Would you still be alive?


Last week someone mentioned to me, either at the eye doc or at the frames shop, that years ago, people didn't get glasses. They just lived with blurry vision.

I hadn't really thought about it.

My eyes are blurring.
So I go and get glasses.


But not, say, 200 year ago.

I always think it would be quite lovely to live in another time.

Like Janet Austen's time.

But the reality of it, especially, medically speaking is very very different...and even grim.


Because there would be no reading of books because you couldn't see the pages.
And your hearing would be dim due to childhood ear infections.
And your teeth. It would not be pretty.
And can you imagine the pain of living with a mouthful of rotting teeth?

By fifty. I would be toothless and unable to read the fine print.


But.

I would not be alive at fifty.

I would have died at 32, for sure.
That pesky ruptured appendix.

My husband would have died at 16.
For he had an appendicitis also.

And all of you who have had c-sections.
Would you have made it thru those?

Of course, you can't really take this too far because it all gets too convoluted if you do.

Cause my children wouldn't be here.
I would have different children.
If I had children.
But, if I was married with different children
perhaps my appendix wouldn't have burst.

See what I mean.



And isn't it icky to think of having different children.
It's just too bizarre a thought.
I'm not going to think about that any more.


My main question is;


Would you still be alive?





Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
Bring out your dead.

If you don't like black humor.
You won't like the clip.
So don't watch it.

And one thing about viewing a video.
Click the little arrow at the bottom of the screen.
If you click the big arrow at the middle of the screen you will be sent to YouTube to view the clip.

I hope it works.
And I hope you are not offended.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Cat glasses expedition numero one.
Completed.
Yet unsuccessful.

Katie and I made our way to two different eyeglass boutiques.
Two trendy boutiques.

And boy do they have good staff.
I didn't spend much time at the first place but the second place pulled me in and held me there.

Immediately, they know whether they have the Lisa Loeb frames.
They are distinctive.
They know.

But do they say, "No, I'm sorry we don't have anything remotely similar to those."

Nope.

Marty glided through the rows of frames and before you know it you have been there over an hour and tried on 70 pair of frames.

Frames from Paris.
Handmade frames from Paris.

Oh la la.

Marty was good at her job.

Every time I clutched my photo of Lisa in her cat eyes, Marty showed me another pair of frames from Paris.

Marty really was a pro.
She wrote down the glasses that I liked the best. (four pair, four uber expensive pairs of frames.)

And wished me luck on finding the cat eye glasses of my dreams.

Patrick and Katie and I will meander down Madison's State St. today and make a quick peek thru the trendy boutiques.
But I will not get pulled in.
If they ask to help me, I will say, 'no thank you'...

Cause if I show them my picture of Lisa Loeb,
they will hand me a completely different style of glasses.

Unless of course I hit the jackpot!

Wish me luck.


**********

I took my camera along on our shopping trip because Hilldale has a long brick wall.
My favorite photographer of children, Audrey Woulard, takes photos along a brick wall.
She is the best.
I am trying to learn from her.

(Of course without a great photoshop program I will never get the eyes quite as bright and the skin quite so creamy, but I am learning what I can with what I have.
So I am working on Light and Location.)

Thank goodness Katie doesn't hate getting her picture taken.
Most days she's the only one I've got.





She can only act refined for so long.


Then last night.

Because there is nothing on TV and I have a one track mind...





I love the light on the pines behind Katie and I love the light in her eyes.
She is acting here.
She cracks me up.

I am learning that it is important which direction you face and where you put your eyes. Especially since I am using the natural light.


Really.
She doesn't watch America's Next Top Model.


And sometimes you have to climb a little to find the light.


Thanks for visiting...and indulging me by looking at all of my photos.
It's more fun when you can share.


Have a wonderful weekend!!!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Friday Feast


Appetizer
What is your favorite kind of pie?

Soup
Name something that made you smile this week.

Salad
What do you do to cool off when the weather is hot and humid?

Main Course
You receive $1,000 in the mail with a letter that says you can only use the money to redecorate one room in your home. Which room do you pick, and what do you buy to spruce it up?

Dessert
Fill in the blank: My _________ says __________, but I __________.


**********

So, I almost didn't make it home from the eye doctor yesterday afternoon.
I mean, it was the most uncomfortable drive of my life.

My eyes were dilated and I was to pick up some plastic throw-away glasses from the front desk. Which I did. My first mistake was choosing a pair that slide down behind my cheaters instead of choosing the pair that looked like 3-D glasses.

The moment I step outside, I'm in trouble.

I'm squinting hard and my right eye slams shut and starts to water.

