Never A Dull Moment

The house I grew up in in Little Rock sits on a big hill. There is one street that bi-sects the hill, and houses are built on either side overlooking a valley or the Arkansas River. My parent's house is on the valley side. Behind the house are woods where numerous forts were constructed during my childhood years. In the front and side yards are shrubs and trees, and the front walk is lined with big bushes. I love my parent's house. Maybe I love it because it is the only house I lived in before I got married? Maybe I love it because I walk in and instantly feel like a child at home? Maybe I love it because that house has grown with us. We lived there before my mom was sick, we lived there when she was, and now my family lives there without her. The house holds memories from all of it. George, Eleanor and I have always lived in our own same rooms from the time we were home from the hospital. I remember painting my room from white to blue to yellow over the years. George colored o...

Who gets summoned for Jury Duty twice in one year for two different courts? Oh that would be me. The only time I had ever wished to be a kid again was when I got the second summons and wanted my parents to be able to write a note to get me out of it. Too bad this isn't high school! I actually did petition the second summons myself, but because I didn't actually serve on a jury the first time, I'm still fresh meat for any other court to do as they please. Lovely. The municipal (city) court, the one I am at today, is about 1/10 the size of the county court. It is so much nicer than the last one. However, The judge said because it's smaller, only eight courtrooms in session, there is a good chance I'll be here all day. Ugh. On another note, I really like the judge. She is one classy lady and I would be scared to death if I had to be tried in her courtroom. I'm just sayin'. -- Post From My iPhone

Emerson and I went to pick Luke up from his second day of bible school. When I left him this morning he seemed a little hesitant, but said he wanted to stay, smiled really big and told me and Em that he would see us later. I decided to get there 15 mins early to try to beat the chaos we ran into yesterday during pickup. Emme and I stood off to the side with a few other people who were early and watched the kids finish their program. The last song came over the loud speaker and everyone started to mingle and "dance" their way to find their children. Emme and I were "dancing" our way over to Luke who had not yet seen us arrive. He was an utterly humiliated four year old when he turned around and saw us! We were greeted by this face: That is the face of a four year old boy who is genuinely humiliated. Just after I snapped this picture he ran over to me and said, "Mare, you are not supposed to be dancing! This song is only for kids! Stop that now!" Next thing ...

I stole this from Mikel's blog. It is from Facebook and I am just as curious as she was to see how many of these I have read. I think more than anything it will be a good challenge to try to read some of these books in the future! The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen  2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte  4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling  5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee X 6 The Bible Sadly never the entire thing through! 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte    X 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell  X 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens   X 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott  X 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare  15 Rebe...

My sink and I have been in a fight since yesterday at 5:30. I came home from work and decided to do some chores around the house. The first one calling my name was to clean out my refridgerator. I HATE cleaning out the fridge. Leftovers are my worst nightmare. Anyway, I was discarding some chicken spaghetti and the disposal just stopped working. I promise there were no unusual sounds, it just died. That's right, a lb of chicken spaghetti down the drain and it wasn't going anywhere. I tried to scoop as much out as I could, but it was slimy and I couldn't get but about half of it. So, for the rest of the night the chicken warmed in my sink and made all 1300 sq ft of our apartment smell like old trash. This morning I scheduled maintenence to come and fix my little problem while I was at work. When I got home I found this: If you'll take a moment to look at the object in the bottom left corner of the picture you will understand why the maintenance guy said my disposal wa...

Luke and I do a lot of talking. Well, actually he ask questions and I try my best to give an answer that won't 1) be incorrect or 2) cause him to further question his questions. Sometimes there are only so many questions you can answer before you start to feel like your are being given an oral examination by a four year old. I start to get nervous and fumble my words; I'm really not good with a lot of questions. Today, however, while we were riding in the car I was able to divert his questions into a sort of game about the movie Peter Pan. We decided to cast his family and Reid and me in different character roles from the movie. Luke was insistent on being the Crocodile, his dad would be Peter Pan, his mom Wendy, Emme would be Tink, and Reid would be Captain Hook. So, you can sort of see a pattern for how the roles were cast. His dad is the hero Peter, his mom is Peter's "girl" Wendy, Emme is small so she is Tinkerbell, and Reid is tall with dark hair and Luke wan...

Remember when Luke fell asleep when he was sitting in time out last Fall? Well, little sister Emme must have been a bit worn out yesterday because when I went to get her from time out in her room this is what I found: Looking at those sweet faces makes me wonder why I even sent them to time out in the first place! ;) -- Post From My iPhone

*disclaimer: I think this is the most random post I've ever written. Being on vacation and using public restrooms this weeks has made me laugh thinking of potty training Luke last summer. My mom used to be a total freak about public toilets. From the time I was potty trained she carried around a hard plastic, foldable seat cover that was stored in a mesh bag and fit nicely in her purse. I was trained at three to ask, "Do we know this potty?" before I was allowed to sit down. And, we ALWAYS used a foot to flush. Talk about giving your impressionable child a complex!!! In later years, other techniques were learned to avoid touching the seat. Don't worry, I don't still carry a plastic seat cover with me. I give you that background about my public potty habits so you understand why I was a freak about Luke using a public bathroom. There were times I laid out toilet paper perfectly only for him to push it into the toilet and I always flushed the toilet with my foot. No...

