You know the kind of post that I do every so often.  Where its like totally random and there is no rhyme or reason to the different subjects that appear in my blog.  I'm just doing my "brain dumping."  I was going to title the post "Monthly Brain Dumping" or something like that, but I don't want to limit myself to a certain time period. Because one never knows when these urges to do random blogs will come upon oneself.

Sometimes I just feel the need to cover lots of different and totally unrelated subjects that are swirling around in my brain.  I know that sometimes it is hard for people to follow these kinds of posts, and especially to comment on them, because they are just so random...

But, if I take time to post about each of these individually, you will have two or three posts from me a day for a week and that would be a little much of Audrey, I think!

So, to help you out with your commenting frustrations, I thought I could at least number the subjects as they appear.

Subject #1 - Coloring - Now that it has gotten a tad bit colder outside, the kids are indoors a lot more and the new rage around our house is coloring.  They've liked to color for quite a while, but when they can play outside, they are usually doing that instead.  But this fall...wow!  The coloring epidemic has hit with full force.  I counted the coloring pictures on my fridge:  There are 18 right now.  With lots more stacked on the kitchen table.  We print them off of the internet.  They decide what they would like to coloring (say, a tiger) and we google "tiger coloring page."  You can find almost anything if you search that way.  Kendall has gotten SO much better at coloring lately and does very well staying inside the lines now.  He likes to color animals and cars, etc.  Right now him and Derrick are both into coloring these pictures from a web site we found where it is kind of a hidden picture. Like a mosaic.  All the boxes are shaped as squares, or whatever, and you color squares by number (2 = red, etc) and then a picture emerges.  The boys love color by number and color by letter, just the regular kind too. Nikki it really, really into monkeys right now. I have no clue why.  That's mostly what she wants for her coloring pages. Or babies, if I can distract her from the monkey theme for a little. I did find these ADORABLE pj's at Sam's Club last week. The kind with the feet in them. And they have monkeys all over them. I put them aside for Christmas. She is going to be SO delighted with them!  So, plus all of this, I like to color, so I color with them sometimes too. I think I do better than any of them, if I do say so myself!

Subject #2 - Out of the mouth of babes (or 7 year olds) -  So, I have an I-pod which I usually keep in the van, and on the way to school I often let the boys pick a song to listen to.  Favorites are Toby Mac and Stellar Kart (You got Me and Jesus, especially).  Also, Casting Crowns. It really blesses my heart to hear Derrick and Kendall singing "You know just how far the east is from the west...from one scarred hand to the other."

This morning, Kendall picked "Cowgirls don't cry" by Brooks and Dunn.  So, as we are listening to this, Derrick goes "Where is the part in this song about God?"  So, I paused the song and turned to him and said "Well, this song isn't really about God." And he said "Then what is the point of listening to it?"  Now, this is proof that my children are learning something that I've been trying to teach them. (You know how sometimes you wonder if they are learning anything?) For years already, when we are listening to songs, I will explain the song and tell them what part of God's character this is about, or what the words are trying to teach us about Jesus.  And about why we like to listen to songs about God and how these songs are good things to put into our minds, etc.

But now he's got me.  What do I say?  I don't want our children to grow up to be legalistic, but neither do I want to "offend one of these little ones."  So I thought a little bit and I said "You know, Derrick, you're probably right. It would be better to listen to songs that are just about God. You certainly can't go wrong with that. But you know how I've taught you to listen to the words of songs and see if they are something that God would like or not?  Well, there are some songs that don't have bad words, but neither are they about God."

He seemed to understand and accept this answer, but its bothering me now.  For one, did I answer correctly and for two, What is the point of listening to a song that is just kind of in the middle? Not bad, but not necessarily good either.  Why do I choose to have that in my library and what keeps me from just getting rid of those "middle ground" kind of songs?

I'm thinking about it.  You never know who is going to challenge you in your walk with God, do you?

