Things You Eventually Just Accept

Like, for instance, the fact that I will never be as likable as my mother.

I have grown up happily not caring much for what most people think about me. Sometimes, this is very freeing and good. Sometimes, this makes you (mistakenly) assume other people must not care what you think about them, either. It's kind of a compromise.
My mom has spent (in my opinion) too much time worrying about what other people think, what other people will say, and feeling all manner of false guilt if she might have offended someone. On the other hand, everyone who's ever met her also likes her.

I think my way of life is a lot easier, but not necessarily better. I have examples to prove it, too.

One week I was counseling at the east campus of KBC, an all girls gradeschool camp. Mom was the activity director. We had a particularly difficult camper who was causing a lot of trouble, and bothering camper and and counselor alike. This girl's family had been attending camps for years, and the mother (let's call her Sue) lived fairly close to campus.

I should add that parents are not frequently called in to deal with a difficult camper. It is avoided until necessary. In this case, though, Mom had to call Sue and ask her to come by. This woman was not a particularly friendly person, and when she showed up it was very plain that my mom was going to get chewed up and spit out. They disappeared into Mom's room and we, the counselors, stood around looking at each other nervously.

Over an hour went by and we could hardly imagine what was going on in there. Then, an incident required Mom's attention, and one of the counselors had to sheepishly knock on her door and ask for her. She was invited to enter, and found my mom and Sue sitting next to each other on the bunk, giggling and spitting cherry seeds into a bowl on the floor.

Later, when questioned about this phenomenon, my mom just said what she always says, "a gentle answer turns away wrath."

I still think she worries too much about what people think of her.

Then again, she seems to be doing alright.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Mom, you are by far the most amazing woman I know. I appreciate your honesty, compassion, patience, and authenticity. It freaks me out to put my feelings out there for people to see, but you are transparent and genuine at all times, to all people. I've never met someone who wasn't drawn to you because of your love and kindness.

Your children have grown up secure in your love and care, in a life more privileged with displays of selflessness and generosity than we maybe even know.

Thanks for everything you have done/do/will do. Thanks for being my friend. But most certainly, thanks for being you (and nothing else). May your day be blessed and oh-so happy. :)

I love you so much.

Here I Be.

We got home from our wonderful vacation. Too bad.
Jono had to leave to work out of town early the next morning. It sucked.
I tried to think about the great trip and how thankful I should be. I failed.
I need to work on that whole gratefulness thing. I'm a butt.

Seriously, though. The trip was so great. Time with family, fun things, going places I've never been. I felt like I was in desperate need for a vacation when I left. Now I feel like that again. My sweetie being gone didn't really help my attitude.

That's just it though. I have a bad attitude. My life is good, and I have no excuse.

While Jono was gone I spent time with some really good friends. I think my weekly canasta night with Magen is going to be a highlight of the summer. :) I also enjoy watching The Shat flounder about and cracking me up. Elena makes it better.

And, best of all, my man came home last night. Maybe 4 days shouldn't seem that long, but they did. With him back and 9 1/2 solid hours of sleep last night, my outlook on life is considerably improved.

Vacation pictures to come :)

Debi Pearl Would Not Approve

We've had a busy week.

Two of my siblings are staying with us until it's time for them to work at camp this summer. I'm very blessed to have a husband who feels a true, brotherly bond to my family. He's been having a wonderful time with them.

As a result, though, he has been "busy" (playing nintendo) with them most nights this week. I haven't wanted to break that up (as it's truly adorable), so I've been cooking dinner and doing all the clean up in the evevnings after work.

Most of you will read this and wonder when I will start saying something interesting. I don't blame you. But the truth is that this never happens. I never *ever* have to make dinner by myself more than one night in a row. Since we both have jobs and no kids, we make dinner together and clean up together. While I know this would be considered "fair" by many, I also know that it shouldn't be too hard for someone to make dinner (like and adult) and clean up (like an adult).

But it's been hard. After day 4 of this routine I even felt...put out.

