Who Am I???  

Posted by cokelady

And what has happened to the GOOD blogger who once was??? I just can't seem to get back into the groove of this blogging thing, no matter how hard I try. It feels like I just post something and then I look up and *poof* it's been a week! Is there therapy available for this sort of mental disturbance??? Can we start a special group of some kind to help support the feebleminded as the Bible instructs us to??? Will somebody out there volunteer to head up such a thing? I'd do it myself, but I'd probably forget it by tomorrow. ;-)

The Bake Sale. Well, we started off with a bang. Literally. The morning began with Katie helping me load all of the goods into the back of the van. I was in the kitchen gathering more stuff when she suddenly appeared, sobbing hysterically. "Oh, Mom!!! I'm soooooooo sorry!!! Do you think you could ever forgive me?!?!?!" ~sigh~ "What did you do, Kate?" "I dropped the pumpkin pie!!! Oh, I'm sooooooooooo sorry!!!!" Oh, well. Easy come, easy go. James made her go get her stash ($4) and donate it to the Bake Sale because she wasn't supposed to be carrying the pies to begin with and since she cost us that sale, the least she could do was pay it back. Some of it, anyway. The other pie was still perfect and sold for $8. And we had a terrific, however unsightly, pumpkin pie to enjoy for the next few days. :-)

It was a lot tougher sale day than usual--felt like we had to fight for every penny this time. Actually, that wasn't nearly as bad as all of the flies and bees that we had to fight! We have never had this problem before. There were just swarms of bees all over the place! And they are the most persistant things in the world! They'd land on a Rice Krispy treat, walk over to the corner and start unwrapping the plastic wrap and wedging their bodies inside!!! We sacrificed several treats for the sheer pleasure of throwing them on the ground and stomping them to kill the pesky bees. The rest we just swatted left and right with a fly swatter that Tammy had gone into the store to buy within the first 30 minutes! Come to think of it... there's probably a direct connection between our slow sales and the merchants slinging a fly swatter madly at their baked goods and throwing half of them on the ground and stomping wildly, then throwing their heads back and laughing maniacally, "HA! Die, hymenopterous sugar fiend!!! DIE!!!!!" Ya' think?! ;-)

The other problem was the weather. It was (brace yourself) 90 degrees that day. Can you imagine?!?!? That's just wrong. It's October, for goodness' sake! I wonder what it is God is punishing all of west Texas for. One thing is for sure, it's making it a lot easier to think of parting with this terrible, sweaty place! Ha! I even wore my new leafy turtleneck. And my fall sweater. And my new boots. I was aware that it would be too warm for such nonsense, but it's OCTOBER and I just can't help but rebel against such ludicrous weather. I, of course, had shed the sweater by the time we were done setting up the table. But at least I started out with the proper attire for a fall Bake Sale! Ha! Anyway, that's the other reason we had a hard time selling. Who wants to buy fudge that is turning into glop on a sunny table--while they themselves are wearing shorts and tank tops, no less?! Just a bad day for it. But God still blessed us and we were able to make $310. And have plenty of left-overs to split between us all! We were happy to have sold all of the banana bread and the large poppyseed loaf (can't remember how many small ones), the surviving pumpkin pie and both pumkin rolls, all but two of the popcorn balls and even most of the fudge by the end of the day. Here are a few pictures to show you how purty everything looked in the first few minutes, before the bees started attacking us and our bread and cookies had flyswatter indentions all over them. ;-)





We had a really, really good service on Sunday. Sara led our song service and we had good worship, then Brother Sam preached a really, really good message, then I did my WMB boost. I felt like the Lord really helped me with that, so it was a great day! Then we all decided to drive to Odessa to eat at the Olive Garden. Bad, bad, bad idea. Actually, the idea sounded good, but it panned out bad. I had only eaten at the Olive Garden one time in my life (when Jeremiah took a couple of us girls there for his 13th birthday or something weird like that), so I thought it would be great. We waited for 15 or 20 minutes to be seated and thought our waiting was over. Ha. We had one of the all time worst waitresses in the history of the world. She was incredible. We really liked her--she was very nice--and we just assumed that she must be new. Like, brand new. Like, just got hired about 10 minutes ago new. So we tried to be patient. (As if we had a choice.) We all acted like good, mannerly Christians until she mentioned that we were her only table and that she aims to please--indicating that that's why she was able to give us such exceptional service. ?!?!? You'll all be happy to know that we still acted like good, mannerly Christians after that. It just took a lot more effort. ;-) All in all, we were there for about 2 and a half hours.

