Little Things

Aren't you glad God cares about the little things? I sure am. I've been reminded of that a lot lately. All of this rainy weather, along with a few other situations, have had me a little blue. However, God knows all about our problems, and although they may seem impossible to us, they are small matters to Him, and He can take care of them effortlessly. No task taxes Him. He is all-powerful and all-wise. He knows just what to do in every situation and just how to do it, and He has all the resources necessary to take care of us and all of the strength needed to use those resources. He is tireless.

When I was teaching once, there was a child in my class that was a big worrier. This child was much troubled over little things. This child got very upset at every mistake that he made. He got very upset over any problem or misunderstanding. If two papers stuck together when I passed them out, it would seriously stress him that he had an extra. Even after I explained that it was an accident and he didn't have to do it, it still threw his world off kilter. I walked away from the school one day after what was a particularly stressful day for him, and I was sort of shaking my head at the little things that troubled him that didn't even matter. I cannot count how many times I told him, "Don't worry about that. I will take care of it. It's not a big deal." Then it dawned on me, God must feel that way all of the time, for nothing is too "big a deal" for God to handle. We worry over earthly things that, in the long run, really don't matter. It will all come out in the "wash" that is the great resurrection. At that time, the quarrel with a friend over some passing matter will seem silly and foolish. The clothes and shoes that seemed so important will be seen for what they are, totally trivial. Even the bills that you have fretted over and struggled to pay will be seen through new eyes when we lay eyes on the BIG God who told us, "Does not your heavenly Father know you have need of such things?" It's no big deal for Him to take care of all the little worries that we have, so it's not our business to worry about them. He has already promised to take care of them, so how can we say we trust Him and His Word if we persist in worrying about what He has already promised to take care of.

There are two men in my life that I would trust with anything. One is my daddy and the other is my husband. When either of those men tell me that they will "take care of it," I know that it's time for me to stop worrying, because it will be taken care of. They are both very resourceful men who always do what they say they will do and will go to great lengths to do it if necessary. I do not worry about what they say they can take care of. My God has compared Himself to both a Father and a Husband. Like each of these men claim responsibility for their families and the matters that concern their families, God has claimed responsibility for His people. He has promised over and over again that we will be taken care of. He is infinitely bigger and infinitely more resourceful than even the best of fathers and husbands (which, by the way, I have already claimed. All of you other ladies out there will have to claim second best for yours ;-) ) When God promises that He will take care of us, He can be trusted to keep that promise, and you can rest assured that once you ask Him, He is on the job and taking care of it in the best way. Whatever the outcome, His decision is best for the way it was taken care of. Worries are gone when you truly trust Him.

That brings me to the point I set out to talk about to begin with. If you are a good parent, then what matters to your children matters to you. You may recognize that what they want is not best for them, but it still matters to you that it is important to them. You long to be able to see them happy and satisfied. You will not sacrifice what is best for them, but if what will make them happy will be no harm to them and it is within your means to help them get it, you probably will. I remember one day when my dad took me to an auction with him. He asked me if there was anything I wanted. For some reason, I was fascinated with this little ceramic figurine of two frogs dressed in their best clothes sitting on a park bench. To look at it now, it's kind of an ugly little thing, but I liked it. My daddy bought me that little figurine, even though it wasn't probably very attractive to him and was probably more of a hassle to bid on than it was worth, but he knew it meant something to me. I felt loved and cherished when he presented me with it because I knew he'd got it just for me. I still have that figurine, and when I look at it, I'm reminded of my father's love. What matters to a child matters to the father. The same is true of a husband. How many husbands spend money or time getting flowers or chocolate or a favorite gift for their wives? Even though they may see such things as trivial and passing, they know it will make their wives happy, and if it won't overly strain the budget, they will probably indulge their wives if they can. I love dark chocolate. I could eat it all day. One day, my husband was helping build a church. Construction had been slow, and he hadn't been working much, so we were on a tight budget. We spent nothing on luxuries. After working on the church, the pastors wife took the workers into the church pantry and invited them to take something. My husband brought home one item from the church pantry: a Hershey's dark chocolate bar. Needless to say, I felt very special because he'd thought of me and chosen exactly what he knew would make me happy. What matters to me matters to my husband. Let it be known beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is a good parent and the perfect "husband." Sometimes, He does those extra special little unneccessary things to let us know how much He loves us.

