MEET THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE HALE HOUSEHOLD

We have adopted a new member into the Hale household! Please take a moment and acquaint yourself with Dandy. He is six weeks old and we brought him home today. He is a Standard Poodle and is currently weighing in at a whopping 1.7 pounds. (He will eventually weigh about 50-60 pounds when full grown.) He and Dempsey are getting along well, though Dempsey isn't quite sure what to make of him just yet. He is worn out from a big day and sleeping soundly at the moment.

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY. . . .

Yesterday during church, Aleita was fidgety and never held a single position for longer that about 2.6 seconds. She has gotten to the point where she actually will sit (mostly) without talking during the service, though sitting still is another matter entirely. Chris and I refer to it as "Aleita wrestling." Before we left for church, he came in the bathroom where I was applying my makeup, held up his slacks to me, and asked, "Do these looked too wrinkled? Should I iron them?"

"Why bother?" I reminded him, "Aleita will only wallow you during church and it will be as though you'd never done it at all." Point taken.

Aleita started out on Chris's lap during the beginning of services, switched to sit between Chris and me in the pew, then ended up in my lap by the time the sermon had begun. Even while sitting in my lap, she shifted positions no less than 239 times, I am pretty sure. She intermittently traded off between making faces at our friend, Diana (who was of course, making faces back), sitting the next row back, and then snuggling up to me and rubbing the soft fabric of my dress between her fingers. Just about the time I thought she had settled, she would turn herself around again until she got Diana's attention, and then it would begin again.

Perhaps we don't do the greatest job of controlling her, but then again, "Aleita" and "control" rarely end up in the same sentence together anyway. And though she is restless, at the very least she usually does manage to go without screaming or laughing or talking or singing or any other loud outburst for the hour we are in church. For most four year olds, that is a miracle within itself.

So if you are interested in seein' some wrastling, you need not tune in to the WWE. Just come sit about the fourth or fifth row back on the south side of our church sanctuary this coming Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

MY LITTLE FIRECRACKERS

Pictures of the girls from the evening of the 4th of July - - these were taken right before the fireworks started.

SMALL TOWN LIVING

Yesterday, we had just another example of what small town living really means. Not too long after Chris and the kids got home yesterday, the phone rang. It was a friend of ours, Tom, just letting us know that he had seen the Fed Ex driver drop off a package on our front porch and wanted to make sure we didn't miss it. (Most people come in and out our side door, not the front door, so we don't access the house via the front door very often.)

About an hour later, I went down to my friend Barb's house to meet her to go to our Thursday night water aerobics class. After I came in the door, her husband said to me, "hey - there's a package on your front porch that got delivered today." Evidently, the driver had trouble finding our house (apparently using those pesky numbers on the front of the house proved deceptive) and since Greg was outside working, she stopped to ask for clarification. She asked if he could help her, but instead of asking what the house number was, he asked for the name on the package - - - much easier to figure out who a package belongs to by name, rather than house number, when you live in a town of 1,200 people.

He was quickly able to point her in the right direction -- mainly of course, because we happen to be good friends with them. It also happened to be easy because of the fact that he and Barb used to live there.

LUCK BE A LADY (OVER EIGHTY)

A short while ago, I was driving back to work after my lunch hour. I had the radio on, but wasn't really listening all that closely until I heard an ad come on for Meadow Manner. Meadow Manner is the nursing home in Taylorville where my grandma lives, so it caught my attention enough that I began listening to the commercial.

The ad was describing some renovation that is taking place at the nursing home, as well as a new program it is offering called "Quick Steps." It said that Quick Steps is a program for people who only need to stay in the nursing home for a short while - say, a few weeks or months - following something like a fall or a surgery, just until they are able to return home. The ad began mentioning the rehabilitation portion of the program and touting that it provides practice with many independent-living activities through its own facilities. Residents are able to practice cooking in an actual kitchen, doing laundry with actual washing machines and dryers, exercising with onsite equipment, etc....I had just started to tune it out again when I heard the advertiser's voice began mentioning that there are so many fun and exciting activities for the residents to participate in, such as crafts, games, scrapbooking......and I swear, I am not making this up - - the last thing he said had something to do with a casino. And just like that - - he had my attention again.

