“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.

You really must go see this play.  It was amazing!  The actors were all superb, the costumes were so elegant and the props were convincingly realistic.

One of my favorite characters was the disturbingly creepy, but oh so entertaining Mr Collins, who was played by the neither disturbing or creepy, though still entertaining Adam Nisbett.

Check out the Fine Linen Drama website, and the reviews on the fan page, but most importantly, go see the play!  From what I hear, the shows are selling out fast, so get your ticket ASAP!

Sophie calls them “the itchy, itchy, chicky pox”.

But check out the strawberry bowl…  It’s just like all the old bowls that my grandma and great-grandma’s had, and I love it!

The scones were really good.  I made them from the Smitten Kitchen recipe, with a few small changes to accommodate what I had in the pantry.

Truxters approved.  Heartily.

One of the things that I love about Dan is that he notices and appreciated things.  Things like sunsets,  leaves, stars, clouds, flowers, and fungus on rotted wood.

I also like that he uses the phrase “fungus among us”.

My husband looked up from reading the news one evening and snapped his fingers, exclaiming, “I’ve got a tremendous idea.  Let’s run to Walmart!”

“When?” I asked.

“Right now!  You know, just get in the car, and take a spur the moment trip to Walmart.  We could buy something exciting, like – oh, maybe wet wipes!  Wouldn’t everyone enjoy that?  Maybe the kids could go to sleep in the car.”

“Great idea!”  I agreed.

“Good.  Then it’s settled.”  And he clicked on another news story about two skinny dippers who sparked an emergency land and sea search on the New South Wales north coast.

“Oh, this will be exciting,” I said to our four year old. “back before we had you all, Papa and I used to do impulsive things once in a while, and I thought it was great fun!  Okay, Kinsley, can you get your socks and shoes on and help Sophie find hers?  Oh, and we’d better leave money for the milk, because the neighbors were going to bring some this evening.  I’ll pack the diaper bag real quickly, and we’d probably better feed the sheep.”

“Mama, I’m out of clean socks, and all of Sophie’s shoes are mis-mates!” said my daughter.  Which reminded me that I still needed to put the diapers in the drier or we weren’t going to have any clean ones for the car ride.

“Dan, do you think we ought to just put the kids in their PJs, just in case they go to sleep on the way home?  And we’d better grab extra clothes for Sophie, because you know how she is with her tiny bladder.  Oh, and after you feed the sheep are you going to need to stock the furnace?  I’m just asking because the bird and the fish should really be fed also, if you have a second, and the scraps for the dog are on the counter.  Oh, Kinsley, can you gather the sippy cups and put them on the counter?”

“Well, Sophie dropped hers in the toilet, because she was trying to fill it for a tea party in our room.” Kinsley replied.

“Oh, well… was the toilet clean?”

“Yeah, it was, but I couldn’t get the cup out and I had to go to the bathroom, so now it’s not clean.”

“Okay, I’ll get that in a second.  Dan, would you mind changing the baby, as soon as I can find a dry diaper?  And I’d better call and let mom know that we’re leaving, because she might worry if they come by and we’re not here.  And we should probably gather up the library books to drop off on our way out of town,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” says Dan, “we probably should drop off the bills at the post office, but that means I need to write a check and find the stamps.  Did we leave those in the car?”

“I think they were in Kinsley’s desk, for some reason.  I’ll grab them.  Oh, their room is trashed, let my neaten it real fast and turn down their bed in case they go to sleep.  Should we give them baths?  I need to take a fast shower, and I bet you do, too – which will give me just enough time to dry their hair, because we shouldn’t take them out with wet hair.”

“That reminds me,” adds my husband,  “I’d better start the car so that it has time to heat.  Boy, I hope we have enough gas to get to town!”

“It’ll be great to get out!”  I exclaimed.  “Isn’t it great to do something spontaneous?”

(To give credit where credit is due:  This is actually a retelling of Erma Bombeck’s thoughts on Spontaneity with teenagers.)

“Mom, maybe I should wear my overalls, so that people will know that we’re farm girls.”

With these words, Kinsley classified us as abnormal folks.  Which I guess is pretty accurate.

But we’re okay with being Fringe Folk.

In fact, we’re cool with it.

As a farm/fringe/abnormal/weirdo family,we do weird stuff for fun.

Like playing in the mud together.

It’s like going to the beach.

For Ozarkians.

The thrift shop has been my friend, lately.  Actually, the thrift shop is always my friend, but lately it’s been my generous friend.  This is just some of my recent favorite loot.

A handmade creamer and sugar set.  In one of my all time favorite colors!

