Tea time [poll results]

This past year David decided that he was going to begin drinking tea. Somewhere online he read that green tea is very good for your body. So instead of consuming 2 cups of cappuccino each night, which is full of sugar, he was going to drink tea. He jumped into his plan, and so far has been committed to it. At first he stuck with one or two flavors, but being adventuresome by nature he quickly branched out into imbibing many varieties. Now he drinks a lot of tea each night; it's not unusual for him to have 5 cups. We even had to clear out cabinet space in the kitchen so we could have our own tea cupboard to house all our boxes of tea.

Of course with David's new found love of tea he wanted me to join him. I was to give up cappuccino along with him and join the tea bandwagon. I was not thrilled about this prospect. I had previously tried iced tea, and I did not enjoy it. But being the excessively supportive wife that I am (shameless plug for myself ☺) I decided to give tea a try. I tried several flavors, and I soon discovered that I somewhat like tea. I liked it enough that I was drinking it every night right alongside David. But after awhile I realized that I was craving cappuccino. No matter how much stevia or sugar you dump into your tea cup it simply cannot rival the smooth goodness of French vanilla cappuccino. I have quit drinking tea. :-|

This scenario is what made me think of my last poll. According to the results most of voters drink tea in some form: either hot or cold. A couple of you don't, and I can certainly understand why. Tea seems to be like coffee in that it's an acquired taste.

My next poll is one that I feel I might be recycling. But since I cannot remember which polls I've used besides the one from last time I am using it again...possibly. ☺

Thoughts on Austen

Since the girls and I were off of school this past week I found myself with ample reading time. So I read not 1 but 2 Jane Austen novels. Admittedly I've read them before, but after reading a few books I haven't read previously I like to read at least one story that I really enjoy. Thus I read Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.

While reading any 19th century novel one can't help but notice all the archaic words or the formal way in which people spoke. For example: if you are experiencing something that has caused you to react in a positive way you would probably say, "This is great!" or something to that affect. But surely the words, "Is there a felicity in the world superior to this?!" would not exit your lips. And while reading these novels I begin to implement their manner of discourse [did you like my synonym for "conversation" ☺?]. My diction and grammar dramatically improved over this past week. I found myself sending texts like this: "I hope you had an enjoyable night." instead of simply writing, "Did u have fun?" I think I even was able to formulate an entire sentence without using the word, "yeah" or my other variant "so...yeah". ;-)

Reading Pride & Prejudice made me yearn to watch the movie again. Now, if you're a P&P fan you probably have an opinion upon which movie version is better: 1995 or 2005. I like the 2005 version myself, mainly because of the music. And I also like how the producers depicted Longbourne as more of a farm. Oh, and also because I don't own the '95 version. ☺ No matter your favorite they are both equally enjoyable. [Oh! There. I used "enjoyable" again.] David watched with me, and we still laughed at the dialogue despite this being something like our 5th viewing of the movie. David commented though, "You really have to pay attention to what they're saying because they talk so differently." I then informed him that the '05 version features dumbed-down dialogue.

Yesterday morning I finished Sense and Sensibility, and now I will have to watch that movie as well. I don't know about you, but when I read a book that I've seen a movie version for I always visualize scenes from the book the way they are shown in the movie. So I could see Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson having their famous "You're not married." scene in Barton Cottage. And I saw Kate Winslet tripping on the downs and Greg Wise coming to her rescue. I think I will watch it today!

I first read one of Jane's books (S&S) 15 years ago and instantly I fell in love with her. I know that she and her novels have become somewhat of a fad lately. The bookstore has hundreds of spin-off novels; I own a few myself. But in another 15 years my "approbation" of her will still be as high as it is now, and if Jane were alive today I feel assured that we would find one another "truly amiable".

Thoughts on Chutes and Ladders

Whoever created the game Chutes and Ladders did not have children.

Things started out innocently enough. "Mom? After dinner can we play Chutes and Ladders?" Emma asked. I answered, "Yes". Emma brought up the game and set it up. I stated, "I bet this game will last at least a half an hour." If you've ever played Chutes and Ladders you know why I said that. You think you're doing well because you've landed on the big ladder and climbed up towards the top of the board. But then on your next turn you end up sliding back down to level three. Thus the game starts to rival Monopoly in length.

Anyway, I was wrong. The game lasted 5 minutes. This was because I somehow managed to avoid every slide, even the dreaded top row. Emma was dejected. As soon as I got near the top she said, "You're going to win [said with a frown]," Afterwards I asked her if she wanted to play again. She said she did so we started a new game. Well this time Emma was destined to hit every slide on the board. I didn't think her frown could get any worse, but I was wrong again. It didn't take long for me to win once more. Emma's enthusiasm to play completely fizzled.

