How 'bout this chick?

Since we're talking "vintage" toys ... anyone else have this gal in their doll arsenal?  Being blessed with brothers instead of sisters, I spent more time playing Jane to their Johnny West than I ever did with Barbies.  Wish I still had this old girl ... the "boxed set" is selling on e-bay for $95.00!!

And if we're being honest, I probably didn't "play" with her any more than I had to - only when pressured beyond sanity by my brothers - I would always have preferred to be reading. What a dork!

My brother Chris and I were just talking about Johnny and Jane the other day - he and Mike recently found their Johnny West guys, but alas, Jane was absent, and all of Johnny's joints had dissolved so that when they tried to move the arms or legs they just fell off.  Very sad.

Clackers

Anybody besides me remember this thrilling yet lethal toy?  "Clackers are the toy with a jillion names. It was essentially two large marbles attached by a sturdy string with a ring in the center. You would put your finger in the ring allowing the marbles or balls to hang below. Here is where the fun starts. The idea was to get the two balls tapping (or clacking if you prefer) against each other by pulling up on the ring lightly. Once you got the hang of it, you could get them going faster and faster until they were smacking each other above and below your hand in a stunning arc." (http://www.bigredtoybox.com/)

Now, I have to say that while I coveted this toy, really really really wanted one, because of course all the cool kids had them, I could never really get the hang of it.  Definitely never figured out how to perfect the "stunning arc."  In fact, my most successful attempts resulted in the two balls actually swinging apart and then tapping back together (not missing each other like usual) in a slow, tick-tock, tick-tock fashion.

For MOST kids these things were easily turned into weapons.  While everyone was obviously safe from me, due to my stupendous lack of coordination, I dared not let my brothers get their hands on them!  Apparently they were pulled from the market in the 1970's due to shattered teeth, broken eye sockets, and the explosion of one or both of the balls when they "clacked" together too hard.  The explosion factor was the fate of Greg's Clackers, and anyone in his family, even if they don't remember it, could have predicted it!

And to think they wanted to recall those little hamster thingies that were so big this Christmas!  Goodness.

I just have to say ...

... that this getting old business is for the birds.  My poor back ... my twisted ankle ... my sore achilles tendon ... an elbow that can predict cold weather ... arthritis in my big toe and my thumb ... going to bed at 9:00 p.m. and waking up at 5:30 a.m. ... meds for high blood pressure ... yikes.  If this is what happens at 45, then what will ... well, LATER be like?

Then again, this getting old business means I have VERY productive mornings, which is good.  And those extra pounds, well, I just chalk them up to middle age.  And the empty nest, that's a pretty good deal, trust me.  I read a lot, and don't feel guilty.  I work a little, and don't feel guilty.  I eat too much, and I only feel a LITTLE guilty.

And of course (you had to know this was coming) tea parties, endless reading, board games, art projects galore, lego creations, hot wheels races, and all those other fun things that come with grandparenting.  Now that we know that our every decision won't ruin the child for life, it's WAY more fun!

So after all that whining, I'll keep the bad back, sore this 'n' that, arising before the dawn, and all that other stuff - as it turns out, the trade off is totally worth it!!

Scrapbooking update

So guess what?  In this 20-hour event, I managed to get about 12 recipes typed.  The rest of the time I wandered around talking, for the most part ... but it was fun and these ladies are incredible in their dedication to the sport and the creativity they have.  I'm a little jealous, even, but my good friend Jennifer made me feel better when she brought a book the second day!  Not a scrapbook, just a book to read.  LOL - thanks Jen!

Totally off topic, but I read/heard somewhere that you can print off your blog?  Is it as simple as hitting the print button at the top of the page or is there a better way?  I realized that I've been writing here since 2006 - so much history there, I'd love to have it as a "book."  Maybe that's my scrapbook replacement?  There.  I feel better already.

Time ...

It gets away from me.   I had the kids the last two Mondays, and oh the joy.  Mid-morning this Monday Callie came up and flung herself into my lap and laid her runny-nosed head right on my shoulder.  She stayed.  I let her.  Even though I knew it just meant she needed to go down for a nap, I pretended otherwise and just hung on to her sweet self for awhile.