Unfortunately, the advertiser didn't elaborate on the casino thing and the commercial ended. I know that I am not hearing things - - he definitely said something about a casino. I found it so humorous, I had to write about it. Perhaps that is why my grandma seems tired when I go to see her - - - maybe she spends her free time at the nursing home's casino until the wee hours of the morning. I can just picture her and the other residents, all lined up in their wheel chairs at the craps table. Since the residents don't handle actual money (it is instead placed on in an account for them, for things like the beauty shoppe), I wonder what they use to gamble with? Crackers from the dining room? Perhaps after awhile, they will have another activity to list for the nursing home - - Gambler's Anonymous.

Maybe the casino is strictly reserved for those in the Quick Steps program only - - you know, you have to keep on your activities if you are going to return home soon. Perhaps there are people that hesitate to have that surgery because they are afraid that during the recuperation, they will lose the ability to play three slot machines at the same time. And life skills are important you know -- - A person wouldn't want to forget how to scramble eggs or separate whites from colored clothes.....or when to double down in Blackjack.

NO MORE KISSES

Aleita was a sleepy head this morning and had to be woke up. As soon as she managed her way out of bed, I walked her into the bathroom to sit on the potty. As I sat her down, I gave her a kiss on one cheek, and then the other. Still groggy from sleep and not really wanting to be awake yet, she shook her head at me and pushed me away. I said, "What? Don't you like my kisses?" She sleepily looked at me and replied, "I just don't want to use up all my kisses I have for today. No more kisses right now."

Apparently she has a limited supply - - get 'em while they last.

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

I hang my head in shame and admit to you that my family is not very good at saving the environment. At home, we don't have a bin to recycle cans....or newspaper.....or plastic. It is one of those things that I know I should do, but just don't. I could use the argument that we have space limitations, which is true, and I could also say that we don't recycle because our town doesn't pick up recyclable materials - which is also true. But the truth of the matter is probably more likely that we're just lazy. Wow. That kind of stings to have to write that down. I know, I know....shame, shame, shame on me.

I kinda/sorta recycle at work....though it's almost disgraceful to admit. I work in a downtown area where we have a lot of street people. At least a few times every day, a street person goes through the garbage bags in our dumpster, looking for aluminum cans. So in a way, I am recycling. Right? Right???

As an educated individual, I know that I should recycle. I know that it makes for a healthier world, as well as cuts down on the amount of waste in our landfills, and the number of pollutants in our environment. While looking up some information about recycling online this morning, I found a fact that really surprised me: Recycling just one can saves enough electricity to light a 100-watt bulb for 3½ hours. It also said that is easier and cheaper to make cans from recycled ones - - the article I read said that twenty recycled cans are able to be made with the energy needed to produce just one can using virgin ore.

But before you gather an angry mob to come after me (using torches replete with recycled materials, of course), please know that Chris and I are actually doing one thing to save some of this world's natural resources. Nearly every day for the past several months, we have been carpooling to work. Now, we aren't able to do it every day, but most days, we are able to make the thirty mile roundtrip commute together. In keeping with the honest tone of this entry though, I have to admit that saving some natural resources each day was somewhat of a secondary consideration/side benefit from our decision to carpool it. We were indeed thinking green when we decided to ride together each day - - just a little more of the variety that comes in bill form. In short, our main impetus had to do with saving some money. What we have found is that when we are able to ride together most every day, we save about $50 a week on gas. Hoo-ray - - a win/win for us and the environment!

But of course, I am far, far, far from being the Green Queen of Macon County. I need to do more. I recognize that - and I'll work on it, I promise. I highly doubt I will ever become a tree-hugging zealot, but I will, at the very least, purchase a few garbage cans for the garage whose sole purpose it will be to hold paper and aluminum cans. Al Gore would be so proud.

ROCK CLIMBING

It was a beautiful sunny day in Central Illinois, so we took the kids to the zoo this afternoon. We had covered about two-thirds of the zoo when we came to the herpaquarium where most of the reptiles and amphibians are housed. The kids always stop right outside this building and touch the shells of the tortoises that stay in a low fenced area to the left of the herpaquarium door. As we came up the hill to the building today, I noticed that one tortoise had its mouth wide open and appeared to be attempting to climb up a large rock. Not wanting the kids to get bit, I told them, "don't touch the tortoise with its mouth open."