Here's my latest example: The lilacs are beautiful this year. My grandma had a lilac bush in her yard when I was growing up, and I was always excited when the lilacs would bloom and that wonderful fragrance would fill her house and yard. My neighbor and landlord has a row of lilac bushes along the road in front of her house. On day last week I was eyeing them from my car. I thought, "I wish I could cut a bunch of those and put them in a vase in my house." As it was, they were too far away from our house to smell or even admire very well. That very night, there was a knock on my door. When I answered, to my surprise, there stood my neighbor with a HUGE bundle of lilac blossoms. She asked if I would like some, because a frost might come that night, and she hated to see them all killed when no one has had a chance to enjoy them yet. I was thrilled. I thanked her and put my big bouquet of lilacs in a pretty vase and enjoyed that smell for the next couple of days. I think God knew that I needed a little cheering up, so He sent a cold front just for me. Okay, so maybe it wasn't just for me, but I think he must surely have put the thought in that neighbor's head to save her flowers by sharing with me. What's more, the frost does not appear to have killed the remaining blossoms, so I can continue to admire them as I drive by. Just a couple of days ago, my mother-in-law called and said that she's got a lot of lilacs this year, so if I'd like to take some, she'd be happy for me to, so it looks like I will have a few more days of that scent filling my house. God cares about the little things.

Another bigger issue that God took care of for us recently involves our insurance. The union is set up so that if you work a certain number of hours in the fiscal year, your insurance coverage will extend for another year. If you do not, you will go to a quarterly schedule. You must work a certain number of hours during the three month quarter to extend your insurance for another three months. If you have a slow quarter, which can happen easily in the carpentery business, especially in the winter, you will lose your insurance. The fiscal year ended on the last day of April. About a week and a half before that, I was looking at Arthur's hours. It was a very slow year for construction in this area, and his hours were low this year. If he worked forty hours a week between that time and the deadline, he would still be just a few hours short. My resourceful husband said he would see what he could do. At the next union meeting, he talked to one of the "big whigs." He told Arthur to call him after it was over, and he would check his records and see if they couldn't push him through if he was close. That was encouraging to know they would try, but there was still no guarantee they could do it. The next day Arthur was at work, he mentioned to his superintendent that he was going to be just a few hours short of keeping his insurance. I don't think he really asked for help or anything. He just mentioned it. His superintendent took it to someone above him and came back and told Arthur that the two of them would be working overtime that Saturday. That just put us over the limit, and we are insured for another year! What seems big to us is small to God. He can manage it. As the Bible says, "The king's heart is in the Lord's hand. He can turn it whatever way he chooses." Arthur did all that he could to solve the problem, and God took over from there and influenced people who could do something to do something. Problem solved.

The size of the problem, big or small, doesn't matter at all, because every problem is small when placed in the hand of our BIG God. It's all relative. A step that seems simple to a parent is insurmountable if placed in front of a toddling child. We must remember that we are dust, and as such are tiny. The problems that seem big only seem that way because they are bigger than us. If God flung the stars out into space and holds the world in his hands, how small our problems must seem when they are placed in His hands! This world will pass away and everything in it. The things that seemed so important that caused you so much worry will be gone. We must stop spending all of our energy on worry and go to work to make a difference in areas that will last. If you can help someone else along the way, you have made an investment that can survive this dying world. Live in a way that is pleasing to our Lord and trust Him to take care of the details. Our God is so loving and compassionate. He cares about the little matters that affect us. The children in kid's club sing a song that we probably have all heard, but we seldom think much about it. After thinking about God's care for us, I think it will mean a bit more to me now than it did when I sang it as a child.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole wide world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands!

He's got you and me, brother, in His hands.

He's got you and me, sister, in His hands.

He's got you and me, brother, in His hands.

He's got the whole world in His hands!

All we like sheep have gone astray.... We're in big trouble!

Okay, here is an example of how a big problem for a sheep can be a small problem for the Shepherd. Arthur is no shepherd, but his cousin has sheep. I wanted to see the new baby lambs, so Arthur took me into a barn where there was a tiny baby lamb. This sheep was nearby, happily eating from a bucket, oblivious to the strangers that had entered the barn. Arthur walked behind the sheep and made some noise. The startled sheep jerked its head up to see what was going on, but it moved so suddenly that the bucket stuck and came up with it! The poor disoriented sheep looked from side to side, and realizing that it could not see, it froze, apparently too scared to move. It did not budge until Arthur composed himself enough to go free its head. Note his laughing face. What an appropriate illustration for my last post! We're like the poor sheep, blinded and frightened by the mess we can create of our own lives. While it may seem funny to someone looking on, I'm sure it was not funny for the sheep! However, a good shepherd can easily remedy the problem if the sheep will hold still long enough to let him! However, if it tried to wander off on its own, it would be woefully lost! Good thing this poor sheep had the sense to stop. Hehehehe!

