Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Girl Behind the Reason I've Been Quiet

There is a girl, close to being a daughter of ours. She went to the hospital last Monday with a "bump in her stomach." By Tuesday, surgery had revealed it was a cancerous tumor with affected lymph nodes. My writing has since been redirected to:

caringbridge.org
addisalemwolde (her full name with no spaces or capital letters)

Her prognosis is good and I know I will be writing funny things again at some point. The funniest thing that has happened so far is when I got home from a really long day at the hospital, made an apple pie (out of a box), found out the kids had accidentally dumped it upsidedown on the floor and I gave them forks and Cool Whip. Plates and a table aren't as necessary as one might think.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Fashion and Modesty

We have tried to keep some rules concerning modesty in our home. They basically boil down to: knock and don't come into a room when the door is closed until you knock. And ask permission.

The other morning I was getting ready for the day. I had a pair of jeans on that fit as well as a 50 cent pair of jeans needs to. They need a belt. I was also wearing a tshirt. It was tucked in. I was just about ready to put on a sweatshirt when there was a knock at the door. "Mom, are you modest?" came the question from one of my sons. I looked in the mirror. The only body parts showing were ones he had definitely seen before. "Yes, you can come in." He walked in to ask me a question and stopped dead in his tracks. Silence is not common for my boys. He looked at me. "Whoa, Mom. You look kind of like, a...hillbilly." This was all the cue my other son needed to rush in, bypassing all knocking and asking. After all, there was suddenly a hillbilly in the bathroom. Last he knew, it was just me. He screeched to a stop next to his brother and assessed. "Mom! You're like a worker guy!"

Since then, I have thought some about fashion. I think that being a mom at home who still needs to leave home at times, gives one a rather small menu of clothes from which to pick. There are the outfits that have made my boys ask, "Are those your pajamas?" and while they are not, they could be. There are outfits that have actually made me crabby. And when I go shopping I find that my requirements for clothes usually go well beyond the possibilities that exist. Can it be thrown up on? is a great winnower of clothing. There is also the Old Mom Trying To Look Young Dilemma juxtaposed with Nesting Robin On a Flowering Tree Branch White Hanes Sweatshirt.

So, for now I will be a Hillbilly Worker Guy. That means if I decide to do construction in Kentucky, I won't need to wonder what to wear.