Easter offerings

This has been a long day, so instead of a long and boring post, I have included some links that will hopefully, increase your joy this Easter Sunday.

This is one of my all time favorite "happy songs" that always lift my spirits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMT_kAD6cOg

This one, is one of my current favorites, it's a remix done by one of my favorite artists (Chris Tomlin) for the movie, Amazing Grace. The traditional version is one of my all time favorites - I used to sing it to my babies as I rocked them to sleep. It's also very precious to me, because it's the one, and only, song that I have ever sang publicly. When I was only 8 years old, I sang it with a friend in front of my church congregation, shortly after my baptism. ( *you might need to turn up the volume a little for this one.)

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV6HJxUebg

Hope that you enjoy, and Happy Easter to everyone !

Love,
Susan

OH ! I almost forgot, this last song is for Mel, in honor of her confirmation ! Yay, Mel ! This one made me think of you !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJVrkRxIJQ

Instant Silence

Hey there !





Oh. . .My. . .Gosh ! My house is so quiet, it's almost scary. Fortunately, I am a very brave woman, I can hang with this for a while. All week, actually since last Wednesday night, my house has been a zoo with no less than 4 - 8 kids (and let's not forget, my five dogs and my husband) running amok, 24 hours a day. It really hasn't been all that bad, they're all people that I love.

Still, when Jasmin picked up Christian, and Jake went to spend the night at his friend's house, and Alexis from next door had to go home; I looked around and realised that it was just Heather and I. I walked around the house turning off all the radios and televisions that had been left on, replaced all the missing phones back on their chargers, and gathered up all the empty coke cans. Then, I just sat at the kitchen table, smoking a cigarette, and listening to the silence. I had almost forgotten what it was like to just sit and think. Then of course, my hubby called and said that he was on his way home, and that I should have some food ready for him. Even that was weird - cooking for just THREE people ?! That hasn't happened much lately.



Tomorrow, Heather and I are going to tackle spring cleaning of her bed room, but I'm not getting up at the crack of dawn to do it. We've got all day, her friend, Alexis, will be at a Bible quiz tournament, and Roy has some side work to do, who knows when Jake will come home ? He's going paint balling with his friend, Patrick, to celebrate his birthday. (Patrick's Bday, not Jakes.) I do have to go visit Nick at 8pm - if he hasn't been farmed out yet.

Well, since the living room is empty, I'm going to go cuddle up with my dawgs, and watch a movie.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend !

Love,
Susan

P.S. I have added some links to my site. I've been meaning to do it for ages. One of them is to Jasmin's blog, another is for Heather's Anime story writting blog. I think that the rest are all links to my old blogs, ( and Below my profile photo, are the links to my artwork sites.) if anyone cares to take a trip down memory lane.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Roy

ROY >
48 years old today



HI !








Today was my Hubby's Birthday, so I have spent the whole day making a big deal over him. The old saying that 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach' has been thoroughly tested in this house today. I'm pretty sure that I have spent the whole day cooking ! I made one of his favorite lunches for him. Then, he decided what he wanted for dinner, and I set about preparing a feast, complete with Birthday cake. All day, he has been allowed to do what ever he wanted with out any complaints from anyone. (which means that he's been playing poker on the computer all day.)





When it was all said and done, I tried to sneak off for an early bed time. Just as I thought I was going to get away with it, Roy came to bed. Since it was only 11:30 PM, I knew that all five of the kids were still awake, so I got up to keep an eye on them. I've finally got them all corralled and into beds. Of course they will continue giggling and watching cartoons for at least another hour, but for now, things are reasonably quiet. WHEWW !!





It's been a glorious day today. The rain has stoped and the sun has been shining brightly on our little corner of the world. Tommorrow and Friday are supposed to be even warmer !!!! I think tommorrow will be MY day get outside and enjoy it. I think that Christian and Ana are going home Friday evening, and Jake is off to spend the night at a friends house, and go to a birthday party on Saturday.





Both the kids have been allowed to enjoy their vacations, but I fore warned them that this weekend, they will each spend an entire day (with me) doing Spring cleaning on their room. Besides, the rain is supposed to return both Saturday and Sunday. So, I guess that Heather's cleaning day will be Saturday, and then, Jake on Sunday. That leaves me Monday and Tuesday to prepare for back to school.





I really am pooped, so I'm going to toddle off to bed.


Good night all.


Love,


Susan

* SIGH *

I feel so sad, and lonely, and SO abandoned ! None of my favorite people are blogging today and I have no one to make me smile. *SIGH* The really tragic part is that I am such a cute, and basically, adorable person - well, sort of . . . at least sometimes anyway. *cough-cough*

Oh well, I wrote a big, rambling blog on my other site this evening, but I don't feel any better . *sigh* Since I am sort of blogged out, I'll just give y'all the recent up dates.

* Jasmin brought all three of her kids over for me to play with today, except she forgot to take two of them home. I wonder how long it will take her to miss them ?

* I went to go see Nick tonight. (he's still here in Olathe.) He went to court last week and he got the whole thing continued until after he is released. ( he is set for release on April 28th) So he is a happy little camper. Not exactly, aside from where he is, he's counting the days till he gets out, which just makes time drag. Oh, he has decided to grow his hair out - hmmmm.

* After only 6 days of spring break, I'm starting to feel like a cross between The Little Old Woman who lived in a Shoe, Old Mother Hubbard, and Charles Manson. I have so many children that I don't know what to do, my cupboards are bare, and I'm thinking of running away and starting my own cult - or something.

* Tomorrow is my husband's 48th Birthday. (actually, today -March 19th) I am officially sleeping with an old man.