Earthquake!!! Ahhhh! :-)

I experienced an earthquake this morning. I woke up to everything shaking, and Arthur said, "Get up. Get in the doorway." We stood there for about 20 seconds until everything stopped shaking. Then we turned on the news. I was glad that my husband has a calm enough mind to always know what to do in an emergency. He seems always to stay calm and sane and logical. :-) People calling the news station were saying they went to their basements or didn't realize what was happening until it was over or that they thought something had hit the house. Because he'd lived in California for a few years as a child, my husband had the presence of mind, even at 4:30 or 4:40 to know what was happening and what to do. I couldn't believe some of the things other people were doing! Anyways, on the news, they said that it was a 5.4 earthquake and was centered near Evansville, IN, or West Salem, IL, about 200 miles from us, but they say there are a lot of faults in this area, though they are mostly deeply buried. It wasn't anything major, but enough to wake us up, and it lasted long enough that we carried on quite a discussion while it was going on.
Arthur: "Get up. Get in the doorway." Heading to the door.
Me: After we're in the doorway: "What is it?"
A: "It's an earthquake."
M: Pause..."I'm scared... Are you sure it's an earthquake?"
A: "It's not thunder. It's got to be an earthquake. It's bigger than just a tremor. It's still rumbling."
M: "It's got to be an earthquake."

After that, we went outside to look around, while Arthur told me what to do if it happened again after he was gone to work. Needless to say, we got around a little earlier than usual this morning. :-D People on the news were saying that they had thought it was maybe strong winds or something. There was not a moment that I thought it was maybe strong winds. It lasted way too long and rumbled too much for it just to be strong winds, and nothing sounded or felt like wind. I don't know where people get that idea, but I guess most people aren't especially with it at 4:30... imagine that! ;-) They say there was some bridge damage, but not much else, and that was mostly mild-moderate damage to older bridges.

