This is an awesome one, folks! I just came across a blog from Nessa, and she's got lots of cool stuff there! But especially cool, since I have a 14 month old baby girl who *really* needs this (no really, she *needs* this) is a giveaway from Piggy Paint. Awesome!! And there's a ton of ways to enter too, so get your backsides over to Texas Housewife's blog:
Not really, I know. But it's 78 degrees here at the Lodge - on November 7th, for Pete's sake! We're taking advantage of the beautiful weather by raking and bagging leaves from our yard (along with the rest of the neighbors), and we're grilling tonight.
We were finally able to move the "trash" pile of boxes and bags out to the curb for trash pick-up. They don't pick up until Mondays, but I have to work tomorrow, so it was easier to get it done today and make sure it actually got done. I'm very pleased with the progress made today, although my back is *screaming*. I'm also pleased that there were *way* more boxes and bags in the "trash" and "donate" piles than there are in the "keep" pile. YAY for blessing someone else with stuff we don't need anymore :)
We'll have news here in the next week, hopefully. This will be huge for the entire family, and it will require some major changes and adjustments as well. Keep your eyes peeled for a post concerning that. We've been busy preparing for this possibility in order to make the transition as easy as possible.
I'm off to the grocery store to get some last minute things for tonight - I think we're going to hunker down with some snacks and watch football. It's evenings like this that I wish we had one of those fire pits, because although it's warm out now, it gets sort of chilly at night - the perfect weather for a fire!
Have a great weekend, everyone! Enjoy what's left of it!
How could it possibly be October 31st, already?!?! I am continually amazed at how quickly the year is passing by. It always moves fast, but once cold and flu season hits, it goes faster because of how busy it gets at work.
Today has been spent working around the house. I hit the ground FLYing and although I've taken a couple breaks, I've gotten so much done! I'm going through The Boys' room and the basement, 15 minutes at a time, collecting stuff that's just plain trash (*why* have we been keeping broken toys, games missing pieces, etc.????). Then I'm collecting stuff that's still good, but not in use by us anymore - we can certainly let it bless someone else's life! I'll take that to one of my favorite stores,Value Village, tomorrow. I also went to the grocery store and had dinner planned out, but my husband woke up feeling sick to his stomach, and the meal I'd planned wasn't sounding too appealing at all. So I'll save that for tomorrow night's supper and try something quick and easy for tonight.
We'll be heading out for trick or treating later this evening - The Boys are going as zombies (yeah, I really tried to convince them otherwise, to no avail), and GinaGina will be THE cutest bumble bee I've ever seen. We'd planned on heading over to a friend's house for her yearly party, but oddly, she woke up not feeling well either, and isn't sure if the party's a go or not. If not, we'll come back home, sort through the candy, and maybe have family movie night (or family football night, which we enjoy even more!).
Everyone have a safe, happy Halloween! Don't eat too much candy!
Do you ever have those days where you have to force yourself to count to 10 about, I don't know, 15 bazillion times? Where you've taken so many deep breaths that you start to feel dizzy? That even your last nerve is about to break? How do you handle these moments? Do you block everything out? Do you have a hobby to take your mind off things? Do you meditate? Pray? Lose yourself in a good book?
I had one of those days yesterday. In fact, I started this post last evening, but ended up getting up from the desk to do some other stuff, and never returned. I'm not going to exaggerate and say that *everything* was going wrong, but goodness...it sure seemed like it. After I finished up a chapter in the new book I found at the library last night, I prayed that God would wake me up on the right side of the bed this morning and help me to see the simple blessings that I might experience today with fresh eyes. (And yes, I may have thrown in a request to let my new attitude affect that of my children...maybe).
I know that one of God's purposes for me is to raise my children to seek Him, and to be a comfort and blessing to my husband. Sometimes we all slip up, and must get back to basics - He wouldn't have called us for such a demanding job if He didn't think we were up to it! Philippians 4:13 (one of my favorite verses) reminds us that we can do anything through Christ and His strength. What an awesome promise! Sometimes when I'm feeling the burn, so to speak, I tell myself that over and over (in my favorite Jan Karon way) "Philippians 4:13, for Pete's sake!!". I have to remind myself that anytime I feel weak and unable to perform the tasks at hand, Jesus has my back - that's his guarantee. That doesn't mean it's going to be pleasant, but I'll make it through just the same, leaning on Him.
