Woodpeckers, Crafting, and Kid Speak: Unrelated and Random

In the woods beside our house, there lives a pair of redheaded woodpeckers. Have you ever seen a redheaded woodpecker? They're pretty big birds. It's an impressive sight and at my house, a hilarious one. Because every time we see the birds, we remember that when Jordan was little he called redheaded woodpeckers "red-heckin wood birds." Ha. Ha Ha. Ha Ha Ha!!

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So, I don't decorate for Halloween. At all. Even a little bit. In fact, I don't decorate for any holiday besides Christmas. And even that is on the lower key side of things. I talked to a woman yesterday who has three Christmas trees that go up, one of which has a train that circles all the up way the tree, then all the way back down again. This same woman has SIX bins of Halloween decorations that she puts up every year. Six! To her and all of you who decorate for Halloween and St. Patrick's Day and Valentines Day and President's Day, I say more power to you. I think what you do is awesome. But I'm still not gonna do it.


I think I'm a little bit of a decorating anomaly. We built our house, see? And when you build a house, you have to pick paint colors and floor coverings and counter tops and appliances and bathroom fixtures and light fixtures... sounds like a girls dream, to get to handpick every item for her house? Meh. Not so much. I mean, I cared. I exercised opinions, but give me something nice, functional, not bright fuchsia, and I'm good. I'm not one to get lost in the details... to even really care about the details. Picking curtains? Matching throw pillows? Picking out the perfect accessory? Really not my thing. I consider it almost a chore... isn't that horrible? Except, maybe it isn't horrible. I have never, not once, on one single occasion walked through a furniture or home goods store and felt tempted to spend money. Walk me through a shoe store, and well, that's a different story...

I'm not crafty either. If I do manage to find something that I think might look nice on my wall and you try and tell me I can make it for only seven dollars and a can of spray paint, I'm much more inclined to pay you to make me one than to take the time to make it myself. I know some people enjoy the process of creating, polishing, sanding, refinishing, designing, and all those other -ing words. The only crafting that I enjoy is quilting... and I don't really consider that crafting. Maybe because quilts are a functional, useful expression of creativity? I don't know. When I feel the need to express myself, I turn to words. Not crafts. I'm thinking it's working for me. Words are way cheaper than craft supplies. If only shoes were cheaper than craft supplies...

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I took four kids to the dentist yesterday. All got good reports and they gave us a free pumpkin on the way out the door. Though, free is really a relative term, since I paid them half a mortgage payment for the thirty minutes they spent with each of my kids. This morning, Henry was telling me about all that he had to do at the dentist. He told me they painted this stuff on his teeth that tasted like "bad mushrooms or sumpting". I know for certain this child has never actually eaten a bad mushroom, so his expression must be creative assumption. Can I just tell you, it makes his writer Momma's heart proud to hear him use words creatively? Even if we are just talking about fluoride varnish.