NOTE: This blog is written by a person who does not exist and is entirely fiction!
A few days ago my friend Ann called me up to ask if she and I and our kids could get together this morning -- we would go to a nice park (about 20 minutes away from where I live) and then to the library together, as the park and the library are very close to each other. "Oh, that would be great," I replied. "The girls will love it." Ann suggested meeting at the park at 9:00 and then after an hour or so at the park we could walk over to the library. "Ooooh, I think that's a little bit early," I said, "but we should be able to do it..." My friend Ann has three girls and my girls love to play with them. I did have a few things going on today already, but I called and got them all successfully rescheduled for later in the day. This morning I got all of the girls up early and we quickly got ready to go. We were in such a hurry to get out the door that we almost forgot all of the library books we had to return! I sent Naomi back into the house to get the books while I made sure I hadn't left any of my children behind in the rush, and that everyone was buckled in right. Finally we were on our way. I decided to make a quick stop at the library first, to drop off the books, because we had checked out a few tapes and CDs and I didn't want to leave them out in the hot car to get destroyed while we were at the park (remember, I live in the desert, and this is July!). I was just about to turn into the library driveway, when I hear the disgusting sound of someone puking in the back seat. Oh, no! I looked back, and sure enough, Katie was throwing up! Suddenly I remembered that she hadn't been too excited about eating her breakfast this morning... I quickly pulled into the library parking lot and found a parking spot before looking around for some paper towels to clean up the mess -- but of course there weren't any (while I looked around for paper towels, the girls all flew out of the car). I decided that a couple tissues would have to do until Naomi could run inside the library and get some paper towels from the bathroom. “Do we have to go home now, Mommy?” Elka asked me. “Yes; it wouldn’t be much fun for Katie to have to go to the park if she’s not feeling well, would it?” I replied. Elka agreed with me. I could tell she and the other girls felt so sorry for their baby sister, but at the same time wanted to stay far away from the mess! I sent the library books with Deanna so she could drop them off inside the library -- it’s a long way to drive to the library and I wasn’t going to make the trip again in only a few days! After the mess was cleaned up and I convinced everyone to get back into the car and we were on our way home, I figured I should call Ann and tell her what had happened and that we wouldn’t be able to join them at the park. I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and called Ann’s cell phone. I could hardly believe it when her husband answered! What in the world was going on? It turned out that Ann had left her cell phone with her husband for the day -- since his wasn’t working right. So now I had no way to reach Ann and tell her I had to go home! Meanwhile, Ann and her kids had a great time at the park and then found some really neat books at the library while wondering what in the world happened to us. Ann told me later that about every five minutes she heard, “When are the Jones’s going to get here? Do you know if they’re even COMING? What happened to them? They’re usually always on time!” When I called her later to explain, she totally understood, and we’ve decided to try again in a few weeks. But I have a sicky. :o( Poor thing. I feel so bad for my kids whenever they one of them gets sick to her stomach. I know what it's like and I just feel terrible that they have to be sick like that. I mean, lying in bed with a fever is nowhere as bad as throwing up – at least in my mind. And now my baby is sick with it! :o(
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There is something I need to say to all of you reading... in case you did not see what I said right up at the top of my blog, I, Lilia Jones, am a ficticious character. Whatever you read on this blog (except for this entry) is not true. The actual author of this blog does not at this time wish to reveal his/her true identity -- he/she is writing this blog purely for fun and as a creative writing outlet. The author of this blog does have an actual, real blog here on HSB, but I can't let you know where, as he/she does not want to be recognized. I am grateful for those of you who have left comments here, but, as I do not want to confuse any of you, I must let you know that this is just a for-fun blog, and please don't take any of it to be real. Thanks, and I would be glad if you would keep reading anyway, if only just to see what funny stories I am going to come up with next!
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Hi everyone -- I'm sorry I haven't posted in quite a while. My family has been on vacation. After we got home we were very busy. Life has slowed down a bit, so I hope to be posting more. But anyway, I wanted to post about something funny that happened around here recently. I was sitting at the computer e-mailing something important, when suddenly the screen went black, like it was off. I thought that was kind of weird, but maybe it has a short in it or something and needs to be turned back on. So I tried that. But nothing happened. So now I am thinking maybe there is something wrong with the entire system, but, no, only the screen was off. The speakers still appeared to be working, the computer part seemed to be fine, but the screen was blank.
At this point I remembered something about your TV not working because it is not plugged in. So I crawled down under the desk and made sure the connection was good and tight. Yep. I even checked the back of the screen. At this point I was getting a bit desprate (remember, I was e-mailing something really important -- it had to do with my home business). Thinking it was just something broken in the screen and that I would have to get a new one, I came up with a quick-fix idea. My older two girls, Naomi and Deanna, share a computer that is just next to mine in the room. So I thought I would just borrow their screen until my husband could sniff out that super deal at Office Max or somewhere and find me a new screen. So I asked Deanna (who was sitting at the computer) if I could borrow her computer screen for a few days. She looked at me like, "Mom, do you know what you are asking of me???!!"
