Winner of Tea and Trouble Brewing!

It was really fun reading all the comments about your "flawed and scatterbrained" moments in response to the review of Tea and Trouble Brewing by Dorcas Smucker! I can totally relate to the stories of getting lost because of bad directions (or getting lost in general!), the cheese ball on top of the van (only I ended up chasing important papers all over the street), forgetting things in motel rooms, finding interesting items in the refrigerator (or dishwasher!), leaving out an essential ingredient when cooking, blaming your child (or husband!) for losing something that you safely tucked away, leaving water running and forgetting it, locking yourself out of the house (or car!), leaving the kitchen for "a minute" and burning something.

The Cozumel "snake" story was hysterical! I can just imagine how easily that could happen, and how foolish, yet relieved you would feel!

But forgetting about one of our darling children? Love for our children is all-consuming;  their health, happiness and survival are of utmost importance to us. I'd like to say that at least I never forgot about any of my children. I'd like to say that. But I have to be honest, in case this is read by my dear friend who knows that I left one at a park once, oh so many years ago. I blame my husband, of course. When you come in two vehicles, it's hard to keep track of who has what children. I'm pretty sure that's why the little guy was forgotten. As Vivian wrote, "Thank God for guardian angels who cover for our foolishness."

This merry-go-round of life gets to spinning so fast that sometimes even the most important and precious things can get overlooked or momentarily forgotten.  It doesn't seem quite fair that some of us are so much more scatterbrained than others. I'm amazed (and sometimes envious) at how "together" some people are. But fortunately, God has blessed me with a husband whose calm, practical nature keeps me steady, and who actually finds me entertaining instead of annoying.

But I digress. Who is going to be so excited to find out she won an autographed copy of this funny, thoughtful book that will bless and challenge her? And the winner is.....Lacy Kennedy! You're going to love it, Lacy! I will get it to you within the next week.

Thanks again to all of you for sharing your stories - even those of you who were too scattered to remember any! If you are unable to buy the book, be sure to check out two of Dorcas Smucker's previous books (Ordinary Days and Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting) from the Albany library.  They are upstairs, way in the back corner of the non-fiction section. I checked them out and enjoyed a fabulously lazy reading, tea-drinking day last Saturday! I returned the books on Monday for others to enjoy!

Here's how you can purchase this book:  Send a check for $15 to Dorcas Smucker, 31148 Substation Drive, Harrisburg, OR 97446.  You can also purchase her previous books, Ordinary Days, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting, and Downstairs the Queen is Knitting for $15 each, or get all four for $40, postage included. 

If you want to pay by credit card, the books are also available on Amazon.

Reading is one of life's pleasures, and reading something that inspires you to be a better person and makes you laugh at the same time is like rich icing on a delicious cake! If you know any other authors that write like that, please leave a comment with their names and book titles!

True Love

Sleep was elusive last night, but just as I was finally dozing off I heard it – that scratching noise in a wall that causes every sense to become alert and your hair to stand on end. “Mice,” I silently scream. Scritch scratch, scritch scratch, over and over.  Calm down, I’ll ask Will to set some traps tomorrow. Is it in the linen closet just outside our room?  How many must there be? The noisy activity goes on and on. I can’t take it!

My husband’s deep breathing assures me he is sleeping peacefully and I’m hesitant to disturb him. But my own slumber is impossible as the invading colony of mice (or worse!) continue their racket. I gently pat his arm. He is unresponsive. I quell the urge to elbow him sharply, but increase the speed and intensity of the arm pats. Finally I hiss his name and he rouses. He sits up. Yes, he hears it. The sounds diminish. He once again reclines, saying it has stopped and he’ll take care of it tomorrow.

I choke back my selfish protests. His even breathing indicates he is quickly dozing off again, carefree as a child.  Alert and fearful, I lie wide-eyed on my back to take advantage of both ears. Sure enough, the “scritch scratch”  soon resumes. I gently pat Will’’s arm, whispering that I hear it again, This time, he leaves the comfort of the bed. Armed with a flashlight, he slowly advances into the hallway, listening for the source of the sounds. I lie motionless, stifling the hysterical giggles that well up within me. He investigates for a few minutes, then returns to report that the sounds are coming from the storage space in the eaves of the bedroom across the hall.  He has a live trap in the shed and he’ll set it tomorrow. “Tomorrow?!” I hope I didn’t whine.  Ok, he’ll do it tonight. Oh, I wouldn’t want to make him go out in the cold tonight. I’m sure tomorrow’s fine. No, it’s ok, he’s up now anyway.

He even took his clothing into the bathroom in the hall so as not to disturb me as he dressed. He uttered not one harsh word, not even a hint of complaint or annoyance. This man is a gem. I have never loved him as much as I do now! This even makes up for his “compliment” when I returned from a run in the rain earlier that day and he remarked admiringly,  “You’re turning into a tough old bird!”

This, my friends, is true love. Though rodents invaded my dreams for the remainder of that long night, they will not invade my home as long as my protector is there working night and day to keep them under control. The scene from one of the night’s many bad dreams, where two rats are in my kitchen and I watch in horror as guests treat them like they’re house pets, will never be a reality because of my husband, my hero! I truly don’t deserve him! 

