Friday, February 25, 2011

Handkerchief

According to Webster, a handkerchief is "a small usually square piece of cloth used for personal purposes (as blowing the nose) or as a clothing accessory."
It is also known as a handkercher, hankie, kerchief and probably other names.
It is usually made of cotton, cotton-synthetic blends, silk or linen.

Now what do people use hankies for?
These days we usually see them in suit coat pockets or around someone's neck or head.
Back in the day, a handkerchief was just used to blow your nose.
Many people had a special design or their initials embroidered on them.
Today we have disposable handkerchiefs.
AKA Kleenexes.
Did you know that were originally intended to be used to remove make-up? When people started using them to blow their nose, Kleenex changed their marketing. Brilliant!

Back to handkerchiefs. (Such a long word.)
My dad used
handkerchiefs.
He had 2 kinds: good and every day.
Those terms actually described all of our clothes, good or every-day.
You wore good clothes to town.
Every-day clothes were for, well, every day. They were older clothes that could get splashed with hog manure and still be OK.
It wasn't until I was in college that I realized everyone doesn't categorize their clothes this way. Who knew?

Back to
handkerchiefs.
I remember being out in the middle of a pasture and needing to blow my nose. No disposables in my pocket so I would resort to dad's hankie.
Sometimes you would be lucky and it would be un-used.
Other times, not so lucky.
Gross.
It was always tricky trying to find a dry spot on the hankie.
Ewwwww.
Then one day I learned how to "farmer blow."
Plug one nostril and blow, all the while watching out that your snot doesn't get on your clothes.
And if it does, that's actually OK since there's probably some pig manure already on your leg.

My dad always had a handkerchief in his pocket.
They were useful for a number of things, not just blowing your nose.
Sometimes James carries a handkerchief, but he uses them to wipe sweat off his face.
No snot there.

It's a cute little accessory, really. Perhaps we should bring them back.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Scroll

Scroll down. There's a post about Asa's birthday. It's published with the date from the day it was started.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Hi Ho! Cherry-O

Tonight Asa asked to play a game and we picked Hi Ho! Cherry-O.
(Ages 3+)
It's a great game.
There were 3 players: Jodi (28), Asa (4) & Judah (2).
The players 3+ did a great job!
The player under 3, not so much.
I had to hold Judah's hands down to keep him from moving cherries around or spinning when it wasn't his turn.
But we are learning how to count.
And how to take turns!

Friday, February 18, 2011

My Groundhog

Do I really have a 4-year-old?
Asa's birthday was a great day! It snowed 13 inches the day before his birthday and James was able to stay home from work. We celebrated all day long! Scones for breakfast, Horton Hears a Who for entertainment, new toys to play with and a special dinner from McDonald's!
Over the weekend we had a birthday party for Asa. He had about a million friends over. I loved seeing all of them play, make crafts, help open presents! It was great!

Reuben James


This week Reuben turned 2 months old!
He is such a great baby.
He is generally happy.
He smiles,
sleeps
eats
stares at toys
sleeps
eats.
He's got a good life.
Reuben's brothers LOVE him!
They sit by him on the couch.
They kiss him.
They hold him.
Judah lays on top of him!
Brother love!James still has that baby touch. He holds Reuben a certain way and he just falls asleep. I usually have to work harder to get him to sleep. But it's easy for James. It always is!

Picnic

Yesterday was February 17th. The high was 74. We went on a picnic!
It had cooled off a lot by the time we actually made it to the park with our hot-dogs, charcoal and chips. Still, it was great to be outside. Two other families joined us for the evening. The kids ran around screaming and chasing each other. It was awesome!
We ate and talked and stayed a long time. Luckily the lights at the pavilion came on so we could see.
And it was Reuben's first picnic. He slept most of the time.What a good baby!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Post Secret

