FINALLY, THE ANSWER TO A TRULY ENIGMATIC QUESTION

~ moments before the truth came out ~

Today I decided it was too hot for any lengthy cleaning jobs in the house, so I chose the back entryway to clean. A quick vacuum and trashcan change. Not too bad. Some fingerprints on the woodwork to wipe away of course and a last minute notice of how dusty the bottom shelf of my entry buffet seemed to be. I knelt down to dust the shelf and moved the baskets, at which point I saw something white peeking from between the baskets. Huh?

~ Something doesn't belong in this spot ~

Why would that be there? It's only one. Where's the other one? Perhaps a new fashion fad......only wear one. No, that doesn't make sense. There has to be some logical explanation for this.

~ how long has that been there ~

Then it hit me. You know how socks continually come up missing when we take them out of the dryer. We always wonder where they go. Now that question can be put to rest. The rebel sock somehow finds its way, all alone, to the bottom shelf of a piece of furniture where it hides behind various objects hoping you won't see it. The stupid sock does not take into account the dust factor and that someday the guardians of the sock must be moved.

Accomplices involved: baskets.

See Nancy Return

If I had a nickel. That's right, if I had a nickel for each time I thought, "Hey busy self, you know you really want to start blogging again, why don't you?", I'd have enough money to pay someone to blog for me. But then I'd have to rename my blog "See Nancy Go" or "See Someone Sub". Well, I think the better option would be to sit myself down for some blog time and give those few followers that I once sucked into my "web", something essentially entertaining, perhaps prolific, certainly sentimental, completely compelling, or significantly sanguine. Which adjective am I in the mood for? I don't know. I'll just dive in and see where it leads me.  

So what have I been up you might ask, wondering if I might have wandered into some kind of blogging black hole. Well besides the usual life obligations that pile up when you turn your back for more than a minute, or the many mundane tasks that multiply if you don't stay one step ahead of yourself, I've been job searching, doing home projects, cheering on two cross country teams, hosting holiday parties, venturing into photography, playing referee between teenagers, and probably more than I can even keep track of. 

I really need to focus on the photography because I love it and I might as well make a few dollars doing something that inspires me and gets me out of the house by myself, away from teenage boys that think they are smarter than me. Take a look at some of my subject matter. Does anything inspire you? Hopefully something will spark a passion in you, or strike a cord in some way.

~ Joplin, Missouri Tornado Disaster ~

~ Fall on the Farm ~

~ The 3rd Regiment Readies for Battle ~

~ Civil War Soldier-to-Be ~

~ Menacing Metal No Match for EF5 Tornado ~

~ Spring Beauty in the Morning Sun ~

~ The American Spirit Flies in Joplin, Missouri ~

~ Off the Beaten Road ~

~ Contemplating the Race Results ~

~ What the Tornado Took from One Place and Brought from Another ~

~ The Tornado Cleans House ~

You'll notice that several of these photographs depict extreme tornado damage. I shot those images in Joplin, Missouri early this past summer when I spent two weeks as a disaster relief volunteer just four weeks after the tornado hit. I won't go into details here, but you can visit one of my other blogs (I have three), that is specifically about my experiences in Joplin. I never finished all the blogging I intended to do but I hope to add to it in the near future.

What I would like to do at this point is to offer some advice, urge you to take notice, or strike a cord in your heart to give some thought to volunteering for some kind of out-of-the-ordinary work. Challenge yourself to do what you cannot imagine yourself doing and I promise, you will never regret it. It doesn't have to be for two weeks as I was fortunate enough to experience. One or two days, a week, whatever you can offer. Not only did I find myself accomplishing things that I never imagined, particularly because I am no longer in my 30's (ssshhh...or my 40's) and I am a single mom still raising my children, but I had the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing people from all over the world. I expected to be of some kind of help, that goes without saying. I expected to learn a little about my abilities to challenge myself. I expected to have an adventure of sorts, whether big or small and it didn't matter. What I did not expect was to work alongside such a diverse group of people in age, ability, background, and lifestyle to name a few. I didn't expect to be so humbled by the thanks and appreciation of those who were affected by the disaster or knew someone who was. I didn't expect to feel like I was intruding on the privacy of those I helped and at the same time feel like I was part of some kind of big extended family. And most of all, I did not expect to be featured with two other volunteers in a book being written by another volunteer that tells our stories of why we chose to come to Joplin to join the relief effort as well as what we learned from the experience.


You'll never know how you will be affected, changed, or challenged until you take that first step and commit to something somewhat, if not totally out of your comfort zone. Do something for someone in need and in doing so, you'll be amazed by what you'll come away with. 


