Blogging from the iPhone is a real hassle. I plan on using my laptop whenever we have wifi – so don’t fear lame blogs for the next 3 weeks. I feel an obligation to the public to keep it at least somewhat interesting.

The schedule for this tour is packed. We’re out for 19 days, and we play almost every night. Lucky for us, most of these states are like, 3 miles wide, so we can move through them pretty quickly.

So, I have Brynn on the road with me and the Viking has Toby and Richy. The reason I did it this way was because R2 is not doing great with the transistions in and out of school. So I threw some options out there, and Eva threw some options out there, and the best plan was for us to fly her up and keep the boys.

This is my first full tour in several years- since 2004, I think. After the twins died, I went on one more run and then R2 had a bad seizure and I kinda gave up. SO this is restoration for me, some. I’m excited to get to go.

We’re spending a couple of days here in Nashville, playing a couple times but mostly gathering for practice and prayer and prep- for the rest of the trip. Our pals here in N-ville are so great to host us.

Richy and Brynn and I and our new (Kansas City) sound tech Andrew drove from KC, and the rest of the team drove from Texas in a rental van. We’ll drop the old blue van off in Nashville and pick it up to take us back to KC.

Ol Blue is a 1994 15 passenger van that we bought from a pastor that works in Mexico and Texas, and we’ve worked it hard. We’ve also replaced the transmission a couple times. The van has multiple hang-ups, but it’s big and it runs and it can pull the trailer. So we aren’t getting rid of it yet- but we aren’t asking her to make cross-country trips anymore.

So we used to rent vans from PV rental, and now with Blue being old, we’ve started renting them again. So as of tomorrow, my rattled brains and windblown hair will be transferred to a sparkling 2009 15 passenger, maybe even with cupholders. (fingers crossed!)

2:28 pm popeyes chicken Forstell, mo. We are en route to Nashville to meet up with the Texas radiants. So far the tiny princess has done very well, except a meltdown when I thought she was done eating. Do not get in between baby and her chicken, FYI.

4:57 pm somewhere in Illinois. I finished another tutu, my best one yet. I think we've got another 3.5 hours or so to n-ville. In other news, I think viking granny has potty trained toby in less than a day. Revere her.


The boring road blogs won't last forever. I plan on worse case, RoboBlogger. We are about 2 hours from Nashville at 7:53 pm

Forgot the funnest bit of news yesterday- we found a house! Of course, most y'all already knew that because of the Mr's facebook. But lemme tell you:

Well, first, I usually have in mind that people I know may at some time read my blogs- like my future landlord. So there is that little reservation. I will tell you about the house with that in mind.

The house was listed on Craigslist and it sounded like a joke- I mean, it was like if Daniel wrote a fake ad for exactly what we were looking for or something. It's 4 bedrooms, 2 baths with a basement and RV parking (for the trailer and radiant van), plus a fenced yard and an extra sunroom. We called the guy, and he's an IHOPer and wants to stop renting it by the room and eventually wants to sell it. So we went and saw it, but there are still three single guys renting it, so we had to look with eyes of faith.

It's a fixer-upper, in that it needs to be repainted everywhere, and the carpet in the dining area needs to be pulled up to the wood floors (everywhere else in the house is hardwood), and the base for the wood-burning stove (some kinda antique-how cool is that) needs to be re-tiled. Lucky for us, the owner is willing to pay for all the materials, and we can fix it up how we want. It's gonna be awesome.

It has two bedrooms on the first floor. One is pretty spacious and has a big-ish closet (Hannah). The other one is a teeny little room with lots of sunlight (R2). There's a full bath downstairs, and it needs some updating, but mostly cosmetic. I didn't look too closely, because there's three GUYS living there and I would probably rather not know.

The kitchen is small, but the dining area has a built-in hutch, so storage space is good. Oh, and bless the Lord for He is holy, there is A DISHWASHER. It's circa 1980, but I don't care. I will use it until it dies.
The dining area is carpeted in a nice navy 1980's polka dot, and soon it will be either hardwood or tiled... then there is a big sunroom off the back. It's big, all windows and very enticing. I plan on doing some serious reading in that room.

Then up the wood stairs to the 2nd floor (which seems like the 3rd because of the basement) and a bedroom that we will use for the babies- the MOG looked at it but I was mainly trying to keep Toby from a)plunging to his hurt and b)away from Bachelor 2's drumset. Full bath upstairs, unflushed toilet. Nice.

