Lillian Funny

Lillian (3) got a goodie bag from her Sunday school teacher on Easter Sunday. When we opened the goodie bag, there was an egg inside that contained lots of little Christian themed stuff and a little strip of paper with a note from her teacher.

Lillian handed me the note and said, "Mommy! Read this!"

I said, "It says, 'Jesus loves me!'"

Lillian's face dropped and her chin quivered.

She said,

"Just you?"

I assured her that I was not the only one under that umbrella.

Here's my funny girl in her Easter dress on Sunday:

That's My King

Yesterday's Easter service started with this video, which contains the words of S. M. Lockridge's sermon "That's My King". When it was over, I wanted to stand and shout.

Huh... What goes around comes around

Tonight we went to our favorite "round the corner" restaurant (it's less than 5 minutes from our house). Everyone was in a rare good mood; usually there is at least one child that goes along reluctantly, with arms crossed, to the chosen restaurant, but tonight, everyone agreed on Little Rebel. Cool.

So we ordered. We chatted with the kids. We laughed with them as they recounted their experiences from today. We enjoyed the pre-meal interaction.

The food came, and everyone ate well. Cool again. Usually someone leaves too much food on the plate, but everyone was hungry tonight.

We had a friendly, upbeat, on her toes waitress. None of us ever grew thirsty or had an empty cup. That's usually the case at Little Rebel, though. Good food, good service, friendly people and it's family owned (which, according to Aiden, is the sign of a great restaurant!)

Time came for us to leave. Our waitress stopped at the table to tell us that someone had paid for our meal. It was a gentleman who had dined alone in the booth beside ours. I noticed him looking at us while we ate, but we get looks like that a lot because of the number of children we have. I never thought anything more of it.

Needless to say, I was stunned. Not stunned in a bad way, but shocked that someone else had paid for us. I have been on the giving end, but never on the receiving end of such kindness. It was awesome to know how that felt, and I was surprised at how humbling it was. I wanted to thank the man, but he'd already left the restaurant. I am so grateful for his gift, and for the impression it left on my family. I know we'll always remember tonight.

Good and Bad

This week's blog challenge from my favorite message board:

When we are lucky enough to gather around the table and have everyone home for our evening meal, there are always two questions we ask everyone seated at the table....What was your favorite part of your day today? and What was your least favorite part of your day today?

So pick a day this week and sit down and just blog those two questions.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way.

The worst part of my day:

Lillian wet her pants three times today. Sheesh. What is up with her lately? She can't seem to make it to the bathroom on time, whether she's inside or outside. Quinn did the same thing! She's not wet the bed (yet), but is having unnecessary accidents during the day.


My favorite thing about today:

Today was a pretty normal day: laundry, dishes, picking up things here and there, doing my normal weekday chores. Nothin' special.

Today Quinn and Lillian and I decided to straighten up the playroom. I just cleaned and culled stuff from it two weeks ago, but Hurricane Lillian blew through and it was soon a mess again. I threw everything into laundry baskets, set out the buckets that toys go into, and asked the kids to sort with me. They worked well together, in harmony, doing as I asked when I asked. I was impressed.... impressed enough to promise them a trip to Bruster's ice cream when we were done, if they worked quickly.

We finished tidying, I vacuumed the playroom, we all put our shoes on, and then we headed out for our treats. Quinn chose a single scoop of chocolate chip and Lillian got a single scoop of chocolate. I chose a thin mint milkshake (made with thin mint Girl Scout cookies! Yummy!)

As I was waiting on my milkshake, an elderly couple got out of their car and walked up to the front order window. I was sitting at the drive thru window. When I saw them, I was immediately struck by the urge to pay for their ice cream. The cashier brought me my shake, and I told her I wanted to pay for the couple's order. She had to ask what they wanted so I could pay. They were resistant at first. They both came around to my car window to insist on paying for our order. I told them I'd already done that, and asked if I could please treat them. There were tears in the man's eyes as he told me no one had ever done that for him before in all his years of living.

I pulled ahead so the person behind me could pay for her order, and as I waited to pay for the couple's ice cream, I got the chance to talk to them. She told me she'd been housebound for awhile, having fallen down the stairs a few months ago and broken her hip. She was just getting around well again and had asked her husband to take her for ice cream, even though she wasn't supposed to eat it. They were so sweet in their interactions with one another, still behaving like two people very much in love. I could tell the man adored his wife, and she him. The conversation with those sweet people was a true blessing.

But it didn't stop there.

I pulled back around to the drive thru window after the cashier finished with the customer behind me. As the cashier approached the window, I could see she had tears in her eyes. She told me that what I had done had made her day, that she needed to see that today. I don't know what had happened to cause her to need a lift, but I was happy to have helped cheer her. I chatted with her for a bit, then realized it was later than I thought (I had to pick up my other kids from school) and I drove away with a smile.

That was the best $5 I ever spent. I was blessed, the cashier was blessed, and the couple was blessed.

I can't ask for anything better than that.

March 5, 2008: A Good Day

Today, so far, has been good.