Then Elka, who was sitting next to and watching Deanna, pipes up, "What's the matter with your screen, Mom?"
"I don't know," I answered, "but it won't turn on."
"Well, can I look at it for a minute?" she asked. I said she could, and so she crawled under the desk and looked around for a few seconds before grabbing a plug and plugging it into a small box that was on the floor. "There," she said. "Try that." She crawled out from under the desk and flipped the screen on... and... viola! It worked! I guess the plug had just come loose and had come out of the box.
But the funny thing was what she said. "You were on the right track, mom, you just couldn't see the light." Keeping a straight face, she walked back over to her chair next to Deanna. I'm not sure if she was trying to tell a not-very-funny joke or not, but I just smiled and shook my head, thinking of how funny, useful, and humbling my children can be at times!
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This morning I had to take Naomi and Deanna to the dentist and dh stayed home with Sarah, Elka, and Katie. There were no cavities, whew! One of my greatest fears of going to the dentist is that one of the girls will have a cavity. When we got back, the older girls had to share the dentist experience with the younger girls, and the younger girls had to tell their sisters what they had done in their absence. One of the things Sarah said she did was to turn on a certain orchestral cassette of hymns and fill the house with the beautiful music. She said that the music gave her the chills as she thought of what the music in heaven must sound like. She could not wait to get to heaven and hear the music and worship the Lord. Elka said that Sarah had been a very nice girl, had played with her, and reminded her to get her jobs done. At times I have wondered about Sarah, Is there any hope for this child? So often she is the practical joker sister that drives the others in her family to frustration. It is not all mean, but it can get tiring. And also she is not the most obedient of my five girls. She has a hard time doing the right thing sometimes. A few weeks ago we had a talk about living the Christian life and following Jesus's example. She seemed sincere and I believe she is saved. She just battles the flesh a lot. Mommy and Daddy have been trying to break her of those naughty habits, and I can tell she is trying to do the right thing, but sometimes she is just frustrating and hard to deal with. So when I heard that good report this morning about her helping her sister and playing nicely and being "the perfectest sister I EVER had," as Elka said, I was encouraged. It encouraged me to keep going; this is not all in vain. Maybe this is not a big thing to all of you reading this, but for those of you who know Sarah, you know what I'm talking about! I just was mightily encouraged this morning. Some times it just takes a little thing to boost you. Sarah was this little thing. I love you, Sarah!
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Now, I want everyone to know that our days are not all like that last post (I did not even MENTION the 15 other things that drove me nuts). Today we had a good day. We even got through orchestra practice with no interruptions! That was close to a miracle! Well, today the kids have been relatively good. :o) It was a nice break from yesterday...
EXCEPT for what happened this morning. It seems a little funny now, but then it was BAD! I had just finished personal devotions, taken a shower, made the bed and gotten dressed. I was just about to leave the bedroom and head for the kitchen when Naomi comes running up to me. I could tell something was wrong. I always can. Besides, I could hear that Sarah and Elka were giggling and Deanna was telling them to stop it; this was NOT something to laugh about. "What's the matter?" I asked, prepared to hear that Katie was playing in the toilet or something equally bad. It was worse.
"Katie has the toothpaste--" Uh-oh. "--and is smearing it all around the bathroom counter, in her hair, and all over her face. And she's got it all over her clothes." I ran into the bathroom. Is there something about my children not wanting to tell me the whole story??? Besides what Naomi had told me, Katie was standing on the step-stool and had the water running. The counter was flooded and the soap dispenser lay on its side with the lid off. Besides all that, all my other children were standing in the bathroom... cleaning up the mess? Of course not! They were just standing there looking at it and the younger two were laughing.
I felt like crying. "Stop laughing this minute," I said. "This is not funny!" If there is one thing I cannot stand it is toothpaste. I mean, I brush my teeth with it but I just hate touching the stuff. Call me silly, but I am very particular about the girls keeping their toothpaste containers cleaned off. The last time someone made a toothpaste mess (it was four years ago and Elka did it. It was TERRIBLE) dh was home and, knowing how much I hate toothpaste, graciously took care of it himself. I tried to get him to let me do it, but he said he knew how much I hated this stuff and would do it for me. When he was done cleaning it up he said that the next time this happened I was to call him and he would take care of it. What a nice husband, huh? Well, today dh had already left for work and was I going to call him on the phone and tell him we have another toothpaste mess? NO. I need to learn to clean it up myself. So I popped Katie in the tub and ordered the other girls to get me LOTS of towels.
