Nothin' But Time Now

Cheapy McCheapskate Strikes Again - Concrete Floor Staining

2009-10-13T10:30:00.009-05:00

Concrete Floor Staining.

We finally did it. We've been talking for years about ripping out the carpet in our living room and staining the concrete. And over the past few months, it became a reality. Since I've had so many people ask me about it and so many wanting to do it in their own homes, I thought I would give a play-by-play of how it really works...then you can decide whether to DIY or hire someone.

FYI: Our home was built in 2000 as the model home in the community. We purchased it in 2001 as the builders were closing out their part of the community.

At the first of August, we took up the carpet & padding (and pulled up all the carpet tack strips) and hauled it off to the dump - $Free (of course, it cost gas to get there).

But the builders had so kindly left such a mess on the floor. Gross. So we borrowed a friend's shop vac and got busy cleaning the dirt and loose yuk off the floor. Then we discovered that the padding had been glued to the concrete in certain areas so there was glue and padding residue on the concrete in addition to the paint spills, texturing overspray, plaster piles, and whatever else they decided to drop on the concrete. In researching cleaners for this, I discovered you must be careful what you use as not to use something that will leech the lime from the concrete - this is what the acid stain will react with. We settled with a product from Behr - Concrete and Masonry Paint Stripper. I think we ended up using 4 bottles of this at $27 a bottle...yeah, I know, ouch, but I wanted to clean the concrete without stripping out anything that needed to stay in the concrete.

To clean the mess, I worked only in small sections. I would pour a generous amount of the product on the section and leave it for an hour or so. Then I would use a paint scaper tool to scrape up whatever would come up and dump in the trash whatever I scaped up. After this, I would pour a little water on my section and vigorously scrub with a stiff brush. Again, a rinse with water, clean up with old towels and voila! Section done. It was a workout to do those small sections. Musician Hubby has Radial Tunnel syndrome in his arms and wrists, so I didn't ask him to do much of this. Gotta protect those hands, you know!

There were delays with young boy going back to school and with me starting part time work at young girl's pre-school - and of course the week and a half that I had vertigo, so it took us over two months of section by section, little by little to clean, clean, clean the concrete. And then with the concrete being so pretty and clean, we decided - after 8 years of me asking - to paint the living room. Yea!! Of course, with not having an abundance of cash laying around to use, we made the trip to hit every Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart paint department in about a 15-20 mile radius of our house to look for "oops" paints in colors we thought would look good in our house - basically, various earthtones. We found a 5 gal unopened bucket of a nice beige color at Home Depot for $15. Walmart had cheap paint gallons in a chocolate (accent walls in living room) and carob (accent wall in master bedroom) =$20. Another trip to the Depot garnered us another gallon of pretty color for the kitchen for $5. I had some paint supplies in the garage including paint for the trim, but others were picked up on the cheap at these stores, so in all for supplies for three rooms of painting was around $30 (I use the foam/sponge brushes and rollers, plastic tray liners, and the Sure-Line Paint Edger - LOVE this tool).

All the painting was done (three large rooms done at night - finished in one week!), we decided on the upcoming long weekend to stain the floor. We went to Lowe's to purchase the Quikrete Concrete Stain in Tan and the Quikrete Premium Clear Epoxy Coating (interior use). Both of these items were about $72 each - both covering 300-400 sq ft. And we used every bit of both. We covered the walls and trim with tape and contractors paper (about $10 for both).

Before staining, the floor must be cleaned with a TSP soloution ($5 Lowe's) scrubed on with a stiff brush. The floor has to be wet, but not standing water to apply the stain. So I would run in front of Scott and water down the floor and then squeegee up the standing puddles, just making sure the floor was wet. Using a garden sprayer ($18 at Lowe's), Scott sprayed the stain on the floor. It was a little freaky in that the stain looks green when wet. But by the time we got through and to the door, we could see the brown/tan spots. Then we left for the night.

We returned the next morning and had to clean the residue from the floor using a baking soda and water solution and scrubbing with a stiff brush. This took a few rounds of cleaning to make sure all the residue came up. We would walk around and spot check the floor and if any color came up on our hands, then we would clean again.

After all the cleaning was done, it was time for the Clear Epoxy Coating. This mixed up and painted on white so you could see it and make sure to cover everything. After the coating, we backed our way out the door and left for the night again. The next afternoon we came in and started putting the living room back together again. As you can see in the picture, it looks great and we are so happy with it.

I don't know if I would do this again, but maybe. It looks great and I'm loving sitting in my nice cozy looking room.

And if you are figuring out the costs, the floor plus three rooms painted was about $375. Not too shabbby, huh?

Thanks for all the compliments and I hope your rooms turn out great, too!!

The Price to be Paid

2009-07-20T22:01:00.002-05:00

We are on vacation. In Branson, MO. With our children. I know now why parents drink.

Naw, it's not that bad. We've had a great time. Our hotel offers many activities and we've gone to a couple of shows, BOTH of which Hunter was chosen from the audience to participate in the show. One was Kirby Van Burch -illusionist/magician. He chose Hunter to go on the stage and check out the props for his "walk through a plate glass mirror" illusion. Then loaded Hunter up with tons of goodies for participating. The other show was Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede and Hunter was asked to go on a "chicken chase" with a couple of other kids. Out of 1000 people, Hunter was chosen to go out onto the arena floor. Wow! That kid's got some good vacation memories.

But my memory, sigh, although with my family is a great one, no, my memory will be the trip the car gods demanded a sacrifice so our car would make it in one piece. I lost the diamond from my engagement ring. We've scoured the car and nothing yet. I still think it's in the McDonalds bathroom somewhere in Oklahoma.

Yeah, there is a price to be paid for everything.

It's still been a good trip.

Things Kids and Their Parents Say....

2009-06-05T10:13:00.003-05:00

Hunter: "Dad, I'm full of imagination. Are you?"

Dad: "No."

Hunter: "Sure you are Dad. You're full of it. Mom, isn't Daddy full of it?"

Mom: "Yes, darlin', Daddy sure is full of it."

Dad: "Watch it."

Mom: "What? I'm just answering him."

Hunter: "See Dad, you are full of it."

Mom: "Yup. He's full of it all right."

And this goes on and on every day for the past few days. Tee hee.

Cheapy McCheapskate

2009-05-23T21:28:00.006-05:00

Yup. That's going to be my new name. Or at least if I stick to our Dave Ramsey plan it will be. But I did start today with my thrifty-ness.

We were gifted a Calloway's plant nursery gift card for winning "Yard of the Month" from our home owners association during the winter. After all the springs, summers, and falls of planting flowers, sculpting shrubs and bushes, mowing, edging, etc, and we get YotM in the winter. But I digress. Anyway, I finally used my card today to purchase a few container flowers to put on my backporch underneath my Topsy-Turvy tomatoes and jalepeno plants.

Then, since we did not want to spend money to buy a new patio furniture set, I took an old card table that was in the garage, painted the top of it with paint found in the garage and gave it a new look. But that wasn't enough for me. I cut a hole in the center of the table and placed our porch umbrella in the middle of it an Wham-O! A new patio set. With stuff I already had.

Yup. Just call me Cheapy McCheapskate.

Walking

2009-05-07T20:26:00.002-05:00

I'm a people watcher. I go to events and I end up watching the people just as much if not more than the event. So, I tend to notice little things that might go unnoticed by the passing glance.

When I was in Jr.High/High School, I started developing knee problems from basketball injuries. My mom took me to a doctor who evaluated my walking. He pointed out that at that time, I turned my feet out to walk (toes going out). This could cause all sorts of problems with my knees, ankles, back, etc. So, rather than spring for the orthopedic shoes (thank you, mom!), we agreed to watch how I walked and work on it.

Now, I notice so often people walking that same way and I always want to stop them and ask if they have knee, ankle, back, etc. issues and let them know to change their walking stance.

But then again, I may just get punched in the nose. I'll just stick with watching for now!

Confusion and Decisions

2009-04-20T10:46:00.002-05:00

I'm so confused. And tired. You know that feeling you get when you feel like you are the only one in the world going through a particular thing, even though you know you're not, but you still feel like it? Yeah, I'm there. I've been there for a while, but I've just now begun to really break down what is going on.

