lizardblog ( the blog of liz creech

January 31, 2007
Changed my mind

Sometimes I start a post. Then once I throw up good and messy, I read it and then think about how people might perceive what I have said. Sometimes, I think it is a really good point and then I read how I communicated it and think "Wow, someone is going to be really pissed and take this wrong when they read it". So, I had a post sitting in the drafts and have since decided not to post it. Does that have you all curious? I will tell you that it was about status symbols. Our supposed need for them. The desire to impress others with what we have, how we live and what we do. I think I may have gotten a bit judgemental and I don't care to be perceived that way.

Now I am going to tell you that I had an awesome lunch. We made egg salad sandwiches and I opened a can of vegetable soup. I also made fresh sweet tea. On my egg salad sandwich, I added hot sauce. My kids though I was weird, I can't help they don't know a good thing.

Labels: lunch, status symbols

posted by Liz at 1:21 PM - permalink - -

January 25, 2007
Something Alan said.....

on his blog on Jan 19th made me think. I don't normally do that. The thinking thing. Don't take that wrong, I just prefer to react to situations, to follow the systems, do the routine, and in general not think. Mostly, I attribute that to having too much going on not that I am not smart. Because, in general, I am smart. My IQ is actually a little higher than normal and I "get" things. But, sometimes, people say things that really get me to thinking. Alan did that.

His post was about "doing nothing". But what really got me was when he said, "Oh, I forgot, going to Heaven is not the point of Christianity." and "I'm talking about the work of spiritual formation, our cooperative work in the process of transformation. It does require us doing something. In requires both inner and outer "yeses" in order to work properly." Those statements really made me stop and take a look at some things I had been taught my entire life and what I have come to believe now. Not just because he is my husband but because what he said is true, I agree with him. Seriously, I have been told most of my life that the purpose of "being a Christian" was just to get to heaven. That no matter what you did as long as you said "yes" to Jesus, then you got to get your "final reward". Sure, I heard about evangelism and going out into all the world, all that, but the main emphasis was just "going to Heaven".

Another statement about love being all we need was a good one. I don't think many of the Christians I come across really understand, or even want to understand, that statement. Because, if they did, they wouldn't act the way they act. They wouldn't be selfish, condescending, mean, rude, and in general ass holes. "God is love" is a pretty deep thing to say and hear and especially understand. If we are in the process of transformation into the likeness of God then that is something we are pursuing, that true love is what transforms us and our responses to others.

Not being a great communicator in writing, much of what I have said probably won't make sense. I guess I just wanted to throw all that out there. To say, lets all take a good look at our relationship with God, what the true purpose of that is, and how it should effect our actions, words and transformation.

posted by Liz at 9:07 AM - permalink - -

January 24, 2007
SNOW DAY!!!

I love to make my kids happy. Today I got to say the words, "Girls, go back to bed. No school today." They have been waiting for years to hear those words. Seriously, they had no snow days last school year and the year before there may have been 1. I know I loved snow days when I was in school. Heck, I loved snow days when I was in college!!

I remember all the fun we had on snow days, back when it really snowed - like 18 inches at a time. I lived at the base of a hill that was a dead end. All the neighborhood kids would congregate at the top with sleds and inner tubes and anything we could slide on. All the older boys would bring old tires and start a bon fire and we would sled all day long. My best friend lived at the top of the hill and her step dad sometimes would let us go in the garage, where he had one of those huge jet engine looking heaters, so that we could thaw out. My mom would make me come in at dark and I would be so jealous of all the other kids who got to stay out. It would be late and then I would hear a whoop as some of the older kids would go whizzing by. I guess my road was about 1/4 of a mile long and by that time they were going the entire length. Nothing like looking out the window and seeing that winter wonder land in the moon light. I remember too our youth group making plans and going to one of the girls farms and inner tubing down a pasture hill 'til we were frozen. Our drink of choice was hot Dr. Pepper. We would laugh 'til we were sick and of course some one would always run into the barbed wire fence before we were done.

We have been dreaming of a snow day around here and we have plans. We are going to start a fire and sit around and watch animated Disney movies ALL DAY LONG!! Have you all seen Cars? I borrowed it from a friend at work and we watched it Sunday night. It has a good message and I liked it a lot. I guess the only bad thing about our snow fall is that there really isn't much. If it warms up just a touch it will all be gone by tonight. What a shame. Winter just isn't what it used to be.

