Hubby Tag

Pam tagged me for this hubby questionnaire! You might hop over and take a peek at her answers, which I'd call first rate classic literature. :-)

1. WHO IS YOUR MAN ? Greg (Hubby)
2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TOGETHER? This December will mark our tenth!
3. HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? About 1 year
4. HOW OLD IS YOUR MAN? 33
5. WHO EATS MORE? He’s always eaten more.
6. WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST? I can’t remember!
7. WHO IS TALLER? He’s 6’2” and I’m 5’6”.
8. WHO SINGS BETTER? I do. He didn’t grow up singing in church like I did.
9.WHO IS SMARTER? I think we both have our genius and brain-damaged areas.
10. WHOSE TEMPER IS WORSE? His is. Mine might have been worse before my illness. Even so, he would never hurt someone and rarely yells.
11. WHO DOES THE LAUNDRY? Both of us.
12.WHO TAKES OUT THE GARBAGE? Him, because I'm physically disabled. Otherwise, I’d do it more. It drives me crazy when it’s full or stinky, and I have to wait until he gets home to take it out. I've actually had him come home from work to take it it a few times.
13. WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Both of us. Hee-hee! We sleep in separate beds, because my illness causes me to have sleep problems.
14.WHO PAYS THE BILLS? He always does. I don’t even know what his salary is, and I really don’t care to know so long as all is well.
15. WHO IS BETTER WITH THE COMPUTER? He is for sure! He works on computers all day long at work, and they have always been his hobby. In fact, he’s the go-to computer person for my parents and siblings’ families as well.
16.WHO MOWS THE LAWN? He reluctantly does it.
17.WHO COOKS DINNER? Both of us, because I need help. But I run the show, plan the meals, and make the grocery list. We do the shopping together, since I can't drive.
18. WHO DRIVES WHEN YOU'RE TOGETHER? Thank the Lord, he does. Driving is the only thing I have ever really feared. Not being able to drive due to illness is a blessing in disguise.
19. WHO PAYS WHEN YOU GO OUT? He does.
20. WHO IS MOST STUBBORN? We are both stubborn in our own ways. I can usually win a dispute if I keep talking or give in (He feels sorry for me.). But if I can’t win, we go with his decision.
21. WHO IS THE FIRST TO ADMIT WHEN THEY ARE WRONG? Let’s see…I’m not sure! We are both willing to admit being wrong.
22. WHOSE PARENTS DO YOU SEE THE MOST? It changed over time. Mine for several years, his more recently. Both live about 50 minutes away, though in different directions.
23. WHO KISSED WHOM FIRST? Ummm…He pretty much did.
24. WHO ASKED WHO OUT? Friendship slowly bloomed into love. There was no formal first date.
25. WHO PROPOSED? He did.
26. WHO IS MORE SENSITIVE? Me definitely!
27. WHO HAS MORE FRIENDS? I do. Actually, he doesn’t really have any friends. He is a total family man whose time is at a premium.
28. WHO HAS MORE SIBLINGS? I have three, and he’s an only.
29. WHO WEARS THE PANTS IN THE FAMILY? Others would probably say I do. I basically run the household and make all the plans.
30. HOW DID YOU MEET? In college but didn’t get to know each other well until after he graduated.

I am going to tag . . .
Karla
Laura
Shawnee
Susan
Laura

Flowers From My Son

Baby Bird's Balloon

We conceived a brilliant idea for reducing waste: a scratch paper bin. I took great care to remember our bin each and every time we had any reusable paper, and things were going great. We were saving the planet, maybe even bringing about world peace, and life was good . . . That is, until it threatened to overtake the closet. Our black, wire containers were nowhere to be seen as they were buried under a wild mess. I decided it was time to tackle the rapidly expanding giant and tidy up a bit. The process went something like: Grab handful of paper, tap several times, place “neatly” back into bin. Repeat all of the above. Suddenly, quite by accident, I caught a brief glimpse of an ink pen drawing. A long forgotten memory came rushing back, and I hastily removed the last pile to retrieve a small piece of the past.

