I just have to share this story. I was there when this happened, but I had forgotten about it until my Dad told this story during Nana's funeral yesterday.
If you know me IRL and have met my Dad, you know that he is quite "a character". He loves to amuse and entertain people, and he LOVES a good practical joke. But, when it comes to practical jokes, my Dad met his match 18 years ago when he met Nana.
I'm not sure how it all got started, but during the first 2 or 3 years that Papa and Nana were married, my Dad and Nana got into a little friendly competition of sorts, trying to see who could give each other the WORST Christmas gift. They would buy each other the cheapest, ugliest, most worthless thing they could possibly find, wrap in something awful, like the label off a can, or some toilet paper, and present their gifts to each other every Christmas.
I think the "object" of this game was to get the other person to FINALLY say "Oh, my word, that is the UGLIEST thing I have EVER seen!" or " Where in the world did you go shopping, the dump?" but neither of them would crack!
Nana would give Daddy the ugliest tie on earth, or a hideous hat, and he would put it on immediately, and wear it for the rest of the day. Daddy would give Nana some trinket that looked like it had been run over by a truck, or a wall hanging that looked like a pit bull had used it as a play toy, and Nana would exclaim that it was beautiful, and immediately put it on display. Neither one would "give in" to the other.
Last year, 4 or 5 months before Christmas, Daddy lost his favorite jacket. My Daddy loses things quite often, so none of us were terribly concerned about his jacket, as we asssumed it would turn up somewhere, sooner or later. But, Daddy really like this jacket, so he looked for it EVERYWHERE. He turned his house upside down, and even looked at my house and my sisters house. He tried to remember when the last time was that he remembered having the jacket, and attempted to retrace his steps, but he never did find that jacket. Finally, he gave up, and bought another jacket, but every time he wore it, he complained about how he just didn't like it as much as the one he'd lost.
When Christmas came around, we went to visit Papa and Nana. Nana opened Daddy's ugly little present for her, and proudly displayed it on her living room shelf. Then, she slipped out of the room. The children continued opening their presents, with much oohing and aahhing, but everyone got quiet when Nana walked back into the room with a big, beautiful box.
This box had been wrapped in gorgeous paper, complete with ribbon and bows. It looked lovely! Daddy, having expected something wrapped in toilet paper, was, for once, speechless. He began to open the box, looking quite confused. Then, he opened and looked inside, still not saying a word. No one else could yet see what was in that box. It seemed that Nana had finally "gotten" Daddy by letting him present her with his piece of junk, then giving him a "real" present!
The look on Daddy's face was priceless as he stared into that box and said "Well, Jeanette, I don't know what to say! What a nice jacket!"
Nana had a huge grin on her face and looked as if she were about to bust.
For my part, for just a minute, I was disappointed. What on earth was up with Nana giving Daddy a "real" present? That's no fun!
Then, Daddy slowly began to lift the jacket out of the box and hold it up for everyone to see. The room erupted in laughter as we all took a look. And we laughed even harder when it took several minutes for Daddy to be the last one to realize that he was sitting there holding HIS OWN JACKET, that he'd driven himself crazy over for the last several months!!! LOL!!
He'd left it at Papa and Nana's house, and instead of returning it, she decided to keep it and wrap it up for Christmas. Daddy had no choice but to admit defeat. Nana had gotten him, and she had gotten him good. I know she relished the moment when he stood and bowed to her, and decleared himself conquered by the joke master.
I don't know if the Lord ever lets His saints see what's going on down here on earth once they are in heaven, but if He ever does, I KNOW Nana was grinning again as Daddy told that story during her funeral yesterday.
You got him, Nana, and you got him GOOD! LOL!
Vicki
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
A Few More Reasons to Homeschool
If I want to, I can call a "snow day", whether it's snowing or not!
We have a school holiday on OUR birthdays, and not necessarily on the birthdays of past presidents or other political figures.
Vacations in May and September are WONDERFUL!
The only time my children raise their hands is when they are trying to reach something on a high shelf.
My children are allowed to go to the restroom without announcing to the whole class that that's what they need to do.
Bugs that you find in your front yard are WAY more interesting than pictures of bugs in science text books.
I get to be teacher, lunch lady, guidance counselor, AND recess monitor!
I get to talk to myself and call it a "parent-teacher conference". :)
Vicki
We have a school holiday on OUR birthdays, and not necessarily on the birthdays of past presidents or other political figures.
Vacations in May and September are WONDERFUL!
The only time my children raise their hands is when they are trying to reach something on a high shelf.
My children are allowed to go to the restroom without announcing to the whole class that that's what they need to do.
Bugs that you find in your front yard are WAY more interesting than pictures of bugs in science text books.
I get to be teacher, lunch lady, guidance counselor, AND recess monitor!
I get to talk to myself and call it a "parent-teacher conference". :)
Vicki
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Ya Gotta Love This Guy....