My very own secret stash of colored pencils.  It’s not just that I like to sketch with them (occasionally) but even looking at them makes me happy!

These hen and rooster salt and pepper shakers are a present for somebody special.  Surprise, Rachel!

And these?  This entire stack, plus a couple more that the girls were drinking out of (total of eight) I got for .80 cents!  I love milky white glass!  They’re Pyrex… which means that you can put them in the oven for custards and such.

I got this stone crock to bake bread in.  I love it.  When I’m using it I wish I could have a window into it’s past life.

Napkins and plates – both thrifted and both used daily.

While I already had the baby, I did purchase the walker at a thrift store recently.  Which in turn has bought me time.  I’m all about buying time.

This outfit caused Kinsley’s heart to flutter.  She is fully aware of the beauty potential of such an outfit.

Sophie’s dress was thrifted last summer, but when she saw me photograph Kinsley’s outfit, she wanted to get in on the action.

Grandpa planned for everything.  Absolutely everything.  If something needed to be done, it was done instantly, and that was already too much delay.  He never neglected to purchase Grandma a card for every occasion that they celebrated together.  It was a tradition that we laughed about, because all they ever did was sign their name to the bottom of the card, and yet they were still touched by each others cards.  Time after time, when one of us would visit, they would hold up the greeting card given to them by the other and say “Isn’t it a nice card?”  Of course, it was a nice card, carefully chosen to express what they would say if they had been inclined to write the message themselves.

As usual, Grandpa had planned ahead.  He purchased Grandma’s card three or four months before her birthday.  He hid it away in the drawer.  The only thing he didn’t foresee was the weakness that would settle on him as his death drew nearer.  He probably never imagined that he would be too weak to sign the single word “Jim” to the bottom of Grandma’s birthday card, but that is indeed what happened.

This unsigned birthday card will always be the most special card to Grandma.

The following is something that Mom wrote for my brother in law, Matt, to read at Grandpa’s funeral.

The Saturday before Grandpa died, they were yet again in the hospital and it
was Grandma’s birthday.  His pneumonia had worsened and he had been in a
heavy sleep-like, very weak state most of the time during this stay.
But during one of his small wake periods, he told her happy birthday and
that he loved her.  Though he was weak and bedfast he told her if she
would just get his boots and take his hand they could make it out with
no one noticing.  He so wanted to go home and we are so glad he died
at home with Grandma, all of his children and more family in and out
caring for him.  Anyway, he told her that his birthday card for her was
at home in the desk drawer.  Though he never got a chance to sign it, it
will probably be the most special card ever to Grandma.  Here is what it
said:

You know the story.

Two people meet and fall in love.  They move all their
belongings into the same small place and begin to make a life
together.  They discover that they have three toasters, two
blenders, and not even one coffee maker.  They don’t fold their
shirts the same way and they can’t always agree on whose turn it is to clean house.

But these are the little things . . . and because these two
people love each other, they find a way to work them out.

As time passes, there are other things—money worries, illnesses, family crisis.

These are the big things.  But because the two people love each other, they find a way to work them out too.

And so, on special days like birthdays, they think about each
other and about all the fun stuff they share and about how their
love has got them through the not so fun stuff.

And he says to her . . .

Thank you for everything.  I still love you very much.

On January 12th, Grandpa shook loose the fetters of time and pain, and stepped into timeless bliss.  Grandma was at his bedside every minute of those last few weeks.  As the end drew near, their four children were there with them, which must have been a sweet joy and a comfort to them both.  I keep thinking of how amazing Grandma is, in her attentive, gentle, tireless care that she took of Grandpa.  She never ceases to amaze me.

For Grandpa, “The term is over; the holidays have begun. The dream is ended; this is the morning.”

For Grandma, and for all of us, while we are comforted by the fact that Grandpa no longer suffers pain, this also is true.

“It is hard to have patience with people who say ‘There is no death’ or ‘Death doesn’t matter.’ There is death. And whatever is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn’t matter.”

Grandpa had struggled for years with a weak heart, and with congestive heart failure and all the disease and sickness associated with it.

When I was a little girl, Grandpa was given a short life expectancy which he outlived by more than 15 years.

I am grateful that Grandpa was able to not only meet, but also to interact closely with his twelve grandchildren…

and his ten great grandchildren.  I am so thankful that my girls got to know Grandpa…

and that he was able to meet his first great-grandson.

Kinsley and Sophie love to guess who Grandpa must be currently visiting with – usually they agree that he must be visiting Daniel, a personal favorite of theirs.

[from the final paragraphs of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis]

“And as he spoke he no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. . . . And we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world . . . had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

I sit in wonder and think of what Grandpa must be seeing now.