I have a 7 year old home-schooled son, a 2 year old Princess daughter, and a mostly-work-from-home hubby.

If I manage to find or get invited to a play group with other 2 year olds, my 7 year old son has to tag along and even though he can have fun pretty much where ever he is, he doesn't care for 2 yr old playdates. And the parents of the younger ones don't always seem to be appreciate of his presence. So, Hadyn doesn't get much 2yr old time, Hunter doesn't get much 7yr old time, and no mommy bonding and time out for me in that aspect.

Then the home school activities that he can be around his age group require that I chase my 2 yr old around or is in the afternoon when Hadyn HAS to have naptime (makes a happy child and happy mommy), or is on a day of the week when Dad is off work and we want to spend time with him. So again, not much for Hunter, not much for Hadyn and not much for mommy.

Scott works from home a lot and battles with the guilt of wanting to spend more time with us (so he won't shut his office door) and wanting more space and quiet for his office. Obviously, with all four of us in the house all day nearly everyday, yeah, some stress will build. He wants to move to a bigger house. I don't think that is the answer because all of the above will still be in place.

So, decisions have to be made. We opted for home school due to Scott's work schedule at the time and the fact that he and Hunter never saw each other and it was showing in Hunter's attitude. That was the primary reason. That has changed now and Scott is home more in the afternoons and evenings. School time has been a beating lately with Hunter as he just doesn't want to do anything anymore. I've tried different times of the day - during the morning, but I have to battle with Hadyn needing attention, during the afternoon at her naptime, but Hunter shuts down mentally in the afternoon and just doesn't absorb anything, spreading it out, but then it's harder on all of us. Blah.

I'm just not the Birkinstock-Unschooling-Earth Mama that most of the home-school moms I'm around seem to be, so Hunter going back to public school is not an earth-shattering devastating event that it might be for others. I've also talked to a pre-school director friend about putting Hadyn in school a couple days a week.

Maybe just the space and quiet in the house will calm some things down around here...primarily me. I'd love to have the availability to be invited to do things without hearing "well, we knew you homeschooled so we didn't think you'd have time."

Time, I have. Space and quiet, I don't.

Decisions to make. Confusion over what is best and am I being selfish. Yeah, I'm tired.

That Dam Word

2009-04-13T20:24:00.002-05:00

At dinner tonight, Hunter was talking about his NASCAR '09 video game and how instead of calling a pile up of cars a "pile-up", the video commentators will call it a "dam of cars." I could tell he was questioning the word a little bit and why it was on his game, so I re-explained what a dam is and how it works to block off a river and create a lake behind it, ergo, the front cars in the wreck would cause a dam and block off the run of other cars behind it and create a pile up.

"But," I warn, "be careful how and where you use that word, because someone else could think that you are using a 'bad' word."

To that Hunter answered, "Okay, Mom, I'll just use the good dam word."

Was it wrong for me to bust out laughing at the sound of that? I think not.

I'm Still Here.

2009-04-09T13:35:00.002-05:00

No, I have not abandoned this blog in favor of the more fun HES2 Motorsports one. But everytime I think of something I could blog about here, I have to stop and tell myself that type of information is probably best kept to oneself or just between a friend or two - not potentially anyone with a computer.

Things are crabby around here. Hubby works at the church and one of the two "BIG" times of the year is upon us, so crab, crab, crab while preparing to lead others in worship. Yeah, I see how that works.

Anyway, that being said and the fact that I if I think about it, it is a rare occasion that I can have any time at all by myself without total chaos raining down on me once I reappear (thus not ever wanting to leave), I'll just wait until after the holiday and see how things go.

Until then, yeah, I'm still here. Breathing. Hanging on. Sigh.

Fears

2009-03-28T09:53:00.003-05:00

Funny how our fears change and grow as we age. Yeah, I know, they grow and change because we learn more and more but we don't know enough to keep all the fears at bay. Our pastor did a sermon series on fears recently. I sat there thinking, I really don't have these fears. I don't fear the economy. I don't fear loss. I don't fear disease. Not that I'm covering myself in a bubble and pretending the problems aren't there, but I just know that I am not in control of these things and that I just have to rely on the One who is in control and let Him take care of it, right?

But it is interesting to see fears that manifest in our wee ones. Hunter asks his Daddy every night to feel his heart. Hunter is concerned that his heart will stop beating because he heard something at church about the "ticker" runs the body and if the ticker stops, so does the body. So when he can't feel a big strong heartbeat - you know, like when you are relaxed and laying in bed and it is kind of soft feeling - he has fear of his ticker stopping.

Hadyn is tough. She is strong. She is Princess Warrior. God's warrior. But even the Princess Warrior's armour can be breached if the right fear finds it's way in. Last night, fear appeared in her bath water: the dreaded....the evil.....the despised....FLOATING POOPY!!! She screamed forever and shook like she was in shock over it. It took both mom and dad to calm her down and clean everything up.

Yuk. Come to think of it, maybe I do have fears....cleaning up after my children! Arrrrghhhhhh!!

Nerves

2009-03-22T07:58:00.002-05:00

This post may better belong on my HES2 Motorsports blog, but I think I'll put it here.

I am nervous. My baby boy is kart racing today. Daddy is nervous. His son is racing today. Of course, this is the first race of his life and I'm sure our nerves will be somewhat better for the races to come, but for this one, I think we are both basket cases.

But it is interesting to see how we both handle it. Last night I was busily scurrying around making lists and getting thing pre-prepared to pack and go this morning. The kids were bathed and in bed and I was ready to relax. Dad, however, seems agitated about something. He looked like he was about to puke. I looked over to see Scott putting on his shoes to go somewhere - at night - with the kids in bed. "Where are you going?" I ask curiously. "I have to get some air."

After a little while of tring to calm down, Scott finally just went to bed and was up a 4am this morning with nerves still getting him. Bless his heart. I slept like a rock. But this morning is when the nerves are hitting me. Do I have everything we'll need? Can I eat something without hurling it? Are we ready to go? Will it be therepeutic to type this all up on a blog for everyone else to see? Am I just asking too many questions?

Sigh. I am ready. But we could all sure use some prayers today!!

Captivating

2009-03-18T12:37:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite books - back in the day when I actually had the focus to sit down and read - is Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. They discuss the woman's heart, from God's point of view. Basically, women, until we know better, base our relationship with our Heavenly Father on the relationship we had/have with our earthly father. And every little girl just wants her daddy to tell her how captivating she is.

Hadyn will hang out in the bathroom with me watching me put on my makeup. Of course, she has to have everything done that mommy is doing. So, we have our little routine of putting on "mate-up". I will dust a little very light colored eyeshadow on her little bitty lids. She closes her big blue eyes and lets me "beautify" her. Of course, I am very careful to tell her that we (yes, mommy, too) are very beautiful without the makeup, but that it just brightens our beauty a little bit.

Then she will run straight out to her daddy and close her eyes so he can see her beautiful "mate-up". Scott, being a wonderful daddy, will oooh and ahhh over her and tell her how beautiful she is. I swear I see that little bitty float four inches off the ground as she runs into the next room to get back to playtime. And all it took was a "wow" from her daddy.

I pray that this relationship grows and continues with the two of them. It is so sweet to watch now.

What Kind of Boat Do You Have?

2009-03-04T14:45:00.003-06:00

In thinking about discussions I have had with different people regarding different religious/spiritual beliefs, I had a visual metaphor pop into my head. I’d like to share.

Imagine yourself on a lake with nice smooth waters and just warm enough to really enjoy being in. Then you decide to go water-skiing. Most people would be on their skis in the water with a rope connected to a boat ready to be pulled up to their feet and go skiing. However, you are in the water with skis on, but no boat.

The people behind all sorts of boats are pulled to their feet and are being towed off into different directions…all of who seem to be willing participants in this activity. Now, some of these people could be speeding in directions that will lead them into danger, but they are going anyway. Some are willingly heading another direction toward rough waters even though they have been told repeatedly and shown evidence that is not the direction they need to go in. And then some are going into waters that are even better than what they are currently in and will enjoy skiing in the best environment they could ever imagine. Then of course there are some people who don’t believe in boats and so they just don’t even get into the water.

