Ten Small Words

of it the to you in a and that is

I found these written on the back of a file folder. I think they are from Between the Lions which Alex used to watch on PBS before he went to preschool. Funny how ten small words can make me think of Arty Smartypants and Cliffhanger and a handful of index cards lined up on the living room floor in Spring Creek and a little girl asking "What does this say , Mommy?" I'm so thankful that we learned how to read.
This morning I read in Matthew 11 where Jesus says to the weary "Come to Me", and "let Me teach you".
Oh that I would learn.

Fat Tuesday

I wrote a blog entry about Mardi Gras that included beads, taking off my clothes, sweatshirts, Spring, ashes, and sackcloth. But because of the malformation or illegality of my client (see below), it did not appear here. Maybe that is for the best.

Bad Request

Whenever I hit the publish post button my computer says:

Bad Request

Your client has issued a malformed or illegal request

Malformed? Illegal?
And now a big red error message appears on my screen.
Somehow I think this is not good.

Luck Favors the Prepared

Went to the county courthouse Wednesday afternoon to apply for my passport. The courthouse is very courthouse-like. The Clerk of Courts is in charge of passports. I had all the necessary things gathered for Goober and I to apply for our passports. We had our photos taken before Christmas. His hair is longer than his shoulders and I look like a terrorist. If I ever disappear, I hope it is the picture they use on the news.
When you apply for your passport they want to know your travel plans. I don't have any travel plans. But luck favors the prepared, darling. So if I get the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Mexico, or be at the delivery of a grandchild in Slovakia, or am tapped to run for Vice-president of the United States, I'll be ready.
And I have 10 years to get to Paris. One of my life goals is to visit France. Now if I suddenly find the time and the money, I'll already have my passport. Oh, yeah. I'm well on my way.

Cold As Ice Fishing

These are the conversation hearts I gave the STP for Valentine's Day. He took Alex and I out to lunch today. He won lunch for 2 at the Sugar Shack in downtown Dodge City by entering the contest in the newspaper. The one where you had to describe in great detail your most romantic Valentines Day ever. No, really, all you had to do was answer the generic questions about Valentine's day and return it to the paper. And they only published the correct answers and the winners' names. No embarrassing pictures or poems.
But the best part of Valentine's Day this year was that the STP took me ice fishing. With 'the guys'. Ice fishing with the guys is no small deal. Wives do not go ice fishing. Even if the guys are going on Valentine's Day. They have breakfast together and one brave guy says, "Wives can come along." He knows his wife would never go, and he seriously doubts any other wife will go either. But Dave says, "Do you want to come along?" And I know that I will never get invited again, especially if I don't take this chance. So I went ice fishing.
Guys do not know what to do with this. First they think I am awesome and their wives are less than awesome because their wives would never go ice fishing with them. (except maybe once when they were dating). Then they start to get uncomfortable thinking that maybe other wives will start to go ice fishing and they will never get to go ice fishing again without their wives. And the wives are not really comfortable with me either. Maybe now their husbands will want them to go ice fishing with them. And who do I think I am--ice fishing with their husbands.
So here is what ice fishing is like: Cold.

Here is what you need to ice fish: A pick-up loaded with ice fishing paraphernalia and two sleds to haul said paraphernalia out onto the ice.

Ice fishing parphernalia includes: An ice auger (or two). To drill 6 to 10 inch holes through 18 inch thick ice. You first auger can be 6 inches in diameter, but the big fish are hard to get through a 6 inch hole so you will need a bigger auger. With a bigger engine. It takes two men to operate this, so you will also need a friend.
Ice fishing poles. This is a good time of year to buy an ice fishing pole, because they are on sale. You might as well buy two. If you have a license to ice fish you can use two poles. So you will have to drill two holes--for each of you.
A fish finder. This will tell you how deep the water is under the ice, so you know how deep to drop your line down the hole. It is also good to see fish swimming past your bait on their way to someone else's bait.
Bait. minnows, shrimp, or earth worms. Have some of each because you never know what the fish will be hungry for. The shrimp can be frozen. Ice fish love their food frozen. Also, you need a pocketful of miniature marshmallows to attach just above the earthworm on your hook. This makes the bait float a little, or else it gives the worm something to nibble on. If you are serious, your marshmallows are in a jar. They are bright green and have glitter on them. Now is a great time to buy a jar of these because they are on sale.
A fire pit. Set this up on the ice in the middle of where everyone is standing. Light a big fire. Once your line is baited and in the hole you will have a lot of time to stand around the fire. Stand on the far side of the fire from your holes. That way you can keep an eye on your poles in case you 'get a bite.' If you see your pole move you will have to holler and run frantically to your pole. Grab the line and give it a jerk to 'set the hook'. If you do not do this fast enough, some one else will do it for you. If the fish gets away it will be your fault, no matter how many guys have tugged on the line.
Now here is the part that is confusing. Put your pole (the one you just bought especially for ice fishing) down on the ice. Do not pick it up again until you have pulled the fish out of the hole using only your bare hands and a hand under hand motion on the fishing line. Just let the line fall in a tangle at your feet. I repeat--Do not use the pole or the reel. Again, if the fish gets away, it will be because you made a mistake in not keeping the line taut. You can probably solve this problem by buying a more expensive ice fishing rod. (While you are there you might as well price a new gun.)
A cooler stocked with food. Sausages to cook over the fire. Bags of Doritos. Drinks. However, if you are a woman you should not drink anything. There are no 'facilities' and it is not as easy for you to 'see a man about a horse' as it is for 'the guys'. And it is an hour home over a bumpy road.
If you catch a fish, it will flop around before it freezes to death. You will have to pick it up and get your picture taken with it. Hold the fish out in front of you, away from your body. This uses perspective to your advantage and makes your fish look bigger in the picture. If you want to catch another fish, you will have to kiss this fish. (This is a little known fact because guys do not take pictures of this ritual.)
If you want to sound like you know what you are doing, look at the fish and say, "Oh, it's a bull. See it's..." Do not finish the sentence. Anyone who does not know how the sentence ends will be too embarrassed to ask. Any one who knows what to look for will see it clearly and realize how knowledgable you are.
The STP and I only kissed each other, because we did not catch any fish. Alex caught two very nice cutthroat trout. My feet only got a little cold.
Would I do it again? Only if they asked me again.

