2009 July

It just occurred to me that I have some winners to announce

Summer has me completely confused, as far as time goes. Chad has been taking off most Fridays, so every Friday actually feels like a Saturday — since no one is setting alarm clocks for ridiculously early hours or brushing their teeth while I’m trying to stack pillows on top of my head in order to drown out the noise and keep sleeping.

And on top of that, without the routine of school (“oh – it’s Wednesday, you have a math test today”), I’m totally lost during the week. Most days, I have no idea what day or date it is. I just know that the morning I wake up and everyone is staying home, it must be Saturday. Except, as I explained above, it’s probably really Friday and Chad’s just off.

All that to say — I forgot that today is Friday and that I was supposed to choose some book & CD winners. So I’l stop babbling and get right to it.

The winner of The Vanishing Sculptor is:

Comment #15: Mary S.

And the FIVE winners of Matthew West’s Something to Say CD are:

Comment #16 – Mimi B.

Comment #20 – Julie

Comment #12 – LaVonne

Comment #3 – Lisa B.

Comment #24 – Mark

Congrats to all of you! You should have received an email from me, but if for some reason you haven’t, please use my Contact Me tab to send me your full name and mailing address.

And a good time was had by all (three of us)

I confess: I’m a boring mom.

I like to stay home.

I rarely have exciting ideas or plans.

Any time I act in a spontaneous manner, my husband asks if I’m feeling okay.

So yesterday, something weird happened. At about 3 p.m., I thought, “Hey — what if I asked the kids if they wanted to have a special FUN Night, and they could pick anything they wanted to do…and we’d do it?! Wouldn’t that be cool? Wouldn’t they just love it?”

Chad was out of town and I had been up until 2:00 a.m. the night before, unable to sleep. So clearly, I was delerious. Why else would I let my kids pick anything they wanted to do?

Good news: the kids took it easy on me.

Part One of their plan involved a treat: some fast food. Not surprising.

“Wendy’s!!!” L. cried out. “That’s a great idea!”

No problem. I can handle that.

And Part Two of their plan?

A bookstore.

We must be raising these kids right. Both of them suggested a trip to the bookstore after dinner, and — as I’m sure you can guess — a visit to a bookstore is hardly a hardship for me. Maybe they clamored for a bookstore because they knew I’d enthusiastically comply without delay. Or maybe they genuinely think that browsing through books with the possibility of taking home a treasure or two is genuinely fun. I like to think the latter.

C. spent his bookstore time checking out the Garfield comic books — his current interest (on which his allowance money is spent almost as quickly as it’s received). And L. asked me to find him “new alphabet book!” and “new shape book!” and “new polar bear book!” We spent our evening, quite happily, immersed in the children’s section.

Eventually, L.’s bedtime approached, so we headed home. Happy.

I know I got off easy. They could have asked me to do any number of things that would have pushed me out of my comfort zone. And I would have done any of those — happily. And we would have had fun, because we would have been together.

But I’m glad they chose the way they did. It was truly a delightful evening.