Ordinary Life : April 2007

Greenage BDay Party

Belva & Robert Greenage

threw a joint 50th Birthday bash.

I was honored to be their event coordinator.

(photos now available by request- removed from public view at request of Belva Greenage)

I will return to regular blogging after Saturday's party... maybe I will even blog about it and whether it was a success or not? In the mean time, enjoy the color scheme I am using and let me know whether you find it tropical enough

( think starfish/sea/palm tree/sand dollars/night)

VT

NAMES

jell-o

TASTE THE RAINBOW (II)

Strawberry , Tangerine , Lemon , Lime & Grape

(plus hours of layering and waiting)

The Puppet People

"Phil the Landfill"

Savannah's famous Puppet People did a show at our library yesterday. We've been on the look out for one occurring nearby for a while and were delighted to just stumble upon this one in our own community, starting in a matter of hours. This one was being presented in honor of Earth Day, but we didn't let THAT stop us.

Here's a recap for those of you who wish you could've been there:

Mother Earth scolded a chain saw
A newspaper dreamed of being a comic book
An aluminum can fretted over being thrown away
A plastic bottle dreamed of being something better
A trash can swallowed a little boy (because he didn't recycle)
Cockroaches shamed humans for throwing away perfectly good stuff
A rat befriends the little boy in "trash land", but only after accusing him of "being thrown away" because after all, he's seen plenty of other things here in the trash that didn't belong...
Phil the Landfill made an appearance
Mother Nature let him have what for
Cockroach song and dance
Trash can "burps" little boy back to his home
Former items of trash and little boy are reunited in the form of recycled products that the little boy loves ( his backpack, his comic book and his aluminum bat)

While I can finally say that I have seen The Puppet People for myself, er, um, I mean...while I can finally say that I have taken the children to see The Puppet People for themselves, I can also say it isn't what I expected. I am sure that their material for adults would be more enjoyable- but I am being critical for reasons other than the obvious Mother Nature propaganda ( cool your jets, I too recycle, reduce and reuse- so close your loop). In fact, it is a small and probably insignificant thing to those who have never puppeteered. But for me, it is a lesson I learned the hard way. You see, all during the show, the puppets were barely visible above the curtain... they weren't held up high enough. Most of the time they seemed to be hiding or snacking on the curtain wall.

Why this nit pick criticism? Let me tell you. When I was about 8 years old, my mom spotted a door in the trash. And true to recycling spirit, she made daddy haul that thing home, where she painted it orange and put curtains in the pre-cut window...she made a puppet stand. It was decided that we would do puppets on occasion in church, (for the sake of the two children in the congregation that were not actually siblings, of course)

Guess who got to be the little girl puppet? And I was so proud, and I didn't miss a line... but at the end of church, I found out that I had the little girl looking at the ground through the entire skit ( I was little, her head was heavy... give a child some credit!) I felt bad about that, embarrassed even. But, as with most trials in life, I took it and used it for better things--- like passing judgement on other puppeteers.

The Puppet People of Savannah were entertaining and a fine way to spend an evening for which I had no other plans, and perhaps the small foible I mentioned was due to the fact that they run camps and train kids and teens alike to be puppeteers.

The best part of the day, however, was running into a handful of old friends- and by old, I mean haven't seen in a few months- at the show and none of those folks that I hide from in the grocery store :) ((I don't really do that, but remember back when Fisher's eye got split? Those folks and I have been mercifully spared an awkward encounter thus far and I am not opposed to keeping that way for a while longer. ))

Some puppet photos follow:

Mother Earth

Singing Cockroach

Reminds me of TEMPLETON from Charlotte's Web

Junkyard Dog

DON'T FEED THE CAN

Al Gore & Friends

Al gets Eaten by a trash can ( they didn't leave us with a hotline # for children who refuse to go near the trash can next week either. Like I told my friend Becky, knowing Fisher, he will be IN the can on purpose, trying to go to Trash Land and meet the rat)

LibraryLoLo

LoLo, Proud new library cardholder

A official reader now, LoLeece holds her very own key to a "whole new world"

I Apologize

Long before Larry coined the term "Lord, I apologize" we have had an initiative in this house to use the word APOLOGIZE in lieu of sorry... this is to prevent flippantly throwing a "sorry" out to a sibling that you've wronged ( in other words it is mostly a teaching tool)

It is not uncommon for me to say " Tell your brother/sister that you're sorry" and then to follow with " Try again. Say, I APOLOGIZE"

So, peek in on me and Fisher yesterday- he always likes to climb up in my lap when I am folding laundry, which takes the ability to fold out altogether, but that's ok cause it isn't my favorite job anyway.

