My Bouquet of Weed Flowers

Happily Ever After

2010-05-28T00:12:00.007-05:00

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

2009-10-23T22:35:00.007-05:00

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

2009-10-22T15:44:00.009-05:00

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?

2009-10-07T20:43:00.005-05:00

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

2009-10-07T19:48:00.008-05:00

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

2009-10-01T19:41:00.010-05:00

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

2009-09-29T20:35:00.007-05:00

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.

Radio stations, Burger King, and a Barefoot Baby

2009-08-06T14:29:00.020-05:00

I was listening to the radio in the car today, and I was wondering how my local listener-supported Christian radio station, 90.7 KOBC, suddenly turned into KLOVE while I was away on vacation. I'm not necessarily disappointed in the change. I was somewhat bothered that the radio station could claim that it was safe for the whole family and then broadcast the local FOX news so that my young sons could hear who killed who over the weekend along with the gruesome methods that were used in the killing. Sorry, KOBC, but I won't miss frantically turning my radio off to prevent my tots from hearing about the most recent slaying or other graphic news. I will miss the weather alerts, however. Living in a part of the country that is frequently visited by severe storms (almost year round), I felt very safe knowing that KOBC was always very quick to alert their listeners of dangerous storms -- not all Christian radio seems as concerned. I guess the station is still KOBC, but is broadcasting KLOVE, I think. I am not sure how it works, but I hope they will still interrupt my favorite song to tell me if a tornado is headed my way.

Having listened to KLOVE online while working on my computer, I am not totally unfamiliar with it, and I do enjoy the radio personalities talking about Back-to-School Trapper Keepers and such. Today I heard them telling about a mother and her six-month-old baby. They were in a Burger King near St. Louis when the restaurant manager threatened to call the police if they didn't leave because the baby wasn't wearing any shoes! Did I mention that the baby was only six months old? Apparently the mother put socks on the baby's feet to comply, but the manager was not satisfied, and insisted that health codes were being broken.

When my firstborn was six months old, he didn't even own a pair of shoes! I took him out barefoot all the time. What did it matter? It was a hot summer, and he was a baby. He used his feet much the same as he did his hands. It would have no sooner occurred to me to put shoes on his feet than to put mittens on his hands.

This recent article reports that the restaurant has apologized and offered the family a free meal. Well, that is good to hear, but I still can't help shaking my head and wondering what that Burger King employee was thinking.

Exposing Cloth Diaper Myths

2009-06-19T15:09:00.014-05:00

Myth #2: Cloth diapers cause more diaper rashes than disposable diapers.

Having always been exposed to disposable diapers, I knew they contained this gel stuff in them that not only allowed them to absorb very large amounts of liquid, but also pulled the wetness away from the baby's skin to keep them dry. I have babies with fair, sensitive skin, so I knew it was important to keep that skin dry in order to prevent rashes. I used this myth strongly in my opposition to cloth diapers. However, I was simply uninformed.

There are many cloth diapers that keep the baby's skin dry. The diapers that I am familiar with use either fleece or suede cloth (it looks like fleece to me). Fleece doesn't absorb liquid, so the urine goes through the fleece to the absorbent material below. And it really does keep the baby's skin dry! Really! In fact, just recently my mother-in-law was checking my son's diaper to see if he kept it dry (he is potty training). She felt it and felt it and felt it some more and was convinced it was completely dry. It turns out it was a little wet, but she could not feel any wetness. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, here are some links for three popular diaper brands with a stay dry lining: bumGenius, Fuzzi Bunz, and Thirsties.

Of course, there are cloth diapers that do not pull the wetness away from the baby's skin, and many people choose these diapers. Stay dry liners which you can lay in the diaper are available in fleece or silk, and these can be used with other types of diapers.

