10 Things of Thankful, Week 5

Hope all my US of A readers had a wonderfully safe and fun 4th of July celebration/day off!  For everyone else, well, I hope your everyday, normal day in July was safe and fun, too.  Oh, and my Canadian friends, hope you had a wonderfully safe and fun Canada Day celebration/day off.  There, I think that covers everyone.

To the thanks...

1.  I am thankful for strong medicine.    Poor Star came home from camp with a swollen face and a rash over much of his body.  The first night home was torturous for him, and no amount of Benedryl or anti-itch cream would help.  The next morning, off he went to see a doctor.  He was given a steroid shot in his hip (which hurt like the dickens, but did take the focus off the itch, so that's helpful.  Not.) and three medicines to take over the next 10 days.  One is for an antibiotic to prevent periorbital cellulitis.  Normally, I don't give antibiotics unless it is absolutely necessary (even for ear infections, I wait to see if it will heal on its own, which it usually does within a day or two), but this child had periorbital cellulitis when he was young.  It was the scariest week of my life, and we do not want to even think about going there again.  So, antibiotics it is. 

2.  I am thankful for the dollar theater.   Even if we can afford it, I refuse to spend $50 for my family to go to a movie.  Fortunately, we have a theater not too far away which plays movies that have just come out of regular theaters.  We took the kids to see "The Croods" this week, for the bargain price of $16.

3.  I am thankful for my book club.  We've been together for almost seven years now, and I love these ladies to pieces.  We have encouraged each other, laughed with each other, and consoled each other through so many life experiences.  One of these wonderful women is going through an unbelievably difficult time right now, so we gathered round and had a night away last night.  The lot of us booked a suite in a new hotel downtown to simply be there for each other.  To cry.  To pray.  To listen.  I can't say it was a ball of laughs like we usually spend together, but it was exactly what we all needed.

4.  I am thankful for my responsible children.   In order to have this night away, I had to leave them to their own devices from 2:30 Monday afternoon until their dad got home at 7:30, and then the next morning from the time C.O.W. left at 6:30am until I got home at 11.  They took care of the animals.  They made their own dinner and breakfast.  They did laundry.  They took care of the little boys.  I am so grateful that I could go be with my suffering friend, confident in the fact that they could hold down the fort while I was gone.

5.  I am thankful for gelato, and chefs who believe breakfast should have dessert.    The hotel where we stayed had a gorgeous, free breakfast buffet.  The staff was observant and compassionate. (At one point, every one of us at the table was crying.  The waitress very discreetly placed a box of Kleenex on the table for us.)  And the food was delicious.  So delicious.  And then, there was gelato.  10 flavors.  With toppings.  For free.  For breakfast.  And the chef himself dished it and said, "Do you want one or two scoops?  Or three or four.  Whatever you want."

6.  I am thankful for affordable soap and an abundance of running water.    Boys are stinky.   Five boys are knock you on your rear malodorous.   I cannot even imagine the stench that would be my house if we lived back in the day of once-a-week baths. 

7.  I am thankful for rain.   After last year's drought, I swore I would never complain about rain again.  Even if it rains every day for a week, preventing me from hanging laundry out to dry, making the pig pen a smelly, treacherous mud-pit, causing my children to either stay inside or drag in unbelievable amounts of grass, mud, and water.  Which is what we've got going on now.  But I'm thankful, dagnabut!  Can you tell?  And as long as we aren't flooded out and I get to see the sun at least once more before I die, I'll continue to be thankful.

8.  I am thankful for my garden.  With the non-stop rain, I haven't been out to the garden in 4 days.  I went out today when the clouds were a little less menacing and was floored by how much had changed.  Look what I picked!

Time to start canning!

9.  I am thankful for bees.  While picking all those beans, bees were buzzing all around, helping to make my garden grow.  I haven't read too much into it, but I have heard there is a problem with a lack of bees in the US.  We are fortunate that each year, at least two of our old trees become the homes of a large number of bees.

10.  I am thankful for my country.   I may disagree with a lot of what the government does.  I may disagree with many things that my fellow Americans do or believe.  I will always be grateful for the opportunity I have to form my own ideas, the opportunity to say what I want to say, the opportunity to worship the way I want to worship.  I will always be grateful to be born in a country where I have the chance to be who and what I want to be.

Now it is your turn.  Pray tell, for what are you thankful?