So Fisher is sitting there and I have miraculously emptied one of the 4 or 5 laundry baskets in front of the Chair of Perpetual Unfolded Laundry.

As I move it to the side, I accidentally brushed- not hurt or harmed mind you- merely brushed Fisher's arm.

ME: Oh, I'm sorry- I didn't mean to

Fisher: Say 'I APOLOGIZE'

so i did

GoodBye, Johnny

I didn't realize that Johnny Hart had passed away until I saw it this morning on another BLOG. I guess I was too involved in my own little world to catch the news release - not that knowing any sooner could have kept him here, but I could have started missing him sooner, as I feel is appropriate.

I would be lying if I said that I bought the Sunday paper for any other reason besides the Comics section. Hart's work has always been among my favorite strips, especially B.C. and I will miss his contribution to that part of my life.

I appreciate too, that he was unshaken by critics, who found him less than politically correct.

His work, while at times controversial to certain audiences, was as bold as a *Chick tract and twice as effective, thanks to it's simplicity, humor and refusal to damn it's every reader to Hell.

(not that Hart didn't believe in Hell, or that lots of people were headed there. . .)

One article said that Hart's family members have been helping with the strip for some time, and there was a storehouse of strips created ahead of time, so the strip is to continue- but it just won't be the same knowing Johnny isn't behind the pen.

*I don't have a squabble with Chick, I'm just saying there is a different approach, a more laid back style... a tone of voice that, while somewhat softer, was just as commanding

oops

posted the wrong "hootie" video earlier-- if you viewed prior to 9 PM you may wish to

give it another gander. . . or not.

Spring Game

We spent Saturday at Williams-Brice, a place that has become a regular part of my life since marrying a Carolina fan many years ago. While I am not a four quarters kind of girl ( I'd rather watch the last few minutes and then only if it is neck & neck) I am a people watching, concession stand crawling kind of a gal and so long as I am free to roam once a quarter or so, I have stopped complaining about making the annual pilgrimage to watch the Spring "Black and Garnet" Scrimmage.

This year, Hootie and the Blowfish opened and did a small halftime show.

newThings

I've been drinking Smart Water by GLACEAU .

(and no, I still can't do fractions)

I first picked their bottle of water from the myriad choices in Walgreens because they weren't afraid to get a little witty on their packaging label.

I like that.

Same goes for EVERYBODY's NUTS Pistachios, which I bought last night.

Salted and European Roast (think malt vinegar)

I can't say witty packaging led me to buy O.N.E. Coconut Water, but I have a special kinship with the coconut and was happy to discover the opportunity to drink coconut water without having to sail into the wild blue yonder with Gilligan (the Skipper too!)

hootie & the Gamecocks

more on this later...

stallwallSaturday

As spotted in a wal-mart stall over the weekend:

WHEN THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO BURN, YOU HAVE TO SET YOURSELF ON FIRE

FlashbackFRIDAY

That time we made cotton candy . . . remember how we were literally up to our elbows? And how we ran out of the flossine so we used Gatorade concentrate instead? I bet we would have done that anyway- - -

This will always be a favorite memory of mine.

EasterMassacre

Six eggs were attacked Thursday morning in what authorities are treating as a hate crime. The eggs were stripped, beaten and cannibalized, leaving no survivors and only a handful of crusty clues as to the motives behind the attack. The remains of a sandwich discovered at the scene is currently being examined and lab results will be published on the local scale within the week.

The six eggs (also known as Half A Dozen to some) had hard-core reputations in the Fridge suburb and it is highly likely that they were singled out purely because of their vibrant, hippy colors and tough, hard shell personalities. Six white eggs in a neighboring compartment were left unharmed.