So I decide to take off my cheaters and hold the plastic lens in front of my eyes.

This works okay but, I'm still have a hard time with how bright and blurry the world around me is...and my right eye can't seem to open up and help me out.

As I get about 1/2 way home. The little plastic lens spring from my fingers and land somewhere, very out of sight. Most likely between the seat and the console.

Ugh. What a mess.

So I continued on. Wishing I could close my eyes my whole time.

I think the angels were watching me since I forgot to ask Jesus to take the wheel.

Ten minutes later I arrived home.

Very stressed and very safe and in the need of a snack and some Diet Dr. Pepper.

Phew.




I've got my glasses prescription (is that what it's called)
and I've found the perfect glasses already.

Meet Lisa Loeb. She is a singer. I met her in a google search.
I do not know her music, but I adore her glasses!

They are perfect for me and I am on a quest.

If you have heard where Lisa Loeb buys her glasses drop me a note.

Otherwise, I will be taking these pictures along with me to numerous eye glass stores. Madison is a pretty funky town. Someone must carry something similar to these.

I will find you!











********

I wrote an About Me page last night. A new visitor to Quiet Life emailed me and wondered if I had an About Me page. Blogger isn't really set up for this so I just wrote a post and placed it on the blog. Then I made a link to it up at the top of the sidebar, under my pic with Katie.

So if you are new here and wonder "what's her story", you can find it here.

About Me


See ya in the comments with your Friday's Feast answers!


Encourage one another,
Donna

Jenni was sweet enough to think of me for this award. She has a lovely way with words and made me sound really wonderful on her blog.
Like I said, she has a gift :o)






Nita @ Red Tin Heart thought I deserved this award.
And ya know what, I agree, nice does matter.
She was pretty nice to grant me the Nice Matters Award!

Thanks blog-sistahs!


Thank you for this wonderful honor.
Dang.
Forgot my crown.
Be right back.


There.
Got my crown on now.
Thank you, thank you very much.
I hope to live up to your high and kind praise.

Caffine has absolutely no effect on me.
Not a bit.


If I stand up real straight I'll look better.
Nice.
That worked like a charm.


I am SO not an actress.
Suspicious is not what I was going for.



I'm really not a British woman.
Really.
I just play one in my living room.

Good showwwwwwwwww.




Oh, I'm having a good time here.

Hope you are too :o)

Encourage one another,
Donna

p.s. That's what my hair looks like if I don't blow it dry and curl it a bit.
The glasses are my cheaters. They are a 1.75.
I think I will be getting bifocals of some sort.
Is there a younger name for bifocals?
Do I have to wear a chain with my bifocals?

One ought every day at least,
to hear a little song,
read a good poem,
see a fine picture, and, if it were possible,
to speak a few reasonable words.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

********


I need your advice.

I am taking a meal to a family with a new baby on Friday.

They are scheduled for one spaghetti and three chicken type meals in the next week.
So I do not want to make something with a red sauce or with chicken in it.

So that leaves beef and pork.

Now. It's quite hot. So I will not bring soup.

Oh! I just had an idea.

Taco Salad.

Yum. Doesn't that sound good?

But what goes with taco salad?

How about quiche?

Would you like a quiche with a little ham in it?

If I made a quiche, I would send along some croissants and perhaps a little fruit salad.

Any other ideas?

This must transport well and heat/reheat well.

Any good tips would be greatly appreciated.


*********


I'm going to the Dermatologist today.
I have been putting the cream on my skin cancer and I don't like it one bit.
(The cream is suppose to irritate the skin and make the cancer go away. But it has started to burn and I'm tired of the whole process.)

So I think I am going to ask the PA to cut it out today.

We'll see if she has time. I hope.


**********


And tomorrow I get to go to the eye doctor.
Oh! how I need new glasses.

I have never in my life been this blind before.

I have had to wait a long month for this appointment and I can't wait!

My eyes have gone from just needing cheaters to needing something for distance also.

When you can't read your Tivo.

It's time to get to the Dr.


It's going to be kinda fun picking out frames.
I don't want wild funky glasses but I don't want old lady glasses either.

I want glasses that will make me look pretty and thin and young.


Yeah. I know I'm going to the eye doctor not Miracle Max.


********



Splitting and dripping yet still green on the top.
I think my thirsty tomato drank too quickly from our long awaited showers.
It was still perfect with a great shake of salt!


Encourage one another,
Donna

I'm curious about something.
Please tell me true.

Do you follow links when I put them up?
Links to other blogs or links to YouTube or links to pictures?

It's okay if you don't.
Really okay.

But I was just wondering.

