MarytheKaytheBlog

The One Where I Show You My Bedroom

Okay, so sometimes when I post ideas or creative projects (like yesterday), I second-guess myself.  I start worrying that people will think that I think (got that?) that they think (okay, enough already!!!) that I have everything under control.  That I have a pair of craft scissors in one hand and a whisk and a recipe book in the other.  That my life is tidy, happy, and perfect.

Boy, do I have you people fooled.   *cue scary laughter*

I admit, I do like being creative.  I have these ideas all the time, popping into my head, and disturbing important events...like sweeping and vacuuming and picking up. 

So, today, I want to keep it real.  Here is the price my family pays for my creativity.  Let me warn you, it's not pretty.  You may never be able to look at me the same again.

My kids and I might be in the kitchen rolling out pierogies or cutting out tiny purple paper cupcakes for birthday invitations...

But, HERE is what my house looks like in the mean-time.

(I'm only showing you 1 room.  I can't bear to show any more.)  Oh, and I feel the overwhelming need to tell you that I took this picture in the morning.  YES, Mom, I PROMISE I make up my bed every. single. day.  Pinkie promise.

 

I know you're cringing over the disaster of a bedroom.  When we got home Sunday night, I had a tree to decorate, so I just dropped all the bags tidily along the perimeter of the room.  I hope you notice the nice little walkway.  (I'm just trying to rescue the tiniest scrap of self-respect here.)

I hope you also notice something else.  Does anybody else think the gravity-defying pants are funny?  Do you see them?

Here, I'll zoom in:

 
NOOO!  They're not MY pants.  They belong to a certain daughter.  But, they do make me GIGGLE.  The Gravity-Defying Pants.  These pants are crying out, "HURRY!!!  Leave us right here.  You go do something more important.  We'll be right here when you get done."

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?  I guess neither do the pants...

Christmas Around the World - Teaching your Kids

A couple of years ago, I started teaching Christmas Around the World units to our neighborhood Homeschool Kids.   I figured that since I love everything Christmas, and I also really love learning about other cultures--I could combine the two and teach some get your hands dirty and let's get crafty while learning about our amazing world classes!  Seriously--teaching these classes is FUN.  (I understand I am a dork.)  I enjoy learning right alongside the kids I teach!  The first year we learned about Christmas traditions in Sweden, Mexico, and Russia.  We were busy that first year--we did things like make marzipan and Pepperkakor cookies for Sweden, create 14 individual pinatas (the prep-work for that one about killed me!!!), and cook the Russian tea cakes and make a spiced tea for a Russian high tea.  Sweden...marzipan candy and gingerbread houses, St. Lucia's day garland and candles, Pepperkakor cookies behind the candles, and Annika's Secret Wish--one of my favorite holiday books!

Last year, we raced back in time in America--learning about Colonial, Pioneer, and Victorian Christmases.  We made ink just like the Colonists did, using blueberries and strawberries--that the kids got to try out (and take home!) with real feather quill pens.  The kids got to race each other to see who could "load a pioneer schooner wagon" quickest.  They also got to make tin-punched luminaries, and evergreen boughs (using FREE tree trimmings from Lowe's!)   To celebrate the Victorian Era in America, the kids made the desserts for ourVictorian tea--(Oreo) bon bons and cranberry muffins.  They also created fancy calling cards and Christmas cards.

 Building log cabins like the Pioneers

This year, we're racing around the world again--learning about the Christmas traditions in Poland, Germany, and England.  With each unit, I work hard to find a beautiful and meaningful Christmas picture storybook about that country.  In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret...I pick the country to teach when I find a great picture book!  Many times, I do a drawing on the day of the class, so that a student gets to take home the beautiful book!  (Sometimes, it is really difficult to let go of the book!!!)

I tell you all of this because I want to share my lesson plans with you.  I figure if I go to all the work and planning, I might as well share it with others.  I will post these plans as soon as I teach each class.  Please feel free to use any of these ideas--especially if you want to reach out to your own neighbor kids!  Gosh, nothing would please me more than hearing that other kids were racing around the world with us!  I will include links in these plans, so that you are able to print out all the same materials I am using.  Oh, and I do charge a nominal fee for the neighbor kids that come take these classes, to cover the costs of supplies.  (Feel free to e-mail me, and we can chat about setting a fee that suits your needs.)  The only thing I ask--is that if you post any of my ideas, please link back, and give me credit (please and thank you!!) 

