Reality Mama

Surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:29:00 +0000

We had a wonderful weekend! It started Friday, actually, with a surprise day off that I planned for my husband's birthday. I coordinated it with his office. He works with my family, but I had to make sure he had a few vacation days left, and I had to make sure he had a "dummy appointment" that he wouldn't try to reschedule. So it was quite a feat and I had to keep this secret for a month! AND I had to get a babysitter for our 2-year old - enter my brother-in-law, who had the day off and who I frequently babysit for. :-) It as absolutely hilarious when I made the announcement to my husband on Friday morning. I actually waited until he was halfway ready for work. His morning routine involves having a cup of coffee before getting out the door for work. This was when I announced that he was not going to work for the day. He didn't believe me at first. He insisted that he had a meeting all day. I told him "NOPE, it's a fake meeting!" He loved it.

We ended up getting a huge portion of our Christmas shopping done for the kids and most of our extended family. That was so nice to be able to do that. We also ended up buying a new car (used car - we NEVER buy new cars, waste of money, in our opinion). The new car was my husband's idea, of course. I'm never in the market for new cars (ok, except the mini-van - those are probably always the woman's idea, haha). But I guess my husband has had his eye on an MDX for 2-3 months, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he went in for the kill. When I announced the plan for the shopping day, he casually said "Oh, can we swing by 'such and such' dealer? I saw this MDX there that I want to check out." And thus, we said good-bye to our Tahoe and hello MDX.

And ladies, I can't complain about the new car thing. Mr. Husband listened to my wishlist for Christmas. Sitting on my ring finger is a new wedding band. It's official. He didn't even make me wait until Christmas. He tried to make it a surprise, but he gave up trying to pick one out on his own, and decided that he didn't want the pressure anymore of getting it wrong! I love that he tried to research on his own, though. He's a good man. Here's a funny: we were in the jewelry store looking at the rings and after we made the final selection (now mind you, the two boys were running around the store, sitting on the "fun" chairs, going around in circles), the woman selling us the ring said "So, when are you getting married?" hahaha! How sweet of her to think that this man was committing his life to me . . . a woman who already has these two little crazy kids . . . So I explained we've been married for 12 years, and I lost my wedding band. She probably thought "Yeah, whatever, lady . . .just get out of here!" :-)

And the holiday turmoil continues!

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:17:00 +0000

Just got back from going to two stores with my 2.5 year old. It's a pretty nasty day outside with the weather. Extremely windy and cold and it was actually raining when we set out. We got soaked running in to the store. Let's just say that his attention span is not all that great when it comes to shopping. What can I say? He's a boy! LOL He's a home-body, like his mama, too. I dreaded going out, but my husband and I have a Christmas party to attend tomorrow evening and I have a few things to get. I waited this long to get the items because we didn't know if we had a sitter for the children. I just found out last night that my mom can watch the kids. This is good news because at least she is FREE $$. At this time of year, especially, the budget gets a kick in the pants!

So when my son and I hit the second store - which I ONLY had to go to because the first store didn't have peppermint ice-cream for my punch that I am taking to the party! Our Wal-mart really stinks when it comes to stocking up on the right kind of ice-cream for the holidays! One-stop shopping? Yeah, right! Oh wait . . . I left you hanging . . . . when we hit the second store . . . he was really NOT in the mood to shop . . . I mean, he wouldn't even go in the cart! He gets those STIFF legs, like the little tikes do when they mean business! I knew it was going to be rough. So I mentioned the magic words "Mom just has to get some ice-cream!" Oh, that calmed him down for a minute. Then he wanted candy. The only candy I had was a cough drop. So I whipped it out . . . why not try it? Wrong choice. He bit it, and spit it out all over his coat. Ohhhhh, it was not good. Crying and whining ensued for the next hour (exaggeration . . . 15 minutes . . . .) but it was horrendous. Ultimately I was still mad at Wal-mart for not having the right ice-cream. But bonus, I had the right coupon for the ice-cream at this grocery store and they doubled my coupons here! And I picked up some cheap milk! So, at least that helped. But, then again, I would have paid anything to not have my son throw a royal fit all through the store. I really wanted to cry out to the people staring at me "TAKE A PICTURE, IT WILL LAST LONGER!"