Yesterday we were total bums and lazed around on the beach. Nothing much to document there, although we did both finish our books we brought with us. No small feat! Last night we ate dinner in town and walked around some of the local shops. This morning we planned to head back to the Princeville area to hike the famous Na Pali Coast. It can only be reached by boat or on foot, and is a total of 11 miles long. Reid and I opted for the shortest of the hikes - four miles to the secluded beach. The views were awesome. The pictures below are of our hike from the beginning until we reached the beach. -- Post From My iPhone

This week was the Alzheimer's Associations Internationl Conference on Alz Disease (ICAD) in Vienna. The conference is open to the public and I had wanted to go, but Reid and I decided it would be mostly medical talk that I wouldn't understand. So, I've been keeping up with the info discussed through my trusty iPhone this week! Here are some exciting new research breakthroughs in ICAD news: -Moderate alcohol consumption may reduce Alzheimer risk. One or two alcoholic beverages a day may reduce an elderly person's risk of developing dementia by almost 40 percent. Well, folks, looks like I might take to the bottle after all. ;) -Early-stage tests show promise.Tests assessing brain changes and body chemistry are showing promise at diagnosing Alzheimer's in its earliest stages, aiding the search for new drugs. And, on a serious note, if you suspect someone you know might have symptoms of AD then encourage them to see their doctor for early screening! This is such a hug...

When I was little, about eight, my dad let me watch Jaws with him when my mom was out of town. Big mistake. Not only was going in the ocean out of the question, but I even feared the deep end of a swimming pool. I'll save the story about how the Big Foot Documentary affected me for another post! To say I was terrified was an understatement; to say I was being irrational only made me more mad. You see, I've learned in dealing with some other issues that kids can't process what they see in movies or on TV before the age of 13. They aren't phychologically able to reason what is real and what isn't. For me, things my parents let me see when I was young caused a great deal of anxiety that manifested itself in different ways in my life. I was terrified that if I left them something bad would happen - this was a theme played out in those movies I shouldn't have watched. I finallly had to own up to my fears, take responsibility for them, find ways to work it out, and ul...

On the itenerary for day three was hiking to the Alakai Swamp. I have been so excited for our hikes. When Reid and I got married we talked about what we wanted to be known for as a couple. You know, some couples cook, some are runners, there is that environmental couple, the musical couple, the one that plays golf, etc. We decided we could be the "outdoorsy" couple. I know what your thinking right now. I'm the LEAST "outdoorsy" person in the world. My best friends from high school laughed at me the day I wore tennis shoes to school in tenth grade - it was the first time they had ever seen me wear them. I hate to sweat. I hate being dirty. Mosquitos love me. I can't use the bathroom outside. You get my point. These are only a few reasons why it took us two and a half years to be "outdoorsy." It all started when we were planning this trip to Kauai. There were some pretty cool things to see, but you had to hike there. So, I put on my most excited, a...

This morning we woke up early to go Scuba diving! It was my first official dive since bring certified and I had so much fun. We did a shore dive, meaning we entered from the beach, so there were quite a few rocks with turtles and other creatures hiding out. I think I will like the boat dive we are doing on Wednesday more. Sadly, the picture of me in a wet suit is on our camera and the cord is at home so you'll have to wait a week to see me in all my glory. Ha! This evening we drove up the coat to Princeville for dinner. It is a gorgeous little town where we had hoped to stay when we planned our vacation but it was already booked. We'll stay there next time, though! Here are some pictures I took in Princeville. -- Post From My iPhone

Our first morning of vacation has been amazing. I will be the first to call myself an island snob and say that Kauai is 100 times better than Maui. It is a sleepy little island, so green and lush, mountains everywhere and is not nearly as touristy as Maui was. A rule on Kauai is that no building can be taller than a palm tree, only adding to the quaintness of the island. I'm in love and will be coming back. Here are some pictures of our first morning exploring the views of the "Grand Canyon of Hawaii." -- Post From My iPhone

Today was Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day! If you dressed up like a cow you got a free meal, so what else was there to do?  Mr. Cow. Luke loved him. Emerson was terrified. I am my father's daughter and though the whole thing was hilarious! The cutest little cow. She hated her costume and it lasted just long enough to get her free lunch! Even Harper was stylin' in her cow print Babylegs! Thank you, Lauren, for passing along this great idea! I wouldn't have wanted to be dressed up like a cow with anyone else. ;) 

I recently found this picture on another blog. This might be one of the best pictures I've seen in a while!

I will get to explore the outdoorsy itch I've been feeling lately. The beauty of it all is that I get to hike or dive during the day and still sleep in a nice hotel. That's what I call easing into a new hobby! The top two pics are a hike we are doing next week in the Alakai Swamp Trail. These bottom two pictures are of the Napali Coast. We will be hiking 11 miles and we are looking forward to the challenge!

I want to let you know about a big step that Reid and I are taking over the next month. We feel encouraged by the Lord's provision in working everything out to be able to do this, but would love your support, too. My mom fell last week, and after an xray at the nursing home she was admitted to the hospital Wednesday afternoon at the recommendation of her doctor. She had xrays and a CT scan of her head and hip. Right now the only problem seems to be a hairline fracture in her hip. They did a CT to see how deep the fracture goes into the bone. Thankfully, it does not look like she will need surgery. She was released that night to go back to Pres Village. For the next week she will be confined to a wheelchair and they will reevaluate to see if further treatment is necessary. She is hating her wheelchair already. Lovely. That said, I have been thinking since Christmas about wanting to be able to spend time with my mom while I still can, help my family in Little Rock, etc. The hold up h...