Yet here you are in the water. You are just sitting in the water trying to ski on your own. You have nothing to pull you up; no support. You look at all the types of boats going in different directions but are worried about which brand of boat is best for you. But instead of listening to the words and advice of other trusted people and reading the research for yourself about which boat is best for you, you just sit and try to do it on your own. And go nowhere.

So you have a choice to make, sit in the water going nowhere or picking a boat.

What kind of boat would you choose?

We Heart Household Products - My Fav Product

2009-03-03T16:56:00.005-06:00

Gotta love Facebook. I saw a friend's profile status that offered a chance to win a Flip Video Camera and I was all over that. The link led me to a blog called [Alice] We Heart Household Products. This blog will be one on my regular reading list...not only for the giveaway, but for the topic!! Anything I can learn to make using the products in my house work more efficiently is for me.

So, the product I chose to blog about for this giveaway is my Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I luuuvvvv my magic erasers. I leave one in my shower to clean before I get in and voila! My shower is squeaky clean. With two small children, wall marks, floor scuffs, cabinet uh-ohs, and what not are all the more reason to keep something with "magic" in it's name. I've used it to clean up paint, too.

Yup. Gotta have my Magic in my house!

With Great Power....

2009-02-28T10:39:00.002-06:00

"With great power comes great responsibility." These words were uttered by Peter Parker's Uncle shortly before his own demise. For those who are comic book challenged, Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

But these are true words.

I have to give them to Hunter on a regular basis. Not because he has secret super hero powers, but because he is a big brother...and big brothers might as well have super hero powers in the eyes of their little sisters. I know I certainly thought my big brother could do no wrong.

Hadyn will intently watch her brother's actions and then sure enough, mimic them. And not all of her brother's actions are worth repeating. Apparently when 7 year old boys play "kitchen/diner", there tends to be a certain amount of plastic food debauchery - stuff that 7 year old little girls may find repulsive, but a 2 year old baby sister thinks is the BOMB!! And so creates a bigger mess that does not need to happen.

When mom breaks out into song and dance, a 2 year old little girl will giggle with glee and join right in having a grand old time. However, a 7 year old boy will scream at the top of his little lungs for mom to STOP THAT and will tackle mom with a force reserved for collegiate football try-outs. Again, little eyes see and follow suit.

Sigh.

I don't want to squash the boy out of my boy, but I really don't want to find the girl gone from my girl, either. So, we resort to Spider-Man tactics. Be a super hero to her.

And to mom.

Opinions -Again.

2009-02-25T13:25:00.002-06:00

Opinions. Yup, we all have them. Some you take with the proverbial grain of salt, some you let go in one ear and out the other, some you refute, and some you agree with. But everyone has one. Case in point, I have one today. Take it as you will.

At my bible study this morning at a church I visit (but is not my home church), our discussion was making all sorts of circles around our topic at hand. One woman offered up her opinion on the topic using last night's Presidential address as reference. This woman appeared to me, based on her viewpoint, to be a more conservative citizen of our country. Later on another woman again used the address as reference, but looking at it from another angle, seemed to be much less conservative, but not entirely liberal in her beliefs. So here were two different women, two different viewpoints of the same thing, but neither making remarks that would turn away someone who was seeking an answer.

Then enters woman #3. This woman offered up not a political reference to our topic, but a "religious" one. She proceeded to slam a very well known minister to which she had only seen on television and in an interview. She has never been to his church, nor obviously ever listened to him discuss how and why he was called into ministry. If so, I don't know if the slam would have been there. She did not like what she referred to as "feel-good-ministry". Even when I brought up that there is more to his ministry than what she is seeing on tv, she argued her point even deeper. My thinking was that he was called to do just what he is doing. He is leading people to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior and if the Lord wants him to do more, he will do more. If someone does not like this teaching, then there are thousands upon thousands of other ministries that will give a person what they are seeking.

Which made me wonder, why as "Christians" do we feel so comfortable slamming other "Christians" for doing what they are called to do? And how does that look to someone who is not a Christ follower? No one at our table was slamming President Obama or former President Bush. No, that was all very polite conversation.

My opinion is that is doesn't shed a very good light on us as a whole. Wonder what we could do about that?

Interview

2009-02-19T19:47:00.002-06:00

Yeah, I'll bite on these things occasionally. So here goes:

Here are the "rules:"
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

These questions came from my friend at ohbutno:

1) What snippet of scripture rocks your world?
There are just so many that it's hard to point out just one, but I would probably fall back on Psalm 50:15. In this passage, God is having "issues" with His people not following His ways and doing evil things (sound familiar to today?) and He tells us what He wants from us: "Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you and you will give me glory." Simple and neat. Trust in Him. Let Him rescue you. Then praise Him for it!!

2) What is the difference between being a Boy Mama and being a Girl Mama?
Well, naturally, I love both of my kids so much it hurts, but the difference would be what I see in them. With Hunter, I see what Scott might have been a little like as a boy and I see my son - what I would hope he would become. He is my sunshine!! With Hadyn, I see me. I can see the beauty in her that God has put in me that I have let the world tell me I don't have. Of course she is most definitely her own person, but it is neat having that "girl" bond with her.

3) Which three small joys do you seek out regularly?
My morning cuddles with my kids is such a joy and treat. When they get up and aren't really awake yet, they come cuddle up on and beside me on the couch. This is my treat! Another would be cooking a good meal for us to sit down and enjoy together. We do this almost every night. It is rare that we don't sit down for lunch and dinner together. A new joy is going for my morning walk with Holly. As long as it isn't too cold. Or too hot.

4) What is your earliest memory?
I don't know, really. Seems like I've blotted so much of my childhood out at times. I have a vague "remembery" of putting my sister's glass contacts on my eyelids and calling them ton-tacts. And I remember writing a bunch of letters on a paper and giving it to my brother as a "letter". He read it and told me that I had actually spelled "hot" out in my letter. So at that point, I knew how to spell "hot". I remember standing up in the seat of the pickup behind my Dad's shoulder while driving. Wouldn't do that now, huh??

5) What possessed you to buy the 'splodin' frog soap, and what (Pray tell!) will you do with it when it arrives?
Eh, who knows. Except that my kids love to have colored foam in the tub, colored water tablets, and that type of thing so exploding frog soap just seemed appropriate. It's the little things in life that entertain us the most, isn't it? So, I'll spring a few $$ for some goofy things every now and then. When it arrives, I'm sure it will be bath time!!

Let's Go Racing - Maybe...

2009-02-17T16:53:00.003-06:00

So, Hunter wants to race go-karts. Okay, no problem. Except for the cost, the time, the effort, blah, blah, blah. This is a kid who is not athletic or aggressive or highly competitive. Yeah, I know, he's 7. But, seems like a lot of boys around 7 are out doing something. So for a couple of years now, Hunter has been talking about racing go-karts. Alright, let's look it up.

I found a track not too far from here that races kid karts - his age group with slower, easier karts. After watching and talking with other parents, Hunter was sold and we were interested in learning more. In asking around about a chance for Hunter to try out a kart, we met Go-Kart Dad with one for sale. We went out yesterday to meet up with him and his son and try out the kart. Christopher jumped on the kart and ran it up and down the practice lot warming the engine up. Zip, zip, zip, figure 8's around cones and zip, zip, zip some more. Then it was Hunter's turn. Hunter donned the helmet and neck brace, squeezed down into the kart and then........putt, putt, puttery-putt. Nope. No zip, zip, zip for my boy. No sir, Mr. Cautious wasn't about to apply the gas to this death machine. But he did find the brake pedal right away.

So after a few minutes of coaching from Mr. Go-Kart Dad, our current decision of "not right now" started showing signs of "well, maybe." We could hear the engine actually starting to get gas to it and watching him take the corners showed a little sign of hope. Then Go-Kart Dad told us how his son (and many others) did the same thing on the first few times. He coached us on how to teach him and described the very frustrations that I was thinking would arise should we jump into this. Hearing these shared feelings reassured me that our little boy would probably fit right in eventually.

