Wednesday, May 23, 2007 Labels: bloggin
I have a second blog also called "A Penchant for Pens." Confusing, I know. I don't even remember how I ended up with two by the same name. The URL for the newer one (which I update several times a weeks) is zoanna.blogspot.com.
One of these days I'll get around to moving all this old material over.
Or not. I'm too busy blogging. :)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Believe it or not, Joel did NOT draw this. I did. 
Monday, March 05, 2007
Joel took this shot as he sat across the table from me. I was peeking out from behind flowers in a vase. Then I decided to mess with effects for the fun of it.
Friday, February 23, 2007
This picture may not open for you .It's giving me a hard time. Try seeing it here.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Labels: winter
A view of the trees between us and our neighbors to the west.
Labels: crafts, encouragement
Top shot, L to R: mine, Mitzy's, Lauren's. Above Mitzy's is Stephanie's. 
Below: the Joy Box that I made for my friend Bonnie.
To find out more, go here.
Remember you can "click on the pic" to enlarge it. (Would the same happen if I clicked on my bank account?)
Saturday, February 17, 2007 Labels: Christmas
Who drives this ? Father? Or his son, 42 years younger?
Love this expression on Joel's face when he opened up his remote control car. Paul bought him a yellow Lambourghini.
A few days ago it was sitting on Paul's dresser. I smiled as I dusted it, and then a silly song popped into my head. "He drove an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow solid Lambourghini...."
Ben loves to have friends over after church sometimes on Sundays. I generally don't mind . The only time it poses a problem is when he has told them--but not me--they're invited. Today. After church. The last time he did this was for the Ravens playoff game. He leaned over while the offering plate was being passed and whispered, "By the way, Mom, a bunch of guys are coming over after church." He knows I won't get vocal in church. As soon as it was over I told him, "Stall them. You know what the house looked like when we left, don't you?" (It wasn't bad, but not my idea of "company-ready" either.)
"I know, Mom. They're just guys." "How many guys?" "I dunno. Maybe 6, 8, 10."
"What? How are we gonna feed them? It's not a good pay week (paid all the bills and we're eating soup today.) "Are they buying pizza or what?
"Yeh, yeh, it'll be fine."
When my nerves settled down, which happens a lot faster the more I do this thing called "spontaneous hosting," I realized this is good stuff. Good memories. This is one way Paul and the boys convinced me to get a big-screen TV. Play on my love for a crowd! (Paul and Ben built the entertainment center. It protruded into the narrow room before; now it sits back into the laundry area behind that wall. )
The guys make themselves comfortable. They don't wait to be offered drinks (the way girls do) but simply ask, "Mrs. Z, where's the ice?" And I point to the freezer with a knife that has scraps of tomato hanging off it.
"Would you like some salad, Nathan?"
"Ah, no thanks."
"Luke?"
"No, I'm good, thanks."
"Chris? Salad."
"Nope, no thank you."
"Son?"
"Nah, we're guys."
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 Labels: questions
Joel has picked up on the fact that people from different countries speak different languages. He hears me talk about my French friends, Isabelle and Renee, thru my blog. We had guests with us from Israel who spoke Hebrew among themselves some of the time. Of course he hears Spanish every time we eat at La Tolteca or go to Walmart. A couple of times we've had Chinese students in our home, but he was too young to remember.
Yesterday we were driving home fromBible study, and out of the blue came Joel's funny question. "Mom, what do Chinese people talk? French, Hebrew, or Spanish?"
I said, "Most Chinese people speak Chinese, honey."
"They do?" he asked, as if Chinese people were far superior because they spoke a foreign language!