Thoughts from Hector the Thumpster

A short story written by Jennah Hochstedler.
All rights reserved, copyright 2008.

Hi, my name is Hector. I'm a bunny rabbit, who lives with the Wellington family. I love this family, but I'm scared of Sarah, an annoying 6-year-old girl. She always tries to pick me up and pet me. I've tried biting her, scratching her, and even peeing on her, but nothing works.

The Wellingtons are going on vacation to Florida. Finally... I'll have some peace and quiet.

"Ruff, ruff," said Daisy, who is a golden Labrador Retriever. She was calling from outside, "Come on out and play, Hector!"

"No, Daisy. I can't," I replied, "I've got responsibilities and that means that I can't play with you, " I said jokingly. "I'll race you outside," I told her.

We both ran out the door, leaving it wide open. Daisy and I sprinted into the woods, in our backyard. After about an hour we decided to come back.

We walked inside the door and saw a fox, a deer and an otter playing poker. There was a cow on the computer and a dog making dinner. We didn't know what to do.

"Deal me in!" I said to the fox.

THE END

Another Version...

The Crazy Babysitter

Also by Jennah Hochstedler

Hi, my name is Hector. I'm a bunny rabbit, who lives with the Wellington family. I love this family, except for Sarah, an annoying 6-year-old girl. She always tries to pick me up and pet me. I've tried biting her, scratching her, and even peeing on her, but nothing works.


The Wellington family is going on a vacation to Florida. They hired a babysitter to watch me and Daisy, a golden Labrador Retriever.


"This is going to be a nice weekend, " I said to Daisy.

The next day, Carry, the babysitter, came. She went over to my bag of food and poured some into her purse. Then she did the same with Daisy's food. "This lady is crazy," whispered Daisy.


"Hey! I heard that," yelled Carry.


Then I told Daisy, "Oh no! She is coming back tomorrow."

The following day she came back, as I suspected. This time she dressed us up in little skirts and bows. She made us sit at the table and play tea party with her. She is worse than Sarah.


"I hope she is gone by tomorrow," said Daisy.


The next day she still wasn't gone and Daisy and I couldn't take it anymore. We decided that we needed to do something. So, we tied her up and threw her in the closet. "That will teach you to mess with us," Daisy and I both said.

The Wellingtons finally came home. "Yes, we're safe from that crazy babysitter," I whispered.


Sarah walked over to my cage and picked me up. "Hi, Hector. I missed you," she announced.


"Phew. I'm so glad you're home," I said.


Then she yelled, "You can talk??"

THE END

Look What I've Been Doing

Ahh... the smell of a working sewing machine. It brings back memories of when I was a little girl.
And sticking my fingers with straight pins (ouch)... gotta love that.
Sewing is like riding a bicycle. You can go for years without doing it at all, and then pick it right back up where you left off.
Ok. I could have made a better poodle design myself...I know, I know. It's looks kind of odd.


But the cat is just lovely. And the scottie dog... (which symbolizes, to me, a breed straight out of hell) he's cute. It's easier to tell which skirt is whose, when the animal is different.
This is an extra skirt, because I had so much material left over. I messed up a bit on this last one, but fixed the mistake with a FANCY DANCY zig-zag stitch. I know!! Very impressive, right?!!!
I owe all my sewing machine skills to my mom. She taught me when I was young. She even forced me to make my own bathing suit when I was about 8 or 9. (ok, that was a little embarrassing at the time, but I am thanking her now!)


After getting my fingers pricked all day with the straight pins, I distinctly remember one of my sibblings showing me how to stick the pins through the first layer of skin on the tips of all my fingers and wiggle them in someone's face while laughing maniacally. I forgot to take THAT picture.


Anyway, tomorrow is the big Sock Hop--which, in the American tradition, is a dance dating back to the 1950s... back when kids really KNEW how to dance. I'm looking forward to it. About 95 tickets were sold, so it'll be a great turn out. I'll let you know.

Here it is--what you've all been waiting for...

I'm still pretty wiped out from the trip and so is Terry. He has a tremendous chunk of things to tackle back at work. I've been tackling my fair share at home. Just when I think I can't do another thing (like vacuum or clean the bunny cage or empty the dishwasher or do the bills or take a shower) I have to force myself. I am amazingly disciplined (har har). What I really want is to take a nap.