We are still praying and discussing the pros and cons of getting into this. Given that the races are on weekends, I would be responsible for taking Hunter to the track, unloading, tweaking, and getting him ready for race time, at which Daddy might be there.

We'll see. Keep praying for us!!

Lessons

2009-02-12T10:03:00.002-06:00

Learning lessons can be hard. Teaching them can be harder, sometimes.

I have started going for morning walks with a good friend. The plan is that I take Hadyn with me and when Scott has early morning meetings or something, Hunter will go with us and ride his bike. On the mornings Hunter does not go, he will stay here with Dad and do his "morning routine" which is:

get dressed
brush teeth/hair
make up your bed (and put the pillows on it)
straighten up your room
do your journal
and do your Spanish (on the computer)

So, this morning, he was at home with Dad and was told to do his "routine". I came home from our walk and asked him if he did everything. "Yes." "Did you do your Spanish?" knowing how he hates doing this. "Ummmmm.......yes, I did part of it." "Really?" "Ummmmmmm....yes, I did a little until Daddy said he needed me." So I just smiled and walked into Scott's office and asked him what he needed Hunter for. He, of course, was confused so I told him what was going on and we both called Hunter in to confront him with his lie.

Ouch. I really hate this. Such a simple little fib. No, he didn't do his Spanish, but he did do everything else. Good Mama should just let it go, right? Nope. Not this Mama. I hit where it hurt - I grounded him from not only any video game he may want to play, but also his computer and then the kicker - all of his toys for the day. That was the one that hurt. He can do his schoolwork and read and if he doesn't whine and scream, I will allow him to watch some TV with us today. But if the neighbor friend comes over after school to play, Hunter can't go out to play.

Wow. But we are hoping to send a very strong message - Lying is not tolerated in our home!!

So it is hard on him, but I feel so badly for him, too. Yeah, lessons are hard to learn...and teach.

Masks - UPDATE FEB 18th

2009-02-06T15:28:00.004-06:00

*update Feb 18th at bottom
Blogs are good for keeping family and friends in touch with what's going on in your life, sharing a special skill with others in the blogging community, and sometimes to reach out for help or advice through therapeutic writing.

The latter is where I find myself today.

Do you ever find yourself in a rut, knowing what needs to be done, but no motivation to do it? For example, I know that to be healthier and to lose my inches, I need to exercise. But I seem to make excuses - good ones - for not doing it. I need to engage my children in more play activities, but I find myself getting involved in time consuming nonsense instead. I need to stay on top of our monthly bills and budget - and I do a pretty good job of that in that nothing is ever late - but I could do better in planning and budgeting. I am now doing menu planning, and I really enjoy cooking and preparing meals, so that is getting better. I have fabulous ideas in my head, but cannot seem to muster up the motivation to get them out.

Anyway, all of that and more to say I think I'm depressed. And I can say this because I recognize the pattern of it from my Mother who now, in her 70's realizes she battles depression. My sister and I look back at our lives and our Mom's behavior and it is clearly there. But it wasn't discussed back then. So she just dealt with it by wearing a mask of routine. Get up, fix breakfast, get the kids off to school, get ready, go to work, do the same thing every day, come home, fix supper, clean up, kids in bed, watch tv, go to bed. Every day. Weekends, were a little more stressful. The unpredictability of the weekend removed the weekday mask.

I love my Mom, but I don't want to live my life with this. I want to remove my mask.

Health wise, I feel good. I'm not sick. My family is rarely sick. And when someone is sick, it's not for long. We eat healthy foods. I need to remove my mask on eating too much, but it is healthy food...but too much none-the-less.

Now, before you instruct me to go pray, believe me, I DO. I have NO masks on there. And I have a faith like you wouldn't believe. I am strong and secure in my walk. Which is why I would be able to post something like this for potentially the whole world to see. Hey! Jonah and Moses both battled depression. I think they did a pretty good job of "communicating" with God, don't you?

So, it is strength and accountability that I think I need to pull this mask off for good. I need someone with which to work out (either for real or virtually) that won't flake out on me (I don't know that Scott is that good of a work out partner). I need someone to help me by just checking in on me every now and then. Let me know you are out there and care. I am horrible with feeling like a burden in other peoples lives since everyone else seems to be so busy and I'm at home...all day...with my children...the education of one in my hands...and the development of the other on my heart.

Anyone have any ideas??
thank you!

*UPDATE February 18th - My local friend Holly and I have gotten together to walk out our respective woes and get some exercise to boot! We meet every morning and walk 3 miles at a pretty good clip (between 45-48 minutes depending on hitches in our git-a-longs). Praise God and thank you to all who supported me in my transparency!!

Sweet Hubby

2009-01-28T15:45:00.003-06:00

Okay, I had posted in my blog last week that I was still waiting on a present that Scott had ordered and was excited about. Well, I got it on Monday!

And before I tell you what it is, let me make it perfectly clear, I am in no way a present-grubbing-gimme-gotta have it-girl. No, I was perfectly happy spending the day with my family. And I didn't mind shopping for the apron Scott searched so hard for and couldn't find.

But he did have this gift planned out, worked on, and ordered way before my birthday. It just wasn't shipped in time to arrive on my day. But that's cool. I got to celebrate again on Monday. And what a lucky wife and mommy I am!

So, here it is:
I am the very proud recipient of an Apple iPhoto created personalized calendar for 2009!!

From January all the way through December (yeah, smartie pants, I know most calendars work that way) I get to look at my beautiful family and have important dates highlighted for me. What a great gift and what a wonderful hubby to have thought this through so much and planned this out for me.

Apron

2009-01-21T16:09:00.004-06:00

Today, I am 41. Yes, according to a friend who had this birthday in July, I am officially IN my forties. I am not just 40, I am IN my forties. Cool.

For my birthday, I requested two things of my family. One, a new battery for my watch, and two, I wanted an apron. Yes, I did request this. I cook a lot in my home and I seem to get EVERYTHING on my clothing while cooking. Oh, my children do tend to help with this mess, but yeah, I get dirty. So, to deter my laundry stress, I asked for an apron.

Scott told me last night that apparently no one in Suburban Texas cooks anymore. Well, duh. From the number of thriving food joints around, no, I don't think hardly anyone does either. Kohl's, the people who have everything, do not carry aprons "off season". Oh yeah, did you know that the only time people cook is around the holidays? Wal-Mart, the people who really have everything, don't carry them AT ALL. Grocery stores - where one would find food for people who do cook - do not carry them. And to top that, he did get a battery for my watch, but couldn't get the back off of it to put it in. So he was bummed that I wasn't going to have anything to open on my day. I suggested that he could give Hunter some cash and then he could "take" me to World Market to see if they have any.

So, today, before my trip to the pizza place/bounce house for MY birthday, Hunter, Hadyn and I ran to World Market. Yes, Virginia, there is a place in Suburbia that people still buy things in which with to cook. I found my apron!!

And Scott did get the battery put into my watch. Good day, good day.

(Scott does have another surprise coming for my via mail. He is excited for it to arrive. I'm curious to know what has HIM excited??)

Are We All REALLY That Busy?

2009-01-13T10:49:00.006-06:00

Balance. Yeah, life is all about balance. But there can be too much that you have to balance, too. Have you ever just played with a set of balancing scales? When you put something on one side, that side goes down, then you can balance it out by putting something on the other side and all is good. But like our lives, when you keep stacking stuff on the scale plates, it may balance, but inevitably, something will spill off and then you are unbalanced. And like most good Americans, we don't say, "oh, hey, maybe I've got too much on my plate," no, we just keep re-stacking and pretending to balance our lives out with too much until it all falls off. By then, the damage has been done.

You with me?

My Dad called me lazy once (maybe more than once), and I disagreed. I will work. I will do whatever I need to and I will try to do it to the best of my ability. I will even see what needs to be done beyond my assigned task. But I see no need to take on more than I absolutely need to. Does that make me lazy?