Tonight I had to run out for an errand, and by the time I came back into my neighborhood, the sun (gasp!) was nearing the horizon. As I drove along, I'm sure God was with me. The sun, which hasn't been seen in these parts in eons, it seems, was low enough that I couldn't see it through the houses and trees, but just high enough that it hit the tops of trees, setting the fall colors ablaze. As pulled into my driveway and quickly got my husband, but the sun had lowered too far, too fast before we made it back out to look.
God's reminders of His grace are all around us. I only wish I'd had a working camera to catch this and share it with you through pictures as well as words.
I fully admit to never posting here anymore (not that it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out, I guess). For anyone who is still on my mailing list or a fan of my page, I fully intend to start blogging again with some regularity. I can't promise that will start now, as life is in full swing at The Lodge. However, I had to come and post a link to a blog that's become dear to my heart in the recent past:
I've got a confession to make:
I have 12 pages of email to go through. Yes, *twelve* pages. Some of these are pictures that I've taken from my phone, sent to my inbox with the date, and just not saved to my hard drive. But that's a far cry from 12 pages worth. Much of it is email that I know I want to read, but just don't have the time to open, or I start to read it and I hear a cry or a "Moooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyy" from upstairs, and have to stop.
Well, I've found a website that has some organizing checklists...one is daily and one is weekly. Of course, I only just found it, so I'm already behind for the month of August (let's leave going back to July alone for right now, shall we??). But one of the tasks on there that just stuck out at me like a sore thumb was to empty my inbox. What a daunting task!!
That leads me to my next confession:
I am *not* a reality tv junky. Not. One. Bit. I've never seen an episode of Survivor, not one minute of Big Brother (what are we up to now, BB 27?), nary a second of The Bachelor. However...
I *LOVE* America's Got Talent. Love it. Can't wait for the next episode. I dvr all of them so we can fast forward through the commercials. And this all happened by accident-I didn't go out seeking another show to watch...I've got enough Burn Notice episodes to choke a camel...but I saw a commercial for this season, which showed one of the best acts, of course (but not enough to actually see much of anything), and I had to tune in, you know, just to see that act.
But they suck you in. Seriously.
I've now got 2 favorites. I'd like to say that if both of these men get axed, I'll turn the channel and never watch the show again. But I also have one very unfavorite act, and I'm afraid I'll have to finish out the season just to make sure that act doesn't win.
So what do cleaning out my inbox and America's Got Talent have to do with the price of tea in China? I'll tell you. I found an email from 50's Housewife about Britain's Got Talent (uhm, which would be the British version of America's Got Talent...duh). Now I'd really never watched that before, but I'd seen little pieces of Susan Boyle, probably on America's Got Talent. Anyway, 50's posted links to Susan Boyle singing I Dreamed a Dream, and Paul Potts, singing Nessun Dorma (for some reason, my lame attempt at linking to Paul's performance wasn't working, so I'm going to make you go to youtube and search for Paul Potts, Nessun Dorma...watch the one that's NOT the BGT finals...it's much shorter, and it's worth it, I promise).
Oh. My. Goodness.
I watched, in tears with both performances. I'm afraid I might be a "Got Talent" lifer. Thank you, 50's Housewife for "forcing" me to watch the British version. If you've never gone to her website, check it out. And if you've never watched a Got Talent episode, force yourself to...the good acts make the really bad ones worth every minute...and even the bad ones get my applause for going, getting up there on stage, performing in front of a live audience and thousands of tv viewers, and giving their all.
This blog was started as an outlet - someplace to come and write out the day-to-day happenings (the inner workings, if you will) of my life as a wife, mother, employee, believer, etc. How I could allow it to become a nuisance is beyond me. I don't like feeling pressured to post, and that's exactly how I felt. We took a short trip to Denver a few weeks ago, and I haven't posted since then because I wanted my first post to be the pictures and stories of that trip - now I'm 3 weeks behind because I've been stalling on *one* post! That's just not right.
So, I'm postponing the Denver post so I can continue on with other, less important yet still interesting, things. Rest assured, I will post our Denver Oddessy, Part II.
My garden has sprouted, as have the rabbits. They started after my corn, which I was unsure would germinate anyway (lack of space). Now they've taken to my cantaloupe leaves. So, I googled and found about 1,456,829 solutions to the rabbit problem. What I ended up trying was simple garlic powder sprinkled around the space (I have such an overabundance of garlic powder, it's not even funny). We shall see how the cantaloupe plants look tomorrow morning - the rabbits must be getting them either at night or *way* early in the morning, because I never catch them there during the day, and there's a difference in foliage when I do my morning garden check.