I believe this officially (as if you needed the official word) makes me selfish. As I was feeling discouraged coming home to a dirty house (that I have been constantly trying to keep clean), I somehow let myself forget how totally worth it it all is. I love having family and friends over. I love the fact that Jono is spending quality time with my siblings, making them feel welcome and wanted.

And tonight, as Jono forced me to stop working while he did all the cleaning and made me dinner, I knew that I was still a lucky woman, even if I let small things overwhelm me.

This is the part where all you mothers out there sigh and shake your heads at how wimpy I am.
I apologize. I'm trying to be better. :)

Where has the weekend gone?

Seriously!

It was wonderful to see family, celebrate graduations and moms, and gather in large groups for food and fellowship. I absolutely did not get enough time with everybody, though.

As the work week begins again, I'm trying to look on the bright side (rather unusual for me, I admit). I've got a lot to be thankful for, though.

Two of my siblings are staying with us for the next coupla weeks, and hopefully in a month I'll get to see the 'rents again. :)

What did you guys do for your weekend?

Content

This past weekend was really fun. My dad and three of my siblings drove from the east coast for a short, eventful trip. Our church celebrated a big anniversary, my nephew celebrated a birthday, and there was much fun had by all. One of my siblings even stayed behind. For good.

Speaking of that sibling, she is currently at my house while I sit here at work. Jono had to leave town briefly, and as I never like being alone, she had a slumber party with me. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have a car yet. So, she gets to sit at my house and (hopefully) do the dishes.

Just kidding. Mostly.

Anyway, I am reminded a lot lately of the value of our family. Especially since there are so many we don't get to see nearly enough. Jono and I are very blessed to have immediate and extended family that we really love to be around. And once you add on all the not-really-related-but-loved-just-as-much friends, it's easy to see that we are leading a blessed life.

I have everything I need (and more!). If I can't be content right now, I'll never be.

Perhaps today we should all think about how lucky we truly are. Just try to be in a bad mood after that. :)

New Opportunities

Last night my husband, brother-in-law and I were invited to a cousin's surprise 16th birthday party. We were happy to go, especially since we hardly ever see that side of the family.

Apparently the cousins have been getting into swing dancing, so the party had a lot of kids who had been learning all about it. It would have been lots of fun to learn, but since almost everyone in the room already knew how, there wasn't a lot of teaching going on. So, instead, the three of us spent the first part of the evening standing by the drink table, watching and feeling old. It has been a while since I have been around that many high schoolers, and I certainly felt a bit out of place. But they were all really nice kids, and soon the dancing gave way to some games.

All in all, I'm still glad we went to wish her a happy birthday. Not to mention the fact that (being a homeschooler) I've never gotten to be a wallflower before. It's good to try new things. :)

I Love My Family

My crazy, creative family.

We decorated sugar cookies on Christmas Eve, something I hadn't done since I was really little. Jono's extended family is small, so we were all together.

While the parents and grandparents played games, we decorated quite a few cookies. At first they looked normal (Trees, Stockings, Stars, Snowmen, Bells)...but with this highly entertaining group, the cookies began changing.

Here is my brother-in-law thinking about how much he likes his newly acquired sister.

Cousins!

Manly men decorating cookies!

At first the creativity was still holiday themed. The Rudolph is simply a stocking shaped cookie upside-down, and the penguin was made from a snowman cookie.

Then came the TV and video game themes.

The Little Mermaid has seen better days, I'm afraid.

A Bullet Bill, for all you Mario lovers out there.

My husband made this tribute to pac man. The two on the left are bell shaped cookies that he decided to turn into bad guys. :)

Mario above, Goomba below.

Another Mario enemy...

This fish was made from a sideways Christmas Tree

Cute bell-turned-mushroom

Rocket ship (formerly Christmas tree)

Can you see Australia?

Then things got a little deranged...

Vampire thing and a Tornado (both upside-down snowmen)

By the end there was a giant mess and a slew of cookies entirely unrelated to the holidays.