Let me go further in explanation. I had an aunt and cousin killed in a horrible car accident several years ago. My cousin Jan was mother to three young children. Her sister would come to her house once a week to help her clean because Jan didn't keep up with it all the time. I was told that Jan would be doing something in the house and when one of her kids asked her to play, she would stop and sit down to play. So one could argue that Jan didn't balance her scale, but she did have help come in every week to balance that scale. In Jan's story, my opinion is her scale was balanced because now those children do not have their mother but they do have the memory of her spending time with them.

Close to three years ago I backed out of a lot of "things" I was involved with. My pregnancy with Hadyn was hard and then after having her, I just wanted to spend time with my kids. I didn't have the devoted time with Hunter when he was little that I have with Hadyn since I was working full time then. But now I have both kids at home and as trying as it may be at times (lots of times HA!), I wouldn't trade it for anything right now.

I clean my house, do laundry, grocery shop, cook, home-school, but I try to make time for play. Most of the time, our play is just silly fun, not organized game play, but man, we have fun. Sometimes we just sit and relax watching some tube. I realized one day that one thing I don't do is call up girlfriends and chit chat - I'd love to hear some Mommy voices regularly - but when I really thought about it, mostly it's because all I hear from other moms are how busy they are. Kids are involved in every thing possible, and the moms are rushing from one appointment to another every day and just don't have time to sit and visit.

Now my question is, are you really that busy or do you feel like you have to say that because if you're not, then you, too, must be lazy? Both things are unbalancing the scale. If you are that busy, you're scales are either so unbalanced or so overloaded that it's unhealthy. If you aren't that busy, but feel that you must say so, that's not healthy either.

So, I'm not that busy. Obviously, I have time to blog and Facebook. I play with my kids most of the day. I challenge the rest of you to stop and sit for a little while and not feel guilty about it.

Can you do it?

I Heart Faces - Week 1 Entry

2009-01-12T17:54:00.003-06:00

So, I decided to go ahead a submit a photo to the new photography blog i heart faces.
I am by no means a good photographer, but when I have such a cute subject, it's hard to go wrong! This is from our summer vacation to New Mexico. Hadyn is giving me her "cheeeeese" smile. Gotta love it!!

Be sure and go to i heart faces and submit your faces!!

Menu Planning - Go Ahead, Try It!

2009-01-10T16:25:00.005-06:00

I'm really good at having ideas but not that great at making them come to fruition. I've had the idea for a really long time to start doing menu planning for our meals to ease up on our grocery budget, but just never had actually sat down to plan. Or when I would plan, I would come up with the same thing, over and over and over again. With the surge in online social things like Facebook and blogs, I see more and more people doing menu planning in one form or another.

So, I've been getting a weekly free menu from Menus 4 Moms for a few months. I've read through the menu, thought about it for a few seconds and then went on about my day. But I guess due to the whole new year thing, I decided to take action on this one. I downloaded the recipes and plan and also the grocery list, went off to the store and spent a stupid amount of money on groceries.

My immediate thought was there was no way this could be any better than the fly by the seat of my pants shopping and cooking I have always done. But now, I see the light. A lot of my spent money was restocking my pantry with things that will last a while. Also, some of the meals I will make will also create extra or left overs to go into the freezer for another meal on another week.

Then it hit me: ca-ching! Aha! THAT'S why people do menu planning. It really can save on the grocery budget because I won't be running to the store every other day to spend more money on a meal since I have it in my freezer already or all the ingredients already picked up for the week and in the pantry and 'fridge. Now my groceries may tend to run just a bit higher than the published grocery lists estimated costs because we buy organic and natural foods. But still...

So, to help out anyone interested in trying this, I have added a gadget to the side of my blogger page to show each week's menu along with the link to the website for the recipes and grocery list. Again, this is the free list they offer. Not a bad deal at all.

I've Got Proof!

2009-01-06T19:10:00.003-06:00

Now I have proof!

My children DO know how to wash dishes, so when they get older and tell me they don't know how to do it, I can whip out these pictures!

Hunter has always been really good at putting his dishes in the sink and helping clear the table, and now Hadyn will put things in the sink when we ask her to.

Since he is always the last one eating at the table, I decided that he could learn how to wash his own dishes. Of course for a while, the washing will be monitored for cleanliness sake.

But I just couldn't resist snapping these pics this evening.

Yup, I've got proof!

Something to Help Your New Year's Resolutions!

2009-01-01T10:00:00.000-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!

It’s the New Year and most every one makes resolutions of some sort. Most of those resolutions made (and broken) tend to fall around the health category. You know, the “I’m going to lose weight,” “I’m going to eat more healthy,” or “I’m going to exercise regularly,” type of resolution.

Well, I am willing to offer some help for you to get healthy and feel better to be able to maybe do something about improving your health and well-being.

And this New Year week is the one and only time (in a few different forms for better coverage) that I am going to put this info out here for you. The reason for the one time – I don’t want anyone to “avoid” me because they might think I am “selling” something and after them to “sign up”.

NOPE. NADA. NYET. NO.

Did you understand that? I am not out to SELL you something. This is NOT my "business".

I am, however, putting this out here in the wide open because for 9 months, at the recommendation of my most trusted, non-pill pushing doctor, Scott and I have been using renewal products from Univera. (www.univera.com)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you’ve just tuned out. Well, tune back in and pay attention for just a sec. Contrary to what you might think, I am not the "jump on every-passing-band wagon" type of gal. No sir, I like to do a little research on things first before I go hawking them to anyone else. I’ve tried some of the other “use this and have energy” type of things and maybe they work for a short (very short) period of time and maybe they don’t do anything for me at all. But this stuff not only caught my attention, but Scott started using it and he is now a believer. And this is a very skeptical man about any “products”.

As well as researching the products, I also experimented from time to time by stopping them and experiencing the difference in how I was feeling. What I noticed is that when I take the Ageless Xtra and the Prime product, I certainly don’t bounce off the walls, but I feel more motivated to get things done. I have clarity of thought to actually plan and think. I am not nearly as stressed out as usual and with the motivation (energy) I have to actually work out, my muscles and joints don’t ache like they had before. All of this while having previously been diagnosed as anemic. BUT when I stopped taking the products, I could most certainly tell the difference. Everything went back to “normal”. Stress, swirling thoughts, aches and pains, and no energy to do anything came back. My mother takes the products and when she is regular with them, she has the same experiences. But taking them regularly is the key.

Since we are in our 40’s and aren’t dragging around like “old people”, there must be something working in the Univera products. Also, we are not rich, weathly, well-off, or anything on that level and most of you know that. But since we are convinced of the usefulness of these products, we make it work. I signed up as an Associate to get the products at a wholesale price (I think it was like $40 to sign up or something). With my mom, sister, and mother-in-law also getting some products every month, the residual makes the products very affordable for us.

Lastly, In reading different books and articles, it seems that we have been trained to believe that all the things that go wrong in our bodies are a natural result of getting older. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be the way it is. I have copied some information about the company and the Ageless Xtra product below. If after reading this, you are interested in getting some product for yourself, either contact me for more info or go to the website (http://www.univera.com) and read more. If you’d like to order some of the product to try, from the SHOP screen you can view and select products then register as a customer. You’ll need my associate number to order, so leave a comment or email me and I'll get that number to you.

If you’re not interested, not a prob, but I chose not to keep this to myself and my family. I hope that for your health and well-being you are willing to give it a try. It’s not for me, it’s for you. And again, please don't assume that I'm trying to build a business and using you as my sales quota. I'm just trying to share some good stuff with you.
Take care!!

MORE INFO FROM THE UNIVERA WEBSITE:

Genomics (the ability to read information encoded in DNA) has been hailed as the most important scientific advancement since the microscope. With full-scale genomics research capability, Univera is a world leader in this important technology, enabling us to develop AgelessXtra®.

Sixty-five percent of how your body performs and ages is up to you. Only 35 percent of performance and aging is genetically predetermined. You have the power every day to help build a healthy body and to feel, look, and perform better than you ever imagined.

