Too many nuts at work

So, today I am at work. It's getting around 10:00 am and I'm getting hungry. So I mosey on back to the stash of mixed nuts that we always have on hand in the back office. There are 4 opened cans of mixed nuts. I open can #1 - only thing left in there is a few peanuts. I open can #2 - only thing left is a half a can of peanuts. I open can #3 and it is full to the top with....you guessed it, peanuts. I don't even have to open can #4 because the lid is off and there are only peanuts.

I go through each can, pushing peanuts aside with my finger....hoping to come across one little hazelnut or almond....anything but another peanut. Alas, there is one lonely little hazelnut hidden in the bottom of can #3. And the only reason it survived was because it was so small that it looked like a peanut.

I wonder....how many peanuts do they put in each can compared to the other more popular nuts. It sure seems like they put 2 hazelnuts, 2 Brazil nuts, 3 almonds, 3 cashews, and 4 walnuts......and the rest of that 12 oz can is all peanuts. I wonder.....what if they put 50 hazelnuts, 25 Brazil nuts, 40 almonds, 30 cashews, 19 walnuts and 2 PEANUTS in there!!! Would everyone then think the peanuts are the special nut? Would everyone fight over the peanut? Is it the sheer volume of the peanuts found in the mix nuts what seems to make it so ordinary?

I know, I know....when it comes to nuts....I'm king.....but I have to wonder sometimes if I am just a little peanut....nothing special.....just one in a million in a can of nuts......in case you are wondering, the nut can is my metaphor for my place of work. Oh......I long to be that one little hazelnut found in the bottom of the can!

Clip.....Ouch

So, yesterday I was sitting at work when two of my children, Becky and David, show up. They had been bored at home and walked to see me.

We visited for a few minutes. Becky then said, "Mom, I have a hang nail. Do you have any nail clippers here?"

I pull out the pair of nail clippers that I keep safely tucked in my desk drawer and hold them up in the air, as if holding Excalibur......at this point.......a heavenly light shines upon them and heavenly music begins to play.

Becky is thrilled and pleads for me to gently hand them to her....and David runs over and begs for them following Becky's turn.

Okay, it's time to shed a little light on the history of the nail clippers. My oldest daughter, Katie, has some kind of weird nail clipper fetish....which causes any nail clippers that I buy for our home to magically disappear anytime Katie has used them. She ALWAYS claims that she has put them back where they belong, but this is what I know.....one minute they are in their designated place and the next minute I hear Katie using them.....and then, "Poof," they are gone. So, my solution, after sacrificing 35 nail clippers to the nail clipper fiend in our home, was to buy a pair and leave them at work. Good solution for me....not such a good one for Becky and David.

Back to yesterday at work, Becky spends 15 minutes giving herself a pedicure and a manicure...I hear, "Clip, ouch........clip, ouch............clip, ouch. Man those little buggers could put my eye out." This is what happens when you can't find clippers at home....Becky's nails were monstrously long, and the cutting of them was causing those long buggers to fly up and hit her in the face....nearly putting out an eye.

Next it was David's turn. Again, finger nails flying.....then the shoes came off and the toe nails started to fly.

When they finished, they each breathed a sigh of relief......"Oh, that feels so good."

So, today I'm sitting at my desk.....when my co-worker comes in and stops short of coming near my desk. "Tammy, what is that?" she asks. I look....there on the edge of my desk is one BIG toe nail....a gift from my son. I laugh and look around me.....they have left me gifts of themselves....I am sitting in the midst of toe and finger nail shards.......totally surround by them.

I love my kids.....all the way down to their little toes!

A blowout

So, have you ever had a blowout while traveling at a high speed?

I did, today....quite a scary thing!

I was walking with a friend over to the Subway....walking when suddenly, blowout, whomp...whomp....whomp......wobbling out of control.

To be specific....I blew one cup on my bra. The underwire blew out completely.....poking me in the side and leaving my boob to wobble all over the place.