And now I'm back home and ready to hibernate for a long, long time.

I love my kids! Really, I do. But I am mad at the way I sometimes force them to do things because I feel the pressure to do things (like attending the party . . . .).

Blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Things are certainly speeding by here in our household. We had a great Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We get together with the larger family, starting with my Grandma and continuing on down. This year someone thought it might have been approximately 80 people, and that was down in attendance. One of my aunts handed out a list of relatives. BLESS HER HEART for keeping up our geneology!! I love her. She is the only girl born to my grandmother, the rest were boys . . . 9 kids in all. Then my folks decided to keep up tradition and had 8 children. They were the only ones in the entire clan who decided to keep up that tradition, though. Ha Ha! (And I don't think they "set out" to keep up that tradition, if you know what I mean!) We are blessed to still have my Grandma around. Last year at this time it was certainly looking bleak for her. But the Lord gave her more days and she is 94 years old and doing quite well in her nursing home. I had the opportunity to pick her up and take her to our Thanksgiving feast. We had a good chat.

I did not do any Black Friday shopping this year. I'm kind of a fair-weather fan of that sort of thing anyway. I certainly do not like getting out there and fighting the crowd just for a few toys for the kids!! I think with some creative shopping, we can get plenty of great deals between now and Christmas without the stress of that black day. In the future, I could see myself getting out there just for the fun of watching the madness . . . . and those $3 pajamas at Wal-mart looked pretty tempting for the kids! But by the time I really want to drag the family out for the shopping fun, the kids will be 6-10 years old . . . and not into those PJ deals. LOL
It would be fun to shop for others, but we'd have to know what the totally wonderful deals were!! Doing the homework would be absolutely necessary . . . and I wasn't into it this year.

So what is on your Christmas list this year? I hinted to Santa for a wedding band. I would kind of like to look like a married woman since I lost my ring 1.5 years ago. :-) I picked one out at the jewelry store a LONG time ago, but I don't think Santa remembered that, lol. (Or maybe his budget won't allow it, haha!)

I hope you have a good beginning of December! It feels like it's about to get chaotic. My hope is that I enjoy each day, even the crazy ones!

Those Darn Crocodiles

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:11:00 +0000

The innocence comes and goes, I guess.

The next day I got a note sent home from my son's school.

Handwritten . . . from the principal!

I've got to frame this one!

My son bit another boy at recess.

NICE.

He was playing "crocodiles".

That's what he told the principal, anyway.

This is a totally made-up game, of course. We don't play this at home. LOL. My son shared with me that another boy bit him, so he, in turn bit a different boy as part of the fun. Only THAT boy decided to tell on him. But my son didn't tell on the first boy (or if he did, according to my son, the first boy didn't get in trouble).

This is all in one week of another episode of my son trying to say prayers at lunch, but he asked the teacher on duty if he could do it, and that teacher told him he's not allowed. (My son wanted to pray out loud with his friends, I guess, like we do at dinner time.) It's just frustrating that my son has to get a confusing message from a teacher that doesn't really know the correct answer. But it will be ok; we've explained to our son that he's allowed to pray at school.

Maybe he needs to pray that boys don't bite him so he won't be tempted to bite others, LOL.

Conversations with my son

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:03:00 +0000

"There's a new boy in our class today, mom."

"Oh, really?", I said.

"Yeah, I don't know his name. But I asked him at lunch if he wanted to be my friend and first he shook his head 'no', but then he shook his head 'yes'. So now we are friends."

And that is why I love the innocence of this kindergarten age!

Our marriage isn't broken!

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:53:00 +0000

Do you ever just want to get away from it all?????

