We don’t do Halloween

We don’t do Santa either. Or the Easter Bunny. Or the Tooth Fairy. I know, we can’t be American can we.

“What are you going to be for Halloween little girl?”
           “Uh, we don’t do Halloween.”
Crickets….(just like when people ask Reagan what grade she’s in. She says, “I’m in a mix of 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I’m homeschooled.” People don’t really know how to respond.)

People are thinking, “OH, you’re one of those families…”

This is by no means a post meant to slam those of you who do Halloween. If I had to guess, all of you reading this participate in it. I understand that Halloween can be tempered down for the little kids, just like Santa can be worked into Christmas with Jesus; we have just decided to do neither. (I’ve never figured out how the Easter Bunny can be worked into a holiday which celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus though. Easter is not about spring.)

God convicts each person and each family of different things. I think this helps us to learn grace and love for our fellow man. He has convicted us personally that to participate in Halloween is to participate in things that don’t honor God at all. He may not have convicted you about this. That’s fine. Halloween isn’t a salvation issue. But for us, to glorify witches, ghosts, wizards, dead things, etc. just screams against what God is about: Life and Love.

Historically on the 31st of October we have turned off all our lights and traipsed around the house in the dark, whispering because kids still come up and ring your doorbell even when the lights are off. Lately we have taken to getting out of the house so we’re at least not bothered by the doorbell and not held prisoner in our own house.

Here’s what we’re doing this year. Our church puts on a Fall Festival for kids and we’re going to be volunteering at that. We thought this Festival was just for the kids for our church, a church of around 300. We. were. wrong. The Fall Festival has grown throughout the years and this year they expect about 6,000 people to move through the Montgomery Coliseum. It’s an outreach event to be able to talk to the families of Montgomery while they’re having fun in a safe environment. I’m pretty excited about it. These kids will be hearing the Good News instead of being inundated with images that aren’t right at all. They’re still going to be scoring insane amounts of candy, but that’s an issue for their parents.

So, don’t hate because we don’t participate. There’s always silence following our statement of “we don’t do Halloween.” What in the world for? We’re doing the work of the Kingdom on a night that has become a night to celebrate the king of the air.

Oh, and if you’re not horrified beyond belief submit your best post this week to be linked up at:

Cooking gureepufuruutsu on the gasu renji

The answers to yesterday’s “quiz” are:

gureepufuruutsu = grapefruit
gasu renji = stove (gas range)

Say it like the guys on A Christmas Story (remember the restaurant scene?) and you’ll hear it.

Nicole, Julie, Heather, Jaci and Dandelionmomall guessed correctly on gureepufuruutsu (that word is annoying to type).

Nicole and Dandelionmom came close in guessing that gasu renji is a gas tank/engine.

So, no, you really couldn’t cook gureepufuruutsu on the gasu renji. Not directly anyway.

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I have another quiz for you. This one was sent to me by a friend and I had so much fun taking it. It’s an:

80s Lyrics Quiz!!!
I only wish I could listen to each song instead of singing the snippet in my mind. It should be my new play list. Leave a comment and let me know how you did. I’ll then tell you what I scored. If you’re not so fond of the 80s (but really, what’s wrong with you?!?!) you might do better on the

90s Lyrics Quiz
I’m not even going to take this one. I looked at the first couple of songs and have no clue. Yikes. I did listen to the radio in the 90s…but obviously I didn’t pay good enough attention.

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I have been bestowed with more awards and I must tell you about them because they’re all pretty spectacular. That doesn’t really mean that I am, but the awards sure are neat.

Toni, at A Daily Dose of Toni, who is my award-winning friend has designated my blog a Brainy Blog. I’m flattered and honored. I’m not sure all of you would agree, but I do consider myself brainy on occasion.

Leah, at Diaries of a Domestic Goddess, has awarded me the I ♥ your blog award. This is one of my faves. I ♥ it.

