Disregard that it’s been a long day for all of us. We got up at 5:30 this morning.
Disregard the five plus hours we spent in the car today, the four hours spent shopping at Ikea, and three restaurants in which we dined.
Disregard that Grace usually goes to bed at 7:30, and it’s already past 8.
Disregard the hour-long photo shoot for Christmas cards in which we smiled and posed in the misty rain.
Disregard those things because they don’t matter.
Grace is helping her daddy to build a shelf to hold her toys.

It …

One of my first words was gubba! I was then – and continue to be – irrationally afraid of all things that creep and crawl: spiders, flies, and all of the assorted insects that inhabit my space. I can’t handle sharing my space with them.
I put on a good front most of the time, but I’m still afraid. I may nott scream or do the spider dance in front of my child or in front of my students, but I still hate the bugs.
My little sister exploits my fear of …

When I first moved out of my parents’ house and into my own, I had trouble paying the bills.
It wasn’t because I didn’t have enough money. I had a good job, and while my checking account was not overstuffed, it was healthy enough to cover my bills.
I just never remembered to write the checks. Or, I would write the checks and not have any stamps. Or, I’d write the checks and have stamps but be out of envelopes.
The bills were always late.
One February, there was a pamphlet in my electric …

Do you know what this is, Dear Reader?
It is not a bee smorgasbord, despite appearances.

I can’t wait to tell you the whole store.
Tomorrow.

Happily submitted to Wordless Wednesday, 5 minutes for Mom, The Not-So-Blog Blog, Wordful Wednesday, Go Graham Go, Mom of 3 Girls, Newlyweds!, What’s that Smell?, Super Jenn, My Sippy Cup Runneth Over, Ordinary and Awesome,  A Daily Dose of Toni,  Moomette’s Magnificents, and Life Down Our Lane

In the beginning of the summer, my mom’s neighbor bought some pumpkin seeds. He planted them in his garden, and he waited.
All of the seeds grew into pumpkin plants.
All except for this one.

It grew into some kind of monster vine, and it is taking over his garden and his yard and the space around it. It has dozens of branches, each one more than ten feet long.

I need your help to identify it. The stems are green, not woody at all, and they are covered with spiny hairs.

The flowers are …