So, if you'd like to join us on our race around the world this year--start gathering supplies!  This week, we'll study Poland.  Barring a mental breakdown, I plan to post the Polish lesson plans on Friday.  (Note:  Mental breakdown is not unheard of in these here parts.)  Here are some of the supplies to start gathering:

1 .  Marta and the Manger Straw book (Does your library have it?) 
 
2.  Wheat straw...or regular straw...or raffia...or really really skinny dowel rods.  We'll be making a straw Christmas ornament.  String or embroidery thread.

3.  Colorful construction paper and scissors

4.  Ingredients for recipes:  butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, powdered sugar, chopped pecans (can you guess what recipe??)

Other possible ingredients...?  Do I DARE to make pierogies?  Nope, I've never made them, or even tried them...but has that everstopped me from helping 15 kids, ages 6-11, get crazy in my kitchen???  (I'm a glutton for punishment...and a flour-strewn kitchen!)   The pierogies are a slight maybe...  For those, we'd need sour cream, mashed potatoes, flour, and butter. 

5.  A nativity set (for the kids to play with/decorate), and dress up clothes to create a living nativity

6.  The other things you'd need, you should already have around the house...pencils, colors, markers, white paper, etc...mop, broom, vacuum, Valium, and LOTS of Coca-Cola...

What are some fun ways your family/homeschoolers celebrate(s) Christmas? 

 I would also LOVE to hear if you use any of these ideas--and how you use them!!  Oh, and just so you know...I am SURE there are plenty of ways to IMPROVE my lessons--feel free to improve away!!!  I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl, so I am usually putting on finishing touches to the lessons the night before...after midnight...

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Throwback Thanksgiving

Before I share all about our Thanksgiving weekend, I thought it would be fun to post a picture from Thanksgiving Past.  

Here are some of the peeps that I hung out with this weekend...  I call 'em my peeps, but really, they are my sisters.  Can you tell? 

 
So, as you can tell, this picture was QUITE A FEW holidays ago.  Here we're doing what we always do best--acting crazy--at my Gram's old house.  (Boy, we sure miss her!)  Do you notice anything interesting about this picture?

I sure do... 

1.  ONE sister hoarded the secret of eyebrow grooming.  Obviously, the other 2 sisters hadn't learned that magical trick...

2.  Red lipstick.  Yes m'am, we believed in it!

2.  Ruler-straight bangs...meticulously straight, aren't they?

3.  Yes, and matching jogging suits.  It is a tradition in our family to receive some sort of matching gift every year.  That year, it was the matching Reebok jogging suits.  Remember the wind suits that went "swish swish" as you walked?  I'm sure it won't surprise you to know that there were certain "swish swish-es" that got on my nerves.  It had to be just the right fabric, that made a soft enough "swish swish" for me to wear them. 

 

Tune in tomorrow for more EXHILARATING commentary on Thanksgiving pictures.  I know you can hardly wait!  Only next time--the pictures will be present-day, color-treated grey hair, a few more wrinkles, but still as crazy as ever family shots!

For now, I have a tree to load up with lights.  Please raise your hand if you hate putting a bajillion lights onto a tree as much as I do.  Maybe if I can conquer ole' Frasier, I'll post a pic.  Maybe.

Poor fella needs some help, doesn't he?  Guess I'd better get crackin'!
 

Hallelujah, Happy Thanksgiving!

I saw this video just the other day, and had an interesting reaction.

Even though I knew the song to be sung...and even though I understood this was one of those viral experiences that takes place in a public place--this time at Macy's on a busy Saturday in City Center Philadelphia.

But, as I watched, and heard those beautiful, familiar words...tears started rolling down my cheeks...

Because, even on a busy Saturday in October, in the middle of a fancy store, filled with busy shoppers--all in a hurry, and thinking about each of their lists to get done...

God still reigns

Forever and Ever

Hallelujah!

Even if the opera singers singing those very words don't realize it...God DOES reign.  He WILL be glorified...even when we're too busy to do it...and even in the middle of a secular place where the goal is to glorify "culture"

God will be majestically praised and glorified (and with the world's largest pipe organ, no less!)

Today, I am thankful to worship a God like that.  The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Hallelujah!

