notes of jubilee

I may have mentioned that we have new kittens. My chickadees are still enamored with each of them, though, Patches seems to be the hands down favorite. I think she learned early to be malleable both physically and temperamentally. She does belong to Whirling Dervish, after all.

He is quick to scold and seems to look for chances to put Patches in time out. Me thinks he's trying to be a good parent and since he's had lots of recent time outs . . . it seems natural to him. Perhaps he's just passing a long the fun? Just like when he dropped her down the steps to see if she'd land on her feet.

A-hem.

The Calm One and I often find ourselves grinning over his admonitions to his new charge. The other day, he listed "the rules" for Patches. One of which was "No scratching me. Not even my face!" Upon arriving home after picking up the kittens, he gave her an extended tour. A tour which included each window of the house and a peek under various pieces of furniture. And a warning to not go into mommy's kitchen and open the fridge. The very thing Patches was plotting to do first chance she available, I am sure.

The only startling thing is one that The Calm One and I may never get used to: Whirling Dervish, when talking to Patches, calls himself "Daddy."

Gulp.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if he's the daddy, doesn't that make me the grandma? Oh, man, oh man, oh man . . .

That's it! The kittens have got to go!

A little fun on this dreary morning.

Thought I would letcha know about a neat giveaway. You see the new button over there on the right? It'll lead you dear reader to the Today's Giveaway Site. This is one of my new favorite places to visit.

Right now they are having a giveaway from Delicate Expressions (a $25 gift certificate) for one of their unique products. If I won, I'd be spending the money on a huge vinyl clock for our living room wall. These babies are so reasonably priced. I have seen similar kits at Kohl's and Hobby Lobby for much more money. Love those vinyl clocks.

Here are a few other favorites, I wouldn't mind spending some of my hard earned moolah on:





This giveaway will end on Nov 10th. So hurry!

Don't you just love the look of these wooden toyboxes? They are personalized and laser inscribed. Exquisite comes to mind, for sure.

Sheblogs.org is having a giveaway for these toyboxes. Three will be given away. I'd love to have The Affectionate One's name inscribed so she can use it now as a toybox and later as a hope chest. I am already dreaming what will go into it for my daughter.

And as a special incentive for the holidays, Bob and Julie Beck of Wood Creations have a special promotional code “toybox4u” that will give you an extra 15% off any toybox at woodtoybox.com. This code will be valid until December 31, 2009!

What a fantastic gift for Christmas that your child will appreciate for years.




Read more by clicking here.

Okay, so earlier this week I mentioned that we have kittens. Plural. More than one. And I have added them to my avatar over there on the right. It was a not-so-little hint to the fact that we now have three new kittens in our family. Are we crazy? The answer to that would be a big:

"Why, yes, yes we are. Thank you for asking."

I had a feeling that we would come home with one kitten when we visited my in-laws place last week. The Affectionate One has been asking for a kitten for months. And, honestly, it was getting more and more difficult to refuse her. After all she has big blue eyes, twin dimples and a sweetness about her. I have a feeling that's also why Papaw always manages to have her favorite candy around when she visits.

I'm just sayin'.

And when we said yes, Whirling Dervish came into the house having picked out a kitten of his own. Again, with the big blue eyes and dimples. I could feel my resolve crumbling. After all, how much more work would two kittens be than one?

Both of the chickadees were so happy. And I was happy that there was no fighting over a single cat. I looked to The Cruise Director and wondered if he was feeling left out. He seemed okay with petting the other kittens and he wasn't asking for one of his own. So, I let it go and waited to see what would happen.

Not long after, I realized the kitten that The Cruise Director was holding belonged to neither The Affectionate One nor Whirling Dervish. And I waited. I knew by then that I couldn't say no after saying yes to the other two chickadees. He has dimples and big blue eyes too.

The Cruise Director spent some time changing his mind about which kitten would be his. Much of his decision was based on which kitten would scratch at him the least. Not that I blame him one bit.

