{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

Here are some older pictures of Chloe. Before she spent her days in hiding, trying to avoid becoming Wiggle Man's seat cushion.

My head's still full of non-bloggable stuff, but I'll try to get back to my normal blogginess soon--thanks for checking in, friends!

Spring Chickens

Ok, I know it's not quite spring yet. And these aren't even this spring's chickens; they're from last year. (3 of them are still around, though.)

I also know I've been a little silent in bloggy world. I didn't even get a Not Me! Monday in yesterday, for heaven's sake! Sorry, friends. There's been a lot going on in my head and in my house--nothing major, though. Just lots of little things all at once--like Wiggle Man teething, and now getting a nasty cold on top of it.

Speaking of the Wiggle, he seems to be in need of some snuggles. Or something, so I'm off.

Don't It Always Seem To Go...

You truly don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

Like water.

Last night Hubba Hubba and I went out on a hot date--to our local high school's musical. Incidentally, they did a fabulous job. And I love me some Brigadoon. So it really was a fun date, and I'll likely be singing Bonnie Jean for weeks now.

We made our way home. Hubba Hubba's sister informed us she'd let us get our coats off and in the door before she told us the bad news. (She was kind enough to tell us that Wiggle Man was fine.)

It turns out when they ran the water for Wiggle Man's bath, they discovered a fun surprise. Brown water.

Yup, we've got some dirt in our water, and they can't come to fix it until Monday.

It's amazing how set in my ways I can be. I had to really concentrate while brushing my teeth. I so wanted to turn on the faucet.

Well, at least I won't be washing dishes until Monday.

Please Pray

In 2006 I was blessed to be able to travel to Kenya as part of a short-term mission team from my church. One of my main responsibilities was to organize and run a VBS-style program for the children of The Compass School. This school has been close to my heart ever since, and I've kept in contact with some of the faculty. You may remember I mentioned a Kenyan visitor back in November--that was David, the headmaster of Compass School. He was in the U.S. raising funds and awareness for the work they do with the children of Kikuyu.

Last night I received an email letting me know that two of the boys from the school drowned while swimming in a nearby swamp. Their names were James and Enock. They were in the fourth and fifth grades.

If you're not the praying type, I understand. If you are, however, please pray for the families of James and Enock, as well as the faculty, staff, and children of the Compass School and the community as a whole.

My heart hurts today.

Wordless Wednesday

Having a Bird

I am officially a blogger, it seems. Hubba Hubba's sister walked in this evening and asked if I had blogged about the bird. So, I'm going to blog about the bird.

I desperately wish I had pictures to show you, because I'm pretty sure they would speak volumes. At the very least, they'd be able to better convey to you the utter ridiculousness that was our home last evening. Sadly, the batteries in my camera chose yesterday to die. I went digging through the drawers and came up with 693 AAA batteries, but not enough AA batteries for my camera. Naturally.

It all began yesterday morning. There was a ton of snow that fell here, beginning Sunday evening. Now, when I say "ton", please understand that I'm referring to a Jersey ton. A ton of snow in The True North Strong and Free is a totally different thing. The snow we had here yesterday would not have closed schools in the TNSAF, or cancelled my worship team practice. Not that I didn't make the most of my new-found free time and waste an entire evening watching the worst Bachelor ever.

But I digress.

So, there was snow. A Jersey ton. Enough to send all the birds in a 2-mile radius to our house, looking for shelter. (It's the bird feeders. You know how you're more likely to find a hotel near a restaurant? Same concept.)

Well, four of them were successful. Yes, four. They made their way into our basement. Don't ask me how yet. I don't know.

Hubba Hubba's sister managed to shoo three of them up and out. (This is around the time I started looking for the camera. I should have remembered the video camera. That would have been even better.)

The fourth bird managed to elude my broom-wielding sister-in-law. So, we "forgot" about him for the day. I think we hoped he'd just find his way out the same way he came in. What we forgot to factor in was Chloe, our fierce fluff ball. She found Mr. Bird, and he made his way upstairs.

Now, by this point Hubba Hubba's mother had joined us for the evening. This is where it gets really interesting. There we were, three grown women chasing this poor bird around the house. The broom came back out. Doors were opened.

Skills were mocked.

As if my holding my hands out and sweetly asking Mr. Bird to come to me was any more ridiculous than Hubba Hubba's sister holding out the broom and asking Mr. Bird to hop on it.

Twice my sister-in-law had the bird in her hands. Twice he outsmarted her. We tried trapping him, shooing him, chasing him and throwing scarves over him. Wiggle Man found the whole process highly amusing. Hubba Hubba found it even funnier.

Twenty minutes later, the bird hopped out an open door.

At least Mr. Bird survived to tell the story to his birdie friends. Sometime I'll tell you about my mother-in-law's encounter with a bird one Christmas morning. That bird was not so lucky.

Not Me! Monday

Once again, Monday has rolled around. But, with Monday comes...Not Me! Monday, the fabulous blog carnival started by MckMama. So head on over to her blog to check out her NM!M post, and don't forget that Mr. Linky will have a HUGE list of other bloggers participating. Plus, you can also see how close to the top I made it. (Last week I was #83--shooting for top 50 this week!)

This week I did not cut my finger on the blender. You might be thinking that would be a relatively understandable thing to do, what with the sharp blades, and all. If I did it. Which I didn't. But, being the queen of grace and lightness that I am, I certainly didn't injure myself on the plastic handle. Yes, the plastic handle. Good thing I didn't do that.

Along those same graceful lines, I did not manage to also twist my ankle this week. If I had twisted my ankle it would certainly have happened while doing something awe-inspiring--perhaps rock climbing, or taking Wiggle Man on a nature hike, or in tap lessons. Something. Anything. It's definitely a good thing I didn't twist it doing something silly like trying to scratch the bottom of one foot with the big toe of the other.

While packing this week, I did not repeatedly refer to the packing tape dispenser as "the son of Lucifer." This had nothing to do with the fact that this tape dispenser mangled the tape every other time you used it. Also, it was red.

I did not actually get excited when Wiggle Man pooped in the bath tub the other night. I was not excited to have a chance to actually show him his poop to get him thinking about potties.

I did not just blog about poop.

I did not buy cinnamon rolls to bake this morning because a snow storm was coming. I do not celebrate snow days as "random Sabbaths." I do not think they deserve special meals, and lots of relaxing. I totally agree with Hubba Hubba that we should spend the day packing.*

Also, I have not viewed packing as an opportunity to live in Hubba Hubba's sweatshirts.

Anyway, I'm off to bake cinnamon rolls. What did you not do this week?

*If you're not a regular reader, check out this post to see why we're packing, but not moving.