Lexi is turning into quite the packrat.  She has a desk here now, ostensibly for her art supplies, but the top two drawers are filled with her 'really special things.'  She brings more every time she comes over - as of now they contain a random set of keys (anyone lost theirs?), several baby pictures that her mother probably doesn't even know are missing, a couple of marbles, a Coca-Cola badge, the cloth bag that contained some coffee B.J. brought back from Guatemala, a plastic bear, a random piece of green glittery wrapping paper, and her favorite book, "My Pretty Kitten," which is a baby book that she has memorized and could read herself anyway, but which we read before bed every time she spends the night.

I was talking to Mason and Lexi on speakerphone today, and Lexi was telling me about her pillow pet thing that she got for Christmas, and I reminded her that I was there on Christmas morning when she got it.  Mason:  "So were you the one who came down the chimney?"  Um, no.

I'm going to a scrapbooking event at the church this weekend with roughly 150 other women.  Don't laugh.  I know.  I'm hopeless at this sort of thing, and big crowds make my heart beat fast.  BUT I HAVE A PLAN!  I'm working on typing up all my often-used recipes, printing them, encasing them in plastic protectors, and putting them in a nifty new binder my friend Amy got me for Christmas.  And several friends will be there, so it is likely that I will do more talking than typing anyway.

I'm really loving my job.  Really.  I work with great people, and it feels like a really good fit.  Right now planning is in full swing for our April retreat, "Free to Be Me," about how to be content with how God made you and who He made you to be.  It's shaping up to be a pretty great weekend, if I do say so myself.  I get to teach Bible study on Thursday mornings, and I've been with the same group of gals since September going through the book "Boundaries."  It is dynamic, life-changing stuff, and very hard work.  These are my favorite two and a half hours of my week, I think.  We have traveled enough trails together to be real, and honest, and vulnerable, and authentic with each other, and that is a marvelous thing in a day and age where we hide behind our respective masks because of fear or shame or simply not feeling safe.

And hey, KU is playing some pretty darned good basketball these days, right?

Not much, how about you?

Well, there's just not much going on worth reporting. But I haven't posted in too many days, so I'll dredge my memory and see what I can find from the last week or so.

Cold. COLD COLD COLD! My cats won't stay off me, keep trying to creep under the blanket when I'm in my recliner, cold little feet parked on my legs. Lots of snowblowing, too ... not by me of course.

Fun sleepover with Lexi ... an interminably long game of Monopoly that ended when she got bored and started fooling around. Thank the stars! I was about to lose my mind.

Missed our Bible study on Thursday as it was cancelled due to weather. The break has been too long, ladies, don't you agree? Anxious to get back to it this week.

Determined to get back on the treadmill. Determination was made some time ago; actual follow-through started today.

Callie fell against the bathtub and split her lip - had to get three stitches, one of which she ripped out on the way home from the ER due to excessive screaming.

A dear friend became an overnight Mama ... sweet Sadie will be adopted into their already-family-of-seven, now eight, soon, Lord willing.

I am totally frustrated with my inability to keep my calendars synced between home and work. I think I need one of those phones that will do it for me, because double-booking and/or forgetting appointments is just not cool.

Brandon found a permanent residence, living with Dan (from the Race) and a number of other Christian guys. He sounds happy to be living in community again. And I suspect it will be very good for his heart.

What else? There is surely more; however, the Jayhawks are about to play, so I'm calling it a blog.

Carnivore?

Happy New Year!  We rang in the new year at Christa's house with a crowd of my favorite people - my side of the family and Kirk and Brenda and family.  The kids were great - in fact Lexi actually made it to midnight!  So did I, incidentally, which is the first time in recent memory that has happened.  :)

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with a crowd of more of my favorite people and celebrated Christmas with the Claytons.  It was chaotic fun too, and once again the kids were so good!  It's amazing to see all the cousins growing up so fast. 

Somehow I forgot to take my camera to all of these gatherings, so sadly I have none to post.

Recovering this weekend - hoping to sleep enough to catch up for all the late nights and fun times. 

So I'll leave you with this from Lexi, announced at lunch yesterday to the whole table:  "If I was I dinosaur, I'd want to be a T-Rex, because they're carnivores and I LIKE MEAT!"  A girl after my own heart.