We stopped by the bookstore to look around, just for fun, then James asked if I would drive back to Andrews because he wasn't feeling very well. I was tired, but figured I was in better shape to drive than he was. I was wrong. By the time we had made it half way home I was in bad, bad, bad shape! I was in absolutely no condition to be driving at all. I can safely say that I have never, ever struggled to stay awake at the wheel like that, even in all of our big trips. It was WEIRD. I was singing and swaying and jiggling my legs and doing all sorts of things, and then I'd jerk like I had started to nod off--in the midst of all of that! Honesly, it wasn't a normal tired thing. To me it seemed like how someone might feel if they were drunk--we're talking seriously impared. (I even wondered if perhaps that wacky waitress had slipped something into my cherry cream soda--it wasn't very good! Hhmmm... maybe THAT'S what was taking so long--she was back there spiking all of our drinks!!!) I could not stay alert, I could not focus, I could not think. We got into town and I was still going 70+ even though the speed limit had dropped to 45. I wouldn't have realized it even then if James hadn't woke up and informed me of it! I was going to turn left onto "K" Street, but couldn't remember if I was supposed to stay in my lane or move into the middle lane before turning... I just couldn't THINK at all. It was soooooooo scary!!! The scariest part of it all is that I was endangering all of our lives and countless others who were on the road!!! Looking back on it, I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T JUST PULL OVER!!! How dumb can you be?! I get such a sick feeling when I think about it--and I'm sooooooo thankful that God was merciful to see us home safely. It must have been Him because I had nothing to do with it that day! WHOA. I just pray that if I ever feel such a wacky sensation again I'll have the presense of mind to recognize it and address it instead of try to fight through it!

Needless to say, I took a good nap when we got home that afternoon!!! ~whew~ What a weird sensation. James let the kids watch Night at the Museum and we had Sam & Tammy over to play games. James even played the first two with us! Wow! Scrabble, Grace--we played Scrabble! I hate Scrabble. And get this... Tammy almost won! I mean, big time!!! I had to fight long and hard to barely squeeze past her and win by two points. That girl knows how to place 3 and 4 letter words on a Scrabble board like nobody I've ever seen! 20 or 30+ points for words like DOG and MOP! Ha! She was amazing. Anyway, then we played I Buy. I won that one, too. Then James threw in the towel and the rest of us played Rummy. Me, again. :-) What a night!!!

Monday was COLD! Wa-Hoo!!! It was the first day of cold that we've had this year and I was soooooooooooo excited!!! It wasn't really cold, but cold enough to celebrate. So I whipped out my beloved Bronco's sweatshirt (I just realized that the thing is 10 years old!) and the kids insisted on getting all bundled up to go play in the back yard. I do mean all bundled up, too. Coats, stocking caps, scarfs, gloves... It was at least 50 or 60 degrees, but you would have thought they'd just landed on Antarctica! Ha! In fact, Joe was back in the house in about 30 seconds declaring it was just too cold out there. I told him that I worked way too hard to get him all bundled up for him to come back inside that soon and that he was going to have to stay out for at least 5 minutes! I shooed him back out the door and they all got distracted playing.

Next thing I knew Sam had come inside and was running back out the back door--wearing his boots and jeans, and nothing but a vest up top. He and Joe have decided they like to dress up like Indians from time to time and they'll wear one of their vests with no shirt under it. (Blows my mind that I allow such a thing--but they're just so cute! Ha! And they're only allowed to do it when it's just us here.) So he went from full winter garb to his half-naked Indian costume. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he insisted that he would be warm enough. Of course, it wasn't long before all three kids were back inside and this is how I found them...

Yup, James built the first fire of the season! Wa-Hoo!!! It was terrific. The kids and I played some games and I made corn chowder for dinner. Sam & Tammy came over again to join us and then we played a couple more games. What a great day!!!

Yesterday we headed back over to Odessa. Our cold day on Monday made us realize that the boys are in desperate need of some cold weather shirts, so we went in search of them. We were able to find some good deals and get them a few things--and some for Katie and me as well. We found a few more things at Bealls here in Andrews today, too. We haven't been in that store for months and months, but they've got a big sale going right now and as it turns out it was a good thing we went and checked it out! I got a couple of long sleeved Henley's pretty cheap--and a cute springy button-up shirt for $4! Makes me happy. :-)

We had nursing home service tonight. It went without incident this time, I think. I did turn around once to find Joe and Sam huddled up together holding a plastic grenade and whispering to one another. I confiscated it before there was any chance of it being hurled into the gathering of old folks. Thus, the service went without incident this time. Oh, that that sixth sense would kick in every time and I could spare us all from the antics of conniving little children! Ha!