Now if you have children and you also own this game you're probably thinking to yourself, "That's happened to us SO many times!" or something to that affect. Because it's very true; this game is incredibly depressing, especially for children. The box says "An Exciting Up and Down Game for Little People!" It ought to say "A Game to Teach Your Children the Joys of Losing!" What were the developers thinking when they created all those slides? Something like this: "Oh! I have the PERFECT idea for a kids' game! Let's make a game where the kid thinks they're about to win, but then we'll make it so that they have to basically start all over again from the beginning. We'll then let them THINK they're going to have a chance at winning, but instead we'll keep squishing their hopes of a victory like it's a detestable bug. Oh man! They'll love it!!"

I think Chutes and Ladders will be going back on our basement game shelf to collect dust again for quite some time.

My List of Grievances

Scene of the crime: Sowers house
Victim: Me
Culprit: black rug by the back door
Offense: a wet sock
Verdict: GUILTY!

Last week I was walking to the closet by the back door when it happened: I stepped on a wet spot on the rug and got a wet sock. Right away I said aloud, "Uh! I HATE when that happens!" David heard me and asked what my problem was, and upon being told he agreed; wet socks are a pain.

But after this happened I started to think of other things that bother me. So I started to compile a list of occurrences that annoy me. At first I found it kind of funny, but after awhile I realized that a lot of those annoyances were actually opportunities for me to show patience. I often pray that God would grant me patience, and I see now that what He gives me are ample chances for me to demonstrate patience. (Prayer answered!) ☺

I decided to post this list so we can all get a chuckle, but also so we can see the opportunities that God gives us to respond to irksome situations in a way that glorifies Him.

Some of my grievances:

• wet socks (this was worth mentioning twice)
• leaving a room and forgetting something in that room
• walking into a room and forgetting why you came in there in the first place
• slow computers
• slow Internet connection
• sitting down and getting comfortable and then realizing you left the TV remote across the room
• getting snuggled in bed and then a cat jumps on the bed and you remember that you didn't check to see if there were any cats in the room before you got into bed
• waking up 5 minutes before your alarm is supposed to go off
• pens that don't work
• when every channel/radio station plays commercials at the same time
• the sound of a cat with a hair ball
• going to the cupboard to eat a snack only to find the box is empty but has been left in its place
• when a person parked and took up two stalls
• shopping carts left in the parking lot and not returned to the corral
• when your rubber band breaks
• washing your car and then it rains the next day
• when you're eating marshmallow cereal and you get down to the last few bites only to have run out of the marshmallow bits
• knowing you're going to be late
• having to pay late fees

Pictures of my girls

 Abby just loves to wear people's reading glasses. Gram-Gram has a nice basket full of them, and Abby partakes of it often.

 We briefly studied gladiators during school, and Paige decided to dress like one. But as Grandma pointed out she looks Grecian more than anything. Valiant effort though! ☺

 I snapped this picture of Abby and her cousin Brett while serving in the nursery during church. I couldn't get them to look at me and smile. They're still so cute!

Emma lost both top front teeth within a couple weeks of each other. She's missing the bottom ones as well. Makes me think of the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She'll ask for a snack, and I'll say, "Have an apple." Then I'll remember that she can't eat them right now! *laughing to myself*

"Let me off! I don't feel so good." *queasy look*

I haven't done a poll update in so long that I decided to make a comment on my last poll.

I asked the question: Do merry-go-rounds make you sick? Four people said "no", and eight said "yes". I had to vote a whole-hearted YES!

Oh my, I can't even look at a merry-go-round without getting sick to my stomach. That's right--just watching them makes me ill. Same goes for swings. It's rather unfortunate because I used to love swinging. We have a nice porch swing that I really enjoy sitting on and reading during the warmer months. But the movement of the swing, even slightly, makes me sick. Often the girls or one of their friends will bound up to me and shake the swing, and then I'll have to say, "No! Don't move the swing!" They don't understand of course. I mean, it's a swing; it ought to be used as such. ☺

My mom and I took my girls to the amusement park this summer, and we had a debate about which rides she and I were going to go on with the girls since we both knew that the rides would make us both sick. But we both took Dramamine® at the beginning of the day and hoped for the best. We ended up doing fairly well between the two of us.

One thing I've noticed as an adult is that the older I get - and seemingly the more times I'm pregnant - the more easily nauseated I become. Loads of thanks to whomever created Dramamine® as it's saved me many-a-time!

My next poll has to do with the upcoming holidays. Enjoy!

Jokes By Paige

I think Paige is a budding comedienne. She frequently will say to me, "Hey, Mom!" followed by a Q/A joke. I really ought to write down more of them as she has come up with quite a few. Here are two jokes that she made up this past week:

Q: What kind of fish did the knight fight?
A: A swordfish.

Q: What kind of food plays on the playground?
A: Teeter tot hotdish.

Abby can "play" the drums! ;- )

Young children seem to really enjoy banging on drums. I have several pictures of Paige and Emma playing on my brother's drum set. They are always hesitant at first, probably thinking, "Am I actually allowed to hit these big round cans?!"