* I think that Mel might be pissed at me because I played another 72 point bingo on scrabble - at least that's what Roy says.

* It's still raining, and if it doesn't stop soon, I'm going to have to start serving hot tea in fancy little teapots and tiny little tea cups in the afternoons. (why do the English do that ?)

* I still haven't won the Lottery, OR the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.

* It's late and I need to go to bed - not exactly news.

Love you guys,

(I hope that you're still around, somewhere.)

Susan

How I spent my weekend

I've spent my entire weekend being lazy, and I'm not really sure how I should feel about that. It's just not my nature to lay about, nap, spend hours doing crossword puzzles, or soaking in the tub. I haven't really had to prepare a meal all weekend - we had take out both Saturday and Sunday night. Sunday, I lounged around in my jammies until 2 PM ! I've heard that there are people who do that sort of thing on the weekend, but I never thought I'd be one of them. It feels very strange. I'm not complaining. So far, being lazy hasn't been too much of a mental burden for me to bear.


I think that alot of it has to do with the weather. It started raining Friday night, and it's been very overcast and misty all weekend. While they are predicting thunder storms and rain for most of this week, I seriously doubt that my streak of laziness will be allowed to continue.

The kids are home for spring break, and they are not going to be happy being cooped up inside. At their age, the fine art of laziness holds no appeal for them. If they can't find a way to entertain themselves, (which will probably involve me running them all over the city) the complaining and bickering will be non stop. Things could get ugly.

I woke this morning, (Monday) to a big white dog laying on top of me, whimpering and shaking, as the thunder boomed outside. I could only be angry until I opened my eyes, and saw his big amber colored eyes looking back at me. He is absolutely the saddest, most pathetic, dog I have ever met.

When I came down stairs, with Peter clinging to my legs like a furry pair of socks, I found a single green carnation on the kitchen table, and an anniversary card laying next to it. 19 years ago, when my husband showed up at my optical shop, to take me on our first date, he carried a single green carnation. (Being St. Patrick's day, it was the only kind of flower that he could easily locate on his way to meet me.) I still have that flower, pressed and stored away, in a box full of love letters, photos, and other memories, of our first year together. Later this afternoon, he confessed that he did remember our anniversary, and and bought the card on his own, but it was Jasmin, our oldest child, who called and reminded him of the green carnation, and that I still had the very first one. It's no secret in our house that I am a total mush brain, and that I keep all the little mementos of our life stashed away somewhere. I doubt that I'll leave much of anything when I am gone, but hopefully, my kids will fight and bicker over all the useless "treasure chests" that I leave behind.

Well enough mushy rambling, I have to go get dinner started. My hubby just called and informed me that he'll be home around 7 PM.

Hope that you all have a great week.
Oh ! and have a Happy St. Patrick's Day !!! - Be safe !!
Love ya,
Susan

Playing on the farm

YAY !! I finally get to sit down ! I've been going all day long. It's been a lovely day, a little cloudy, but spring like temps. When I woke up this morning my kitchen was a wreck. I just didn't want to spend another day cooped up inside, so I did a quick clean up and headed outside to the back yard.

The mud pit that we call our back yard is just barely starting to dry out - at least I didn't sink in up to my ankles like last week. I started by gathering up all the tennis balls and dog toys that the dogs had scattered about; then, I grabbed the rake and started cleaning up all the other crap that they had dragged outside, mutilated, and lost interest in. About a month ago, the wind had blown over the telescope, which made a rather disgusting noise as I pulled it out of the muck. Finally, I was left with a large, fenced in area that resembled the La Brae Tar pit.

I was really left with only two options. One, I could import several chesty, bikinis clad "ladies" from downtown, drag out the hose, and charge the neighbors to watch them wrestle in the mud. As much as my husband and my son would enjoy that, I doubt that we have the proper zoning for that sort of thing.

So I went with option two. I sent my hubby down to The Grass Pad ( a local lawn shop) and had him buy three bales of hay. I spent the next hour spreading a nice half inch layer of hay to cover the entire yard. It's wonderful, the dogs LOVE it ! They can play and run without needing a bath, and I can walk across my yard without fear of my shoes being sucked off my feet in the mud ! I'm hoping that by late spring, I can rake it all up and have some nice new grass sprouting.

As I was sweeping off the deck area and cleaning up the chairs and tables, Heather actually got off the computer and came outside. (gasp !) She looked around and concluded that the dogs like playing on the farm. She was even able to walk across the yard to chat with Alexis from next door (who she hasn't played with since last Fall) and invited her over to spend the night. Just getting my daughter outside and socializing was worth the whole days work.

After playing fetch with the dogs for a while, I came inside and started dinner. Since it's the first day of Spring break, Jake invited Khris and a friend from school to spend the night as well. With a houseful of kids, I decided that I had better have some munchies for them to eat this evening, so I made a batch of cookies and muffins after dinner - in between loads of laundry.

While I was baking, Jasmin called to remind me that she had plans to take Jake and Khris, along with Christian, and one of his school friends, to a Skateboard DVD release party tomorrow night. Heather is going to Alexis' Birthday party tomorrow evening, so . . . . Roy and I just might have a couple of hours alone ! How Bizarre ! What EVER will we DO with ourselves ?! Hmmmm. . . I'll have to see if I can come up with an idea or two.

For right now, I'm really pooped. I think I'm going to go shake the hay out of my overalls and go soak in a nice hot tub.

Have a great weekend everyone !
Love ya,
Susan

Because there is always time for bum crack

Hey there!

Hope you have a good day and this brings a smile to your face.

how charitable of O to lend us his cute bottom?

:)

love mel