Happily Ever After

I finished watching a fairy tale type movie tonight. Of course, it had a happy ending. Then I had to sit there and bask in all those happy feelings while the credits rolled and I sighed my little contented sigh that I can't help doing when I have finished a really good book or just watched a good movie, as in this case.

It got me thinking about fairy tales. I love that we are not bound by any of the rules of real life in them and that magic really happens. I loved the heroic rescues of the ones with all the odds against them. I love the good guys winning and the bad guys getting punished. But I think what I love the most is the happily ever afters.

I thought I might share some of the endings from a collection of fairy tales I have been reading to my son. It is entitled Fifty Famous Fairy Tales and was published by Whitman Publishing Company.

Cinderella: "Cinderella became a real Princess and lived happily with the handsome Prince, ever afterward."

Jack the Giant Killer: "... and there Jack and his wife lived in great contentment and happiness for many a year."

Hansel and Gretel: " ... and Hansel and Gretel and their father never again wanted for anything."

The Poor Man and the Rich Man: "But the poor couple lived contented and happy to the end of their lives."

The Elves and the Shoemaker: " ... but from that time forward everything went well for him as long as he lived."

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp: " ... Aladdin reigned in his palace and the whole land prospered and was happy."

Tom Thumb: "And Tom lived happily for many years and was known far and wide for his bravery and his cunning."

The Nose: "... who ever after lived happily in their palace."

Snow-White: "But Snow-White and the Prince lived long and reigned happily over their land for many, many years."

The Blue Light: "So the brave soldier married the King's daughter and for many years they lived happily and ruled the kingdom well."

The White Snake: " ... and were filled with love for each other, and they lived together for many years in undisturbed happiness."

The Frog Prince: "The Prince and Princess joyfully set out for the Prince's kingdom, where they lived happily a great many years."

King Thrush-Beard (this is my favorite fairy tale, so far): "So commenced the Princess's true joy as Queen of the handsome King Thrush-Beard."

The Pink: "The Young Prince married the beautiful flower-maiden and they lived happily ever after."

Reading these endings all together seems to impart the happiness all over again. But, of course, even in fairy tale land, some of the tales end, well, a little differently.

The Three Spinners: "And so she was set free for all time from the hated task of spinning flax."

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: "But, as the tailor used black thread, every Bean since that time has a black seam."

How the Sea Became Salt: "And that is how the sea became salt."

The Three Sillies: "So instead of getting a beating, they all got roast pig for supper. And if you stop by their house I'm sure they will give you a bite."

Late Night Thoughts on gDiapers

Ever heard of gDiapers? They are called a hybrid diaper, a mix of cloth and disposable. I believe that they are marketed towards disposable diaper users as a greener alternative. Here is my "it's late at night and I should be packing for our trip tomorrow" opinion about them.

gDiapers are adorable. Cute, cute, cute! For someone who is accustomed to disposables, these make you want to try them because they are just so cute! At least they did for me. They have an outer cloth part called "little g" pants (this is the cute part). The snap in liner is waterproof and washable. Then into the liner you insert a flushable, absorbent liner. Many people seem to get caught up that the flushables clogged their toilet, and give up on gDiapers altogether. This seems to be missing the point, because although the purpose is that you can flush them and not have to deal with them, the flushable liners can also be composted or simply thrown in the trash (they are biodegradable). Additionally, gDiapers now offers a cloth alternative. I have no experience with these, but have personally used trifolded prefolds or other cloth diaper inserts in the gDiapers with success.

Unfortunately, gDiapers were better in theory for us. Since I have a small, slow growing baby (this means he often would get "caught" between diaper sizes for months or even a year), getting a good fit was hard for us. We did use the gDiapers some when he was wearing diapers all day (he is potty trained now), but for me it was easier to use cloth diapers. That's kind of funny to me now, because when I was a disposable diaper user, gDiapers sounded easier than cloth, and gDiapers are probably what helped me make the initial leap to cloth (that, and the cloth diaper trial at Jillians Drawers).

Now that my son is day time potty trained, we have tried using gDiapers stuffed with cloth at nap, but they haven't always worked. Since we are using cloth diaper inserts or prefolds in them, the gDiaper gets too bulky to fit properly. If we were using the flushable inserts, I think it would work better.

As I said earlier, I need to be packing for our vacation, and I believe I will be packing (gasp) Pampers since I still have tons from that last big box I bought before switching to cloth. There aren't any laundry facilities where we will be staying, and I really don't want to take my cloth diapers to a laundromat on my vacation. If we didn't have our stash of Pampers, I probably would buy the flushable liners for the gDiapers and use those. I would definitely prefer gDiapers over disposables, for the environmental factor and for the "real" factor. My husband and I joke that cloth diapers are "real" diapers and disposables are "fake". After using cloth, I feel like I am diapering my child in a paper towel or something when I put a disposable on him. Funny, coming from the mom who said she would "never use cloth diapers"!

George Mueller

I have been reading about George Mueller lately. His complete trust that God will meet all of his needs is inspiring.

I recently finished this book about him.

I am now reading a second book about him (although mine is an older copy with a different cover):

We are currently reading the first book together as a family. It is a shorter book and an easier read. However, I am enjoying the other details and perspective in the book by Roger Steer.

Who Told?

There's a post written about me over at Serenity Now. You should read it. Before you read this.

