I'm going to blog;

I am.

I have a dozen or more posts in my head, things I really do want to share here. But. 

But last week was whirl of company, crisis, and chaos--the likes of which I've never experienced in nearly 23 years of parenting. And.

And I went into that week after  solid week of battling--and losing to--a particularly nasty respiratory bug. It lasts forever. I'm still wheezing. And it's still slowly making its way through the family. And it lasts forever. Did I already say that?

Did I mention that our air conditioner died last week and it was 102 degrees outside? It did. I had a fever. And it was 98 in my bedroom at 11:00 PM.

My house looks like I was sick and then I had company, crisis, and chaos.

I never can really sit to write when my environment isn't in order. Even if I leave my environment and go to Panera to write. {Panera, where I have of late received crisis and chaos telephone calls.} Anybody notice that I only posted once last week? And since then, it's only been guests posts? Yep. 

No order. No blogging.

Ducking out now, to think and think and think.

While I vacuum.

And mop.

And fold laundry.

Maybe tonight I'll write. 

Or maybe not?

Just wanted you to know I have been thinking about you.

Hope your summer is off to a calm, peaceful, orderly beginning. :-)

A Very Special Day, a Very Special Bouquet

Today is a very special day.

In honor of Elizabeth DeHority's 45th birthday, we're gathering the finest of flowers.

To get to know Elizabeth, read here  and here.

Prayer

Please leave her a birthday message below and let her know your praying for her.

One thing is certain: no flower delivery service works so well for spiritual bouquets as the internet does.

{i'm going to be in an out all day but i promise do put comments through as quickly as possible}

Brother Bonding

In a house full of boys from 10-22, every once in awhile you hear  very loud all-male laughter. They're standing around a computer watching this over and over again, laughing uproariously.

"Butt" jokes.

Boy humor. 

Just wait until Dad gets home.

(He'll laugh, too.)

This is Interesting: Updated

In the comments of the Yarn Along post, Laura mentioned that this blog was one of only two Catholic blogs on the voting list for Top 25 Faith Blogs at Circle of Moms. Lots of blogs of witches there, though. Honestly, I couldn't find my blog there. I saw another Heart of my Home blog. I scrolled through a whole bunch of pagan goddess blogs and then, I just moved on before I got to the end because I'm sitting at Starbuck's with limited working time and that just didn't seem to be worth trading time away from home. But, it is a curious thing to me because I don't know a single Mom Witch in real life and they are definitely well represented over there.

Update: Someone found my blog there. You can go here to vote for me and you can vote once a day.  Or you can go to the link above and scroll through to vote for other blogs. The witches and pagans are well organized and well ahead of Christian blogs. Sure would be nice to see Christian blogs well represented at the end of this voting.

To the Woman who Cut my Daughter's Hair:

You blew it. For weeks, she had been looking forward to that haircut. A little pampering, a chance to perk up and feel pretty, it was to be a big day out. She has very long hair and haircuts are rare treats. She looked at hundreds of pictures, pondering this possiblity or that. You were one of several people we considered to undertake the task. Since you had done a darling job with Katie's hair a couple of years ago and you are close by and affordable, we decided to take a chance.

From the moment we arrived, it was the wrong decision. You began by telling her all about what was wrong with her hair--her thick, healthy, lovely hair. A half dozen of those bottles of hair products and all would be well you assured me, as you clicked your tongue and told her how really terrible her current hair was. Once we had duly  noted your "recommendations," you moved on to highlighting. Honeyed brown hair is terribly dull it seems. She "needs" highlights. Be so much more beautiful with highlights. Maybe you missed the look on her face, that girl in the chair who came in with every expectation of leaving feeling good about her appearance. You--in your effort to make a sale--you were relentless in your mission to make her feel in need of fixing. After fully decimating her self-image, you moved on to me. I need highlights. too. To cover the gray. And a haircut. And a flat iron.

I'll pass.

Thankyouverymuch.

We left your shop with one very good haircut.

We will not return.