 

A Controversial Post on Thanksgiving Rolls

Well, I am gonna stir things up on the ole World Wide Web.

Get it?  Stir things up?  Ha ha ha, I am really slapping my knee on that one.  Not really.  It's not even that funny.  I need to get a grip.  Or a Mocha Frappe'.  Those seem to make me funnier.

Anyway, what I am about to tell you may cause me to receive hate mail, or get my yard toilet papered.

Okay, I am totally exaggerating.  People would actually have to READ this post, or be baking SNOBS in order to care that much about what I am about to say.

The chances of both of those things occuring...are about as slim...as me running out to my mailbox right now in my pajamas.  I'm not saying it's not going to happen.  But, it's not likely.

Before I state my controversy, I feel the need to make my disclaimers first.

At our family holiday gatherings, I am the roll maker.  Namely, the Parker House roll maker.  There is nothing more satisfying to me than kneading dough, mothering it so that it rises just right, and--OHHHH--dipping those little dough rounds into warm melted butter is just heavenly.

Now, I don't want to brag, but my Parker House rolls are pretty divine.  Warm and buttery and light--you absolutely cannot just eat one.

But, if I were to be honest with you, I would say that ANYBODY'S Parker House rolls are divine.  If ya follow the directions, the rolls will be divine.  That's just their nature, in their Parker House-y way.

Just this week Pioneer Woman posted her own divine Parker House recipe, along with her gorgeous, you'll want to eat them, pictures.

And if you have time this week--I would absolutely say MAKE THE ROLLS.  (That's an order.)

But--here's the controversial part--(it's about time!) If you don't have time to make homemade rolls...

Sister Schubert's Parker House rolls in the freezer section of Walmart, are 98% as good as homemade.  That sister knows her rolls!

 
 In fact, at this busy stage of my life...especially when little hands like to help in the kitchen...and when flour on the floor and in my hair and in my silverware drawer sometimes can bug me...I BUY the Sister Schubert rolls, instead of making homemade. 

Seriously--WHY go to all the trouble and mess--when the Sister Schubert rolls are 98% as good?

Here's the trick, though.  Make sure you heat them in the oven, getting them perfectly golden brown.  When you pull them out of the oven, spread at least 1-2 tablespoons of butter across the top.  The butter on the top is essential.  Eat them right away.  That part is also essential.

And whatever amount you think you need for your family, DOUBLE it.  Trust me on this one.

 

What about you?  Do you have any controversial store-bought substitutions?  Oh, and don't EVEN tell me theat Cool Whip is as good as real whipping cream...  Cause I'll toilet paper your house on that one...

One of my FAVORITE Christmas Gift Ideas--Christmas Photo Placemats!

 About 7 Christmases ago, I made some very simple Christmas photo placemats for my parents.  They are simply our old family pictures--Christmas and otherwise--placed on red paper, color copied, and laminated at a copy shop.  I love this handmade gift idea mostly because it PRESERVES our family's history, and our Christmas traditions for our kids.  These placemats have become such a fun tradition for the Christmas meals at my parents' house.  All the grandkids love seeing the old pictures, and hearing the stories that accompany many of the funny pictures.

HOW TO MAKE THEM:

I made 4 different placemat designs, on 11"x 17" (ledger size--the largest that copy shop could laminate) red paper.  Over Thanksgiving (hint hint--get busy this week!!), my sister and I gathered a whole bunch of family pictures.  Many of them were pictures of past Christmases, but some were simply old pics of extended family members.  We tried to find pictures that were funny, or that told a story.  I ended up using about 12-13 pictures per placemat--so I had a total of 50 pictures that I took to the copy shop (along with a roll of Scotch tape).

At the copy shop, I purchased 4 pieces of 11" x 17" red paper, and began arranging the pics.  I attached the pics onto the paper only temporarily--just using Scotch tape on the back of the pics.  Once I had the pics arranged, the copy shop made 3 color copies of each of the 4 designs, and laminated all 12 placemats.  Ta-Da--that's it!!!

As you can see, these placemats are nothing at all fancy.  But, the pictures on them are priceless--to our family.  Each picture tells a different story, shows a different family tradition, reminds us of a beloved family member we miss...  Every time our family has a meal with these placemats, we end up telling some of the old stories. 

Oh, and just so you know...My mom still sets a beautiful Christmas table.  Even though these placemats seem "casual," they look really great on the pretty table!

