I discovered this last Saturday morning at Max's basketball game. I am 8 months pregnant and look every bit of 8 months pregnant. So, on Saturday morning, I get to the game; the gym is packed and there are no chairs left to sit in. Lots of people noticed me standing there in the doorway, including many men. Did anyone jump up and say, “Here, take this seat!”
Nope, not on your life.
They saw me standing there in the doorway, sized me up and then turned their attention back to the players warming-up on the floor. So, I stand there for a bit.
Actually, I'm stunned.
I just expected that someone or several people would help me find a place to sit. Not that I'm a princess and expect people to fulfill my every wish and want; rather I assumed it was common courtesy to help women who might not necessarily be able to help themselves (pregnant, elderly, etc...)
So, after a bit, I go over to the rack in the hallway that holds the folding chairs and get one down for myself and sit in the doorway. Not a big deal, except two grown, capable men watched me struggle to take a chair down and then lug it over to the doorway.
They WATCHED me!
Hello?!?
Did it not occur to either of them that I could use their muscles. What ever happened to the whole “Knight in shining armor” attitude. Rescue the damsel in distress! Be the hero! Jeezy peets. It was just one stinking chair. But, then I had to get another chair for Eli. And, of course, the men watched me again and did not make any motion to help or even apologize for not helping.
Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it really qualifies for. But, it seems to me a breakdown of a basic societal rule: The stronger help the weaker. I drill this into my kids’ heads. I tell them all the time: If you are in the position to help someone, DO IT!
Or maybe that is just a Christian rule. There is no way I would be allowed to get my own chair at church. There would be a dozen other people jumping up to help me. And other people would chide me for trying to get my own chair.
Makes me feel good about my church and somewhat uneasy about our society.
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On to a happier topic:
Eli has discovered Dvorak.
One of my favorite all-time pieces of music is Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (The New World Symphony) I love all of it, but I especially love the fourth movement. It has a raw power and energy that is unsurpassed in my opinion. The best version is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as conducted by Sir Georg Solti. Solti was an amazing maestro who could create sweeping emotions within any piece of music.
I wish I could find an intenet version of the fourth movement conducted by Solti for you to put here, but the best I can do is the Wiener Philharmoniker. Herbert von Karajan, conductor. (Yeah, the Wiener Philharmonic. huh huh, you said weiner. LOL)
It's an awesome piece of music and one that I was playing on a recent morning before breakfast. As soon as the music started, Eli stopped what he was doing and went into the living room. He just stood there, totally still and transfixed, staring at the CD player for the entire 11 minute and 28 second movement. When it was over he grabbed me and pointed at the CD player. (He's a man of action, not words.) So, I started it again. He climbed up into a nearby chair and continued to stare at the CD player.
Then, he begins to conduct!
It was such a neat experience for me! That he, at the age of two-and-a-half, can be so moved by a piece of music that I love. And that he just innately knew to conduct! He hasn't seen me ever conduct a musical group; I haven't done any conducting since before my kids were born. And, unfortunately, we haven't been to many concerts of any kind. But, he just knew. It's in his blood. How cool is that.
And, what is probably the best part? When Eli is doing something he shouldn't, I just turn on Dvorak and he stops to go listen and conduct! LOL
I'm going to introduce him to Gershwin next. I think he'll really like that!
Well, we’re getting ready to take down all the Christmas decorations here in the Bucher house. I thought I would post a couple of quick pix here, first though. We thought the whole scene in our living room was very Norman Rockwell. Yes, there are only four stockings hung by the chimney with care. We can’t find my stocking. We had it in Wilmore last year, but it seems to have disappeared from the moving boxes. I am hoping we simply overlooked it as it is the stocking I have had since I was a wee little girl. Bryan, being the wonderful husband he is, bought me a new stocking as a Christmas gift, but since there are only four hooks on the mantel it didn’t get hung. We’ll add two more hooks before next year and make sure everyone has stockings.
