This is How We Roll

The last week was a lesson in flexibility, perseverance and thankfulness.

We moved McDaniel back to college last week.

We made the smart decision of paying to have someone deliver and put together her bed but then made the dumb decision to buy a dresser that came in a box and assemble it ourselves while in McDaniel's room.

It took four hours 

and the bottom drawer 

still doesn't work smoothly.

Halfway through, when Monte realized he'd put on Panel G upside down, I offered to throw the whole thing out the window.

But Monte persevered.

Furniture should not be assembled 

by those that did not make it.

But McDaniel now has a (mostly) functional dresser.

For that we are thankful.

On the way home, we stopped for gas and a restroom break.

A woman with a mop and a bucket informed me 

that the only women's restroom was closed for cleaning.

Monte said he'd stand guard while I used the men's restroom.

I'm not sure I can adequately explain the big, terrible, awful smell that awaited me in there.

It engulfed me, 

permeated my clothes, 

throat-punched practically the last breath from me.

I had no words when I walked out 

and Monte blew by me to use the restroom himself.

"Wait! No!"

I said only in my head and too late.

I went outside to catch my breath 

and collect my thoughts.

As we walked to the car Monte said,

"At least it didn't smell bad in there."

And then went on to state that 

the stink was not of humans.

He had a detailed and compelling argument 

and I'm pretty sure that if I'm ever in a situation 

where I need to rid myself of something in my system, 

I will only need to remember that conversation
and the big, terrible, awful smell.

But we survived.

And are super thankful we weren't that lady 

with a bucket and a mop who's next task HAD 

to be cleaning the men's restroom.

A few days later, Ellie called me after school to say her car wouldn't start.

My parents bought her an older SUV from a neighbor that they named Matilda.

It's in great shape but I worried that maybe our short time with her 

was all Matilda had left.

It turns out, Ellie thought the fog lights would automatically turn off and had been draining the battery slowly for a few days.

Matilda was parked on a very busy street since our high school doesn't have enough parking.

Getting Monte's car turned around properly to attach jumper cables to Matilda made a lot of people heading home for the day, angry.

It was tense, cars flying by giving us meanish looks 
as we struggled to get it jumped.

A kind boy in Ellie's class came over with a battery charger but it still wouldn't work.

We had to call Triple A.

Monte sent Ellie and I home so he could wait for help to arrive.

That was quite the blast, 

going in reverse fast, 

ramping a curb, 

driving a teensy into someones front yard, 

before I could slam it into drive 

and speed away in traffic.

I felt the closest to James Bond that I ever will.

Ellie was horrified.

A fresh, new battery later, we are all very happy and thankful that Matilda lives on.

Monte and I decided Saturday afternoon that we wanted to give those rentable electric Lime scooters a try that are all over town.

You download the app, it shows you where to find one 

and then it bills you based on how long you ride it.

We drove downtown but it suddenly started pouring so we hung out in a cool coffee shop while it rained.

And we ran into a friend.

I think I had a dream about that blueberry scone last night.
So. Good.

The skies cleared and we ended up finding scooters super close to home and had such a blast riding them!

They go FAST (20 mph) and I'm glad we were in a mostly empty parking lot rather than a busy street.

I wish I'd had a helmet too.

The entire ride was $2.50.

Super fun and cheap!

As all things should be, 

thank you very much.

Once we got home we impulsively decided to go out to dinner and checked around to see where we could get a table.

Shockingly, a nice restaurant we could walk to had something available in the next 15 minutes.

While Monte went to go change, I flipped on the light above the sink, to do the dishes before we left.

As I did, the light bulb shattered, fell into the sink and the light socket started spewing smoke.

I screamed FIRE!

Monte ran down the stairs and rushed over and unplugged the coffee maker.

Which wasn't on fire.

I pointed to the light socket still coughing up smoke.

Neither of us are super great in emergencies.

Nigel slept through the whole thing.

One of us really needs to get better in that area.

We cancelled the reservations, turned off the power in the kitchen and went about the task of removing what was left of the light bulb from the light socket and cleaning up all the glass that went everywhere.

We ended up ordering in, watching a movie on Netflix and being SUPER THANKFUL the day went as it did and we were home and not away when that light bulb decided to explode.

So in conclusion,

when life hands you manufactured junk to assemble,

big, terrible, awful smells,

ill-timed dead batteries,

sudden rain storms

or exploding light bulbs,

ALL IN THE SAME WEEK,

deal with it.

Roll with it.

It leads to

content college kids, 

thankful parents, 

fun, cheap dates 

and laughing,

SO MUCH laughing, 

at crazy stories we could never make up.

Be thankful for them.

They're yours.

I'll Miss You, Summer and Other Random Things

I really do love summer.

I like hot days and warm nights that don't require wearing jackets.

I live in a part of the country where jackets are required THE MAJORITY of the year,

so I do enjoy the brief season we can shed them.

And I will NEVER understand the people 

who spend that brief season going places 

that require those jackets. 

Do some people just really love jackets?

Anyhoo…

School started yesterday and even though it is still the middle of August, it feels like summer is over.

I'm giving you the side-eye all things pumpkin flavored.

I don't get it

OR

 the cold-shoulder shirt trend.

I really want my Bitmoji's dress.

But, I digress…

I want to talk about other random things.

I had a Charlie Horse the other night.

It was intense.

Monte gets them all the time and pops out of bed and hobbles and dances all around the room groaning.

I've learned to sleep right through most of them.

But I never get them.

I didn't get out of bed with my Charlie Horse because I do believe I was briefly paralyzed.

It was so painful that I am still sore, days later.

Monte managed to sleep right through it.

I was telling someone about the Charlie Horse and was asked what I thought brought it on.