The Humane Association for Treating Eggs Nice held a press conference on Friday morning. HATEN's founder, H.Dumpty issued his condolences and challenged the community to "be the king's horses, be the kings men- put this community together again" Dumpty went on to say " We've been scrambled! We've been fried! We've been boiled in large cauldrons! And it's time we quit being over easy! Should we expect anything less than robes of gold foil? Hide us under a bushel? NO! Pickle us and preserve us for all time? We aren't pigs' feet! They may see us as deviled but it is time to roll forth with dignity, to refuse to be carried in spoons across grassy lawns. Ovum and Zygotes alike, hear me now, 'tis better to burst your own shell than to allow yourself to be launched in the barbarian act of "tossing"

In an ironic twist, Mr. Dumpty fell off the wall from which he was speaking immediately after this statement. Witnesses and Law Eggforcement at the scene are trying to piece together whether the act was intentional or if it is likely that H. Dumpty was poached.

A free egg substitute campaign has been hatched and will run as long as the violence continues against real eggs- or until the timer dings. Until then, one oval shaped community is walking on egg shells.

PaintedPup

My phone went totally and completely blank the other day which is a bad thing when you are me, who hasn't memorized any one's number because I rely solely on my contacts list. I was unable to call anyone at all, even my mom; my phone had been reduced to a handy flash light at best. Believe it or not, other people need to contact me from time to time and the other day was one of those days- so I had to replace my phone and while I am excited to have a new phone

(krazr k1-woot!) this story is not really about phones at all.

As I am standing at the counter in this phone store, a very large and old Golden Retriever came lumbering from the stock room. This dog has reached the stage in life where walking from room to room is the extent of excitement it's heart can stand. And so it just lay there in the sunlit window, watching my bouncing four year old wearily.

I had begun to talk with the sales man at this point ( of course- no child of mine ever wants my attention UNLESS I am trying to have a conversation with someone who is not them) when Fisher repeatedly interrupts me saying " Look at Maddox, momma!" A lady had already told him that the dog's name is Sandy but he was insistent... the more attention that was drawn to the fact that this dog was not Maddox, the more he insisted that is exactly who this dog was.

(I should explain that Maddox is a puppy that we once loved but had to find a new home for.)

Here is his picture:

And this is what Sandy looks like: ( not actually Sandy, but pretty close):

SEE THE RESEMBLANCE?

Me Neither.

But I shall set you on the straight and narrow, just as Fisher set me on the right path:

" It IS the same dog, they just spray painted it! "

Elementary!

tommyToes

won't be long now...

BLESSyou

I saw it again today and made good on bringing back a photo:

(Bless all who enter / Use Other Door Please)

Dining in Paris

I thought it was just a simple picnic; my motive was to keep the chili, mustard and soda off of my seats and let the pip squeaks get some fresh air. So, with our 'sackful of Krystals' in hand, we wound our way through the pine shade to a sunny spot near the pond and that is when they declared we were in Paris, dining under the Eiffel Tower, no less!

Gotta love that imagination. . .

dozen

Easter Eggs 2007

manicMonday

I used to have a principal/algebra teacher

(in tiny Christian schools,one dons many hats)

that LOVED Mondays. Perhaps he had always loved them, but I always suspected he CHOSE to love them in order to gain our attention and make us groan all the louder when he reminded us with a smile what a perfect day Monday was. A day for new beginnings, a clean slate.

" I just LOVE Mondays!" he'd say

and while I still haven't adopted his philosophy, I would LIKE to LOVE Mondays or at least be able to tolerate them... we shall see, until then, here's to Manic Monday and everything on my plate that I hope to address/accomplish before "Frantic Friday" gets here:

Go to bed earlier, get more sleep
Wake up earlier , everyday (and like it)
Go grocery shopping
Make a schedule ( stick to it)
Make rule chart, post prominently
Stick to rule chart all week
Create Incentives / Consequences to accompany chart
~~Have serious heart to heart with "you know who"~~quasi-serious
Add walking back into daily routine
Add exercise ball back into daily routine
~~Make Jello~~rasperry
~~Catch Laundry Up~~believe it or not
~~Clean House ( top to bottom)~~ done
~~Make Hotel reservations for this weekend~~nevermind
Write Thanks You notes
Deliver ribbon to the bakery
~~Contact party clients about remaining details~~phone tag
~~Call rental house for parents~~waiting game
Tour and photograph house
Be NICE ( even when I don't feel like it)
Flee Temptation
and appearances of Evil
Create new playlist
Add overlooked songs to iPod
Buy Curriculum
Test Chandler
~~Watch What About Brian~~ (nevermind)
~~Place order with Lowcounrty~~
~~Amend~~ current order with Lowcountry
Blog Sensibly
~~Find those cartridges~~FINALLY!
Go to the library
~~Take a Shower ( repeat often) ~~IIII~~~~
~~Wish parents Happy Anniversary~~ eCard
Send birthday gift to stepson
Figure out what I left off this list
Add to this list
Complete this list

For THOSE sins...