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 Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall,Bringing the Sunshine, Considerings, Finding Ninee, I can say mama, Steps into Parenthood, The Wakefield Doctrine

An InLinkz Link-up

7 Really, Really Quick Takes

See Jen.  See Jen write.  See Jen let other people write and link their posts up to hers.

********** 1 ***********

James Dyson says "cyclone technology" ensures that their vacuum never loses suction.  Ever.  That is a lie.  Their vacuum most certainly does lose suction...

when you forget to clean the filter and roller for a year or so.

*********** 2 ***********

I grew up 15 minutes from the Hoover Vacuum plant and the Hoover family.  I say "vacuum" the carpet.  My British friends, who live thousands of miles and across an ocean away from the Hoover plant and the Hoover family, say "Hoover". 

I find that to be quite funny.

I'm going to assume you do, too.

************ 3 **********

I had the best game of Scrabble of my life.  I had three, let me repeat, THREE words in which I could use all my letters.  I got to use two of them.  One on a double word score, one on a triple word score.  I got over 400 points in one game. 

I was playing against Star, who normally gives me a run for my money.   That day, though, he had just gotten home from camp covered in poison ivy.  And when I say "covered", I mean his entire face had swelled up.  He was just a touch distracted, so I had a hard time feeling triumphant.

Blasted kids, always raining on my parade.

***************** 4 ***************

"I don't have any socks," in kidspeak actually means, "I have shucked my socks all over the house over the last five days, so none of them actually got washed, so I don't have any socks in my drawer to put on today."

These were found in every single room on the first floor of our house in a two minute clean-up time.  They all belong to Cuckoo and Turken. 

************** 5 *************

Kids think lollipops are fun, especially when I insist they sit and watch TV while eating them, to ensure the lollipops don't get stuck to things in every room in my house.

What color is my tongue?

************* 6 ************

Child does not do the laundry he was supposed to do while Mother was out.  Again.

Mother gets angry with Child.

Child apologizes, then hops to.

With a smile on his face, Child takes 5 times as long as it should to fold the laundry because he folds it origami-style.

Mother has a really hard time staying angry with Child.

************* 7 ***********

As a fake farmer, never knowing a real farmer in real life, I was quite excited when our town had a "Meet Your Neighbor" event at a farm in town.  There was a tour and everything, so we could meet the family and learn all sorts of things about modern farming.  It was completely fascinating. 

What did my children consider the best part?

 

 

 

On a side note, while at the farm event, my husband found what he wants to be called on the blog.

Nice try, Dear, but, while true, it is most certainly not a chicken name.

Have a lovely day!

Don't forget I'm on Facebook now, and we'll be having our weekly 10 Things of Thankful over the weekend!

Monday Listicles - Summer at the Public Pool

We are not fortunate enough to have a pool of our own.  My sister has a pool, but she lives in Kentucky and is of no help.  So, to beat the heat, we are relegated to the public pool.  If you've never been to a public pool, think Wal-Mart without the coverage pajama pants affords. 

Stasha's Listicle topic this week is "summer".  I shall give you...

10 Things You Will See at the Public Pool in the Summer

1.  Rude people who say rude things to complete strangers.  Cuckoo and I were having a lovely time playing in the big pool, he jumping in to me, when a young woman looked directly at me and said, "Are you the mom or the grandma?"   And it hurt, Man!*  (For those of you who heard about this on Saturday, I'm over it now.  I'll never mention it again.  I would have been over it sooner, but my dear husband won't stop laughing and telling everyone he sees about it.)

2.  Tattoos.  Going to the public pool is a lot like going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Everywhere you turn, there's an artist's rendering of some object, event, or person.  In both places, you see original work depicting important events in a person's life.  Sure, in the museum, artists use mediums like pastels, paint, charcoal, and watercolor on everything from canvas to wood to metal, while at the pool, artists are limited to ink on skin, but that doesn't mean you can't appreciate a good image of Jesus at either place.  (No joke, I actually saw the face of Jesus taking up the entire calf of a woman at the pool. (Don't ask why it was on her calf.  I was too afraid didn't get a chance to ask her.)******* 

3.  Lifeguards.  They ain't what they used to be.  First off, now they all have to train with The Hoff.  Red is the new mandatory swim suit color, and every one must carry the big, red floating devices.  They never sit for more than 15 minutes before they are up and walking to another station.  These folks are focused, which means they catch all sorts of children behaving in ways they shouldn't.  Every 11 seconds, another whistle tweets, and children freeze, wondering if it was they who did something wrong.  Of course, it wasn't.  The kids running/hanging on the lane line/diving/sliding down the slide head first/wearing unapproved flotation devices are having too much fun to hear the whistles blowing.