I slowed down and traveled slower. My friend suggested pulling the underwire out....but that would have been like driving with a doughnut....no thanks. So, I just drove around slowly on my "flat."

Okay Victoria......here's a secret......we double D's need to be able to travel at high speeds without worrying about a blowout!

40 miles from Place to Pointe

So, last week my son's soccer team manager sent me 3 emails concerning their first game, which was to be held this past Sunday. I don't know why he sent me THREE. The subject line said, "Directions to Bell P..." Okay, so I read the subject line up to "Bell P...." and my mind reads "Bell Place" which is my son's home field.

I found it strange that they would send out directions to his home field...but justified it because we have some new team members that might not know how to find our field. Since I know how to get to Bell Place, our home field, I didn't read the directions. I did read that we were to be at the field at 1:45pm.

It's Sunday, I go to church and then kill time grocery shopping at Kroger before going to pick up David from an overnighter at a friends house. We are on our way home (it's 1:15pm) and David asks me if we are going to make it to his game by 1:45pm. I tell him that we will be a little early, as Bell Place is only 10 minutes from our house. David then says, "I think our game is in Frankfort." I tell him he is wrong....he asks me how I know this and I tell him because I got 3 emails from Rod giving me directions to Bell Place. David insists that the game is in Frankfort. So he calls Rod to make sure.....it's now 1:25pm.

Rod confirms what David has said.....the game is in Frankfort.....at Bell Pointe....40 miles from home....it's 1:30pm. We throw the groceries into the house and start our flight to Frankfort. I arrive 5 minutes before the game.

Just enough time for David to change into his new uniform on the sidelines.....stripping down to his boxers to change.....his coach says, "Nice undies." David replies, "My mom says they are not undies, they are boxer SHORTS."

So my life....a comedy of errors!

They're coming to take me away

So this morning I have to take my daughter to high school at 8:00 am for band practice. It is FOGGY....I mean cut-it-with-a-knife fog! So I am driving slowly. I drop her off and head back Jessamine Station Road.....going to work. I am driving slowly down the road when suddenly I see some things running right down the road toward me.

In this fog, I can't make out what I am seeing so I begin to slow down. I see several tall things lumbering at me. In the mist, it looks like several 6 ft. tall men in white suites running toward me.

A song begins to run through my mind....

They're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa To the funny farm.
Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats and they're coming to take me away, ha-haaa!!!!!

Okay...so now these tall, lumbering men in white coats are getting closer (coming to take me away)....so I come to a stop, in the middle of the road.

At this moment, the tall lumbering men in white coats turns out to be a pack of llamas. They run past my car.....YES.....that was a pack of llamas.

I sat there...in this surreal fog.....with a pack of llamas running past me....wondering, "Maybe those men in white coats do need to take me away." I wonder if this funny farm has llamas.

Porch time again

Good friends gather together on a porch and there is.....

Laughter and silence,
Joy and tears,
Life and love,
Sunset and clouds,
Truth and grace.

The sound of majesty

So, today I am at work and my kids are home. Suddenly a storm rolls in....I mean a storm; powerful and mysterious......fast and furious......majestic and grand.

I love a good storm....I love to watch a good storm roll in...I love to stop and listen to the crashing thunder. In those moments I find that the noise of our crazy world cease, seeming silent....muted by the sound of majesty. I love those moments.

In those moments, like today, I am amazed at the grandeur of God.

I join the Psalmist in thought, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visited him?"

I have passed along my love of storms to my children, and even my dog.

So, today, this powerful storm rolls in....I am excited. I am watching it unfold out the window and suddenly the power of the storm and the fact that my children are home alone hits me...and I begin to worry. I am not there to 'protect' them.

BOOM, RUMBLE.....I realize that this powerful storm shows the strength of my God....the strength of my God to create this storm and protect my children.

The crazy thoughts of my small mind, muted by the majesty of God!