I have the blessed Little L in bed right now. Early this morning he was a bad, bad boy. First of all, I hate Daylight Savings Time and what it does for little kids. They don't have a clue about the fact that they should sleep an extra hour. Their bodies are on an automatic timezone. It doesn't matter that I tried to put them to bed later last night. Well, my body is the same way - so I can't complain too much. I wake up without an alarm clock every morning at the same early time. And this morning I was not surprised when it was an hour earlier (but not realy, because, you know . . . Daylight Savings, and all that . . .)

OK, back to the bad boy.

I have to back up: Two weeks ago my husband surprised me with a new flat-top oven for our 12th wedding anniversary. It's beautiful. It was a huge surprise. We had been sort of needing a new range because the old one had a few burner problems (shorting out on me in the middle of cooking). I was down to 1 fully functioning burner. The oven worked just fine . . . but the range, not so much. I know, I know you people out there are going to say "get the range fixed, have an electrician come in and fix it" blah. Trust me when I say that by the time my husband got the Lowe's salesman down to their rock-bottom price . . . . it was well-worth the brand new entire product, rather than risking the electrician's rate.

He totally shocked me with this purchase because we barely talked about a new oven. I figured I'd put up with my shorting-out range for awhile because of a lack of funds in the budget.

He knows I love a good surprise though. So he was pretty sneaky. :-)

AHHH, BLISS.

Well, this morning I was getting ready for church and I heard a quick little noise out in the kitchen and then my husband yell "NOOOOOOO!" He came back in the room where I was and said "L just broke our oven!" He nearly had tears in his eyes. WOW.

Apparently, Little L had a homemade fishing pole (picture dowell rod, string, and magnet on the end). He was swinging it around, and it hit our oven door . . . and shattered it to pieces. I'm not a genius about such things, but I'm thinking that thing had to have hit at a pressure point or something . . . I just cannot believe that it shattered the glass door like that!! One minute before the event, my husband told Little L NOT to swing said fishing pole around . . . but what did he do? He kept swinging it . . . . BAM.

First, I wanted to call everyone I know who doesn't have kids and give them the following advice: DON'T HAVE KIDS.

But I knew that would be wrong.

The real advice is: When you have kids, realize that things will get broken . . . even things you consider precious . . . kids might even get hurt. Just don't go off the deep end and do or say anything you'll regret later. And if you do, ask for forgiveness.

I think our 2 year old knows he did something wrong. He definitely didn't understand it when his Daddy was telling him how expensive it was going to be to replace the glass . . . . that was just Daddy venting. LOL I get to stare at a broken oven for awhile. AHHH, back to the old days. I asked my husband if this was a sign of our marriage. He said, "maybe . . . . only if we looked at it that the glass may get shattered, but the oven still works!"

Can I have more hours?

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:14:00 +0000

I'm so tired, I don't know whether I'm coming or going. I'm sure many people can relate. I really never thought I would be one of those who would say "I need more hours in my day" . . . . but I'm about to join those ranks. It's really even hard to describe. I get some things done some of the time, but not all things done all of the time. And it's a hard thing to decide what's most important. Of course I want to always put God first, and family next . . . but what about when you have something on the calendar that is a church function, and then your family outside of the area wants you to come to their house for a special visit . . . . how do I put a priority on it all? We're supposed to build our church, build friendships, but also our family needs us . . . I guess at this point we have to decide who needs us more? Some would say "what was on the calendar first?" But that's a sticky issue as well. I think we're going to try and do both . . . but who suffers ultimately? Our little foursome - because we'll all be tuckered out and grouchy with each other when the weekend winds down and we've not connected as much as we would have liked. I know there has to be many families that struggle with the "balance of time" issue. Who do we give our time to? AHHHHH.

Today I'm watching my 5-month old nephew. My 6-year old son is home from school, and coupled with my 2-year old son, it makes for a party that reminds me that I'm pretty ok with just having two kids. That is not to offend any of you who have more children, nor is it meant to offend those who have no children and want some! I'm happy to help out my sister . . . and any additional people who seem to come a calling (yeah, the SAHM gets the calls, LOL) . . . and I try not to let my hissy attitude get the best of me. But there you have it. Honesty.