My older daughter was awake, dressed and actually eating breakfast when I got to the kitchen. Knock me over with the proverbial feather. She's almost always dressed, but usually takes her waffle on the run, which means a dirty plate rattling around in the car for a day or two until I remember to take it inside.

I took an alternate route to the kids' school this morning. It was much more scenic and was a little quicker. Nice.

The kids made it to school early. Nice.

I took Lillian to Chick Fil A for Chicken Minis (Um, she *made* me go. Yeah. That's it.). I had a coupon for a free box of those little morsels. Score.

I did a load of laundry. I folded three loads. Good use of my time.

I emptied the dishwasher (which wasn't overly full... a sweet surprise!)

I made a few phone calls I'd been putting off. Cross those off my list.

I talked to both of my parents. That's always a treat. I like talking to them. We always laugh about something.

I spent some quality time with Lillian this morning. That's food for the soul.

The mister brought home Taco Bell for lunch for me and Lillo. Nachos Bellgrande and a large Mountain Dew. The man knows me eerily well.

I got a huge hug from Quinn when he came home from school. He gives the kind of hug that lingers. I never break the hug first; I always let him stop. He gives great hugs, that kid.

Now Q & L are playing together, holding a sleepover for her babies and his Webkinz in the den. They're being so sweet. Wonder how long that will last?

I Got the Music in Me

Sittin' here listening to my iPod. Karen Carpenter is singing "Masquerade". Anything by the Carpenters takes me back to road trips in the '78 (I think?) Caprice Classic station wagon we owned when I was a kid. Yes, it had an 8-track player in it, and we owned just a handful of 8-tracks to play in it. One was "Now and Then" by the Carpenters. We logged many a mile listening to that album. I didn't know much about Richard and Karen Carpenter back in those days; I just knew I liked their music. I remember being really sad when I heard that she died. Funny all the stuff that gets stirred up when you hear a song. That one tune brought forth all of that from my memory bank.

Now it's "You Can't Hurry Love" by Phil Collins. That takes me back to playing 45s at Lauren Porter's sleepover birthday party in the 4th grade. We stayed awake until dawn and got really silly in the wee hours. Remember that "Stop! Drop! Roll!" commercial that Dick Van Dyke did as part of a fire safety campaign? That came on TV in the early hours of Saturday at Lauren's, and we just lost it. That phrase and that song takes me instantly back to those memories. Makes me smile. I wonder where Lauren is now? Last I heard she went to Florida State majoring in marine biology. I haven't seen her since my high school graduation, May 30, 1991. Maybe she'll Google herself one day and find this entry.

"Cold Hearted Snake" by Paula "I can't say anything bad about you 'cause it will hurt your feelings" Abdul makes me think of Josh T., another high school friend. He had a mad crush on the petite AI judge, and he loved the video for this song. I admit, I played the song one too many times in high school. I love the part where she talks; I had every word memorized. I wish Saturday Night Live would do a Paula parody using that song to describe Simon. I love Amy Poehler's Paula. Cracks me up.

"Jesse's Girl". Now there's a song. Standing in the basement with a hairbrush as a microphone, singing this song as the 33 spun on the turntable. That's back when Rick Springfield was on "General Hospital" and I watched with my grandmother (her "stories", she called them...) Ah, sweet 80s crushes. Dr. Noah Drake made a short reappearance on GH not too long ago. He was still cute in an older guy kind of way. (Yes, I still watch GH. It's the one soap I held onto all these years, and mostly because I did used to watch it with MaMa Dos. She'd cringe if she could see it today!)

Funny how I finish up a paragraph as each song ends.

Ah, Connie Francis. "Where the Boys Are" is one of those songs that sticks with you. I remember seeing the movie on TV when I was in high school. I decided that day that I wanted to have a daughter named Merritt. I loved that name so much. My husband didn't like it as much as I did, so alas, we have no children bearing that name.

Oh, man. Now it's Prince's "Diamonds And Pearls". How many times did I hear that in my headphones when my sister and I flew from Alabama to Madrid in 1992? Only about 10,000 times. Every time I hear that song I remember that flight. We got bumped up to first class because our names were left off the flight roster or something like that. If I ever find myself needing to be on a plane that long again, I will definitely splurge on larger seats. 'Twas niiiiiiiice. Caviar, lots of snacks, hot towels in the morning, sleep masks, free headsets, reclining seats.... too much luxury for one 19 year-old to deserve, really. The reality of coach hit us on the flight home. That sucked. ::Shiver::

Alright. I need to get back to Saturday chores. It was fun walking down musical memory lane, though.

Oh, wait. One more.

My friend Michelle P. introduced me to this song. "South's Gonna Do It Again" by Charlie Daniels Band. She had a black Honda Prelude with a sunroof when we were in high school (her parents owned a few gas stations, and Michelle was the youngest of three daughters by several years.... so she got pretty much anything she asked for... I loved the Prelude the most!) I remember coming back from the movies with her one night, blasting this song (from the CASSETTE TAPE...ha!) and loving it instantly. I went out and bought the tape not long after that. I replaced the tape with the CD when I was in college, and now the whole thing is on my iPod. Michelle also introduced me to the Steve Miller band. She has good musical taste.

Okay, now I'm done. Laundry calls.