Other than that, I do have some surviving corn. I planted it rather late, so it's smaller than the corn I see in other gardens. Size aside, however, it looks alright so far. I have peas, which the rabbits also got. Every time I'd go out and see new sproutings on the ends of the vines, I'd come back later in the day to find the new shoots gone, bitten away. Ah well - hopefully the garlic will solve that as well. I have no more mini sunflowers, although I can't blame the rabbits. I only had one plant that grew, and I think it may have gotten pulled as a weed by helpful little hands. Honestly, I'd rather have the help than the lone sunflower.
We've got radishes galore, the two hopeful cantaloupe plants, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, green peppers, and pumpkins. No pumpkins yet, but flowers out the wazoo. All in all, I'd say it's a pretty good fare so far. Everything got put into the ground late, and I didn't have near the room I'd planned (that tiller kicked my butt). At the end of this season, I'll be ready with the newspapers and mulch in order to gain more space - about three times what I've got now.
The kids are C.R.A.Z.Y. The boys have cabin fever...the heat and humidity here have been awful for the past couple weeks. Now it's beautiful out, so hopefully we'll be curing that soon. Gina got another tooth, top left, second from the middle. It may not be a vampire tooth, but she'll still look vampire-ish until those top middles come in. She's crawling, standing with support, and "cruising" against furniture like a madwoman.
This weekend marks the 3rd annual (?) trip to PawPaw's over the summer. I think it's the third, but technically it's the first time going to his house up north. We'll leave early Friday morning, and I'm going to stay for a couple days to get the lay of the land there. Then I'll come back with GinaGina, and head back to pick them up the following weekend. If this doesn't cure their cabin fever, then it's hopeless. After they get back, they'll be attending VBS at a friend's church for a week, which they're excited about.
So much going on, and so little time. Soon it'll be time to start buying school supplies again and sending them off during the day. So I'm trying to make this summer as fun as possible for them. I just can't believe how much they're changing, almost day to day.
Do you know what happens when you have a vacation? Not necessarily a time when you travel away from home, but simply a time in which you are not required to go to work. I'll tell you what happens...
You get even further behind than you have been! How does that happen?? I guess things aren't that bad. The kids are out of school for the summer, so if I'm stuck in the throes of paperwork, it's my own, not theirs. They are begging every single day to have so-and-so over, or to go over to so-and-so's house to play, but that's no biggie, and not atypical for them (they would ask that after homework was done during the school year anyway).
I at least had a handle on laundry, sorta kinda, at the beginning of the vacation. Now it's backed up again, but I've started on it early this morning in the hopes that we might actually be getting out of here for a few days. Later today, I plan on going around the house with trash can in hand, to collect "stuff". How said stuff accumulates without actually going anywhere or doing anything is Beyond. Me.
So what have we done? Well, I've begged my older son to let me cut his hair (just a trim!), to no avail. I've watched Jacob get very angry at a V.I.D.E.O. G.A.M.E. because it won't move fast enough. I've seen GinaGina not only begin to actually *crawl*, but to pull up on her knees as well (sigh). I've gotten to watch my entire DVR collection of Burn Notice, or at least start watching it. I've got today to finish, as tonight is the season premiere for the third season. I told Patrick that's what I want for Christmas - seasons 1 and 2 on DVD.
Still haven't gotten the electricity wired to my sewing machine downstairs - that might be a later summer thing. My garden is in full swing as well! My corn has popped up, the tomatoes look terrific, and yesterday a friend brought over another plant for it - he said "It's either an eggplant or brussel sprouts, but I'm not sure which". Then he said he hoped it was eggplant because he doesn't like brussel sprouts. I said I'm the opposite - I was hoping for brussel sprouts because I don't like eggplant. This, of course, led to an entire discussion on how to prepare each veggie. I don't think I convinced him, but he didn't quite convince me either!
My dryer calls!
Well, I know I'm preaching to the choir, considering several of my readers (yup, all 3 of you:P ) have Multi-tasker's Disease just like I do...but how do things get so backed up???
I think spring has officially sprung here in the Midwest. I was actually {gasp!} sweating on my walk home from work today. Truly, it wasn't that warm, but I had my smock on, plus carrying my purse and a bag for my lunch. Plus, I'm no slouch when walking home...it's my exercise, so I'm semi-booking it. But the bottom line is, I *hate* being hot. I mean, there's only so many clothes one can take off, right?