AgelessXtra® is a scientifically-formulated nutritional and active-botanical supplement that promotes vital energy, supports mental clarity and focus, helps manage stress, and promotes joint comfort and flexibility. While taking Xtra™, you will feel an increased sense of energy and vitality.*

Xtra was formulated through extensive DNA genomics-level research and tested using a double-blind, placebo-controlled study on active ingredients. These combined effects harnessed the unparalleled scientific firepower of the ECONET. Univera created a true cell renewal formula – a powerful blend of ingredients to help you look and feel better every day.

Xtra is a proprietary formulation of powerful ingredients that dramatically improves repair and reduces damage on your personal seesaw: on one side is repair; on the other, damage. With the stresses of everyday life compounded by aging, your body's ability to repair itself declines. When damage accelerates, it pushes up on the damage side of the seesaw. The opportunity you have with Univera products is to conversely push down on the damage side and push up on the repair side, which increases energy and tips the seesaw in your favor.

Ageless Xtra Promotes Vital Energy*
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Within every cell of your body is an energy "assembly line," and when you don't provide your cells with the essential building blocks to produce energy, you become fatigued. AgelessXtra® includes a proprietary all-natural formulation of vitamin B3, Pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P or the active form of vitamin B6), Ornithine alpha-ketoglutarate, green tea extract, and Cordyceps sinensis — all critical energy cofactors to optimize cellular energy production.

Ageless Xtra Supports Mental Clarity and Focus*
Life is short — be in the moment. Every second of every day, your cells are under attack by oxidizing agents called free radicals. Antioxidants stop free radicals from damaging and destroying cells. With the antioxidant protection of up to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables in every ounce, Xtra™ contains a highly potent, concentrated blend of blueberries, cranberries, grapes, and dark cherries for maximum protection to positively impact your overall brain function and sharpness.

Ageless Xtra Helps Manage Stress*
Relief for everyday life. Struggling with work deadlines, family needs, traffic jams, or just too much coming at you all once? Xtra includes world renowned herbs – Rhodiola crenulata and Ginkgo biloba – that synergistically work to relax and empower the body and brain to face the constant demands of everyday life.

Ageless Xtra Promotes Joint Comfort and Flexibility*
Freedom to move. Stiff muscles and joints cause discomfort, which ultimately compromises your active lifestyle. Xtra contains the award winning ingredient Protectin™, which has been shown in double-blind, placebo-controlled, human clinical trials to dramatically improve joint comfort and mobility to unleash your body’s potential.

The Damage Reducing Power of Antioxidants

Antioxidants have been in the news a lot in the last few years, and for good reason. Antioxidants help stop free radicals from damaging and destroying cells.

Industry Leading Results

AgelessXtra® provides a nutritious fruit blend containing grape, cranberry, cherry, and blueberry juices known for their rich colors, high ORAC potential, and flavonoid content. Xtra™ delivers antioxidants to your body at far greater levels than a typical diet can provide. In fact, independent scientific studies have shown that one serving of Xtra provides the antioxidant protection of up to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables!

Univera and our global support structure, ECONET, work on a very simple, but carefully integrated model of discover, develop, and deliver:
• We discover the secrets of nature and study natural compounds and their effect on the human body.
• We develop unique nutritional formulations based on scientific research.
• We deliver these products and their renewing power directly to you.
In simple terms, renewal is the body’s ability to regenerate and replenish cells giving you the opportunity for daily improvement in how you look, feel, and perform. Univera, in conjunction with ECONET® resources, has spent decades exploring the secrets of natural products to support this process. That work has led to more than 160 patents and patents pending that have been developed in our state-of-the-art research facilities, the only such labs in the world dedicated to this specific research.

You Can't Hide Chocolate Ice Cream from Mama

2008-12-31T16:16:00.004-06:00

Everyone in our family knows that I love and adore chocolate. I think that chocolate is truly a gift from God. I mean it has stuff in it that makes you feel good, enhances your "love" feelings, and reduces stress. It's almost perfect!!! The only negative thing about it is that you can get fat by eating too much of it. Bummer.

So, when Hadyn got her new kitchen set for Christmas, Mommy was thrilled to see there was an ice cream freezer and four different kinds of ice cream included. All right, it's plastic ice cream, but that IS the non-fattening kind.

As I was cleaning up some toys today and putting things back in their places, I noticed the chocolate ice cream was missing from Hadyn's freezer. I searched all over her room, in and around her kitchen, in our living room under the coffee table and around the couches. Then, as if my chocolate Ninja senses kicked in, I opted to look under the Christmas tree. Reaching between the two tree skirts (one is a cute automated Santa one and the other is my hand print project skirt), I felt a lump. I quickly peeled the two skirts apart to discover.....THE MISSING CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM!!!

Yeah, like you could really hide chocolate from Mom. Even the plastic kind. Sheesh. Who do these kids think they are dealing with?

Wonderful Christmas

2008-12-27T17:35:00.004-06:00

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas. We discussed at length many times what the REAL reason for the season is and why we celebrate. But at 7 and 2 years old, presents rule!!

Grandparents and Aunts & Uncles gave way too much to our kiddos totally overwhelming them. But we are very grateful for all those gifts anyway.

But the gifts from Mom and Dad and Santa are the hits at our house. Hunter has spent most of his time on his "NASCAR Ultimate Speedway Track Set". You must say all 5 words when you speak of this gift. Just saying Track Set, or Speedway, or toy, won't cut it....it must be ALL 5 words!!!!

And Hadyn is totally infatuated with her new kitchen. She is taking our orders right now on her pad of paper and serving us with her choice of our orders. Mostly ice cream, iced tea, and tottee (coffee).

It was fun and we are loving watching them play and have fun. What a joy to see such joy in them!!!

Waiting for Christmas

2008-12-23T13:15:00.005-06:00

Merry Christmas!

I am loving being in a house with young children at Christmastime. Hunter is bouncing off the walls in anticipation of Christmas. Hadyn picks up on anything brother does and is bouncing right along with him. They've been really good to stay out of the gifts that are under the tree, but ornaments on the tree are a completely different story. My tree is starting to look a little off kilter with all the ornaments slowly migrating to the top of the tree. Oh well. I love the anticipation, too.

At church one day, some of us had a discussion over what is told to children for the inevitable question of "is there a Santa Claus?" One dad said that he will answer honestly with a direct question, but disclaimer the answer with it is not to be discussed with other children. When another dad said that they would not "lie" to their child when asked, I had to respond. My mom and dad never told me anything. I got to an age, but I don't remember when, that I knew where that gift under the tree came from, but my mother would not 'fess up for nothin'. By doing so, she taught me to hold on to the faith of Christmas. She didn't lie...she would just answer, "what do you think?"

I love that answer. I know what Christmas is all about. I teach the true gift of Christmas to my children. But I also love holding on to that childhood joy of the magic and anticipation of Christmas morning.

I don't dread the holidays, I look forward to Christmas morning, too! Santa still visits me and Scott, too. Yea!!!

In a Trance

2008-12-23T13:07:00.002-06:00

So, I have my mother to thank for this:

And this:

So what is this you're looking at, you may ask?

These are my children being entranced by "Hannah Montana". When my Mom visited a while back, she let them watch this, because she watches it and likes it. Now, Hadyn - the 2 year old - will ask for "Heena Tina" and Hunter will "watch" it if it's on.

Of course, don't tell anyone, but Dad and I have guiltily admitted to liking the show, too.

Shhhhhhhhh.

Treasure Trove

2008-12-19T18:55:00.006-06:00

At Thanksgiving, we went to visit my family in the Texas Panhandle. My mom and dad have started the long move out of their house of 40 years, so Scott and I took a day and went treasure hunting in the attic. After blowing black snot for a day afterwards from the dust, I came home with some memories...and I tossed a few.

Funny story...while cleaning out the attic, I found a box of love letters, pictures, and other things for and from a high school boyfriend. Scott rolled his eyes, I laughed and we tossed them. After Scott came back home and the kids and I stayed longer, we went to the local Christmas parade. I ran into a high school friend and his family so we chit chatted for a while and caught up. Then another man walked up and my friend asked me if I recognized him. No, I didn't, so I was told who it was. Turns out, this way older looking and way scruffy looking guy was the same love interest I had just found in my parents attic. Yeah buddy, I was praising God for the direction he sent me. My mom couldn't believe this was the same guy either. I think she was singing Scott's praises that night! HA!

