Stressed Just About Describes Me

"I'm too blessed to be stressed."

At least that's what the bumper sticker says. At this point in my life though, I think I feel both blessed AND stressed.

I hope it's okay to occasionally be both.

I've also heard that stressed spelled backwards is "desserts."

I think I'm good with that. In fact, I think that I'm so good with it that when I'm done here, I may just go get another piece of pie from supper.

The pie I'm referring to is Sarah's birthday pie that Nathan lovingly went and purchased from Walmart this afternoon since his lovely mother was otherwise occupied with stressful activities.

I was especially stressed because it suddenly occurred to me on our way home from the coast today that tonight might be our last family night together before I leave for Wisconsin. (I may go before the rest of the family.) Then when we all get back home, Nathan will leave immediately for Florida to go back to school.

I thought, Oh dear! I need to put together something special for Sarah's "family birthday" tonight. (We're having her "friend party" next week.) AND get my hair cut. AND research airline tickets. AND make a final selection on Sarah's school curriculum. (Yes, I'm running behind.) AND come to grips with the fact that Nathan will be leaving for school way too soon. AND unpack. AND do laundry. And re-pack. AND ponder the possibilities of a move to the coast. AND worry about our house selling. AND think about the emotional journey the upcoming funeral will be.

Yup. Stressed just about describes me.

On the non-stressful side of things, though, we had a very pleasant meal together. Sarah requested gorditas and lemon meringue pie which made me very happy since gorditas are easy to make and lemon meringue pie is "buyable."

As we ate, each of us said something we appreciated about Sarah. We all liked Nathan's speech the best. He said that he admired her for going through so many hard things and overcoming them. He said that while those hard things have made her tough, they have also made her extra sensitive to other people going through difficulties."

We all applauded when he was done and Sarah just beamed.

The highlight of the evening was when Nathan walked behind Steve and goosed him in the ribs. Steve (who is obviously under a great deal of stress himself), jumped 4.7 feet into the air and made a rather alarmed, bleating noise which caused both children to be thrown into a massive fit of delighted hysterics lasting at least five minutes.

Nothing like cheap entertainment.

Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl. (Her official birthday is Sunday.)

You can tell by this picture that Nathan is reaching for the bass note in Happy Birthday.

Before we left the coast today, Sarah wanted to stop in a gift store to buy some things to give to her friends when they come for her birthday party. (What a generous gal.) While she was searching for the right treasures, Steve and I occupied ourselves in our usual mature fashion. (Sarah pretended she didn't know us.)

I am tentatively planning on heading to Wisconsin tomorrow if I can get some airline schedules to work. And that means that I really shouldn't be sitting here typing; I should be putting laundry in the machine and unpacking (and re-packing) the suitcase from the weekend.

Before I go though, I first want to say thank you to everyone who has already promised to send my mom a "happy card." Mom appreciates small gestures more than any other person I've ever met and I can only imagine the look that will be on her face when she opens her mailbox and sees envelopes full of joy! Thanks to everyone who is helping out with the "Encourage Becky's Mom Project."

Also, I wanted to leave you with a couple photos that I took this weekend. I don't know about you, but I could use a little peace in my life about now and looking at God's creation is about as peaceful as it gets!




These were the day and night views right outside our hotel deck. Such incredible beauty.

May peace and beauty fill your day.

The Laughter Won Out

My family arrived safely back home last night. Hurray!

Steve had called me earlier in the afternoon and said they could just go ahead and eat something on the road since they'd be getting home later than our usual dinner time.

However, it occurred to me that we will only have two more family meals together before Nathan leaves for school and I was loathe to give up even one of those meals.

So I said blithely, "Oh no, I'll just cook something and we can eat whenever you get here."

Unfortunately, when I said those words I had forgotten that I hadn't been to the grocery store in over a week and that my stash of ingredients for any sort of meal was dismally low. And so I scrimped and substituted ingredients and put into play some cooking creativity and finally managed to come up with a chicken pot pie. I figured that the pot pie would provide the bread, meat and veggies all in one dish and I could add a fruit salad and we'd be all set.

I usually use some canned and some fresh fruit when I make a fruit salad because buying several kinds of fresh fruit can be a bit expensive. But alas, all I had in the house was a can of peaches and a can of mandarin oranges. Can you see the problem there? TWO fruits of the same color! How unattractive is that?

I am very color conscious when I cook and am always adding paprika or parsley or some sort of little garnish to make food look nice. It just really offended every cooking sensibility I have to put out a fruit salad containing two fruits of the same color. Ick.

