Irony

Today is the kind of day that makes me think I might live in the wrong place. That I actually belong somewhere else- 1945 maybe. This morning I took the girls to the pumpkin patch and orchard. The Apex playgroup is going on Wednesday, but I will be subbing, so I wanted to take them anyway. We found some very nice pumpkins and if Loredana had been willing to walk through the vines and leaves it would have been perfect. The Granny Smith Apple trees were overgrown with nice large apples. I got ten pounds of apples for five dollars. I am planning to bake a few things and make some caramel apples- one of my autumn favorites. Which brings me to the irony of today. The pumpkins were ripe. The apples were ready for picking it is officially autumn as of last week, however........it was ninety-nine freaking degrees today. I think it is some kind of "joke on Cheryl" who has been waiting for fall for almost two months now.
So, Emma and I cut open two of our five pumpkins, took the seeds out and toasted them- another one of my favorite autumn treats. I was sitting outside, sticking my hands in open pumpkins and realized that I don't think I EVER carved a pumpkin as a child. I'm not sure why. We lived in rural Maine and then in rural Germany for most of my childhood. How did we never carve pumpkins? The ironic part- I usually had a homemade Halloween costume. My mom sewed clown costumes, a belly dancing costume and made a Jack in the Box costume with a sewn clown costume. How did my mom have time to make-from scratch- Halloween costumes, but not the time or energy to carve pumpkins?
When I was outside sorting seeds and pulp from pumpkins I pulled from the field this morning I started thinking how, in some ways, I could live on a farm or be Amish or some kind of earthy, simple life person. It is so refreshing and energizing. I thought of God and how simple He made things and how complicated we've made them. I do yearn for simple things. I'd love to make a quilt, have a huge vegetable garden, sit by candle light more often, and spend more time with my family having days like today. The ironic part- I don't want to give up my car, or Dr. Pepper and I would have to learn how to do all of things I listed above. Learn how to sit by candlelight and be still- how ironic is that?

Now Showing at a Theater Near You

Rating:
My life is rated R.
What is your life rated?

I'm not sure why. I judged myself PG-13. Anyway, Doug has a big influence on my life. He probably screwed me up.

Stuff to Blog About

I've been teaching half day kindergarten for almost three weeks. It sucks. It sucks bad. Teachers always say," I could never teach fifth grade. How can you do that? The attitudes would drive me crazy!" I would take a classroom full of 30 fifth graders over 18 kindergartners that can't tie their own shoes; can't write their names; can't use a pair of scissors; can't raise their hands if they want to talk; and can't stand still for a measley 30 seconds of silence!!!! I taught all day today, morning and afternoon. It is just very frustrating for me- I'd rather have an abnoxious 11 year old who thinks I'm funny, than cute- almost- 5 year olds. I am thankful to have this job- only 3 more weeks- actually 2 and a half. The money is okay and we need it. In October, I'll be calling the computer searching for decent sub jobs. Two and a half more weeks-I can be thankful and complain about it sucking at the same time can't I?

Jack has become more active in the last week. I think I can just feel him more as he's getting bigger. I still don't think anybody else could feel it, which is a frustrating time because it is a joyful feeling that you just want to share. It is weird to think about having a boy. I always wanted a boy, but it feels very weird. I am the mother of girls who like to wear dresses (with pockies); play babies and Barbies; paint fingernails etc... Will Jack be an athlete? an artist? a stage hog? a wimp? a Star Wars geek? will he also like Hello Kitty? Who knows- it seems simpler with girls. It will be a fun adventure.

It makes me so sad when people don't blog. I click on people's names and....nothing, the same stuff I already read. I think I like blogs, because I can find out about people (which I love because I am very nosey) without having to have a conversation with them (which I hate, because I suck at interpersonal relationships with people I don't know well). Anyway, if you read my blog, chances are, I read yours so please blog more often- at least for me.

Doug is on the phone right now trying to set up our Survivor pool. The new season starts Thursday at 8:00. There will be a kickoff watching at our house at about 9:15. That's right, we're such big fans that we have to wait an hour to watch it after we tape it because our kids go to bed at 8:30. Such is life- at least we don't have to watch the commercials. If you don't know about the pool, give us a call, we might have spots left- you might win some money. If you want to watch the premiere- come on over, Thursday at 9:00.