One more list- For Sarah

Sarah mentioned that she'd have to keep these lists in mind for when she gets married, so here is one more list for her. I'm seeing some registry ideas here! ;-) This list is of tools that everyone needs if they plan on keeping house! Fun!
1. The original Swiffer- this can be acquired at Wal-Mart for about 10 dollars. Unlike the newer versions, such as the "wet-jet," This swiffer has holes on the top corners of the scrubbing pad where the cleaning rags are stuffed in and held in place, so you can easily make your own rags instead of buying theirs. I have cut several rags to fit. When I need to use them, I simply spray them down with a mixture of Pine-Sol and water (but you can use whatever cleaner you wish). This is great for scrubbing linoleum floors. I personally think it works better than most mops, and you don't have the hassle of trying to keep the sponge clean because the rags can just go in your normal wash. It is much less hassle than dragging out a mop bucket and much faster than scrubbing on your hands and knees. I also use this for scrubbing out my tub and the shower walls. It goes soooo fast. :-) When I'm done cleaning, I just pull off the rags and throw them in the hamper. I save a lot of money buy avoiding the expensive wet wipes you buy for the same purpose.
2. Plenty of ratty old tee-shirts to cut up for rags. Cheap and convenient, these can be cut to custom sizes, as above, and reused. When they are worn out, you can throw them away guilt-free, because you'll probably have plenty more t-shirts that are ripped or stained by then.
3. Spray bottles of assorted sizes- These too can be bought at Wal-Mart, usually for less than a dollar. For bigger bottles, check out the cleaning supplies aisle. For smaller bottles, check out the hair and travel accessories. You can fill one with diluted pine-sol, like I do for the floors. I spray it directly onto my cleaning rag, but if you have something tough that may need to soak for a minute, you can spray it straight onto the floor. Sometimes, just for a thorough clean, I spritz down the entire kitchen floor and let it sit for a minute before I scrub it off. It only takes a minute with a large spray bottle to spray the whole floor. The nozzle can be adjusted to spray a wide or narrow stream. I also fill a small one with diluted dish soap. On occasion, I actually get around to doing dishes right after a meal. When I am having lunch at home by myself, it's easy to wash my one plate, fork, and glass. I spray it down with the soap, scrub it, and give it a rinse. I just use a small amount of soap in the bottle and fill the rest up with water. It has enough soap to cut the grease. This allows me to do very few dishes without wasting lots of soap. You could also fill a bottle with vinegar and water for cleaning glass mirror and windows. Vinegar, especially when diluted, is a good deal cheaper then glass cleaner and will clean it just fine.
4. A LARGE bowl, big enough to hold dinner plates- You think you will always do dishes after a meal. You won't. Okay, there are probably a few saintly people who religiously do their dishes right after they eat, but I am not one of them, and I believe statistics would suggest that you probably aren't either. I always intend to, and sometimes I do, but most often, they wait a meal or two. If you have a dishwasher and are faithful about unloading it right away, you can easily rinse your dishes and stick them in there right after a meal, but my dishwasher does not work, and when it did, I was NOT faithful about unloading it. :-D As a result, dirty dishes piled up in my sink and on my counter. I was slightly embarrassed for people to wander in my kitchen and see the mess, and my poor husband was going crazy with all the clutter it caused. You think dirty dishes are just dirty dishes, but they aren't. They are clutter monsters. They take attention away from anything in the kitchen that may actually be clean, making the whole thing look like a mess. They also take up counter space, forcing other things to migrate to other surfaces on the kitchen, like the table, which clutters the whole kitchen. In short, they discourage you from going into the kitchen, which makes it difficult to keep it clean. I finally solved this horrid problem with a large plastic tupperware bowl. I cleaned out one half of my undersink cabinet for my bowl. Whenever I have dirty dishes that I cannot get to right away, I put them in the bowl. It is like a hamper for dishes. No one thinks you should leave your dirty laundry sitting out for all to see until you are ready to wash it, so why should we do that with our dishes? Company comes and my kitchen looks spotlessly clean, even though my breakfast dishes have not yet been washed. What's more, most things will almost self-sort when you use a bowl for dishes, because it's easier to stack plates together, bowls together, etc. so the washing goes quicker. When I am good and ready, usually sometime in the afternoon, I pull the bowl out and do the dishes. At the end of the day, when I am too tired to stand on my feet and do dishes, the supper dishes go into my now-empty bowl for tomorrow afternoon. This is the best tip EVER for those of you without dishwashers!
5. Old socks- I use these to dust. You could use your other rags, but I like socks because I can slip them over my hand and dust away!
6. A handheld cordless wet-dry vacuum- this may be one of the best household tools you can buy. I two of them for wedding gifts. I thought, okay, I can leave one in the car and one in the house, but the one never made it to the car, except for brief excursions. I find it useful to keep one in the living room and one in the kitchen. They are great for when you spill tea on the carpet, which will undoubtedly happen. You can grab the wet-dry vac before it soaks in and suck it right up. I also use mine to clean my couch and recliner. I use it for sucking down spiderwebs too. It's easy to just walk around the corners of the room and suck down the cobwebs. It's quicker and easier than dragging the regular vacuum around the entire perimeter of the room, and it's less messy and more effective than using a broom since it sucks the webs in and they are gone. Also, I have always been a hater of dustpans. You CANNOT get all of the dirt swept up in one. I just sweep my kitchen or bathroom with the broom, and when I get it all in a pile, I suck it up with the handheld vac. It's waaay easier than a dustpan! I also vacuum area rugs with them and spot vacuum crummy spots in the kitchen when I'm not ready to sweep the whole thing or if there was a small spill. When the filters get full, I empty them in the trash, rinse them in the sink, and stick them back in. There's no need to wait for them to dry, because it's wet-dry! Okay, I never thought I'd feel so much enthusiasm over a vacuum. I also use my wet-dry vac's when I clean the cars out. They have a nice little crevice attachment that gets into the small spaces. They are handy to use. I have cleaned out cars with a huge shop vac before, and it does the job, but it's so bulky and cumbersome that it takes forever and discourages people from vacuuming the car very often. With my little handheld, I vacuum my car out about once a month, unless it needs emergency intervention. :-) This regular cleaning keeps me from needing the heavy duty cleaning power of a shop vac. This is a wonderful tool. Mine is a Dust Buster 9.6 volt wet-dry vac and can be found at wal-mart for about 25 or 30 dollars.
7. Scrub brushes of various sizes-also under a dollar at Wal-Mart, These can be used for dishes, floors (they're great for dirt, etc. that gets stuck in the grooves and pits of linoleum) and even tablecloths. I love tablecloths, and I have a small brush I keep just to brush crumbs from my tablecloth.
8. A spare grill brush with a sharp scraper on top-If you have hard water like we do, this brush and scraper combo is great for scraping the hard water buildup from around the sink and brushing it out of shower heads and the sink sprayer!
