I'll be here all week...

I cannot claim too much cake decorating talent (we bought the cookie cake). But I can claim lazy ingenuity. More than laziness, it was "can this house handle one more round of treats?" The answer was no. I stared at the leftover cookie cake from Zade's party with his grandparents and aunt. How to make a 1/2 eaten cake special? And soon the balloons turned into wheels and the edge into a track (in case you were wondering what in the world the first picture was). Score. Zade did not care, he ate with the same fervor as the first time.

Dancing

We dance in this house. When it is time to make supper or clean up the dishes on comes the music. If the right song comes on Zade runs to me and asks to be picked up because he knows it will be a good dancing time. I was reflecting on dancing today and here are my random thoughts.

If I had been born a few years earlier the dance of my generation would have been break-dancing. That looks dangerous and difficult. Instead I had head banging and at times raising the roof. I can head bang. At times I still raise the roof. So I'd like to give a shout out to my parents for having me when they did.

Zade can head bang, air gutair, and tap his foot. He has been known to throw guitars, which is hardcore for sure. He'll also raise his hands to praise the Lord. I wonder, what the dance of his generation will be? My observation so far, if Zade leads the way in dance crazes, is that it will be spinning in circles.

Organization - Sherri style

This year we are getting organized to keep this household in order. I have a nifty cleaning calendar up. I have chore assignments. Caleb has his own chore chart. We picked a grocery shopping day, so we don't run out of food or have the day change every week that we go. Let's get in a routine people!

Here's how it rolled this week... Grocery shopping day is Thursday. Joel goes Wednesday because we are out of staples (this after I went quickly Monday to hold us until Wednesday). I make a detailed list so we will not run out of ANYTHING until next Thursday or Friday. Thursday we remember what we have forgotten. Joel goes to the grocery store again. Friday I endure more pain than I would usually tolerate because we have one dose of painkiller left and I want it for night time. Saturday (today) I take the boys to Wal-Mart to pick up some things - including the painkiller and a certain amount of groceries (including Chocolate Rapsberry creamer which Wegmans no longer carries... shout out to Wal-Mart for carrying it, it made my trip there so worthwhile).

So far our one time grocery trip has turned into three and we're not done yet... Isaac will run out of meds by Tuesday so we get to go back again. Should I give up, or make Tuesday the new grocery shopping day?

Blush

I've had moments that have made me blush. Remember the fanny lifter? Remember the recent post about angry lieutenants? I apparently did not make it clear that they weren't mine. They were there when I had to clean the toilet and thus had to be taken care of. Everyone I spoke to in person who had read it had the impression they were mine and thought the post a bit revealing. Blush! I corrected it, blush, blush.

hAmMoCkS

I didn't believe Lisa when she told me she thought we were sleeping on hammocks. But it was of course true. Curious about what that was like? The top two are of Joel. First when we were setting up the hammocks and mosquito nets, then when I could not find him one morning. The next two show that hammocks are good for having breakfast in and definitely good for an afternoon siesta. Then there are those of me at night. I would get into my hammock, and Joel would clip me in so the mosquitoes could not come up through the bottom. I would try to sleep slightly diagonal, spreading the hammock out a bit.

The first night I woke up a few times, the second I slept well, the third I almost felt like God was soothing my lower back and slept well, the last night I did not sleep as well, but decently. I usually sleep on my belly, so I tried for my side but it didn't work too well. I did not fall out once. It cooled down nicely at night. I also slept with earplugs. The roosters were so loud at 5 am! I was ready to kill them. They were maniacs.

The last picture shows the pavilion a bit. We filled it - 19 hammocks and one air mattress! We could fold them up during the day. It was great sleeping in the open air... in Brazil the "lungs of the earth." Perhaps there was a bit of sedative in the air. I decided I want Joel to build a pergola and I'll hang hammocks. It will be an Italian Brazilian Pavilion. I'll take afternoon siestas there.

"You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Psalm 31:2o

God gave me this verse soon after I discovered how we would sleep. I knew we'd be safe. Once, when the distorted roosters sounded like an angry mob, I forced myself awake, listened to the overzealous performers vowing to "get one," and went back to sleep. We were hidden safely in His pavilion, there may have been "plots of man" on the outside but they never touched us.

Victorious

On our trip we had 20 people for two bathrooms. You get to know people quickly when you have that many people to a bathroom. Not only that, but the bathrooms bordered the kitchen and the wall did not go all the way up so you could listen to the people in the kitchen talking while you were in the bathroom. Usually it was in Portuguese so I didn't hear anything good ;).

This is me cleaning the bathroom. I learned that toilets there flush just by adding water. Pull the line and the hold tank just fills the bowl with water and what was in it goes down.

I found some floaters (not mine) when I went to clean the toilet. I put my new knowledge to work. I flushed, no go. I added water, still no go. Rute, my new friend calls to see if I needed help. I have known Rute 24 hours. I told her about the floaters. She comes to help and adds more water. Still, no go. She tells me that her grandfather used to call these rebellious floaters "angry lieutenants." We are laughing and laughing at this, as we try to get those suckers down.

Finally, after buckets and buckets of water and many flushes I am victorious over those angry lieutenants. I made Joel take a picture of my victory, even though he thinks it is not funny. But Rute and I bonded very much on this trip and I cannot help but think our forced intimacy in fighting angry lieutenants had something to do with it. Either way I think it's stinking hilarious (pun not intended).

MYTH

I'm supposed to be cleaning the house... never mind that it's 11pm... but a random question came to my head and I needed to know the answer. Now you can too.

Does coffee really dehydrate you? It does not. It's a myth propogated by those who want to make you feel guilty for drinking coffee. Click here, to read the mayo clinic answer. Drink coffee freely. But I agree with the doctor, drink water more.

PS - Coffee myth #2 - Espresso has a lot more caffeine. Wrong. Four shots of espresso is equal to 1 12 oz. cup of drip coffee. Yeah, that was your imagination that you were wild after two shots :).