”
If you have time, click on over to Sandy’s “watching tv” post and give her a little feedback!
I started to answer in a comment until I realized I was hijacking her blog. So. I’m posting my response here and letting her know about it.
How much TV?
It varies. We don’t have a certain number of minutes per day. I have a feeling that if I set a maximum time limit, they would make sure to watch that much, when in fact, they have days where they don’t watch at all (so far today, nobody has been interested.)
We stay pretty busy, even in the summer – with the (near daily) rain, swimming, play practices, basketball camps, podcasting camp, clay animation camp, “play dates” with friends, family outings, guitar practice, computer time, video games (we play together) . . . and OF COURSE (in this house) reading! We’ve been so on the go this summer, it seems like we only had one week without anything on the schedule – and then we filled it with a beach trip to Daytona. I admit, after a stint of fast pace scheduling, we have “lazy days” where we completely veg out. Overall, TV is watched more during the summer than during the school year. During school we have extracurricular activities (we limit each kid to two things at a time – if their grades stay up) and youth group/children’s ministry starts back up on Wednesday nights.
Given all that, we don’t necessarily have “rules” – more like TV “habits.”
1. MOST of the time, we watch shows recorded with our DVR. NO commercials – saves time and sensors the junk.
2. The kids mostly watch Disney Channel, some Discovery. We have no idea what shows are on Nick. No interest at all. When Brittany’s sister got pregnant, my kids had no idea. Didn’t care. On the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX) the only show we DVR for family viewing is American Idol.
3. TV goes OFF if nobody is in the room, watching it. TV background noise is like Chinese water torture for me.
4. The layout of our house is such that I can see and hear everything being watched. It’s made for some good conversations about choices and communication. We’ve also adopted a few family jokes and quotes we use on a regular basis. Basically, there’s not a show the kids watch that I don’t know the content, the characters, the plotlines . . . I love the layout of our house. (NO TVs or computers in the kids bedrooms.)
5. On school nights, all electronics are off at 7:30 p.m. – TV, computer, cell phones, mp3 players – ALL electronics off. NO TV in the mornings before school.
6. Shows get paused OFTEN for chore and homework breaks. Chores and homework get done very quickly when a TV show is paused.
7. We also have a library of family oriented DVDs, many of them Disney movies. One of my favorite? The Emperor’s New Groove.
This post has prompted me to do a little TV watching “inventory.” I went to each of the following network websites and looked at their listing of shows. Here’s what we watch:
Disney Channel:
Family – Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Life with Derek, Phil of the Future, Wizards of Waverly Place.
PinkGirl – Phineas and Ferb, Cory in the House (Personally, I HATE Cory in the House. FavoriteSon says “me too.”)
Discovery Channel:
Family – MythBusters
FirstHusband and I – Deadliest Catch (LOVE the editing on the beginning of the opening sequence! The timing with Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” is great.)
ABC:
Family – Every once in a while we catch an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition or a SuperNanny.
FirstHusband and I: Grey’s Anatomy.
CBS:
Family – Nothing
FirstHusband and I: We’ve been strongly encouraged to watch the Big Bang Theory and after watching a clip, I’ll be setting the DVR. We are that geeky.
NBC:
Family – Nothing
FirstHusband and I: Nothing
FOX:
Family – American Idol. Every once in a while, we catch “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader.”
FirstHusband and I – Nothing.
STYLE:
Family – Who wants a CLEAN HOUSE! PinkGirl and I love Niecy Nash. PinkGirl LOVES “How Do I Look?”
FirstHusband and I – Nothing. (But he and FavoriteSon will watch Clean House with us sometimes.)
TNT:
Family – Nothing
FirstHusband and I: The Closer and Saving Grace (both are summer series).
On Friday or Saturday night, FirstHusband and I watch TV. Sometimes we “rent” a Movie on Demand from Brighthouse. I think the last one we saw was “Fool’s Gold” with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. What can I say. I’m a cheap date.
We also own a few series on DVD and will watch episodes (in order, of course) on weekend nights. TOTALLY giving away my geekiness here, but we actually own the entire Farscape series on DVD. And our favorite, all time show? Sports Night.
It’s inspiring.
It’s funny.
It’s got the fast paced wit of Aaron Sorkin. (The best part of this clip is at the end.).
Every show, a BEAUTIFUL view of the twin towers is shown (its last season was in 2000).
I got FirstHusband Quantum Leap for Christmas, and we recently started watching, so those will take a while to get through.
Oh! FirstHusband and FavoriteSon watch sports, mostly college football and pro basketball. (I watch enough sports to be able to ask intelligent questions and I understand the terminology enough so that when they are watching one sport on tv and listening to another on the radio, while switching to a third during commercials – I don’t get too confused anymore.)
If I remember something else, I’ll edit the post to add it, but I think that’s it.