9. A nice, easy to tote laundry basket- It's important that it be easy to carry. I keep mine in the bedroom. When we get undressed in the evenings, dirty clothes go straight in the laundry basket. When I get up in the morning, the basket goes with me to the bathroom, where it is sorted into the hamper. Husbands are notoriously bad about putting dirty clothes in the hamper, but if you have a laundry basket right there in the bedroom, and they don't even have a hamper lid to open, they are more likely to actually throw their clothes there instead of the floor. If your husband actually carries his laundry to the nearest hamper and deposits it in the proper fashion, please send me his mother's name and address so I can hire her to train my darling husband. :-) He really does a great job with the basket, aside from socks, which land in front of the couch. After you empty the basket into your hamper (I'll get to the hamper in a second), start a load of laundry and put the basket in front of the dryer. IT IS IMPORTANT TO USE THE SAME BASKET IF POSSIBLE! When the clothes have been washed and dry, dump them into the basket. This will encourage you to fold them and put them away ASAP because, you will want the basket to be empty and back in your room by evening to avoid having to pick clothes up off the floor. I usually carry the basket into the living room so I can watch TV or listen to something while I fold.
10. A divided hamper- This is very, very important. If you hear nothing else I say, hear this. I have a hamper with three compartments. I bought it at Target for a reasonable price. It has made my life much easier. I put whites in one compartment, colors in another, and denim articles in the third. (Some people may prefer to put delicate garments in the third, but I don't baby any of my clothes. I abuse them all, so if they won't stand up to the regular wash cycle, I probably don't want it anyway, but suit yourself). This makes it very easy to do daily laundry. When I want to put a load in, the sorting is already done. When I have children, I hope to give each of them a laundry basket for their rooms. When I get more laundry, I will get another divided hamper to accomodate. The plan is, every morning when they head into the bathroom, they will take their basket into the bathroom and deposit their laundry into the appropriate recepticals (I like big words :-)) If this does not happen, somehow, someway, I will make them wish it had. Maybe they can be responsible for everyone's laundry that week or something, bwahahaha! When I am ready to do laundry, it will all be sorted for me! Yay! I would put off laundry forever if I had to sort before running a load. This keeps me on track because it only takes about 30 seconds to stick a load in straight out of the hamper.
11. An organized schedule of chores that need done each day, week, or month and when exactly you plan on doing them- I take back what I said about the hamper. It is important, but if you can only remember one thing, remember this instead. I am a person who desperately needs deadlines. Without a deadline for something to happen, I can put it off indefinitely. It is easier than you think to look at the huge amount of work that needs done in your house and be at a loss for knowing when to start. About a month into my marriage, Arthur and I were at each other's throats about the state of our house. It is one thing to keep your bedroom and even your own bathroom clean, but when you are responsible for a whole house full of other people's messes, it is much harder to stay motivated and on-task. One day, it was just so frustrating, that I decided SOMETHING had to change. If I were getting paid to keep someone else's house, I would not have let it get like that. I decided to approach my own house the same way. I needed to tell myself what I wanted done in my home, how I wanted it done, and how frequently I wanted that to happen. In essence, I hired myself as housekeeper. I got a few sheets of paper and went through each room of the house individually. I wrote down everything I would want to clean in that room if I were going to seriously clean it, like spring cleaning clean. When I had my lists for each room, I went through and determined whether I'd want each task done daily, weekly, or monthly. The daily tasks, I wrote on one sheet of paper under the titles "morning", "afternoon", and "evening", though that schedule is fairly flexible. I included devotions on that list to help me stay on top of them. I look at my task list several times a day, and it helps me remember things that could easily be overlooked. The weekly jobs I put on another sheet of paper. I do the weekly chores for the bedroom on Monday, the spare room on Tuesday, the living room on Wednesday, and so on. For the monthly tasks, I figured that there are usually four weeks in a month, so I wrote "week 1" with lines for Monday through Friday, then "week 2," and so on. I divided the things I wanted done monthly as evenly as possible on those lines. In months with five weeks, I use the time for make up for things that got skipped for some reason or other, projects I've been putting off, such as sewing, just extra relaxation, or personal things that are fun to me, like reading a book, playing the piano, or doing "fun shopping," as opposed to just "grocery shopping," because you've got to take time for yourself once in awhile. Even Jesus tried to find time off to himself sometimes! I have worked to consistently stick to my schedule while still allowing it some flexibility. For instance, some things that I thought I'd want done weekly get done every other week instead, because they don't really need done every week, but I'd like them done more often than once a month. Also, some chores go really fast, because I don't necessarily have to complete them, just check on them. For example, one day a month I check all of the light fixtures. If they need taken down and washed, I will clean them, but most of the time, they are still clean. If you make a schedule and stick to it, it will take you less and less time to finish your chores as the weeks go. The first time I cleaned my kitchen by my new schedule, it took probably 2 hours. Now it takes me 30-45 minutes to get it THOROUGHLY clean. Part of that is because things are already fairly clean, so there is less scrubbing involved, such as inside the fridge and microwave. Also, you get faster at doing it, because you go through the same routine everytime and don't need to think about it as much. You also miss less, because you get a system going. FINALLY, you will not stress much over your house when company comes, and you will not stress when some darling man in your life or a visiting child leaves a room a bit messy, because you have a system for dealing with it. You do not have to drop everything and deal with it right then. There is a day and time scheduled for dealing with that. The whole house will be clean again by Friday! Some may say that this is easy to do if you stay at home as I do, but it's hard if you work. However, I think it's all the more necessary if you work. I never was a fan of heavy scheduling, but this simple tool has taken soo much stress off of me and freed up a lot of my time rather than taken more of it. Afterall, it takes far less time to constantly maintain a clean house than to constantly try to stay caught up with a messy one! If you make your own schedule, you can determine how much you can handle in one day. It is not imperetive that your schedule be as full as mine. The important thing is that you have a plan for when things get done to make sure that they DO get done. You can take as much or as little time as you need. I clean one room a day, but you could spread that out over two or three days and just take 10 or 15 minutes a day tidying up the whole rest of the house if you needed more time to complete the tasks. Either way, a plan saves you constant headache! Maybe you don't need this advice, because you're a bit more organized than I am, but here it is anyways!