P.S. And it just keeps getting better. My iPhone headphones were in a my pants pocket when he did the laundry today. As I wrote this, he untangled the huge knotted mess they were in when they emerged from the dryer, tested them, and they work! Amazing!

Tea and Trouble Brewing

Aging. Ants. Birthdays. Boys. Humor. Hope. Family. Faith. Mountain Climbing. Motherhood. Perfection. Pets. Travel. Tea - yes, of course, tea. Tea and Trouble Brewing, the latest book by Dorcas Smucker, covers these delightful topics and many more. As a faithful follower of her blog, "Life in the Shoe,"I click on the newspaper column link she posts each month. This book is a compilation of these columns. What a pleasure to read them again, one after another, because reading one column is never enough!

One of my favorites is “Imperfect Moms.” Dorcas confesses to forgetting her son’s birthday and to other maternal misdeeds. When Mother’s Day and it’s accompanying appreciation comes, “I feel the gnawing teeth of regret and the sense that maybe I don’t deserve the gratitude because of everything I got wrong.” But remembering the months her family spent in Kenya helping at a school and an orphanage for boys, all of who would have given anything for a mom, it’s obvious that “an imperfect mom is indescribably better than no mom at all.”

“If not having a mother is like being at sea level, and having a perfect, smiling, patient mom who never forgets to notify the tooth fairy is like being at the top of Mount Hood, then having a flawed and scatterbrained mom who makes the kids pack their own lunches and who punishes the wrong child now and then is actually about at Timberline Lodge.” This sentence makes me happy for two reasons.

Reason 1:  I love a well-written, long, complex sentence!  (Long, meandering sentences are more likely to flow from my fingers!) Each phrase in this long sentence adds an essential layer as it builds to the logical and satisfying conclusion!

Reason 2:  A flawed and scatterbrained mom might be a merciful description of myself. I was once so outraged by the insolent disrespect expressed by my middle-school son at the dinner table that I impulsively tossed the contents of my full water glass in his face. There was also the humiliating call from the elementary school secretary, “Your son came to school in his stocking feet today. Could you bring his shoes?”  But hey, at least I never forgot any of my children’s birthdays!

An empty nester now, I sometimes look back and wish I had done some things differently.  I appreciate the advice from Dorcas,  “Give yourself some grace: We are allowed to make mistakes.” Think about it - Timberline Lodge is pretty high up on the mountain, after all!

Speaking of mountains, the chapter, “Climbing My Mountain,” contains one of my favorite paragraphs, which I continue to ponder. “It is strange, the things we classify as impossible, tucking them into that box in our heads without ever asking why we put them there or who we could ask for help or what would happen if we tried or why we’re afraid of only partial success.” (Oh, look, it’s another wonderfully long complex sentence!) The chapter concludes with wondering what mountains may be next... “Perhaps real ones like Mary’s Peak or Black Butte, or maybe those large impossibilities that loom in the imagination as enormous as Cape Perpetua but can be conquered quietly, step by slow determined step, breath by breath, up and up.”

By now, you can understand why my church’s women’s retreat planning team is very excited that Dorcas is going to be our retreat speaker in February 2013. SACC women, you won’t want to miss out!

Challenging, entertaining, amusing, heartwarming, and thought-provoking….this book is just plain fun to read. I have to stop writing about it now.  But wait….

How is keeping your marriage healthy like fighting ants?

How is a Beaver football game like an Amish church service? (Dorcas was raised Amish so she knows what she’s talking about!)

If you want to know the answers, you’ll just have to read the book!  Dorcas has provided me with an extra copy to give away to a lucky reader. To get your name in a drawing to win it, leave a comment on this blog, sharing a “flawed or scatterbrained” parenting moment. (If you’re not a parent, any scatterbrained moment will do!)  If you’ve never experienced a flawed or scatterbrained moment of any type, leave a comment sharing the secrets of your success (please!). If your comment is a long, meandering sentence, it may possibly find it’s way to the top of the pile when I do the drawing! (Don’t worry, no one expects ordinary folks like us to craft a long sentence with the flair Dorcas has mastered!) You could also share the link to this review on Facebook for an extra entry in the drawing! Check back here next Tuesday for the results.

If you’re not the lucky winner, you can purchase this book by sending a check for $15 to Dorcas Smucker, 31148 Substation Drive, Harrisburg, OR 97446.  You can also purchase her previous books, Ordinary Days, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting, and Downstairs the Queen is Knitting for $15 each, or get all four for $40, postage included. 

If you want to pay by credit card, the books are also available on Amazon.

(Two of these books, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting and Downstairs the Queen is Knitting, are also available at the Albany Public Library.  If you check them out and read them, I have no doubt you’ll want to buy some to give as Christmas gifts!)

(Oh, guess what! I inquired if there was any possibility that this book might come out as an e-book or audiobook, and Dorcas confided that she is looking into the possibility of both! Stay tuned!)

Up, Up and Away!