4.  Skin.  Lots and lots of skin.  Bathing suits have become smaller and smaller as people have become bigger and bigger.  I tell you what, I'd almost rather they all just go naked.  At least then I could look away instead of constantly watching and wondering just how long that itty, bitty string is going to hold in that great, big boob. 

5.  Disgustingly wet floors in the bathroom.  Is it water?  Is it pee?  Does it matter?  It's all a nasty, cold, slippery germ locker that beckons to my child all day long.  I swear, Cuckoo goes to the bathroom maybe five times on a normal day.  At the pool, he must go at least five times in two hours.  I'm almost to the point of teaching him to put the P in the ool.  As I've heard many women who have used the facilities then failed to wash their hands say, "The chlorine will kill the germs."

6.  Teen boys doing cannonballs to impress the girls.  Nothing says, "You're cute," like a great, big, flood of water being thrown on you.  It usually works, as long as the boy comes up for air with the always adorable, only-the-young-can-do-it-without-throwing-his-back-out head toss.

7.  Bad parenting.  If I had a dollar for every parent I've seen screaming to his child from the side of the pool to, "Get out!  Come here!  No, give that back to him!  It's not yours!  Come here!  No, give it to him!  The whistle blew!  It's break time!  Give it back!  Get out!  We'll go home!  Do you want to go home?!  It's his!  Look, the lifeguard is getting mad!  We are going home as soon as you get out of that pool!  How about a snack!  Do you want a snack?"  I would be able to put my own blasted pool in my own back yard. 

8.  Piercings.  In every orifice, current or past, and in some places that have never been orifices to begin with.  Ears?  Of course.  Nose?  Yup.  Tongue?  Why not?  Belly button?  Oh, are there ever.  It must be the new thing.  Not only do females get their belly buttons pierced, they do them up!  Honestly, when we went to the pool last week, I saw no less than 10 chandeliers hanging off of people's midsections.  Oh, and the "never been an orifice"?  Yeah, a woman had two silver studs coming out of her lower back, about 3 inches above her bikini line.  "Why?" wasn't my first question.  My first thought was, "HOW???? Are they connected under the skin?  What's holding them in?  Are your kidneys OK with this?"  Baffling, I tell you.  Baffling.

9.  Water slides and high dives and dumping buckets of water.  Basically, everything your kid wants to do, but only if you do it with him.  Now, I've done all of these things, and I'm not afraid of no high dive.  However, I am afraid of catching my child who wants to go off.  Those couple of seconds before the child surfaces are horrifyingly long.  I'm not opposed to going down the ginormous water slide.  I am opposed to going down the slide while holding one of my children.  With the added weight, we tend to fly higher up the sides in the turns, which flips us all around and upside down, so I am a panicky mess trying to right us before we hit the water in a jumble while keeping said child's head above water.  I always walk away from that thing with bumps and bruises and scratches all over my body.  As for the buckets of water, I don't have to go under those.  I do, though, have to console the youngest boy when the bucket dumps on his head unexpectedly, and he flips out, slips, and lands on his head. 

10.  Children with ill-fitting suits.   There is always that one kid who has the new suit.  The suit that fit in the store, but once in the water, falls down with every pop out of the water.  You see the poor kid struggle each time he surfaces to pull the suit back up over his crack.  And then one time he turns around, and you see his suit has gotten so low, it is thiiiiis close to showing everyone in the place all that God gave him.   Poor kid.  And his poor mom.  All she wanted was to get him the cool suit with the beloved character on it.  Sure, it didn't have a string to tie it tighter, but it seemed snug enough.  It fit in the store!!!  When the mom sees this suit malfunction, she has flashbacks to when her oldest child took swimming lessons at the same age as this child.   During the swim test, he had to do 10 bobs.  He was facing away from the parents and towards the instructors.  Each time he came up, the parents were shown his nice, bright, white tush.  From the looks and laughs of the instructors, they were getting to see plenty of jiggle on their side.  Did anyone stop him?  No.  He merrily went along, bob down, pop up, pull up the suit, bob down, pop up, pull up the suit...as the entire place rolled with laughter.   The mom quickly snaps back to the present and the suit issue unfolding before her.  She can't force her entire brood to go home simply because of this one child's bathing suit, so she does the next best thing.  She follows him around everywhere he goes, yanking his suit up each time he surfaces.