Even if you're not a baseball fan!!
Last summer, I wrote a post on this blog titled "Getting There By A Different Route". In it, I shared the story of Rick Ankiel, a former St Louis Cardinals pitcher who blew out his elbow, lost his spot on the team, then went home and worked hard to re-invent himself as a hitter. The following season, he re-joined the Cardinals, this time as an outfielder. He brought a lot of folks to tears when he hit a home run during his first game back.
I've watched Ankiel since then, in part to see if he really is going to "make it" as an outfielder, or if last season was just a "fluke".
Well, this is no fluke. This guy has a determination that is just amazing, and it seems to show in EVERYTHING he does! Last night, he fought off SEVENTEEN pitches from a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher before finally taking a walk to first base!!
If you're not much of a baseball fan, you may realize the significance of that. A walk, aka a free pass to first base, is given to a hitter when a pitcher throws him 4 pitches out of the strike zone.
Many times, a hitter will swing at a ball and foul it off. After 2 strikes, these foul balls no longer count against the hitter, so a hitter can "stay alive" in the at-bat by fouling off pitches.
A good hitter will do this when he gets a pitch that he knows won't go very far, but he can't just let it go by him, or he'll strike out, so he has to at least "get a piece of it" and foul it off. It is not unusual for a pitcher to throw 6 or 7 pitches to a hitter before the hitter either strikes out, gets a hit, or is walked. A 10 pitch at-bat is pretty unusual.
A 17 pitch at bat like the one Ankiel had last night is EXTRAORDINARY, and shows great patience and determination on his part. He simply would not give up! He worked a walk to first base, and a few minutes later trotted across home plate when one of his team mates hit a double.
The Cardinals won the game.
After the game, in answer to a reporter's questions, Ankiel said, "I just didn't want to strike out. Striking out doesn't help my team, and helping my team to win is what I'm here to do."
Even if you hate baseball, you gotta love this guy!!
Vicki
Last summer, I wrote a post on this blog titled "Getting There By A Different Route". In it, I shared the story of Rick Ankiel, a former St Louis Cardinals pitcher who blew out his elbow, lost his spot on the team, then went home and worked hard to re-invent himself as a hitter. The following season, he re-joined the Cardinals, this time as an outfielder. He brought a lot of folks to tears when he hit a home run during his first game back.
I've watched Ankiel since then, in part to see if he really is going to "make it" as an outfielder, or if last season was just a "fluke".
Well, this is no fluke. This guy has a determination that is just amazing, and it seems to show in EVERYTHING he does! Last night, he fought off SEVENTEEN pitches from a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher before finally taking a walk to first base!!
If you're not much of a baseball fan, you may realize the significance of that. A walk, aka a free pass to first base, is given to a hitter when a pitcher throws him 4 pitches out of the strike zone.
Many times, a hitter will swing at a ball and foul it off. After 2 strikes, these foul balls no longer count against the hitter, so a hitter can "stay alive" in the at-bat by fouling off pitches.
A good hitter will do this when he gets a pitch that he knows won't go very far, but he can't just let it go by him, or he'll strike out, so he has to at least "get a piece of it" and foul it off. It is not unusual for a pitcher to throw 6 or 7 pitches to a hitter before the hitter either strikes out, gets a hit, or is walked. A 10 pitch at-bat is pretty unusual.
A 17 pitch at bat like the one Ankiel had last night is EXTRAORDINARY, and shows great patience and determination on his part. He simply would not give up! He worked a walk to first base, and a few minutes later trotted across home plate when one of his team mates hit a double.
The Cardinals won the game.
After the game, in answer to a reporter's questions, Ankiel said, "I just didn't want to strike out. Striking out doesn't help my team, and helping my team to win is what I'm here to do."
Even if you hate baseball, you gotta love this guy!!
Vicki
Monday, April 14, 2008
Your Math Lesson Is Done, So Stop Jumping On The Bed!!
Yes, I said those words to my son this morning, and when it came out, it sounded so odd, I just had to laugh. My son, who is in K, is practicing counting to 100 without stumbling over a few of the numbers, as he does now. Simply asking him to count to 100 usually leads to a battle of wills between the two of us. So, instead, I told him he could jump on my bed, and we would count the jumps together.
He was more than willing to go along with this, and both his sisters asked for a turn as well, so he got to practice counting to 100 3 times instead of just one!
I've been letting my daughter re-inforce her grammar lessons by using Mad Libs. Today, I decided we would do this together. When my daughter does these alone, she tends to "cheat" and read the whole story before filling in the blanks. It still helps to re-inforce grammar and parts of speech, but the game isn't as much fun that way.
