Cain and Abel were brothers, too.

Is there a cure for sibling rivalry? We could sure use it here.

Our three dogs get along better than the two boys at home. No, I can't use the mellow dog cure on the boys. Seriously, I can't. Really. Don't even think about it.

I have been a parent for 25 years. The first twelve don't really count, since number one son was an only child, and then the next 3 years still don't count since there was such a long gap between the first two boys, but when boy number three came along, sibling rivalry with a suddeness that still stuns me.
Number two son was three years old when number three son was born. The baby was in the swing one day, just a few weeks old, and I thought that number two son was going to draw something, because he had a pencil and was concentrating on sharpening it to a nice point. I wondered what sort of art project he had in mind.
Fool! The next thing I knew, the baby was screaming, and the three year old had taken off as if he were shot out of a cannon. I didn't know who to run after first.
I grabbed the baby and took off after the three year old to deal with the situation immediately.
The baby had some pencil marks on his face, not too bad, nothing to cause bleeding or anything, but still, when I found the carefully sharpened pencil on the floor with boogers on it, I felt a little sick to my stomach.

And it has been relentless ever since. Not a day goes by without their dad and I trying to penetrate their brains with corrections, trying to make them see the error of their ways. No matter what we try, we cannot seem to make progress here.
But then I stop to think about my own brothers and sisters. The older brothers were pretty tough to live with. It never occured to me that siblings should just naturally love each other. The best I could do was to just stay out of their way.


It is good to have a family, even if we annoy each other from time to time. I would not trade them for anything in the world.

Comfort Foods and New Foods

Now that my son and his beautiful wife are settled in their apartment in France, they have let us know about a few things that they miss from the states.

That is a normal thing for anyone who relocates, even if you don't cross an ocean. I miss some things from Wisconsin, such as certain bakery items. I often refer to bratwurst as 'mother's milk' since they were always a part of our diet, especially durning the summers. They are available here, but what I cannot seem to find anywhere, even back in Wisconsin, is a good brat roll. They have to have a crispy crust, and a very airy light texture inside. Don't put them into a plastic bag! That will ruin them!

Well, I sent off a little care package to Andy and Sara with root beer extract, so they can make their own. Andy never lived in Wisconsin with all of the root beer stands there; yet somehow he managed to pick up on my love of root beer and misses it.
Another requested item was sauces from Buffalo Wild Wings.
We haven't been to that restaurant, except for one time when Andy was with us. It is 45 miles from where we live now, so it isn't on our regular circuit. It would seem that Florida State students spent a lot of time there in Tallahassee. Both Andy and Sara seem quite excited to hear that their favorite sauces are in the mail.

Sara has been keeping us up to date with the food scene while on their European adventure. The time in Germany was bratwurst heaven, and Andy always took note of the buns and thinking of how his dear mother would love them.
Figs seem to be a delicacy. Most of my experience with figs is from fig newtons. That might be nowhere near the same food.

The picture above is from a restaurant somewhere in France. I sure look forward to going there myself even if I am not sure of what those things on the menu are.

I wonder what else I have missed?

Just this morning my sweet youngest child was telling me about something that he 'believed' when he was little.

One of his older brothers told him that if he heard horns while sitting on the toilet, he would be blasted straight to heaven.
I thought that was amusing, but then he added, "I sat on the toilet all day until I heard a car honk its horn."

The things you learn from your children long after the fact.

Ripples

I saw Pat Buchanan on C-Span today and he said that the Christian West has committed suicide, and there is nothing to be done about it. A thought provoking, disturbing statement, indeed, that can be supported by looking at demographics. Over the past few months, I have read or heard a couple of people discuss modern demographics and how they are shaping the future.

The birth rate of European women is below replacement levels. The former Communist countries are even lower than that of Western Europe. Having children or not is a deeply personal decision, however, the repercussions of a nation where citizens are all making similar choices can be disturbing if you care about the future. Right now, the people with the highest birth rates are mostly fleeing the Middle East to resettle in Europe bringing their Islamic faith with them. The culture of Europe is being changed as the people whose families have been there for hundreds of years have fewer and fewer children to be replaced by the newcomers who just happen to be having large families.

Take a look around you, think about your own family. Do you see a significant number of family members who are choosing to not have children? I see it in mine, especially when considering the extended family.
Nature abhors a void, and despite the social scientists who warn about overpopulation, someone will fill the gap that is left behind.

You may or may not care about what this means for the future, but it goes to show you that your private options have ripples that extend beyond your own home.

Number 10,000

One by one, over the past 10 years, (Norb always says 11 years, because he counts the calendar years) we have listed, photographed, packaged and shipped well over 30,000 items on eBay, and yesterday, one of our buyers left a landmark feedback that gave us a positive feedback rating of 10,000!

You might see other sellers with higher ratings, but I can promise you that very few have done it the same way that we have, with unique items, each requiring a new description and photographs. It has been a lot of work, and from time to time, we have sent things to people who made a better deal than we did, meaning that we paid more than we sold it for.

It is fun to see that shooting star go with our user name, but that doesn't pay the bills by itself. Norb will be back at the computer, researching, writing listings, I will take pictures, and take care of the shipping. It would be nice to rest on our shooting star laurels, but we still have to pay the bills. I don't know if we have heard from eBay, but the last time we got a new star, they sent us an email with a PDF for a congratulatory certificate that we could print ourselves, and frame it, if we wanted. We just laughed. Can you tell that we don't feel especially appreciated?

Off to work we go! On to the next star! (That might take another 10 years or longer.)

"QUIRKY - ECLECTIC "99 Cents" ESTATE SALE ON EBAY"

Has it been that long?

Thursday was my dear hubby's birthday, and he is just the sweetest thing.
I am amazed to realize that we have spent the last 35 birthdays together! We were so young when we started dating in 10th grade. And we might never know the number of people who thought we ought not get married four years later.

Like any long term marriage, there have been some really difficult times that we have endured. Back in the 80's when Norb was given a chance to go to school to learn to be an air traffic controller, we thought that life was all mapped out for us. But the triumphant new job was followed by an unjust job loss a few years later. Norb resolved to never put himself in that situation again, and went into business, which sometimes went amazingly well, but had its downside too. There have been many times when we were in situations that we didn't know how to handle, and neither did anyone around us. However, we have learned that many unthinkable worst case senarios are in fact, survivable. It is much tougher to frighten us after what we have been through. I remember one time when we were in a transitional phase with a business partner who wanted to pressure Norb into a particular decision by threatening to withdraw funding, and we looked at each other and said, "So? We know how to live without money. That is not going to force our hand."

As much as I want to limit my time working at our ebay business, the fact that the two of us do work together so well has caused other people to make comments about how they wish that they had similar compatability in their relationships. He makes it easy to work with him, and I like being part of the family business.

Happy Birthday, Honey! I love you more every day!