OK, maybe you won't see #10 unless you go to the public pool where I go.  That would be my kid.  And yes, the story of the boy taking swim lessons was Phoenix when he was 4 years old.  It seems we fit right in at the public pool after all.

*If you have never watched "Kid President", do so now.  This quote is from "A Pep Talk".  

 *******  Good grief.  I found out why the woman had it on her calf.  On a whim, I googled "tattoo of Jesus on calf" to see if I could find a picture of one.  Guess what came up?  Justin Flippin' Beiber.  He has a tattoo of Jesus on his calf.  Asked and answered.  And gag me with a tattoo needle.

Have a lovely day and a fun, relaxing summer!

10 Things of Thankful, Week 4

Let's get this link-up party started...

1.  I am thankful for the Backyard Chicken Lady, I swear, if my chickens knew how her chickens lived, they'd be out on the road with a wing in the air, hoping for someone to take pity on them and give them a ride down to her air-conditioned coop faster than you can say Cock-a-doodle. She does all sorts of research and testing, then tells me (and her other readers) about it.  Recently, she gave me a marvelous idea of what to do with the ridiculous number of mulberries I have ripening around our property, as well as the leftover bits of fruit and veggies I would normally throw into the compost.  Following her directions, I have made iced fruit snacks for the chicks, which I will save in the freezer until they get a bit older.  Basically, put all the fruit and veggies in a cake/cupcake/loaf/whatever pan, cover with water, then freeze.  Pop them out of the pans, and keep them in a sealed freezer bag until ready to give to the chickens.  I've made 5 cake pans already, and have plenty more mulberries and such to make some more. 

This was my first attempt.  The next batch was almost all blue, containing mulberries, black raspberries, and some blueberries. 

2.  I am thankful for public pools.  On hot, humid days, I am so grateful to be able to jump in the car and be at a huge, fun pool in the matter of a few minutes.  We haven't had too many days that were pool worthy, but Friday we did.  We took full advantage.

3.  I am thankful for a good sense of humor.  A certain young woman at the pool should be, too.  (Gotta say, I'd be a lot more thankful for the public pool if there were a lot less of the "public".)  My sense of humor allowed me to laugh instead of punch her when she looked at Cuckoo, jumping in to me over and over again, then looked at me and asked, "Are you the mom or the grandma?"   Aaaand she was serious.  Ha.  Ha.  Son of a Ha.

4. I am thankful for free anniversary date nights with C.O.W. (previously known as BBQ (previously known as Hubby))  For the big 19th, we were able to go out to one of our favorite local Italian restaurants for all of $12.  Thanks to our children getting older, we no longer have to pay for a sitter.  Thanks to generous friends, we had a gift card to the restaurant.  Win-win all over the place.

 5.  I am thankful for adults who like to camp.  Phoenix and Star are coming home from a week of Boy Scout camp today.  They LOVE camping, but would never get the real experience if it were left to me.  I'm not a fan of sleeping/living in a tent, so I am beyond grateful for adults who do and are willing to take my boys with them.

6.  I am thankful for nearly free t-shirts.    The brilliant Clark from the Wakefield Doctrine, who... has a theory?... talks about behavior?...I can't even explain it.  You just have to go and figure it out.  As the T-shirt he sent me says, I'm a scott.  We're doers, not figure-outers. :) 

A little note before you see the photo:  This bit of the "nearly free" has completely shown me that I will never, ever participate in the "What I Wore Sunday" hop I've seen on various blogs.  Taking this photo was torture.  C.O.W. is not a photographer.  And I clearly don't know how to pose myself.  Sorry, Clark.  I'll try again in the daylight when one of my kids can take it.  Outside.  While I'm doing something productive and not awkward, like just standing there to get a photo of my shirt.

See, the sleeve says "scott".  Because I am one.

7.  I am thankful for hair products.   My curly hair turns into a frizzy disaster in all of this humidity.  Fortunately, Frizz-ease is sold at a store near me, for a very reasonable price, so I can actually go out in public without people asking me things like, "Are you the mom or the grandma?"  (Wow, guess I'm a wee bit bitter.  Must be thankful.  Must be thankful.)