Subject #3 - Jeremy's birthday.  It was yesterday. He is 31.  I am five weeks older than Jeremy, so I am always glad when his birthday comes around so he can quit teasing me about "being married to an older woman" and that he "robbed the cradle" and other crap like that!  So, now we're the same age again. The score is tied!

So, I decided to make him a "birthday supper." And so, if you are curious what would pretty much be my husband's favorite meal, this is what we had last night:  Meatballs with a BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes made with cream cheese and sour cream and butter, corn (that I froze myself! Yay for me, the woman who does virtually no canning or freezing) dinner rolls, and a grape pie.  Now, that dessert could have been replaced by lots of others that he would probably like just as well, but Jeremy's Mom used to make grape pie for him and he really liked it, so I chose that this time.

We also gave him two cards.  One from me and one from the kids.  Now that Derrick can write, he does the card writing from himself and then he'll often ask Kendall too, what he wants to say, and write that in there too. It is so cute!  I love to see what they come up with! And Nikki wanted to do a bunch of "writing" too, so I let her scribble on the back of my card and on the envelope. I believe that in her head she actually thinks she's drawing pictures and writing words!

And now...I have a surprise planned for Jeremy for tomorrow yet.  We are leaving about 3:30 PM and will be getting back around noon Saturday.  Paul and Nett are keeping the kids...thank you guys! I cannot write what we are doing for fear he could possibly read this, so I'll have to tell you later.  I am determined to surprise him this time!

Subject #4 - My diaries - I have always been a writer.  I didn't say I was a good writer, I just said I've always been a writer. Back when I was probably 12-ish, I wrote a short story/book called "For me to Live" which was about a girl named Kelly. My Mom even typed it all up for me. I have it in with all of my other keep-sakes. Letters, cards, diaries, etc.  I also have always used writing as a way to get things "out of my system" and work through emotions that I am feeling.  I still do that to this day sometimes.  Like this blog. Or in a notebook. But anyway, I started keeping a diary at 13 years old (July 22, 1992) and I wrote in that diary every day until I got married (Feb 13, 1999).  So, I've pretty much got my teen years totally chronicled. My sister Lynette wrote in a diary too, but she threw most of her's out because she didn't like to look back and see a lot of the stuff she wrote. She said it was worthless.  That she was boy crazy and wrote stuff she's not really proud of...whatever.

Me, I'm keeping mine! I don't care if they are silly and immature.  That was me, then.  And those diaries are a part of me and who I was.  So, I have a tote full of diaries, letters, cards, pictures, school year books, etc.  I rarely go through it, but it is very important to me.

But this is what inspired me to go digging in there yesterday. 

This past Sunday, November 1, 2009, it was exactly 20 years ago that our family moved to Wisconsin. From Pennsylvania.  So, our family got together at my brother Loren's house and Lynette had went back to one of her old diaries that she had kept, and made up a quiz of about 50 questions from the "early days of WI."  If you know our family, you will know that we LOVED doing this quiz. We had teams and after each question there was usually a discussion about the question and the details and stories surrounding it!

So, I thought I might work on a quiz of my own...either for when my sisters and I get together next, or for when our family gets together next time.  So, I started reading.  July 22, 1992.  That is about 17 years ago.  And as I read through a month of two of what I had written, I had this weird feeling.  Like, I was reading about somebody else. 

I'm 31, I'm sitting on the couch reading, I have two kids running around and calling me Mommy and needing things. The other kid is in first grade. I've learning SO much in those past 17 years.  I don't even know that 13 year old girl anymore.  Was that really me who was so insecure?  So boy crazy?  Made such a big deal out of very little things?  Slept in until 10 AM?  Did nothing but "fool around" all day on those lazy, summer days?  It was just kind of this weird "out of body" experience to read about myself, but myself as I know her now is not that self that was 13.  I wonder if I'll feel that same way in another 17 years?

Subject #5 - Me and clothing.

So, I read this the other day on a fashion web site, where I was going for ideas on how to dress myself.