I thought about it…

We had friends over for dinner that night and I was cleaning and prepping food and on my feet a lot.

Could standing, 

just being upright,

cause a Charlie Horse?!

Nothing says, "You are old" like your body rejecting being in a position other than sitting or lying down.

Later that day I took the girls to get stuff for school and we saw a dead animal on the road.

I thought it was a beaver.

McDaniel said it was just a bloated squirrel.

Ellie didn't care enough to weigh in.

I circled back so we could investigate further.

Because why in the world would a beaver be so close to our house and so far from the river?

It was a ground hog.

It reminded me of a time we were driving to see my parents years ago and we were in Lawrenceburg, Indiana by this big grassy embankment by the river and a groundhog was running on the steep embankment.

Like, hauling it, running.

Monte decided to see how fast he was going as compared to our car speed and it took some acceleration to catch the furry fast guy.

Who knew ground hogs could run like lightning 

on those short little legs?

Well, not the one by my house. 

RIP.

On the same errand trip, I realized I had not eaten lunch.

It was mid-afternoon at this point and I do not do well without three meals a day.

We saw this walking into Target.

Trash can jelly beans!!

Jelly beans are one of my favorite things!

I was weak in my flesh.

My girls had to steer me away from them 

after I said they didn't look "that dirty."

Over the weekend, Monte and I were sitting outside listening to music, contemplating what to make for dinner.

On the table next to where I was sitting, I saw this little guy.

For a fuzzy guy, the red horns and red face/eyes/mouth, didn't leave me with a fuzzy feeling.

He kept doing fast laps around the edge of the table and every now and then he stretched out 

like he was going to jump off or whisper something to me.

No doubt it was a message about how he planned 

to kill me in my sleep later that night.

I went to adjust the volume of the music and the devil dragon caterpillar made me jump.

He was FAST!

Not Lawrenceburg ground hog fast, 

but faster than well, 

the one by our house. 

RIP.

One night recently, the girls had other plans and Monte and I were on our own for dinner.

I didn't feel like cooking or sitting in a restaurant, so we went to Whole Foods to grab something to go.

Monte was perusing the hot bar while I was looking at the salad bar.

He walked up to me and said something like,

"I knew it. Cods are jerks."

Then he walked me over to this sign.

You know, with a name like COD, I believe they probably are jerks.

We did not partake of it to see if it was delicious.

To celebrate Ellie's first day of school, I took her and a friend to dinner.

They were discussing their classes and teachers when Ellie told me her Environmental Science teacher said the methane gas from cow farts was damaging the ozone so farmers were making cows fart into balloons to power cars "and stuff."

I had just taken a big bite of food when she dropped this nugget of funny on me.

I almost did a lot of things (like choke and wet my pants) but I did manage to laugh until I cried.

I had so many questions.

And SO. MANY. 

images in my head.

It wasn't until after we did a little post dinner school supply shopping that I was able to do some research.

Turns out, they are more of a balloon backpack attached to the stomach than what I had imagined.

I think this is weird for him too.

This is what was swirling around in my head.

Ellie did say one of the kids in her class asked the teacher if any of the cows ever flew away.

Per the cartoon above,

yes.

Maybe it goes without saying, that I was a bit punchy after almost choking and wetting my pants yet still crying actual tears from laughing in a public place.

So when this picture popped up on my Instagram feed, I was weak.

Laura Dern! Oh my word.

I asked a few girlfriends if it was wrong that I wanted Nigel to let me do this to him.

The most he's allowed is a Velcro bow tie attached to his collar.

How much different is Laura Derning your dog from strapping inflatable backpacks to your cow?

Talk that one through amongst yourselves. 

I have to go wake up Nigel.

The Sweetest Worship

Sunday at church members of an international group who use our church building for their services, led worship.

It was so powerfully beautiful.

On top of their wonderful voices, they had such passion when they sang.

I honed in on one girl on the stage.

I'm not sure if she was terrified 

or just full-on in her teenagerness, 

but she sang with the stone face 

of no emotion.

I was intrigued.

50% of the people living in my house are teenagers.

I get it.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of her.

A new song started and she was the solo vocalist.

Her voice was gorgeous.

As she sang each word, 

her face softened ever so slightly.

At one point she half-raised one arm and there was the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.

It overwhelmed me practically to tears.

I got it.

God rushes in like that,

even when we're trying super hard to stay right in our bad mood 

or bad attitude, even while singing a Chris Tomlin or Elevation Worship song, 

thank you very much.

God's bigger than our own worst mood.

And it's in that moment of turnaround 

that is the sweetest worship.

He floods us with grace and mercy and unconditional love and we can't help but forget for just a second what we were so honked off about.

And we start meaning the words we are singing.

I have this head planter that I adore that I named Hattie.

I enjoy sticking all kinds of flowers and plants I cut from my yard to give her different hair styles.

Monte did not care for this Hattie look.
He's always been partial to long hair.

When I refresh the water it makes Hattie a bit flushed.

One of my faves.

I had to trim these WAY down as I feared for my eyes as I worked in the kitchen.

I like to think Hattie was praying in this picture.
I will explain these tiny hands in a later post.

So festive.

This morning, I decide to refresh her look.

After a whiff of the nasty old flower water, 

I decided to give the inside of her head a good sudsy wash.

I couldn't help but think I was transforming her by renewing her mind, like in Romans 12:2

Getting out all the old stinking thinking gunk so my Rose of Sharons could stay nice and beautiful in clean fresh water.

In John 15:5 it talks about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, 

you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

We have this great living water source in Jesus that is all we need to sustain us.

When we remain in Christ, 

not even a bad mood

or the stink we keep inside our head,

is too much for God to fix 

and make into beautiful fruit.

And it's in that moment of turnaround that is the sweetest worship.