My left chi

Jack has been having bad dreams this last week. His bad dreams is that "No one will EVER get me a Thomas turn-table." He still loves to do his homework and actually asks each day if he can sit down with me for some homework. He stabbed himself in the eye the other day with his homework pencil. As he was trying to show me which eye was hurting, he stabbed himself again. I felt horrible that it was so hard to not sit there and laugh at his little comedy of errors.

A few days ago I heard a minor ruckus upstairs. I didn't go tromping up to see what happened. I figured I would wait it out and see if anyone started to cry or fight. I only had a few seconds of silence before I heard Jack quietly calling out "Mommy, my chi hurts." I asked him to repeat himself and he said "My left chi hurts." I smiled and asked if we needed to work on opening his chakras. He pointed to his face and said "Mommy, vat's not funny. I told you my left chi hurts." I still wanted to make cracks about opening up his chakras, but he's four.

If you, dear reader, are interested in opening up any of your chakras, you can go to: www.eclecticenergies.com/chakras/chakratest.php (I can't get a link to post in this silly blog.)

I cut the boys' hair on Sunday. Jack agreed to the ordeal only after he negotiated for a slinky. Wy wasn't having it until I mentioned chocolate. He stopped on a dime and said "OK." He was only calm as long as he had a chocolate in his mouth and one in his hand at all times.

Every Monday morning I spend a good long while working up a menu and grocery list for the whole week. In an attempt to save money on the grocery bill, I try to figure out meals that don't have too many ingredients, have inexpensive ingredients, are foods that the kids MIGHT eat and keep some variety going. Feeding 10-11 people healthful meals on a LOW budget is very challenging. Once I put all the groceries away, my menu gets posted on the refrigerator.

My two favorite things about this menu are: 1. I don't have to figure out what I'm going to cook after a long day and 2. The kids aren't bugging me about "what's for dinner?" They just look at the menu! We operate off of this menu so much that Jack will ask me "What is for breakfast?" I tell him and he replies with "Is that on the menu?"

What is everyone else's favorite part about the menu? Friday night. I work nearly every Friday night and have found the fam really likes to get out from under my menu thumb when I am away. I now have Friday night's dinner listed as "GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD" and allow the family to pick/purchase/prepare dinner that night. 90% of the time that means a call to Pizza Hut.

Wy has discovered that the bottom shelf of my little kitchen island is a perfect hiding spot. He loves to pull all the lunchboxes out onto the floor so he can crawl into his little spot. He and Jack remind me of the cats - whenever Libby finds a new cozy spot in which to doze, Gracie makes her move and takes over the newly discovered hang out.


Before I go, please pray for two friends of mine. One is going through serious health issues with her father and the other is going through serious health issues with her child. My heart aches for both of these women.

Blessings on you and yours,
Owenland Park.