Things I SHOULD Know

1. Six teenagers will eat the four dozen cookies you made in 10 minutes.
2. The store (Palais Royal) that you were amazed to find your last two pairs of shoes you bought at, after searching many other stores first, will not have the black flats you are looking for because you foolishly thought to try there first this time.
3. You will switch between heat and A.C. in Houston in December.
4. The desk refinishing project will bring remorse that you ever started it.
5. The dog knows when you want to give her a bath and makes herself scarce and 20 lbs heavier when you finally corner her to carry her to the tub.
6. The ice maker will break.
7. You let your Angie's list membership expire so you can't check it to see reviews for repair people for the ice maker.
8. Everybody has a child growing at the same size as yours so you can't find a "Hoodie" in that size.
9. You will forget about the french fry that fell into the bottom of the oven so next time you preheat the oven, you set the smoke alarm off.
10. You will clean the oven and stove top and then your husband will immediately fry sausage without a lid on the pan.

Thing I do know: God gives grace for it all.

Interesting tidbit about tears

A couple of weeks ago, I was working on lesson plans and read this in Nick's science book:

Tears produced by strong emotions contain chemicals that do not appear (to any great extent) in tears produced by eye irritants. These chemicals include manganese ( a chemical depressant), leucine-enkephalin (chemical which helps control pain ), and the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (a chemical produced by bodies under stress). When you excrete these chemicals by crying, the net effect is to make you feel better. By releasing these toxins, the tears serve to chemically and physically make the crier feel less depressed!


Interestingly enough, humans are the only organisms that can cry as a result of emotion.

International Quilt Show

Here are some fuzzy pictures from the show. I went again with my BFF, Dawn. I bug her with gobs of questions. She graciously atempts to answer them. The artistic work is amazing, plus, I get to ride a bus on the HOV lane to the show! I know, not enough excitement in my life.

Hurricane Theology

Hurricane Humberto formed 'out of nowhere" in the gulf. It was a tropical depression about 100 miles off the coast of Galveston on yesterday then by landfall at 2 a.m. this morning, it was a Category 1 hurricane.

This got me to thinking about how most of us assume we will have ample warning of any hurricanes and time to prepare or evacuate. We go about our daily lives never considering how unpredictable they are. I'm referring to our lives, also.

Luke 12:20a says: "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.'"

It got me thinking about the scripture passages on "being ready" for the Lord's return. Most people think they will deal with their spiritual condition at some future date. Don't be like the fool, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you- unless indeed you fail the test?" 2Corinthians 13:5

Are you in the faith? "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead; you will be saved." Romans 10:9

See today if you pass the test.

3D Fun!

Here are the boys enjoying some phantograms from a gift book Grammy and Grandpa brought back from the NSA convention. Quiz time: what does NSA stand for? First correct response in comments gets to look at the book next time you're over.

DPS Round Two

Last week, with the appropriate documents in hand, we returned. It was raining and I dropped Ben off at the door to get in line and went a found the only parking spaces were in a huge puddle. Parked, got my feet wet and went inside.

Ben says "Everybody else had the same idea." He was referring to going to the DPS office in the rain because I thought it wouldn't be crowded.

I said "Since we're here, lets see how long the wait will be." We're already in line #1 which only has about five or six people ahead of us.

We reach the front and I ask the clerk and she says "about an hour and a half or so because our computers just went down." I thank her and we leave.

I think we are going to drive to La Grange on a Wednesday (the only day the DPS is open there) and take care of this. The 200 mile round-trip will be easier than the Houston DPS office.

More about Ben

I dragged the boy over when he got home from work on Thursday to the DPS office to get him a state I.D. card so we can open a checking account for him. He's working at G.E. again and we haven't done driver's education yet, so the bank won't open an account without a state issued identification card.

I took the same "proofs" I used to get Jessica her I.D. card which then served as proof for her drivers license.

They would not accept the "birth certificate" document I had. So I asked to speak to the person who told the clerk it was not acceptable. That turned out to be a state trooper. He showed me a form of what was acceptable and I pointed to the wording and then the wording on our certificate and asked him to please explain why it didn't match the criteria. He said it didn't. I said can you explain why? He said I was raising my voice and people were looking.

Of course they are looking. They are bored to tears waiting in line at the DPS office and here is built in entertainment for them! I wanted an explanation and he wasn't providing one. I told him I used the same document with my daughter to get her drivers license and why wasn't it acceptable now? He said "I got lucky" when I used it for her.

Ben's wanting the floor to swallow him at this point.

I again said "I read this to say such and such, the certificate says such and such, how can it not be acceptable?" He finally answered my question.

Why couldn't he have done that in the first place? I obviously needed to see how impatient I was. In hindsight I realized it was a blessing. I thought all these years I had copies of the kids birth certificates and I didn't. The line wasn't long when we got to the office and so I found out rather quickly, also.

I found the web site for Maryland vital records and paid the fee and ordered a certified copy of Ben's birth certificate. I'll get Jess's and Nick's soon, also.