See? Don't you feel totally uninspired right now?



"Oh well," I said to myself. "It's the time together as a family that counts, not the color of the fruit." (Hey! I could print up t-shirts with that slogan.)

We had a wonderful reunion when they got home; Snowy was leaping and barking and running in happy doggie circles as soon as he heard the voices in the garage. I could just picture what he was thinking. "Hurray! I'm being delivered from the company of The Boring Woman!"



They started unloading stuff as I finished up dinner preparations. I got the fruit salad out of the fridge, took another sad and mournful glance at its monochromatic state and heaved a silent sigh. I thought, "Oh, if I only had some red grapes, or some bananas for a little bit of variety."

About that time I glanced over at the counter on the other side of the kitchen where Steve had put some bags from the trip. Looking into the first bag I saw a wondrous sight! Steve's mom had sent a few food items along and guess what two of those items were? Red grapes and bananas!

I just about did a Happy Grape and Banana Jig, right there in the kitchen.

Doesn't this look so much more appealing?




After we ate our chicken pot pie and multi-colored fruit salad, we talked and got caught up after our six day separation. And then (hurray!) it was time for dessert. Chocolate dessert!

Nathan was very pleased to see his very own personal portion of mousse and thought that he would add some whipped cream. Look at the intensity of his posture, the seriousness of his demeanor and the manic look in his eyes. This is very important work.



After he had added an impressive tower of whipped cream to his bowl, he got a sudden mischievous glint in his eye and proceeded to do this.





I was immediately torn between the desire to laugh hysterically and the desire to say something motherly like, "Nathan! That is NOT polite dinner time behavior! Put that can down right now!"

Just so you know?

The laughter won out.

I'm going to miss him.

Got Bocce?

Last night for our Evening's Exquisitely Exciting Entertainment, we borrowed a Bocce Ball set from our neighbors and attempted to play it.

In case you've never played Bocce Ball, it is a game of riotous action and non-stop movement.

As these pictures so stunningly illustrate.











Oh wait! Do I detect some exciting game-related action?

Nope, false alarm. Steve was just waving to a neighbor.




It took a while for me to figure out all the complexities of this game so I had my eldest (not to mention, only) son give me lessons. Can you see the look of intense concentration on my face as I valiantly attempt to absorb sports-related facts?

And also, try to understand the scoring system which involved (gasp!) MATH?



Sarah was very serious about the game as you can see by the way she is marching over to the balls and saying to herself, "I am just going to go over there and show those balls who is the BOSS!"




I must say that Steve and Nathan did more horsing around then they did playing.

It's a guy thing.




Sarah and I, on the other other hand, maintained our exemplary, iron-willed, disciplined Bocce Ball Game Concentration.

Um, except when I decided to go swing for a minute.

Because I'm focused like that.




And except for when Sarah ran in and out of the house a couple times. Because she's focused too, just like her mom.



Please, I beg of you, do not ask me what the guys were doing in these pictures because I have no earthly idea.

I just know they were having fun. They're really good at that.

Did I mention it's a guy thing?




In closing, I would like to officially present to you The Smith All-Star Bocce Ball Team! (Sans their Stunning Star Player who had to miss the team shot in order to take the team picture.)


Is it too trite to say that a good time was had by all?

No?

Well, then.

A good time was had by all.

The Smith Cow Capers

Okay, since I made you sit through a Boring Blog Business Blog yesterday, today you will be rewarded with a fun, mindless, carefree blog about Nathan! And chicken! And cows!

I mentioned earlier that Nathan was on the schedule to wear the cow suit at Chick-Fil-A, the restaurant where he works. Since we have never seen our first born son in a cow suit, we marked it on the calendar so that we could be sure to show up and harrass applaud him.

As Nathan was leaving for work this morning, he mentioned that any customer who made an attempt to dress up like a cow would get their meal free. Well Steve, being a sanguine (frugal) sort of fella, decided he would take Chick-Fil-A up on their offer.

And so with the capable assistance of Sarah, his lovely Cow Suit Designer, Steve prepared for his very first bovine-esque public appearance.




As we got near the restaurant (a mere ninety seconds from our house) we were all eagerly looking for signs of Nathan. When I saw THIS standing outside the restaurant, my first thought was, "Wow! Nathan has really porked up!"


Whew! Thankfully, that was not the cow that was Nathan.