And not to take second billing, this is Meaghan and on Monday she turned 16. One of the presents she asked for was to go out to eat with her dad to Sonny's BBQ and have ribs. She loves them. She also loves Elvis so I made her a quilt, a couple of throw pillows and a pillow case to sleep on and we gave her a new Elvis calendar to replace the old one she had. I love being sneaky. I have been working on it since Christmas because I could only work on it when she wasn't here so it took a lot longer than normal. When she got home from school I was finishing up the last throw pillow, so we had her cover her eyes. She heard me sewing so she asked if I had made her present. I put the throw pillow in her hands and let her open her eyes. Then we gave her the calendar to open. I casually told her to go put it on her bed so that she could get ready to go. I am so transparent that she takes off running asking what was in her bed. From her response I can assume she at least liked it. I just wish I could have given her the horse that she asked for, after 11 years of riding this is the first time she has ever looked me in the eye and literally asked for one. Man!! I sure wish I was independently wealthy - HA!!! Maybe one day I can give her that horse, just not yet.

posted by Liz at 7:20 AM - permalink - -

January 18, 2007
OH, what the heck - more things about me!!

1. My husband decided on the colors and such for our house. He is good at it, I just implement it.
2. I once gave a foot - yes 12 inches of hair - to Locks of Love. If I didn't look bad with short hair I could do it again here in a couple of months.
3. Despite my lack of knowledge of alcohol, I was made head bartender at Macaroni Grill. I think it had more to do with my ability to take a floundering thing and make it better than any actual knowledge.
4. I smile all the time. Well not ALL the time, but a lot of it. My mom told me, when I got my braces off, that if I ever stopped smiling after she had spent all that money, that she would smack me in said mouth.(she was exaggerating - duh!)
5. I wore a "cemented" in retainer until I was 21 when I went back to the orthodontist, who did my braces, and made him take it out.
6. I broke my tail bone when I was 12. I just tapped, seriously, the arm of a love seat and it was one of the worse things I have ever had happen to me. Not long after that we went on a rather long car ride, a couple of hours, and when I got out of the car I couldn't stand up straight for awhile. Oh, they can't do anything for a broken tail bone.

The day calls!!

posted by Liz at 8:41 AM - permalink - -

January 17, 2007
I was taught.....WHAT!!??

You know, when you are growing up, you are taught what your parents want you to know. They teach you their religion, their cleaning habits, their sleep habits and the like. Alan had a good post on race and culture. I was taught a little differently and have since grown up to know better than what I was taught. That isn't what I want to talk about but I have to share that there is nothing like having black friends as a kid, racing said friends as yelling "Last one there is a N.....". I think that was the day I woke up the the wrongness of that attitude. I do have to say that at the moment of those words leaving my mouth, we all stopped, and I immediately apologized to those friends. Even at such a young age of 6 or 8, it did irreparable damage to that friendship.

The main thing I wanted to talk about today is alcohol. My heritage is a long line of alcoholics, not my fathers side, but my mom's. It has been the men only so far. I was always taught, from the pulpit, that drinking ANYTHING was wrong. I never quite understood, once I got old enough, why it was against God to have a drink, when Jesus' first miracle was turning water to wine. And not second rate wine either. Anyway, I wasn't brought up with alcohol in the house, not really. I know mom had a bottle of wine, whiskey, or rum in the house all the time, but that was right after she made something that required it, like bourbon balls or rum cake, and it just hung around until someone got sick and then it became a "hot toddy". I still to this day believe that getting drunk is wrong. God did say that you shouldn't get drunk. As a teen I heard, once again from the pulpit, that it doesn't say you shouldn't drink in the bible but just to be safe you should stay away from the evil stuff. I was shocked to hear that because of hearing the never, never, never before, but that was easier to agree with.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

I have only been drunk once, and believe it or not, it was an accident. E.K.U., big snow storm, hungry stupid college students. We were going to walk down to the by-pass and get something to eat. A friend offered to drive us and on the way stop at a friends party, just for a little bit. There was a keg there, and I don't like beer, not until I found Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. So, being young and stupid, we got to talking about "holding our liquor". This is from someone who had NEVER drank a whole drink of any type of alcohol in her entire life. (I laugh at it now). So, I chugged two 16 oz. solo cups of what ever kind of light beer that was. It took about 5 minutes to hit. Now, my head was clear, I remember all this really well, BUT, my body just wouldn't do what my head wanted it to do. I was looking forward to where I wanted to go and my body went sideways. (once again, now I can laugh). I got so scared that I went and sat, literally, in a corner until the other friends were ready to go. If I had not been with girls that I knew I could have gotten into all kinds of trouble. To this day I have never gotten drunk again. I do not like being out of control and the fear of accidentally hurting someone else because I was stupid is a good deterrent.