From Amidala's Blog

Someday I will learn to use those little link things so you can go other places from here. But for now I just copied and pasted this from ami's blog. So you can keep up on the cloy world.

its everywhere.
i've been reading a book. for fun. don't ask me where i have been finding time to do this, i really dont know but i really like the book. its The Shack by William P. Young. i'm only about halfway through it now, but i only started it about three hours ago :)what i had to share was yet another intance of cloy being used outside of my family: its a more sad context, but its there nonetheless.

"Other times he would dream that his feet were stuck in cloying mud, as he caught breif glimpses of Missy running down the wooded path ahead of him, her red cotton summer dress gilded with wildflowers flashing among the trees."


Actually, when I copied and pasted this, the "its everywhere" made its own little link to itself. Maybe by just thinking about it I was able to do it. What if everything I desire tonight becomes my reality? This is way too much for my little mind. I'm going to bed before something really weird happens.

Emu, Brutus?

I got my Dad's propensity for clutter and his feet. The dry cracking kind of feet. It is exascerbated (exasperated?) by the dry winter weather. I am trying a new remedy. Emu oil. It comes in a little jar. It stains your feet and socks an ugly yellowbrown. It smells like emu butts. The list of ingredients lists 'fragrance' as an ingredient. What kind of fragrance would that be? Do they mean for it to smell like emu butts or does emu oil smell even worse than that and the fragrance is added to make it smell better? If that is the case, I don't want to ever smell unadulterated emu oil. I did a little research and found that the oil glad is not near the emu butt, but on it's back. What I couldn't determine was if the emu had to be dead in order to extract the oil. There is some suggestion (but no real evidence) that emu oil may also reduce wrinkles. I thought briefly about applying it to my neck, but the thought of my neck wrinkles filled with yellowbrown residue smelling like emu poo dissuaded me. And if the emu has to die, I'm pretty sure my vanity is not worth the life of an emu.
My feet are actually looking and feeling better. At least they are no longer cracked, bleeding, and painful.
This post reads like a bad spelling class essay. Where you have to use at least five of your vocabulary words in a paragraph. Exacerbated, propensity, unadulterated, residue, dissuaded. I'm not sure any of them are spelled right. Or used correctly. I really just wanted you to know about my feet. We're not going to talk about the clutter thing.

Ms. Brenda's Valentine's Playlist

Saturday night was the church Valentine's banquet. Held at the aforementioned Trapper Creek Lodge. The STP was asked to be the speaker. So since he doesn't have a lot of game and fish stories(yet), he decided to do his "All You Need Is Love" message. The one where he dresses like a hippie. (He wore his tattoo sleeve.) So as an introduction, I put together a Name That Tune game with songs that told our love story. I gave a few hints, the year of release, and a few bars of the song and the audience had to shout out the song title and artist. A good time was had by most.

I Want to Hold Your Hand The Beatles
Wouldn't It Be Nice Beach Boys
I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do ABBA
Weekend In New England Barry Manilow
Kiss Is On My List Hall and Oates
Slow Dancin' Johnny Rivers
Having My Baby Paul Anka
You Don't Bring Me Flowers B. Streisand/N. Diamond
Butterfly Kisses Bob Carlisle
I Loved Her First Heartland
We Will Dance Steven Curtis Chapman
God Only Knows Beach Boys
All You Need Is Love The Beatles

I plan to give the STP a copy of the CD for Valentine's Day along with some spanish conversation hearts. I hope he gives me chocolate. I do, I do , I do, I do, I do.

Walking Pneumonia and the Boogy Woogy Flu

The Booger has been sick for a week. Fever, chills, congestion, headache, stuffiness, runny nose, bloody nose, aching, coughing, lack of appetite, general malaise. As the week progressed, so did the symptoms. Finally on Friday the doctor pronounced the verdict of walking pneumonia. And we switched from over the counter remedies to antibiotics and prescription cough medicine. Still he doesn't move off the couch. I'm not sure about the walking part of the diagnosis.