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I feel like I compose blog posts in my head at least once a day (if not more) and yet I can’t get it together to actually post something… life is so beautifully mundane and normal, which is not to say that there aren’t things I’m thinking about… nothing of any huge importance. Just the way I like it right now.

• We’re reading The Reason for God by Tim Keller for our small group and it’s dredging up thoughts I don’t think I’ve visited since my world religions class in college. I kind of love that proving God is twofold – part reason and part faith – why do I believe in God and Jesus? Partly because of how I was raised, partly because I believe what I’ve read in the Bible and partly from experiencing God in my life and feeling it in my being. Faith is a complex and beautiful thing, different for every person.
• On a lighter note, I posted this on Instagram yesterday (and Facebook) but I cannot stop watching my own kid display is ninja skills (complete with handmade winter scarf tied around his middle). It makes me ache with love for him, which is handy because mostly he is a pill.
• The last Divergent book came out yesterday… I am waiting to read it until I can just sit down and finish it. My updated Kindle app now tells me how long I have left in a chapter or book while I am reading, based on how quickly I go through the pages… it estimates I should be done in four hours. Hmmm… I love reading but hate when I finish a good thing, especially a series, because then it is done… no more to look forward to. Sad times. Also, the author of these books is a BABY… well, a 25-year-old baby. Nothing makes me feel older than someone a decade younger than me having great success.
• I’ve been watching the battle rounds of The Voice while texting with Stef… completely makes my day/night! We like to predict who the judges will pick and so far we are spot on… my favorite performance was by Caroline Pennell doing a cover of Justin Beiber’s “As Long as You Love Me”

• Liam has been asking since last year to do wrestling if it was offered at his new school (last year some of his friends did wrestling while he took an art class – a fact that makes me giggle). So wrestling starts this Friday after school… Simon is betting he will cry at some point and I’m quite certain he will try his moves on his little brother, but we’re still doing it. The coach emailed last night to remind us that it is a full contact sport and that we should encourage our kids to push through and that we should also have our children shower immediately following practice to keep them from catching colds and getting a contagious skin condition. Who is going to encourage me to push through now? The things we do for our kids.
• So far in my short life, I’ve met three dermatologists and all three have had the worst personalities/bedside manner. Is it simply a humorless profession or have I just had bad luck?
• Related to the above, I have a large mole on my scalp that has recently gotten larger and my primary care doctor thought I should have it checked out and the dermatologist opted to shave part of it off to have it tested. You know what kind of hurts (after the numbing wears off)? Having part of your scalp shaved off… even a part that is only slightly bigger than a pencil eraser. Also a bit of a pain because it is near the front of my hairline so now I have to part my hair on the opposite side to cover my wound/bald spot. And in a few weeks I’m going to have a sprout of short hair growing out of that part of my head. Lovely. [Side note: the doctor wasn’t overly concerned about it being cancer, but since I don’t have any other moles like it for comparison, she wanted to test it.]
• I met some people in our neighborhood who pick up their daughter’s dog every day and keep it at their house all day while she is at work and then she comes and picks it up. He referred to the dog as their “granddog” which was cute and maybe kind of sweet.
• Simon’s having knee surgery again in December… my “old” sweetie’s knees just can’t keep up with him. The upside is that surgery is December 13 and he can’t go back to work until is post-op check with the surgeon on the 23rd and then he’s off again for Christmas. Bummer that he has to have surgery, but having him home every evening for over two weeks is going to be glorious! (Sorry for your pain, my dear.)
• So many things make me happy lately… some of my favorite people have October birthdays, time with the ladies from my small group, all things fall television, reading good books, flowers from my husband (despite them being of the apology variety rather than the just-because variety) and the brief moments when my kids are getting along (as seldom as those occurrences are).
• I do not like Treat Williams, the actor. It is inexplicably so.
• We need a game plan for hosting Thanksgiving… not because of all the food that will need to be made, but because Jack and my great-nephew, Max, will be together for an extended period of time. Together they are trouble. Last weekend we were in Lansing for Max’s little brother’s first birthday and the boys were upstairs unsupervised and decided to squirt lotion all over Quinn and Chris’s bedroom. It’s been a long time since I had to clean up a mess like that… I believe it was two years ago when Jack took it upon himself to decorate our living room with Hershey’s chocolate syrup. (We’ll not talk about the time they dumped a container of gummy bears into the toilet at my brother’s house). I think we need to tether them within our sight for the day… it doesn’t ensure they won’t get into trouble, but at least we can have hopes of keeping an eye on them.
• Candy corn + dry roasted peanuts = a match made in heaven, not sure why I avoided the combination until this year.
• Back to work, people…