HERE THEY ARE:

On this one, I love Uncle Harry pointing at me (when I took the picture 30 years ago).  I also love prim and proper Aunt Mae with my dad (bottom left).  The one of my grandaddy kissing my forehead at the airport is priceless to me.  And my mom at the piano in her white go go boots--Sassy!  (oh she will hate this comment!!)  Stay tuned for another picture in a couple of days of the 3 matching jogging suit girls...

When using these placemats, we usually laugh about my dad's blue robe...that appeared in many years' Christmas pics.  Sadly, the blue robe has been retired.  There's one of my Gram (bottom middle) at her house, and one with my brother holding one of my Gram's famous Christmas morning fried quail (YUM...middle right).  And the one of my Grammy and Grandaddy in the middle always makes me smile.

There are also pics of the grandkids--who were so little 7 years ago!  There are the little cuties (now tall and handsomes) Drew and Brady (upper left) and Claire, still without much hair (oh I rhyme!  top middle)  I SO WISH the pictures were clearer, so you could see my very distinguished older brother with a record number of olives in his mouth (middle left).  And my Aunt LaNell, who has the BEST laugh, with our sweet neighbor Miss Patty (bottom right)  That very well may be the only picture we have of our dear Miss Patty...

This one...I cropped a little...I am not sure my parents were ready for their WWW smooch premiere.  However, on the placemat, the kiss picture is just CUTE and totally appropriate for our family.  Also, Gina, I get bonus points for not posting a make-up free picture!  I love the one with my little sister--with our 1980s big hair--on our Christmas garland stairway (bottom middle).  Ah, and there's my sweet little blond girl Becca Boo!  (bottom right)

If you make these for your parents or in-laws, or even for your own home--I hope they bring your family as much enjoyment, and giggles, as they have brought ours!  If I can get my act together, I do hope to add a couple of new placemats this year...with some of the younger grandkids not yet born 7 years ago!
I'd also really love to tackle this project for my husband's side of the family...but shhh, don't tell!!! 
 
 
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I'm Thankful...that Baptists Know How to Potluck

Can I get an amen?

(May I also get an amen for the fact that I just made "potluck" into a verb.   That's more like it.  Because potlucking is definitely an action word.)

Tonight, our church hosted its annual Church Family Thanksgiving Feast.  I really love this tradition.  And not just because it is potluck.  However, that IS part of it.  But, I love it because our large church feels like family on this night. 

 Yeah, here's where it really feels like family...when you notice those certain "cousins" jumping to the front of the line, trying to stake out the best desserts and best side dishes first.  Yeah, the hash brown potato casserole and perfectly crisp marshmallow topping on the sweet potatoes were already gone by the time us slower folks got there.

  Oh, but I don't think my plate was lacking at all (on the right).  I felt healthy, what with all my salad and veggie selections...until my dad said, "We should take a picture of our plates side by side."  Well, that's just MEAN.  Because, seriously, what is it about turning 65-years-old that suddenly makes you start eating like a BIRD at dinnertime?  Really--Sometimes I go over to their house, and he and Mom are eating the tiniest little garden salad, with a teaspoonful of cottage cheese, and call it dinner.  Well, I am still a growing girl, and I need my nutrition at dinnertime.
 

 Speaking of growing...our church has grown a lot in recent months and years, so we don't do as much potlucking as we used to.  Oh, there's a formal banquet or two thrown in, a high school chili lunch and a pie auction.  But, Thanksgiving is the time when we all get together as family--just for the purpose of sharing and eating together.  Nobody feels a great need to dress up, and there's no pressure to bring a dish if you absolutely run out of time, or forget.  (Oh, you know if I'm talking about you right now!!  *grin*)

The Dessert Table...a vision to behold.  Sorry, Robert.  If you weren't so intent on getting a piece of your wife's buttermilk pie, I could have avoided... Ah, who am I kidding?  Getting a piece of Camille's pie is totally WORTH it.   Also--see those cupcakes?  Nothing says Thanksgiving feast like neon blue and yellow cupcakes, right?  Of course--guess what dessert BOTH my daughters took?  Yep, yellow cupcakes!  
 
