Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Remains of the Day

High flying adventure
My side...

His side.



My scribble.....




Our amazing kite!


Go Fly a Kite???





This adage has a new meaning after Memorial Day. A single piece of paper, some thread found in a basement, two straws, some crayons and a little bending of the will made memories to last for a good while for us. Uncle Greg was in charge of "Activities" for our Memorial Day picnic this year. "Who has someone in charge of activities?" "Who PLANS activities on Memorial Day instead of just letting them happen and RELAX??" You ask.....fair questions. To these I can only reply with a quote my dear Mother-in-law used when I visited Joel's family for the first time, and it has stuck with us for these years. Here it is, "We have a very funny family." There it is, all the explanation you need my friend. So anywho, Uncle Greg had the menial task of trying to convince all of us "sticks in the mud" to get out in the garage and make a kite. Now for you to understand my reason for my pity party and my refusal to make a kite I will elaborate the previous happenings:



1. We woke up late. (How do you wake up late on a holiday? You schedule to do too many things.)



2. I could not coordinate for all of us to dress patriotic. (I know, but our family loves to do it!)



3. The little ones misbehaved at the cemetery for the ceremonies and so Joel ended up at one end with some and I ended up at the other with the other ones, neither of us enjoying it.



4. I did not get the dessert recipe I was supposed to bring for lunch that afternoon until that morning, it involves jello, I have 1 1/2 hours before lunch, enough said.



5. I try to open a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper right over Granparent's Poor's rug, it explodes, that is what I get for wanting to drink Dr. Pepper anyway. (apologies to Melody)



6. I FINALLY sit to eat and the table next to me set up in the garage (thankfully) with Caleb and Nathan at it, collapses sending their food to the floor. (it amazingly was not their fault, the table legs just buckled, which made it worse to only have table legs to be angry with.)



7. Anna falls and really knocks her head on the hard floor.



8. Nathan needs "help" in the bathroom just as I sit down again. I am in the garage, HE is in the HOUSE calling....



9. I sit down again and Anna is on my lap. She grabs my pop and dumps my cup down the front of me. (yes I tried Dr. Pepper again, will I ever learn..)






So, I inform Joel that I am going to drive home and get changed. I was completely soaked with pop. I am angry, wet, hungry, and no one to be trifled with. Joel says something like, "You have just been letting these things get to you..." and at that point he was like the Teacher in the Peanut's comic strip who you only hear in the background saying, "Wa Wa wa wa wa wa." I on the other hand am adding up the day: cemetery crying + jello salad+ falling table+ Grandma's rug + a lot of other things = get me out of here and fast! I head home, change, and RELUCTANTLY come BACK. I had better gas mileage on the return trip than you could ever have going anywhere I was going so slow.... and this is the backdrop for a smiling Uncle Greg saying, "Hey you wanna color a kite??" GGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.



Joel and I were supposed to make one together. (I failed to mention that when I got home, Joel had left a very kind message on the answering machine for me, telling me that he understood my frustration and could not wait to see me again......how did I know to check the machine.....I know my husband and knew he would call to have a message waiting for me...:-) I was still fuming though.......so HE colored his part and then dragged me out to get me to do mine. I scribbled as fast as I could with whatever color I could find, and while he was doing something else, I casually wrote, "Husband's love your wives.....like Christ!" on the front. Not entirely KJV but when you are angry you are terrible at direct quotes from the Bible. I smiled. But while I was not looking, on the back Joel wrote in crayon, "Wives see that ye reverence your husbands. - the Bible. Alright so we need to better memorize that passage... I scribble out "reverence' while he was not looking......don't tell me you would never do that yourself! I then returned to my place on the couch. I smiled. I had the last "dig."



Several moments later one of the kids came and told me Joel wanted to see me outside. When I got out there I saw it. Our kite. Joel was flying it and it was way above the house! I could hardly believe that they got this silly piece of paper to fly like a "real" kite! As Joel tugged on the string, making go here and there he noted, "I think the extra wax on the back where you scribbled out that word really added just the right amount of weight it needed to fly right." Alright HE gets the last "dig". Then it happened, my bad attitude left and I haven't seen it since. The kids were all flying theirs and even the friends who joined our family, who were as reluctant as I, were flying their kites and laughing......everyone was having a wonderful time and wished they were the ones who thought of it in the first place. Memorial Day was saved by a kite, and Uncle Greg got a big hug and a sincere thanks for making us all participate. Alright I have to have a Moral.....it is just too fitting:



Your attitude will always follow your obedience.








Tuesday, May 27, 2008

If at once you don't succeed.....try, try, again.

We are back at long last. Being introduced to the wide world of facebook, I just about got swallowed up in all of the whooplah. And now I am back at trying to figure this blogging out! So be patient with me (again) and realize that 5 children are more important than this site. :-)