Right now the nephew is asleep, and my Little L is crying his fits of not wanting his nap, but he's in his bed, nonetheless. GRRRR. He usually goes right to sleep, but I guess today he thinks he might win a different battle. I just brewed some coffee to give me a pep . . . so ta-ta for now.

Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:10:00 +0000

I have a prayer request on my heart and I can't share the details with you, but if you read this, just pray for strength for a family member to share God's love to others who need to see and feel it. Also pray for darkness to be lifted. If I share more, I feel it would be seen as gossip and that is not what prayer requests should be about. But I know you true believers of Christ understand that prayer changes hearts! It's a battle out there!

Chatting and Coupons

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:27:00 +0000

I had nine people at my house last night for my first Coupon Chat meeting. It was a blast. I did a full presentation - Powerpoint and all! Wow. 15 minutes before kick-off time I about threw-up as reality hit me "What in the world am I doing? I'm not ready for this!! I can't speak in front of people. What will they think of me?? What if they think I'm not knowledgeable enough? What if they think I act like I know-it-all? blah, blah, blah . . . " on and on. And then the doorbell rang . . . and it was a very good friend of mine. RELIEF!! I didn't even know she was coming, and I was instantly filled with joy and a sense of confidence. Thank you, Lord!!

It was a good time. They are coming back next week for session two. I am only planning for two sessions at this time - just to see how it goes. But I am possibly thinking that if there is enough interest, we might turn it into a monthly meeting.

It was really cool because one of the women brought a friend with her that I had never met before. New friends are awesome. AND, one of my neighbors who came, said that she invited another neighbor, and even though she couldn't come last night, she would be interested in the future.

What is the language of love?

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:14:00 +0000

I find that I'm always ready for the new season whenever it's about to begin. I feel that is just as the Lord planned it. Perfect timing. Today I look outside and it's shaping up to be a beautiful, sunny fall day that started off rather brisk and breezy but will warm up with the sunshine. Tonight it will go back to it's brisk drop in temperature - just perfect for September and Ohio. I love it.

We have been reading "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. It's what our small group (aka "marriage enrichment") is studying. We took the "official test" a few weeks ago and I found out that my "love language" is QUALITY TIME. If you haven't read this book, all I know so far is that it means the most to me when I spend good, quality time with people - this shows love to me. OF course, the book is geared towards showing love to our spouses, but I have carried it further in my mind to include all peeps. :-) My spouse's "love language" is WORDS OF AFFIRMATION. I already knew this would be his . . . and I already know that I fail miserably at showing this to him. So I have my work cut out for me!! :-) I also found out (at least according to this so-called TEST) is that he doesn't actually care about RECEIVING GIFTS (another love language). You can see my cynicism creeping through about the test, I guess. It's not that I don't believe it has identified our true love languages, but I'm unsure about the secondary things it has brought to our attention. Maybe we should ignore those for now. Perhaps that is the real answer!?

In true LOVE LANGUAGE form, we have learned that whatever our love language is, usually we are showing what ours is to the other person already. For example, since my husband's is WORDS OF AFFIRMATION, he gives me compliments and/or nice emails and builds me up. However, since it is not MY love language, I do not really give much thought to those words . . . they are nice and all, but I can't say that I cherish them AS MUCH as he would cherish them if he heard them from me. The problem is, he does not hear them from me as much as he would like to. Sooooo, time for me to change!

Mine is QUALITY TIME . . . it's not that he doesn't like to spend time with ME . . . but his definition of "quality time" and my definition is probably a little bit obscure right now. Also, he is a very, very busy person. I am a stay-at-home mom. Of course I am going to desire a lot of his eye-to-eye time when he is home, but so do our two kids. Everyone wants Dad! It's a difficult balance.

So, we are in a learning curve right now. It's good . . . it can be muddy! But I wanted to share. I do say I need a place to "keep it real!"

He just got done mowing the lawn for the past 2 hours . . . time for some words of affirmation . . . wink.