So today, I held the Mad Lib book, and simply took turns asking each child to give me a noun, verb, adjective, etc., THEN we read the funny stories. I"m not "trying" to teach my Kindergartner grammar just yet, but he did NOT want to be left out of this game, so now, as a "bonus", he has learned what a noun is, what a verb is, and what an adjective is. A good time was had by all :)
Dh has changed his work routine yet again, but only a little bit this time, and for the better. He doesn't come home at 2:15 every afternoon anymore. He has gotten permission to clock in at his second job one hour earlier. This allows him to go straight from his first job to his second job, and get home each evening at 6:30 instead of 7:30. That allows us to have dinner a little earlier, and gives us a little bit more family time in the evenings.
In another 6 weeks, dh will have a 12 week break from his second job. We are all looking forward to having him home at 2pm every day during the summer!!
That may seem kind of silly, and maybe it's corny, but I miss my husband when he's at work! I"ll be glad when he can have a break from having to work such long days. I'm very thankful that after almost 14 years of marriage, I still miss my hubby when he's at work :)
Vicki
He was more than willing to go along with this, and both his sisters asked for a turn as well, so he got to practice counting to 100 3 times instead of just one!
I've been letting my daughter re-inforce her grammar lessons by using Mad Libs. Today, I decided we would do this together. When my daughter does these alone, she tends to "cheat" and read the whole story before filling in the blanks. It still helps to re-inforce grammar and parts of speech, but the game isn't as much fun that way.
So today, I held the Mad Lib book, and simply took turns asking each child to give me a noun, verb, adjective, etc., THEN we read the funny stories. I"m not "trying" to teach my Kindergartner grammar just yet, but he did NOT want to be left out of this game, so now, as a "bonus", he has learned what a noun is, what a verb is, and what an adjective is. A good time was had by all :)
Dh has changed his work routine yet again, but only a little bit this time, and for the better. He doesn't come home at 2:15 every afternoon anymore. He has gotten permission to clock in at his second job one hour earlier. This allows him to go straight from his first job to his second job, and get home each evening at 6:30 instead of 7:30. That allows us to have dinner a little earlier, and gives us a little bit more family time in the evenings.
In another 6 weeks, dh will have a 12 week break from his second job. We are all looking forward to having him home at 2pm every day during the summer!!
That may seem kind of silly, and maybe it's corny, but I miss my husband when he's at work! I"ll be glad when he can have a break from having to work such long days. I'm very thankful that after almost 14 years of marriage, I still miss my hubby when he's at work :)
Vicki
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Thank you, Lord, For The Weekends
In light of my last 2 rather whiny posts, I thought I"d share something good. Actually, I thought I'd all ready blogged about this, but I don't see the post here, so I must be thinking of the email I sent my sister.
Anyway, the Lord blessed us with a wonderful time this past weekend. We thought dh was going to have to work on Saturday, but he ended up getting the day off. We spent a pleasant morning at home, with dh playing with the kiddos while I got a few things done.
Then, we decided to go and eat somewhere before heading out to the circus. We tried a new Mexican restaraunt, and for the first time in a long time, we actually ate at a place that all 5 of us really liked!! Nice atmosphere, good service, GREAT food, and not too expensive! We will definitely be eating there again soon!
We had some extra time before the circus, and we were very near where I lived as a child, so we took the kids by to see the where I used to live. I made an interesting discovery there about a patch of monkey grass, which I will write about in my next post.
We headed off to the circus, and found a great parking space, very near the gate where our seats were located. The children got to take an up close look at the animals during the pre-show, and we all enjoyed the show VERY much. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful time, and some great memories. I am so thankful.
This weekend, we are looking forward to (hopefully) a day off from BOTH jobs for dh, and an evening out with friends. We hope that Saturday will be a day we can just spend together at home as a family, and we are looking forward to an awesome worship service Sunday morning, and a great Bible study Sunday evening.
Don't you just love weekends? :)
Vicki
Anyway, the Lord blessed us with a wonderful time this past weekend. We thought dh was going to have to work on Saturday, but he ended up getting the day off. We spent a pleasant morning at home, with dh playing with the kiddos while I got a few things done.
Then, we decided to go and eat somewhere before heading out to the circus. We tried a new Mexican restaraunt, and for the first time in a long time, we actually ate at a place that all 5 of us really liked!! Nice atmosphere, good service, GREAT food, and not too expensive! We will definitely be eating there again soon!
We had some extra time before the circus, and we were very near where I lived as a child, so we took the kids by to see the where I used to live. I made an interesting discovery there about a patch of monkey grass, which I will write about in my next post.
We headed off to the circus, and found a great parking space, very near the gate where our seats were located. The children got to take an up close look at the animals during the pre-show, and we all enjoyed the show VERY much. The Lord blessed us with a wonderful time, and some great memories. I am so thankful.
This weekend, we are looking forward to (hopefully) a day off from BOTH jobs for dh, and an evening out with friends. We hope that Saturday will be a day we can just spend together at home as a family, and we are looking forward to an awesome worship service Sunday morning, and a great Bible study Sunday evening.
Don't you just love weekends? :)
Vicki
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