8.  I am thankful for my camera.  Many moons ago, I had a small photography business.  The business required my ownership of a fancy camera.  The business may be gone, but the camera remains.  I am able to get all sorts of good photos with it, but today I am especially grateful for the big zoom lens on it.  On Thursday, a few of us were in the kitchen when Buttercup yelled, "What is that in our yard?"  It was halfway down our driveway, so we couldn't tell.  It was a bird, and almost looked like a vulture.  I got my camera out as quickly as I could and got one photo of it before it disappeared into the treeline.  I walked down and tried to find it, but to no avail.  Here's the photo.  I'd be extra grateful if you could tell us what it is.  It very much is NOT a vulture.  Turkey?  Peahen?

Those arrows are pointing to two spots we assume are baby birds.  They were hopping around behind the mama bird.

9.  I am thankful for re-runs.  I have discovered that staying up a bit later than I used to helps me sleep better.  Go to bed at 10:00, I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble going back to sleep, usually more than once.  Go to bed between 11 and 11:30, I sleep soundly all night long.  So, I go to bed later, which means I get to watch all my old favorite shows again, without C.O.W. trying to turn it to some random sport.  "Malcolm in the Middle" anyone?

10.  I am thankful for this blog.  I have fun writing it, but it is so much more than that.  I have met so many good, fun people.  It makes my mom and dad happy.  It compels people whom I haven't heard from in a long time (and miss terribly), to contact me and make me cry.  And now, every Saturday (and Sunday if you're too busy Saturday) I get to read a whole bunch of things that make people happy.  What's not to love about a blog?   (Don't ask my family that question.)

Git to gittin' and tell me what your thankin' (for).  (Sorry.  That was bad.  But I'm keeping it, 'cause I'm 3 minutes late in posting this.)

Have a lovely day!

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 Your hosts

A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall,Bringing the Sunshine, Considerings, Finding Ninee, I can say mama, Steps into Parenthood, The Wakefield Doctrine

An InLinkz Link-up

7+ Quick Takes, Family Edition

Why do I ride the coattails of Jen at Conversion Diary each week?

Um, it's a list of quick recaps from the week.  I love lists.  I love recaps.

Match made in heaven.

 

************** 1 *************

I have never liked calling my husband "Hubby".  Hate it, actually.  I have never used that word in real life, so why would I use it here?  I'm working on a name.  As I did with the kids, I gave him the chicken catalogue and told him to choose one.  He poo-pooed the idea.  (Actually, he said, "Cock of the Walk", but we're going to pretend he didn't.)  Guess that means I get to choose one.  For now, we shall try out BBQ Special.  It's not actually a breed, but a mix of surplus meat chickens.  (I think you can all come up with your own jokes on this one. ;) extra bit so my parenthesis doesn't look dumb with a ;)) but a normal)

****************** 2 ****************

Lying in bed, so close to falling asleep, BBQ says, "Should we switch sides?"

Me:  Why would we do that?

Him:  We've slept on the same side for 19 years.  Maybe we should shake things up a bit.

In the end, we realized we aren't "switching sides" kind of people.  Plus, we'd have to move my nightstand to the other side of the bed.  We aren't "unnecessary effort" kind of people either.

********************** 3 *******************

Every once in a while, one of the kids will show how wise he really is and put my ideas in perspective.  To illustrate:

Turken (while holding a chick):  I wish we could keep them little like this.

Me:  Funny, I say that about you all the time.

Giant:  But if we did stay little, you'd have to take care of us for the rest of your life.

Me:  Tou to the che. 

******************* 4 *************

Cuckoo (walking past me to hang up a sopping wet towel while holding an open bottle of bubbles):  I spilled it, but I cleaned it up without you asking me to.

Me:  Thank you, but didn't I ask you NOT to get the bubbles out?

Cuckoo:  It was an "assident".

*************** 5 *************

Remember the bouquet Cuckoo made for BBQ last week?

The conversation at dinner the other day:

Me:  I hate to say it, but it's time to get rid of the bouquet you made for Daddy.

Cuckoo:  Why?

Me:  Well, the flowers are dead and the water is getting really yucky.

Phoenix (walking in from the kitchen with a potted plant in his hands):  Says the person who has this on the counter in her kitchen.