WARNING: There's a 2 year old in my house

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

It was a crazy evening yesterday. The start of piano lessons for the year is off to a great start. I'm glad to have those students back in my life. I enjoy a summer break, but I think this year I've made the decision that it was too long of a break and next year I will incorporate some kind of summer session. It is hard to juggle family vacations (theirs and mine), and my own family's needs, but for sake of music, we must continue!!

After lessons, I went to a meeting at my local library - to learn more about couponing. A subject close to my heart! It was nice to get together with others who like the same thing. I think that's my passion. I'm thinking about starting a group at church. I don't even know what we'll do - except talk about deals. But there has to be an idea that getting together to fellowship and help people save money . . . sharing . . . hhmmm . . . I don't want it to be a "hen meeting" though. LOL

Well there is a big noise in our neighborhood today. Not sure what it is exactly, but I think our neighbors are getting a new driveway . . . perhaps they are digging up the old concrete and then maybe having new concrete put down. YIKES, it's loud. And my 2 year old is being awfully quiet, so I better go check that out. This is what happened the last time he was too quiet:

At least he was trying to clean up the eggs!! (and yes, I grabbed the camera to remember the "CAUGHT YA" moment!)

Drifting Dune, I Love Ye Not

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:24:00 +0000

I'm so tired! I painted one of the rooms in the house (the piano room, specifically) two days ago, and my legs hurt so bad! I guess I didn't anticipate the squatting issues involved! YEEOUCH. Last night we went to my brother's high school football game, and going up the stadium stairs wasn't too much of a problem, but when we descended, I thought I was going to D-I-E. I was whining at each and every step. Today I am still moaning. Yeah, I'm a real joy to be around. The real clincher is that I totally don't even like the paint color! I picked it out, and I went through the 8 hours of work . . . am going through day TWO of pain . . . and am not in love with the color. It will grow on me, and the bright side is that it looks a lot better than the flat painted-white walls that were the former owner's selection :-) I know that flat paint is cheaper . . . but come on, people! Especially when you have children in the house - go with semi-gloss for cleaning purposes. OK, I'm done moaning.

The brighter side of things, also, is that I can now hang a picture of my two boys that I have had for quite some time. I've been delaying it because I needed to repair the walls in the room, paint the room, and now . . . . VOILA, we are ready!

I hope you all have a good LABOR day! We're having family in, and I'm so looking forward to it because we don't get to see these folks very much. One of my favorite things in the world is "shooting the breeze". Where did that phrase come from? :-)

Hard Knocks

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:56:00 +0000

One week into Kindergarten for Big J. He's having a super time. But yesterday he came home and said "I didn't have such a great day." OH NO. I asked why. He said "There is a boy in my class who kicked me." Oh dear . . . . so we had a conversation, and as best as I can tell, the boy wanted some attention from my son who was talking to someone else at the time, and instead of getting his attention through normal means, he just kicked him instead. Of course, my son told the teacher, who made the boy move somewhere else in the class. (not sure on this, as my son's descriptions aren't always the best!) Well, bless his heart, that wasn't the end of the "not such a great day" story. Also, at recess, I guess some older kids came over to him on the swings and told him to get off! UGH. My heart dropped into my stomach. I want to go beat them up right now! We asked him what he did. He said "I got off the swings." Good boy. (I think?) But he said he looked for the teacher at recess, and couldn't find her. Another icky thing. The hard knocks of life are starting for our son and I have to pray!!

We HEART Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:52:00 +0000

The Lord blessed our day with goodness as we "released" our firstborn to the "Big, Bad" Public School System. I know the angels watched over him. And the text updates from my sister, the music teacher, sure were awesome. :-)

I was surprisingly calm throughout the morning - no tears at all!! My heart was a pitter-patter, though, as he was getting dressed. It was a bit of a reality check as I thought "we are making history today"! We now have an official STUDENT in the family. He's GETTING DRESSED FOR SCHOOL! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!

And then I went and made a cup of coffee and started to calm down.

Big J was very excited to go to school. The Open House was a great idea. He enjoyed meeting his teacher - who looks like the perfect teacher to me! 50ish, grandma'ish, sweet, but strong disposition. Can we have her all 13 years? The Lord knew . . . . all this time, HE knew.