So, I said all that to say that I don't think drinking alcohol is wrong or sinful. I think getting drunk is.

posted by Liz at 10:39 AM - permalink - -

January 10, 2007
Why I home school

I had someone ask me recently about home schooling and why I do it, what I use. That is what home schoolers talk about with each other, the where's, whys and wherefores of what they are doing or hope to do in the process of home schooling. So, I just thought I would put that up here.

When we were very young, either when I was pregnant with Katey or soon after she was born, I can't remember when, Alan and I had always talked about homeschooling. I read a book by a child psychologist who stated that children really aren't ready, nor is it natural, to be away from their parents for 6-8 hours a day until they are at least 12. He wasn't talking about sequestering them away, but helping them to grow physically, spiritually, mentally AND emotionally BEFORE you shove them out into society. I do not, nor will I ever agree, that the society we live in is always all right. I do not, nor will I ever agree, that the social interactions of your young is good for them. I do not agree, nor will I ever, that the way our society set up is natural. It has just progressed and evolved into what it is due to all manner of wrong things - like greed, jealousy, envy, pride, laziness, and such. So that is where I begin.

When my mother in law found out we were going to home school, she really didn't take to the idea very well. She asked if she paid for it would we send the kids to private school. Sure, I will give in to that, it just makes it easier for me.

Things went well for about 2 years, pre-school and kindergarten. Then came first grade for Katey. In November of her 1st grade year the teacher told me she was going to fail her because she didn't turn her work in on time. Not because she didn't understand the work, not because she didn't turn it in at all, but because she didn't turn it in ON TIME!! And she suggested that she was ADD - WHAT!!?? I know my child and that was not the case, she was a smart kid, already understood what was being explained, got bored, and decided she didn't have to pay attention or get it done on time in order to "get it". When you have 1 teacher and 26 to 32 kids someone gets left behind, the child who needs help, or the child who needs more challenging work. It would be safe to say that she did not return to that school after the Christmas break. I put her in public school after explaining the situation to the new teacher. Katey hates for me to say this but she is VERY smart. Always has been, and that has been confirmed, it isn't just the rantings of a prejudiced mom.

Katey continued in public while Meaghan stayed in private until her first grade year then joined Katey in public school as well. Things were going great until, once again, November. Meaghan would come home telling stories about her teacher and how mean she was, but that was what Meaghan did, she told stories. She told them so well that I had to warn her pre-school teacher about it so we wouldn't end up going to jail because of a story Meaghan might tell. Back to November. Meaghans class was going to do a little play, just for the parents in the lunch room and I took the younger two because I wasn't going to get a sitter when it was a "family" affair. To make along story short, the teacher humiliated me in front of all the other parents. I ended up calling her back at the school, sobbing and explained what she had done. She never apologized. That was just the beginning. I started getting conformation from other parents that the stories Meaghan was telling were true. One day Meaghan came home crying because the teacher had assumed she was cheating on a spelling test, this is 1st grade you all, and had ripped the page out of her hands, along with a couple of other children. She then called the kids up to her desk one at a time, wrote a big F on the page then wadded it up and threw it away, IN FRONT OF THE CHILD!! Later when I asked the teacher about that, she said Meaghan was lying and she just must have lost the test.

The same year Katey started bringing home bad grades. The exact same thing was happening again, she was bored and not being challenged. This time, however, the teacher saw what the problem was, she was just to busy to do much about it.

Several other incidents influenced our decision to home school. Paducah, Kentucky December, 1997 is one, and then Columbine High school in Littleton, Colorado and Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia, both in 1999. There are several more, some from middle school, that I could mention but those were the deciding ones. I was not going to be one of those parent's who got a call that their kid was dead because some other kid shot them. Stupid. I wanted my kids to be emotionally, spiritually, and emotionally healthy.

I get the "What about socialization?", all the time. I would rather my children didn't act like some children I have met. Oh, sure my kids aren't perfect, I am not that blinded, they aren't jaded, mean and hateful I can tell you that.

I like my kids. I like knowing where they are and what they are up to. I like having them around. Sure it is hard sometimes, but I will have plenty of time for me when they are gone to College and starting out on their own.

So that is the general reasons why I home school.

posted by Liz at 12:45 PM - permalink - -

January 04, 2007
Tired of thinking up titles

I have been thinking of stuff people might find interesting to know. I am no theologian so I just talk about me and what is going on in my life. My thoughts and My opinions. I guess that is the purpose of a blog. Seems a bit conceited or something but there you go. Here are what I came up with yesterday.