I know that this was long, and maybe you didn't read the whole thing, but I hope it has been helpful in some way. I love you, cousin, and wish you the best in your upcoming marriage!

Lists

A few lists have inadvertantly come to my mind lately. I don't know why, but I feel like sharing them for those of you out there that are so painfully bored that you would subject yourselves to them. Here they are:

Things I hate to do: (this list came to mind because I found myself mentioning several things recently on different occasions that I hate more than "cleaning the toilet," which I really don't mind, by the way. Also, these are in no particular order. I just numbered them for fun).
1. Wash dishes- For some reason, this is the most boring job in the world to me. Maybe it would help if there were a window in front of my sink.
2. Put away laundry, especially on hangers. I don't mind folding it, but there is something about hanging it that just seems so tedious to me.
3. Matching socks I know that this goes along with number two, but it deserves a number all its own. Every other item I fold can stand alone and requires no thought. Socks, on the other hand, require that I actually think while folding laundry, which is just wrong. Arthur likes his socks stacked one on the other and folded in half. He says turning them over stretches the elastic. He is right, of course, and I too hate to have slouchy socks. It's annoying to always have to pull them up. However, I'd rather deal with that than have them shuffle around in a drawer and always have to look for the match. Oh well, to each his or her own. I fold his the way he likes them and mine the way I like them. There's no point in fussing over it. Arthur would also like it if I would wash each type of item individually- towels in one load, jeans in another, shirts in another, and so forth. He says it would make it easier to sort and put away, but I say, variety is the spice of life. If I had to do an entire load of socks without any reprieve, I would lose my mind. Actually... it may already be lost. (Anyways, I'd rather sort when I fold since I have to handle every garment at that point anyways. I have a divided hamper, so I sort colors, whites, and denim as things go into the hamper and leave it at that. Any more is just a complication).
4. Packing and Unpacking- I hate them both equally, well, almost. I may hate unpacking slightly more, because it requires that laundry be done. See numbers 2 and 3.
5. Making phone calls- I would much rather deal with any problem either through e-mail or in person. If I deal with it in e-mail, it has the advantage of being able to reread and edit before I send it and the added bonus of avoiding the discomfort of direct confrontation. If I deal with it in person, I get the advantage of seeing the other person's body language and them seeing mine. Also, silences are far less uncomfortable in person than on the phone. There's usually some other distraction nearby. On the phone, if it's a business call I have to make, there are the long periods of waiting before being handed off from one person to the next. If you are so fortunate to finally make it to the person that you need to talk to, and if you are lucky enough to get someone that speaks reasonably good English, they may be able to fix your problem. OR, they may need you to check back with them later, which means starting the whole awful cycle beginning with the person whom you do not understand and who seems to be convinced that they are clearly understanding you.
6. Going back to the store to get the one item that I forgot I needed- I'm something of a tightwad with both my money and my time, and this is a waste of both. I do not enjoy spending time alone in the car, so this seems like the ultimate waste of my time and that 3 something a gallon gas.
7. Waiting for something to load on the computer- see the explanation in number 6

