4-27 Ever do something really stupid?

My mother, Eileen, was a master furniture rearranger. She would rearrange quite often, totally swapping furniture from one room to another. Legend has it that she moved a sofa-bed up a flight of stairs single handedly. She always did it alone, no help. Now, there was a woman!!

Loy's family does not rearrange furniture. Once it is in place, it stays there forever. (Right, Dolores?) So the whole concept of making a room feel new by moving furniture around is totally foreign to him. And to move it just to try it out--and risk putting it right back in two weeks?? Absurd!!

I inherited Eileens' furniture moving genes. I love nothing better than to start moving furniture around and try and maneuver it around and into a new configuration...sort of like a druggie's high for me. My sister hates to move furniture. I can't figure that out. She is more like my mom in personality and looks, but she does NOT have the furniture moving compulsion.  I don't know about my brothers. All I can say is that, basically, their furniture has been the same whenever we go visit.

Loy and I have been married for 32 years. We get along pretty well. There are certain things we really excel at:

1. Moving to another city--we're all over it. We rock at making all those arrangements. 
2. Traveling--we do pretty well at that. We both like about the same level of activity on a trip.
3. Sitting on the porch--we love to sit out on our back porch and just do our own things. Very nice.

However, there are things that we sort of bump heads on. Things that we have learned to choose to do solo:

1. Grocery shop--Loy sort of cramps my style. He doesn't always think we need what I think we need.
2. Kayaking--the time we did it and shared a kayak was not good. He kept telling me I was doing it wrong and I kept telling him he was supposed to follow my lead (I WAS in the front, after all!) (BTW, I liked the kayaking. I just think we need separate kayaks in the future!)  :)
3. Traveling to places where there are loud people and lots of spontaneous events--that effectively bans Loy from any Rogers reunions!! :)  
4. Moving furniture--Loy has the mistaken idea that you need to know where everything is going to go before you even move the first piece of furniture. And he also doesn't feel the obsession to do it NOW. He may want to wait a day or two. When that creative rearranging muse hits you, you've got to obey!!

So, that's why I was moving furniture around by myself yesterday. 

I had ordered a new TV stand. Well, more than just a stand. It's like a sort of tall dresser, 48 inches wide, with drawers and openings to fit the DVD player and satellite box. Really cool. Really heavy.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it just takes one little thing to make you want to redo the whole room? That one thing, this time, was the new TV stand. It fit so well in one corner, if only I moved the six foot tall shelves that were there. Where would they go? Dining room. But, there is not room, so I scooted it in there and just left it sitting in the middle of the room. I had an idea, but couldn't pull it all together by myself. Drat. (There is one shelving unit that I need help with, darn it.)

The old TV stand, a sad little formica affair, is extremely heavy and hard to move because it has a swivel in it. I got the TV off of it and did a makeshift deal of putting it on a chair that had wheels so I could move it. (It's a flat screen, not that heavy, but is big, so is awkward to do anything with. Usually I wait for two people, but I just couldn't stop myself this time.) 

But then I had to scoot the old stand. I am very creative in my scooting. I don't lift furniture. I scoot it. This wasn't scooting. So I sat down and was pushing with my feet. Not realizing my back was against the chair with wheels. I gave one terrific push and...you guessed it...the TV came crashing down on my head. 

I said, "Ouch!" Then, even though I was all alone I said, "Kitt, are you OK?" I just sat there for a bit. Then I thought maybe I should lay down, just in case something bad happened. But, you know what? Nothing bad did happen. After about 5 minutes I got up and pushed the TV stand some more. And finished the living room. 

And have I mentioned that a month ago I had a bulging disc and could barely walk and am still going through physical therapy?  I am dumb. 

But that incident has bothered me. It scares me at what could've happened. I could've been lying there dead when Luke came at 4:30. I could have brain damage. (Maybe I already do!) But, in one crazy incident things could've changed. I was thinking all about taking Luke to a birthday party that night and I could've been hospitalized. 

Luke 12:16-21

¹⁶ Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. ¹⁷ He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. ¹⁹ And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

²¹ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Just goes to show you...you don't know what tomorrow will bring--or even today!