I want to disprove the myth that says cloth diapers cause diaper rash. I believed this myth because I simply didn't have the information to show me otherwise. I wish I would have tried cloth sooner, because my second son (who was a year old before switching to cloth) had almost constant diaper rash as a young baby. If his bottom was not continually slathered in expensive diaper rash cream (Desitin and the like didn't help at all), he would get a bad diaper rash. Huggies brand diapers gave him an even worse rash -- it was so bad we couldn't even use them occasionally. Of course, every baby is different, and I don't know if he would have done better in cloth diapers (though I tend to think so now), but I firmly believe that the general idea of cloth diapers causing more diaper rashes is just not true.

Pretty Weeds

2009-04-16T15:48:00.018-05:00

When we bought our house it had a beautifully manicured yard: nicely trimmed around all of the many edges, several landscaped flower beds, pruned bushes, and grass. The grass part of the yard was actually grass, a nice thick carpet of beautiful green blades without a single yellow colored weed that my son calls "sunflowers" (I call them "dandelions"). I loved the feeling of the thick, lush grass under my bare feet in the summer. It almost looked liked something out of a magazine (or more accurately, a lawn fertilizer/weed killer ad).

But, alas, that yard is long gone. My lawn is now comprised mostly of native wildflowers and grasses (a.k.a. weeds). As a whole the yard is definitely not attractive (except, of course, when inhabited by my beautiful boys), but I love the patches of these small flowers. Up close they are truly beautiful. I don't care if they are someone else's weeds, to me they are flowers. Besides, since there is not much grass left, I would rather have what is there be called flowers and not weeds. Telling myself that my lawn is dotted with pretty flowers helps me to forget that they attract the bees which prevent me from walking barefoot on what used to be a lush, green carpet. Now as for those "sunflowers" that have begun to litter my yard, well those are only beautiful in the outstretched hands of my son who picked them just for me.

Wednesday Lunches at Our House

2009-02-04T14:49:00.004-06:00

This is our standard Wednesday homemade "lunchables" lunch. It all started last fall when I was stocking up on easy lunch and supper foods to feed my boys while my husband was away on a business trip. I bought several Lunchables, and my son absolutely loved them (and I loved their ease). When my son continued to ask for Lunchables, I decided to try making them myself. It was such a hit that we have them every Wednesday. They are so easy for me -- no peanut butter to spread or corn dogs to cook; just slice the cheese and meat, open the crackers, peel a banana, and pass out the baby carrots. I usually include a cookie or other treat (I rummage up some leftover Halloween candy if I am all out of other treats). For really busy days, I make these the night before for a no-prep lunch. It's a win-win lunch: the kids love that it is fun and out of the ordinary, and I love how quick and easy it is to prepare, eat, and clean up. And somehow giving it a name like "Wednesday Lunchables" makes it extra special.

Homemade Cloth Napkins

2009-02-01T12:22:00.010-06:00

I've always been a big napkin user. I like to wipe my fingers off while eating, and I don't feel clean if I haven't wiped my mouth off when I am finished. I use them at every meal and often in between. Now that I have two boys we go through quite a few napkins in a week. Until recently we always used paper napkins from the store. I never thought of using cloth napkins for every day napkins -- they were reserved for special occasions . . . until I ran out of napkins one day. I was unable to get to the store for a couple days, so I had to find something to use. I pulled out the stash of cloth napkins I had received when I got married. I chose the ones I thought would be less likely to stain, and handed them out around the table. It wasn't until that day that the thought occurred to me to use cloth napkins every day on purpose.

I shopped around but had trouble finding reasonably priced napkins that would last through multiple washings and be a suitable color for my boys to use while eating spaghetti, Sloppy Joes, and anything chocolate. So I set out to make my own. I tried cutting the edges with pinking shears as is recommended here, but they began to fray too much after only a couple washes. I liked the idea of pulling out strands to make a frayed napkin as is shown here, but it seemed too tedious and I never got around to it. So, although my sewing skills were at the time limited to sewing on a button, I set out to sew a simple napkin. The napkin tutorial here was very helpful, and I made a couple similar to these. However, I don't like ironing, and it just seemed too difficult to iron a ¼ inch fold to get a hem, so I just started pinning and then sewing. I sewed these by hand because I did not have a sewing machine. No, they are not perfect, but they are every day napkins. Here is a picture of some.