This year we borrowed an idea from a church we once visited/briefly attended and let the children nail their sins to the cross. . . on Easter morning their sins were no more and "FORGIVEN" was in their place...

(the church used to cover the sins with live flowers, and in the years to come I hope to do so as well . . . this year it just got too late in the evening to do flowers)

HOWEVER . . .

even though we don't make a huge fuss about the Easter Bunny, he was, unfortunately, credited with this act of "forgiving sins"

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!

speakLOUDER

. . . he told her so often he didn't need her that eventually he convinced her of it's truth . . .

(I can't hear what you are saying- your actions are speaking too loud. . . )

ChristianNoMore

These clever "ads" come from Illinois based Community Christian Church. Enjoy these and then head over to their site to check out other videos and the link to

their "CCC Tube" (on You Tube).

[[It would be wise to loosen ye ol' collar first. . . ]]

GoodFriday

What struck me:

" All the people answered, "Let His blood be on us and on our children!"

Matthew 27:25 (NIV)

and it

was

100 things

Technically this isn't my 100th post- I've been doing this for sometime and passed the 100th mark many, many rants ago- but I threw a lot into "the Abyss" and had to start over- gave myself a clean slate, ya see? And according to my dashboard, I've actually got some 107-odd posts to my credit- some of which are "private drafts" as yet to be released to the public ;o)

But according to the count , this post is 100 in a manner of counting and so I offer the traditional 100 random items about yours truly and the life that surrounds me... I will probably stretch the numbers A LOT as I can't think of 10 things to list, much less 100

Here goes anyway:

My name is Kelly Lynn
My maiden name is Carnes
My married name is Brewer
I just go by momma or "hey, you" most of the time
I was once bestowed the nickname Killer
And also Fred
But in general most people shorten my name to Kel
I hated being rhymed with Jelly and Belly growing up- but now they are famous gourmet beans and it's water under the bridge
I don't like the connotations associated with beans either
I have moved more times than I can count- once a year is an average
I am 27
Currently, I live in Savannah,GA a.k.a. savaNINEVAH
It's best I don't explain that but I have more in common with Jonah than I'd care to admit
Only, I would actually welcome the Big Fish with arms wide open
I remember a time when the biggest goal in my life was to own a DUNCAN Butterfly Yo-Yo
I used to want to be a Clown when I grew up
People laughed at me
That's funny isn't it? But totally true... I changed my "when I grow up" to something that people wouldn't laugh at
People at that time were mostly cousins my own age - PEER PRESSURE, eh?
I have tasted many types of school life- Home School, tiny fundamental christian school, pentecostal school, public school and satelite school
I was the only SR to graduate in my class
I was the only SR in my class
My SR SKIP DAY involved a sombrero and Greek food
And Edward Scissorhands
I have three children who make this life a joy
Even when they are misbehaving
Chandler is 7
Logan is 6
Fisher is 4
currently they Homeschool
which makes me their "teacher"
I worry about that
I come from a family of 4
I am the oldest
this lead to much empathy for guinea pigs everywhere
My anniversary is in February
I look forward to that day more than Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter
I used to ride the school bus
Once my neighbor, brother and I were put off the bus and then walked all the way home ( a mile or 2)
The bus driver got in trouble for that
We use to tease my mom about her nightblindness
Now I have a touch of it myself and it isn't funny
One night she spotted "horses" on the side of the road-- yeah right, mom
That night we helped corral 3 loose horses from the side of the highway back into their owner's trailer
The first horror movie I ever saw was OPEN HOUSE
I saw it with a school group in a hotel on an overnight field trip
That school didn't believe in watching t.v. and made us all unplug them at check in
Our chapherone plugged ours back in
Whenever the ice cream man came to our neighborhood, I would get a SCREWBALL with the piece of gum at the bottom or this other sherbet thing they don't make anymore
Baskin Robbins is where we got our ice cream back in the day
My favorites were Rainbow Sherbet, Chocolate Peanut BUtter, Strawberry Cheesecake and Mint Chocolate Chip
I have been married almost 10 years
It seems both longer and shorter than that in hindsight
One of my first friends was Julia Jackson
She saved her band-aids
My first boyfriend was Adam Forgot-His-Last-Name
He was an older man- First Grader!
I have lived in 4 states
Georgia
South Carolina
Florida
Kentucky
I liked Florida best and South Carolina equally
I have visited / attended churches with all sorts of labels
Nazarene
Wesleyan
Baptist (southern)
Baptist (Independant)
Christian Alliance
Community
Non Denomination
Methodist
Presbyterian
My favorite church experience is probably FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MANDARIN
I am "white"
They were not
My friend Sarah spoke in tounges during chapel one day
We were in the third grade
I still don't know what I think about all of that
I believe in doing nice things for people and then keeping it a secret
I believe in being sober
I believe in being kind and also sacrificial
I believe in being still
I like to read
I learned how to crotchet
I love NPR (mostly)
I am pretty much a senior citizen on the inside
I am a real life pirate-I plunder
I like dark chocolate
I have "flown" an airplane around the statue of liberty
I love the whole wide world
I can hate it just as passionately some days
I have a scar on my left knee from a kiddie pool incident when I was 10
I have "beauty mark" moles on my cheek, lip and chin
I have learned to embrace them, though I am glad they aren't larger
I used to could only find my name in the "boys" section of the baby name books. it bothered me
I graduated in this year ('97)
I married in this one
I became a momma in this one
I have the tendency to become addicted- so I focus on benign factors- like Diet Coke

