She Has My Chin...

...but don't worry, I have another. I have become a fan of v-necked tops. I think they make my neck look longer. I used to have an exceptionally long neck. It used to make me feel taller and thinner. But as I've gotten older it has become a place to stack my chins. And it has wrinkles that are so deep that they don't tan. When the kids were little I could sometimes scrub little dark dirt rings from their necks at the end of a summer's day. This summer I had light rings around my neck---negative tan lines. Oddly enough, new places that the sun doesn't shine.

Clair will never know me as anything but a grandma. She will not know I once has a long thin neck and that the skin on my upper arm didn't always flap. She won't know what she missed.

Brenda the Remarkable Meets Claire Marie the Fabulous (via Abi the Incredible)

Here's what Abi and I did today. It is absolutely the best thing we have ever done together. Okay, so Abi did most of the work, but I didn't have the benefit of an epidural, and I am pretty proud of my first foray from the realm of parenting to the realm of grandparenting. Go ahead--call me Grandma. Today it doesn't sound so bad to me.

Claire Marie the Fabulous--Day one

Insert Link Here

I am so proud to be a link in AmiDawn's xanga. However, I think she is just showing off because she knows how it insert a link and I do not. But I was certainly glad to send her to public school. It was good for the school, and good for me. Homeschooling was always an effective threat when the girls were growing up. Do your homework, or I'll homeschool you. If you really are having a hard time adjusting to your new school, I'll be glad to homeschool you. Aren't those Middle Schoool boys awful? Why don't I just homeschool you? I never threaten to homeschool Alex, because he is just unsocialized enough to take me up on it. And then there would be no one to blame but me. And clearly it can't be all my fault, can it? Although Abi has always thought it is all my fault. Ever since I took up all the room. I should have homeschooled her through college. She would have benefitted from a little unsocialization.

What's The Story, Morning Glory?

Underneath this mountain of morning glories is a clematis and underneath that is a beautiful obelisk and underneath that is some kind of tree that Alex got at a growing up class.

All princes start as frogs.

All gentlemen as dogs.

Some boys will become men.

Here's hoping.

The Cosmos

According to G.K. Beale, the three parts of Israel's temple represented the three parts of the cosmos: The outer court: visible earth; the holy place: visible heavens; the Holy of Holies: dwelling of God.

I think I shall leave the arrangement of the cosmos in the capable hands of its original Designer, but I am indebted to my blog designer. She knows my heart and I love her. (even if her jeans leave little of her backside to the imagination!)

Twins Born 13 Years Apart

Children Re-named

Seems my links, which used to be to my children's blogs are now to Google News and two places called edit-me. What if these really were their names? Google News Henry. Edit-me Iovino. And what if I liked Edit-me so much I named another child that also? Edit-me Also.
I probably shouldn't be allowed to have any more children.

New Way Less Who I Really Am Template

Turns out my blog consultant is rather like my plumber. I should have been more selective. Asked more questions. Not let her grow up and move out of my house where I have nothing to hold over her head. Now that she is an adult and buys her own laundry soap (among other things...) she is not beholden to me. Thus she has put me off and left me to my own blogging abilities. This is scary. I have chosen the color Ochre for my blog. I really wanted sunshine or daffodil yellow with pink cosmos. Occassionally I want to rearrange the cosmos. I want something lime green and the color of the sky today. Wonderful clear blue with white and gray clouds that fill the space and change constantly, so that everytime you see my blog it is different. I do not want my old consultant back at all (although I miss her), I want God to do my blog.
Today I am going to attempt to insert a link. I am not going to ask anyone how to do this , or do any research, or even hit the help button. I am just going to cut and paste.

Okay--control p-- is not the way to do it. Obviously, that just publishes prematurely.

Also, you can not put the letter 'p' in the little greater than and less than signs, or when you publish it just disappears. I don't know where it goes. Rendevousing with mismatched socks from the dryer perhaps.

I copied the link to my race results, but I can't figure out how to paste it here. (Additional sadness in my life, but not worth ranting about.)

Suffice it to say that my time was little better than I thought. I finished 45th out of 70. I am greatly encouraged and may even run again. But not today.

Now I am going to light the candles on my back porch and sit around the fire with all of my family members who have not grown up and moved away. The fire will dance with all kinds of colors, and we will tell stories and laugh, and that is really more who I am. I'm happy with that.

Sorry you have to read this in Ochre.

Sadness and Ranting

Today something has eaten all the pretties off my blog. I called my blog consultant and she thinks that my images were hosted someplace else and that they may have deleted them off their server. What kind of nonsense is this? Who are these ones who host my images and delete them without warning?
At first I was sad about this, but it has quickly turned to anger and ranting. (So I changed the title of this posting.)
Ok, I'm over it.
Stay tuned for a new template, coming soon to a blog near you.

