Owner: Rocks In My Dryer URL:http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ Join Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 22:31:19 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: The sleep-deprived ramblings of a busy, saved-by-grace mom who does NOT have her act together. Site statistics:Click here
Just HOW, Exactly... 2006-11-21 08:53:00 ...does one manage to eat a waffle like this:
I'm telling y'all, my children have SKILLS.
Be Back Soon 2006-11-22 02:34:00 Happy days are ahead for the Dryer family: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which always makes me cry, for some reason), the Hogs vs. LSU taking us one step closer to an SEC championship, and (best of all!) my Aunt Susie's chocolate pie. I'll be back here on Monday, November 27th. In the meantime, I strongly urge you to go read this.
No Works-For-Me Wednesday this week, but we'll resume next Wednesday.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! May your hearts and your tummies be full.
Home Again, Home Again... 2006-11-25 05:30:10 I have eaten so much pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole in the last two days that I think my skin is turning slightly orange. But it was a great Thanksgiving--one of our best, I'd say.
My extended family has always gathered for Thanksgiving--in my 34 years, I've only missed it once. It's a true highlight of the year for me, and it's usually the only time I see these great folks. This year, there was an added dimension of excitement. Thanksiving morning, we got the call that my cousin J was at the hospital, in labor.
A Thanksgiving baby!
The rest of the clan (about 30 of us) gathered with an even more heightened sense of thankfulness and family as poor J labored away in a hospital room an hour away. My uncle called regularly with updates, and the news would go up: "Three centimeters!" "She's at four centimeters!" "She got her epidural!"
Somehow I never ever imagined myself discussin Read more:Again
Product Review: Swiffer Carpet Flick 2006-11-26 02:49:13 Alright, I've promised you honest product reviews, even if they aren't great--so that's what you're getting today.
The folks at Swiffer let me try their new Carpet
Flick. It looks a lot like a mini-vacuum, though it's not electric. You simply put a Swiffer cloth in the bottom and roll over your carpet messes. It's designed for "carpet crumbs"; everything from glitter to food crumbs to grass clippings.
I was a little disappointed in it, honestly. I let the kids take a handful of potato chips, smash them up, and drop them on the living room carpet (the look of wonder on their face was truly worth the trouble). To get the Flick to work, I had to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth so many times that it probably would've been simpler just to have leaned down and picked up the chip crumbs with my fingers. And it only worked when I pressed the Flick very hard into the carpet.
In fairness, I tried it on
It's Cute In a Two Year Old 2006-11-27 07:19:00 It's been a few years since I was the mother of a toddler, but Corrie is graciously re-initiating me into the delightful quirks of having a two year old in the house.
These days, it's critically important to her that we all stop whatever we're doing to verbally acknowledge whatever she's talking about. If we do not, she will repeat herself over and over, the volume dramatically increasing until we do. For example, when we're outside, she says (growing louder with each word), "Sky. Sky. SKY. SKY. SKY-Y-Y-Y-Y..." until I say, "Yes, darlin', I see the sky."
Or, whenever our dog walks into the room (EVERY time): "Woof. Woof. WOOF. WOOF. WO-O-O-O-F...." And we answer "Yes, Corrie, the dog says woof." I truly think she would continue barking all afternoon until we acknowledged her.
The greatest infraction is if we do not stop the rotation of the very Earth its
WFMW Is Back In Town 2006-11-27 21:57:00 Works-For-Me Wednesday will be back in business this week. Holiday-related ideas are welcome, but so are ideas that would knock our socks off any ol' day of the year. Guidelines, should you need them, can be found here.
Just for fun, I'll be unveiling a new WFMW graphic you can use on your post, if you'd like (though it's fine if you like the old one better.) Clearly, my being content with the current graphical state of my blog is an impossibility. If you'd like me to send you a copy of it ahead of time, just send me an e-mail at the link to the left.