There are only 17 students in the class. Another blessing!! I'm very, very happy about that. I know there will be a lot of testing going on at the beginning of school and a lot of time is needed for the teacher to get to know the students - so I am especially pleased about the class size.

Soooo, he came home and absolutely LOVED school. I knew he would. I had to pull information out of him, for the most part. I've heard that this is "the way boys are". :-) I guess I better get used to that. He remembers things randomly and just starts talking about it, which I think is cute. Like today he said "When the teacher said that the girls are coming tomorrow, the boys said that girls are disgusting, but I didn't say that". hee hee. (The boys went on the first day, and the girls go today - everyone goes tomorrow.)

I am so thankful that God has put my son in this school, in this class and that He has given me a peace about EVERYTHING. I know that this teacher has experience and that whatever my son's difficulties may or may not be, that we can certainly work together to achieve a successful first year in school and that is extremely important to me.

Here is REALITY: holding onto my firstborn and my coffee (he's doing a silly face! ornery boy)

Less than 24-hours to Kindergarten!

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:06:00 +0000

The Open House is upon us tonight. I'm trying to take it all in, one step at a time. My firstborn will be sitting at his desk tomorrow morning in his Kindergarten class with 16 other kids - no wait. Less than that since the first day will just be the BOYS of the class! The second day of school they have the girls of Kindergarten, then finally on the third day of school our beloved Kindergarteners will be combined!

So I cheated . . . . my sister teaches music at the school where my son is attending and I BEGGED her to let us see his classroom before all of the other moms and dads get there on Open House night. Come on . . . let me use my family while I have the chance . . . and besides, Open House only lasts 1 hour!!! And my husband can barely make it there in time with his work schedule. That's a complaint I have with the school (not my husband's schedule, but their lousy 1-hour open house), but hey, I'm still in kleenex mode right now. But we have not met the beloved teacher . . . so that is tonight's agenda!! My sister has already warned me not to discuss the history of my son with the teacher, like some parents do. OK, she didn't tell ME not to do it, she just said that there are parents that do this, so I took note.

Wow, I don't even know how to put words to how I feel. I'm some kind of nostalgic mess with a dab of excitement for my son's future. He keeps asking me questions about what school will be like. Once he got word about what a principal is, he got a big worried look on his face . . . . and his latest concern is that he will end up in the principal's office. WOW. He is my son . . . . the worrier. Even after I explained that as long as he's a good boy he won't be in the principal's office, he is still concerned about it. I think he's afraid that he'll accidentally do something wrong. But then again, I watch him with his 2 year old brother . . . . there are accidents . . . and then there are "accidents". uh, huh.

Prayer Answered - Hallelujah

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:50:00 +0000

We received the BEST news on Sunday afternoon:

We found out our kindergarten teacher has been assigned! I have been praying over this constantly, as I KNOW that it is very important for my son's first year of all-day, everyday school to have a patient, compassionate, understanding, as well as a very experienced teacher. I have been worried (I KNOW, very, very bad of me!) unnecessarily. I have a notecard on my desk and made it a point everyday in July to pray over the decision process of the school administration to pick "the perfect teacher for our son". (Actually my prayers go back further, but I daily committed it in July, knowing the decision was more forthcoming.) But God knew my heart, and He knew who I wanted . . . .

Who I wanted is exactly who we got for Big J!!! I'm on an incredible "Cloud Nine" experience. I'm so thankful that God has given us this woman to be our son's teacher. There are other issues involved with the other teachers that I just didn't want to have to go through. Not that God couldn't work those other issues out and teach me lessons on that as well, but I'm glad He chose this teacher. As my prayer request was answered "the perfect teacher for our son". This is not to say that she is a perfect human being - and I get that! The funny thing is, I've never even seen or met the woman! I'm just going on intuition and . . . . GOD HAS SPOKEN.

Post . . . WHAT??

