New clothes...

You needed clothes - BADLY!!! I just bought you a bunch of clothes about 3 1/2 to 4 months ago, but you've outgrown them. I didn't even get that bill paid off yet. Wow. You grew almost 4" - I can hardly believe it!!

Poor Benny! You were down to next to nothing. You never really complain about that kind of stuff. Oh sure, you'll complain about the bugs and nats flying around your face. You'll complain about mowing the lawn in the heat of summer.... this summer was really hot and humid too! But, shoes too tight, pants getting short, underwear pinching you?????? You never say a word. You are just like your Dad that way.

Your brother on the other hand --- a clothes hound!!! He's just like me! I found 13 short-sleeved t-shirts; 17 long-sleeved t-shirts; 7 jackets and at least 12 hooded sweatshirts. But he has only one pair of jeans! Go figure! How'd that imbalance happen?

So, today, I got to go shopping with you! Just you and me. It was fun and we did it all for under $90.00. Kohls is awesome!

Thanks for a wonderful morning!

Opportunities

We found... stumbled into, an opportunity for one of you today. An opportunity to spend time with Mission Aviators. Since you are interested in becoming a pilot, we thought this would be a great opportunity for you.

We can only open doors. We cannot force you to walk through. With the right mentors in place, we can only pray that you will find an interest that will create a spark for you. Prayerfully, that spark will grow into a lifetime of enjoyment, fullfillment and financial gain and prosperity.

We can no longer take you by the hand, we can only guide and counsel. I pray that we are up to the task. I pray that we can help you prosper and be the men that God created you to be.

Baking

I'm glad you guys learned to bake bread -- and so are our friends!!! Your bread is fantastic! You make a yummy garlic and cheese bread.

Ben makes a banana bread that is out-of-this-world! He says it's his secret recipe, but I have it too!!

We got started making bread when friends of ours - the people we bought this house from - gave us a loaf of home-made bread when one of us was sick. They eventually showed us how to further our bread making skills by grinding our own wheat berries. We loved this so much - and I loved the cost effectiveness - that we used a tax refund one year and bought a ginding mill machine.

I hope that you take this talent into your own homes and families, further spreading the joy and love of baking to your dear ones.

School's out.... sort of...

Ugh!! Getting you two to finish up your schoolwork is a daunting task!!! I can't bribe you with a long summer. You don't care about money enough to make it worth while. Taking away your "toys" doesn't even work for very long!!!

I keep singing Alice Cooper's song, School's Out, in my head!

So, this year, you are ALMOST done. After several curriculum requirement changes, you are BOTH still grumping about feeling sorry for yourself. It doesn't help that I've given you enough time and now nag you like mad!!!

Oh well! I can't do the work for you and I'm not very lenient with you. Actually, I've been told by your public school counterparts that I'm very hard on you academically. That's RIGHT!!! Get that school work done! Don't meet a deadline? Too bad!!! You may get one more chance or you might receive an 'F'. Your employer won't like it if you don't get the required work done, so consider schooling employment practice!!

You're both very good students and your grades are fine, but I do like to tease you so!! (You still have to get this year's required work done.... SOON!!)

Hugs,
Mom

Your Love Languages

You each have your own love language. They are as different as you two are!

I read a book: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Actually, I read The Five Love Languages of Children, The Five Love Languages of Teenagers, The Five Love Languages of Apology and the original - The Five Love Languages. He has several more and variations of the original. They're very good. I've purchased several over the years and have given most of them away - only to have purchase more in the hopes of keeping one for myself! It will definately be a must read for each of you the closer you get to an engagement.

My oldest, your love language is "Time Spent", then a tie for second is "Touch" and "Gifts"

My youngest, your love language is "Touch", then "Words of Affirmation".

Your Father is "Touch" and "Time Spent" both equally.

I'm "Acts of Service" then "Time Spent"

I hope you remember this and never lose your copy of the book that I will make sure ends up on a bookshelf in your next home away from ours.

