Robin tagged me recently with the following challenge:


1. Write the title to your own memoir using 6 words.
2. Post it on your blog.
3. Link to the person that tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs.


I guess I've kind of done this already, having written two memoirs, but I think the assignment is really an autobiography title.


This is the problem: I am terrible with titles. That's one of the hardest parts of publishing my books: coming up with chapter titles. (And no, I can't use what was in the newspaper because often I don't like them [no, I don't write the headlines myself--lots of people ask me that] and also if the story is one column wide down the side of the page it has a shorter title than if it's spread out across four columns at the bottom.) I did come up with Ordinary Days as a book title but it's not what anyone could call exciting and the publisher wanted something a bit more intriguing for the second book, hence Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting.


Yes well.


I can, however, come up with titles for others. Amy: I Can Do It By Myself! Jenny: Life Is So Exciting And Fun!! And the other night we were sitting around discussing this and I thought, but did not say, that Paul's should be What Would Be The Point? when he announced, "I can't think of a more pointless exercise." So I said what I had been thinking and he said, "I don't think I've said that in 5 years." (I guess since we always rubbed his nose in it he's tried to quit saying it.) However, as Amy said, "It's easy to tell you're still thinking it even if you don't say it." Poor Paul, we are so hard on him.


Ok, how's this for me: By Faith Opening Doors, Walking Through
Or--Still In the Middle Of The Story

I think I like the second one best.


(Ok, not real picky with the six words rule I guess)


I tag Matt, Emily, Miriam, Margaret, and Ruth.


Quote of the Day:
(In case you wondered why Steven's sibs get annoyed at him)
Emily: AAAAAHHH!!! Steven come kill this spider!!
Steven: Why?

Post-grad ponderings

On Saturday I swept and mopped floors and did laundry with that vast relief that comes after a big event is over. Amy the efficient daughter scrubbed the downstairs bathroom and baked cookies and cinnamon rolls. I told her I'm in heaven, just so she knows, with all this work getting done and me not having to do it or to stay close and supervise. Emily said Amy coming home is like Scarlett coming back to save the plantation.

That evening Matt came by and we all piled in the van and went out for Chinese food, definitely a cup-runneth-over moment and I know they all need to leave home eventually but I just get a phenomenal joy out of having this river of beautiful young people pour out of the van, joking and jostling, and seeing the grandmas in the car beside us watching and smiling indulgently.



Matt's dreams of an air-conditioned job this summer were dashed, and hunger, the great motivator, has propelled him back to seedsacking. Not for Paul, who already has his crew, but for a guy named Jack Pym, over on Lake Creek Drive. He told Mr. Pym, in essence, that he's Orval's Wilton's Paul's Matt, and was hired largely on his pedigree.

So, since it's only a few miles away, Matt may be living at home again this summer. And if he does I will be feeding four seedsackers, those people who sometimes eat 8 hamburgers in one shift, since my nephew Zack will be living here and sacking for Paul. I am seriously going to look into having a delivery truck come from the grocery store every week or two.

But I am not complaining. All my chicks in the nest plus a nephew that I love and enjoy; Amy here to bake and cook; God supplying our daily bread; what's not to like?

Another subject: maybe I missed my calling in life. I followed a link today to this mom who makes and sells kids' clothes. Well. Maybe I'm just out of the loop but I was astonished at the prices for clothes that are really quite simple. You can see them here. $28-$48 for small top-and-capri sets. Wow.

Ok, I have sewed hundreds of garments over the years, many of them way more complicated than these. Maybe I should be sewing fun little outfits and selling them on the internet instead of anguishing over what to write each month.

Let's see...
Here we have a cute split skirt with a t-shirt with a coordinating heart on the front that you can't see (oops, maybe it was Emily who sewed this outfit. Oh well.) And then a charming apron, and we all know aprons are back "in" and adult aprons sell for $30 on the Ada's Adorable Aprons site.





And below is a split-skirt dress with frogs and such on it. Yes, I put Jenny in split skirts a lot, a nice compromise between femininity and jumping on trampolines.

I wonder if I could get $25 or $30 for something like this.

And below is something to give my big kids their Neanderthal-Mom snicker for the day. I clicked something wrong and as nearly as I can tell I can't remove this picture without deleting the whole post. Could I somehow make it relevant? Oh! The hat! I like to make Polarfleece hats. Maybe I could sell them for $10 or something, $15 with a tassel.

Quote of the Day:
"I don't like all these introductions and forwards because sometimes I accidentally read them."
--Emily, who likes to horrify her author mother

Emily's Graduation

She doesn't see what the big deal is, really, and why everybody congratulates her. "I mean, after all, I still have a ton of work to do to finish up." Well. She survived the year, she worked hard when she felt horrible, she gave a speech that made people cry, she got her diploma. I say she deserves congratulations.

The rest of us were also involved, of course. I sewed her outfit and made food, Paul presented the seniors, her younger siblings sang, and Amy took the pictures.

Advice

Allen Troyer had an interesting meditation at Keith and JoNell's wedding on Biblical couples and the advice they might give us. Read more here.

For example:
Adam and Eve: "Your relationship with God must guide your relationship with each other."
Abraham and Sara: "Honor and leadership go together."
Jacob and Rachel: "Something good is worth working for."

Meanwhile, Matt sat there doodling on the back of his program, sketching the back of Grandma's head and also jotting down his own irreverent version of advice based on the couples Allen mentioned, such as "Don't marry your half sister," for Abraham and Sara.

My favorite advice of Allen's was from Joseph and Mary: "God's favor is far more important than a good reputation."

My favorite advice of Matt's was from Boaz and Ruth:

Quote of the Day:
"Sleep at the warehouse more often."

Numbers

"May I ask what you're doing with all these bananas?" asked the nice young lady at Price Chopper. No wonder, since I had 35 of them. I explained that they're for my daughter's graduation party tomorrow night.

I also bought, at Costco, where I couldn't locate any bananas--
36 apples
5 containers of grapes
12 kiwi
1 box of oranges
and some more stuff, for fruit trays for up to 175 people.

Now I need to make 3 pans of Oreo/ice cream dessert.

And tomorrow I need to go to school and cut up all that fruit plus mix 4 big cans of nacho cheese sauce with 3 jars of salsa and 9 pounds of sausage and put it all into my 2 big oval crock pots and also Sharon's 2 that I'm going to borrow, since she is a good Mennonite with a large crock pot collection.

22 hours til Amy comes home. (happy little jig)

The kids like to have a little snack when they come home from school. Yesterday Steven had 1 slice of cheesecake and 1 root beer float and was buttering 3 slices of bread when I came on the scene and squawked, so he put 1 slice back in the bag in an attempt at temperance.

He also likes to fry up 5 eggs for his breakfast.

As of today I have a 1 in 2139 chance of winning a house at the coast. This couple in Yachats wasn't able to sell their home so they are doing this contest where you write a 100-word essay about why you want this house and send them $200. They're hoping to collect 3000 entries and the market value of the house. The winner will be chosen by the essay and not random chance, so we decided it would not be gambling, and I wrung all the emotion I could out of those 100 words, including my sick daughter who is convinced a summer at the beach would make her better. If they don't get enough entries you get your money back, so if you want to increase my chances you can send in your check along with a badly-written entry. Read more here.

Quote of the Day:
"What do you call it if you don't like to be around someone who eats all the time?
Glutton intolerant!"
--Ben