Ben says he's not going back again.

All About Ben

County, District and State competition awards for Ben.

New A.C.

Here it is. I don't know if it's installed correctly, but it's working and cooling the rooms that were warm so that's a blessing. Jess says she notices a difference. The old condenser is suppose to be picked up by Cousin James.

Today's Jess's 19th birthday. I baked her the chocolate cake she wanted (my mom's recipe) and we are having Wurstsalat for dinner as per her request. I'm ready for cake now!

Ben will be participating at State Roundup for 4H as part of the Harris county team for the Consumer Decision Making contest on Wednesday at Texas A & M. I'll get pictures of all the boys 4H awards etc.. from this year and post them after Wednesday.

I've been pulling out the very aggressive english ivy from the beds out back. I sprayed the roots with a salt/soap solution this morning after pulling and I hope it helps to kill it. What an invasive nuisance!

We're trying to decide whether to move again. I don't want to deal with the packing etc... and the possibility of exchanging a known set of problems for an unknown (the frying pan into the fire). So, we are exploring options.

I've been learning so much from our adult Sunday school class on Biblical Theology. I highly reccomend Graeme Goldsworthy's book According to Plan- The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible. It is very easy reading and written to the 'lay' person.

Ok- I'll end with one of my favorite verses: I would have depaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13 Look for His goodness today!

Happy Weekend

This was last weekend. It was a happy time. This is us being happy at "The Hill" in Bellville. This weekend is not so happy. Cousin James's father-in-law got the job to install our new air-conditioning instead of J&K. The estimated half day to finish the job is still not over at 6pm. We hope we have a.c. before bedtime.

We have realized that we normally live in the lap of luxury. We have so much to be thankful for. We will really be thankful if the new a.c. works. And happy, yes very happy.

one more picture

Here's "The Hill" in Bellville. Go eat there.

Words

Shortly we will be leaving for yet another graduation event. This May has had many.

We've also had a lot of rain. Along with the rain, we've had some snakes. Yes, snakes. One decided to crawl into the air conditioner outside and shed it's skin and then get wrapped around the fan blade when it was trying to exit. I think it was a rat snake. When inspecting to see why the unit was acting like a unbalanced washing machine, I discovered it. Then a nice brown ribbon snake crawled along the fence line. They are working in the right of way behind us and the critters have moved into the backyards. The snakes should keep the rats and mice out, however. The large, American roaches have come to visit, also. I went off to the "professional" pest supply store and got some stuff to discourage them from staying on. It seems to be working and I am thankful- really thankful. I don't run screaming from them anymore. Jessica woke me up one night around midnight saying one had been in her room and had followed her down the hall. It had, too. I squashed it with Tim's shoe.

We had a great lunch at "The Hill" in Bellville yesterday with Mom and John. Absolutely fantastic hamburgers and fries and the best, friendly service. They (Rice's) gave us lots of plums from the one surviving plum tree at the Farm. I'm going to freeze some.

We're getting a new air conditioner on Tuesday (hopefully). The old one is dying. The evaporator is leaking refrigerant and the compressor is over-heating. It should have been replaced when the furnace was back in November but the landlord didn't want to spend the money- now the new owners have to. It's about 25 years old, so it's time.

I'll try to keep my loyal readers better informed. All two of them have complained about being tired of seeing the potatoes.

More Pictures

Nick's Party at the Farm included: eating and drinking, scavenger hunt, tennis, capture the flag and other outdoor ramblings.

All Right Already

Here's a new post. Ben's 17th birthday and Nick's 13th birthday.

Potatoes

Just to be different (OK, more different than normal) here are two pictures of my jumbo potato. I bought an eight pound bag of jumbo baking potatoes and this mutant was in the bag. That's Jess's hand in the top pictures and mine in the bottom. The pictures don't really do justice to the size of the thing. It was the size of a kid's Nerf football, or close to it.

Until next time...

Another "Funny"

Once again a comic "speaks" to me. "Watch it, Leslie". I'm given to small-mindedness myself. I tend to be judgemental and not believe the best of people or circumstances. I jump to conclusions. This comic reminded me to "not think more highly of myself than I ought to think but think so as to have sound judgement." (Romans 12:3)

The landlord called yesterday. He sold the house. He was in town with the new owner and wanted to come over so they could see it and we could sign papers. So I pull out our lease to see what it says and there is nothing about when the home is sold in the middle of a lease. The landlord said the new owners wanted to keep everything just like in the lease we signed with him. So I call the real estate agent we used to ask her advice and she said there is no official form for doing that. So we invented our own.

I was not a happy camper yesterday as once again it befell me to research and find out how to "protect" our interest. But, I had to talk to myself and say having a landlord who doesn't know how to manage property is not the worst thing in the world.

The new owners and old landlord came over this morning and they are all very nice and personable. New owners might fix things, too, that old landlord didn't. God was so gracious to let me actually feel kind and friendly and not put-out by the short notice and their lack of consideration. He's so patient with me.