But, back to my story. I got the room done, took the fake plants (the only kind I can grow) in and gave them a much needed bath, got things all rearranged and looking good. Vacuumed and dusted. All in the living room. I still have one set of shelves to trade out--dining room to living room--and one set of shelves to move to Loy's office. But, the living room looks great. And I love the new TV stand. Much easier to see the TV!

I'm wondering if I'm getting too old to be doing all this furniture moving. But, what's the alternative? I don't have boys around anymore who will move things for me. (Unless, Corey, you want to come over and help today???)  :)  There are all sorts of jobs that are kind of hard for me, but I've always done them. Should I give them up? 

It makes me think of my wonderful father-in-law. He has certain limitations lately, things he's had to give up because of age and health. It's easy for me to sit here and say that, "Of course he should give this or that up. It's just smart." But when it's me having to give things up for good, I'm not so quick to release. I don't want to be a burden and make people help me all the time. I don't want people to say that it's a bad idea and not do exactly what I want. I just want it done now, on my time, not at your convenience. I want people to marvel at how independent I am--and I am!! Mom said that from the start, when I was two and decided I no longer needed a nap. (What kind of fool was I, anyway??? I LOVE a nap now!)

Today the top of my head kind of hurts. I scraped my knuckle and whenever I bend it, it starts bleeding. Poor pitiful me. But, I've still got those shelves to move and those big rocks in the backyard that need to be moved and the garage to sweep and I've promised a certain 7-year-old a bike ride in 22 minutes. 

But my living room looks tremendous, if I do say so myself!

Kitt.

This picture has nothing to do with my story. I just love it. My little Sweet Patootie after giving herself an oatmeal hair masque. Maybe if I had this on my hair the TV wouldn't have hurt so much!!  :)

4-14-13 Weddings...and Chickens

We just got back from a fun wedding weekend in Kansas City. Our really great friends, the Eckloffs, hosted the wedding of their daughter, Jill, to Nick Turner. It was a wonderful, God-honoring ceremony, followed by a fun reception-dance.

We had the privilege of taking Lukie with us to Kansas City. He was rather disgruntled that there was no pool or hot tub at our hotel, but, once he got over that, he enjoyed holding a three-week-old baby and seeing the brothers (well, part of the brothers...Paul, Corey, and Matt Allen.) He hung with them at the reception and was out on the dance floor and in the conga line with them.

A highlight for him was when a 10-year-old boy told him, "I liked your moves. You're a great dancer." And then when he ended up with twenty glow sticks! He said, "People I didn't even know were giving me their glow sticks!!" Molly told him that he can freeze a used glow stick and then re-crack it. He's going to try that tonight.

Some friends are closer than family...these people are those people. You can go months without seeing them and, when you are back together, it's just like old times. I would trust them with my life and their children are like my children. Love you guys!!

But, I don't know what this new trend is, but some of the weddings I've been going to lately are not including "The Chicken Dance" in their line-ups. I don't want to seem like a total hick, but this just cannot continue. The Chicken Dance is a mandatory dance at ALL weddings. End of story.

Let me tell you of one of my embarrassing moments, though. Last summer we were at Wes and Ashley Hiser's wedding with Luke. At the reception we ended up sitting at a table right off the dance floor. The dance had begun and we hadn't gotten out on the floor yet. In fact, no one had even though the DJ had music on. I walked up to the DJ and requested The Chicken Dance because it is one of Luke's favorites. I didn't request it for RIGHT THAT MOMENT, though. I thought later, when the ice had been broken.

The DJ immediately started playing a sort of strange version of that song. Right away. And we were sitting right there where he could see me, so I thought, "Well, we have to go out." So, I dragged Loy and Luke out on the dance floor. Luke, of course, got very shy, but Loy and I did a wonderful solo performance of this dance--solo until Ashley's sister and her family felt sorry for us and came out and joined us. But, Loy and I were a tremendous chicken-dancing team.