After a while my mom gave me her sewing machine, and I was excited that I would be able to quickly sew up some more napkins. My sons and I had visited a fabric store and picked out some fun "boy" prints. However, upon my first try I realized that with my patience and limited sewing machine skills, that little hem was actually easier by hand. So I set out to make double sided napkins which are much easier on the sewing machine. I got my inspiration for them here. These are the double sided napkins I have made so far.

I never knew that cloth napkins could be so much fun, and I certainly never thought about using them while eating Tuna Noodle Casserole on Tuesday evening!

Exposing Cloth Diaper Myths

2009-01-30T21:42:00.004-06:00

Myth #1: Cloth diapers leak more than disposables.

No diaper, cloth or disposable, is one hundred percent leak proof all of the time. Some may leak more than others. Some may work better on your baby than on someone else’s baby. I have had leaks with both disposables and cloth diapers. My son had a huge poopy blowout in a Pampers Baby Dry that I discovered as I took him out of his car seat in the Walmart parking lot. The mess extended down inside his pants to his socks and shoes (which were ruined). When I used disposables at night on my one-year-old boy, he would wake up wet every morning. The diaper would always leak out of the front even though the rear inside of the diaper (in this case, Pampers Cruisers) was still dry. I wish I would have known that cloth diapers can actually leak less. I had always heard that cloth diapers leaked a lot more often, and that made sense to me. I couldn’t see how a flat cotton fabric wrapped around a baby in some weird way -- that I couldn’t figure out -- would contain better than a “real” (in my former opinion: disposable) diaper. We all have things in our lives that we discover later rather than sooner, and I wish that somebody would have told me that the cloth diapers of today really don’t leak any more than disposables. I would have been using them much sooner.

My baby has had two poopy diaper leaks with cloth diapers, and in both cases it was because the diaper was too big. I have since moved down a size in those brands of cloth diapers and have had no leaks. The great thing about cloth diapers is that there are so many more choices than disposables. Just as clothing is made in standard sizes, and every shirt won’t fit every baby, diapers come in different shapes and sizes too. Once you find a cloth diapering system that you like, you still have even more options for absorbency: quick absorbency, more absorbency, less absorbency, trim absorbency. Since the point of this post is to tell you that as a whole cloth diapers don’t leak more than disposables, I am not going to explain the many different types of cloth diapers available. However, if you want to learn more about the types of cloth diapers, I would highly recommend www.jilliansdrawers.com. They also have a risk free cloth diaper trial program, and as it is what introduced me to the world of cloth diapers, I highly recommend it also.

Every cloth diaper may not work well for every build, age, or gender of baby, but neither does every brand of disposable diapers. In order to find a cloth diaper system that will not leak, you will need to find a diaper that fits your baby well and find the right absorbency that works well for you and your baby. It’s not as hard as it may sound. I believe that once you find the cloth diaper that suits your specific needs, you too will realize that cloth diapers can indeed leak less than disposable diapers.

Exposing Cloth Diaper Myths

2009-01-25T18:03:00.031-06:00

Pins, Leaks, and Other Outdated Information

When my first son was born, it never even crossed my mind that I needed to make a decision between disposable and cloth diapers. I really had never heard of anyone using cloth diapers in this day and age, and I sure had plenty of reasons not to use them. My mother had used cloth diapers with my brother because it was all she could afford at the time. She told me stories about his diaper rashes, the leaks, the mess, the trouble, and the extra work that cloth diapers bring. Really, how well could a small, thin white “diaper” (otherwise known to me as “burp cloths”) really absorb and contain?