Gina has been...down. We're not quite sure what's hit her, but it's wreaking havoc on our diaper pail! Our supply of infant's tylenol has been depleted as well. She's had a low to mid-grade fever for a few days now, and just isn't herself. It makes it even harder (if that was possible) to leave for work every morning - I'd much rather just sit and cuddle her until she's back to her beanie self.
Thomas and Jacob are SO ready for summer break! I can't remember exactly when they get out of school, but I know it's soon, and so do they! And they're glad to be able to wear shorts to school too, although they still insist they're "freeeeeeeeezing" every morning and want to take their winter coats. By the time we get out to the van, however, they're good to go. Both have field trips coming up too, and they are super excited about that! Oh and Thomas might be getting a lizard...and anole? I think that's what it's called. They have a whole bunch in their class, and anyone who turns in a permission slip gets one (if they don't have enough, then the names get dropped into a hat).
My tomato plants sprouted not long ago (yes, I'm behind!), and I bought one of those little $1 mini-pot things from Target that had sweet basil seeds in it - they're growing as well. I also got strawberries and...something else that I can't quite think of at the moment. I planted those later, however,and they've not sprouted yet. I've got to get the rest of the garden done this weekend...it's been raining so much here that I've not been able to even dig anything more since first starting. As far as I've heard though, this weekend is supposed to be beautiful.
Any other guesses as to what's on my weekend list? SPRING CLEANING, baby!!! Especially now, since the house seems to be in a hand basket here recently. There are a few things on my mental list that *must* get done, but some of the others are just "in the near future" tasks.
And since the baby was up much of the night last night, I think I'm going to hit the sack here shortly. Maybe I'll be able to catch a few z's before she wakes up tonight.
Yes folks, that's right. Montana. You want to know why? Because I'm really bad at giving titles to blog posts. And Montana was the first thing I saw as I looked around my half of The Bunker...that's the kind of guitar I have sitting against the keyboard. Not that I play...guitar or keyboard. My husband has been trying to convince me to pick up the bass and learn, but it hasn't happened yet.
Not that I'm not musical...I'm very musical. I played clarinet from 4th grade all through high school. I was drum major my sophomore and junior years of high school, then head drum major my senior year. I sang in choir (alto, thankyouverymuch). If I'd played a stage band-ish sort of instrument, I would've played in stage band as well - since I didn't, I was stage band manager. I'm musical. But I'm also very impatient, and get very frustrated, very easily. I expect to be able to pick up an instrument and play it, at least semi-well, by ear. I expect this because that's how I work - most instruments I really *can* do just that. But guitar? Not so much. Bass? Really not so much.
Did I mention I frustrate easily? :)
At least this is what I hope. We had a breakthrough of warmer weather just a little while ago, but it gave way to nastiness and cold again. Today, the sun is shining bright in the sky; although it looks warm from my window, the breeze still has a bite to it. I hope that this is the last of it though, and that warmer winds will blow our way soon.
Spring break has arrived, and how quickly it came! The Boys are outside washing their bicycles down, getting them all purtied up. They've got cabin fever something fierce, and need to be outside!
Beanpole had a birthday...I now have a double-digits son!! *tear* He had friends over to the house to play the wii, and we had cake, ice cream and snacks. And after running out of gas on the main drag here in town, we also had pizza (ooops...apparently that low fuel light was burnt out!). Thanks to Andy for coming to pick me up, pizza and all!
Little Linebacker has also had a birthday, turning 8 years old. He did not have a party, which didn't seem to bother him in the least. Chances are, two months from now, he'll realize he never got a party, and pout about having one. That's how he rolls.
And just to my left lies a very sleepy Angel Cakes in her bouncy chair, which is decidedly *not* bouncing right now, because she's sleeping. We had a visit from my sister and nieces this morning, and Cakes' nap was way too short because of all the excitement. So I'm glad she's down now.
Big Boss Man also celebrated a birthday, same day as Little Linebacker's. One year older, adn I love him even more now than when we met.
We had a wonderful visit with my in-laws. I can honestly say, thankfully, that I have in-laws that I love dearly and actually enjoy spending time with. They came up from their home in a much more southern, much warmer state, to celebrate all the birthdays. BBM's brother was also able to visit for a couple days. It was wonderful having family near.