There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Things that are worth it to buy the name brand:
1. Poptarts- I don't buy these often, because bread and oatmeal are so much cheaper, but when I do, I never, ever, ever buy generic. I like the brown sugar and cinnamon ones, and the name brand is the only one I have found that is really worth eating unless you are exceptionally hungry and there's just nothing else to be had.
2. Shoes- a good pair of shoes is soooo important. I hate achy feet. They can ruin a whole day!
3. Brown Sugar- I WILL NOT bake with the cheap brown sugar. I always buy C&H. The generic brands do not melt well in recipes and just aren't worth buying. You might as well us granulated sugar, because if you put that cheap stuff in a cinnamon roll, it will come out just like granulated. Nothing beats the flavor and texture of good brown sugar.
4. Toilet Paper- One ought not to skinch on toilet paper. One's bottom will not appreciate it. No one likes rough, transparent toilet paper. Do you want to pay for your children's therapy?
5. Tea- Arthur and I drink about a gallon of decaf. tea a day. For pennies more than it would otherwise cost us, we get to enjoy our tea very much. There is no point going through a lifetime of mediocre tea when you can have the good stuff for pennies more a day. I know that, over the course of a lifetime, those pennies add up, but for my three or so dollars a year, I will pay the price to love my tea. Good tea is important to one's sense of well being, especially if one is me. We're talking about quality of life here! One can live without good tea, of course, but if such a simple thing brings joy into your life and the lives of those you love (namely, Arthur), what is a few pennies?
6. Shortening- I have only recently discovered this. Crisco brand shortening is better for you than most generics, because it has no trans fat. Also, my cousin who does cake decorating says it works significantly better in icing.

Things that you are better off buying the cheapo version:
1. Milk- Here in Troy, Aldi's milk is generally considerably cheaper than Wal-Mart's, but it tastes oh so much better! Their cheese is better too, but at most stores, I would recommend buying the name brand cheese over the store brand. Bad cheese is waxy, yuck!
2. Eggs- An egg is an egg is an egg, so unless you are buying organic, what's the point? You will not convince me that the name brand chickens lay better eggs than the poor little generic chickens with the boring looking coop.
3. Butter- similar argument to that above... I have tried several brands of butter (real butter), depending on what was on sale, and they all taste like butter. Margarine, on the other hand, is a different story. Each tub has its own unique taste.
4. Printers- unless you're wanting something really high tech for pictures or something, get whatever has the cheapest ink. Eventually, they all turn on you, so what's the point. My most expensive printer turned on me a lot quicker than my cheapest one!
5. Dogs- The cute little mutt in the parking lot is cheaper, healthier, and just as friendly a companion as that pedigreed pooch. :-)

Things that make me smile:
1. Seeing my husband walk in the house- This most definitely ALWAYS makes me smile. :-)
2. Cookies- Who can argue with that? It makes me especially smiley if the cookies are homemade.
3. Singing in church- I love music and church music especially makes me smile. I love to listen to all the different voices, old and young singing together. There are few if any other places where you can hear so much diversity from one group.
4. Going on a walk on a sunny day.
5. Going on a walk on a rainy day, if it's not to cold.
6. Seeing all of my family.
7. Visiting with old friends.
8. New babies- Wait a second, does anyone know any old babies???
9. Whistling- I don't know why, it just does!
10. Seeing someone else smile almost always makes me more cheerful... So spread some cheer!

Kristyn's Christmas Cantata

This was the end of Kristyn's performance. This was probably the third or forth time through the song. :-D

At long last... Part II

So sorry... I know calling something "part 1" strongly implies that there is a "part 2," and I intended that there would be. I guess I've just been too busy living my life to stop and write about it, so I will try to briefly (somewhat) catch up now.


We took off from Troy the Friday evening before Christmas. Arthur told his boss that he would be taking Monday (Christmas Eve) off. Apparently, the carpenter's union does not consider Christmas Eve as big of a holiday as Labor Day. Yet another 6 hour drive and we were at mom and dad's house. We opened presents with my parents on Saturday morning. Tony and Brenda and their kids came down to open presents with us. Tony is what I call my "almost brother". He moved in with us when I was 5 and lived with us for about 3 and a half years. He lived nearby and worked for my dad until just a few years ago. Sunday morning we went to church and ate dinner at my Grandma Jane's. The original plan was to have Chrstmas with Arthur's relatives on Monday morning, but there was a change of plans because one of his aunts had to work, so we headed up to his grandparents' in Independence, which was about an hour away. We opened presents with them that night. Tony and Brenda had told us that we could stay at their house if it was too crowded at Arthur's grandparents. There was quite a crowd, so we headed that way. When we got there, the house was dark and empty. They had thought we decided against staying there, so they decided to stay at mom and dad's one more night. :-) I have other relatives in town that probably would have put us up for the night, but it was really late, and we didn't want to wake them. So, we headed back to Arthur's grandparents. We got there just in time to see his mom pulling out. In the few minutes we'd been gone, his grandpa had had an episode with his pacemaker, so they took him to the hospital for the night. They found a place to squeeze us in and we went to bed. The next day, we had Christmas dinner there, then headed back to OK to my grandma Jane's house. Arthur and the guys played paintball at mom and dad's house while we wives sat inside with the babies and chatted. We had Christmas at Grandma's with all my mom's side of the family that Monday night. Of course, it was kicked off with a huge supper. I was sooooo full of yummy Christmas food after two big meals in a row! We had to come back to MO Christmas day, because Arthur had to work the next day. It was kind of weird not to go to my Grandpa Don's house at all. We usually went there the day before Christmas Eve. Most of the family got together with his wife and two daughters on New Year's Eve, but again, Arthur had to work, so we couldn't be there. We did have a nice little New Year's Party here with friends and family.


