Half-Caff

Philip and I have been drinking half-caff coffee for about a year now. A few roasters do a kind deed and go ahead and blend the regular and decaf coffee grounds into one container. As I was making the coffee this morning, this was the conversation Philip and I had when he noticed the half-caff label.

Philip: I want a company to put an image of half a calf on their half-caff labels.
Emily: What half would you put? The front or rear end? The top or bottom? You could bifurcate him from nose to tail and then what side would you use?
Philip: I'd leave that to the graphic design team.
Emily: Well, I suppose there is more than one way to half a calf.

Give up paper towels?

Would you? If so, what would be the motivating factor - saving trees, saving money, saving space on your counter top, saving space in your storage closet, a combo? This article from Money Saving Mom got me thinking, "Would it be that hard?"

I'm too stupid for that game

Philip isn’t a tennis player. He’s been a great sport, though, as I’ve had Wibledon- and Andy Murray-fever. He even knows a few names in Men’s Tennis now, like Federer, del Potro & Djokovic.

This morning during the match between Federer and del Potro, I tried to explain the scoring system so that Philip would understand why the third set seemed to be never ending. He wanted to understand – really, he did. And he caught a lot but…

Later I pondered, “I wonder how they decide who receives the Bronze medal in tennis?” Philip pleaded, “When you find out, please don’t try to explain it to me. I love you - and I don’t mean in the sense that tennis uses Love - but I’m too stupid for that game.”

Philip is about as far from stupid as you can get. However, I didn’t tell him when I found out that there is simply a consolation match between the semi-final losers for the Bronze medal. J

Dave Ramsey payment method

Today Dave Ramsey tweeted that he was offering 50% off his products. He had a captive audience. I immediately started perusing his online store. Philip and I settled on getting one of the educational sets for children. (Which I'm super excited about getting in the mail!)

Now that we have 2 children, I need to be able to be a creative-tasker (I will blog soon about how that is a better term than multi-tasker). So I was placing the order via my hands free Bluetooth on my commute to run errands in town. As the conversation came close to the point where Kristi would be asking for payment method, I wondered if she would ask the standard, "What type of credit card are you using?" According to Dave Ramsey, I should have cut up all my credit cards.

My curiosity was satisfied when she asked, "Are you using a debit card or would you like to pay by check over the phone?" I was not surprised yet very pleased that Dave has enough integrity to put his principles into practice regarding his profits. 

Misplaced Gratitude

A couple of weeks ago, Philip checked the mail and found a not-so-suspicious letter in our mailbox.

After opening the letter, he found it was a thank you note. Again, nothing suspicious there - especially given the fact we live in Mississippi and Philip jokes that we send thank you notes for our thank you notes.

This is where it gets interesting...I'll let you read the contents.

Just in case you have trouble reading it, the first line in the body reads, "Thank you for helping me move into my new house."

Now, if you are reading our blog, am I going to assume that you know that my husband, Philip, is in a wheelchair. That little fact would exclude him from being able to participate the action for which he was thanked. We found this hilarious and strange all at the same time. We have concocted ways that this person found Philip's name and mailing address and believed him to be the one to thank.

Philip is neither embarrased nor hindered by his condition. I would conjecture the Lord has even used his situation to make him a wiser-than-normal 30 year old. Don't get me wrong, it's not the handicap in and of itself. In the brief time I have known Philip, I have been more aware of people who are handicapped and interested in their stories. Whatever the circumstances that caused the crippling, it is the attitude and fortitude of the person, not the handicap itself, that is the lynch pin in their lives.

All of that to say that Philip is able to get a good belly laugh out of this misplaced gratitude and we hope you are too. :)

Primordial Penguins

Check out this catchy little ditty from the Primordial Penguins.

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Strength in Weakness

Earlier this week I visited a friend who had been in a car accident in Honduras in November. She has 10 fractured vertebrae and has to be in a plastic splint that covers her entire mid-section – chest to hips. Her trunk rotation/mobility is highly limited and she is not supposed lift anything, making most general activities difficult or impossible..

This gal had been a very self-sufficient woman, living on her own, working for Blue Cross and teaching Zumba. Now she has not been able to work or teach Zumba since November and has had to have help with activities we take for granted. She was telling me how much help she has had to receive over these months and how humbling that has been for her.

It struck me that she has to be a very strong person to actually even accept that help. Regardless of whether it was financial or with general hygiene, she has had to decide if she wanted to submit to others assisting her. And it is indeed a decision. In reality, she has had to exercise more strength since being weaker than before the accident when she was physically stronger.

This epiphany reminded me of my husband. Philip has had to exercise said strength for years now. As a result, his character is to be admired. Philip recently quoted a professor’s definition of patience as the combination of self-control, humility and generosity. My husband exhibits mastery of patience.

I often tell people what a strong man Philip is. The temporary example of the friend I mentioned is the constant example of my husband. This strength has crafted him into a most excellent man. Every one should be as fortunate as me.

You wanna cracker, Papa?

Anastasia: Papa, you wanna cracker?

Philip: I don't want one, Anastasia.

Anastasia: You want 2 crackers, Papa?