Pets ~ 6/23/2010

It's always so sad when you have to put a beloved pet down. Today, Benny had to put down his little friend, Rascal.

Rascal was one of the best rats we've met. He was very docile, much like his owner. We aren't sure what happened to Rascal, but it sort of looked like a stroke. He had a hard time getting his left side to work. What set us off in worry was his left eye. It would no longer close, so it looked bad. It must have watered constantly, since it wouldn't close. That, in turn made it feel irritated and Rascal must have kept on rubbing it - that's what made it look bad. However, the wobbly left side also indicated a stroke.

We got Rascal as a rescue, along with Templeton. They didn't have a good healthy start due to their first owners' ingnorance. So, we rescued them and got their health to be the best that we could. Obviously, the damage of malnutrition was irreversible, since they both had some minor rat health issues. However, you did a wonderful job loving them and being a good friend. Rascal had a fun life with you as his best friend and he got to eats lots of healthy food and snacks. I'm very proud of the way you took care of him.
I've been writing children's stories with Rascal as the main character, now he can live 'forever' in the books that I hope to have published.


Today though, I thought of one more story for Rascal and that would be about how strong and caring his beloved human was to him. Good job Honey. I really believe that Jazzy met up with Rascal today. I picture him riding on her back and they are no longer in pain and they are happy chasing squirrels.

Fast Freddie ~ 1978/1979 and 1984

People have a hard time believing some of my stories. However, I swear that this one is true. You can ask Mindy anytime and she will tell you the same thing.

When we were younger, Mindy lived on Elm Street in Horicon. We'd often spend long weekends at Gramma's house and since it was well before MTV, video games and the internet, we had to invent our own games. Some of the games reflected TV shows we watched; others were more simple like Hide and Go Seek or Toss Across. Incredibly enough, there was one game that we played that was a scary game. We didn't tell ghost stories, instead we'd play scary games. One such game was called Fast Freddie. Now, it doesn't sound scary, but Fast Freddie was a child killer. For some reason he was scary to look at, like he was ugly, burned, disfigured or something. He had razors for fingers that cut you into pieces. Sometimes he'd stab you with his fingers and always, he'd chase you until you no longer had the strength to keep going.

Eventually, our pretend games gave way to the other things I mentioned. Table top video games were invented - miniatures of the arcade games that sat on your table at home. MTV first began - with videos by Rick Springfield, Duran Duran, Wham, Cindy Lauper and Madonna. We turned towards the things that teenagers turned to in the early 80's and kept going.

Suddenly we were old enough to babysit at someone else's house and we got paid for it! This meant that our free weekends were spent going to the mall, eating at the food court and then to a movie. All this on $5.00 or so for the whole weekend. The 80's were awesome! Totally!

The year was 1984. I was in the 9th grade. It was a cold autumn weekend - a Friday night. My best friend, Cheryl, her sister, Heather and myself went to the Fond du Lac Mall. Of course, Cheryl's parents had to drive us. We went to see a scary movie called, Nightmare on Elm Street. I could not believe what the story line was!!! A creepy burned man named Freddie killed kids with his razor hands!!!!!!!!! I was so freaked out by the movie. On the way home I told Cheryl's parents about the game we used to play. Cheryl's Dad, being the forever prankster, slowly put his hand down along the side of his seat... we never noticed... and then in the middle of our jabber, he suddenly grabbed my foot! I SCREAMED!! Then Cheryl and Heather SCREAMED TOO!!! Cheryl's Dad just kept on laughing at us, but I think I peed my pants! He didn't even know who's foot he was gonna get, but he said my reaction was great!

When I got home after my sleepover, I called Mindy and told her the whole thing. At first I don't think she believed me, but eventually news of the movie got out. She was just as creeped out as I was!

Mindy and I like to think that someone heard us playing and turned our game into their own movie idea. How else does something that horrible come to be???

Creeepyyy!!