2025 Blog Name Change

I had been wanting to change the name on the ol' blog for quite some time but since it was not a pressing matter, I didn't get around to it for a long time. This week we've had a lot of snow and plenty of indoor time. With Abby still home from break, I haven't subbed at all this week (plus our district didn't have school three of the five days so even if I had been inclined to work, it would not have, pardon the pun, worked out to much.) I realized that if snowmegeddon was good for anything, it would be to finally update the photo, format, and name of the blog.

Back in 2009, I choose the word "Rineer" in my blog title, without thinking through that having my last name in the title probably wasn't a great idea, insofar as it ensured that anyone who read my blog would be able to identify its author. No incognito for me! But, I never imagined that anyone outside of my family and friends would read the blog so it didn't seem to matter that my name was attached to it...

I chose Three and Rineer in the title because "three" is an adjective that describes the word "kids" which, of course, is the number of Rineer kids that are my children. Had there been four kids in our house I don't think that I would have named the blog, "Four Rineer Kids." The reason I liked to have the number in the name is because I like the double e in both words and how the letter "r" precedes the e's in the word three and it proceeds them in Rineer. It may be an odd reason to like the words together but it worked for me!

I've always been a bit odd when it comes to letter and words, what can I say?? One of my favorite games to play as a child was to try to come up with as many words as I could with just the letters of a given word. Before I got married, my surname and first name started with the same letter and I thought it was neat that they alliterated.  Also, until I got married my full name, including my surname, had all the vowels in it. I loved that more than anyone should love a feature of his or her name! Taking Donnie's last name meant that I lost an "o" in my full name and didn't pick one up so I could no longer say that I had all the vowels in my full name. Rats! BUT, one thing I loved about my new last name was the "r" feature of it. The letter R is in the beginning and the end of Rineer. And what letter is smack dab in the middle of my first name? That's right, an R! So there's some congruency.

Back to the blog and its original name, Three Rineer Kids- well, the eponymous Rineers in my OG title are no longer kids so it seemed like a good idea to completely change the blog name. My love for alliteration runs fairly deep and so it seemed a no brainer to incorporate my appreciation of alliteration with a new blog title.

I was planning on incorporating my first name in the blog title, ergo the four "M" words in the title. However, I ultimately decided that it was just too much to have a title preceded by my first name. It was too chunky and too much, well, of me in the title.

Memorable Moments- these words represent my desire to write words and post pictures (mostly) of things worth remembering and memorializing on the blog. By worth remembering, I am including very mundane things like what I had for dinner out or what something annoyed me about a given day or circumstance. No detail is potentially outside the scope of what I want to remember and record! Hopefully these tiny details are interspersed with more "meaty" moments that recount exciting events/trips and reveal glimpses into my heart and the most important thoughts lodged therein: faithfulness to Christ, love for family, and understanding the importance of standing up for and speaking up (er, writing about) about salient cultural and political topics that have a far ranging impact on the culture and our nation. 

Modest Missives- A missive isn't a super common word (I haven't come across it much anyway) but it starts with an M and it serves a good purpose for part of a blog title. It means a written communication and that is certainly what a blog post is! "Modest" can have several definitions. The definition that I am using as a descriptor for missive is "unassuming." I enjoy writing and hope others like what I have to say but I don't claim to have the most riveting content or pleasing prose that there is. 

And so that's my new blog title. As the new header picture may indicate, the kids may be out of the title, by they are by no means out of the blog (sorry, kids!). I have about 50,000 pictures on my PC and my phone so coming up with six photos for a collage was not an easy task! Here are the pictures that I chose and why:

Top upper left- it's fairly recent picture and I love the smiles on each of the kids' faces! We had gotten together to eat dinner together. Speaking of eating out together, meeting somewhere for a meal out is one of the best ways we easily connect with Jacob, who lives about an hour south of us. Meeting half way at a restaurant works for us. We usually meet at Texas Roadhouse or Outback or some other chain restaurant. 

Top middle- I like this snapshot from years ago at my mother in law's place. She had a pool so when we went to her house in the summer, the kids usually swam. This picture reminds me of fun days gone by when the kids were all little.

Top right- the family at Christmas 2024. 

Bottom left- my brother Jay and I when we were wee. I grew up in northern Indiana in the country. My dad's family farmed when he was boy and we grew up in the house/property that my dad lived in as a boy. We had many buildings on our property including a large barn, a milkhouse, an outhouse, a chicken coop and two large buildings that were both, inexplicably, referred to as the shop. We also had various pieces of motorized farm equipment on our property and it is one of the tractors that Jay and I are sitting on in this picture. I was one of five siblings. Jay was my second to oldest brother who died a few years ago from complications of a pretty severe childhood disease that he had. 

Bottom middle- a picture from our wedding. Donnie and started dating during law school and were married a week after we graduated. Of course we had no idea what was in store for us (how does one ever know??) and life in many ways did not turn out how I envisioned. I planned to be a career woman, a lawyer, after all since that was what I'd gone to school for and amassed tens of thousands of dollars of debt to obtain. I ended up "being" something for which no degree is required (stay at home mom and now substitute teacher) and could not have been more fortunate! Donnie has always worked super hard as a lawyer, both when he was an associate and now as part owner of a law practice. Not only does he have to do lawyering work for his clients but he has to help run a small business. Neither is for the faint of heart and the kids and I are so lucky that Donnie is not just smart but an incredibly hard worker who is a problem solver by nature. 

Bottom right- the two girls taken on Alyssa's high school grad day. Both girls are currently in college so, while we are empty nesters when they are away at school, we do get to see them a decent bit since our home is still their home base. The girls are completely different in their looks and personality but they have been thick as thieves since Alyssa was a tiny one and Abby couldn't get enough of her baby sister. 

Next my goal is include a blog roll and update the About Me section so stay tuned...