I’m Number One!

The kids and I were fiddling around today on Google, and I typed in “Mary Sellers” to show them that I’m the #2 entry. Imagine my surprise to see that Google now has me at #1!  I’ve passed the cheesy, buxom, horror movie star Mary Sellers!  I feel so special. Of the 627 Mary Sellers in the USA, I feel quite honored.  (What’s that verse? Hmmm… “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit…”)

Play practice went well last night. We had a read through, and I was quite pleased with how everyone sounded.  It was quite foolish of me to name one of the characters King Pierre DuCompte Cheverdeux from Chevrotin since four different characters have to introduce him or say his name or his country.  Remember,  we are from central PA. French accents are not our forte.  I’m the worst of the bunch.  If you put a gun to my head, I couldn’t fake an accent. 

Starbucks

Unlike the rest of  America, I don’t like coffee. I’ve tried many times throughout the years to drink it. But, it just tastes bad! Plus, it gives me an upset stomach. As a result, Starbucks isn’t really my store of choice. In fact, I’d only ever been in Starbucks once, just to check out the baked goods. 

Last night, I was cold, as in shivery-never-ever-be-warm cold.  The kids and I were eating supper at Kentucky Fried Chicken, which is right next to a  Starbucks.  “I’ll just nip in and by myself a cup of tea before we head to church!” thought I.  Plus, it’s the Starbucks where the Noble Cheese Puff works, and I thought perhaps I might see her. 

I went in to the nearly empty store to find three college-aged guys standing behind the counter.  “I’d like some decaf tea,” I said. They all snapped into action, reading me the tea choices, giving me cup sizes and such. Then, a voice piped up from the drive through– the Noble Cheese Puff. Yeaaah! She was there!  I loudly announced to her, “This is my first time EVER to buy anything at a Starbucks!”  To which all the guys behind the counter replied, “Well, then it’s on the house!”  My orange spice tea was free, and I have technically still never bought anything from Starbucks.

Tonight is the first practice for Peach Fuzz. The scripts are copied and bound, and I’m excited.  I get to spend all Saturday afternoon redeeming one of my Christmas presents: a bookbinding class!  I’ve always wanted to learn how to bind my own books, and after Saturday, I should.

It’s A.A. Milne’s birthday, so in his honor, here’s one of my favorite of the Pooh Bear author’s poems.

They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

Alice is marrying one of the guard.

“A soldier’s life is terrible hard,”

                                      Says Alice.


They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

We saw a guard in a sentry-box.

“One of the sergeants looks after their socks,”

                                      Says Alice.


They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

We looked for the King, but he never came.

“Well, God take care of him, all the same,”

                                      Says Alice.


They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

They’ve great big parties inside the grounds.

“I wouldn’t be King for a hundred pounds,”

                                      Says Alice.


They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

A face looked out, but it wasn’t the King’s.

“He’s much too busy a-signing things,”

                                      Says Alice.


They’re changing guard at Buckingham Palace -

Christopher Robin went down with Alice.

“Do you think the King knows all about me?”

“Sure to, dear, but it’s time for tea,”

                                      Says Alice

Stay warm!

I Have the
Discipline of a Beanbag Chair

Monday
Breakfast–Didn’t have any Special K in the house, so ate Frosted Mini Wheats instead. 
Was smug when I reduced the amount of sugar in my tea from one teaspoon to half
a teaspoon. 

Lunch–Very much enjoyed a bowl of Special K ($3.49 a box! Yikes!)

Mid-afternoon–Ready to chew my arm off. Anticipation of dinner very great.

Supper–Ate a normal helping of chicken and rice. Then, ate another normal
helping of chicken and rice. Felt smug that I skipped the lemon poppyseed muffin.

Evening–Figured that I normally would have eaten the muffin, so it would have
constituted part of my “normal” dinner. Ate a chocolate chip cookie instead.
And then another one. And then a pear.

Tuesday
Breakfast–Enjoyed my bowl of Special K. Discover that the diet actually is
cereal for breakfast and lunch, any fruits and veggies I want, a normal supper,
AND two “Special K snack bars.”

Mid-morning—Discover
that the number of chocolate chip cookies is perilously low. Decide that a
snack bar and a cookie are similar enough. Eat cookie.

Lunch—17 Jax
Cheese Twists

Mid-afternoon—While
folding laundry in my room, I saw THE LAST Pirates of the Caribbean fruit snack package on my desk. I knew if
I didn’t eat it, it wouldn’t last the day. Plus, what’s 80 calories?

Five minutes later—Decide
to follow up the fruit snacks with a square of fortifying, antioxidant-laden,
dark chocolate with dried fruit and nuts. 

Now—Although feeling 
a wee bit guilty, still willing to polish off the rest of the chocolate chip cookies–except someone else already ate them. 
Having a smug, half-sugar cup of tea instead.   Planning to eat a lot of pizza for supper.

I rode the exercise bike for 20 minutes today. Surely that counts for something? Maybe?

On other topics…

To answer the most-asked question, the book proposal was to turn The King of Peach Fuzz from a play to a novel.

Michael just said, “Mom, what’cha eating under there?”

To which I replied, “Under where?”
(Insert hilarious Michael laughter and actual rolling on the floor.  (Under where…underwear–get it?)