Once again, tou.che.

**************** 6 ***************

Question:  What's it like living with a houseful of boys?

Answer:  "Look, they're open on Turd Day!"

Any more questions?

**************** 7 ***************

Proof that my baby is brighter than the brightest bulb in the light factory:

Cuckoo:  What does becycling start with?

Me:  RE-cycling starts with an r.

Pause

Me:  BI-cycling starts with a b.

Pause

Me:  What is BE-cycling?

Pause

Cuckoo:  Oh.  Becycling.

Pause

Me:  What is that?

Pause

Cuckoo:  Oh.  Nothing.

Pause

Cuckoo:  But it starts with a B.

************* Random photos *************

"I'm racing!"

Definition of "living on the edge":  Holding a helium balloon outside while standing mere feet from a moving train.
 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow and link up with our 10 Things of Thankful!

Oh, and don't forget, I'm on facebook now.  (and I'm hoping that's the right link)

Have a lovely day!

The Care and Keeping of Chicks

Step 1:

Get them home.

You'll get a call from the post office which says, "Your chicks are here."

Since they are a few days early, rush to the store to buy chick food and new waterers and a feeder, because you have no idea where the old ones are.

Pick up the chicks and bring them home.

33 chicks in one little box 

Step 2:

Settle everyone in.

Pick chicks up one at a time and dip each beak in the water.  After 2 days in a box, it is very important they get a drink right away.  As I've said before, chickens are not the brightest animals, so if we don't actually put their heads into the water, they wouldn't know where to go or perhaps even how to do it.

Count the chicks as you do this, because once they are loose, you'll never be able to get an accurate count again.  These babies are quick!


The water is yellow, because we added some vitamins to it.

Step 3:

Observe and figure out what you actually have.

1.  These chicks will grow to lay green/blue eggs.  We have 20 of them.  The others are random breeds, just for a little added fun. 

2.  This little guy was really sick when he arrived.  He could barely stand on his own.  Happy to say, he's getting stronger.  He's still a lot smaller than the others, and his little yellow head is still hysterical, but he seems to be getting better. 

We also have one chick whose neck is crooked.  He always looks like he's giving you the "I've got my eye on you" look.  Fortunately, I'm blog friends with Lana, who had this same issue with one of her chicks, so I know what it is and what to do.  Hopefully, the vitamins will work and he'll heal right up.

Step 4:

Teach kids how to pick up and hold the chicks.

This isn't Giant's first rodeo, so he knows what to do.

Turken was fine picking them up, just needed a bit of instruction on what to do after that.

Cuckoo had no clue how to pick them up.  I nabbed one and placed it in his hands.

Once he was comfortable and knew how to hold it, I let go.  Unfortunately, I didn't tell him what to do when he was done. (aka when the chick started to move and tickle his hands)

This is how Cuckoo now holds the chicks.

Step 5:

Continuously water, feed, and obsess over the chicks.  They won't be little and cute for long, so get your chick fix while you can.

Have a lovely day!

The Big Day

Each week, Josie chooses two words as writing prompts.  We are to write something original (not just link up a past post) with one of the two words as the theme.  I have never done one, seeing as how my brain just couldn't come up with anything before.  This week, though...  This week, I'm in!

Your choice of word prompts for Tuesday, June 25th are: 

 big  or  waiting
 
I hope you'll join us!

 

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Nineteen years ago today, Hubby and I stood in front God and a church full of friends and family to receive the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  It was a big day only in that it was the first day.  It was the first time we committed ourselves to sharing our life and love.  We have made this same promise every single day, whether it be out loud or in our actions.  To us, marriage is not simply "a piece of paper" but a sacred union.  It cannot be broken.  Most days, it is easy to make this promise.  On those days in which we are just plain annoyed with each other, it's harder, but it is even more important to do so.  Knowing that this is a sacred union, we are much more motivated to communicate better and clear up the disputes to bring us back around to the easy days. 

 

But today, as we humans are known to do, we will celebrate the first day.  The BIG day when we first committed ourselves to each other.

 

For me, the wedding day was not what one would consider a normal wedding day.  For much of it, I wasn't surrounded by throngs of people.  I went and had my hair done, headed to my grandma's to get a shower, then to my dad's to get dressed.  I dressed alone.  I waited for the photographer alone (except for the moments I had to talk my little sister into actually wearing her flower girl dress).  It was a peaceful morning of preparation and anticipation.