Do you find yourself...

• Having difficulties figuring out what goes with what?   Totally!!
• Wasting more time and energy on deciding what to wear than preparing your breakfast? Yes
• Falling into the same outfit combination?   Sometimes.
• Just feel that you have nothing to wear despite your stuffed closet? Were they at my house or what?

This totally, totally explains my predicament

I have no lack of clothing.  I have no lack of money to buy clothing, if I choose to do so.

What I have is a lack of knowing what goes with what?  So, I was pondering this and thinking of my dear friend, Sandra, who knows SO much more about this sort of thing than I do. Last week when we were in Eau Claire, she totally helped me to put an outfit together at J.C. Penney.  Which I am wearing today, by the way.  She's so good at this. So I told her that I want to pay her to go shopping with me some day and help me figure out what to wear together, what colors look good, etc.

But, as I was reading this and thinking about my super stuffed closet, I realized that I had another idea.

So, this is what I said to Sandra last week end "You know, we talked about going shopping together sometime to look for clothing for me.  But I have this closet FULL of stuff and I mostly just need help with learning how to put outfits together. And then maybe there are a few things I would need to buy.  Would you be willing to come over some day and spend some time going through my closet with me?"

And she said "yes!" She even said that she thought that would be fun. So, now I'm really excited about this and we need to figure out some time when this will work for us.  Maybe I'll actually find that I have a lot of combinations in my closet that I was just never sure enough if they "went together" to try them out.

Subject #6 - Missions Meeting - We had our conference's Missions Meeting at our church this past week end. I had written before that I was in charge of the food. And what a job it was!

Friday morning I went and got  my own personal groceries and then dropped Kendall and Nikki off at my Mom's and headed down to the church. I was pretty much at the church from then until Sunday at about 2:30 PM, except for 2 hours at home on Friday afternoon and sleeping at home on Friday and Saturday night.

I did have to run and get Derrick on Friday at school.  He hung out with Kathryn and I at the church for a little while, and helped us a lot too.  Sandra was going to be there, but ended up with a sick kid.

Part of the pile of potatoes that we washed and baked for our Friday night baked potatoe bar and our baked potatoe soup on Saturday noon.  We did 50#.  And we probably only had about 10 lbs. left over.

Me in the kitchen at church. Derrick wanted to take a picture.

Derrick in the kitchen. And Kathryn in the background. She is a 65 year old lady that goes to our church. She is really a sweet heart and has such a gentle spirit about her. She told me this "I don't want to put you in a box, but when I got to know you, you reminded me of myself when I was younger. Opinionated and strong willed and spirited." When I asked how she changed and softened, she said that she prayed a lot for God to give her a gentle spirit and that slowly but surely He answered that prayer.  I really enjoyed working with her this week end. I was also quite proud of her, because I know that she was SO tired.  She has a bad back and is over twice my age and she hung in there and helped right up until the end!  I really enjoyed chatting with her as we worked also.  To me, she is a woman that I would look to for life wisdom and advice.

This is a picture of a portion of the food that we had for making meals all week end. We also had two refrigerators full and another table in the back room piled with stuff.  We had to serve Friday supper, Saturday breakfast, lunch and supper and Sunday lunch.  We had went to Sam's Club and had a van FULL that we brought home.  We ended up with a few less people than we had figured on.  We had between 50 and 75 people for each meal, I think.  I like to cook, so that part was fun, but I was pretty tuckered out by the end of the day.  And then we had this really cool older couple at our house overnight both nights too, and they wanted to stay up late and talk.  I finally just had to say "I had GOT to get to bed!"

We had a lady from our conference speak who had just gotten back from being in Japen for 8 years (I think) and then we had a man from our area who is involved in pro-life and also goes to gay gatherings and does witnessing that spoke on Saturday evening. I missed a lot of the services because of working in the kitchen, but I did get to sit in on both of those for at least part of the time.