This is the little tree-shaped shrub outside our front window. When I was clearing leaves out of the flower beds earlier this fall I saw the cutest little black shrew. He was quite shocked to see me and I think a little upset that I was messing up his home. (You know, if the positions were reversed, I think I would be quite ticked that some clumsy giant was destroying my yard. I would probably have bitten me.) The funny part was that I saw him once and he scurried away, but when I moved to the other side of the shrub, there he was again! So cute!
Xavier, my lover of all animals, was quite delighted with the idea of a little shrew living right there. So, come Christmas time, we had to be sure the shrew had his own Christmas tree. We strung lights around the tree and added a red bow at the top. Xavier really wanted a full-blown tree for the shrew complete with ornaments, but I said no there’s no way I’m dragging more stuff outside for this silly little animal who not only doesn’t appreciate our efforts but is probably ticked off that we are, once again, messing with his home talked him out of it. As you can see in the picture, the red bow from the top of the tree has blown off and I, being somewhat lazy, have not yet put it back on. I figure it can wait until we put all the Christmas decorations away or until next Christmas, whichever comes first.
We had a surprise and then a bit of mourning on this cold New Year’s Day morning when we discovered that, while we were watching mind-numbing cartoons with our boys in an attempt to stay up past midnight, our trampoline was out partying without a designated driver. It apparently drunk a little too much in it’s celebrations and ended up smashed (literally) in the neighbor’s yard. (Well, it was either that or the wind blew it.) Bryan drug it back into our yard where it now sits like an old derelict just waiting for some poor, unsuspecting child to dare to jump on it. “Come heeeeerrrreee little boy. Come jump on me and have fuuuuunnnnnn. Bwaaaaa Haaaaa Haaaaa Haaaaa!” When Bryan went over to the neighbor’s yard to get our little drunkard he discovered, much to his dismay, that the trampoline had put a small dent in the neighbor’s downspout. With any other neighbor this would be no big deal. He would go over to the neighbor and say, “Our trampoline got wild with your downspout & we’ll fix it.” and the neighbor—any neighbor other than this particular neighbor—would say, “No big deal.” But this neighbor is a bit, well... crotchety comes to mind. He has spoken to Bryan exactly one time since we moved here 6 months ago and that was to yell at him about moving over the property line. To which Bryan responded that he would have a survey done so they could be sure exactly where the property line is located. It wasn't what you would call a friendly exchange. So, I offered to go over and explain to the neighbor what happened. His wife has been quite lovely and gracious to me. But Bryan said this is a “Man Thing” so he has to go. Pray for him. LOL
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Other Breaking News in the Bucher House
Eli can now open the fridge and fix his own food. (Sort of. The fixing part.)
Here he is in the tub ready for a bath after he fixed his own glass of chocolate milk. Well, technically not chocolate “milk” as there was no milk. Just a glass of chocolate syrup. Yum. Tasty and nutritious. He was quite upset when I took the glass away and stripped him for a bath. I did not feel badly that I took the glass away as he obviously had had quite a bit already.
Well, off for more New Year’s Day fun! Hope your day is great!
Living Room Furniture and Names and New Year’s Resolutions
For those of you who actually check this blog every now and then, I apologize for my lack of posts. You will be glad to know that I have fully recovered from my burns and have developed a healthy respect for the power of our microwave.
I’ve written several blog posts in my head over the last two months, but now as I sit at my computer I cannot remember a single word of any of those wonderful (they were really great!) posts. So, you'll get my stream of consciousness instead. (Click away now while you can!)
I’m not a great photographer, but you can kind of get the idea from those pictures. We still need to put pictures over the mantle and have our tables made. (I bought these round pieces of wood and now I’m hoping to find a carpenter to create legs and make it all into tables. We’ll see what actually happens. LOL)
Pregnancy is going well. I have felt pretty awful for most of it (9 weeks left now) but this last week I’ve felt much better. It seems that sitting around all day and eating lots of sugar makes me feel worse than eating well and getting bits of exercise. Not a welcome revelation, really. But, I’ll do what I need to do if it makes me feel less crappy. (I’m eating Christmas candy as I sit here at the computer typing this. Maybe I’m not really doing what I need to do.....)