I wonder if I should try to figure out (again) how to put a youtube screen right here on my blog. So you don't have to click and go away to see it.
Other, more skilled bloggers have figured it out.
Which means, I will figure it out in three or so years.

I am feeling rather dull, lackluster lately.

I guess it is just the natural rhythm of life.

Big exciting things like weddings and trips to Paris and India.

And quiet little things like pictures of Katie and vacation Bible school and a trip to the grocery store.

VBS is a hoot and a half this year. It's called Avalanche Ranch.
The church is decorated with bales of hay and the children will be singing and cheering and learning Bible stories and verses all week.

Katie loves this. She was disappointed that it was only half day.
She liked being gone all day at First Act Academy.

I wonder if I should try to make life more exciting around here for her?
Or is it good for her to get use to this more realistic (at least for me) rhythm of things.

I mean, and really, how on earth could I make things more exciting around here anyway?

Tell me, the lulls are a good thing.







She has not been reading Seventeen Magazine.
I promise.



Encourage one another,
Donna

New.

Like I mentioned before, Katie is reading.
She is blossoming.
This new found ability is making way for new found interests and delights for her.
She is an exuberant child and she is approaching her reading with the same zeal.

The summer library program was the first really exciting thing she learned about reading. You can win prizes for reading a book.

(Yes, of course, these programs have been around forever.
My older children have participated.
And they were very ho hum about it.
So I was ho hum about it.
But not Katie.
It lit a warm fire under her.)


She reads to her friends.
She reads the restaurant signs along the road.
She reads our secretly spelled words.
She reads the state quarters.


And any child who reads the state quarters and is in 2nd grade and has a mommy who likes maps and states and coins must have this colorful coin holder.
Don't ya think?

I know these have been around since 1999.
The year my little reader was born.

But, late to the party we are...but that doesn't mean we can't have fun!


And when you go to Staples to buy a big state quarter map...

You pass by all the cool school supplies, and post its and nicknack's and do dads...

And these.






Jump Katie!



Fun.
School stuff!

Yep.

This one.

She's gonna keep me young.
Think of all the fun we are going to have reading our way thru the wonderful world of books.
We should make a chart for THAT!

Is there a junior great books chart?

I should make one up, shouldn't I.


What book should Katie read next?
What were your little readers very favorite first books?


Encourage one another,
Donna

Just another day.



This little guy just didn't know what to think about me and my camera at first.


Maybe he would feel more comfortable in a group picture.




AS I was snapping away, Katie jumped up and stuck her teenie little butt right in my way.

"Katie, move your little buns!"
to which
Katie starts a little dance and wiggles to the tune.
shake, shake, shake,
shake, shake, shake,
shake your booty.
shake your booty.
yeah








Smiles all around



And that just egged Katie on,
to dance
and spin,
and leap,
and twirll.



Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here

You'll wish that summer could always be here
You'll wish that summer could always be here


Enjoy them.
They are hot and sweaty.
(or if you're in Texas this year...soggy and muddy)
But they are fleeting.


Patrick and I head to a big fancy pig roast tonight.
We are actually going out without Katie.


I am going to leave my big party worries behind and enjoy it!
Doesn't that sound like a good plan.


Do you go to many parties?
Parties with strangers?

Any tips?


Encourage one another,
Donna

Friday Five is a rerun.
Boo.

So what's girl to do?

I know!

Let's turn that question around from yesterday.
Just flip it a bit...


What do you think now?





I think_______

Give us five for Friday's sake :o)


1. I think it's hilarious when people just start dancing.
(Imagine Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin, Will and Carlton and the cast of Scrubs)

And speaking of Steve Martin,

2. I think this is the sweetest and funniest rendition of Tonight You Belong to Me.


3. I think I am blessed.

4. I think my comments section is the best part of this blog.

5. I think God is all knowing, all powerful and all present.



What do you think?


************



I also think...this turned out really sweet.


And this one didn't turn out quite right.
I think I like it anyway.



Encourage one another,
Donna

I used to think


I use to think that Johnny Mathis had a really nice tan.

I use to think that computers were a fad.

I use to think that DVDs could not skip.

I use to think I was dumb.

I use to think I was fat when I weighed 135.

I use to think I would have seven children.

I use to think that God was uninvolved and distant.





And I say to myself, it's wonderful, wonderful
Oh, so wonderful my love!




How have you changed?

What did you use to think?






Idea snatched right from the blog of Carol @ Magistra Mater


Encourage one another,
Donna

About Me


So you have just stopped by and don't feel like reading every single entry and every single comment to learn a little about me, the author of Quiet Life.

