UPSIDE DOWN BRAID

Who knew?  Well, Addison did and she coached me through doing one on her sweet head.

She sat on the stairs and tipped her head.  I start french braiding from the nape of her neck up over the crown of her head and stopped where she wanted the messy bun.  I put a hair tie around the braid, she pulled all the rest of hair into the bun and there you have it.  Not bad for a first try.

We are Roderick's.  It's what we do.

IT'S A 50'S THING: #33

I woke up groggily and stumbled into my bathroom.  I wearily opened the cupboard, grabbed my toothbrush and with crusty morning eyes also snatched a tube of toothpaste.   I then began to unscrew the cap and squeeze the tube.  Wait.  That's not right.

I barely caught myself before putting neosporin on my toothbrush and brushing my pearly whites.

I.am.so.in.my.fifties.

BEADS

Today was my return to the Treehouse after 2 weeks of vaca.  I was anxious to get back up there and get my routine rolling once again.

I stepped into my backstage workroom and was totally floored.  It was as if someone had grabbed the space and gave it a couple of good shakes.  Stuff was everywhere, which is not unusual after Don has subbed for me, and I was shocked.  It had never been this bad.  The most sinister act of destruction was the "buzzie" beads.  It looked as if someone had taken handfulls and tossed them in the air just to watch where they land.  I can not relate my feelings at that moment.

I knew exactly what had happened.  Don had allowed the patients to run the assylum.  He had permitted children to be in the workroom unsupervised and running amuck.

I stewed and fussed all afternoon as I thought about the chaos he created.  It took me almost 3 hours to repair the destruction.  I almost swallowed a Xanex to calm my frazzled nerves.

As I relayed the story to the kids during our time together, of course blaming Don, one young fellow said "Dandy Don wasn't back there, Miss Cindy.  My sister and I were building buzzies."

Wait.  What.  Don was not responible.  How could this be?  It's always a crap shoot when he is covering a weekend.  He always makes a mess somewhere.  And yet this kid was telling me a very different tale.

Yeah.  The culprits happened to be Jack & Hope.  Kurt's kids.  Kurt is my boss.  Yep.  Chalk one up for assumptions.

Roderick.  It's what I do.

(today (Sunday) another little girl came up and said she was back making "buzzies" as well.   I surmise, calmly, that my first assumption was indeed correct.  Curse you Don Norman (you have to say this with a wicked accent)

EASTER EGGS

I ran into a favorite candy store the other day to pick up Easter eggs for the family, a Roderick tradition of sorts.  I was browsing through the store, simply enjoying the aroma, when a tussle broke out.

Two rather large ladies, spilling out of their respective clothing, were annoyed that the counter person was not helping them.  It was rather busy because of the holiday and several cashiers were fervantly aiding several people with their purchases.

The women of color seemed to think they were being neglected on purpose and started dropping verbage about racial profiling.  They issued a stern warning to persons behind the counter that if they weren't served immediatley a law suit would soon follow.

I waited, got my eggs and scurried out of the store.  It made me sad to think we live in a world where you can throw a little hoohaw and everyone scurries to do ones bidding.

ONLY IN OREGON

Yep.  This is a true story about what we viewed on a Eugene, Oregon freeway.  Ask Phyllis if you don't believe me.

We are driving to the mall and in my rearview mirror I spy a suspicious looking vehicle.  I use the term suspicious loosely as I really wasn't registering what I was seeing.  It appeared to be a sedan pulling up on our right.  I kept looking.  Phyllis was now looking.  What was that thing?

It was indeed a sedan.  A grass covered sedan.  Tires, windows and roof were the only visable parts of the vehicle not covered in grass.  Actually, artificial turf, but still, grass.  As many do when driving past a car accident, we could not turn away.  We were not thinking clearly and we neglected to take a picture we were so stunned.

You have got to love Eugene . . . the sod capitol of the United States.

LITTLE LUIS

Look what Luis found in the garage. Shae's bow and arrow that her granddad made for her during her epic "Legolas" phase. She also had a thing for "Luke Skywalker" but we neglected to obtain a light saber for her. Sorry honey.

We.love.being.Roderick.

FEELING CHRISTMAS

Just a couple of Christmas nuggets I'm working on . . . you know you can never start to early preparing for the holidays.

At least we Roderick's need to start early.  You know us.

EASTER ARMS

We tried something new in the Treehouse for Easter 2012.  We used various colored scarves to enhance our worship experience by waving them above our heads during our praise time together.  Yeah, the kids loved it.  Me.not.so.much.

I have either got to start using those scarves more often or I have got to start doing a lot more upper body workouts.

This was one sore Roderick.

PAMPAS GRASS

While traveling up the 5 to Eugene, Oregon, Phyllis is admiring all the surrounding green landscape. She referred to some pompus grass growing freely along the road. Wait. Pompus grass. I was confused. Arrogant grasses growing along the freeway came to mind. Then she graciously pointed out some pompus grass to me. Pampas grass, honey.

Clearly Phyllis has the makings of an honorary Roderick.

SNOOZING

This is a picture of our new living arrangement in the family/dining room. I just don't know what I want to do with the space at this point. Obviously Scott is making it work for the time being.

Gotta love that guy.

GARAGE SALE AGAIN

I have a love/hate relationship with garage sales. I love the little (and I do mean little) extra cash it brings in but I do not appreciate the art of the haggle.

Really. The price is $.50 (I find it curious that my keyboard does not have the "cent" sign on it). Do not try to negotiate me down to $.25. That makes me crazy. It.is.pennies. Deal with it. The extra finances will come in handy next week when Hope, Phyllis, CJ and I drive the long road trip to Oregon. It will buy one tank of gas. True fact.

I told the kids in the Treehouse I got a tattoo with some of the extra money. They wanted to see it so I showed them my inner wrist and they bought it. Even our leaders bought it. Totally fake. Another April Fool's win.

Anyone in the market for a couch or freezer? I'll make you a deal.

APRIL FOOLS

We had a great time in the Treehouse today. Let me share with you what I did.

We do a little something up there called the "Giving Basket" which is basically old school offering. The kids take turns being the usher of the basket which consists of grabbing it off the platform and making sure it gets passed around so that all have the opportunity to contribute. Today, however right next to the basket, I strategically placed a wee pile of fake doggie dodo.

I started sniffing and glancing around, asking the kids if they smelled something funny. One child inevitably spied the "present" and started sounding the alarm for all to hear.

After the ensuing chaos was calmed I gave them the big "April Fool's". Nothing is better than the laughter of a child.

For those of you concerned about your child's Christian education, today was also Palm Sunday and we covered that as well with reference to Luke 19:30-36. Two holidays for the price of one. You gotta love that!

Roderick. It's what I do.