Birthday Blogger! 2006-11-28 11:25:00 In keeping with Dryer family birthday tradition, my guest blogger today is Stephen (about whom I have written here and here and here, and, oh sweet Heaven, here.) So without further ado, here is my newly eight-year-old boy:Yo! Whassup? My name is Stephen. And I'm going to start my own blog in a couple of years. Maybe even this year. Ummmmmmm.......here's some of the things that I like: Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course, more Star Wars. And I love soccer and my position is mid-forward. I hope that I will be a famous soccer player someday--you might watch me on the Fox Soccer channel. Oh, yeah, and I like Star Wars!
Hey, do you want to hear about my family? It's sometimes kind of raggedy in the house. Trust me, you don't want to come. My little sister Corrie, you'd never guess what she does every day. She takes my Gameboy and Adam's DS. And speaking of DS-es, I'm goin Read more:Birthday
, Blogger
I Should Be Happy About This, But... 2006-11-28 23:24:00 ...Only 98%?? Where did I go wrong?
Your Language Arts Grade: 98%
Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).Are You Gooder at Grammar?Make a Quiz Read more:Happy
Works For Me: One More Christmas Idea 2006-11-29 06:01:00 I'm re-running an idea I shared over a year ago, but it's such a good one it warrants dusting off out of the archives.
Last Christmas
, my sister-in-law L (who, by the way, took up all the thin, beautiful, artistic genes in our family, but I love her anyway) made the most incredible gifts for my children. A month before Christmas, she asked them to draw and color a picture of a character--any character. Adam drew Mario from Nintendo, Stephen drew SpongeBob, and Joseph made up something all his own. We mailed them to her, and she used their drawings to create patterns...and then she re-created their little creatures in pillow form. My kids went nuts for them and they still love them. Here's a picture:
I wish I could show you Joseph's original drawing (and I suppose I could, if I wanted to spend two hours digging through last year's keepsake box, which I do not.) If you could see it, you would be amazed at how faithful L's sewn rendition Read more:Works
Old Man Winter Arrives In Oklahoma 2006-11-29 23:23:13 It was in the mid-sixties when I put my kids on the bus this morning; right now, it's 35 and pouring freezing rain, with yuckier weather in the forecast. My kids exploded off the bus, cheeks rosy and voices breathless with the anticipation of a snow day tomorrow, and they informed that if you sleep with your pajamas on inside out, there's a better chance of snow (and therefore no school). Who knew?
So, I will be sleeping with my jammies on inside out tonight right along with them, in hopes that tomorrow I can put the live-in help kids to work putting up the tree. And, of course, drink some hot chocolate and watch Christmas movies, cuddled up on the couch. It's hard to think of a better day.
May your night be toasty, wherever you are. Read more:Oklahoma
, Old Man
Car Talk 2006-11-30 08:13:00 Last week the kids and I were doing the after-school dash when Stephen leaned forward and the following conversation ensued...
Stephen: Mom, what's "puberty"?
Me: [in my head] Really, Lord? Do we have to do this now? I thought this conversation would happen between Stephen, Hubs and me in front of a roaring campfire on a Special Occasion sometime in the distant future, NOT on our way to karate with a two year old singing in the backseat and...wait a minute, was that a peanut butter cracker that just flew past my shoulder?
Me: [aloud] Puberty is when you reach a certain age and your body starts changing.
Stephen: Oh. [Thoughtful pause] I think I'm going through puberty.
Me: Really? We'll you're only seven, Stephen. I kind of doubt it.
Stephen: But my shoes are getting tight. That's a body change.
Ah, now if only the true woes of puberty could be solved with a trip to Payless.
Status Report 2006-11-30 16:35:55 The pajamas-inside-out trick, evidently, works. (And yes, they really slept that way). We awakened to a winter wonderland, no school, and a weather map that looks like this:
Yikes. When the forecasters talk about "making sure you have a several-day supply of essentials", you know it's serious. Woo-hoo! Read more:Status
Shameless Plug 2006-11-30 22:54:32 Yes, it's my third post today. Can you tell we're a little cooped up around here? But this is too good not to pass on...