For myself, I'm still processing the whole experience. It's been eight months since I returned and yet very few days go by that I don't think of Joplin, what I saw, what I experienced, who I met, or what I still want to do. Will I go back? I can see that happening in the near future. 


Well, I hope you are still with me. I'm not sure which adjective caught your attention in this longer-than-expected post. But I hope it gave you something that caught your attention, made you smile, or made you take notice of something you might not have thought about. 


Please do come back to my little world in blogland. I'm glad to be back! I'd love to read some comments here so don't be shy.

WHERE AM I?

Just thought I'd let everyone checking out this blog of mine, that I am on a temporary leave of absence for three weeks (for this blog that is), while I travel to Joplin, Missouri to volunteer in the tornado relief efforts. In the meantime, take a look at my Joplin blog.

http://theresalandthativeheardof.blogspot.com

I'll be returning around the 10th of July. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer

HOW TO USE THE WORD "SHARDS" IN A SENTENCE!

This morning I was picking up clutter in the back entry and wiping off fingerprints on the kitchen door when it hit me that I have almost forgotten about the lack of glass in said window. And don't get me started on the ever-present fingerprints in my house..... that's another blog in itself!  NOTE TO SELF:  replace glass before winter rolls around again.

~ this is the back entryway looking toward the kitchen ~

Let's go back 6 months. Reminisce with me. We had just been living in the new house a couple weeks and the boys and I were on our way out the back door to go to their Boy Scout meeting. On the way out, Spencer shut the interior kitchen door..... the one with the window in it. What was that noise? Oh, the sound of breaking glass. Seems the motion of shutting it too fast for an old door caused the lower left corner to crack and break some glass out..... also sending a long crack all the way to the top. We picked up the glass that had fallen out on the floor and off we went to scouts. Two hours later, we walked back into the house and having momentarily forgotten about it, there was the broken window to greet us. Of course everyone had to leave their shoes on when we got home because you never know how far glass will travel when shattering out of a window. It was close to bedtime when we got home from scouts but I couldn't just leave the huge jagged pieces hanging there in the window, in differing degrees of attachment (todays made up phrase).

~ the windowless door seven months later ~

What to do? Gotta break it all out I guess. It was going to take some work. So I got a towel and had to go to the neighbor to borrow some duct tape to hold the towel in front of the window. I still didn't have all the important things at hand since the move. Found the hammer but it took a little courage to start hitting. A little tap.... nothing. OK then, maybe try a firm, well -placed tap....and there goes a tiny little piece about the size of a matchbox. Stand back boys, mom's gonna put some wrist action into it. Wham and crash..... there goes a chunk. With each hit, more fell to the floor and with each piece that fell, the glass under it broke into smaller and smaller pieces.

~ lovely damage to the door ~

Now once the glass had all fallen out, there were many small pieces still embedded into the window frame. I had to hack and chisel away at that for about an hour. When all was finally free of the window, I looked behind the door and there in the corner were hundreds of SHARDS of glass. At this point it was midnight and do you think my sleeping brain could figure out where to find the dust pan. OK, several minutes later I found it in the bedroom that I had decided to demolish the previous week..... which all started when I lifted up some carpet and then just kept going. Anyway, with dustpan, broom, and vacuum finally at my disposal, I had to begin project Hazmat. By 12:15 a.m. I was taking a drawer full of glass..... SHARDS of glass, out to the garage. A pile of shimmering shards.

If I remember correctly, I had planned to go to bed early that night, magazine in hand, as I had just the day before gotten the mattress off the floor (I am so happy to have children..... young men..... who can put things like bed frames together). But isn't a magazine a bit boring when you can be having fun with glass mosaics......SHARDLY!

ATTENTION ALL BATS IN THE AREA

Winter finally seems to have left us alone here in Michigan and after a wonderful spring lasting all of a week or two, we find ourselves enjoying the hot, humid, makes-me-kinda-lethargic summer weather! Grrrrrr!!! Of course things sometimes cool down nicely during the heavy thunderstorms laden with lightning. So today's beautiful sunshine was accompanied by 90 degree temperatures.

Our wonderful new "old house" does not have air conditioning. This is actually good because I need a break from my large heating bills and I figure we can manage the heat. We have plenty of fans. However, after this afternoons' brief rains somewhat cooled things down, the boys went around the house to open as many windows as possible. Keep in mind that The Old Girl (house) has over 50 windows but many of them are either stationery, painted shut,  or need to have the storms changed out for screens. I reminded Spencer not to open the ones where the storms just swing out. He said, "I know that". Of course he does, he's 16 you know.