Christy, at Motherhood…Unscripted, thinks my blog is really kreativ! I appreciate the vote of confidence because sometimes I don’t feel very kreativ. This is the cutest award going right now. I want a blog design like this. Does that mean I have to start another blog?…

And Tiffiney, at My Southern, Hippie, Married, Mom of Four Life!!has bestowed upon me the Proximidade Award. This is what the award stands for…”These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!” Wow, Tiffiney: charming…I try to be; friendship propagator…I think BPOTW helps out!; more attention…I’d love it 🙂

Thanks everyone!

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

You’re welcome…you’ll be singing that song for the rest of the day. Or are you too young to know what I’m talking about?

Remember when we were afraid of Japan taking us over? Ahhh, those were the innocent days.

Language is a fascinating thing. Each culture has its own way of communicating with each other. And when that culture doesn’t already have a perfect word to describe something they often borrow from other languages. My favorite is ‘le walkman’ that the French have borrowed from English.

I’m teaching Reagan French. The flashcards I’m using have a picture on the front and the word on the back. The word is in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Russian and Latin. They’re obviously multi-use cards. I’ve been distracted more than once while reviewing the cards with Reagan by reading the words in the other languages. And what I’ve begun to notice is that the Japanese language seems to have borrowed a lot of words from English. Here is what I’m talking about. Some of the words are outright parallels. Other words, however take on a slightly Japanese flavor:

  • banana = banana
  • cookies = kukki
  • pink = pinku
  • orange = orenji
  • celery = serori
  • blueberries = buruuberii
  • dress = doresu
  • broccoli = burokori
  • scarf = sukaafu
  • jungle = janguru
  • toilet = toire
  • lemonade = remoneddo
  • brush = burashi
  • bus = basu
  • snack = sunakku
  • toothbrush = haburashi (although this sounds more like hairbrush to me)
  • radio = rajio
  • popcorn = poppukoon
  • apple juice = ringo juusu
  • zuchinni = zukini
  • table = teeburu
  • coat = kooto
  • orange juice = orenjii juusu
  • motorcycle = baiku
  • soda = soda
  • tomato = tomato
  • crackers = kurakka
  • milkshake = mirukushe-ku
  • potato chips = poteto chippu
  • lion = raion

And my favorites: gureepufuruutsu and gasu renji. Can you tell me what they are in English? So, while Reagan is learning French I have taken to learning a bit of Japanese.

Domo Arigato,

Dream Denied

I was disappointed when I realized I couldn’t sit on clouds. I don’t remember what age I was or exactly how I found out, but I remember how disenchanting the whole experience was.

As a little girl I would stare out the window during car rides. My gaze ended up skyward and I’m sure I was in awe at how the clouds were just up there…in the sky. I imagined what it would be like to lay on one. I know my mind didn’t ponder the logistics of it all…like how would I breathe up there; or how would I even be deposited onto a cloud…I was kid and so for me there were only the clouds and my desire on be on one.

I probably voiced my desire one time during a car ride and instead of leading me on (like the midget house) my mom told me we couldn’t sit on clouds. Devastated. I don’t even know if it was my mom who let me in on the well-known fact that clouds are just vapor, it could have been my dad. All I remember is the disappointment.

I’m still saddened by that fact to this day. I’d love to get up on a puffy white one, have a jumping fit for a little while (as long as my bladder wouldn’t fail…childbirth), and then nestle in for a nice, warm nap–enveloped by what would have to be akin to the softest cotton, only softer. And lighter. The most comfortable sleep ever. Dreamy.

Garden & Gun (It Came!)

I’ve been just about as excited for my first issue of Garden & Gun to come as Lula has been waiting for the Twilight Movie to premiere. Maybe not as excited as Leigh Anne, but y’all, I was so happy to see this cover staring at me when I opened my mailbox a couple days ago:

I spied the magazine in a Books A Million store in Georgia and resisted the urge to just go ahead and buy it. My patience paid off.

I wasn’t sure how I would like the magazine. The Garden & Gun website shows like a swank operation. But was it all show? It touts itself as being the soul of the New South, but would it just be a dressed up redneck?