Several years ago we borrowed a story from the library called The Berenstain's B Book. It is basically a long alliteration about the chaos surrounding a balloon. It dramatically ends with:

Big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon blowing bubbles biking backward, bump black bug's banana boxes and Billy Bunny's breadbasket and Brother Bob's baseball bus and Buster Beagle's banjo-bagpipe-bugle band...and that's what...broke Baby Bird's balloon.

I can add:

Which broke my baby’s tender little heart.

Kylen was extremely distraught by this embattled balloon’s unfortunate demise. My mother instinct quickly took over searching for a way to ease his sorrow. I retrieved a piece of paper from the printer and drew that bird with a great big smile on his face holding a great big balloon even larger than the popped one. Then I told Kylen that afterwards the bird got a new balloon and was very happy. My solution was a success, and the paper got put away in his drawer for possible future service. It was eventually lost in the rubble that tends to build up in little boys’ drawers, and finally got tossed in the bin during a dresser cleaning session.

Somehow I don’t think that paper is going back in the bin.

As my son grows, I find myself following in the footsteps of countless moms, saving a scrap of paper here and there: a crude crayon stickman, my first Mother’s Day card, rounds of tic-tac-toe and hangman. Maybe there’s a part of me that thinks saving all these bits and pieces will somehow preserve his childhood. Of course I know that isn’t true, but I can preserve my memories to enjoy when he’s grown. And by that time, I’ll be ready to read The Berenstain's B Book to our grandchild. I may even resurrect a simple ink drawing of a little bird with a big balloon.

Happy 4th!

This is a time of year when I praise the Lord for blessing our country. I love our nation's early history, because it is so rich with divine intervention. It makes me sad to think of where we are heading today. Here is a song I always listen to around the 4th. It's outdated but still very powerful. We need God in America!!

The Solar System, Balloons, and Global Warming

What do the solar system, balloons, and global warming have in common? Not sure? Well, let me tell ya!

This week we are finishing science. It felt like too much to do reading, note-booking and projects each day so we decided to save all the experiments/projects for the end. Today is the beginning of our experiment week! Incidentally, I really enjoyed learning about our universe along with Kylen. We used Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Fulbright. The author has a Christian worldview that shines out beautifully!

Near the end of the book is a chapter on types of stars. It was interesting to learn that many stars are variable. That is, the heat and energy emanating from them rises and falls over time. Our sun is not a variable star, because the energy coming out doesn’t change much. If it did vary drastically, our planet couldn’t sustain life. We’d have droughts and ice ages coming and going so fast, life couldn’t adapt quickly enough to survive. This got me to thinking about the big global warming debate. If many stars are variable, wouldn’t it make sense that our sun could be changing its energy output on a much smaller scale? In fact, our sun DOES emit more heat at times when it has more sun spots. I believe the global warming issue is a scare tactic politicians are using to get votes. Don’t let ‘em fool you! Here is an excellent video I just watched about climate changes.

Meanwhile, Kylen reached a huge milestone today! His first project was to make the solar system out of balloons. Since tying a balloon is impossible without bending your fingers (Believe me, I tried!), I needed Kylen to do the tying. I showed him how several times, tried to guide his fingers, and . . .he got frustrated. Several failed attempts. Threw the balloon across the room. Said he couldn’t. BUT! I DIDN’T LET HIM GIVE UP. I told him he was going to learn. It just takes practice like riding a bike. After many, many failed attempts with the balloon deflating several times in the process, he finally got it! And he was SO happy! Ah, these are the moments that make homeschooling feel more worthwhile. In fact, today will be remembered for blowing up a balloon rather than making a model of the solar system. Life is just full of surprises like that!

Speaking of which, Saturn flat out refused to exist. The first one began deflating immediately after Kylen tied it. A hole was the culprit. My tape band-aid proved ineffective when we later noticed it had drastically shrunk, looking more like a red white dwarf than a planet. Kylen found an old balloon already inflated in the basement. It was the perfect replacement. Soon after we set it down, we noticed it shrinking as well. Well, that sort of weirded me out. What are the chances! Could this be some sort of sign from God that Saturn won’t be here much longer? Lol! Remember, if it disappears in the next few days, you read it hear first!