Here's my life in a nut shell.

(Let's see, what do I want to know when I peek into an About Me page?)

I live in Wisconsin with my husband Patrick Sr. (married in 1980) and two daughters, Katie(1999) and Emma (1989).
Our oldest son, Patrick (1982) lives out of state.
Our next son, Matthew (1985) was just married to sweet Melinda.
They also live out of state.

I started this blog on Jan. 1 2004 with a desire to encourage younger women to love their husbands and children.

I pray that God will approve of my words.

I am a Christian who bounces around between the Baptist church and the Catholic Church and might just be a closeted Presbyterian.

I was raised a Lutheran and like to say my infant baptism stuck.
I think I have been blessed with faith because I can't remember a time when I didn't love Jesus and desire to walk in His ways.

If you read the comments you will meet my sisters and blog friends and real life friends. The comments are what make this blog sing.

I have five sisters, four who like to read and comment; Sue, Cindy, Janice and Janet.
And a big brother, Jim, who stops by and thrills us with a comment now and then.

Our family learned early on that life and family is very precious.
Our parents died in a car accident in 1973 leaving behind all seven of us children.
Nancy, our eldest sister, became our guardian with her new husband.
Nancy was only 20 at the time. The twins were only seven and Cindy was but 13.

We are blessed to have bonded thru this tragedy and grow to love and appreciate one another more and more as the years go by.

The blog has become the most wonderful way to keep in touch with one another.
You'll notice quite a bit of sisterly chatter :o)

What else?

I have homeschooled for 13 years.
I blog every day except Sunday.
My grandma taught me to knit when I was a little girl.
My camera is a Nikon D80.
And I love it.





Here I am with my dear hubby (dh).
We're in Rome.

Being married and having children made all my wishes come true.


Encourage one another...cause it is a very good thing.

Prayers


The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet




AT MORNING


THE day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to play the man, help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonoured, and grant us in the end the gift of sleep.





EVENING


WE come before Thee, O Lord, in the end of thy day with thanksgiving.

Our beloved in the far parts of the earth, those who are now beginning the labours of the day what time we end them, and those with whom the sun now stands at the point of noon, bless, help, console, and prosper them.

Our guard is relieved, the service of the day is over, and the hour come to rest. We resign into thy hands our sleeping bodies, our cold hearths, and open doors. Give us to awake with smiles, give us to labour smiling.

As the sun returns in the east, so let our patience be renewed with dawn; as the sun lightens the world, so let our loving-kindness make bright this house of our habitation.


Prayers Written At Vailima
by
Robert Louis Stevenson

Read more about this collection of prayers here




Going blithely,

Encourage one another,
Donna

Do not name your homeschool something silly...



My homeschool graduate went in for an interview with a local bank.
We got a call later in the day saying that she was their top choice.

But.

Did she have a diploma?

We got a little giggle out of this and then
copied off Emma's diploma (issued my myself)
copied her transcript and gathered a whole bunch of references.

As I looked at the diploma I was glad we didn't name our homeschool...

Winnie ther Pooh Academy

or

Colin Firth School for Girls

We never thought anyone would want to LOOK at her diploma.

But just a month after graduation.
We have been asked.

Think ahead, mommy-educators!

Your school name is not as immaterial as you may think :o)

Ours is called

Lamb of God Christian School.

Not silly, thank goodness.


*****************





Isn't it fun with the school supplies start arriving at your door?
I know you are curious.
That's Calvert 2nd grade math.

**************


Listen in as Cyndi and Deacon Tim discuss how they raise their families in this crazy world. Deacon Tim is not afraid to do things differently, for the sake of Christ and for the sake of his family.

(This is not just for homeschoolers (talk about counterculture).
While Cyndi homeschools, D-Tim does/did not.)

The Counterculture Family at Two Edge Talk

Go listen.


**************

Baseball season is nearing an end.







Odd, but interesting look to this pic.




How adorable!!!

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.
~Fyodor Dostoevsky


One filled with joy preaches without preaching.
~Mother Teresa

Go forth and be joyous :o)


Encourage one another,
Donna

Sisters





Someday,
Katie will be 16 and Emma will be 26.
They will have things to talk about and places to go.

And then they will be 31 and 41 and their ages will not matter one bit.

For now, it's a cool ride thru the pool or a quick game of clue.
It doesn't seem like much, but as long as kindness is there, a good relationship is growing.

One of the most special relationships of all.

That of siblings.

It's hard to be responsible, adult and sensible all the time. How good it is to have a sister whose heart is as young as your own.
~Pam Brown

Encourage one another,
Donna

This picture is making me sad.