As we got out of the car, Steve suddenly decided that just having spots on his shirt was not sufficient and that he also needed to have a spot in the middle of his forehead.


It was at that very moment that Sarah and I felt compelled to walk about twenty steps behind him and pretend that he was with someone else.

When we all eventually made it into the restaurant, the little lady by the counter rang the bell because--hooray!--someone had walked in as a cow! (Actually, it was one cow and two ladies "cow-ering" behind said cow.)

And then, before we knew what was happening, we were actually getting to meet and have our pictures taken with the Fab and Famous Chick-Fil-A Cow!

I was so proud. I was walking around telling complete strangers, "That cow is my son!" (Kind of a strange thing to say, actually.)

Hey, he may never get to be the president of the United States but at least I can always say that my son was (sniff) the Chick-Fil-A (sniff) COW!

Here is the Cow and his proud family.

Life father, like son.




So it has been a memorable day in the Smith House. (And yes, it's fine with us if you all want to say that you "knew us way back when," back before our son made us famous.)

Before we left, Steve paused for a shot with the BIG version of his Bovine Bro. He and Nathan are now both esteemed members of the Cow Fraternity.

I'm so proud.

Miscellaneous Smithellany

A few follow up thoughts from the post I did earlier today:

First, I am very happy to know that so many of you approved our "card table as patio furniture" decision. And it's also nice to hear that others of you have used furniture in such creative ways. That's what makes life fun!

Secondly, in the guest book, Angie asked what flavor shakes we ordered at Chick-Fil-A. (And if I'm not mistaken, I think Angie is the one who sent us a bunch of free milk shake coupons.)

Sarah and I chose Cookies and Cream and Steve and I chose the Peach flavor. If you're good at doing "higher math" you may have noticed that although there were three people involved and two choices, I still got to choose twice.

Because I'm The Mom, that's why.

And let me just say right here that the Peach shake that Chick-Fil-A makes is incredible--the next best thing to homemade you'll ever find, with little bits of peach in it.

For us at least, part of the fun of going to Chick-Fil-A is getting to see Nathan. This time around, he was working the drive-thru window so Steve pulled through there to place our order. Steve immediately disguised his voice (he talked really high) to see how long it would take Nathan to catch on.

It didn't take long.

Of course, it helped a little bit that Nathan could look in his little TV monitor thingie and see our green van. Hard to disguise yourself when your vehicle is on TV.

Steve told him that we wanted two shakes, one with two cherries and one with no cherries.

Nathan yelled back over the intercom, "NO!"

Now you must understand that Chick-Fil-A employees are trained to answer, "My pleasure" whenever a request is made of them. I'm sure the other employees were a bit alarmed to hear Nathan shrieking, "NO" into his little microphone.

Of course, when we pulled around to the window, the mystery was solved. It was Nathan's "annoying family" showing up at Chick-Fil-A again! I wouldn't doubt if they start calling security the next time they see The Green Van appear. (Hey, give us a break! We don't get out much.)

This Friday, Nathan is going to "be" the Chick-Fil-A cow for several hours. I will do my best to sneak over there (in The Green Van, no less) and snap some pictures of him interacting with the public as a cow! Should be very inspiring. As soon as he sees me with the camera, he'll probably chase me around the restaurant (in his cow suit) yelling, "NO!"

I think it will be great fun.

Lastly, Sarah informed me at dinner tonight that when I did the famous Hot Dog Post, I didn't post a picture of what MY hot dog looked like, even though I said something like, "Here is a picture of my well dressed dog." I am obviously falling down on my job as a picture poster.

So lest any of you are losing sleep over this issue (yeah, right) I thought I would post the picture so that you can compare the simplicity of my hot dog with the convoluted complexity of Steve's.


Here's mine.




Here's Steve's


The end.

Making Martha Stewart Jealous

First of all, thank you for all the kind words you've left in the guest book about my recent ailment(s). I especially enjoyed Sue G's line, "Inquiring hearts want to know." When I read all the comments I couldn't help but think, "They like me! They really like me!" (To quote Sally Field.)

To those of you who suggested I follow up with another doctor soon, I must admit I haven't done that yet. I'm still monitoring things and seeing if they get better or worse.

And for those who are concerned that I have a history of heart trouble since I already have a cardiologist, here's the story on THAT.

I went to the cardiologist a couple years ago when my pulmonologist (who couldn't figure out why I was having lung problems) wanted me to get some heart tests done to be sure the breathing problems were not being caused by any heart issues.