Anyway... here are some pictures from our Winter Youth Retreat 2008. (Photo editing WAS my top priority, of course). You can click on the photo collections below for a closer look.






Our activites included driving for miles and miles... Goofing around and being absolutely ridiculously funny...Playing arcades games... Taping kids up to the wall to see how long they could hang there... Teaching kids how to ski and then convincing them to go beyond their fears...(This can backfire btw, as you'll see below)

Building ramps and lining up volunteers to jump over...

Watching skiers and snowboarders descend the mountain with torches just before the fireworks display... Having the best room of girls... Ice skating on a flooded parking lot...

Of course, eating (this picture is so funny to me, sorry Terry)...

We also had some "talks" and worship and other things I'm probably forgetting... playing cards, wrestling, four-legged races, tubing, yada yada...

And then there was Nate's infamous attempt at a back flip... this was a jump they all built just outside the youth dorm.

Nate! Are you alright?
Nate! Are you alright?

Phew! He's fine. Everyone is fine. He just had to try it. There was no stopping him--so like a good mom and dad, we at least went out to watch... and take pictures.

WAAAAAYYYYY KOOOOOOL!

It was an awesome and completely fun youth retreat to Sunday River Ski Resort. Can I say... that mountain was enormous!! Incredible, really. I loved it! Now I know, we don't have to go all the way to Colorada or Utah to ski... at least for a few more years. And the kids (24 teens) were a lot of fun. I enjoyed them a lot.

It was a pretty nasty snow storm in which we had to drive through on the way home. The Burb (pet name for our Suburban) handles perfectly well. Our new 25 passenger church bus did very well also. It's definitely one way to break in a brand new vehicle--take the youth group on an 8 hour trip.

There will be pictures, video clips and stories to follow... when I get around to it. Let me say this--my kids are CAH-RAZY!! They make me proud (sometimes--ahem). I can hardly wait to show you a few of the videos of the boys jumping their man-made snow ramp. They didn't get quite enough time on the slopes. They had to come back to the youth dorm and continue the fun out back. HOLY SMOKES!! It was totally sick, yo.

Gone Skiin'

Be back on Friday...

A Year has Passed

I'm in a much different place than I was only a year ago, when I wrote the post "No! I'm Not Ok". In only a few days we will be heading out on our second annual ski trip with the youth. We're going to Maine this time and there are well over 25 kids coming. I have become more familiarize with this group and I'm actually am looking forward to it. It's going to be a great time. The church just bought a brand new 25-passenger bus this week, which should be great for our travels--it's the maiden voyage. Woohoo! Of course, I'm going to have to drive the Suburban also, but still... good times.

One special note: I'm glad I started back with the music ministry last month. The adjustment with scheduling, as well as working through some personal "hang-ups" was challenging for a few weeks, but it's all leveled out now. My favorite part is working with the youth. They are so talented and eager to learn. It makes my heart happy. My journey has been arduous, and I haven't enjoyed many parts of it, but I have been strengthened and life is good right now. Only God knew how to lead me along the path to bring me to this place. Even the dream I posted back in October served to move me along in my thoughts and impressions. My faith has grown.

I guess that's how I find peace when I'm not sure what my next step should be. If I "make time and take time" to reminisce about my former daze, and the beauty of the journey, it helps me to know and believe that I will continue to be led into glorious things. And it is true! My life is good.

Happy Birthday Nate!

He's my little Valentine Baby... goofing around with his candy treat... outside the window of the car. "Look Ma, one finger!"

Here are the girls, nervously awaiting their 5 minutes of play-time, during half-time of the Boys varsity game. They were scared, but totally scrappy out there (that's a compliment).

Nate plays an awesome defense.

We WON!!! WE WONNNNN!!! WOOHOOOO! Everyone was excited.

To go back to Saturday... Our Snowboard/Ski trip was an awesome success--except for the fact that I didn't get pictures on the slopes. Dang it.

Only pictures on the bus... (Anika is a NUT).

An update on the pets:

Noah's a good dog, who is going through a bit of a transition. You can see it in his eyes.

He enjoys Hector, though. I'm sure he's wondering when he gets to grab that little "toy" bunny in his mouth and toss it up in the air.