Anyway, does anyone remember the Bionic Woman beauty parlor and repair center set? I had it and even though I did not find my Bionic Woman, I found part of the action set:
Man, this baby was so cool, it was so high tech - it used a punch card!!!!

Then I found my Empire Strikes Back bubble gum card in completion! Along with a few other Star Wars goodies like these fashionable t-shirts:

Do you remember the glittery iron on type of t-shirts? Yup, I had them.

I brought back a Winnie-the-Pooh piggie bank that Hadyn is using now and a Cookie Monster alarm clock that is just sitting as a display in her room right now.

I also found a game called "Go To The Head of the Class". Another friend, who happens to be a 2nd grade teacher, was over one night and I showed her the game. It was her favorite board game when she was little, too. We agreed that we were both probably a little nerdy as kids.

Yeah, okay, maybe I still am. That's cool, though. It'll be good to use to embarrass my kids later!!

It's Been a While...

2008-12-15T19:22:00.003-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted a blog entry, or at least it seems like it's been a while. Seems that a certain little 2 year old girl has taken over my life. Having started with a son, a very calm, low key boy (until he hit 7), I have been caught totally unaware for the goings on of a 2 year old little girl. Oh, yes, I realize that I was once a 2 year old little girl, but see, God has a wonderful way of removing our behaviors at that age from our memories so that we can feign innocence in the eyes of our parents.

I watched in shock and awe the other day as Hadyn sat in the middle of the living room floor trying to put on her own socks. She managed to get one sock on, but the other foolhardy sock would not cooperate with her demands and would not go onto her precious little foot. Only 3 or 4 of her tiny piggies would go into her sock which as you would figure would make it rough to pull on a sock. She worked for what seemed like hours (probably only about 5 minutes, but you know), then she tried stubbornly for another few minutes before SCREAMING a scream I've never heard from her before and throwing herself and the sock on the floor, screaming some more and then picking up that contrary sock and trying it again. I gently asked her if Mommy could help. "NO!" Okay, but it might go on a little better if Mommy could just help a tiny bit. "NO! NO, MOMMY, NO!" Alrighty then. I finally got up from watching this show and approached the actress. She screamed, picked up the sock and hauled her little tuckus as fast as she could down the hall to her room, screaming the whole time, "NO MOMMY NO!" In her room, she spun around and told me "Bye, bye, Mommy!"

I sat down and hugged her tightly and let her know that it was okay to be mad and frustrated, but that we can't throw fits. We talked about it being okay to ask for a little help - why is it that we never really get that one. I ended up putting her in timeout and then when that was done, she sat down with me on the couch and we "talked" again. She still didn't want me to help her but I managed to sneak a hand to her foot and get that last reluctant piggy into her sock and she screamed as she pulled the sock up on her leg. At last, success! She puffed and panted as she sat and reveled in her accomplishment. I didn't mention that the heels of the socks were on top. We'll get to that later.

So, that type of thing has started to erupt at my house. I'm in shock. But I did read some blogs and talk to some Moms of 2 year olds and I found, it's going on at everyone's house!!!

I'm so sorry for you, too!! But they'll be beautiful, precious young women someday. Doggone good thing she's so cute!

Tornado Warnings - or Not

2008-12-09T10:19:00.004-06:00

Having grown up in the Texas Panhandle, I got my tornado education pretty much first hand. My dad took me out on the front porch many times to watch the storm clouds develop and see tornados appear and take out barns and other things. Now, I knew that standing on the front porch to watch this was fairly okay, because the storms most regularly travel to the north-east, and so it would have already passed over us. I would not go to the back porch to watch a tornado since that would mean it would be heading right towards us. I have a vague little girl memory of looking out the back window watching one coming toward us. And I saw one form over my head one time. I spent several after school stormy afternoons watching the news from the comfort of our basement just in case. I have seen the aftermath of destruction and have seen the bizarre things that the high winds can do. All of this to say I do not take tornado warnings lightly.

But.

Our local warning system has me a little concerned. The warning sirens went off last night while we were flipping channels between Leno and Letterman on the bedroom TV. The weather service telling us there was a possible tornado near Allen, TX, so the tornado warning was issued for our entire county, but we could see on the radar that the storm and the impending "hook" formation of the storm was to the south-east of us, which in tornado storm terminology means - not a big concern for us. Had it been south-west, yup, head for cover, but this one had already passed beyond our neck of the woods. This was the 2nd time this year our sirens have gone off AFTER the storm has passed over us. Makes me a little concerned.

So, as I read blogs this morning from friends who were grabbing their kiddos from bed and heading for cover, I have to think, some of them needed to do that and some just woke their kids up for a storm that had already passed over. Scott and I walked outside to see what was up.

Alrighty, then, who do we need to write a strongly written letter or blog to????

Oh So Super Easy Christmas Craft Idea

2008-12-08T16:35:00.003-06:00

This is an oh so super easy Christmas craft idea. My next door neighbor told me a lady at her work has been doing this and I just loved it, so it is not a new idea and if I can do it, you know it has to be quick and easy.

Make a fleece tree skirt to mark your children's hand prints every year and see the growth each Christmas time.

I just cut a large piece of red fleece into a circle with an opening for the tree, then just glued a lacy little trim to the edge. Painted up the kids hands and voila, a memory in the making. I may try to pretty it up more as the years go by, but for now and with the time I have, I love it.

Something to Give for Christmas and on and on...

2008-12-08T12:05:00.004-06:00

On a serious note....

As some of you may know, I design simple websites for small businesses and individuals. One of the sites I did was for my sister, Jodi McClellan (be her friend on Facebook). The site is Supporting Our Heroes.com. With a husband having served in the Marines during Viet Nam and with two of her three sons now serving in the Army and Marines, she took on what she calls her "Heart Project" and is sending care packages to deployed troops. The letters she gets back can tug at the heart strings. These men and women do not complain about being where they are, nor do the people they encounter. And she has been told that the boxes she sends are some of the best they have received. More over, she has found new sons and daughters to call her own. They have given her the name of "Momma Marine".

(Pic of our Marines handing out candies and small toys to Iraqi children)

She is working on getting a non-profit organization set up, but finding the time to do that has not been easy. She'd rather just work on sending boxes out, but it is something she is working toward. But in the meantime, she is accepting donations of products needed to send and of course, money, to purchase the products and pay for postage.

(Marines of the 2/24 Weapons company - this was during the Summer with over 100 degree heat!)

If you are planning to travel through the Texas Panhandle anytime, or have friends or relatives traveling that way, and would like to donate something for her to send, please contact her through the website or Facebook. Also, if you'd like to donate money for her project, I can guarantee you that 100% of anything you give will go to support these troops.

(The HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) Team. ODA 044, 10th Special Forces Group)

One more thing, there are many of these men and women who have no one to send them packages. Jodi gets the names of these individuals and sends a box specifically to them as well as sending packages to the whole troops. It makes the heart weep to think that these beautiful people signed on to serve and protect their country, yet did so without having to have "someone" at home to do it for...they do it for all of us. Let's support them!!

Beware of Smelly Dijon Mustard

2008-12-03T16:24:00.002-06:00

My Mom and I had just walked into my sister's house after a late morning/early afternoon cleaning spree at the old house. We were greeted at the door very promptly by my wonderful sister, who had a very stern look on her face.

Seems as though she and Hadyn were sitting a sharing some pretzels for snack. Jodi had put out a small bowl of Dijon mustard for dipping and apparently, little missy was enjoying the dip. Or more accurately, she was enjoying dipping and feeding Auntie Jo. Hadyn would eat a pretzel but then she would dip and feed "An Do". Then Jodi smelled something not so fresh. She sniffed around a little bit and when the smell landed on a little Dijon mustard cover hand, Jodi thought she was going to barf.

Yes, my little precious has a (thankfully declining) habit of reaching in the back of her pants to see what all the hub-bub is back there after something has happened. Something occassionally the color of Dijon mustard.