Oh, the hat.  The one regret I had on that day.  My mom had picked it out and gushed over it.  I, being the nice daughter, agreed to wear it.

 

Once everyone started arriving, things got hopping.  We had a few photos taken at the house, then on to the church.  We were married in a beautiful, old church where Hubby had gone to elementary school.  He grew up in a town that, years and years before, had been part of my family's farm.  Many of the streets have my family's names, and I'm related to half the people there.  We thought it was a wonderful place to wed.

 

It was a beautiful Mass, and we smiled the entire way through.  We were completely relaxed and simply enjoyed ourselves.  I asked my mom to accompany my dad and me down the aisle, seeing as how they had been divorced a good long time, and he wasn't really representing the both of them.  She was hesitant at first, but finally agreed.  We're both glad she did. My brothers and his sister did the readings, cousins were the servers, aunts were the Eucharistic Ministers.  His grandparents brought up the gifts. (My grandparents were there, but my grandpa wasn't able to do it.)

 

 

We all had a good laugh when, during the vows, Hubby flubbed my name.  He has some explanation, which he thinks is reasonable, but as far as I'm concerned, after 7 years of dating, he really should have had that part down pat.

 

 

Before the ceremony my youngest sister (about 7 at the time, and quite a corker) issued me a dare.  At the moment the priest said, "You may kiss the bride," she wanted me to look at Hubby and say, "I'd rather kiss a goat".  When the moment came, I could feel the giggle waiting, knew she was anxiously waiting for me to speak.  Hubby and I both smiled, knowing I wanted to say it out loud, but I couldn't do it.  We simply kissed, and everyone cheered.  Both Hubby and I have said it plenty of times since then, though, and each time it reminds us of that wonderful day.

 

The reception was in a converted barn at a local golf course.  Nothing fancy, to say the least.  It didn't matter.  We had a blast, dancing and visiting and laughing all night long. 

There was the usual cutting of the cake,

(yes, he did smash it in my face, but I got him better than he got me)

 and the first dance (to this):

  

Again, nothing fancy.  Basically just swaying.  My guy has lots of talents, but keeping a beat just ain't one of them.

 After the reception was over (we were close to the last to leave) we headed to our hotel.  All of the out-of-town guests were already in their rooms by the time we got there.  We made it to the front desk to check in, but were told they gave our room away.  Since we hadn't checked in before 6:00, they thought we weren't going to need it. 

Yes, there we were, bride and groom, with no room at the inn.  They apologized profusely, and immediately started calling around town to find a room for us.  Unfortunately, there was some convention or something going on, and no hotel rooms were to be found.  Finally, they found a room (notice I didn't say "hotel") for us at no charge.  We were directed about 5 minutes down the road to...

DON PONCHO'S MOTOR INN.

Kid you not.  That is where we spent our first night as husband and wife.  We had to walk through a dark, dingy bar sparsely filled with old, lonely men (silent at 1:30am on a Saturday night) to get to our room on the second floor.

Can you think of anything more romantic?

We had a flight to Miami at 8:00 or so the next morning, and without cell phones, we had no way to wake up in the morning.  (Surprisingly, Don Poncho's didn't have wake-up calls.)  We had one of our parents call us at 5:30 to wake us.

The next morning we made it to his mom's house, packed up our luggage, and headed to the airport.  It wasn't until we were checking in at the airline that I realized I had left my purse back at my mother-in-law's house.  I had no ID, and half our money was in it.  (Remember those promises we made?  We got to practice living them right away!) 

Fortunately, this occurred back in the day when people simply trusted each other.  I managed to fly to Florida, drive a rental car, go to places for folks 21 or over, and fly home without an ID.  No one batted an eye when I said I forgot it.

Nineteen years ago, on that big day, we never, ever could have imagined all that we'd do and go through.  No married couples can.  That's why marriage is so hard, and the promises so important.  Without having any idea what is going to be thrown at us, we have promised to do it together.   It is overwhelmingly reassuring to know that we both believe this with our entire beings. 

For better (Bermuda) or worse (law school) in sickness (his, kids', mine, or swine) and health (six kids!) for richer (Bermuda) for poorer (once again, law school), we're doing it together.

Now, go on over to Josie's Two Shoes to read some other takes on the theme or to link up your own!

Have a lovely day!