Hector is very unsuspecting... he also has some numbers tattooed inside one ear. His a punk rocker bunny. He used to ride his bunny motorcycle around the pet shop at night. Who knew?

Poor Noah! Just one little lick... is all he wants.

What Will the Day Bring?

Wednesday is a big one!

At some point, a repair man is coming to fix the circulator in the furnace. Who (EVER) knows when that magical hour will be?

The bunny cage needs to be cleaned out.

It's snowing and is supposed to continue with freezing rain and snow all night, so will school be delayed in the morning? Hmmmm. I can't wait for that 5:30 a.m. canned call from the school.

At 4 PM Nate is playing his final varsity basketball game of the season on our home court. Then younger girls (from the team BJ has been coaching) will play a quick quarter game at half-time. It's a tradition. They have too leave directly after, to go play their own game in another town, while I stay to watch Nate and his boyz play their second half.

It has been quite the season. We could call our Killer Bees the team of injured players. It started with Luke finding out the day of the first practice that he had a fractured back. He would need to wear a brace for two months (which he didn't--but he's fine). No basketball for him this year. Next up was having two of the players placed on the ineligibililty list because of below average grades. Another player broke his finger and was out for the season. During the team's first scrimmage, one of the starting players broke his hand pretty badly. He tried to rush the healing process and removed his own cast early. (Sound familiar?)

Anyway, the doctor had to put a new cast back on and said it would be 10 more weeks. And then, one of our only two bigger guys broke HIS finger. A few games later, our top scorer was suspended for 3 games. We won't talk about that. The team was left to play two or three games with only 6 players, one being a freshman (that would be Nate). Once the suspended player returned, another starter broke his nose playing basketball in gym. Can you believe that?

Regardless of all the Killer Bees have been through this year, they started winning. Over the last 3 games they have relly turned it on. Wouldn't you know, another of the young and scrappy players who was invaluable during their six-man stint broke his finger during a very tough game. No one even knew he hurt himself until the following day when it was all swollen and his dad took him for an xray. He's a scrappy one!

We can all agree that it's the character building season of all seasons. For decades, our school has been known for it's amazing basketball team. Not so much this year, and some of the fans didn't take it so well. But I have totally enjoyed attending all the games. I don't think I've missed a single one... unless you count the one where I couldn't find the school until the game was over. That pissed me off.

This last game should be extremely exciting. I've heard that a lot of bantering has been going on between the schools as the game approaches. It's a good thing that the police come to the games to keep the fans from rioting! har har

After the game, its on to youth group where my music homies and I are leading the worship time. It's all good. It's a little much for one day, but what else is new?

The following day--Valentine' Day--is Nate's 15th birthday. Sheesh! I won't even tell you about next week.

Mornings...

Terry always gets up around 6:30 and takes his shower.
I keep sleeping.

He then gets the kids up. It's somewhere around 6:45-7:00.
I wouldn't know, because I'm sleeping.

He makes the 4 girls their lunches, while they are getting ready.
Me... still sleeping. (Caleigh decided to keep sleeping this morning as well).

By 7:15 Terry is warming up his truck, yelling up the stairs to Nate asking if he's still moving since his shower, and then he's bringing in some wood for the fireplace (because our circulator for the heat isn't working in the family room).
I'm just getting up, because I know that the kids will need an extra boost to move them along. I'm like the... red bull. (I was trying to think of the name for the fuel used in race cars, illegally... in the movies of course, like Fast and Furious--naz, or something? I'm the naz!).

By 7:25, Luke's homeboy has pulled into the driveway in his suhweet ride. I run upstairs--two at a time--to make sure Luke's out of bed. He's usually NOT. He jumps up and gets ready in 2 seconds, brushes his teeth (sometimes) and is out the door. Nate is still sitting on his bed trying to decide what he wants to wear from the multitudes and multitudes of clothing in his dresser. (It's tough, I know).
By 7:30 the girls are heading across the street to wait for the bus with the rest of the large crowd (it's a big bus stop).