After my appointment, the cardiologist said that the right side of my heart looked bigger than the left side which could indicate I something called ARVD. (Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia) This is a very cheery little condition which basically means that you could fall over dead at any moment. (If you ever hear stories of healthy athletes keeling over from a heart ailment, many times it is due to ARVD.)

I was sent off--all worried and stressed--to a big regional hospital for an MRI of the heart. And guess what? The MRI showed that the right side of my heart was NOT enlarged after all!

And so with that in mind, I want to stress that I really don't have an "official" history of heart disease: I just have a history of having a cardiologist.

I'm still experiencing a few ongoing symptoms, but as long as I know my ticker is going to keep on ticking (or is it tocking?) I'm not going to get overly excited unless something radically changes.

So that's where I'm at with THAT story . . . again, thanks to everyone for your concern. It means a whole lot.

On another subject, our For Sale sign disappeared again last week for the sixth or seventh time. In the past, it has always shown up again eventually but this time, it hasn't. We're currently waiting for the real estate agent to bring another one by. Even though our house is listed on fifty real estate web sites (bringing us a grand total of two showings) you never know who might drive by and notice the sign and want to see the house. And so this time Steve is going to stick it really deep in the ground and see if that makes any difference.

And speaking of houses, you know how you always see those advertisements in circulars and magazines that show a little family gathered on their back deck with their lovely patio furniture scattered around? Well, we've wanted patio furniture for forever, but have never been willing to part with the money necessary to get it.

A few days ago, as we were coming home from Chick-Fil-A (we went there to harass Nathan and to get milkshakes) I said, "It's such a beautiful evening to eat outside; it's too bad we don't have any patio furniture."

Steve said, "Oh, but we do have some! I'll get it out."

So while I was in the kitchen dividing our two shakes (of different flavors) into several glasses, Steve and Sarah bustled around to get the "patio furniture" in place. And when they were done, they even added a centerpiece lovely enough to make Martha Steward jealous.

See?










Whoever thought a card table and some chairs could provide such a lovely, al fresco dining experience. I felt downright decadent, with our new found luxury.

Our own "patio furniture." Our impressive centerpice. Shared shakes from Chick-Fil-A. An usually pleasant summer evening. Time spent with really delightful people.

Does life get any better?

The Thrift Store Goody Give Away Is Over

You know what? I'm really, really thankful to have readers who are so happy about getting stuff from a Thrift Store, from all places. You all are my kind of people!

The two Thrift Store Goody Give Away winners will be posted this afternoon.

Also, here the answers to couple guest book questions:

1. Lesley asked if I noticed the grammatical errors that show up in guest book entries.

Actually, that's a very funny question and something I've not thought much about. I think the answer would be that one level of my brain probably does notice them, but mostly I don't pay much attention because it's just such a relief to read something and not be responsible for making it accurate.

When I'm actually writing an update, I'm always thinking about grammar and spelling and it's really fun not to think about those things when reading comments.

In fact, I'm just so happy to actually SEE everyone's comments that you could misspell every word and I wouldn't even mind!

(Wait. Did I just misspell "misspell?" Nope. I just looked it up and it was right. See what I mean? Editing myself is way too much work; why would I ever want to edit you guys, too?)

2. Sue asked what we would do with $100 for fun. (And Sue, you mentioned OTHER questions I haven't answered? If you asked something else, it has obviously fled my little brain entirely. I'm afraid you will have to re-ask.)

As for the answer (and if it were all up to me), I would either put the entire amount on 4 tickets to one of the big Broadway shows they do in Raleigh OR I would put it in an envelope and pull out a little at at time for movies, bowling, Putt-Putt, and ordering in pizza. (Which is a huge luxury.)

It's kind of a fun topic to contemplate. How about the rest of you? What would you do with $100 of fun money? Maybe you'll give the rest of us some good summertime fun ideas.

And speaking of fun, Karen, one of my readers, sent me this Movie link which lists free kid's movies that are playing at Regal theaters all summer. You can go to the link and search by your zip code to find the theater that is nearest you. What a great idea!

Speaking of movies, on Friday night, our family went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens at the wonderful $2 theater in town. I'm not a big fan of animated movies OR alien movies, but that movie was truly delightful. As a creative person myself, I have to tip my hat to the incredible creativity of writers and directors who can create those kinds of stories.

Remember! Winners of my first ever Thrift Store Goody Give Away will be announced this afternoon! (And there will be more Thrift Store Goody Give Aways to come!)