Random Ramblings

Okay, just a few random things... first of all, all of a sudden I have 20 "followers". I think some of you felt sorry for me and wanted to make me feel better. Thank you! :) It did make me happy and was a little surprise when I logged in... I'm so ridiculously easy to amuse. ....sigh....

Also, just HAD to show off some adorable Easter photos of my kiddos... Jack was with Brian's parents in Memphis. I'm glad he had fun (so much so that he wasn't sure he wanted to come home) but I think that will be the last time I let one of my kiddos go away for a holiday until I have no choice in the matter. I missed him like CRAZY! And the really GREAT thing that happened on Easter (well, aside from the obvious... my Lord rising from the dead) was that Meg only wanted to pick up the PINK plastic eggs. We actually had to encourage her to get the green and purple ones. She left a giant blue one laying in the grass and no amount of coaxing would make her take it... THAT's my girl!

Something funny that happened was that we had this whole debunking of the Easter bunny this year. I took Jack to the grocery with me on Sunday night last week and decided that I needed to take the opportunity to get the stuff to fill the baskets. When I started gathering stuff, Jack, of course, said, "Who's that for?" I said, "It's for the Easter baskets." Jack: "What about the Easter bunny?" Me: "Jack, come on, do you REALLY think a giant bunny sneaks around the world and leaves baskets full of goodies for kids at night?" Jack: "First the tooth fairy and now this? Next you're going to tell me there's no such thing as Santa." Me: "Nope, Saint Nick is DEFINITELY real." :) I know that Jack "knew" there was no bunny... but he was afraid if he didn't believe he wouldn't receive. Then the night before Easter, Connor said to Brian, "I don't believe in the Easter bunny." Brian: "Why not?" Connor: "How does he carry all that stuff? He's just a bunny." Brian: "It's magic." Connor: "I won't believe it 'til I see him." We have a little doubting Thomas on our hands. It's okay with me, actually. I always thought the Easter bunny was a little hokey. I got Santa because Saint Nicholas actually did help the children and all that, but the Easter bunny seems so contrived and I can't make any kind of connection between the miracle of Easter and the arrival of a gift-giving bunny. It definitely seems like something that was made up to get non-religious kids in on the act, doesn't it. So I don't really care one way or the other if my kids buy into it. I give them the baskets, but I want them to know the real work that was done on Easter wasn't by a hare, it was in an empty tomb.

Also, I wanted to tell all of you that I am still crazy about you and love reading your blogs, but it's becoming increasingly annoying to try to do so on my ailing and feeble computer. It's a crap shoot if I can connect to the internet, when I do connect, sometimes it's so slow that I can cook dinner between page loads, and then sometimes it's totally normal. My in-house IT guy is NO help at all.... even though he is supposedly a Technical guru (I mean, he gets paid to fix people's IT problems, right?), I'm starting to feel like the cobblers child (you know, he makes shoes but his kids are barefoot?) Anyway, my 40th birthday is this year and I have asked my hubby to take me to the beach... I am thinking maybe I should ask him to spend the money on a bright and shiny new computer. Anyway, I say all this to say that I am still trying very hard to keep up with everyone that I have enjoyed following along the way, but if I don't log in every day, don't take it personally, it's just because I want to chunk my boat anchor PC out the window.

Speaking of people being barefoot... Thursday, April 16, is barefoot awareness day. Toms shoes are promoting an awareness campaign whereby everyone would go barefoot for the day to bring attention to the fact that many children around the world have no shoes. Toms will donate a pair of shoes for every pair purchased (all the time, not just that day.) There are diseases that can be prevented 100% of the time simply by wearing shoes, but many folks don't have any shoes to wear, so they get diseases because of one simple thing we take for granted every day. Now I have told you many times how much I love to go barefoot. However, I don't know if I have the nerve to go everywhere I need to go on Thursday with no shoes. I mean, Connor has to go for his school testing for pete's sake... what will the teachers think of me if I have no shoes on when I bring him in? Am I brave enough to go barefoot? It will definitely bring some attention to the issue... but do I have the nerve to do something so SIMPLE for me to do? It's just one day. I won't be going anywhere dangerous to my health. How brave am I? How much do I care about the kids with no shoes? Am I willing to do this simple thing that will possibly change someone's life? I don't know!

Also, I just finished reading Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Excellent read, very difficult in places, but worth the while if you're looking for a work of fiction with a purpose!

Okay, so those are the random thoughts from a random Tuesday on which my middle son woke up with some random itchy splotches on his chest and back and no other symptoms, pretty random, huh? And we are all home now playing Yahtzee! :)