The counter was not so hard to clean up, but Katie was a nightmare. What made it worse was the fact that Elka stood right outside the bathroom door in HYSTERICS the whole time. For ten minutes. That's how long it took me to get Katie toothpaste-free.
But other than that it was a good day. I told the older girls to make sure the bathroom door was shut for the rest of the day. I didn't want to deal with Katie and the bathroom anymore. And we had no more trouble with that or with anything else. I think everyone must have decided to be extra good today or else it was just contrasting yesterday and this morning. I don't know, but it was good. :o)
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Each person in my house plays at least one musical instrument, including piano. Learning other instruments is so much easier if you already know the piano, I think. I play the piano and the violin, my oldest daughter Naomi plays the piano and cello, Deanna plays the piano and flute, Sarah plays piano and violin like Mommy :o), and for now all Elka plays is the piano. Correction, she is learning the piano. She is also beginning the violin. Now I said each person in our house, right? Well, sort of. Baby Katie likes to "sing" along! Does that count? :o) Our church has an "orchestra" which is comprised of my three oldest, plus four other children in the church. I play the piano, and my sister Michelle plays the organ.
Well, since we have a chamber orchestra in our own house, our family loves to do beautiful orchestral arrangement special music for church. So today I tell the girls to get out their instruments, and we'll start practicing something new. No sooner are we all set up than Sarah complains that her violin sounds too scratchy. "Go use some rosin," I tell her. I know that she has not rosined her bow in weeks. While she is taking care of that, the other girls tune their instruments and get warmed up a little. Just about the time that Sarah gets back, Elka announces that Katie has a mess in her diaper. "Okay, I'll take care of it soon," I say.
"Uh, Mom," Deanna says, "you might want to LOOK at her..." Oh no. I take one look at Katie, scoop her up and head for the bathroom. No, Elka, she did not just have a mess IN her diaper! "Try to run through it once without me," I tell the girls, who are by now growing a bit impatient. I get back to the girls in 7 minutes. "Okay," I say to the musicians. "Now let's start. We get all the way through the first line when one of Elka's violin strings snaps. She has never had this happen and thinks that her violin is broken! I don't notice that anything is wrong until I hear her sobbing her little heart out.
"What is WRONG?" I ask. I am a little tired of these interruptions by now but Elka sounds like she is really heart-broken. She sobs, "My violin is BROKEN!" I go to comfort her and assure her that everything is okay; it happens to strings players all the time. She feels a bit better but wants to know HOW she is going to play her violin now. Thankfully I have planned ahead and bought violin strings in bulk a few months ago for a super price. In a few minutes everything is back to normal.
We start over at the beginning of the song. This time we finish the first page before "GRRRRR! I HATE this part!! I CAN'T play it!!!" is heard from Sarah. Oh, dear. Maybe we should not do this today, I think. I am a little upset with Sarah. How many times have I told her that it is not nessesary to get mad because she can't play something. I pause a minute to get my temper under control. "Okay, Sarah, calm down. Ummmm, are you playing it the way it is written?" Sarah is known for playing the music wrong and complaining that it is too hard to play it that way.
Sarah frustrratedly looks at the music. "Yes, I was playing it right."
"Well, then just skip that part and practice it on your own later. Let's start on the second line on the second page." Finally we get through the song, though not without interruption. Katie goes to the piano (I am playing my violin) and starts banging. I tell her to stop. Deanna finds a hard spot in her music, too. But finally we get all the way through it.
"That's enough for today," I say. I'm not interested in any more interruptions. "Everyone practice it on your own tomorrow and then we'll try to play it together again." We really do have fun as a family playing music together. Today was just "one of those days," I guess. Hopefully tomorrow will go better.
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Hello to all my friends, and welcome to my blog! To begin with, I have decided to tell a little bit about myself. I am thirty-six years old and the mother of five girls: Naomi (12), Deanna (10), Sarah (8), Elka (7), and Katie (16 mo.) We have homeschooled from the very start and each of the girls really enjoys it -- especially the extra free-time! Especially since we finished the school year just recently! My daughter Elka was so excited that we got out of school before the public school children -- until one of her sisters told her that was because we start before them! LOL
We live in the desert in a small town. I would love for us to be able to live in the country someday, but not here! Instead of living in the country it would be living in the middle of the desert! In what spare time I have keeping up with five kids, I like to sew and read. In the winter I take the kids to Fly-by Skaters -- a skating rink that has in-line skating classes for all ages and levels -- and we all have lots of fun! And in the summer we do a lot of swimming. We have a lot of fun together. That does not mean we are perfect, as you will see by reading this blog. On this blog I plan to tell about our adventures together as a family, our ups and our downs. Enjoy!