There's this blog called Post Secret. People send in postcards with secrets on them and they are posted online for all to see but no one to know the author.
Tonight at youth group Justin asked everyone to make their own Post Secret card. We compiled about 30 cards from students and sponsors and they were read aloud (but not mailed). I could identify with the feelings of many of the writers. Feeling the need to be productive, allow God to use them, making good decisions. Many felt pressure to be perfect.
We asked if anyone felt pressure from parents to be perfect and a few raised their hands. That made me sad. I realize that most parents don't want to stress their kids out with expectations. I just wish they would tell that to the kids.
I don't remember being pressured by my parents to be perfect.
In fact, I remember the opposite.
One day I was riding in my dad's old brown Chevy helping him do the chores, feeding cattle and the like. My dad started talking to me about my sister. You have to know that my sister was a smarty-pants. She still is. We call her the doctor because any time someone is having a medical problem she researches it and knows all kinds of stuff and can talk to doctors without sounding stupid. She's a smarty-pants. She is 3 years older than me and was just finishing high school. She got all A's. Well, I think she got a B somewhere along the line. She was a great student and earned all of her awesome grades.
That afternoon as I was holding the door of the truck shut, Dad told me that I didn't have to get A's like my sister. My best work was good enough for him.
I still remember that conversation, about a dozen years later.
I don't think we realize the impact our words have on people. Words from a parent are so influential. I'm going to try today (well, tomorrow) to use my words to encourage each person in my family and whoever I meet along the way. Hopefully they will remember the positive, encouraging things I say.

Thanks, Dad.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

My Funny Valentine

Eight years ago I was in college.
I was dating a boy.
I was dating a boy named James.
He went to college, too.
A different college.
Actually, I take that back.
Eight years ago I was engaged to a boy.
A boy named James.
We lived 20 minutes apart.
30 if you ask my dad.
But if you're young lovers, it's 20.

I didn't see James every single day.
We did spend a lot of money driving back and forth for just a few hours together. This was, however, back when gas was cheaper. $1.70ish for a gallon of gas. OUTRAGEOUS!

Anyhow, back to my story.
It was Valentine's Day 2003.
I was in class.
I've been trying to remember my classes that day but I just can't do it. Probably 7 different music classes. I don't know.
After one of my classes, I went to my room.
Someone had written on my white board.
I don't remember exactly what it said, but my boy James wrote it.
Wait a minute, he had class all day too! What was he doing here? Why wasn't I looking at him? Where did he go?
I ran down the hall, towards the parking lot to find him.
But I didn't find him.
I found my van.
That's right, I drove a van. Laugh now.
My van stood out on this particular Valentine's Day.
It was decorated in pink, red and white.
There were giant hearts, window paint, confetti, candies and a huge card scattered in and around my van.
It was amazing!
My boy had driven up to my college (a huge 20 minute drive) just to decorate my van.
How sweet.
Best present ever.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Random

Hello out there! I'm back. This will be a random post (hence the title) to catch you up on my life.

We had a baby. Reuben James, born 12-15-10, weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, measuring....to be honest, I can't really remember and I don't want to go look because then I'll never finish this post! After 2 months life is starting to settle in with 3 boys. More on this later.

I've decided to bring back the Goal of the Week Program. I'll have a new goal every week. Last week's goal was to read for an hour each day. I did great until I started getting sick and then I just slept and fed the baby. I'm reading Little Women and The Good and Beautiful God. TGaBG is a book that our church is reading together. It's pretty cool reading the same book as 150 other people. I like to read Little Women about once a year because it's just my favorite book ever!

I like wearing leggings and skirts. I know that I'm about 2 years behind on this, but I like it. And I would like to buy some boots. Boots that are flats. Warm boots for the winter. Now that winter is over. The only time to buy boots is when winter is over. Clearance!

James told me tonight that in 8th grade he was the softball manager. Just take a minute and let that soak in. Now picture a little tiny 105-pound James. With straight light brown hair. And big glasses. Now let THAT soak in! So cute!

I should go find a picture of little James but again, I would never finish this post!

I went on a date tonight. The day-after-Valentine's-Day is a quiet time to go on a date. Thank you VanDrunens for watching our 3 boys. Do you know how free we felt going out sans boys? As we were walking in to the bowling alley (which we walked out of 3 minutes later) I told James that I feel so deceptive going out without the boys. People look at us and say, "Look at that cute young couple. Man their lives are going to change when they have kids. They have no idea." But really, we know.

I have many more random thoughts but I cannot remember them. Oh! This week's goal is to post a new blog every day. I'm only 1 day behind!