The Joys of Pennsylvania

Sunday afternoon, in between watching football plays, the boys were flipping channels when they came across the public access channel which was broadcasting live from the Pennsylvania Farm Show.  They were showing Tractor Square Dancing. Now, just in case you aren’t familiar with this event, a large square is marked out in the dirt, and eight tractors (with drivers, of course) partner up and a pair goes to each side of the square. A square dance caller sings the calls, and the tractors maneuver through the paces.  “Do-see-do!  Allemande right!”  It was fascinating and so very Pennsylvania.

Today, I did something surprising that I had not planned to do.  I submitted a book proposal to a publisher.  No book, just the proposal.  We shall see what happens!  (If anyone has any experience in this area, I’d be grateful for your wisdom!)

EDIT: Scrap of a poem I liked:

A Color of the Sky
by Tony Hoagland

Windy today and I feel less than brilliant,
driving over the hills
from work.
There are the dark parts on the road
    when you pass through
clumps of wood
and the bright spots where you have a view of the
ocean,
but that doesn’t make the road an allegory.

Weirdo

AJ1965 tagged me to share with everyone in Xanga-Land how weird I am.  Nothing, however will beat AJ’s own weirdness of biting her cats.  But, here are a few of my many foibles and oddities. 

1. A sliced Macintosh apple with salt, a bowl of Jax cheese twists, and a Pepsi constitute my favorite lunch. (If you end with a homemade chocolate chip cookie, it’s perfect!)

2. I feel guilty if I read for pleasure before 9:00 p.m. (unless it is Sunday).

3. I’m still afraid that something is under the bed at night and will grab my ankle. This fear occasionally extends to the day.

Gee, this is hard. What else is weird about me that I’m willing to share with everyone?

4. I’m the Becky Bloomwood of the library and regularly max out my library card at 99 items. 

5.  My littlest toenails are so tiny, they’re almost nonexistent.

I’m supposed to tag five others, but I’m not going to. I don’t like to forward forwards either, but that’s not so weird, is it?  If you feel inclined to answer, I’d be delighted to read your reply.

In other news, Little Miss’ glasses were found by The Hunter.  Strangely enough, the last time they were lost, Hunter found them and in almost the same place. Guess we should have checked there first, eh?

Has anyone else ever read The Secret History of the Pink Carnation?  I am currently reading it, and I’m not sure what to think. The problem with it is that it is a hardback book.  When a book is hardback, I have higher expectations for the level of writing. If it’s a paperback, I don’t expect very much.  Does anyone else think that way?

A big congratulations to rjdohner and El_Mano on the birth of their beautiful baby girl!

PS–Does anyone else remember THIS?

Singers

Snow Kidding?

Well, well. We finally have a coating of the white stuff.  Almost all the grass is covered, so we must have about two inches.  I’m glad it’s Wednesday, our lightest day of school. Plus, our piano teacher called and canceled lessons this morning, giving the kids more time to play.

Little Miss ran a fever all day Monday and Tuesday, but today, she is fine.  This made her quite happy, as she was able to don her snow garb and shiver along with the rest of them. ArtWit (which should be The_Art_Of_Wit, but I hate to type those underscores) and Grinner (my new name for Michael) made a ramp which they have been snowboarding over for quite some time.  The snowman didn’t work out so well.

When they weren’t outside, the kiddos have been working on writing stories.  Libby’s is a treasure story she started last year. Grinner’s is about hawk women and a magic picture, and ArtWit’s is some saga involving swords, jewels, and adventure.  He’s been working on the characters and pictures and general plot for months.

This entry seems dull, so here’s our pseudo-Christmas picture, taken last Sunday. Just so you know who is who in this happy Xanga family…

Front–The_Art_Of_Wit, Little Miss, LibbyK, and The Grinner   Back–Yours truly, TheGoodDoctorJ, and NateTheHunter

I’ve gotten some wonderful suggestions for improving the play, and I hope to work even more on it today.  If God brings it to mind, please pray for the auditions on Thursday night starting at 7:00.

Requests
1. That the auditions would be fun and go well.
2. That no feelings would be hurt when parts are assigned.
3. That there would be unity among bkroeker

, and myself as to whom to cast in each part.

Were you ever in a play? Do you like theater?

Fly, Flown, Flu?

Today, Little Miss (my new name for Rachel) came to me and said, “Mom, I think I have a fever.”
I felt her forehead.  “No, you don’t.”  
“Can I use the thermometer?” she begged.
“Sure!”

She fetched the thermometer (the cool digital kind that beeps) and took her own temperature. Sure enough, it was 99.1, a fever.  “Hmm…let me take it,” I said.  It was still 99.1.  Being the caring, concerned mother I am, I did nothing.

As the day went on, she had fun taking her temp and asking, “Am I still sick?”  By bedtime tonight, her temp was up to 101.5. There are no other symptoms, but she’s got Tylenol now. 

Beginner Bond

On a side note, in the novel Casino Royale, one of Bond’s friends is Rene Mathis. 

Wonderful Poems

I sometimes like poems, and sometimes I say, “Huh, wonder why the big deal?” But, the beauty of the words, images, and cadence keep wrapping themselves around my brain.  To spare you the tedium of having to read it if you aren’t in the mood for a poem, I’ll just give you the LINK. “I am the duodecimo of desperate love, the hocus-pocus of passion flower of delirious retribution.”  How can you pass up the temptation to read it?

The Hunter just left my side and proclaimed to his siblings, “You have the best and coolest mom in the world. Don’t forget it. Of course, she’s my mom, too.”  What prompted such an outpouring of praise?  I Photoshopped his alter-ego Xanga profile picture for him. Ah, it’s nice to be loved for such mundane reasons!