At the soccer fields.
Sitting under a magnificent sky.
The wind is blowing briskly.
Watching the ball roll by.
October 6, 2012
son
Home for the night.
Wearin’ fuzzy slippers.
Cookin’ frozen pizza for two middle school boys.
(My oldest son and his friend from next door.)
They are playin’ video games in the basement.
My youngest son is right there with them.
Always.
Home.
October 5, 2012
NOTE: This is my 600th Tumblr post. Something had to be. Figured it might as well be about family, food and home. Those three things are all tangled up together – at least for me.
shadow games
“I’m trying to step on my shadow.”
~ my favorite quote from the soccer sidelines on this sunny Saturday
I overheard a brown haired girl say this to her parents, who had their eyes fixed on the field beyond her.
No one noticed the purple clad, brown haired woman, with red highlights recently added, smiling quietly to herself as she walked past, on her way to another field, where her youngest son is playing.
September 29, 2012
the lunch menu
While looking at the school lunch menu, held by a magnet on the fridge, I asked my oldest son, “So, do you want pickled pigs feet and pepperoni popsicles for lunch today?”
He replied with a succinct, 12 year old boy, “Nuh, uh.”
I repeated my question, and was rewarded with a more complete response, “Mom, that’s NOT what it says.”
Oh, all right, “Do you want a cheeseburger meal then?”
Like I didn’t already know the answer’d be, “YES!!!!”
Easy for me.
Yummy for him.
Win-win.
~ Janean
August 23, 2012 a.k.a. the fourth day of the new school year.
The car
I think it’s time to let her go
I/we need a safe newer vehicle that we trust outside the city limits on the highway
The air is broken and it’s been hot this summer
Power locks busted long ago and it’s not worth repair costs
Even if we fixed her and parked her until My oldest son was 15 or 16, in three more years I’d worry about her safety
And his
The air bag light is blinking
It’s time
It’s just not easy
To let her go
She’s been my car for 13 1/2 years
That’s a long damn time to drive a car
She’s been A Good One
One of the best
My fifth car since I turned sixteen
Twenty four and a half years ago
Now it’s time to figure out
What’s next?!
~ Janean
August 6, 2012
We had some more rain this evening followed by the biggest, brightest, most beautiful rainbow I’ve ever seen stretch across several houses that face my own backyard. I looked for a rainbow such as this all last summer. A sign from God that He keeps His promises. The significance of seeing a rainbow today, tonight, after a brief rainstorm, is that the printed copies of my oldest son’s book arrived today. The one he wrote for 4-H. The one that honors his father and the fight he’s been fighting for over a year now. The title is, “On May 25”. It’s a beaut of a little book that also honors the Lord as my twelve year old shares his heart, faith, belief in the power of prayer and the comfort that comes from the prayers of many for our family during this difficult time. My heart was already dancing, soaring and flying. This rainbow, a double rainbow, was an unexpected gift. SO BIG! SO BEAUTIFUL! Praying this new type of chemotherapy works. Praying for complete healing from stage four cancer. Praying to weather this storm with my family of four intact for many years to come. Thank you, God, for the reminder that You are there. Always. From the dark of night to the glow of sunrise, until the sun sets once more, and sometimes, the most special of times, You are in the translucent glow of a rainbow in a perfectly formed half circle.
~ Janean
July 26, 2012
the moon man
headin’ home as a family
when from the backseat
my nine year old boy said,
“I see the moon man.”
as he gazed out the window
at the dark night sky
I asked, “Do you mean
the man in the moon?”
he confirmed,
“Mmmhmmm, him.”
then he asked
a science question
about the moon
and the tides,
“How does THAT work, anyway?”
I mumbled something
about gravity
and lookin’ it up
later
and went back to grinnin’
about seein’
the moon man
as I gazed out my window
too
July 25, 2012
WOOF
I used to be the neighbor who grumbled about dogs that always barked.
Now I have one.
That’s irony.
My youngest son calls Blue a barkaroo.
He made up a song about it,
“Blue is the bark-a-roooo
of the cent-ur-eeee.”
Those are the only words, sung on a continuous loop in melodious nine year old boy lilt.
Of course I’m charmed.
He’s my fourth grade son, singing about our big sweet pup who still needs to learn some volume control.
That’s love.
~ Janean
July 23, 2012
My oldest son thought it was hilarious when I said this morning, “I have a Giant Squid arm on my shoulder.” Mostly he’s just glad I’m sewing another aquatic animal, to test our most recent newspaper pattern, for his 4-H project due in approximately two weeks time. ~ Janean
The 4-H Report
Entomology is all the way done. He did the activity in his project book yesterday and the insects are arranged in the cases.
We made the stingray pattern for non-clothing fleece yesterday – it’s a visual art class, not a sewing one. I’m making the first stingray to test the pattern and see how the (forgive me) damn thing goes together.
His Write A Book is special AND it’s a surprise. Getting closer…
Fudge we won’t make until the day before judging.
That’s four…
(or somewhere around the 20,000,000 mark)
Electricity is “in the works”. I have a shopping list from my father for my oldest son’s electricity project. My son and I will be sure to go together to buy those items before his Papa is back in town to build it.
A new international project one of his aunts is helping with. They brainstormed at the last fair to do the Philippines together this year. That’s where she’s from. It seemed like a good idea at the time…
Photography isn’t “hard”. I got the project book out yesterday to look over…just gotta do it!
Balsa airplanes is a bear. They are working on it…my amazingly patient husband and equally diligent sons. Both my boys are taking this one which means there is not just one, but two delicate balsa wood airplanes under construction in our basement. Did I mention projects are due the night before the fair on July 31?!
Rockets may be the one that’s dropped this year. We shall see. Eleven just feels like (at least) one too many.
Plastic models is close to being done…this one they started early, father and son, surely they will finish it soon. Maybe while the glue is drying on that mega balsa plane…
LEGOs is built. He just has a 3” x 5” card to do.
Gettin’ there…that’s all eleven, or 50,000,000 if you ask me. It’s 4-H countdown time. It’s 4-H project crunch time. Fourth year with my oldest and the first for my youngest (who wisely chose five projects which are practically all complete). This too shall pass.
~ Janean
(I was a ten year 4-H’er from age eight to seventeen, so it sort of runs in the family.)
Turquoise Tangles 