1. My father was Catholic.
2. My father died when I was 6 months old - I received Christ on that same date 5 years later.
3. I have 5 siblings in Washington State that I didn't meet until I was 31.
4. My father was never divorced from his first wife. I didn't find this out until 2 months before I was getting married. He had fake divorce papers made up so my mom would marry him. My mom used it in hopes of keeping me from getting married. Which leads to:
5. My mother doesn't like my husband - silly woman. No one I dated was good enough. The one guy she would have liked for me to marry I never dated.
6. I married a Catholic - see #5.
7. Besides an Aunt and my grandmother, I am the only person in my entire family to not have gone through divorce. People believed I was to follow in their foot steps and I might have if God hadn't given me Alan Creech.

No deep thoughts today.

posted by Liz at 8:53 AM - permalink - -

January 03, 2007
Happy New Year

I know I am running a few days late, but, what the hey.

The Christmas tree is down and the rest is close behind and I have to say I am relieved. I am glad to get back into the regular daily routine. All the lights and festivity is fine for awhile, but I really hate the commercialism of it all. Seems the nation as a whole has forgotten the real reason behind the season. Cliche I know.

I just thought I would list a few more things about me that you may not know:

1. I am a miser.
2. We only give our children 2 gifts each for Christmas. The reason has something to do with what was said above.
3. We have never had Santa Clause. We have always told our kids the truth behind the myth and the real story of St. Nicholas.
4. I believe in Santa Clause, the spirit of the season - old habits die hard - hee, hee. It is fun as an adult to play around.
5. Although tolerant of many things, I have very hard views on a lot of what is tolerated today. I think we as Christians are wimpy when it comes down to it sometimes. I think you can have a "hard line view" of what is right and wrong and still be non-judgmental and loving.
6. I like being organic. Today's society makes that hard. I made my own laundry detergent over the holidays and it works great. Maybe some of you would like to try it.

That is it for today. I sure hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. School starts back today so I need to get to it.

posted by Liz at 9:27 AM - permalink - -

January 01, 2007
Cheating a little bit

Since I am trying to build the habit of blogging back, I thought I would cheat a little and do a post listing things you may not know about me. I have been thinking about it since I posted the other day, yet, I can't remember the things I was going to post. Let me go get some coffee and see what I can come up with.......

Ok here we go:
1. I am a perfectionist, that ultimately means my house is way too messy - gotten over it mostly but it still rears it's ugly head sometimes.
2. I am a coffee snob - let's blame Macaroni Grill for that. When I started working there 7.5 years ago I discovered how good fresh ground coffee is and have never looked back.
3. As out going as I am, I prefer solitude - a bubble bath and a good book is my ultimate idea of personal pleasure.
4. If I had the money I would own and ride horses on a regular continual basis. I wonder where Meaghan gets her love of horses from? Weird - Hee, hee!
5. I am a self proclaimed type A personality and a workaholic - Other than not being able to sit for very long I am getting over that too. It is amazing what a good spouse and maturity does for you.
6. I don't like to wear makeup. I do, so that I project a more professional, put together look at work. And of course for special occasions. I just think it is highly over rated even though I think I look better with it - silly, I know.

Ok that is it for today. I have list the length of my arm to get done before we start back with school ( in 2 days ) and I am not going to get it done, but I have to start some time.

posted by Liz at 9:10 AM - permalink - -

spiritual

> vine & branches
> vineyard central

blogs

> Garden Escapades
> Trish Hiduk
> Maryann
> Alan Creech
> The Vine
> Little Houses
> Amber Bishop
> Jody Nixon
> Laura Ogle
> Debi Warford
> Jason & Brooke Evans
> Eric Keck
> Beth Keck
> Pete Matthews
> Trudi Matthews
> Brian Phillips
> Bryan Sherwood
> Malie
> Kim Johnson

Homeschool

> vegsource homeschool
> discovery school channel
> saxon math and phonics

general interest

> john rosemond's affermative parenting
> lisa welchel
> thunderstruck
> Homestar Runner

gardening

> Kids Gardening

books i like

Here are some books I suggests if you are looking to homeschool or just for information. I gleaned a lot from them. Our church gets credit if you buy through these links.

In their Own Way
by Thomas Armstrong

Seven Times Smarter
by Laurel Schmidt

How to Talk So Kids Can Learn
by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Teen Proofing
by John Rosemond