Dance Lessons

For some inexplicable reason, my older children decided to learn how to waltz last night. Not quite sure why they were doing it, but I was happy to see it nonetheless.

Things didn't start off on the right foot (quite literally).And I think they spent more time talking and laughing than dancing.
At times, it looked more like aerobics than waltzing, but that could be because they were dancing to a bagpipe waltz (who knew there was even such a thing as a bagpipe waltz).
All-in-all, I think it was a valiant attempt by my girls to avoid bedtime. It worked, until Chris told us we were being too loud :-( He tells us that a lot. My poor husband really likes quiet, something he gets precious little of around here.

They're Kidding, Right?

I went to the doctor today for a physical. At the door I was greeted with the following sign -

Please do NOT visit us if you have a cough or fever.

Huh?? Last time I checked the doctor's office is where you SHOULD visit if you are ill. Apparently times have changed and you can only go see the doctor if you are healthy.

Bedtime Prayer

Here is Raelea's bedtime prayer from last night -

Dear God,

I don't want to pray right now. Good-bye.

I had to laugh. This is my little girl who will pray on and on and on when she feels so moved. Apparently she wasn't so moved last night :-)

And as long as we're on the topic of bedtime prayers, I HAVE to include my favorite Tim Hawkins video on the subject...

She's An Apple Girl

It is her destiny, growing up in this house, to be an Apple Girl.

First she wanted an iPod...
A piece of cardboard and some tape later, presto, she has an iPod. I only wish mine was so inexpensive.

Then she waited ever so patiently for another piece of cardboard to make her laptop computer (isn't Dad great)...Now, not just any laptop would do, no, it had to be a Mac...And now she spends her room-time syncing her iPod with her computer...You've got to love the technology that kids grow up with today :-)

Just to keep things fair, Marcus & Zoe both got iPods as well :-). They haven't asked for laptops...yet.

Hmmm

Here's something interesting (to me at least). If you Google Raelea Zoe, the first thing that comes up is my blog :-)

Why?

Why is it that some words in our language can be spelled correctly two different ways?? Shouldn't there be ONE right way to spell a word? Here are the two words that frustrate me to no end:

Combating (or combatting)

Traveling (or travelling)

Grrr. This is irritating to me, not only because you can spell it correctly both ways, but because the "preferred" way spell both of these words is in opposition to the generally accepted rules about spelling (you remember, the rules about adding a suffix to a word ending in a vowel-consonant?). If we're going to have rules on spelling can we at least try to be consistent, folks?

Oh, by the way, this is another thing I do when I'm bored - ponder the idiosyncrasies of the English language.

A mind - it's a terrible thing to waste.

Bored?

Now, with eight kids, several animals and a husband at home, you might think that I am never bored. Not so! Sometimes, I just don't have anything to do. Okay, that's not quite accurate. Let's say, I don't want to do the things that I should do. There. That's better.

Anyway, so what does Barb do when she hasn't anything to do? First, I make myself a cup of tea. That's a very important first step in combating boredom. Then I choose from a long list of mindless activities. Here's a sample:

Check my Facebook page

See who's visited my blog lately (it's kind of like reverse stalking)

Sudoku

Play Scrabble on my iPod

Read

Eat chocolate (this is my favorite boredom buster, btw)

Bake

Hold a bunny

Check my e-mail

Read other people's blogs

Read the news off my iPod (I really like my iPod)

Compose obscure blog posts in my head

Look for new quotes for my blog

Snuggle with the dog (I have the best dog ever)

Check on the hamsters (make sure they're still alive and such)

Make more tea

Check J. Piper's tweets on Twitter

Usually by this point, my "free time" is gone and someone, somewhere in the house "needs" me.

Notice the things I don't do when I'm bored:

Iron

Clean the clutter off my kitchen cupboards

Um, anything involving cleaning

Write a novel or even a short story

Mend the pile of clothes that need mending

Well, now you are thoroughly bored by reading this post, but at least I've given you a list of ideas to combat your boredom ;-)