• The first time I typed the title of this post I typed “hellow randomness” which is obviously wrong but what a cute word that should be a word but isn’t. Hellow to you.  Also, this post might get short real quick – my fingers keep typing the wrong things and I have had 5 misspellings in this paragraph alone (not counting the intentional ones – make that 6). Sigh.
• It’s a Monday, which means the homework “fun” starts again. Liam’s teacher sends a homework packet home each Monday that has to be returned the following Monday, which I actually like because then you know what is expected for the week. If it were me, I would do all the homework the first night and then not have to think about it again (either that or leave it until Sunday night – my procrastination tends to run all or nothing), but Liam is not me so we’re trying to figure out a good system… rather, I’m trying to temper my expectations with what he will actually do. The first week we had 3 pages left on Sunday afternoon and it was torture getting them done. The second week I offered him the bonus incentive of 50 additional cents added to his allowance if he finished it all before Saturday morning (he did it – whoot). And this last week he said came up with the idea that if he did it all on Monday after school, he would get his allowance (for doing his homework) early and that evening we could stop at the store and he could buy a new pack of Pokemon. I was doubtful it would get done but I agreed and apparently it was the right incentive because he finished all that work up before we had to get Jack from daycare. This made the rest of my week HEAVEN (not really, it just alleviated all battles with regard to homework, I still live with a 7-year-old and a 4.5-year-old who have loose definitions of what brotherly love is). I have no idea what this week holds for us with regard to homework, but I’m not thinking we’ll be as drama-free as last week without the incentive of Pokemon available to us.
• Yes, I pay my child to do his homework. Judge away. If it means less complaining until he learns that homework is a reality he cannot avoid, well then, I’m okay with it.
• Seeing all the press for the Sandra Bullock/George Clooney movie “Gravity” has caused me to add another irrational fear to my list: being afloat in space, untethered from everything. [Also on the list: squirrels, icebergs and any creatures larger than me in the water – I don’t love the smaller ones, but I’m not afraid of them, per se.]
• Simon was gone to a football game this past weekend with some of the guys from my family – they had a great time. Liam and Jack were still alive when he got back so I’d say it was a win for everyone involved. [I joke – we had a good time and got to see friends and family, so it’s not like we were woefully stuck at home. And I’ll get a chance to have a weekend away soon enough when I return to Pentwater with my college friends the weekend before Thanksgiving.]
• I wish to never see Tom Hanks with a mustache ever again. It is just not a good look for him.
• This ad popped up beside my Facebook News Feed:
  Just no.
• Liam always used to sing songs he heard on the radio and now Jack has picked up singing praise songs that he learns in Sunday school. I was congratulating myself on having one child who sings “God” songs and then realized he has also taken to adding his own lyrics… “This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and PUNCH OUR FACE.” Sigh.
• Laid-Back Book Club starts this week… so looking forward to seeing how it goes! Hope people come ready to chat and hope they realize that I don’t really know what I’m doing but I’m just winging it and hoping the great ingredients make for a great final dish [not that I’m surprising them with cannibalism, I’m not that far off the book club course].

• George appears to have a post-op UTI… could my dog get a little more high maintenance? I discovered this because I woke up at 3:00 in the morning Saturday to George freaking out and both of us wet… from his lack of bladder control. I was not pleased. I suspect neither was George.
• My roomie from my Chicago days came to stay over on Friday night with her two daughters. My boys were not exactly thrilled with the idea that these new friends were girls but they quickly learned that these girls loved Pokemon and watching Liam play Minecraft so they were fast friends. They would have stayed up all night chatting but Andrea and I knew that would have been ill-advised, plus, we were looking forward to at least a ten-minute stretch of uninterrupted conversation. There was lots of, “Aww, mom” and hugging the next morning when they left. Makes my heart happy.
• Here’s a recent “religious” exchange from the back of the minivan:
  Jack: If I were a grown-up, I’d punch Satan in the face.
  Liam: You can’t punch Satan in the face, he’s not a person like us.
• I made these Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut cookies over the weekend – they are delicious. I think I might try them with white chocolate and dried cranberries the next time.
• And that is all…