However, as we got a little closer, I realized that the large rock he was climbing was actually another tortoise. The kids both stopped and stared at the male tortoise as he made steady grunting, bark-like noises. Maggie commented, "I'm not touching that one! He's mad about something." Chris and I just gave each other "the look" and ushered the kids inside the herpaquarium. After looking at the snakes and frogs and iguanas and turtles, I said to Chris, "how fast do you think we can get them out the door?"

Apparently, not fast enough. The male turtle was still rhythmically barking away as we exited the building and Maggie again stopped to comment. "He is sure upset about something! He's really angry, isn't he, Mommy? Maybe it's because that other tortoise won't get out of his way."

"Hmm...could be," I responded - while trying not to laugh at the look Chris was giving me. As we went on to the next exhibit, Maggie again asked, "Mommy - why was the tortoise doing that?" I began to figure she understood that there was a deeper explanation that what I had been offering, so I finally told the truth. I explained that they were trying to make tortoise babies. I explained that is what they had to do for the tortoise to get pregnant and lay eggs with baby tortoises in them.

She digested this truth for a moment and then said, "to make babies, he has to climb on her back and make weird noises?" Not wanting to continue the discussion any further, I just replied, "Yep - that's about right." She then said, "Are you just kidding me?" I laughed and assured her I was telling her the truth....but I am not sure she believed me.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ZOO - - A GREAT PLACE FOR KIDS TO LEARN FIRSTHAND ABOUT THE ANIMAL KINGDOM

DID YOU HEAR THAT?

Last night, I met my friends Barb, Susan, and Brenda at the town pool for water aerobics class. I am pretty sure we exercise our jaws as much as we do any other body part that we are supposed to be working on. No matter - I am sure that some good is coming to my body because of it, and it is a very enjoyable way to spend an hour.

As we were in the pool last night, Barb stopped mid-water jog and cocked her head to the side. "Hear that?" she asked me. It took me a second, but I realized she was refering to a siren that could be heard faintly from the other side of town. I noticed that a few other ladies in the pool had also perked up at the sound of it and had their heads turned in the direction of it.

Before she brought it up to me, I hadn't even noticed the siren. We moved to Blue Mound last October, but before that , I lived in Decatur for fifteen years. I still spend a great deal of time there because of work. In a bigger town with thousands of people, lights and sirens just come with the territory and eventually just become part of the rhythm of the city. My office is less than half a block off one of the busiest streets in Decatur, and though it is not a huge town, it is still large enough that I hear at least ten sirens go by every day. Fire trucks, ambulances, police cars. . . . all sound their shrill warnings within a few hundred feet of my office every day. It didn't take long to grow accustomed to the sound and subsequently, tune it out. I have a large plate glass window that provides an excellent view of Eldorado Street, yet I rarely even glance up from my desk as they go by.

I recall that when I was growing up, if a fire truck or ambulance or police siren was heard, everyone was on the horn immediately, calling friends or relatives or neighbors to figure out what was going on. I remember a time when hearing a siren would make my heart race a little, because it was a sound heard so infrequently in a small town, and almost always meant trouble for someone you knew. Barb made the same point to me exactly. After she asked if I had heard it, I told her that I rarely even heard the sirens anymore after living and working in Decatur. She replied, "But here, there's a good chance that it has to do with someone you know."

Being fairly new to Blue Mound, we don't know a lot of people - - mainly just those we go to church with. As Maggie starts school this fall and we begin to become more involved in the community, I am sure that in no time, that we'll know a few more folks. Perhaps soon I will start noticing the sirens again.

COMING ATTRACTIONS. . . .

My sister-in-law, Stacie is due in August. This will be the second child for her and my husband's brother, Ben. They have a daughter, Kaylin, who will be three this September. Kaylin seems to be excited about the upcoming arrival of her new sibling....we'll see how long that lasts once there is a bit of an attention shift after the baby arrives.

Before Stacie and Ben knew the gender of the baby, they were discussing possible names and asked Kaylin what she thought good names would be for a girl or boy. She chose the names "Pink" (for a girl) and "Purple" (for a boy.)

They now know the baby will be a boy, and we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Purple. If you ask Kaylin what the baby's name is, she very nonchalantly answers, "Purple." Actually, if Ben has his way, the baby will be named "Emmitt." No word on a middle name yet, but our family has already dubbed this child "Emmitt Purple" - - that is how we always refer to him when we talk about the new baby. We say it often enough around Kaylin that I think she is probably convinced that is the baby's actual name. Who says that celebrities have the market cornered on far-out baby names?