The Roman Army

Do you know what a Recon mission is? Well I had no clue until today when my dad stopped over and one of my sons was talking to him about a "shoot 'em up" (as my son calls it) video game. I learned that a recon is a group of soldiers that scout out an area looking for the enemy.

I liked that Dad knew this and was able to enlighten my son (and me) on this fact.

I have come to feel a very strange happiness about my sons getting into army games, guns, and interactive play where they are army men looking for bad guys. I didn't used to feel this way. In fact when my oldest first showed interest in a toy gun I felt "icky" about it and a little guilty that he would play with it. Part of it is because I'm a woman and tend to feel cautious of things that can kill someone. I thought of guns more as an instrument for killing rather than something used for protection. In today's society most people would love to rid the world of them but trust me that is not the answer! But I won't go there today :)

Well I'm way over that cautious feeling towards guns. This year for Christmas was the year of the Nerf. Every kid got one and some adults too. I get a proud "that's my boy" attitude when I see them taking aim or posing with their gun. If we lived 200 years ago I would be proud to see them pose with their lead canon or 2000 years ago their wooden spear. My boys are boys and I want them to act like boys. I believe they have a natural instinct to protect and be rough and tough so I don't want to hamper that. I have no doubt that God has a plan for my boys to be warriors for his Kingdom and that is going to take lots of courage on their part. I also understand they need self control and lots of guidance from mom and dad so don't worry about my new enthusiasm for weaponry.

A Childhood regret

As a child I could get pretty moody when things didn't go my way and I would become...oh what's the word?....Bratty. That's what happened on the night I created my own childhood regret.

I was at a girlfriends house for her 7th birthday and we were playing a game that involved clues. She probably had about 6 or 7 friends running around finding them along with me. Her mom would read the clue and we would have to figure out where this clue was leading us to and that's where we would find a prize. EVERYONE found one but me. I was so upset by it that I hid under her dining room table and pouted until her mom found me and tried something to make me happy again but I had made up my mind to be mad, so that's what I was for the rest of the time there. If not outwardly then inwardly.

When it was time to leave I climbed into the back seat of our station wagon where Mom, Jeff and Becky were waiting. Mom saw that I was pouting so she tried to make me happy by giving me a stuffed monkey she had bought at the store for me. I took it grumpily and didn't say a word. No thank you, no I love it, just grab and pout. Seeing her disappointment with me made me regret my attitude right away however, there were no apologies from my mouth and no cuddles for the monkey. I had started this foul attitude and I was going to finish it out for the rest of the night.

Ever since that night I've felt bad for my selfishness and wished I could take that moment back. If I could I would lovingly take the monkey from Mom's hands and give it a big squeeze telling her thank you and that it made my day all better. But I can't do that so I guess I'll keep wishing I had done the right thing. I still have that monkey packed away somewhere to remind me of that night. I think I named him Tony after a boy from elementary school.

I guess my point would be, be nice to others even when you're in a funk because you just might regret it later.

On the Bright Side of a Rainy Day

some good things about rainy days....ahem....rain puddles, rain drops falling in rain puddles, beads of rain on tree branches, birds flying in the rain, the sound rain makes on umbrellas or old tin roofs, running from the car to inside (something fun about that), complaining about the rain, ooooh rain storms in the summer on a sunny day are so cool, rain in winter cuz that means it's not too cold, snuggling under a blanket w/or w/out someone, being inside, watching a rain drop race on your car window (when you're not driving), you know that kind of stuff.

Clean or Dirty?

I'm folding laundry and right as I'm done I notice a pair of kid underwear lying on the floor by my feet. I didn't notice it there before, does that mean it fell out of the basket or could it be dirty? I stand and ponder the possibilities. It could have crawled out from under the bed, maybe it had been there all along, maybe one of the kids took it off and threw it there or it really could have fallen out of the basket. I pinch it by the band to inspect it. It looks clean. One more test to determine its fate. I say a prayer as I slowly lift it towards my nose, "Dear God, please let them be clean, please let them be clean". I scrunch up my nose, suck in my lips and take a quick sniff (the quick test sniff). It smelled alright, one more longer sniff.
I say out loud to myself, to God and the pair of underwear, "Thank the Lord they are clean!" I then throw them in the correct pile and merrily go on with my laundry business.

Potty Humor

I have a phobia that haunts me in my sleep and it isn’t pretty. I’m not sure when this phobia began and I’m not sure what has made me so phobic in the first place. If I tell you what it is you have to promise not to haunt me with it. Did you promise yet? Well you better.

Alright, I’m afraid of public restrooms. By the way RESTroom is SUCH a HORRIBLE name for what it really is. I would call it as dirty a name as it really is but I don’t think most parents would take there kids there. (Big sigh here) I know we need to have places along the way while we are out to relieve ourselves but, can’t we all behave ourselves while we are in there and clean up after ourselves?? I fear this is impossible.

OH! The disgustingness that I have to go through any time I can’t hold it and trust me I can hold it pretty good. Anyway so these dreams that I have are very stressful to me when I have them but are wonderful for a good laugh when I wake up. I have a bunch that I can remember so I’ll give you a glimpse of what goes on in my sleep.

Last nights dream I do believe came about due to our recent bouts with the flu. Three nights ago one of the kids woke up and had to spew junk out of both ends. What a decision he had to make. “Sit? Stand? Sit? Stand?” So he sorta did both but didn’t quite make it to a sit. Well let’s just say I had some art to clean off the walls. Yeah. Sooooo gross! So gross that it gave me nightmares.

So it starts out like all my other dreams. I’m out in public and I’m searching for a “Restroom” but I can’t seem to find any. Then I find one at last and I HAVE to use it. I go in to find a square room dimly lit. Tile floor like in any restroom is covered with a clear liquid and puddles in some areas. Some of the doors are missing as are toilets. My dream forces me to walk past the big dirty puddle to get to the last stall with the door. As I’m stepping over the puddle I think to myself, “What if I slip and fall in it?” Chills ran up my spine and I quickly dismissed the thought as I clung to the stall door. I made it over one nasty obstacle only to land in an equally grotesque one. All over the walls, encrusted on the flusher and seat and even on the inside stall door was splattered blood!!!
My mind in defense of shutting down due to fear woke me up at last. Okay, that dream was more gross than funny so here’s a funny one.

In this dream I had been searching and searching (as is always the case) for a restroom. My first find was a high school locker room (???) There were girls everywhere walking in and out like it was a train station. All I could find were showers and when I finally found the toilets they were in a deserted dark corner which was a bit scary but not as scary as the fact that ALL of the toilets were formed in a circle with absolutely no walls and therefore no doors. Like King Arthur and the knights of the round table, these poor girls were expected to sit and “Go”. I’m in a panic and ponder if I should go real quick since no one was around but decided I just CAN’T do it. I leave and eventually through my wonderings find someone who directs me to a toilet. They open a door and I see a GIGANTIC King sized bed that almost touched the ceiling. Guess where the toilet was??
It was in the middle of that bed. I had to climb the bed and when I did I saw a toilet seat sunk into the middle and nothing but a black hole down below. Needless to say I didn’t go here either. One more dream that I’ve had a few times is finding a restroom with stalls, but the stalls only go up to seat level. They even have doors which I find so curious and I always end up with a stall mate in these dreams.

The thing with restroom dreams is that I NEVER find a clean private place to go which I do believe is a good thing or else I might wake up with wet sheets.

Hope you were able to “bare” reading all this potty humor. You might want to go wash your hands or clean your bathroom or something. I think that’s what I’m going to do now.