Wow, that went faster than I thought. I guess we all like to share ourselves and the things about us that make us "US" with other people. Hope you weren't too bored...

littlePolitician

This morning, when I climbed out of the shower, Fisher's face was mysteriously blue, the same shade of blue as the cupcakes that we bought yesterday.

So I asked him about it.

You'll notice that he jumps right from

" I did not have any sort of relationship with a cupcake"

" Why the cupcake needed me"

For those of you who don't understand his garbled 4 yr old speak, in the first deposition, he explains that the cupcake had fallen over in it's case, getting it's icing top stuck to the lid and in deposition number 2 he vividly describes how the cupcake was forced upon him by his bigger sister LoLo...

You may notice that this movie is a lot like a Japanese film, where the lip movement is just slightly off of the sound- I am new to video editing and this needed everything you can think of- I had to convert the format, rotate the frames and then paste together the resulting spliced movie. . . none of which I had ever done before.

(Please disregard the unmade bed and askew living room as this was pre-morning chores... one of the main reasons I sped up the ending if you want to know the truth)

theRace

(she's gone country and that is NEVER any good...)

ReDefined

clever

quagmire

somebody quick, throw me a rope . . .

. . . on second thought, it is kinda cool down here

and squishy between my toes

I am already so far down

maybe drifting here isn't such a bad idea. . .

WAIT! No... don't talk like that--

remember "the after" ?

it is twice as unpleasant as this is nice

get up! go home!

you silly, foolish pit

I know I am in trouble when scolding myself becomes audible, even violently argumentative

I went straight home

just like I told myself to do

though I'd like to take this chance to say

I really don't think I should talk to ME that way

it isn't very nice

though neither is the other

which is all I was trying to tell myself

sometimes I just don't listen

certain things in life are badly timed

like contentment

mud puddles

and contention

all in one night

one doesn't make the others any easier to bear

it almost seems like it was planned that way

on purpose

I'm being silly, I know

i KNOW better than all of this--i do.

i just need to have a little pep talk with me

i just need to get this out of my system

else I won't be able to climb in to bed

and fall asleep

content.

unexpected garden

winds of "take a chance" flung the smallest seeds of kindness into the fertile soils of an abandoned minefield and King David cultivated them in truth and persevered until the field detonated,smelling like peace then he allowed me to stroll the garden and take it's aroma home.

hail to the king!