I also love that tonight wasn't a drawn-out event.  The eating started right on time at 5:30, and we were driving away by 7:10pm.  There was a time of thankful sharing, but our pastor is savvy.  He knows his church family.  None of us wanted a long, drawn-out sermon.  Okay, to be honest, some of us didn't want a sermon at all.  Many of us with small kids needed to get kids home, to bed.  What better way to draw us together as a church family, than to hear how God has been working in some of our lives?  Brutha Neil didn't even feel the need to share a scripture verse.  He just turned on a microphone, and gave people the opportunity to share how God has been working.  There were reports of sobriety, a brother prayed for for decades, who just this summer gave his heart to Christ, a mother's long years of prayer finally being answered for her prodigal son, a brain tumor that is now healed, and the funny 3-year-old who was excited to hold the microphone to tell us, "I am da most tankful for my meal."   

Me, too, buddy.  Me, too. 

 
 Oh, you want to see a picture of my plate--after???  Well, again--that's just MEAN.  I don't go around asking to take pictures of YOUR dinner plates, do I?  (Man, now THAT would be a fun blog post...why didn't I think of that?  Dang.)  Well, okay.  I'll show you my plate.  But, first.  Let me make a spiritual comparison, a spiritual metaphor using my plate, if you will.  My plate tonight at our church family's Thanksgiving feast is an example of how I felt--physically AND spiritually after it was all over:

I felt filled. 

And content.

And fed.

Thankful.

Know what I mean?

Amen.
 

Dare Ya NOT to Laugh...Linky Dinks

Well, lookie here!  I am posting TWICE in the same day!  I just can't help myself.  These videos have just made me LAUGH recently.  So, I wanted to share!  Because, really--who wants to laugh alone???

This comedian - Michael Jr - will be at James River, a church in our area, this Sunday night.  We don't have plans to go--but we SHOULD.  Because he is SERIOUSLY FUNNY.  (Does that phrase even make sense???)

 

Okay, and here is another Michael Jr one.   One just isn't enough...

 

 

Here's one of my FAVORITE comedians, Leanne Morgan.  I have Linky Dinked her before (Honey--look!  Call Mr. Webster--I just coined a new verb!)  Thanks to my sister Gina for sending me links to her NEW comedy material!! 

   

 

Okay, okay, just ONE MORE.  This one is one of Tim Hawkins newer videos.  Oh my word, he makes me LAUGH.  If you have extra time, check out his Hand Sanitizer one, too!  (That one, I dedicate to my hand sanitizer friend Dawn!!)

 

Well, folks, that's all I've got for ya today.  Go on home now.  Go on.  It's the WEEKEND!!!  Enjoy!!!  Come on back next week, ya hear?  I've got some more stuff up my velour jogging suit sleeves... 

Inexpensive Christmas Gift Idea

I hope ya'll don't think I'm bombarding you with gift ideas...  But, I know that I LOVE reading other peoples' blogs about fun gift ideas!  I am always looking for new and creative gift inspiration.  I really STRUGGLE buying the perfect gifts for everyone on my list.  Or, maybe the better word is OBSESS. 

So, when I find a fun gift idea, I love to share!  Also--if any of you have any gift inspirations--I would LOVE to hear about them!  Pretty please leave me ideas in the Comments?

Just yesterday, I was walking through the Dillard's dish department.  (I'm sure there is a more official word for that department!)  I am currently obsessing (there's that word again!) over the red Fiestaware dishes right now.  I had run in to Dillards to see if they were really "red" enough, or too much on the orange-y side...  I'm still obsessing, so I don't have a good answer on that one, yet!

In the midst of my obsessing, I saw the CUTEST set of Christmas dishes.  And, good news, folks--they are ON SALE!!!  They are the Noble Excellence 'Twas the Night Before Christmas dishes.

(Oh, and just so you know--Dillards is in no way paying me to endorse their dishes.  But, they SHOULD.  Because a girl could use some extra cash, or dishes, at Christmastime.  Are you listening, Dillards?  Hello?  Hellooooo???)

Wouldn't these be the best Christmas gift ideas for those people you don't know what to get?  Each sized dish/bowl has a different phrase and picture from The Night Before Christmas.  Aren't they darling?Right now, this dinner plate is $5.99!  Wouldn't it be fun to deliver this plate to a sweet neighbor, full of Christmas cookies you and your kids made?  Or, how about for a Sunday School teacher?  You could also wrap it with an inexpensive plate stand.  Because I know I'd LOVE to display this plate on my counter at Christmas!