The master bedroom is big, and it has a skylight. Bachelor 3 evidently doesn't care for daylight, so he has a sheet hanging on the ceiling to block the light- but I am stoked about that light. I am SO excited. There was also a pair of enormous boxer shorts, a big-screen TV, and an impressive collection of video games, but I don't think they come with the house. The room has 2 closets. One is kinda an alcove built into the roof, you know, so on a slant, and the other is a medium size walk-in. THEN, there is a door to outside, where there is a balcony! It's a little scary looking, but we stomped around and it's sturdy. It looks over the fenced backyard.

The MOG just stood there staring, no doubt envisioning himself with a cup of Joe, the Holy Book, and angelic visitations in a lawn chair out there in the future...

The basement is unfinished, but big with lots of storage shelves and a little walled-off area which is evidently a producer's dream for a basement drum room. The studio will be down there, as well as the laundry room, which he is already figuring out how to hide from his view. There's a one-car garage, but a gated-off driveway that is big enough for our van and trailer, without compromising the main driveway, which could easily hold 3 cars.

So the whole thing is big, and old and really interesting- so full of potential for us to make it ours. Who knows, maybe we'll want to buy it someday. We move in July 1st, since we'll be on the road for the next 3 weeks. We can start going in and doing repairs in June, and I'll be taking pictures and videos.

All right, Robo-Blogger is officially off duty. It was pretty fun coming back and reading all the comments.

My fast was okay. It probably wasn't hard enough, because I still had plenty of distractions. Still, it's over- and the end of the 3 week fast is tomorrow. I am going to eat so many brownies I might explode. If I explode, know I went out happy.

It was an eventful week. I learned how to make tutus.




I also cleaned out our closet and made a skirt for maself out of a discarded pair of the MOGs jeans.



In addition to these crafty exploits, I spent a LOT of time at the doctor with Toby, who has been diagnosed with allergies and asthma. So that was a couple nights with the nebulizer every three hours. We are now dosing him with steroids (and he is getting ripped) and Claritin and albuterol in a cute little inhaler. The question, does having an inhaler automatically make you a little bit of a geek- No. He is a wheezy little rockstar.

In other news, I am leaving for a tour with the Radiants on Wednesday. Viking Granny will be here tomorrow, and she will chill here in KC with my male offspring, whilst I take the tantrummy female one on the road with me. I'll be on the road for 19 days, and I think I should still be able to blog daily, I mean, this is America and we do have socialized wi-fi. So no worries there.

Stay tuned!

birch williams said...
Mrs. Smartypants, Given the tough economic condition, what is the quickest way for me to become a millionaire?
The absolute quickest way is to already be one. Then, don't pay your taxes. One of three things will happen. 1) You will be added to Obama's Cabinet, as the Secretary of Such-and-Such 2) the IRS will find you and you will have to disappear. If this happens, get a John Grisham novel and find tips on disappearing well. or 3) You will go to jail. On second thought, that's not a terrific plan.
Another way is by selling Mary Kay, with me as your upline. Everyone who has ever sold Mary Kay is a millionaire now.

“This isn’t just another one of those get rich quick schemes. This scheme is guaranteed to get us rich… and quick!!”
Homer Simpson

Mama PC said...
If the diaperer was diapering the diapered? Would the diaperer diaper the diapered the way the diapered WANTED to be diapered, or would the diaperer diaper the diapered the way the diaperer USUALLY diapered diapereds?

Dear reader. I know you have access to a great deal of pharmaceuticals. Perhaps a few less would be in order.


CrystalD said...
Dear Mrs. Smartypants

*how old do you have to be for it to be said that you died of old age?Pretty old. I'd say at least 40.


*If nobody buys a ticket to a movie do they still show it?If a tree falls on a mime in the forest, does anyone care?

*If someone owns a piece of land, do they own it all the way to the center of the earth?

Yes. Now you just go ahead and dig as big of a hole in your front yard as you want. 

*Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Thermodynamic centrifusion. I would explain, but what's the point?

*Do penguins have knees?

Is it really anybody's business? We know just about everything there is to know about penguins. Can they have this one small privacy?

*Why is it said that an alarm clock is going off when really its coming on?

It's predestination.

*In libraries, do they put the bible in the fiction or non-fiction section?

Non-fiction, and I bet somewhere some atheist is having a fit about it. Give me a fur-covered meat Bible and I will know what to do with it. Well, maybe not.

*Why do you put two cents in when its only a penny for your thoughts?

We're in a recession. Those were the old days. Under Reagan, we could have a two-penny thought.

*You know the signs on restaurant doors? No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service? what if someone goes in with No Pants? Would the restaurant still have to serve them?

If by serve them you mean call the police, then absolutely. Let's put this one to the test. Can I have a volunteer?

Happy weekend, everybody! I'll be back in person on Monday!