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 19:16:00 +0000

We had a great time in North Carolina. I love the ocean so much. If God were to lead us there to live someday, I would have absolutely no problems with that! But for now, that is not in His plan. It is good to be home, though. A 12-hour car trip with two little kiddos is just about as insane as I can handle. So when my husband suggested maybe a vacation to Florida . . . I was like "Uhhh, NOOOOO!!" (I have a fear of flying . . . maybe I can work on that for the future, but for now, I will not get on an airplane.)

I still feel like I'm in a bit of a post-vacation haze. I looked at the calendar today and realized that school starts for the kindergartener in TWO WEEKS. I'm not ready for that. Seriously . . .

Next week go S-L-O-W

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:45:00 +0000

I am anxiously awaiting our drive to the much anticipated

FAMILY VACATION

We've been planning it for at least 6 months.

The beach is our favorite place to go and we are returning to the same place we went last year. Tonight we set "sail" via mini-van. Our hope is that the kids will sleep in the middle of the night. I just need to get all of the packing finished today, which is totally not fun, but I must keep the end in sight. That's why I'll post a picture here . . . . I must remember that for the next week I get to wake up to this!

Unexpected Blessings

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Our cookout went so well that I can't thank God enough. I woke up to a very rainy Saturday morning and I was so disappointed. I was stressed that my vision for the sunny day I had in mind was ruined. Everyone would now have to be inside my house and the kids would be bored and the adults would be crammed. So the rain continued and we prepared accordingly . . . albeit, I was begrudgingly (I'm just being honest) going about my duties. And then to top it off, we had a little refrigerator disaster. Uhhh, hello . . . . were we inviting Satan to our cookout? I don't think so!!! Not today!! Well, God prevailed . . . as He always does when we give Him the glory! The refrigerator was not broken as much as we thought . . . . I'd like to believe God repaired it for us. It really was looking bleak because I had to remove everything from the freezer at 10:00 a.m. The rain stopped completely by 5:00 p.m. and the SUN CAME OUT!!!

The cookout began at 6:00 p.m. and everyone was outside having a good time.

Thank you, God, for friends, fun and fellowship. I know He didn't have to stop the rain for us to have a good time. He could have chosen to show me that we could have a good time inside my house . . . . but I'm glad he chose to SHINE the sun :-)

An extra blessing that happened to me is that I had a piano friend/mentor call me over the weekend and invite me to attend a piano workshop with her and we are going tomorrow! This was all completely last minute and I was even able to arrange childcare. This never happens to me. So I know God arranged everything for me to be able to go. I am so excited. It's one of those unexpected blessings.

To the edge and back

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:19:00 +0000

OVERWHELMED is the "word of the day".

We are hosting a cookout this Saturday evening and it's going to be larger than I originally thought when I volunteered over a month ago. I've never entertained on this large of a scale - and to top it off, I don't even get to be here the few hours beforehand to do those last minute set-ups that hostesses always do. I think I might puke just thinking about it. No one knows how to stres out like I do!! I even try to make myself laugh. And then I go right back to the stress. That is pretty sick.

So besides making a list of things I should be getting done, things I still need to get at the store . . . . perhaps what I really should do is make a list of things I am actually stressed about . . . THEN, pray about each one and really, truly give it over to God. I already KNOW He takes care of everything, but I don't really let my heart trust it. I'm so bad at that.

Here's where my attention really should be: I made dinner and delivered it to a family last night whose mom has cancer. She's young. Has three young boys - one of which will go to Kindergarten with my son this year. I just met her a month ago. You just don't know what life will hand you . . . . and yet I'm worried about a little party! This family doesn't know what next month holds for them, what the next 6 months hold! If you think about it, pray for this mom.

Getting sucked in the computer

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:24:00 +0000

I am realizing that this dag'on computer is just stealing my time away . . . oh wait, it's more like the operator who is stealing her own time away.

Case in point: I needed to renew my library book, online. I hop on here . . . oh, I need to check my email real quick . . . oh I have no email. You know why? Because I just checked it half an hour ago! OK, so now that I don't have email, I get on the internet and the home page loads up, but then somehow my brain got distracted and I forgot that I needed to renew my library book, and I have the sudden aversion to go to my most popular social networking site. FACEBOOK. It's like my hand automatically logins there. WOW. Someone please stop me.