By 7:32 the bus is gone. Luke is gone. Terry's gone. Nate is still in his boxers ironing his jeans and t-shirt on his bed.
So, I pop a bagel in the toaster for him to eat on the short ride to school. And holler again for him to get moving. Today, I decided to go upstairs and take over the ridiculous ironing task so he could get the rest of himself together (why he must iron his jeans is beyond me).
Nate obviously does not appreciate me take over. He likes to do it himself. It must be therapeutic for his early morning thoughts. I like him to get to school on time! That's what is therapeutic for my early morning thoughts.

By 7:50 the bell is sounding and I am white-knuckling-it at the traffic light, waiting for the green arrow.
Nate is casually munching on his bagel.

By 7:54 I am saying goodbye and peeling out of the parking lot in my badass Chevy Suburban before the principal sees me in my pajamas.
Nate is entering the building late, wondering if he'll get detention again.

Here's a Rating of my Blog

...according to criticsrant.com. Thanks Ginger. It's good to know that any elementary-age school child can read my NC-17 rated blog.



Huh.

English for Dummies

I don't normally use explicitives. You keep on using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. (...which is why I love dictionary.com)!

explicitive--explanatory; interpretive.
No, no, no. What I meant was expletive-an interjectory word or expression, frequently profane; an exclamatory oath. (get it now?)

There are a few other words that I often use mistakenly... although, I've corrected most of them over the years. Ever since college, I've enjoyed trying to use a variety of words to color my speech and writing. Sohailah and I would play word power, where we'd pick an unfamiliar word from the dictionary and use it in our daily communuication for the entire week. I still remember learning the word ardent. It means passionate; with strong enthusiasm. (My daughter's name, Caleigh, means ardent love, which helped me decide to use that particular spelling of the name).

I'm admittedly not very eloquent in speech. I can be at times, but when venturing into an unfamiliar topic, or when I'm tired and stressed, I can't line up my words in a precise manner. It happens more often than not. I consider myself lucky when something comes out of my mouth that actually sounds intelligent in its expression. People don't always realize how freaking smart I really am!!! I need a few moments to organize how I want to express my thoughts, but I'm rarely ever afforded that kind of time. Also, I often forget the proper terms and names and titles for things in any given situation. But, people should give me a break. I've been childbirth six times, and I'm still THIS BRILLIANT!!!

I remember very little of my English classes in 9th and 10th grade. I do, however, remember the name given to one of the teachers: Skunk Woman. She had a large streak of white going right down the middle of her black head of hair. I remember drawing all over my desk in pencil every single day. I remember having to read "Lord of the Flies" but I chose to simply watch sleep through the movie. In 10th grade it's a complete blur. I can recollect sleeping through "Great Expectations" and I also recall doing research for a term paper about the effects of smoking marijuana. We didn't have to actually write the paper.

After my sophomore year my family moved from NY to TN--a totally different world. I'm not sure if the two places even spoke the same language. I liked both my 11th and 12th grade English Teachers. In 11th grade, I only remember two things: discovering cliff notes and writing in a personal journal every day. I loved the journal part. And in 12th grade our teacher read "Lord of the Rings" to the class. That was great!!! I stayed awake through that entire movie--it was the animated version, back in '85.

When I entered college, Oral Roberts University (rivals with Brigham Young University--wink wink to my Morman friends) I took an English proficiency exam and wound up being deficient in my skills! *gasp* I had to take the English 100 for dummies class before I could move onto the Freshman English 101 course. Why, during my high school years, I never learned all that I was able to grasp in that dum-dum college course will forever remain a mystery--har har. But, I benefitted greatly in the long run.

I also loved my two writing classes. If only I spent more time investing myself in the Oral Communications course... if only! Maybe people would take me more seriously today!! (I really don't have a lisp btw).

Another Bugs Bunny Classic!!

Kool Thoughts on Insanity

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hector, Caleigh's new bunny, is really cute and fun, but I don't want my house to start smelling like a barn!! I wonder if hasenpfeffer is really as good as my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon caused me to believe for all these years.

