Happy Birthday!

Today is Matt's 33rd birthday. 33 years ago today he was born in the same hospital I was, just four months later. It is interesting to see how often our lives came close to each other, but did not intertwine until after college. A short synopsis of those interactions.

July 4, 1976 - I was 3 months old and Matt was still a month away from being born. We were both at the Ithaca fireworks that night.

August 5, 1976 - Matt was born at Ithaca Hospital, same place I was.

September 1981 - We both attended Groton Kindergarten, with separate teachers. When I married Matt his teachers remembered him. (and his brother!)

September 1983 - We were in the same second grade class, but I don't remember him. He remembers all the other Matt's in our grade, and one little girl - Shannon Doa-Cute! This was his last year in Groton. His parents moved to McLean and transferred their children to Cortland Christian Academy

1980's - Sometime in this decade my Aunt and Uncle transferred their children to CCA, their oldest son became friends with Matt and his brother.

1990's - Went to watch one of my cousin's basketball games, which Matt played in. My Aunt tried to hook me up, with another one of the players...

- My oldest cousin graduated from CCA, Matt attended his graduation party. I still didn't notice him...

1996 - Matt transferred to Messiah college where I was attending. I would give him rides to and from school, every now and then. The first time I drove him home he spent the whole ride flirting with my sister's friend. My mother said to me, "Wouldn't it be funny if you married Matt Cobb?" I replied, "I'd never marry Matt Cobb, he's from home."

Fall 1998 - We both attended Homecoming weekend at Messiah. We ran into each other and talked some. Apparently he thought I was throwing myself at him, because he called me a few weeks later. The first night we got together I knew this was the man I was to marry. Funny how it took 22 years for us to connect.

Fall 1998-Spring 1999 - We spent a lot of time at his friends' apartment in McLean. He met my family fairly early on. I didn't meet his family till later.

March 1999 - After taking a cruise with a friend from college Matt returned home and asked me to marry him.

April 29, 2000 - We got married.

Present - Here we are, married, four kids, a house (no dog), still living in Central NY and I'm at peace with my life (but not always content)!

Adventures Beneath the Bed: Dustin Dust-Bunny and The Menacing Marmalade Cat

DUSTIN DUST-BUNNY AND THE MENACING MARMALADE CAT

by

Juliana M. Cobb

Dustin Dust-Bunny raced around the house. He dove under a bush and listened. His heart pounded wildly.

“Nine...Ten...Ready or not, here I come,” Doris shouted.

Dustin watched Doris run by him. He waited, then stuck his head out. A large shadow crossed in front of him. Dustin froze.

“Meow.”

Meow? Why would Doris Meow?

He listened a second longer, then looked around. He looked, not at Doris, but at a large, orange paw. He followed the paw, to a leg, down a body, to a long, twitching tail.

The Menacing Marmalade Cat! He had heard stories about this Cat.

It's only a story, he told himself. He squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, the cat was still there.

Dustin watched as the cat stepped over the neighbor's house and disappeared from sight. Phew!

Dustin raced to find his friend, “Doris! Doris!”

“You're supposed to be hiding.”

“I saw the Menacing Marmalade Cat! Right there!”

“Yeah right.”

“Did so.”

“You're making it up, like you always do.”

“I saw it! I'll show you,” Dustin dragged Doris to the neighbor's backyard.

Empty.

“But...but...it was right here.”

“You're too much. I'm going home.”

“It was here...It really was!”

That night Dustin couldn't sleep. Visions of an orange paw and twitching tail crept into his dreams.

The next morning, Dustin did not go out to play with Doris. He sat in his room, with his telescope, looking for the Cat. Not even the enticing aroma of his mother's chocolate chip cookies could bring him from his room.

His mother did make him eat lunch, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dustin ate as fast as he could, then hurried back to his telescope.

He had almost given up, when he spotted a dark shape rise up. Holding his breath, he watched as it stepped over houses.

The Cat crouched, still as stone, the tip of its tail twitching.

The Menacing Marmalade Cat pounced. Dustin heard a scream.

“Mom! Mom!” Dustin flew downstairs. “The Menacing Marmalade Cat just caught someone.”

“Oh dear, not again,” his mother said.

“But.. Mom, I heard a scream.”

“How many times have we told you not to lie?”

“I'm not lying. We need to call the police!”

“There is no such thing as the Menacing Marmalade Cat. Just like there are no such things as the Phantom Shoe or the Voracious Vacuum.”

“The Ancient One-”

“You can't believe those crazy stories.”

“I saw it. It's really there.”

“That's enough, young man. Go to your room!”

“But-”

“Go!”

Dustin trudged up the stairs.

Why doesn't anyone believe me? I'll prove it!

He pulled out his escape ladder and lowered it to the ground. Another scream reached his ears as he got to the bottom.

Dustin rushed to find the Cat. Oooof. He fell into a hole in a flower bed.

This is strange. Why is this hole here?

Dustin walked to the other side of the hole, climbed out, and walked a few steps forward. He promptly fell into another, strange hole.

This is weird. Another hole?

These are the Menacing Marmalade Cat's paw prints!

Dustin hurried out of the hole and followed the paw prints. Just when the paw prints ended, he heard a third scream.

