Do you have an angle named after you?

Sarah and I were sitting at the desk while she was taking a math quiz. 

S:  Is it OK if I name this angle?
M: Sure.
S: I'm going to name it Angle M-O-M.
[I'm honored, so I choose not to mention that no two points should share the same letter.]
M: I've never had an angle named after me before!  I hope it's not an obtuse angle.
S: No, it's a right angle, because Mom's always right.
M: That's right. Haha!
S: Or I could make it acute...would you like to be acute?
M: That would be fine too, as long as I'm not obtuse.  I think I'd rather be right than acute though. 

Exotic sister smoothie

My secret sister from church gave me a fruit basket yesterday, including a star fruit and a kiwano. The kids and I cracked them open today and tried them.  They were both very good.  I decided to make a smoothie with banana, carrots, spinach, blueberries, star fruit, kiwano, and coconut water.  It looked like a beautiful rainbow in the blender.

Noah cutting the star fruit. 

testing the kiwano (Sarah said it tastes like "banana and kiwi mushed together" and Noah added, "with the freshness of a cucumber"

  Noah named it "The exotic sister smoothie".

We had enough left over to make popsicles.

Taking those negative thoughts captive

As so often happens in parenting, I learned a lesson that I was trying to teach my kids.  Noah was grumbling about math, saying how much he hates it, how hard it is, on and on.  I told him he needed to change the way he was thinking and talking about it.  I told him to find something to be grateful about in regards to math.  He tried and came up empty, so I said, "Instead of complaining about how much you hate it, you could be thankful that you have a brain that can think and a hand that can write." 

I'm not sure the lesson was very effective with him, but I was reminded of it minutes later when I went to clean the kitchen.  I caught myself thinking things like, "I hate cleaning.  I'm no good at it, and what's the point anyway? Somebody is going to come along and mess it all up again."  With my own lesson ringing in my ears, I told myself to find something to be grateful for in the messy kitchen.  I changed my thinking to, "I'm thankful that I have such a nice kitchen.  I'm thankful for the mess, because it means I have food and I have children. I'm thankful that I'm healthy and able to clean."  My whole attitude changed, and I soon had a nice, clean kitchen.

Maybe the lesson did sink in with Noah too, because his math today was the best it's been in a long time!

Begging for shoes

I don't buy new shoes for kids whose feet are growing, or for kids who leave their shoes out in the rain, at friends' houses, etc.  So I bought a used pair for Noah from someone online for $2, and we agreed to meet at Casey's in Pekin to make the exchange last night.

It was dark and raining at the time we were to meet.  Casey's has a pretty big parking lot, and there were lots of vehicles there.  I ruled out the ones pumping gas and looked for a car off by itself.  There was one in the corner, so I pulled up next to it, but nobody was in it.  Then a car pulled in and parked way over in another corner away from everyone else.  Ah.  This must be the shoe lady.

My first clue should have been that it wasn't a lady at all, but a middle aged man.  I reasoned that she must have sent someone else to make the exchange for her, since he rolled down his window as I approached his car.  He looked expectant and said hello but didn't produce any shoes.  I said, "Do you have shoes?"  He looked baffled, glanced at his feet and said, "Yeeesss. Why?"

Awkward social moment.  There I am, standing in the rain outside a stranger's car at a gas station in the dark, and he thinks I want his shoes.  I said, "I mean, are you here to meet someone for shoes?"  He said, "No...?" and I mumbled, "Oh.  Sorry, never mind."

I went back to my car, drove to the opposite conspicuous corner of the lot, parked for a minute, and then a lady pulled up next to me.  She stuck the shoes out the window, I stuffed a couple bucks into her hand, and was back on the road in two seconds.