Oh oh oh!!! I also (drum roll please) finished my very first crocheted bag!!! Okay, so I asked Lisa about a pattern that I found online, which she has, not surprisingly, made before. Well, that's not the bag I made, ha!! Let me start at the beginning. My dear sweet mother taught me to crochet when I was younger, but taught me basic crochet...I never learned to read a pattern, and if I knew what a half double crochet was, I certainly didn't know I knew (ya follow me?). So, this bag isn't the first thing I've ever crocheted...but it is the first pattern I've ever followed. It turned out alright. I really don't like the yarn, but it was all I had on hand at the time, and I'm impatient and didn't want to wait for a trip to Michael's. And it was supposed to be a felted bag, but I didn't felt it because 1) I don't really like that look, and 2) that darned yarn again...wasn't the right type for felting. So, all in all it works for a crochet bag - it has room for a book of patterns, my travel-contact-lense--turned-crochet-supplies-bag, etc. The bag I'd originally asked Lisa about turned out to be, well, a little too complicated for my sort-of-beginner crochet brain, so I postponed it.
Now. I recently came across a website that sells incredible little hats...wait, I'm sorry, beanies and headbands for the little girls in your life. They are absolutely adorable! Well, they're having a grand opening give away (and when I went there today to copy and paste their web address, I saw a post that says they've gotten their store open as well!) So, go check out their Grand Opening Giveaway!! And take a gander at their store as well! (Plus they have a really good playlist on their website, lol! Normally those things freak me out, because I never know who's going to have them, and random music starts playing...but this one's good!)
Well the phone has been ringing off the hook, and I really should be upstairs painting, not down here playing. So until next time folks, have a sunny day!!
...and in various different aspects of my life as well! Take, for instance, at work: if we get a script for a compound, we follow a recipe to make it. It doesn't happen often (we technically aren't a true "compounding" location), but when it does, I'm excited to make them.
And here at home? I'm a recipe girl! Dinners - I'm so not an experimenter when it comes to food! Sometimes I wish I were, but I think it mostly stems from having a strict grocery list and menu...if I experiment with a dinner and a) it turns out well, but the family doesn't like it, or b) it turns out like crap and the family doesn't like it, then BOOM! I've ruined dinner, and what am I going to make now??? Plus, food is expensive, in case you haven't noticed! I hate the thought of wasting food.
Also, recipes for disaster. How about this: what do you get when you have children, a day off, a list about the length of your arm full of things to do on said day off, some of which must get done during normal business hours? Well, if you're me (and probably many other moms, at some point), you get a sick child! You get a call from the school, first saying that Little Linebacker has visited the nurse's office a couple times this morning, but he doesn't have a fever and looks just fine. Then right after lunch, when you're on your way to one of the things you must do today, you get another call from that same sweet nurse, saying "Little Linebacker is green in the gills and puking into his coffee can" (apparently they've collected metal coffee cans, line them with disposable plastic liners, and let the kids sit in the nurse's office with them when their tummies are upset).
So I got to go pick up LL and head home with him. He's now laying on the couch, after being forced to head back out with me to drop Beanpole off at PSR. Cakes is also upstairs, whining away. I don't think she feels well either. She's just getting over whatever she had before. Earlier this morning (before the puking incident) she had the diaper to end all diapers, and hasn't been the same since.
I think we're all in for a long night. So, who wants to join me? Gather all your germy kids, your Clorox wipes, and your Kleenex, and maybe a pillow or two, grab a seat on the couch and hunker down for the evening.
Hurry! I know, I know, I'm being pushy. But desperate times call for desperate measures. I just found out about a great giveaway, but it's ending soon (like a coupla hours soon). And I haven't linked to a giveaway in SO long. But this one's worth it. Go check it out. And you know what? If you don't make it over to the site before the giveaway closes, check it out anyway. It's an excellent site, and it links to more excellent sites. I've created a link to her place on my sidebar, for easy access.
It's a wonder how someone can be so content, and at the same time feel like everything is in a complete upheaval. How can things be so wrong, yet so right?
Beanpole had his first orchestra concert last night. He was fan-freakin-tastic!!! I teared up several times. He was able to sit right on the end of the second semi-circle, so the audience was right next to him. He was completely embarrassed by us, but I caught him peeking in between people's heads to see if we were looking. I smiled and winked at him every chance I got. A special treat of DQ ice cream, and all was well with the world.
Breast cancer is a killer. It affects us in more ways than one can count (rest in peace Jude - you are loved and missed). Even if you have not felt the effects of this horrible disease, please click for the thousands of others whose lives are affected every day.
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Everything will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, then it's not the end.
