What are you?

You Are 9: The Peacemaker

You are emotionally stable and willing to find common ground with others. Your friends and family often look to you to be the mediator when there is conflict. You are easy going and accepting. You take things as they come. Avoiding conflict at all costs, you're content when things are calm. At Your Best: You feel connected, trusting, and fulfilled. You feel at peace with your place in the world. At Your Worst: You compromise your values to make sure peace is maintained. You give in to bullies. Your Fixation: Harmony Your Primary Fear: Causing conflict Your Primary Desire: To preserve things as they are Other Number 9's: Marge Simpson, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, Jerry Seinfeld, and Abraham Lincoln.

What Number Are You?

First of all, I would like to ask Abraham Lincoln when he took this quiz? What about all the other answers about "getting bossy" when I'm stressed and people probably say I'm too critical. Do they just exclude the answers that don't fit the characterization?? Whoever "they" are. And if my primary fixation is on Harmony, why didn't I have an advantage in music theory classes? Do I sound like the peacemaker, now?

Pictures

I can relate to my friend.

I like photos that embellish a story or highlight a part of life that was great, but too fleeting in "the now" to make much of an impression, until I peruse the file of odd snapshots collected by my camera and see that something magical was happening, and if I don't stop and point it out, I'm liable to have been ungrateful for it.

Princess followup

Joel hasn't brought up the princess idea in a while. We are biding our time.

But I've been proactive:

Harlan and I are not allowed to say the "p" word. I don't think it was much of a standard in our vocabulary, anyway, but conscientious effort has been made.

Joel said he'd dress up as a pilot (same costume as last year) for Halloween, so I wasn't really thinking of getting another costume for him. But when the "p" issue came up, it seemed necessary to have a few more masculine costumes around.

He considered Bob the Builder for about an hour, but rejected it. It seemed like an inward struggle was going on between having cool tools handy versus not having long hair and a fancy dress on.

The fireman wasn't even considered.

So we're back to airplane pilot, partly because airplanes are so awesome and partly because airplane pilots look dressed up all the time. Go figure.

Thank you, Mimi, for that very important gift!

Hotdogs anyone?

Need an FHE idea?

Bitamins

Have you ever sneaked up on vitamins before?

Princess Joel

M: What do you want to dress up as for Halloween, Joel?
J: A Princess!
M: No.
J: WAHHHHHHWAHHWAHHHWAHHH!!! *tears*, *red face*, *kicking*, etc.
M: Boys can be princes, though.
J: I want to be a PRINCESS!! Wahhhwahhwaahhh....
M: What do princesses wear?
J: Dresses.
M: You can't wear a dress. You're a boy.
J: WAHHHHHHWAHHWAHHHWAHHH!!! *tears*, *red face*, *kicking*, etc.

I'm like my tree

I'm like my tree
Waiting around
For a sunny day
That might not come,
Dropping leaves
That no longer
Hold their color,
Conserving energy
For a cold, dark winter,
Reminding myself
That Spring will come,
When comes the man
With sharp metal hands
Who grips me roughly
Snips my branches
Expecting me to heal.
Sadness takes over
Like the Nothing;
Where is my Spring?

PS: Harlan is not the "man".

11 Years

Things I like about Harlan:
He makes blueberry pancakes from scratch, w/o a recipe, that I like w/o syrup.
He can take my computer apart and put it back together better than it was.
He can play all the brass instruments well, and then some.
He gave me two beautiful boys.
He makes me laugh even when I'm mad.
He loves our library.
He goes to church with me and supports me even when it's difficult.Happy Anniversary, Love.

Joel's Reading

He's such a wiggly reader this was pretty much the only photo I could get of him that was in focus. It took me a month to post this one, and he had been doing it for a while before I could catch him in the act. We just love these milestones, though, and are so proud of our smarty pants.

Anyone who notices the mismatched pajamas can contribute to the one-piece pajama fund.

The Big Kid Cooks

My Big Kid has a great sense of humor and is frequently required to laugh me out of a funk. That alone was worth marrying. However, there are other great features, like his love of learning new things. In this case, we're talking cooking skills. I admire his desire to improve his knife skills, or learn some Thai cooking, or sushi making, to the point of taking a class on it, carving out the time for it, and then showing off his new skills to his family.

I'm not a notable cook. In fact, I could probably manage to feed us during famine, but I wouldn't make many friends doing it. I'm a grumpy cook. I just want it done. But not Harlan. He smiles and jokes and just enjoys the whole process. And I can't help but take a moment to smile and bask in the joy he brings us all. Lucky me.