He ran around a corner. There stood the Menacing Marmalade Cat. It was sniffing something. Doris! Stuffed into a corner of the alley, Doris tried to make herself smaller. The Cat reached out with its paw and hit Doris.

Doris screamed again.

I have to do something. Why isn't anyone coming to help? What do I do?

Dustin gathered a handful of the dirt and dust around him. He formed a ball and threw it at the Cat. The Cat ignored him.

He gathered an even larger ball and launched that at the Cat. This time the Cat turned and looked at him. Dustin waved his arms, yelled, then turned and ran.

He zigzagged through the streets. The pounding of the Cat's paws loud in his ears, he headed to the fire station. The streets grew crowded, slowing him, but not the cat. Dust Bunnies turned and stared at him. They pointed and screamed at the Cat.

A fire truck raced around a corner. Firebunnies quickly set up their hoses.

“This way, kid. Run this way,” a firebunny yelled.

Dustin dashed to safety behind the fire truck. The firebunnies sprayed the Menacing Marmalade Cat. Hissing and spitting, the Cat stopped. Continuing to use their hoses, they drove the Cat from Dust Town.

Doris ran to Dustin. “Thank you for saving my life. I'm sorry I didn't believe you.”

“I'm glad you're okay Doris,” Dustin said.

Later, Chief Dunkirk brought Dustin home.

“Oh, Dustin,” his mother murmured, as she folded him into her arms. “I'm sorry I didn't believe you. You were so brave. I'm so proud of you.”

Dustin hugged her back, and gave her a kiss.

(copyrighted July 2008)

Shopping, with four kids?!?

Yes, I brought all four kids shopping with me this morning. It was a rough one, but not the worst time I've had with them.

Taking three kids can be an adventure. If one of the three is Elizabeth, things are most often very smooth and well organized. If she's not there, chaos rules. Two is much easier, one is a breeze, especially if it's the baby or Elizabeth. But four can be insane. Elizabeth only acts as a calming influence on the other three for only so long. Then she's sucked into the craziness that is Samuel and Hope. (kind of like life. We hope the good will rub off on something bad. Which can happen, if we work hard at keeping the good. Often we let our guard down, the bad starts out as a little bending of our good, and then it's a quick slide down into the bad. It takes great strength of character and a strong connection with the Ultimate Good in order to keep us away from the bad. Much easier to stick with the good and avoid the bad, unless you've been called by that Ultimate Good.)

The trip started out well. Went to Walmart, worst store to go to in Cortland. Kids not too bad. Although I questioned their intelligence when the three older ones decided to climb on the same side of the cart at the same time. (I bet you can picture that one!) Price Chopper is great. They have a little room for 3-9 year old's, so two of them play in there while I take the littlest two with me. Last is Aldi's. Apparently my children think Aldi's is a play place, because they all go crazy. Sometimes bribery will work, "I'll give you a treat if you behave and walk with Mommy." Sometimes I threaten, "If you're not good you will sit in time out when we get home." Today, neither of those things worked. I finally got sick of trying to drag them down the aisles with me while pushing the cart and shopping. I left them. I just walked away and left them cavorting in the cold foods section, opening and slamming the doors.

Elizabeth, as always, is the first to run to me. Then Sammy and last short legged Hope. It produced half of the desired results, they stayed with me, but did not act any calmer.

I was furious by the time we checked out. We got home, I put Amelia to bed since she had fallen asleep, banished my other three to the play room, brought the groceries in, and finally sat in the sun listening to the crows. (Have I mentioned I hate crows. I understand their purpose, but they are creepy and have annoying cries.) A few seconds into my quiet that Ultimate Good came tapping on my shoulder. With a sigh I told Him I was enjoying my wallow into anger and self-pity. If He wanted me to have a better day He'd better press the reset button Himself.

Thankfully He loves me and so He pushed that button. Which always works better, since He has more force behind His finger. My day became better, with it's few pitfalls and mishaps. More importantly, I felt better.

The Agony of Lag

I promised to post some of my writings, so here is a poem for you...

The Agony of Lag

by:

Juliana Cobb

The screen

strob

es

before my

ey

es

Jerk

ing

my Avatar

thr

ough

time.

I stop

my for

ward

run.

/em Noooooo

Too Late...

I've run through an aggressive mob.

They assail me from all sides.

I punch frantically at keys

and

click madly with my mouse.

Perhaps I can clear a path to safety.

The str

obe

begins again.

As

I je

rk

through

ti

me

once more,

I not

ice the mob

has

BAF'd.

The strobe ends.

I lie

face down

on the ground.

A sign in red,

over my head

reads

“You have died.

You can wait for one of your team mates

to rez you or you can...

[Go To Hospital].”

(Copyrighted 2008)

Leaving in 1 Minute

I have no sense of time. I never have. I rushed around trying to get a dish and dessert ready for the picnic this afternoon. The kids were already for church, so I wasn't distracted by that. I finished cooking sooner than I thought. I looked at the clock, half an hour before we needed to leave! I thought 'I'll sit down, check email, facebook, blog, and then write! Yeah! I've accomplished everything but writing. Time seems to have escaped from me again and I now have one minute to finish getting ready to go...Guess writing will have to wait till later.

Quote of the Day

I do not take a single newspaper, nor read one a month, and I feel myself infinitely the happier for it.
- Thomas Jefferson

Quote of the Day

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses.
- Margaret Millar