Randy and Shari's World

Hi!

I used to vacuum mostly because I didn't like to look at various lint particles, hairs, crumbs and debris-that-should-be-outside-the-house-but-somehow-got-inside sitting all over our darkish blue rug (not our choice of color, though it looks nice without the above-mentioned decorations upon it).  After a few days of noticing that, even if I leave the room for a while, the dirt is STILL there, I will pump myself up mentally, drag out the vacuum, and in a matter of mere moments my world feels a little more peaceful.

But these days, I have an additional motivation to drag out my old buddy: the assorted dirt can now be seen clinging mightily to my children.  Yes.  Quite shamelessly even, it attaches itself to their sticky, humidity-induced, sweaty skin and remains, no doubt very pleased with itself, until I manually pluck it off, muttering to myself that I really should vacuum more often, but didn't I just do it 2 days ago?

I feel especially bad for Serena, who being only 4 months old, is not yet capable of de-linting her own body, nor is she capable of having a whole lot of choice about how she gets positioned on the carpet.  When she was oh so wee, I carefully put a little cutsie blanket down before I laid her down, and sometimes, when I am feeling ever so responsible, I still do.  But mostly I just gently plunk her down (after all, since it is my own house, I am reasonably sure there is nothing truly horrid down there!!) and there she lays, smiling, jiving, looking around and being a baby.  Well since we are having a very sticky week, she is noticably ickier when I pick her up again, requiring me to inspect and pluck before I can feel as though I am taking adequate care of my young. 

So yesterday morning I noticed a little black speck at the top of her right cheek (face, please think face) and tried to remove it.  It didn't budge.  No matter, sometimes these things just work themselves out naturally, so I forgot about it and we went to Aldi (we LOVE Aldi and since we go every week, the employees know us and are especially excited to see "gorgeous" and his new little sister).  As I was making my way down the produce aisle, I glanced down at my little joey in her Snugli and there it was!  The fiesty black speck!  Well.  I couldn't very well risk having perfect strangers stop to peek at my baby and make a mental note to call child services because of possible Emptying-of-the-Dustbuster-Filter-onto-Baby's-Face Abuse!!  So, I gently tried again to remove the speck.  Serena was VERY cooperative with my efforts, I have to say!  Nothing.  So I tried a bit more firmly, telling her that I was very sorry but that it really had to come off.  Still wouldn't move.  So I got into battle stance: I made sure that no one was behind me, since our little entourage was taking up most of the aisle, I staunchily planted my feet shoulder width apart, put my face down very close to Serena's, and picked and prodded with as much authority as my pointer fingernail and I could muster.  But nothing.  3 strikes and you're out right?  So I continued on with my life and noticed at some point later in the day that the fiesty black speck had left on its very own!  And no one has come to arrest me for negligence!

Of course, that might change if they found out what I served for dinner last night.  That's right, you guessed it: Mr. Ken's Scary Potty.  All during dinner Micah kept asking us something about "Mr. Ken's Scary Potty" and we were totally dumbfounded.  I mean, the kid speaks rather well for his age and it is very rare when neither one of us has even the slightest clue what he's saying.  Our pastor is Pastor Ken and so I was racking my brain trying to figure out if Micah was ever at a potty in Pastor Ken's presence (not to mention that I would never in a million years believe that his marvelous wife Karen would ever let one of their own personal potties get into a state even remotely deserving of the adjective Scary!).  He even asked us if we put Mr. Ken's Scary Potty on our forks and I just put my head in my hands and said, "You are so silly!  What are you talking about!!????"  Then, at exactly the same moment, Randy and I figured it out: Mexican Manicotti.