When we got home we had a little time before I had to take Luke back to Phoebe's, so I went out and watched him shoot hoops in the driveway. Whatever game he was playing, it had strange rules. There was a lucky line, a life line, a check line, a beth line (yes, beth. I have no clue what that means), a death line, and a horror line. Evidently you had a certain amount of luck and each time you missed a shot, you used up one luck. But when you made a shot you got more luck. BUT, if you said "Practice shot" before you shot, you wouldn't lose your luck. BUT, then if it happened to go in, you would say, "No, that wasn't a practice." If it didn't go in, you said that you meant to miss that one and come in and rebound. Strange game. You talk as much as you play in this one.

Some of you have heard my dog obedience school story, but I want to write it down, since MY dog is evidently so envied by other dogs.

I signed Pip and me up for Small Dog Obedience. Loy cannot go the night it is offered, so I just picked the wilder of the two doggies to accompany me. Then I will homeschool Sparky. In the midst of a big thunderstorm, Pip and I set off. She has issues with traveling. We never take her anywhere, so she gets incredibly nervous. And how she demonstrates this attack of nerves is to...drool. Major drool. We're talking puddles on the backseat. I happened to look back at her and she was actually frothing at the mouth! She looked like a rabid dog!! I laughed out loud and told her she should lick her lips--that she looked stupid!!

We got in the huge room where the class was. We were in one of three rings with probably nine other dogs. I was talking to the owner next to me when she just pointed at Pip. Pip who was in full squat laying down a pile...not a tower...of poo. Right there in front of everyone!! The teacher said, "if your dog happens to have an accident (all heads turned to me) we will be happy to hold your dog while you clean it up." They brought me the sack for the offending tower along with paper towels and some spray cleaner. I tried to neatly pick up the poo, but it was the type that didn't all come up in the sack. So I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor to get it cleaned up while they held Pip.

Or while they TRIED to hold Pip. She got the better of them and slipped out of her collar and was, by this time, running free throughout the three rings. Get the mental picture...I'm on my hands and knees on the floor, holding a bag of poopie, scrubbing at the floor, and yelling at Pip to come here. I'm sure all the other dogs were thinking, "THERE'S the dog I want to be!!!" Finally we got her re-collared, I deposited the offending matter outside in the dumpster, and class could resume.

We rocked sit and mastered her name. And she didn't totally bomb the "Crash" command. I felt redeemed. Until I went over to talk to someone I knew there who had two naughty wiener dogs. (Well, I guess they weren't pooping in the ring, but they didn't do any of the tricks and barked the whole time.) My friend's daughter dropped the leash so one of the wiener dogs attacked Pip. Well, Pip couldn't take that attitude problem without fighting back, so we had a dog fight. Of course, none of the teachers or their helpers saw that this wiener dog attacked my little baby, so we have three black marks next to our name, I'm sure.

All that in one week of class!! We have six total lessons. I came home and tried to teach it all to Sparky. For Crash she kept laying on her back, legs in the air. She has no clue.

Loy and I are taking a Ballroom Dancing class with our friends, Gary and Anna. We've only had one class there also. We learned the waltz and the swing. Or the beginning steps of each. Loy feels like he's no good, but there were lots of men worse than he was. He said that I just picked it up so quickly and my response was that I should. Years of dancing lessons growing up and two years on the dance team at school. I should be able to pick this sort of thing up. We thought of trying one step at the wedding dance, but the song was awfully quick and I didn't think we were there yet. I thought it was fun. Loy, probably not so much, but he's being a great sport about the whole thing.

I finally finished doing a book of my England blog, complete with all my pictures. It came out to be 200 pages!! I can't believe that! Kind of an expensive little book for me! I did it through Blurb and it's a real hardcopy book. It was so fun to re-read all I had written. I'd forgotten lots of the things we did and people we met. I loved re-living it all.

That's it for here, folks. Have a great week!

Kitt.

 This is Nick and Jill during their first dance as a married couple. She looked like a princess!

Here is Paul, Matt, Kathy, and Luke bustin' a move.

Here is the conga line, Paul, followed by Luke, followed by Emily toting Kayla. 

4-2-13 Think Spring!