SPT Tech and the Fantasy Laboratory

Today I was the SPT tech. This is pronounced 'spit' tech. (Although I originally thought it was spin tech.) It is an acronym for Specimen Processing Tech--the person who receives and centrifuges the tubes of blood and delivers them to the various departments for analysis. It's a nasty job, but someone has to do it. So today they picked out a somebody and I was that hero. I adopted Mary Poppins' spoon full of sugar philosophy--you know--find the fun and Snap! the job's a game. So if SPT tech is a game, then I decided there could be a SPT tech rating--like a QB rating in the NFL. Since the game is only in my head, then I create the rating. So on the basis of dropped tubes, intercepted tubes delivered to wrong departments, overdue test results, angry phone calls fielded, and general good attitude I ranked myself pretty highly today. In fact, if there was such a thing as a fantasy lab league, I think I would go in the first round of the draft. Behind Dorothy the Fabulous, who does the spt tech job every day. And behind Tiki Barber, who would evidently be taken in the first round of any fantasy league.
Tomorrow I am on the 'green' bench in micro, which gives another whole meaning to 'spit' tech.

Milk Carton Photos

Today is picture day at school. We will not be purchasing any pictures, but we still have to look our best because we will appear in the yearbook and on other people's class pictures. Alex required a few more reasons to look good, so I offered that these are the pictures that will show up on TV if he was lost, stolen, or ran away. Shouldn't he then look more like he would actually look if any of those things happened--more like he would look on a regular day. I mean, what are the chances the news report would say "Last seen on picture day, wearing a black tuxedo..."?

Raiders of the Lost Sermon Notes

Today's sermon revolved around the story of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenent back to Jerusalem.
So here's some of the conversation from our lunch table:

Q. What 3 things were in the ark?
A. The 10 commandments on stone tablets.
A jar of manna. Turns out it was a gold jar-not a canning jar as some of us imagined. And indeed it was not in the form of manicotti. And manicotti does not closely resemble a machete as one pre-teen at the table imagined.
Aaron's staff. This led to some rather interesting investigation and discussion about what things Aaron's staff had been used for, what things Moses' staff had been used for, if Aaron ever used Moses' staff, and were there almonds in the ark.

Q. What does it look like when someone is smote?
It seems that it is more involved than just falling down dead. Like it would involve little wisps of rising smoke. This led to more questions about the present and imperfect forms of the verb. Words like smite and smitten. Somehow smote seems worse than smitten, and smitily or smotingly may not be words at all.

Q. Was David's linen ephod loosely woven?
This might explain why Michal was so upset. It would also be a generous explanation of Stasi's pants. There's not really a hole in the butt of your pants...they're just loosely woven.

My First 5K

Here I am at the start of the race. I trained for 8 weeks with my ipod and my dog. Last week I ran without the dog and without the ipod just to make sure I could do it. Never once in the 8 weeks I have been running did I run in the rain. The dog reluctantly stayed home. The ipod went with me. So I arrived at the start of the race, in the pouring rain, relatively unprepared, wondering what I was doing there and exactly why I ever thought this was a good idea. It turns out that running in the rain is miserable, but not much more miserable than running in general. The worse part was that my glasses were spotted and fogged the whole time and it was difficult to see where I was going. Sometimes I took them off. It made the colors brighter, and I think I stayed on the course the whole way. Thanks to my support team who crafted the homestar runner t-shirts, and kept me from quitting before I even started, for cheering me on at mile 1, and for watching expectantly at the finish line.
Speaking of which, here I am at the finish line. Note my time. This is of course a PR for me. I finished the race (goal #1). I ran under a 12 minute mile (goal #2). If I had been under the age of 19, I would have won a medal. But it turns out that a lot of women age 40-49 had nothing better to do today than run in the rain. And unfortunately they all ran faster than me. I did, however, win something in the raffle drawing. In fact my ticket was the first one drawn. Thus, I was first. Soon enough I will be in the 50-59 category where I will be a contender.

Who Was That Masked Wookie?

This Just In...

Here it is. A picture of Stasi's husband and Micah Henry's brother-in-law. At the falls. (Yeah and thanks to Stasi.) Also Ami and Julie before their awesome Scuzzy butt sliding adventure. And Ami again with her future brother-in-law and her future niece and her current sister none of whom went butt sliding.

Waterfalls/Three Girls/No Pictures

When Amanda was barely potty trained (what a great way to start a blog entry, huh?) and the red Subaru was the 'new car' we drove it through New England with our three favorite girls in the back seat. Somewhere near New Hampshire we hiked back to a waterfall and frolicked the afternoon away splashing together as a family. While most of the New England trip is documented on film, there is only one pic of us starting the hike towards the falls, because we ran out of film. So we stored the memories in our minds. Unfortunately, none of the girls retain these memories, and mine is clouded by time and perspective.
Fast forward to yesterday.
We picked Amanda up from college, and had supper at Buttermilk Falls. We arrived in three separate vehicles (none of which was a Subaru :( ) and in addition to the original three girls Amanda brought a roommate, Abi brought her fiance, and Stasi brought her husband. Oh, and Micah Henry's youngest brother-in-law was there. We spent a few hours frolicking in the water. I couldn't find my camera, and Amanda forgot to bring hers. Stasi arrived, took two pictures, neither of which included the falls, and had a dead battery with her camera.
So there are only a few pics captured on cell phones to document the day. Fortunately, I have it stored in my memory.

A few additional thoughts--although the girls are 'all growed up' they remain three of my favorite people, and Amanda left with wet pants.