*sigh*

I love my family.

Men...

I once looked out my kitchen window to find my brother-in-law doing this.

We had to give it one more go before we cut that tree down.

Busy Weekend = Buttload of Pictures

When Jono bought our house there were many things to be thankful for. One of them was a fun tree in our backyard. Said tree was fun because it a) had a tire swing and b) had a Boo Radley knot. I love tire swings and Boo Radley knots. They make me so dad gum happy.

Want to know what doesn't make me happy?

I'm sure you do.

What doesn't make me happy is when the Boo Radley knot is so big, so round, and so rotten that the structural integrity of our tree is in jeopardy. Because when that happens, apparently, the tree could topple right over onto our house (or our neighbors). In fact, when Elena's dad (the talented arborist) looked at the tree, he gently let us know that waiting to take it down was flirting with disaster.

Oh, how I mourned that tree.

Until I remembered that it's an huge, ugly elm that drops branches all over our roof and yard.

Then I made my peace.

Unfortunately, it costs (approximately) a buttload to have a tree of that size taken down. So, my strong husband enlisted the help of his generous father who came into town just to help us with our tree predicament (chainsaw in tow).

So, Saturday morning, when I walked out of my house I found this in my backyard:


As you can see, there isn't a lot of room for a tree to just be fallin' over. Most of the limbs hung too close to various roofs to just hack away at them.

My brother-in-law came to help, too.

The big limbs were tied carefully, cut, and then lowered to the ground.
He's so manly :)



And, of course, my mother-in-law and I helped.

Which of course means that we watched until we got bored.
But before we got bored we made sure to sneak into cab when Jono wasn't looking.

Back to business.
This guy...he's good. Look at him.


At the end of it all, our yard looked like this:

And here's a peak at part of that rotten Boo Radley knot. The tree was basically innard-less.

And they finished by sun down. Aren't they great?

My Normal Family

Recently we headed to the D.C. area to visit my family.

We did many things, and many pictures (to be posted soon) will prove that fact.

The morning after our arrival we set out for Gettysburg. Many of my family members, however, had been there already this past summer.

Perhaps that is why they came up with other ways to amuse themselves...

My brother, unfortunately, became a zombie during our excursion.

We had to call in the professionals...

Thursday Sea Shanty

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

I bring you this video...

...because I have no loyalty to my brother.

Is it terrible that I think this is hilarious?

Just Like Old Times

Friday night we hung out with some friends to watch some sweet Olympics, and then play Nintendo 64 games.

I think one of the most enjoyable things for me was watching two brothers interact. Several years ago Matt and Shelsey moved to Chicagoland. And a year ago most of the rest of my family left for the east coast. That seems like a crazy-long time for Kansas to be (mostly) free of the Wassos. And I have to admit it, I've missed the crazy sibling dynamics that used to be so abundant.

So now that Matt and Shelsey came back (and brought the most adorable baby with them), Jono and I are having a great time. The best thing about family is that no matter how long they're away, and no matter how much happens while they're gone, as soon as they're back it's just like it always was. You don't have to spend a lot of time catching up. They're just...family.

Seriously, how cute IS this baby? And how did such a cutie come from Matt? We'll never know.

Anyway, Uncle Jono and Aunt Rachel now need to focus on how they can completely spoil this kid. I happen to think that if Jono builds a tree house in our yard we will officially be the favorites.

I'm never above bribery. Ever.

Things That Happened That I Didn't Blog About - Part II

Matt and Shelsey came down during the 4th of July weekend for a job interview. It was totally sweet.

So, of course, when they came to our house we had to introduce Baby Jono to Smash Brothers.

He was intrigued, to be sure.


He's kind of a button masher (he got that from his mom). But as soon as he learns to use his little fingers I'm sure he'll improve quickly.

Look at that concentration!

I just love that Baby Jono.

It's so exciting that they will be moving home soon! It's been a good long while.

Jono is counting down the days! :)