There was an Agnes Scott mention. And did you know that Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell (who played for the Allman Brothers Band before the Stones) has a “plantation” right outside of Macon, GA? We’re neighbors! Well, were. There’s a photograph of a gun turned into “art”. And did you know the only natural habitat for the Venus flytrap is in the Carolinas? There’s an article about Ted Turner’s daughter. Although I’m no fan of Ted, his daughter has the right idea about getting kids outdoors.

One of the main articles detailed the 100 best Southern foods and the restaurants that serve them. And I’ve eaten at several of the restaurants! I’m going to have to go back though for the food that made in into the top 100.

  • Nu-Way Weiners in Macon, GA (I eat mine in Warner Robins)
  • Hominy Grill in Charleston, SC
  • McCrady’s in Charleston, SC
  • The Varsity in Atlanta (only ate there as a tourist. Once an Atlantanite…Atlantian…whatever…I didn’t go back)
  • Waffle House in Avondale Estates, GA (Rachel, we went here, right?)

Every magazine is going to have its best of the best, but since is the only magazine I’ve got to go on, I’m going to try to eat as many of its best as I can. There’s a restaurant listed right here in Montgomery. And, in fact, I remember passing the restaurant one Sunday afternoon as we were driving around looking for lunch. I was beginning to get the shakes I was so hungry, but for some reason Du didn’t want to stop there. We ended up at Panera. No, Panera was not on the top 100 Southern Foods list. You can see what foods are on the list and if you’re anywhere close to any. Better yet, subscribe to the magazine and we can dish about all things New South.

It is, indeed, the soul of the New South.

Random SAHMdom

That’s my lame attempt at letting you know this is going to be a random post. I’ve got a couple of loose ends I want to tie up. Or maybe just one. I’ve got nothing huge to write about, but I feel the connection I’ve reestablished with you and I don’t want to let that go ♥

I realized yesterday that I hadn’t explained my last gem of a Story Time picture: the one with the little monkey staring at the crocodile stuffed animal through the glass.

It was so cute, y’all. A little boy put the crocodile up there for this two year old monkey to look at and the little monkey was actually afraid of it for awhile. The boy kind of chased the monkey around the glass with it. If he left the crocodile still for a little bit the monkey would muster up some courage and start to explore. It was sweet. What was even funnier was that the mama monkey came over and chastised little monkey for “playing” with the stuffed animal. You could tell that she was making sure he behaved and watched out for those weird animals on the other side of the glass (us).
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We saw Fireproof tonight. It was my husband’s birthday today and we had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Glory of all glories they had NTN machines. This is the coolest trivia game to play when you’re out and about. We almost decided to stay there and watch the Auburn game or the World Series (there were about 72 tvs in the place so we could take our pick) because it was raining outside. But we went to the movies anyway. I AM SO GLAD WE DID.

Fireproof is the best movie I’ve seen in a while. No sex, no drugs, no language, no violence, no nudity. It was just a good movie that rested solely on its goodness. It didn’t have to rely on any of that other crap to make it worthwhile to watch. It was funny too y’all. Bet you didn’t think a Christian movie could be funny. It was stomp-your-feet-snort-and-cackle-out-loud-no-matter-who’s-around funny. I’d watch it again just for that. But the best part about it was the raw emotion that was portrayed about how bad marriages can become and how far a messed up man is willing to go to save his. Emotionally tough and yet uplifting at the same time. This is going on the “must see” list we’re going to make the girls watch when they get older. I’m telling you, you won’t be disappointed. And it’s based in Albany, Georgia. Shout out to mah home state!
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Let’s see. If you have a toddler who’s as active as mine is here are a couple of tips:

  • hide the gum
  • hide the cats’ water dish
  • close toilet lids and shut the bathroom doors
  • hide your all-powder (and expensive) makeup
  • hide the Q-tips
  • hide the pens
  • hide the salt shaker
  • hide the tissue
  • hide the remote
  • hide your purse
  • hide

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Have a great weekend. Go see Fireproof.