Okay, that is MORE than enough for one night. That's what happens when you're a bad blogger and you take several days off. You just have so much to catch up on!!! There's actually more than that, but I know how tired I am of this post, so I can only imagine how tired the rest of you must be of it! Ha! If there's anybody still reading, that is. You probably gave up 6 paragraphs ago. Wimps. Ha! I'll let you go. Right after a couple more pictures. ;-)

This is Sam in his pirate garb and Joe after having fixed his hair by himself. Nerd.



Goodnight, all! Talk to you later!!!

~Becki~

P.S. -- There seems to be little to no interest in our house by any prospective buyers. Please help us pray for God to bring the right buyer at the right time. And for us to be patient and rest in Him for His perfect will. :-)

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9 comments

What a wonderful post! I giggled my way through to the very end. We'll be praying for the right buyer at the right time, now you get to practice patience. ~grin~

I read every word, and laughed out loud several times. The last 2 pictures are hysterical!!
Hymenopterous??? You've been going to dictionary.com again, huh? Seeing how you and I had to look up the definition of ornithology one time, I know for sure hymenopterous is NOT a word commonly used in your vocabulary. HA! But, it made me go look it up--not that I'll ever remember it!
The Bake Sale table is fabulous! How great that you have such cute display pieces at your disposal from Sue's store. But even without them, your adorable ribbons and price tags are to die for! I can't believe you got $8 for a pumpkin pie! They probably had them for sale inside the store for $3. HA! But the store bought ones have only half as much filling in them and don't taste nearly as good. But that's a risk a buyer would have to take. I'm glad there was somebody in Andrews who felt the risk was worth it. :-)

You're bake sale is so pretty!
I'm soooo in the mood for that melted fudge! I love to spread it on bread and eat it. (Ha! Just try it before you say "no". )

Ha! I knew you'd have to go look it up, Mom! Yeah, I did run to the dictionary for that one. I knew there was a really great word out there that I needed to learn for the sake of that sentence. ;-)

I could have sold at least 2 more pumpkin pies at $8. Two people came out of the store, took one look at the table said, "Hey, where's that pie that was here when I went in?!?"--just after it had sold. Nobody does anything from scratch anymore, so they're willing to pay crazy prices to someone who will. We're actually thinking about having a PIE SALE on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I think we could make a killing!

And the table decor came from my house, not Sue's store. Actually, I guess it came from Sue's store to my house a few weeks ago (!), and then from my house to the bake sale. ;-)

Slimy fudge smothered bread. Mmmmm. Sounds, um... great.

Ha!

All of those wire baskets and tiered shelves are YOURS??? WOW!
A pie sale would probably do great for you guys. You're right . . . nobody cooks from scratch anymore and they CERTAINLY don't make their own pie crusts! What kinds of pies would you make? Pumpkin, pecan, . . . what else? Yum! I'm really hungry. *rubbing tummy*

Ha! Okay, so I didn't consider the wire as "decor"--that stuff is SUE'S. (I'd love to have it all, but who could afford it?! Even at the family discount price! Ha!) I was refering to the pumpkins and other little things sitting around here and there.

Tammy mentioned doing some fruit pies, too. Sounds good to me... except I would have to make really pretty lattice tops for them and it would take me FOREVER! Ha!

Great post, slacker!

The bake sale table is just gorgeous! I'm very impressed with the amount of preparation you guys do. It's hard to imagine anyone walking by without at least stopping to look.

The kid pictures are great too! I'm pretty surprised you let your boys run around with just vests on. That's so not like you! But I TOTALLY understand. Some times you just can't help yourself. Love Joe's hair! :-)

You know your blog is pretty much the only one that I actually read aloud to my husband occasionally. We were DYING over this one! (Plus the comments between you and your mom!)

Brad said to tell you that "Opium dealers who gaudily decorate their wares are for the subject of ornithologists." LOL! Kidding, of course!

I TOTALLY love the display stands and shelves! That would be worth investing in, they totally make the table! That and your other decorations. Looks FANTASTIC!

90 Degrees You think that's
HOT,Its like 100 something
here well not today but it's nice
I think it's cool here but you wont
cuz it's 90 degrees here that's nice