My blogging buddy KimC and her family have launched an on-line business, Geneva Bible Pages, from which you can purchase an original, framed leaf from a 1599 Geneva Bible, "the Bible of the Puritans; the Bible of Shakespeare; the Bible of the great Reformers; the Bible of the common man." Exciting stuff!
It gets better. Post about it on your blog (using the banner, above, and a link to their site), and you can be entered in a contest to win a free framed Geneva Bible Page. Click here for the site, and here for more details about the contest.
Read more:Shameless
He's All Mine and You Can't Have Him 2006-12-01 21:26:00 I was bemoaning to Hubs the other day that Cover Girl lipstick has discontinued the color Rum Raisin. My color. For years. Rum Raisin and I have a long and dramatic history together, and it was with a sad heart I learned we were being forced to part ways.
My ever-logical Hubs wasn't impressed. "Just find another color," he said flippantly. Clearly, he has never searched for a new shade of lipstick. A good trait in a husband, now that I think of it.
The next day, he noticed me digging into the last of my Rum Raisin with a lipstick brush, and he asked what I was doing. I explained that I thought could eke out a few more weeks of Rum Raisin this way. He laughed and shook his head and mumbled something about being thankful that he's a man.
When I was climbing into bed later that night, he nonchalantly came upstairs and reported, "I just ordered you seven tubes of Cover Girl Rum Raisin on E-bay."
At Least They're Learning About Forgiveness... 2006-12-01 22:58:26 I just learned that I'm a nominee in two categories for the Christian Women Online Awards: the Friendship Award, and the Best Mommy Award. I am deeply honored, totally humbled, and I appreciate your nominations, really and truly. For grins, I put the nominee banners on my sidebar, but HOLY COW they're big, aren't they? I'm feeling sheepish--I think I'll take those down in a day or two.
But GOOD NIGHT NANCY I feel like I have you all fooled, if anyone thinks I deserve the Best Mommy Award. If the award is for wanting to be a good mommy, well, of course that is my greatest desire. But actually managing it? Truly, if you could've seen how horribly grouchy I was with my kids this week....*sigh*....well, I'm glad you couldn't. I'm sure if I told my kids about the nomination I'd be met with blank stares.
It's the one thing about mommy-blogging that gets my goat every now and then. I tend to record the sweet moments, those adr Read more:Learning
, Forgiveness
Nine Kinds Of Weird 2006-12-03 09:21:00 Shalee and Donnetta tagged me on a little meme, in which I'm supposed to list nine weird things about myself. Only nine? Really? You're going to have to narrow it down a little, because I have a lot of weird things to choose from. Would you like nine weird grocery habits, or nine weird sleeping habits, or how about nine weird computer habits? 'Cause I got 'em. All.
For the sake of the meme, I'll choose from a random assortment of Weird
ness Categories. Here we go...
Before I go to sleep at night, I have to check my alarm clock eight times. Not seven, not nine...EIGHT.
I cannot stand for anyone to touch my face. I let Hubs, but only because he's really, really cute.
When I was in 8th grade, I had to take a required Agri Shop class (give me a break, y'all, it was rural Arkansas...) and I loved the welding unit. A teeny, tiny part of me would love to go to welding school.
When I go to the grocery store, I like to line Read more:Kinds
Necessity Is the Mother of a Two Year Old 2006-12-04 08:47:00 tMy daughter has unveiled the clever new skill of taking off her diaper in her crib at night. You can imagine that this is especially delightful when she has some Number Two business she needs to take care of. Good days at the Dryer house, I'm telling you.
But in my desperation ingenuity, I have outsmarted her, and I give you our solution:
Long ago I expected to add many tools to my parenting repertoire as the years went by: doctoring, refereeing, cajoling, praying...but never in a million years did I imagine that one of my handiest parenting tools would in fact be duct tape. Read more:Necessity
All About Our Jesse Tree 2006-12-04 21:20:46 Several of you have asked me to post pictures of my Jesse
Tree (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can read an explanation here and here). This post will contain several pictures--I've made them thumbnails so the page will load faster, so you can click on each photo for a better view.