Bryan and I will never be able to agree on a name for this baby. We know it’s a boy. We couldn't agree on a name before Eli was born. My pick was Elijah but Bryan wouldn't agree to it until he was actually born. He decided that the loudness of his cry indicated a good old-testament prophet name (Elijah) was appropriate. (You know your baby has a loud cry when the nurses, who are used to this sort of thing, say, “My, that one is loud.” That’s my boy!) Eli had his name within an hour of being born. I hold out no such hope for this next baby. I fear he will be called “Baby” for many days before we can finally agree on a name. Or at least until I fill out the birth certificate without Bryan’s knowledge. LOL
Here are the current rejected names: Bryan likes Knute—pronounced correctly “Noot” or incorrectly “KaNoot” he doesn't care—he just likes the name because then he can use the nickname, “Noodle.” Ummmmm, yeah. No. I like Solomon or Dominic. Bryan has flat-out rejected both of those names.
For me, the meaning of the name is just as important as the name itself. I think our other boys have really grown into their names. Max is Maximillian Emmanuel which means “the greatest God is with us.” Now, if you know Max you know he is all about the biggest and the best. He has a good heart and he loves other people. But he also really likes to win and be the best at all things. My hope is that we can mold and shape that passion away from himself and towards the Kingdom of God.
Xavier’s full name is Xavier Zacchaeus (Bryan will never be able to spell Xavie’s middle name in this lifetime...) and it means “bright, pure, and innocent.” Now, Xavier is 5 years old. He’s full of everything that little boys are full of. :) But, he has this certain je ne sais quoi about him. He has an amazing imagination that carries him to places most of us will never experience in any way. At his parent-teacher conference this fall his teacher told us a story. One day, during centers, all the children were working quietly when she looked up and saw Xavier across the room. He was doing this very graceful dance around the room. She asked him what he was doing and he responded, “I’m airing the room.” What? “I’m bringing good air into the room.” When she suggested that maybe he do this outside on recess instead, he responded, “But there is already good air outside!” This is typical Xavier in every way. He just thinks differently from the rest of us. I would love to enter his world and experience it with him. So, anyway, back to his name. Xavier is the epitome of bright, pure and innocent. He displays a depth of spiritual understanding that floors me at times. (He asked me once, “Mommy, if God loves everyone, does he love the devil?” We decided that, God indeed does love everyone, including the devil, but that just like us when we sin, God doesn’t like what he does.) My prayer for Xavier is that we can keep him focused on the love of God.
Eli’s full name is Elijah Daniel, which means Jehovah is my God and my Judge. It’s a heavy name for a two-year-old boy. But, he won’t be two forever. (Thank God, because I don’t think I could handle it!) He is a rough and tumble boy and he has the strongest will of anyone I have ever me. He knows what he wants and he is persistent well beyond reason. (This is a child who can throw a tantrum that lasts an hour-and-a-half or more!) I can’t really say for sure yet, but I imagine that Eli is going to to grow into a strong, determined, go-getter sort of person. I predict that he will be a man who grabs life by the horns and doesn’t let go until he gets what he wants. And, just like the other two boys, we hope that we can steer Eli’s tenacity toward the Kingdom of God.
So, who knows what this next baby will be like. But, I want to make sure we pick a good name. (Knute means white-haired. Maybe it should be my name!)
Are you making any New Year’s Resolutions this year? I didn’t think I was until I had my quiet time this morning. (And it actually was quiet as I was the only one awake. It was nice!) My resolution comes from Philippians 4:4 (The Message) Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! I looked up celebrate and revel (Yes, I already know what they mean, I just find that a lot of times I can develop a deeper understanding of the meaning from the actual dictionary definitions. Smart Aleck!) Celebrate v. 1.) to make publicly known; proclaim 2.) to praise widely Revel v. 1.) to take great pleasure or delight in.