The weather and other ramblings

Just a little comment on Houston's variable weather. Yesterday afternoon when hubby and I were taking our afternoon walk, I knew it was warm. 80 degrees it was. We saw the lady who walks her dogs at that time in shorts.

Last week I was sorry I had gotten rid of my pullover sweaters. This week I'm thinking I need to get more summer clothes.

Jessica was kind enough to take some pictures with her camera and upload them so I could post some books to sell on ebay. You can have a set of McGuffey readers or learn German for an excellent price. Anybody want a Cactus yearbook from 1982? Excellent condition.

I'm reading too many books to list but finally got some G.A. Henty books and so far think they are great. I'm reading one with Nick for history about the war of northern agression. If you don't know what that is you don't know the Wallaces.

I'm being challenged by some wonderful material and books to counsel Biblically and that means knowing scripture. Pray for this old mind to love memorizing.

Icicles

Tim says I'm silly as a few years ago, this would be no big deal. I lived through "real" ice storms, northeasterners and shoveled plenty of snow. However, in Houston, this is an event.

Gloomy Weather

Houston's actually having some winter-like weather which is causing the weather reporters on the local news to salivate with glee. It's just depressing me and I long for some sunshine.

There is actually some ice on the roads this morning so Tim and Ben are postponing going to work until later this morning. I made them take gloves, hats and scarves yesterday to have in the van in the event they broke down or had a flat tire etc. I'm such a worrier.

Jess began classes yesterday for the new semester. I threw a scarf at her, also.

My sister and brother-in-law are having furnace problems and Julian came over to borrow our space heater last night. I'm thankful we got our new furnace at end of November.

Ok, I'm trying to think of a "warm" verse to encourage myself. How about Ecclesiastes 4:11:
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?

Thank you, Father, for warm family and dog and please be with those who don't have those comforts and be their warmth.

Promised Picture

Here's the office Christmas party picture where you can see Tim's face. I don't know how to edit, crop, improve, enhance, enlarge or in anyway alter digital pictures so this is the real deal.

Now for an update on Ben. He got the call to begin work on last Thursday. As of yesterday he had most of the boxes moved and organized. I believe some inventory taking is the next step. He also got another badge to let himself into the building etc... Remember the first badge was from the temporary agency. The assignment is suppose to last two weeks. He mentioned the file room again, so we shall see.

New Adventures

I was reading somewhere about the grammatical rule to not split your infinitives (probably in a grammar book as I was doing lesson plans). Anyway, they used the example of the Star Trek theme "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Really now, aren't we all going where we haven't been before? Ok, I'm no philosopher, but welcome to 2007. May you split many infinitives and live boldly.

My mom ask me to blog about Ben's first job, so here's the scoop. T.A.'s office has needed someone to come in and organize a storage room full of file boxes. Heavy file boxes weighing 30 to 50 pounds. Since it's a huge company, bureaucracy is the rule of the day. They have to go through a temporary agency to hire anyone. Most temporary agencies don't have burly people on their payroll waiting for assignments to shift heavy objects. So, Theresa suggests maybe her nephew can come in and do the job.

So, off to Kelly Girls we go. It's really Kelly Services now but you have to watch a company video about their history and it WAS Kelly Girls. The "about one hour" to fill out forms turns into two. This with me filling in forms to help and shoving the papers over for him to sign as he worked on forms, also. Finally, we think we're done but then see on the employee agreement it states "I swear I'm over 18 etc.." I say "You can't sign this you're only 16." The Kelly person has to call headquarters to find out what to do and they are gone for the Christmas holiday. Plus, she tells us Kelly's policy is none of their employees can lift over 25 lbs, and they won't cover under 18 on workmen's comp. insurance. So we leave without getting his drug screening and go home to wait. Kelly said they could handle minors and knew what the job assignment requirements were, by the way.

Almost a week passes and T.A. calls to say they're using another temporary agency who says they can put Ben on their payroll. He can even fill out his employment application online. So Mike from the subcontractor place calls and we still have to go over to sign some forms and get his drug screening paperwork. We decide to go ahead and give it a try. Mike is very nice and got all the paperwork from Kelly that Ben had signed about insider stock trading and proprietary information and gives us the drug testing form. I immediately notice they require a photo I.D. to get tested. Ben doesn't have a photo I.D. as he's only 16 and doesn't have his drivers license, yet. They call to try and get that waived but the lab is adamant. "He'll have a student I.D. the pesky lab person states." Mike states he's homeschooled. "Well you'll have to come with your company photo I.D." says pesky. "I don't have one," says Mike. "His mother has his social security and birth certificate," trys on our side Mike. No deal says lab. So headquarters is called and they say "They want a photo I.D.? We'll make him one." Snap with the digital camera and sent via the magic of computer and email and voila, two day later Fed Ex delivers a company badge with "clerk" Ben Wallace.

Off to pesky lab tomorrow and perhaps Ben will begin work on Thursday. They have to run a 7 year background check on him and who know what they'll find. I think he was in trouble allot when he was 10.