You know who Jesus loves? People. 

all of us broken, messed up, proud people. he loves us even when we are not loving each other- but He wants us to change. What bothers me about you- is in me. So let me say this. I love the church. Whatever needs to change in the church needs to change in me, because you and I- we are the church. I can't point fingers anywhere but here. Honestly, this is much easier. I have plenty of work to do right here. And you? Well, I love you. You can deal with your own heart. :)

"Love is beautiful, but it is also terrible-- terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved." Hannah Hurnard in Hind's Feet on High Places

I went to the dentist yesterday, well, really 3 days or so in the future. Remember, I am writing these on Sunday night. So I'm all sci-fi, see?

Anyway, the dentist. I might jot down some details to recap next week. Suffice it to say, I will use my GPS to drive deep into the ghetto, park and run indoors, where students will talk and laugh loudly as I entrust my mouth to them. I think I'm just getting a cleaning, though. I can't see that clearly... it's all hazy from here.

I also foresee a JPR set in the future, I mean yesterday. We will be singing and praying from Psalm 23, which seems pretty basic but evidently has some serious cross-references. I imagine the set will go well, although I will once again realize that I am not familiar with the Bible.

The deal is, I need to be familiar with it. I wanna breathe it. Because the way I want to live, and move- is based on stuff I haven't really searched out. Maybe today in the future will be some kinda breakthrough on that.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.- C.S. Lewis

CS Lewis always makes me feel like I am wasting my life. I must be hatched.

Now, the good news is, I am in a very slow hatching process. The other good news is, I am not in denial about needing to pick up the pace a little.

You and I, we weren't made to sit still. We are moving. We just have to be pointed the right direction or else things get sticky. I am asking God to reveal my heart, because the rubbish in there is keeping me from moving. I am also asking God to help me, because when I see my heart, I just want to lay on the couch and think about something else, like eating.

God, give us grace to see and change. Amen, let's stand.

I will be beginning a week-long internet fast today. This is the HARDEST thing for me to fast, because I live on the web, and I gather all my knowledge from the Google.

But the thing with fasting is- if it doesn't hurt, then what's the point? I could easily fast brussel sprouts and dogs for the rest of my life and I would NEVER feel the lack.

Like Apollo said, "No pain, no gain." So I'm out.

But here's what I'm gonna do. I'm setting up the rest of this week- typing 5 blogs tonight and putting them on a timer-like. So they should automatically publish every morning. So read them, and comment on them, so when I come back from what will undoubtedly be a productive and challenging week, there you will all be, cyber-waiting.

And then I will be back Monday morning. Or thereabouts. Maybe Monday afternoon. Only time will tell.

A few days ago, I was drawn into a political swirl when I realized that there were multiple Tax Day Tea Parties in my city. I had heard about them, of course, but when they were RIGHT there it made sense to go.

Tea Parties are basically citizen-led peaceful protests of high taxes, and government bailouts. Throw in any other random conservative issue and paint it on a sign, and you're in business. 

I have always felt a little bummed about not having been at Dan's Bake Sale, and even though these were significantly smaller scale, it was exciting being a part while Tea Parties were being held all around the country. I went to the one in Lee's Summit, which is a smaller city (or town, whatever) on the outskirts of KC. There were a couple hundred people there, a variety of ages and types... there were women with Community Organizer on their shirts, you know, organizing stuff. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to wear that after Obama... 

Anyways, there was a lineup of speaker types there in shirts and ties, and one of them gave a pretty good speech. 

Later, I convinced the MOG to gather up our young and go to the one in Overland Park, which I knew would be much bigger. It was, probably a thousand or more there, and it was crazy. Just big and loud and signs everywhere, and... just my element. I was geeking out. This one had an open mike, and people were giving impassioned speeches about taxes, and Britain, and Jesus and guns, you name it. It was awesome. I could have stayed all day, but my posse is not so political. 

I think Toby thought it was a festival, he stripped off his shirt and ran around. Hedonist.

Richy was like, what is this about? what will this accomplish and such, and I gave him a stern talking to about the Boston Tea Party, and he's like, so what, they dumped a bunch of tea in the water... and then just before my head exploded, I figured out he was joking. Wow.

It wasn't covered in great detail by the mainstream media, but if you go look around you will find the reports. Over 10,000 showed up in Tennessee, and big crowds all over the place. So if it accomplishes nothing else, it would have been worth it to be 5 more heads in a headcount sent to our government- this many people are not okay with you being reckless with OUR money. 

It was a blast. Richy twittered:

Funny guy. It was inspiring. There is nothing like being in the middle of a crowd of people with a cause. Just gets the blood flowing...