So I'm reading all the new posts, looking at pictures, commenting here, there, everywhere.

The next thing I know, 30 minutes have gone by.

WOW.

I shut the computer down.

OH WAIT. I forgot to renew my library books.

Turn the computer back on.

And now I'm blogging about it. More time . . . .

But seriously . . . there were a few days that I actually took to stay away from the computer and it felt weird, but good. It's really strange how that social networking thing can pull you in. I sooooo love connecting with old friends and making new friends and catching up, though. So it's really something that I struggle with. I even have friends on there that I'd like to see come to my church on a regular basis . . . so I keep the communication open. A phone call can be so hard these days because my timing might not be the best for their perfect timing. Enter the world of instant messages, emails, etc. I know that at first it doesn't seem "personal", but I feel that it can lead to personal friendships if you are intentional about it.

OK, and now I have to get off of here!!

Gray has been washed out!

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:26:00 +0000

Good-bye 35, Hello 36.

Today is my BIRTHday. My mom reminded me this morning that I was born a week early. I wonder if that means anything in life? :-) Like maybe I can't wait to get where I'm going!! Like maybe I don't have patience!! Hmmmm. One can ponder.

I believe God chose this day for His perfect time to come into His world. He formed me, He gave me life, He gave me the freedom to make all those decisions for the past 36 years -- well ok, I probably didn't make some basic decisions for the first few years . . . . but you know what I mean. Life sure is interesting when you really start to ponder your journey.

I know many people use the New Year to make resolutions, but I tend to use my birthday to set goals.

This year I would like to go outside of myself - make more friends. I'm rather shy, so this is a bit of a leap. I believe we all need more fellowship in our lives. I want to connect more with those in my community - reach out!

I would like to be in my music more. I would like to be more creative - basically spend time in my hobbies that I've abandoned for quite a while. Somewhere I lost motivation over the past few years. Taking baby steps (like in the scrapbooking arena where my pictures are in such disarray that it scares me to no end!) might be the best way to approach this. But I also must know when to stop! I can get sooo caught up in creativity, that I can't stop; then I get grouchy, and self-centered and snap at the kids! And it's not their fault. Perhaps that's why these hobbies have been abandoned. I know the cost. I haven't found the balance.

And spiritually speaking, I could always improve my relationship with Jesus. I think I should be grounded in scripture more than I am.

So there you have it, a few birthday resolutions for this new 36 year old! (Oh, and in honor of my new age, of course I had to color my hair yesterday to get the gray out . . . story of my life . . . . thanks to my mom's side!)

Heading to the Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:09:00 +0000

A fun Apron giveaway is happening right here! I'm spreading the news!

It's a cute blog that I came across and you should check it out!

July?

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I only have a few more days to be 35 years old. But I think I'll just consider myself to be mid-30's even after my birthday! I'll hang onto that as long as possible! I don't want tangible birthday presents. I just want time: time to spend on my hobbies, because in the throws of motherhood, I have forgotten what they are.

Let there be music

noreply@blogger.com (Just a mom) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:56:00 +0000

It's JULY already!!

We are just cruising along here at the ranch. It's a mundane life, but it's mine.

I wrote a song this week at the piano. I've never done that before. Well, okay, we HAD to do it when we were in theory class in college, but that doesn't count because there were all kinds of RULES surrounding that assignment. Besides, technically it was a "piece" and not a "song". I can't say it's really done yet because I sort of have the music part done in my head and my fingers on the piano, but the words come and go . . . . and I can't get the music out of my head and I can't get the first lines out of my head. But it's been really uplifting for me to be able to do something like this. I just let go, and it happened. I can't really articulate how I've always wanted to do it . . . . but never really tried, never thought I could. I cannot play by ear, but I have been told that one can develop a little bit of talent in that area. My first song is nothing that someone will really applaud, by it is just rewarding personally to me. And that's all that matters. It will stay personal. Sometimes that's all that music has to be.