Anyways, the weekend after Christmas was the big Schaper Christmas- for which we made yet another 6 hour road trip. As long as I can remember, that has been the highlight of my year. I was really looking forward to it this year, since we couldn't go down for Thanksgiving. It's funny, even as a kid, knowing that there would be fewer presents there than anywhere else I went for Christmas, I still looked forward to it all year. It's not that I don't enjoy the other gatherings. I really do, but this gathering is special for a number of reasons. My dad is one of SEVEN children. One of those seven, Uncle Steve, is the dean of a high school dorm. We all gather there every year on the weekend after Christmas (we used to gather at my Aunt Ruth's house, but we outgrew that long ago. The last few times we were there, people slept all kinds of places, scattered on the floor all over the house). Some of my cousins I see a lot of, but other's I only get to see at weddings, funerals, and family gatherings like this. At the family Christmas, we get 2-3 days to do nothing but enjoy each other's company and catch up. There are kids roller skating everywhere, running races, and playing school. (There's usually over 80 people in all). There is food EVERYWHERE! There are basketball games, volleyball games, and football games. There are puzzles, scrabble, rook, monopoly, and catch phrase. Did I mention there's a lot of GREAT food? There is the state of the family address, which is every bit as long as the state of the union address. My grandma used to do every single bit of it, but in recent years, we've mixed it up a bit. Two of my cousins did it a year ago and did it completely in rhyme. That was impressive. This year was really neat. Someone from each of the seven families came up and told about all of their family. You see, the State of the Family Address is where they tell a little bit about what each and every family member has been up to in the past year. It's a way to get a quick update on everyone, even the little bitty guys. This year we heard about successes in school, music classes, plays, birthday parties, new jobs, new boyfriends and girlfriends, new spouses, new babies, and all sorts of other great things.


After that comes another one of my favorite parts. We have our own little Christmas program. All the kids say their parts from their church or school programs or sing a song or share some other talent. For instance, one cousin plays the harmonica. Another is great at guitar. One little cousin, Kristyn, sang Away in a Manger again and again and again. :-) She kept getting lost, so it went something like this, "Away in a Manger no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head, the stars in the sky no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head," and so on. We also exchange presents. Grandma and Grandpa get something for everyone, and everyone gets something for them. Other than that, we each draw a name and buy something for that person, so everyone generally gets about two gifts. Overall, we just really enjoy each other's company. I don't know many other families that spend several full days and nights together a couple of times a year and actually enjoy it thoroughly. It really helps keep us all close. I know I could depend on any of my aunts, uncles or cousins if I ever needed them. We're a family, and that's what it's about. Brett, Mom, and Dad Justin, Lindsey, and Brenda
Tony, Brooke, and Sami Grandma Rogers and Chig



Valerie, Lance, and "Mom Baber"
Uncle Nate always plays the part of "Santa Claus."
He tells all the little kids who to take the presents to, and they deliver them. Aunt Diane, Grandma, and Aunt Naomi wathcing Dawson move blocks
with his new tractor. Jenna had too much fun. Aunt Della holding Megan and telling about her family. Kristyn and Hailey are
showing everyone how much the Albert Schaper branch of the family loves each other. :-) Nathaniel and Dawson are enjoying their Christmas Dinner
Kyle and Mandy brought baby Ava the day she came home from the hospital.
Here she is, obviously enjoying her very first family Christmas. Wyatt borrowed his Uncle Brad's paddle to play ping pong with his Papa Nate. Noah worked hard to pull Nathaniel, Shayla, Kaycee, Kaitlynn, and Kayli on this sheet.
One of many Monopoly games
Dawson, Wyatt, Jenna, Nathaniel, and Noah posing for the camera Who knew that foosball was a spectator sport? My Dad and Uncle Steve working on what seemed to be one of the world's hardest puzzles. One of many Rook games Jared enjoying his Papa Steve's famous mashed potatoes and gravy