Flash forward 4 hours to when we start closing things up for the night. All set....."boys, go to bed." I grab my computer and get all settled in bed, pillows propped up, a soft drink on the nightstand, fan on, and  the  remote control for the light/fan at my side. I can relax. Oops, there's a couple books I want down the hall in the laundry room so I get back up for a quick interruption. I switch on the light, walk over to the table just past one of the windows. Well, well, well...............SPENCER...........GET UP HERE NOW!!!!!

~  come on  in all nocturnal species  ~

WHY SO SERIOUS?

One of my little secrets was that I wanna-be living with Heath Ledger (oh come on now, a gal's gotta have her fantasies....you know he was cute.)..................BUT,  little did I know that I AM living with a Heath Ledger wanna-be!

Every now and then, I'll be sitting at the computer, doing laundry, making dinner, reading a book, or just minding my own business..... when I look up and see this........................





WAIT FOR IT.....






GET READY.....

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!

MOTHER'S DAY MADNESS

Mother's Day can be many things, but certainly it should include some relaxing moments right? I think I may have missed that part. I didn't get breakfast in bed (WHY NOT BOYS?), but I did manage to sleep in a little longer than I expected to. Of course that made my back hurt so not such a good choice. Things were moving right on schedule and at 10:15 Spencer went out to start the van so we could go to church.

Side story about the van. I have this not-so-user-friendly battery in my van that has a mind of its own. My brother bought me a battery booster  for Christmas this past December which is the best thing ever. So when my battery is asleep, I hook up the booster and I'm good to go. It takes about 30 seconds. I also have an electric battery charger that I have used a couple times when the booster itself didn't have a full charge (gotta  have a back-up plan). For that I have to plug it in to the electrical outlet and wait 20-30 minutes.

Well at 10:15 Spencer comes back  in with the news that the booster is doing nothing. We wait  five minutes and try again. Nothing. Instigated Plan B.....used the charger but 20 minutes later......nothing...... no church today.

Grabbed the cell phone. Hello Bob (helpful brother), "Didn't we just test that battery yesterday?" "Didn't we conclude the battery was weak but still had some life?"

Cut to two hours later.....bought myself a new battery for a Mother's Day present. Luckily, I received a credit on my bad  battery so I only had to spend about $60. OK, so now I have a reliable battery....money well spent I guess.

I decide to buy lunch for my brother (who drove all  the way across town, drove me to Auto Zone, and put in the new battery), as well as my youngest who went along. Jimmy John's...... good subs..... although not quite the Mother's Day brunch that would have been lovely (MAKE A MENTAL NOTE BOYS). I said goodbye to another $20.

Now it's mid-afternoon and the weather is beautiful so I decide we should spend some quality mother/sons time outdoors. Let's pull some weeds, mow the lawn, place landscaping bricks around a tree, and head to Lowe's for some garage organization supplies. Well what the heck, I spent $70 on some very exciting mom stuff. Who wouldn't want a 4' by 4' sheet of pegboard, sawhorses, stripper for the wood floors, and  miscellaneous garage stuff to show for 16 years of motherhood. Well now with all these goodies, we have to pull everything out of the garage and rearrange everything. Oh look, let's use that tallest ladder to climb up to  the clogged dryer vent. It was so nice of those birds to place all that straw in there. OK,  clothes are drying nicely again so let's get back to the garage. Darned if I didn't realize that I still had not bought a drill. Only the pegboard could be nailed up so some things will have to wait.......thank  God......two hours of rearranging and sweeping was enough.

Hey, I needed  to spend more money so it was fortunate that the cupboards and frig were bare and I was off to the grocery store for $30 worth of essentials. Once home for good, I told the boys to get ready for bed while I tried out my new scraper for the 4 layers of porch paint I'm removing. Money well spent there.....works quite well and I am so looking forward to getting back to that  project. Seriously I am so I can enjoy my porch.

Finally it was time to sit back and relax. I told  the boys to queue up the movie I bought for some family time while I quickly straightened up the kitchen. Well, that turned  into more than a half hour and I believe it was almost 10:00 when we sat down in front of the TV with our cheese perogies and  Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (pretending it was something a bit more gourmet).  I had splurged the day before with $5 for a 23-year-old Dan Ackroyd/John Candy comedy (The Great Outdoors)..... I didn't think the boys would spend the evening watching period movies or French movies with Gerard Depardieu.

I would  have to say in all honesty that although this Mother's Day was not too relaxing, was devoid of material gifts, and was a checkbook buster, I enjoyed it anyway. I enjoyed it very much actually. I spent time with my boys and they didn't complain, they never mentioned the X-Box, the Wii, or Airsoft guns, they helped with some projects that really needed attention, and they watched a goofy movie past their bedtime just because I wanted some family relaxing time. I also have the things  I need to proceed  with other "new house" projects, and  I don't need to mess with that darn battery anymore. A good Mother's Day indeed.