That’s my resolution—for my heart to take great pleasure and delight in God and my mouth and actions to publicly praise him. This isn’t something I can do through sheer force of will, but rather through surrender and death. Surrender of my will (which wants to complain about the world around me) and death of my old self (which only wants to focus on me to the exclusion of everyone and everything else.) If only we could say, “Spirit, control me.” and it would just happen. But that’s not how it works. So, God and I will walk hand-in-hand into the new year and hopefully I can keep a tight grasp on that hand. That's my New Year’s Resolution. Well, that and not letting clean laundry pile up on the dining room table. ;)
Well, thanks for stopping by. If you have time, check out the new additions to my portfolio. I have several projects that are about to wrap up, so I’m hoping to have more additions soon.
Our microwave is ancient. It is built in above the stove top and is so old that the display no longer works. The only way we’ve figured out to get it to work is push the start button several times and then keep an eye on whatever is in there. Early on I tried timing the start button to see for how long it actually set the microwave. The first time: 28 seconds. The second time: 4 seconds. The third time: 2 minutes and 14 seconds. I then gave up on the theory that the start button actually had a set time. Add to that problem, the fact that I am convinced this ancient microwave is leaking radiation so I try to never be near it when it is running. (protecting the unborn.)
So, this morning, being quite the homemaker that I am, I decided I would microwave my kitchen sponge. Supposedly this will eliminate those yucky odors and deliver a fresh, clean sponge. I put the sponge in, push the start button several times and leave the room (protecting the unborn) to go brush my teeth. After I brush my teeth I discover that Xavier is naked and playing in the living room. This is normally not a big deal, but since the school bus was due in about two minutes I went a little ballistic. Got him dressed and shoved out the door ready for the bus.
Well, apparently there is a time limit on how long you should microwave a sponge. And, as you can see by the picture below (yucky, un-microwaved sponge on left; clean and freshly microwaved sponge on right) I exceeded that time limit.
As I was hosing down the sponge and eliminating the flames from the microwave (by the way, turning on the oven exhaust fan will only add to the fire) my son Max declared that I should be banned from the kitchen. In his words, “Mom, you catch too many things on fire!” Thank you dear boy; isn’t it time for you to go to school now?
The pathetic part of this story is that I was genuinely surprised when I opened the microwave. Not just at the fact that I had burned up a sponge and almost our house. In the span of about 4 minutes, I had totally forgotten that I had put the sponge in the microwave. Maybe Max is right. Maybe I should be banned from the kitchen.
I made some Bunny Pasta last night for the boys and at the same time, Eli was desperate to have me identify all of the Mystery, Inc. Gang in the book he was holding. The pasta was safely cooking and I turned my back to the stove to read a bit of Scooby Doo when I suddenly felt very warm. For a moment it reminded me of the pleasant feeling I would get as a child, when I would sit very close to our wood-burning stove and my clothes would get really hot. But, I quickly realized that this heat was much hotter than what I remembered as a child. Then, a split second later, I realized that I was on fire! I grabbed a wet washcloth from the sink and beat my back with it. That put out the fire pretty quickly, but as you can see the shirt is beyond repair. I have small blistery burn on my back and several smaller burns on my hands. (I apparently used both hands to put out the fire. Didn't realize this until later...)
But, God is good. As my older two boys pointed out, this could have ended very tragically, because I forgot to stop, drop and roll.
But, the real kicker, besides my apparent lack of safety rule application. I ruined a really great maternity shirt! Argh!
Name: Aimee Home: Lima, Ohio, United States About Me: I own and run 123 Design Studio, a custom web and graphic design studio. I am mother to four wonderful boys: Max, age 10, Xavier, age 7, Eli, age 3, and Toby, age 1. Bryan & I have been married for 18 (mostly wonderful LOL) years. I eat excessive amounts of sugar and laugh inappropriately. See my complete profile