Well, it's April now. YAY! This winter really was not too harsh or snowy or bad, but I am sure ready to bid it adieu!! Most people, however, really love spring. I'm afraid I'm not one of them. Spring is always a disappointment for me.

I want it to be so warm and sunny and green. But it is not. It is usually colder than I want (probably due, in part, to the fact that I'm putting on shorts when it's 50 degrees, just because I can!) It rains on the most inopportune days--days when I have outdoor things planned. Then, just as you're adjusting to warmer temps--it snows or something inconvenient like that.

I love what it portends, though. Warm, relaxed times out on the patio. Running outside barefoot. Walks outside. Windows open. (Yes, I know...all seen through a very Pollyanna-ish view. Humidity, tornadoes, drought, mosquitos.) But I love summer. Really. Bring it!

I guess I haven't written in awhile. My #1 Fan (my mother-in-law) was commenting on how there have been no posts lately. It's so nice to have a Fan like her! She's also a huge fan of the Duggar family ("19 Kids and Counting" on TLC). The Duggars are friends with my sister, Bunny. So, last fall Bunny was commenting to Michelle Duggar how her sister's mother-in-law was a huge fan and could name all the kids. Michelle said she couldn't even do that! :)  Anyhow, she sent greetings to Dolores through Bun to me to Dolores. That made Dolores so happy.

Then, when Bunny was telling Michelle how much Dolores liked that, Michelle offered to give her two books they have written. And she autographed them. I added the first four seasons of the show (DVD) and we had ourselves a great gift. Dolores is watching them DVD's and reading the books and loving it!

We had a physical therapy intern living with us for three months--Suzi. She finished her internship last Friday and now we're back to just Loy and me (and the two beasties). We have counted and have had at least 15 different people live with us for months at a time throughout the years. It's kind of funny. We never think, "Hmm. Let's find someone to rent out our room." We just hear about these people. I like to think that God brings them here personally.

Gee, I'm the one writing this blog and it's boring me to death. People tell me that I should write a book...well, there are many, many boring entries. I'm not sure if they are book material! I am working on compiling all my England blogs into a book--complete with all our pictures. It's been so fun to re-read all those experiences. I had forgotten many of the details. (Right now it's 200 pages!)

Speaking of that--and international travel-- we are traveling to Estonia (it's former USSR--near Finland) in May. Wesleyan has a sister university in Tartu, Estonia, and they want two business professors to go over and talk to their business department. I will tag along. After a week in Tartu Loy and I will head off to Huddersfield to see our friends there. I'm very excited to take this trip! Luke says it is no fair that we get to go to England without him.

We took Luke to the Shrine Circus a few weeks ago. He sat there through the show just mesmerized. At one point he said, "THANK YOU for bringing me to the circus!!" Does a heart good!! His favorite act was the BMX bikers. At one point then did a total flip off their ramp. He thought that was totally great! Phoebe probably needs to keep an eye on him while he's riding his bike now--he may be trying to recreate the act!  :)

Next weekend Loy is living a childhood dream...he is taking Luke to see the Globetrotters. He said he has wanted to see them since he was about 9-years-old. I'm so glad he gets to do this. Luke is excited too, but he didn't know what they were until he'd watched some YouTube videos of their act.

HE IS RISEN!! Easter was quiet for us. No kids came to church with us. Lex and Corey came over for supper, which was great. They are looking for a house to buy in Omaha. Right now I think they're thinking of building, but no firm decisions have been made. She's been commuting to her job since January and is tired of the drive.

I've been thinking, lately, of my life. What am I doing that I am doing ONLY because I am a Christian?  I'm afraid that I'm not too sure if there is anything. I mean, I was raised in a Christian home, so my morals and values are, basically, Christian. Even if I wasn't saved I would probably not smoke or steal. My motives would be different, but I'm not too sure my actions would be.

I'm not going to wrap this one up for you...I haven't gotten my answer yet. But it is a thought-provoking question, at least to me. What does God want me to do that goes totally against my own will--totally against what I would naturally do?

I'd better go get ready for work now. Sorry for the dullness today.

Happy Spring!

Kitt.


Here's our little Payton having a great time in the ball pit! Love that girl!! She turns one this Friday!