Cook! COOK! Bring me lunch, bring me dinnah! Hasenpfeffer right away!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I wonder when that magical moment will be... the moment that I begin to feel some relief from this mental and emotional weight that's been draped around my shoulders lately. I'd be curious to know what this burden is stemming from?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's really interesting to realize how similar I am to my sister, even though we live far apart and rarely see each other. She's almost as kool as me!! And now that I drive a suburban, sometimes I think I am her. (haha)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I cannot believe that second son of mine has such a HUGE pile of laundry!!! He could probably clothe 3/4 of Gautamala with his greedy supply... (not to mention the nasty tees).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sometimes it bothers me that I could be making a nice salary right about now, teaching music or doing a dozen other possibilities, but instead I use up the majority of my time and energy volunteering--which seems to drastically reduce and discredit the value of my skills and expertice. Oh well. I suppose I've OVER-POPULATED the world with six children. Now I must give back to the world my fair share, by donating my entire life as a charitable contribution. Maybe I should have been a nun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Why couldn't this week have been a decently cold and snowy one?? Being that it's the week prior to our ski trip, where we are taking 44 people from school on a chartered bus four hours away, it just had to get up to 50 degrees. It just had to rain for three days. It just couldn't have been dropping snow, could it? Come ON!!! I could hardly sleep last night for listening to it pour buckets of liquid outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Transition times are hard for me. It's those times that cause me to feel so out of focus and jarbled. I'm in one of those seasons right now. My challenge is this: If I don't find some clarity about certain areas of my life within the next two months, I'm going to pull out and those things will all go on the back burner ONCE AGAIN! It's not that I'm afraid to step out of my comfort zone or take risks, but when something doesn't feel quite right--I have to question, "Is the timing off?". I've learned to heed those inner signs. When I don't pay attention to them--life can be hell for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's quite possible that I have taken on too much when I signed on to the church music team back in January. For the past few years I took a sabbatical and could have been satisfied never to return to that post. But I was being beaconed to return. I thought it would be once-a-month and only with the youth. It's actually more like 3 times a month with the sunday service and the youth on Wednesday nights. And I'm helping organize the team schedules as well. How do these things happen? I don't want to do it!! I only want to do the original plan... once-a-month with the youth. I'm pretty sure it's one of the things that will be scaled down after March.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think I've forgotten how to say "no" these days. It's temporary. I can tell you that. I hope no one else jumps on the bandwagon, convincing me to do something else while I'm having a bout of insanity!!!

A Lame-o Vlog

Well, it's not too terribly bad, but don't feel that you must torture yourself for the duration. It's nearly 10 minutes. The video is really more for Ma and Pops to see their youngest granddaughter on her birthday. Anyway... I'm not so energized to be "the great entertainment" these days. I've been way too busy. blah blah blah

So here it is...

Presenting: Caleigh's Birthday Video

ok... I ended up getting obsessed with the project and now I'm quite proud of it! haha

Nasty Tees (Warning: Rated R)

Back in the Summer...
mainly towards the end of August, my husband and I began to discover just how misbehaved our boyz had become. It was a rude awakening. It wasn't funny. It wasn't a happy time whatsoever, although I did have a few friends helping me through it. They allowed me to vent in the many ways one can vent--kicking, yelling, screaming, crying, yelling some more--all without discretion. I was also allowed to mock and joke and name-call without being judged. It was my "choice way" of coping and dealing, which helped me greatly in getting through the series of challenges.

I'm sorry about the nasty tees. For your benefit, I posted the picture at the smallest size so you wouldn't have to look at it, and so defile yourself... but if you want to get a taste of what we were experiencing, click on the photo for enlarged viewing, and imagine your sweet 14-year-old son walking down the street, wearing one of these shirts. Aghhhh!

Everytime the laundry went through the wash, I'd confiscate yet another nasty tee. I only caught him wearing them twice. Sneaky fella! Non-observant mother. (Have I mentioned how I don't notice some things like what car a person is driving or what people are wearing)?

Well, after confiscating the tees, rather than tossing or burning them, I put them away for future blog fodder. After taking the photos this morning, I promptly discarded them. They don't even deserve the rag pile. So degrating... maybe they could be used as menstrual rags for girls in an Amazon jungle tribe.

Meet Hector the Thumpster

It's Caleigh's new pet.

Noah is excited!
Happy birthday, Caleigh.Everyone looks so thrilled in this photo don't they? They were all exhausted from the sleep overs the night before.

I haven't had time to take better pictures yet, but Hector is sooo cute and funny.

Anyway, there's more to come... or not. I was going to make this brilliant movie, but... it'll take forever to do. FOR! EV-ER!!! So don't hold your breath or anything, like I know you were planning on doing. I'm just sayin'.