…coming in just a second.

First, I have to say that it was a blast reading your Top Ten Tuesday guesses and the reasons behind them. But…none of you got it right. So I guess I won’t be taking anyone out for coffee. Bummer, that.

The correct answer is #4: Last week, I did NOT trim my baby’s toenail with my teeth.

That is not to say that I have never done that. I have. Jonah is such a light sleeper that I cannot trim his nails while he’s sleeping, like I did with the other two boys. One time, my sister was able to file his nails down and he dozed off while she did it. But other than that, it takes two of us to trim him up—one to hold him down and the other to cut the nails. So if I see one that needs a quick trim, sometimes I’ll nibble it off while we’re playing. I know—it’s kinda gross. But we moms, we do whatever it takes.

So…this means that I did eat an entire package of Wasabi peanuts (only 4 oz. but still…), got a shard of glass stuck in my finger when cleaning up a cup Eli broke, and I rode up and down a mountain when my grandmother was buried in her family cemetery in Sand Mountain, Alabama. And as I’m sure you’ve guessed, that also accounts for my touching a dead person, and the public speaking, as I read a tribute to her at her funeral.

I was horrible, awful and neglectful enough to forget to be the tooth fairy TWO nights in a row (poor Eli!) and that spoon-as-back-scratcher thing? Oh wow…you just need to go to Goodwill and get a kitchen spoon to use for that purpose. Much better than products designed for back-scratching.

The toxic lily pollen article was for an eHow feature, and if you have cats you should know that all parts of the lily are poisonous to cats. They are poisoned when they chew on the plants, or get the pollen on their fur and lick it off during grooming. It can cause acute renal failure and many cats don’t make it even with aggressive treatment.

And I’m not going to elaborate on the cleavage incident. Let’s just say I was mort.i.fied. Simply mortified.

Thanks for playing! And have a happy Wednesday!

I’m going to steal Amanda’s idea and post ten things I did last week, but one of them is a lie. One of them never happened. And you get to guess which one!  Post your answer in comments. You don’t get a prize if you’re right—unless you live nearby and then I might take you out for a coffee or something. 

1. Wrote an article about the toxicity of lily pollen.

2. Did some public speaking.

3. Touched a dead person.

4. Trimmed my baby’s toenail—with my teeth.

5. Had someone other than my husband comment on my cleavage.

6. Ate an entire bag of wasabi-coated peanuts—in one sitting.

7. Tweezed a shard of broken glass out of my fingertip.

8. Forgot to be the tooth fairy two nights in a row.

9. Used an old metal cooking spoon as a back-scratcher.

10. Went up and down a mountain.

To see more Top Ten Tuesday lists, click on Amanda’s name above!

I miss having enough padding in the budget to shop in bulk.

It’s payday, and the cupboards and fridge are much more barren than I like to see them. We are out of so many things we use daily: cheese, coffee creamer, lunch meat, bananas and more. The only meat I could build a dinner around is a can of salmon or some tuna fish. We’re down to our last two rolls of toilet paper, and the cat really needs new litter in his box. My freezer is empty save a few bags of collard greens I froze after my last big cooking session.

Back when the economy wasn’t so bad, before the rising cost of living outpaced what was once a comfortable income, we could afford to buy ahead. Clearance sales, wholesale clubs, and the case lot sales at our commissary were my friends. I’d find a deal on something and buy enough to last a while. It saved money in the long run and provided the security I feel when I see a full pantry and refrigerator.

Now, when every penny has to be accounted for, I can’t drop 20 bucks on a bulk pack of toilet paper. That money has to cover more bases than just the bathroom, stretching to the next payday when I can shop again. I’m finding that I really dislike this change in my lifestyle. I don’t like feeling unprepared.

I suppose those insecurities are rooted in the same tangled web of food issues I’ve carried since childhood. I come from a line of folks with varying degrees of hoarding and other OCD behaviors. But honestly, when I think about it, my fears of not having enough aren’t genetic.

This is really a spiritual issue.

Remember manna? God sent just enough food to feed the Israelites for one day. And the Bible says clearly that God did this to test their faith. For forty years—that’s almost my entire lifetime thus far—this is how they ate. Literally, one day at a time. Every single day, they had to trust God to provide. And every single day, he proved himself trustworthy.

“God is not man, one given to lies,

and not a son of man changing his mind.

Does he speak and not do what he says?

Does he promise and not come through?”

-Numbers 23:19 (The Message)

We are far from being in a place where we literally have nothing to eat. I know that is not the case for millions, probably billions, of people world-wide and I don’t deny the blessings that I’ve been given. It’s almost humorous that I’m even writing this post, because though by American standards, we’re struggling, compared to much of the world, we are rich beyond measure.

It’s just different for me, a different mindset I’m having to put myself into, a greater level of trust in God that needs to be built. My family’s manna doesn’t fall from the sky daily, but the resources to buy it arrive like clockwork twice a month, and I’m thankful.

“I was young and now I am old,

yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging bread.

They are always generous and lend freely;

their children will be blessed.”

-Psalm 39: 25-26 (NIV)

1. Life is FAR too busy today to be wasting time posting this list. But what can I say? I’m a creature of habit and it’s Friday!

2. As tired as I am, as much work as there is to do, in honor of my grandmother who would want me to, I keep going.

3. My last text message (or IM) ended in these three words: Call me, K?

4. Ham is what I’m thinking about for dinner sometime soon. Today, actually…

5. On the 1st day of August I was amazed that it was already August again, and wondered how that was possible when New Years Day was just like, last week, wasn’t it???

6. I wish I were as lively and energetic as my children.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to seeing some good friends, tomorrow my plans include unfortunately, my grandmother’s funeral and Sunday, I want to rest and then rest some more!

More Friday Fill-Ins are here.

So, I get to the funeral home today for the first of my grandmother’s visitations, and Terry, the nice funeral director who assisted us previously, greeted me.

“So…what are you, a vampire?”

Um…I had no idea what he was talking about. I wasn’t even wearing black!

“Huh?” I asked.

“I wondered about you when my Blackberry went off at 3:15 this morning,” he replied.

After a moment, I realized what I had done. I stayed up late working on the final photo edits for my grandmother’s funeral slide show. I emailed it to him before turning in a little after 3:00 this morning. I had no idea that doing so could’ve woken anyone up. I  felt SO bad for disturbing him!

He said it wasn’t a big deal, that he usually turns his phone off at night. BUT, that night, his daughter was traveling and he wanted to make sure he left it on in case she needed to reach him.

Poor man. It’s almost never a good thing when the phone rings at 3:00 a.m! And he was already thinking about his daughter. I bet his heart stopped a moment when he heard his phone ring!

I apologized—profusely—and we all had a good laugh. He was a great sport about it.

Y’all know how warped I am, though. I’m half-tempted to  send him another email tonight at 3:00 and simply type:

“Hey. Whatcha doin’?”