Bowling for Columbine and Jack

So we watched Bowling for Columbine a week or two ago. I liked it. They really emphasized that Americans are full of fear and that in Canada people rarely even lock their doors. But, Doug and I parked our car on the street in front of our house two nights ago and our neighbors had it towed- the homeowner's association- to the shadiest towing company in town. The whole thing sucked. I haven't read Doug's blog yet, but I am sure it is full of details about the injustice and whatever.

On a positive note, we had an ultrasound today. It looks pretty definite that we are having a boy. Emma is thrilled. She has been saying she wanted a boy (actually she wanted two, but I told her to focus on this baby). Doug and I are both happy and I am very relieved because we actually have a boy name picked out and we were still searching for a girl name. So, in about five months Jack Douglas Citizen will be born. He will come home to a very active household with lots of other boys. The kids were playing outside tonight and I just thought how great our house is. It is so full of love (even Loredana and Gabriel love each other more than they can bear) and there is always laughter going on somewhere. I am glad that Jack will live here with us. That our love can grow even more and we can add one more voice to our laughter chorus.

Oh How I Wish it were October 6......

Because I am DYING for Fall, which is by far my favorite season. Ever since it was cloudy and rainy for a couple of days- three weeks ago- I've just felt like it was time for it to feel cool outside. Right now, I am burining an apple candle, Emma is watching a Halloween movie, and I have a fall wreath- almost finished- on my craft table. I think it is only like a 100 degrees today which is cooler than it's been, but I wish it was like 70 degrees or maybe 65. Pray for cool weather- it will make me SO happy, for whatever reason.

Also, if it were October 6 instead of September 6, I would be done with this long term afternoon Kindergarten Sub Job I agree to do. I only complain about it, when it actually will help us out considerably financially and it is not really a big time commitment. But, I do HATE IT. The kids are so low. They can't use scissors, most of them can't write their names and they are very immature. They make me appreciate Emma a whole lot, but I know if she were in that class she would be the smartest one. She would also be the best behaved. She can pay attention to something for more than 2 seconds. Anyway, only four weeks to go, only three hours a day, only five days a week. 60 hours? I'm sure I can handle it. It does seem to be cutting into my hanging out late at night time, because the Love Sac calls my name at like 10:00 now.

Loredana is still freaking out and I think Gabriel is paying the highest price for it. Kelly keeps saying that they are really brother and sister now- they sure act like it. Emma is enjoying kindergarten very much. I think she's said more to her kindergarten teacher than she said to her preschool teacher the whole year last year. I guess that's good- I don't know what the difference is. Doug is playing Star Wars Galaxies every free moment. He met Darth Vader and the Emperor( I can't figure out if I spelled that right). Ask him about it, he'll be very happy to tell you-even show you.

The Day from H---

As a true Christian, I can't say any swear words (thus the dashes above) when I am on stage on in anything I'm going to post because other "true Christians" will use it to judge by. I can say them alone in my car in bad traffic or when I am angry at and that is perfectly okay and excusable. God will never judge me for those and no other Christians will know about so they won't be able to judge me and I can keep up my perfect Christian facade. Almost off my soapbox, but stay tuned for further speeches--it's my blog.

Loredana has been in an incredibly bad mood for about a week. I don't know if she misses the Boyds and she's freaking out or if she has just realized that she turned two about two weeks ago and she's supposed to get easily frustrated and cry about EVERYTHING. I'm not sure what it is but it is grating on my nerves and I feel very stressed out most of the day because of it. On top of that, I decided to go to SuperWalmart today to get groceries and diapers and a few craft supplies I wanted. I don't know if you were aware, but today was a national holiday. When Americans have a national holiday to celebrate, they go to SuperWalmart to max out their credit cards. The store was jam packed. I am surprised that I didn't see anyone I knew, but maybe you are all a lot smarter than I am. I was there for about an hour and a half. I was VERY frazzled when I left. Both of my kids were whining and complaining and I locked us all in our section of the house for about an hour. Then we got some complaints about FiveDollarFunny. Mostly negative about Doug's skit and other things. It makes me sad, angry and scared. Some things I agreed with and some I didn't . I don't really know how I feel, except that I don't like being judged and I don't like people I care about being criticized. Maybe, I'll clear my head a little and blog more about this as time goes on.

On a positive note, the baby has been moving around a lot lately. It is fun and exciting. We have an ultrasound on Thursday, so maybe we'll know if we need to keep the search for a girl name alive. We are not having much luck.