I have kept this project simple and affordable. I bought a two-foot tree at Wal Mart for $10. Most of my ornaments cost a dollar or less, and they came from Wal Mart or Hobby Lobby (the latter frequently puts the ornaments on half-off during the holiday season; you can find that info here).
Here are a few of the ornaments I bought out-right, with no craftiness involved whatsoever (I'm not going to try to link to the particular Bible story, just to save time, but you can find the devotions we use here):
Here is a globe, for the creation story:
Here's a heart, to represent Mary's pure and loving heart:
This was meant to be a decorative icicle, but we use
You Do Know About This, Right? 2006-12-04 21:03:00
For details, just click here.
I'll be participating, oh yes, indeedy, I will. I wrestled out six boxes of Christmas decorations while being snowed in with four children and managed to put together the tree without another adult for back-up. I want some credit for this. Read more:Right
If You Don't Help Me The Centers For Disease Control Will Confiscate My Carpet 2006-12-05 16:58:00 I don't know what it is about this family, but we go through vacuum cleaners like most people go through paper cups. Seriously, it seems every year or so, yet another Dryer family vacuum cleaner bites the dust. Or stops biting the dust, as it were.
Yes, I buy cheapies--usually $75-$100 at Wal Mart. I'm sure that must have something to do with our poor vacuum performance. Well, that, and the LARGE CHUNKS OF THINGS that seem to find their way into my carpet on an hourly basis.
So, Bloggy Peeps, should I just suck it up (pun totally intended!) and buy an expensive vacuum? Does it make a difference? And if it does make a difference, which brand? Oreck? Dyson? Do you have one you love? Canister or upright? Bagless or bags? I've had such bad luck with vacuums I don't trust myself to make a decision. Read more:Control
, Carpet
Works For Me: Easy Garlic Bread 2006-12-06 07:01:00 Here's a cheap and easy way to do garlic bread ("red-neck garlic bread", as Hubs so lovingly calls it). I serve this nearly every time we do Italian, and my family loves it!
First, take hot dog buns and cut them in half like this:
Open them up and spread them out on a baking sheet, like this:
Put them in the oven (I use my toaster oven) and get them nice and toasted. While they're toasting, melt some butter or margarine and stir in either garlic powder or (our favorite) dry ranch dressing mix. When the bread comes out of the oven, spread the butter mixture over it. Voila! Garlic
bread!
Want to share your helpful tip with Bloggityville? Leave a link below. First-timers, please read through the guidelines here before posting.
Read more:Works
, Bread
That Strange Popping Noise You Hear Is My Head Exploding 2006-12-07 07:02:00
It was a normal morning yesterday--I was just drinking Diet Coke at the computer while the kids finished getting ready for school. And then what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a frantic e-mail from Chilihead telling me I was a finalist in the parenting category of this.
The Weblog Awards.
The Big Boys of blog awards. The Grand Cahuna. The Whole Enchilada. The Mac Daddy. (Insert more impressive cliches here; I'm too tired to think of any more).
I very quickly did a Google search to see if there was, in fact, another Rocks In My Dryer parenting blog, because NO WAY could that be me. And yet, it was.
Wonders never cease.
I'm just a big old speechless ball of nerves over this, and very grateful to whoever (or whomever? Drat, that gets me every time...) nominated me. And at the risk of sounding like an utter cheese-ball, it really is a completely humbling honor just to be nominated. The other parenting nominees Read more:Strange
, Popping
, Noise
Sweet Burden 2006-12-07 07:01:00 He stepped off the bus with his hand in his pocket and a grin on his face. He sauntered toward me as I waited on the front porch, and I could tell he was trying to disguise his excitement so he could save the drama for The Big Announcement, whatever it might be.
He stepped on the porch, and wordlessly, face flushed, he pulled a card out of his jeans pocket.
A library card. His very own library card.
In our city, children are eligible to receive a card when they reach second grade. To encourage them, a special, decorative card is issued to second graders only. With grand ceremony, second-grade teachers across our city give each interested student the highly coveted piece of plastic.
So when Stephen handed me his, I nodded at him knowingly. "It's a big deal," I said.