Here's a blog draft that I just realized I never finished after uploading the photos! I posted some pictures on Facebook and never got back to doing this part. I have a few beloved and far flung family members who aren't on FB, so it is my duty (and privilege!) to share important family events here just for them! (You know who you are!)

On September 14, my brother Doug's wife Anisa and their son Duane got to take a hot air balloon ride, offered as a thank you to farmers (Anisa's dad) who allow the balloonists to land in their fields. I got up bright and early and went to Timber Linn Park to watch as they prepared to launch. It was a gorgeous morning, and excitement was in the air! Anisa, Doug and Duane are standing there making sure the right kind of air fills up the balloon correctly or something like that.

Ready for lift off!

There they go! The proud husband/father/my brother Doug is busily taking pictures in the right foreground!

Such a beautiful sight in the blue early morning sky!

About a dozen other beautiful balloons were taking off as well.

The poor unfortunate souls who were slated for the balloon ride below didn't get to go anywhere that day!

They headed out toward Tangent, and I stopped at home to refill my coffee cup. It was so fun to see their balloon floating by from my patio and to know who was up there! (Look harder, it's that little tiny speck above the trees! It looked closer in person!)

I followed their path and watched them land in a field a few miles down the road.

They had a great time in spite of perhaps a few fears!

The crew and my brother Doug hauled the balloon over near their vehicle.

It slowly drops down as it deflates....

And down....

Down, down!

Will's cousin Juanita was visiting from Idaho, and spectating was very fun and cheap entertainment for all of us!

It was so interesting to watch how they put it away.

They had to sit around awhile to help get out the last bit of air. Duane obliging provided his trademark pose!

They all helped carry it back to the vehicle. It appeared pretty heavy from the gasping and grunting that accompanied it.

Poor Zeek and Belle  (Juanita's dog) had to watch from afar.

I would love to take a hot air balloon ride someday.

Life's Little Horrors

I have had some horrifying encounters with rodents in my life. (Though of course, in my opinion, every encounter with a rodent is horrifying.) At times, I have been convinced they were out to get me, like the mouse who hurled itself up toward me when I leaned down to put something in a trash can under the sink, and the ones who have run toward me instead of away from me. EEEEK! But even my worst rodent confrontations pale in comparison to my co-worker's story this morning.

While she was standing at the bathroom sink getting ready for work, a mouse scurried across her bare feet! She admitted to screaming and jumping, but her mother told me she leaped ten feet through the air to stand on the couch and shriek!

This time of year, we often remember our first Thanksgiving dinner here in our new house in 1996, when Tyler spotted a mouse running across our kitchen floor during dinner. Boys and brooms and men went crazy, and the mouse hunt came to a loud and satisfactory conclusion!

I am so very thankful that I have seen no signs of rodents around here since my husband returned from his hunting trip a week ago! Oddly enough, it occurs to me he seemed almost as horrified at my picture blog of Zeek wearing clothing as I become when I see a rodent!

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day took on a new meaning for me in 2005. It was the first time someone near and dear to me was serving our country in active combat. I contributed a picture of my nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Tyler Troyer, for the church slide show honoring veterans, and felt a whole new level of pride and respect for veterans. Less than two weeks later, on November 19, 2005, came the tragic news that Tyler's life had ended.

Last week I went to the mall for a quick fun shopping lunch break, but it changed into a teary and sober contemplation when I ran across this tribute showing "The Faces of the Fallen" right in front of the store where I was shopping when I received the phone call about Tyler's death.

 The names and photos were arranged by month and year, and it didn't take me long to find Tyler.

Looking at all those names and pictures, and thinking of how many loved ones were changed forever through all these losses is very sobering and heartbreaking. I honor the courage displayed and the sacrifices made in the ongoing quest to keep our country free and strong.

In my own little world, I show this honor and respect by tending the little flower garden at the flag memorial in the park behind our house, and more importantly, by praying for his family and other veterans and active military personel. May God comfort them and bless them all in a very special way on this Veteran's Day.

(You can read the memorial plaque here:  "So Much Better!" )

Dogsitting Day 7

She's gone completely crazy. Does she think I'm cold? No one has ever put clothes on me before. "Eeuuw, hold still," she says.  "Eeuuw, I don't touch dog's feet. Eeuuw, don't lick me." If I didn't totally adore her, I'd never let her get by with it.

"That sweater is comfy but kinda blah," she says, "you need to accessorize."

 You really think this color makes my eyes pop?

The Old Guy is not going to like this.

 I'll never be able to look anyone in the eye again.

 Enough already!

You really do think I'm a good dog, huh?

I think I'm getting the hang of this posing thing!

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!

Why are you doing this? Because people you work with dared you to? They really want you to bring pictures of me tomorrow? You blame peer pressure?

You won't even let me chew on the scarf?

Really, I mean it. I've had it. 

Whew, I'm back in my natural state now. I need a nap. She's pretty excited that the Old Guy is coming home tomorrow. I hope that means she'll go back to ignoring my existence like she used to. This is just plain undignified. I can't wait to see the Old Guy tomorrow!