It was quite by accident that I came across some cloth diapers that were much different. In fact they were almost identical to a disposable, except that of course they were made from fabric; they went on the baby the same way -- right down to the Velcro tabs. It was at this point that I realized that the cloth diapers my mom used thirty years ago really are comparable to a burp cloth now, and that the cloth diapers of today can hold their own against disposables. My mom even says that the cloth diapers I now use "aren't cloth diapers" because they are so different from what a cloth diaper was to her. This series of blog entries is my attempt to debunk the myths about cloth diapers, and hopefully to show you that cloth diapers can be even better than name brand disposables.

Muffin Tin Monday

2008-12-15T14:40:00.006-06:00

We did something called Muffin Tin Monday today for lunch. You can read all about it at Her Cup Overfloweth. I like the idea, but I currently lack the time and energy to keep up with the themes on her blog. You could say our theme today was "Clean the Leftovers out of the Fridge"!

My four-year-old had already started eating, so his muffin pan isn't the prettiest. He had leftover potato soup, hot dogs, pineapple, cheese slices, ketchup, and Goldfish crackers. He recommended that we do this again.

My 18-month-old was equally thrilled with his lunch. He had applesauce and spanish rice instead of the pineapple and ketchup. He excitedly pointed out each muffin cup to show me all the different foods he had in his tin.

Who knew leftovers could be so fun simply by serving them in a muffin pan?

" . . . and watch out for snakes!"

2008-11-19T17:20:00.009-06:00

I find myself issuing that command far too often to my four-year-old son. It usually doesn’t come as he is venturing outside to play, but instead when he is in the Laundry Room/Craft Storage & Production Room. This multi-purpose room is where I spray, scrub, soak, and wash my little artist’s garb endlessly to remove the marks left by “washable” markers, paints, and crayons and is also the room where I saw the first snake.

It started out with one of those moments when you see something out of the corner of your eye – perhaps a cord or hose – and you think it is a snake or something else potentially dangerous thatdoesn’t belong in your house. However, this time as I turned to see what it was (so I could rationally tell my body to relax and stop the sudden surge of adrenaline), I realized it really was a snake! This being the first time I had encountered a snake inside my house, my reaction wasn’t exactly calm and collected. It involved running, a scream or two, a slammed door, a hasty rescue of my one-year-old (who incidentally was in no real danger), and a frantic phone call. Of course the snake planned his break-in (uh, I mean “her break-in” . . . read on) while my husband, who is the usual Critter-in-the-House-Dealer-Wither, was a few states away on a business trip. Whether the snake followed a mouse in or not, I may never know, but having had a couple mice invade our house in the past, we still had some glue mouse traps set out, and luckily, the snake’s head was stuck in a trap. Once I realized the snake was impaired, I put it into a trash bag, and my father-in-law later killed it. Unfortunately, I think it was a mama snake. My husband has since found a baby snake in another mouse trap in the garage, and I saw a baby snake that was a miniature version of the laundry room snake on our front porch.

The week following the first snake incident was the worst – I kept “seeing” snakes everywhere, but as time goes by I think I am getting closer to normal. I can enter my laundry room with a quick glance instead of a complete stop and thorough inspection for anything that doesn’t belong. I don’t jump quite as high when I see a cord or shoelace on the floor. I’m not quite as squeamish when digging to the bottom of a basket of craft supplies or under a pile of dirty laundry. But, try as hard as I may, I just can’t refrain from calling after my son, “. . . and watch out for snakes!”

The Original Bouquet

2008-10-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Today my son came in from playing outside and told me that he brought a "bouquet of weed flowers" for me. Of course, any flowers brought to me by my four year old son are always wonderful and pretty, but since all of the real flowers from my garden have been dead for a while, these "weed flowers" were an unexpected and very welcome sight. As I sat enjoying my bouquet of weed flowers and the weed flower bearer, my husband suggested that could be the name for my blog (which I have been wanting to start but just couldn't decide on a title that fit and yet was unique).

Thus comes My Bouquet of Weed Flowers: a place where I can share about the little and big happenings in my life. Although not all people may be interested in a bouquet of weed flowers for themselves, it is my hope that the readers out there who also love bouquets of weed flowers will find some interest in the topics about which I write.