"I know," he said solemnly.
We came inside and he practiced writing his name so that, when he signed it on the card, it would be per Read more:Sweet
, Burden
The Polls Are Open... 2006-12-08 02:23:00 ...and you can vote in the Parenting category here. Voting once a day is actually encouraged. And no-o-o-o, that wasn't a hint. Not at all. Not one little bit.
The horrifying interesting little quirk to the voting is that the results are tallied in real time (you can see the number of vote in parentheses next to each blogger's name). So not only can I get my tail kicked, I can see how badly I'm getting my tail kicked! And so can all the Internet! What joy! Somewhere inside of me there is a 13-year-old girl curled up in a fetal position.
While you're there, be sure to check out my blogging buddies who have been nominated in other categories: Reformed Chicks Blabbing (for Best New Blog) and HolyMama (for Best of the Top 1001 - 1750 Blogs).
Over the next few days, I might put this post back up at the top of my site. But that's not a hint. No ma'am.
Congratulations to all the nominees! Read more:Polls
Need A Reminder? 2006-12-08 20:31:00 I have spent the last three days nursing a sick child, packing for our first Christmas celebration this weekend, planning meals for our second one, wrapping gifts, planning a school party for Friday, etc. etc. And I have grumbled and complained and snapped and been about as pleasant as old Ebeneezer himself. But after a particularly irritable outing the other day, I sent Joseph into the living room to play while I unloaded the fruits of my latest plundering shopping. Unbeknownst to me, he was playing with the little ceramic figures of our nativity scene, and when I joined him in the living room, this is what I saw:
All the figures quietly circled around the baby Jesus, at my little son's suggestion. I needed that.This post was originally published on December 15, 2005. Read more:Reminder
Couldn't Resist... 2006-12-09 08:32:00 Considering I spend a decent chunk of my time steering my boys away from potty jokes, it's probably just an eensy bit hypocritcal that I bought them these for their stockings:
The little guys poop brown candies out of their little plastic backsides! Go ahead, laugh...you know you want to. "POO-lar bear?" That is just good.
I found them at JoAnn's. You're welcome.
Product Review: Poetry Speaks To Children 2006-12-10 12:22:00 When the folks at Sourcebook, Inc., offered me this next product review opportunity, I jumped on it fast. I'm so glad I did--I feel like I've found a little treasure.
Poetry
Speaks To Children
is an beautifully illustrated, hard-back book and CD set. It spent ten weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. This delightful collection is full of significant poems from a variety of eras, and it's poetry that can be loved and appreciated by children. Not "children's poetry", necessarily, just poetry they will be able to follow. The editors did an outstanding job. Included is poetry from ee cummings, Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats, Edgar Allan Poe, Eugene Field...and many, many more.
Here's the real treat: the companion CD (attached to the inside cover) contains many of the book's poems read aloud, by the author, when possible. So you can (O Great Day!) take that dang Wiggles CD OUT OF THE MINI-VAN and let
To Take It a Step Further... 2006-12-11 16:31:03 Here's a follow-up to my earlier post...(And--ahem, ahem--while we're on the subject of voting, don't forget about this!)
Read more:Further
The People At the Post Office LOVE Me 2006-12-11 14:30:00 I distinctly recall, this time last year, seeing several posts around Bloggityville that raged against the "horror" that is the Form Christmas Letter. And I was left scratching my head, because y'all? I think those letters are great.
Am I the only one?
We are serious about Christmas cards around here. We send a lot, and we receive a lot. Beginning each December 1st, I trot out to the mailbox every day like a kid at...well, Christmas. There is nothing like hearing from old friends.
Cards are nice, and pictures are wonderful, but I always hope I'll find a newsy little insert telling me how Junior is doing in algebra or how many teeth Susie lost this year. Maybe I'm just nosy.
I always include a form letter in ours (I used to hand write notes, but it's simply not practical anymore). I keep it short and sweet, not boring our friends with every mundane details of our lives (no, I save that for YOU lucky readers of this blog!
Recommend Site To A Friend