And then my favorite speaker of the week end, my Dad.  He spoke on Sunday morning about the ministry that he and Mom are involved in, which is basically going to the inner city and speading the gospel and making friends and building relationships.  My Dad is an avid reader and he spouts off quotes and information like it's nothing. I love that part of his speaking.  I've grown up listening to my Dad speak.  Even though he's not an ordained minister, he always was asked to speak at churches through my growing up years. I was always so proud of him up front there and glad to say "Yeah, that's my Dad!" 

Anyway, my favorite quote from what he said was this "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society!"  I thought that was an AWESOME quote and I have thought of it and applied it to different situations in my life since then.

Subject #7 - My social experiment.  Just a follow up from a few months ago where I did that social experiment of trying to really be involved in people's lives and see them as people, not just as the gas station clerk or the guy who loads trucks at work, or whatever.  Well, I was just going to tell you that I totally enjoyed the experiment, but sad to say, I have pretty much totally reverted to my prior ways.  I get so caught up in my own world and forget to notice people for who they really are!  But once in a while I think back on that experiment and it is a fresh reminder to me to keep trying to remember to be more interested with and involved in people's lives. God's going to have to continue to work on me in this area.  But, this subject may segue into my next one...

Subject #8 - Busy-ness!  I think I may have blogged about this in the past, but it was certainly brought to the forefront of my mind this past week.   I worked Monday morning, had a little time at home Monday afternoon, worked Tuesday, spent all day Wednesday in Eau Claire shopping (partly for fun, partly for Missions Meeting), worked Thursday, and spent the week end at the church.  Now, I'm not saying that this wasn't good stuff. I support and appreciate that our conference has a Missions Meeting. I was willing and able and pretty much happy to be in charge of the feeding of the attendees.  But my week was SO busy.  I barely saw the children, as I was gone every day!

And I think about the verse that says we are to be "keepers at home." I most certainly was not a keeper at home last week.  Now, this is not my normal week, and for that I am quite thankful.  But sometimes I wonder if the reason that we don't hear the Spirit more is because there is no quiet time in our lives for Him to speak to us.  When we are constantly going, doing and acting, there is little time for just being!

I feel like this is something that is such a thing in our society and in our churches and it is not spoken out against much at all. In fact, it is kind of applauded. Wow!  She's so busy. Look what all she gets done. What a virtuous woman!

And there is even this competition, I've noticed, among women to be "the busiest."  Like, you're trying to make plans with friends and they say "Oh, no, that day won't suit me...nor that one. Maybe Tuesday?"  Its like being busy and having lots of obligations brings us worth or makes us important or special in some way.  And if you are stressing and pulling your hair out and SO busy, other Moms will look at you and say "Wow! How CAN she do it all?! That woman is plain down amazing!" (Btw, I am preaching this sermon to myself, first and foremost.)

And if you ever get into a conversation where you are talking with someone and you are not able to talk about your social calendar and your kids activities, and your busy-ness, why, you must be lazy? I mean, what does that woman do all day?  Well, maybe she's actually got some quiet time to read and learn and grow and just "be." And that's OK.  Actually, its not just OK, it is very good!  Because we need to be refreshed and filled and taught too.

Anyway, that's my little rant about that.  I wish I could say it better, because I have more to say about it, but here is a link to a blog I read a while ago that talks about this purely from a non-spiritual perspective.  But it was a quite interesting read and So true!

http://thehappiestmom.com/?p=768

Subject #9 - I am about to place my next order with Alice.com.  If I ever get done with this post, which has pretty much taken me 3 or 4 hours, in between work. 

I was so excited to order from alice.com earlier, that I kind of ordered plenty of everything and hadn't run out of many supplies for the last while. But now I noticed that I need soap for the kids, dishwash soap, and large plastic bags, plus I can go through my whole list of products that I have saved on alice.com and see what else I need.