Look how sweet the salad plate is!  Right now, it is on sale for $5.19!  You could take this to a Christmas party as a Hostess gift.  I could see buying a cheese ball in your grocery's deli department, and putting it on the plate, along with a small pack of crackers. 

This darling mug is more expensive than the plates--$8.99, but still is a good price for a unique and fun gift!  I could see giving this with a packet or two of hot cocoa mix--or even your own homemade cocoa mixture tucked inside!!  I bet a piano teacher or music teacher at school would be thrilled with this cute gift!  Or, really amp it up and give a set of 2!  
 

All right--I'm ready for YOUR gift ideas!!
 

The Spring Chicken of McDonald's Coffee Hour

 
 This morning I am typing away at a McDonald's, where I am the youngest customer by at least 40 years.  And that's saying something--because I am no longer any Spring chicken.   I dropped my kids off at school this morning, and since my youngest's class is hosting a Thanksgiving lunch, I thought I would stay out until then.  Evidently, I have stumbled onto the cutest 80-year-olds'+  coffee hour at McDonald's.  There is the sweetest buzz of conversation peppering the air.  And like any good couples' event--the men are gathered at one long table, and the women are gabbing away at their own table.

 I want to sit and just watch these groups, but there is a lone man reading a newspaper just across from me.  Every time I look up to check out the old guys' table, newspaper man looks up.  He's probably having his own conversation in his head, "That young lady in the red scarf is really checking me out this morning.  Every time I look up from the Financial section, she is looking at me.  I have to remember to wear this tweed jacket more often.  Marge was right--I really do look distinguished."

Oh, the youngish manager has just walked over to the old guys' table, and is shooting the breeze with them.  Smart manager.  I can tell these old guys are regulars, and the breeze the manager is shooting with them is familiar.  He just slapped one of them on the back and is laughing.  I sure hope he didn't bruise the poor guy.  Cause this manager is a hearty fella.  He's a couple of hash browns past average.

I love watching older people.  And I mean that in the most respectful way.  As I watch them, I imagine what I will be like in 40 years.  Will I be the lady in burgundy slacks, white sweatshirt with the words "Paris Sport Club," and matching burgundy turtleneck?  Or will I be the lady in the black pants suit, with dark blond hair rounded and formed into a perfectly smooth finish with back-combing and hairspray?  Older ladies always seem so put together.  Everything seems smoothed down, matching, and deliberate.  I guess I notice because my own life feels thrown together, haphazard, so--wow, I can't believe I have make-up on and have my hair fixed.

Do you ever watch older people, and wonder?  Do you notice the old guys and smile, knowing their cute wives have picked out their sporty clothes?  I wonder if my husband will be the renegade at 80 that he is at...dare I say it...nearly 50?  (AAAHHHH, I am gonna PAY for that one!!!!)  Please, dear God, tell me--will he still be wearing clothing that can only be purchased at Bass Pro shop?  And, really--is there any possible way he will still be wearing that orange mad bomber hat?  The hunter orange one that is FUR-LINED??  And, I need to know--do 80-year-old guys wear shorts?

Oh, I KNOW.  I am no better.  I am not being snippy.  I realize I have my own clothing issues.  I try to be all cool, checking out the fashions at American Eagle and Aeropostale', when what I really look like...is a 40-year-old woman...who would like to shop at American Eagle and Aeropostale', but can't believe "those girls' mamas would let them out of the house wearing THOSE THINGS."  For crying out loud, I am wearing black slip on tennis shoes today that have the words "Easy Spirit" on them.  I don't care how comfy they are, or that I bought them at T.J. Maxx.  Show me a young person who wears Easy Spirit, and I will show you the elderly lady here at McDonald's wearing 7 jeans and a Justin Bieber sweatshirt.  Not gonna happen.

Well, coffee hour (half day?) is still going strong.  But, this middle-aged mama needs to head to a school Thanksgiving lunch.  Sara Beth is very excited for her mama to sit beside her and share a meal.  I watch the older ladies and marvel at their slow pace and easy conversations.  But, honestly, there is no place I'd rather be this morning--and in life--than rushing around, and heading towards my daughter's lunch.  Thanksgiving lunch is appropriate.  Because I am very thankful.  For where I am, and where I am heading....

 

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