After much deliberation he settled on an orange kitten and The Affectionate One changed her mind and picked one of the kittens that The Cruise Director had considered but ultimately passed over. Whirling Dervish had picked Nanny's favorite kitten and never wavered from that choice for even a second.

Please allow me to introduce you to Tangerine Psyche (who has no collar), Patches May (who has the green collar) and Kissie Lips Explorer (pink collar). Yeah, I said Kissie Lips. The Cruise Director had named her Explorer, but then decided to adopt Tangerine instead. That's when The Affectionate One swooped in and claimed and renamed the kitten to Kissie Lips. I take no responsibility for the unusual names.


The kittens were used to being outside and not handled much, so they were a bit terrified at first. And that may be a bit of an understatement. We brought them home and put them in a cage to get acclimated. The chickadees won them over in no time. And after four days they still love that cage and often go in to take naps.

The biggest challenge is teaching the chickadees how to train the kittens to use the litter box. Rest assured, dear reader, I'll be letting you know how THAT goes . . .

The post-vacation blues haven't arrived yet. Although, I could see it hovering around the edges waiting to pounce when my brother texted a picture of my mom on the beach. His footnote to the picture was that it was nearly 80*. At the time of his text I was bundled up using the leaf blower on the remainder of the leaves littering our yard. Ugh.

Love the season changes. If only we could skip winter.

I did learn a lesson though while blowing the leaves. Or just before employing the leaf blower to be exact.

I had the rake in my hand and was wondering where Whirling Dervish had gotten to. His reports of being tired of jumping in the leaves was interrupted by the proverbial call of nature. And I just realized his prolonged absence probably had more to do with our new kittens (yes, I said kittenS) than his personal call of the wild.

At any rate, I'd been raking for nearly two hours when my husband awoke from his nap and asked, rather hesitatingly, "You do know we have a leaf blower, right?"

And he may have even ducked when I let out a primal growl of frustration mixed with a healthy dose of regret. The frustration, I am sure you understand. It's the regret part I may have to explain.

One of the biggest challenges in our marriage has been getting on the same footing as far as timing goes. Or the urgency with which chores/errands/whatnot are accomplished. I usually want things done right now and he, well, not so much.

We'd been back form vacation for two days and I thought it was high time someone took care of the leaves that should have been done before we left for vacation. I decided that I couldn't wait any longer for The Calm One to take care of it, so I tackled the job. The only thing is that while I was self-absorbed in my inner dialogue of woe-is-me (It a man's job after all, right?!) It didn't even occur to me that The Calm One might have a leaf blower.

A better way.

I got to thinking that if I'd just sought out the Calm One or waited on him, then perhaps I would've been done with the job by dusk instead of getting only half finished. Or maybe he would have done it himself.

I find that I often have the same hurry up attitude in my relationship with the Lord. I am "a Martha," doing and grumbling instead of sitting at His feet, listening and waiting on the Lord like Mary. Sure, the job gets done, but what have I missed from the Lord in the meantime?

Good morning, dear reader! After a short hiatus, I am back on the blogging scene. The Jubilant family vacationed in Tenn. What a great time of family and fellowship.

My grandmother (aka GGB) turned 85 this week and almost every member of her family was there to help her celebrate. All 35 of us managed to keep the surprise reunion/birthday party a secret. Not an easy task for my talkative chickadees. Poor grandma, the chickadees had to be incommunicado for a couple of weeks so as to assure that one of them didn't spill the beans. They did a great job. And she was incredibly surprised.







She told many of us that it was the best birthday she ever had. Including passers by that we met during our hike in the mountains.

GGB, you are an incredible lady. You've shown your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren how to serve others and love the Lord your God with a happy servant's heart. What a great example you have been to us. I am so glad that the Lord has given you to us for so many years. May He grant us many more together. We love you.

Happy Birthday!

This picture makes me want it to rain. And plant a big kiss on The Calm One. Sigh . . .





These faux-fur throws just sing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." Brrrrr . . .