OK, are you back now? She does a wonderful job of describing me and my mornings. Supposedly she wrote it about herself, but I can't believe that she could really think the exact same thing as I do in the morning. She doesn't even live in the same state as me -- how could she know that I have nothing to wear? I guess she did change the travel alarm clock I pull under the covers while pushing snooze into a cell phone -- that was a creative way to cover it up. And the joke about her boys' alarm clock and its hit song must be original because my boys don't even know what an alarm clock is. In fact, my little one thinks my alarm clock is a timer, and anxiously pushes the buttons every time he can get his hands on it, which is at least once a week.

Perhaps, she was really describing herself. The comments would indicate that other people suffer through mornings too. I want to know -- what do you do when the shower doesn't work? Coffee? I can't stand even the smell of coffee, but I found some wonderful little caffeine mints that I store in the bathroom for the worst of mornings. When I combine my "happy mints" with a shower, it usually works pretty well.

Any Zyrtec users out there? I ask because I take Zyrtec year round for my allergies, but have not been taking it this week for medical tests. And I can wake up in the morning! Even the morning after I couldn't fall asleep until 3 a.m.! As you know from Serenity's description of me, this is not normal. It has been such a drastic difference, not just in the morning but all day, that I am seriously considering a different allergy medicine. Not that I'll want to get up any more than I do now, but maybe the struggle won't be quite so hard if I can be awake enough to take control of myself before I snuggle back up with my alarm clock and hit snooze.

Battered Chicken Strips With A Couple Fried Sides and A Dollop of Gravy

About three weeks ago I caught a cold characterized by a bad cough. The next week my son got it. The next week my other son got it. To put it lightly, we are tired of being cooped up in the house, and we miss the library and the park (and people). I've also had a rather itchy and stuffy week, as I have been off of my allergy medicines in preparation for being re-tested for allergies (which have gotten completely out of control recently). My head wasn't feeling well, and although my wonderful husband fed my children leftovers, I wanted something else. Being grown-up does have its perks, after all.

We ended up at Sonic ordering the Chicken Strip Dinner Special. When I opened the box and looked at the food, I realized it was all the same color, and if not fried, at least coated with butter. It was an odd feeling, because I hardly ever eat a meal so much the same nor so fried: chicken sticks, tator tots, onion rings, white toast with plenty of butter, and a nice little cup of gravy for dipping! Usually I'll order a sandwich, and you know that one little sliver of iceberg lettuce and pale tomato make it so much healthier!

I sampled a little in the car, but wanted to wait until I got home to open the gravy. As soon as I sat down at the table, my children turned into cling-ons with many arms reaching into my box of fried wonders. (They obviously don't get this kind of one-color-fried-meal very often either.) Remember, they had just eaten their meal before we got mine. The little one is small for his age, so whenever a situation like this presents itself, his doctor's words "no dietary restrictions" always echo through my mind. So, I welcomed the little one into my lap, and he greedily grabbed a chicken strip in one hand and a tator tot in the other. The bigger boy was also suddenly starving, and since it really was a good amount of food for $3.99, I offered him some too. As we were finishing off the box, my husband and I broke into laughter when my older son enthusiastically announced: "This is a good bedtime snack!"

A Post More Like I Imagined

If you want to tie the title of this post to the post itself you will need to read my previous post first.

Tonight my five-year-old is in his bed (he supposed to be going to sleep . . . ) singing. Let me give you a sample of his song. He starts out singing:

Savior,

You can move a mountain,

My God is mighty to save,

He is mighty to save

(skips a line)

Author of Salvation

(then it is unclear..., but then)

HE CONQUERED THE BRIDGE!

Well, I am glad to know that my son has complete confidence in his Lord's ability to conquer the bridge. If you are unfamiliar with the song, I believe the correct words are "He rose and conquered the grave" which would make much more sense -- at least to an adult.

As his singing gets louder and louder, I can't help but wonder if he is singing more to stay awake than to praise his Lord, but I would never say that him. We may need to remind him to sing a little more quietly since it is bedtime, but I will not stop him from his childish praise. From what I have read of Jesus, He seems to like that sort of thing.

I'm really not afraid of them

Although I know it will greatly raise the percentage of posts about snakes on my blog (because I have so few entries and I have already blogged about snakes in my house), I just can't help it tonight. I wanted anyone who reads my blog to know that it is not because I am afraid of the snakes in my laundry room that I have put off finishing today's laundry, it's more that I'm just not in the mood for the snakes.

In fact, I think my first snake-in-the-house encounter (and my post-experience internet research on "What in the world do you do when you find a snake in the house??!!) has really removed all fear. Also, more than 50% of the snakes in my laundry room have been found already caught in a sticky glue trap for mice. Oh, and let me say, if you have ever had a problem with mice, mice really seem like no big deal when you get a snake problem.

Hopefully, when I switch my darks over to the dryer, I will find the snake that got away from my husband earlier today, nicely stuck in the glue trap specifically made for snakes, mice, scorpions, and other common household pests. I hope scorpions aren't common here. I wish snakes weren't, but I hope he likes corn chips, because that is what the trap smells like. I thought my husband was eating some in the laundry room.

Perhaps if I would have seen any of the snakes before they were caught I would be more afraid. My five-year-old told us today that he a saw a snake in the laundry room. He was calm and actually smiling, and it took my husband a moment to realize he wasn't joking. He is after all a boy, so I suppose snakes are not a big deal to him. (At least not in our house!) He did later say that the snake startled him; I'm glad to know that he handled it so well.

When I started this blog I envisioned cute little posts of my children saying funny things like my two-year-old does. But it doesn't seem to be turning out that way. Probably because when life is good and my boys are rolling out there funny lines, I am busy doing the laundry instead of stalling in my room.

Not because I am afraid of the snakes -- I'm just not in the mood for them.