So long colorful little cups.

So long.

I think I will go and pull two of them out of the trash.

I have room to save two of those little cups.

Bye.

The Wizard of Oz

The play was delightful.
Katie was a very good thespian.
She did not goof up or shove anyone.

I am so proud of her.


Bravo! Bravo!



*************


Emma was at work and Katie was a acting camp, so I took a stroll around the garage yesterday afternoon.
I was looking for something interesting or beautiful.

To tell you the truth, I didn't even know we had these.









I have a favorite.
Do you?

(If you click on the photo, it gets larger.)






Tweet!


I'm going to spend the weekend enjoying my Katie again.
I didn't like having her gone, all day, every day.
After a long day, she didn't have anything more to give.
All pooped out.
Too pooped out to even give a report of her day.
It was odd. I felt like an outsider.

But she loves her acting camp.
And will do it again next year.

It was part of the deal,

'Behave and you may do this next year.'

And she did.


Encourage one another,
Donna

Friday Feast


Appetizer
Describe a toy you remember from your childhood.

Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being highest) how observant are you?

Salad
Where would you rather be at this very moment?

Main Course
When was the last time you learned something new?

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I have ____________ but I haven’t ____________.





Here is a toy I remember from my childhood.

It's Midge.

Barbie's friend.

I think it's kinda cool, cause I have always been 'the friend'.

As a high school Senior, I won Most Friendly and Most Courteous.

I hated winning those.

I wanted to be Most Popular and Prettiest.

Cause I was really shallow.

Mrs. Williams, our lovely next door neighbor, thought I had been chosen for the best kind of awards. And told me so. But I still thought they were dumb.

I love Mrs. Williams.
She also told me once, when I griped about moving to the boonies in northern Wisconsin, to 'bloom where I was planted.'

Wise woman.

Anyway, back to Midge.

I must not have had her very long, because I don't remember playing with her a whole lot, but I clearly remember sitting next to Aunt Barb while she worked on re-curling Midge's hair.

She was using a pencil and was taking great care to make Midge look pretty.

I was a little pixie wearing tomboy and it probably never dawned on my to take the time to fix poor Midge's hair.

Midge wouldn't have won most popular and prettiest either.

But I'll bet she would have won Most Friendly.

And look at her.

She looks just like I did as a little girl.

Except for the curls.

I don't know how she survived our crazy, doll-haircutting skillz.

But then, I don't know what happened to Midge.

Sue or Cindy probably cut her hair off...and then Janice or Janet probably banged her on the high chair until her head popped off and rolled away.

Naw. That would have been memorable. I would remember that.

Midge was probably left outside in the dirt, or in a wagon full of caterpillars or buried in the bottom of a toy box.

Poor Midge.

But not really.

Cause beauty fades, even if you use every single beauty product discussed yesterday, twice, and well...

friends are forever :o)


Encourage one another,
Donna

Tuesday evening we (Katie, Emma and I) were invited (someone gave me a little paper pass at church) to the preview shopping event at the new, big, shiny, happy Super Target down the road from us.

Along with a band playing Cajun-type tunes, cake and ice cream, cotton candy, punch and a ice sculpture of the Target doggie, came a nice heavy bag full of samples from the pharmacy.

I eagerly looked thru the bag of goodies and found this





Gross name. Don't you think?

But it reminded me to tell you about Lynn's Beauty Tips.
The butt paste didn't really remind me, it was the large bag of products.

Lynn has two favorite beauty products.

She loves this;




Burt's Bees Foot cream
and pumice stone.

She uses it regularly and her tootsies and her heels are quite smooth (not that I've felt them) looking and callus free.

And she sings the praises of this;





Inexpensive,
classic,
does the trick.

Our dad used VO5 on his wonderful black curls!

VO5 is a hair care product,
in case you didn't know.
Similar to Brylcream.


My beauty tips.

Well.

Um.

I like mascara.
I need mascara.

I use Lancombe mascara because my eyelashes are little and short and sparse.

Lancombe mascara is magical and produces the appearance of eyelashes.

It costs a lot.

But it's practically the only thing I use.

I love to buy lipstick.
But rarely wear it.



How about you?
Here's your chance to share you best beauty tip(s).

We wait with baited breath.

(Is that how the saying goes???)




It was glowing outside last night.
Patrick (while watering the grass) told me to come out and see.

So pretty.

The orange was all around.
It was even on the grass and in the air.

(I was watching 'So you think you can dance!'
And while we are on that topic.
Who will be voted off tonight?
I say Dominic.)


Have a great Thursday!


Encourage one another,
Donna