Less stuff to pick up at Wal-Mart. Plus, you know how excited I am to get a box in the mail.  Even if it is only full of house hold supplies. I try to give myself one little treat or extra. Like gum or candy. So that it's more fun. Pathetic, I know.  But that's me and that's my life!

Subject #10 - I'm anal. Because, honestly, I really don't have a 10th subject. But would you stop at nine? That's such an uneven, non rounded out number. Ten is much better.  Ten feels like I topped it off just right. 10 is complete. 10 is 1/2 of 20.  But maybe that doesn't really matter?  Whatever...you know what I mean. Its kind of like how I have to flip the lightswitch off and on 10 times every time I go into or out of a room.  Maybe that's why I can't get anything done all day?

OK, that part about the light switch wasn't true...but at least now you think I'm less crazy than you thought I was about 10 seconds ago, which is always a good thing.

Later...

So, does anyone know what this number?

Lucky for you if you don't.

This is the phone number for the National Poison Control Center hotline.  Which I have called.

Twice.

Both times involving Kendall.

Yesterday was one of those times.  My sister Lynette was babysitting and apparently Kendall thought he had a fever. When he called for Lynette and she didn't answer/come immediately, he decided to help himself to the medicine. 

When I got home at a little before 1 PM, he was looking VERY tired and casually mentioned to me that he had a fever this morning and took some medicine.  When I realized that Lynette knew nothing about this, I asked him which medicine (it was off brand children's pain reliever/fever reducer), how much he took (oh, about 4 or 5...   capfuls??? yes - Equal to at least 4 or 5 tablespoons), and figured out when this had happened, etc.

I called the above phone # and they got info like how much he weighed, how much he took, what is the main ingredient, etc. 

So, we got Kendall out of his bed (where he had fallen asleep in about a matter of 5 minutes) and took him to the hospital.  He was quite worried and crying, thinking that they were going to "cut his tummy open!" I assured him they wouldn't do that.  He wondered what they WOULD do and I tried to keep that part kind of vague.  Because I didn't know either and I didn't want to scare him too much.

We ended up going to the emergency care at the hospital.  He had to get some blood taken and drink some "charcoal" stuff and after waiting for a while...the results came back and his level was below toxic, but not by very much. I guess the main ingredient in that medicine (acetaminophen) attacks the liver if it gets to toxic levels and there are really no symptoms to watch for.  By the time you see the symptoms, it has already done damage.

Kendall and I got some quality alone time, at least.  Sitting there on the bed waiting for the results from the blood that was taken.  We played "I spy." He asked lots of questions about the stuff in the room.  We sat and talked. He got restless. I got bored.  The nurses brought him a super ball, some stickers, a coloring book (to keep). And a Snoopy band-aid. I was like "Hey, let's not make this too fun, or he'll try it again sometime soon!"  (I think the blood being drawn and the whole needle thing was hopefully enough to keep him from trying to repeat this whole scenario.)

So, we got to go back home, eventually.  Thank God everything was OK.  But when I asked him what he might have learned from this he said "Not to take medicine unless a big person helps me!"

You got it, buddy!

So, ladies, you might want to lock those medicine cabinets if you haven't already.  You never know when your child might decide to treat their own sicknesses.  In a big time way!

It did make me realize how very, very special that little guy is to me.  To have something kind of scary happen to him made me realize that once again!  I couldn't imagine life without my little 33 lb. munchkin.  Who would help me cook? Who would make me pull my hair out?  Who would make me laugh? Who would look at me with those big blue eyes and say "Mommy, when you said (this or that) you made my feelings bad?"  Who would motivate me to read all those parenting books?  Who would get mad and say "I wish I lived at another house?"  Who would give me hugs and kisses and more hugs and more kisses?  Whose pants would I pin up because they are loose around the waist?  There's no one like our little Kendall, and I'm really glad today that he's all right.

PS - This is probably all you'll get for a post today. I have had an uncharacteristically busy day at work. Month end, etc.  So, maybe Thursday I'll get to the subject that is rolling around in my head.