Needless to say, Jodi will probably never eat Dijon mustard again and my little darlin' has attained status on Auntie Jo's poo-poo list.

Literally. HA!!!

Cleaning Out

2008-12-02T16:15:00.002-06:00

My Mom and Dad have just moved out of their home of 40 years. That's FORTY years of STUFF that has accumulated in addition to all the stuff they brought with them from the previous 17 years of their marriage and children.

Scott and I (plus kiddos) came to visit for Thanksgiving and to go through some of the stuff to see if there was anything of mine that I wanted to keep. We got up in the attic and dug through so much stuff. Boxes would just crumble in my hands as I grabbed for them. But I did find my collection of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back bubble gum cards - the entire set, t-shirts, and some other collectibles, along with my old Mrs. Beasley doll, my Bionic Woman computer station (complete with punch card - that ought to date me for sure), a Cookie Monster wind up alarm clock, a Winnie the Pooh piggie bank, and some other games that I had forgotten all about that I though my kids might like to see.

My mom gave me, or actually she gave to Hadyn, her play tea set from her childhood. One of which is a pink depression glass set. Once I get home, I'll try to remember to take pictures and post.

Anyway, this week, the kids and I stayed to visit and to help clean out a bit. I have come to discover that my mother has a real problem with throwing things away or letting things go. That scares me, because I can look in my garage right now and wonder how much of that stuff do I really need? How much of it is truly collectible and how much is junk? Will my kids really care about that "thing" or will they just toss or sell it when they clean out my stuff? You know, you can't take it with you and there are people that live very fulfilled lives without all the "stuff". I don't want to be unsentimental, but geez, how much do we really need to keep?

I guess that's why scrapbooking is such a big deal.

Braids

2008-11-26T09:18:00.003-06:00

We are visiting my family for the holiday and are staying with my sister, Jodi. Jodi has three grown sons (two of which are in the military awaiting deployment), but no daughters - although she does have three granddaughters. So, when my little bitty baby girl shows up, Auntie Jo has lots of fun with her. Every morning so far, Auntie Jo has been braiding Hadyn's hair:

Missy Bit just loves it and will actually sit still long enough for Auntie Jo to braid it. I haven't been in the inner sanctum to see what is going on between Auntie and Baby, but it must be something special for them. This morning, Hadyn kept asking, "An Do? (her way of saying Auntie Jo?) Bebe hair?" So the two of them disappeared and later appeared with another beautiful hairdo.

I hope I will be able to do this when we get back home. We may have to have "An Do" move in with us!!!

Times Have Changed...For Us, Anyway

2008-11-22T21:19:00.005-06:00

We went to a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony tonight in a nearby "village" and Santa was making a grand appearance. Everyone in this town had shown up to see the Big Guy and stand in line for pictures and requests. As Santa made his way to the center of attention on a fire truck, I had to laugh a bit. We, among all the others in this crowd, were reacting to Santa's arrival as if waiting for a rock star.

The fire truck pulled up and everyone who could rushed over to see Santa emerge from the vehicle. I could hear a guy on the stage asking for everyone to clear a path so Santa could come through. Then he appeared. Screams and yells for Santa went up. And so did the kids, up on the shoulders of all the parents. All of sudden, I had a flashback to the rock-n-roll concert years of my much younger days and the crowd reactions then. Of course the persons on top of shoulders then weren't 2-6 years old and weren't always completely dressed, either. But the cheers were the same.

You can barely see Santa on the stage in this pic. Yup, I remember this view of a few bands back in the day.

Anyway, it was a great time for my kids. Hunter was in awe of seeing Santa and Hadyn was excited, too, to see "TinTa". Man, times sure have changed for us. But I sure love these times much more!!

This is Hunter in front of the corral where "Donner" and "Blitzen" are hanging out.

We also got to meet "Mrs. Claus" and have a pic with her. Hadyn wasn't too sure about her, though. Maybe next year.

Christmas Shopping

2008-11-19T19:56:00.003-06:00

Well, Hadyn has started her Christmas wish list. She was "shopping" the Toys-R-Us catalog (what her brother left for her) for baby dolls and kitchen sets.

This is what I saw when I walked into the living room this morning:

Yup. We're in for it. She's just a little chip off of the Mommy block!!

Perspective

2008-11-18T17:10:00.003-06:00

Driving Hunter to class today (we home-school, but he has a weekly class at a museum), I passed by an old gas station that has been closed for some time. When we started driving past it in September, Scott and I would laugh wondering how long that station had been closed since the prices on the banner outside were still marked at $2.65. In September, we would have done just about anything for that price on gas. I mean, wow! That was cheap, wasn't it???

Now, as I pass stations with gas as low as $1.75, I laugh once again at the little closed station thinking, yeah, right buddy, no one wants to pay THAT MUCH for gas.

Just a few months has completely changed my perspective on that subject. Makes me wonder what else changes in such a short period of time??

Yet, Again!

2008-11-17T21:37:00.003-06:00

This is not a picture of us, but the message is the same! Keep reading for why!!

A church friend has asked her blog followers to post about something that your husband owns that drives you crazy. Well, as far as I know, and we've been together for 15 years, Scott doesn't own anything that drives me crazy. No, what he brought to our relationship is his inability to carry more than one thing in from the car.

I will load myself down like a pack mule (much like the poor lady in the above pic) and carry my purse, the diaper bag, the baby if she's kicked off her shoes - otherwise, she walks!, whatever else happens to be in the front seat with me, then perhaps a bag of groceries or the toys the kids have run off and left in the car, all the while fishing for the right key to open the house door, then closing the garage door to boot!!

Scott, bless his heart, will park the car, get out, leave anything he came with and "help" me by getting Hadyn out of the car seat, and going to open the house door. Meanwhile, I'm pack-mule-ing up and when I walk in, he says, "I was going to come get all of that." Yeah, babe, I'm sure you were, in about 30 trips or so.

I've blogged about this before and was told via comments, it isn't just my DH who has this syndrome, it is many. He is so good in so many ways - he is shampooing the carpets right now!! But this thing - arrggh! Can make a woman crazy.

Nope, no "stuff", but plenty of weird baggage!

Sick Baby

2008-11-15T17:11:00.002-06:00

I was greeted this morning by a sweet little bitty girl climbing into bed with me and giving me sweet hugs and kisses (her big brother will get her out of bed in the morning and then come to get us up). Oh, how I relished those precious little hands reaching around my neck and those beautiful little bitty lips reaching up to shower Mommy with kisses. Wow.

Then things went sour. Hadyn wanted breakfast and while Daddy was getting some cuddles so I could make her some toast (her request), she barfed on Dad. We were supposed to go for pictures at my neighbors house (we went yesterday, but her sweet little bitty deleted all the pics from her camera...oops!), but with this, I wasn't so sure. However, she seemed to bounce back and I though maybe something just didn't set well on her tummy and now that it was out, she was fine. But about thirty minutes later, we started the whole thing over again.

Bless her baby heart. It always breaks my heart to have a sick baby. They don't always know why they feel this way and don't know when it will ever end. She fell asleep in my arms at 10AM. I knew for sure then that she wasn't feeling well. She napped for an hour, then was up for a little bit but would not leave my lap or arms. We've watched Spongebob, Veggie Tales - multiple episodes, more Spongebob, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, Spongebob again, Hannah Montana, and now Shrek. She's taken a couple of naps and had a high temp of 103 and now is hovering around 98-99.

Hopefully this is a short lived episode of some kind of bug. She seems to be fine right now. She's talking non stop and begging me for my iced tea. The girl loves to sneak my sweet tea. And she's asking me for mackychee (mac-n-cheese).

Yup, she's better. Now, let's pray all the rest of us stay well!!

From the Mouth of Babes...again...

2008-11-12T18:47:00.001-06:00

Anyone who has followed my blog for a while may remember when Hunter asked me "how many Kennedy's do you have in your body?" Well, word slip boy hits again.

At the dinner table tonight, Hunter so wistfully said, "we should have a Passover meal someday." Wow! I was blown away, I mean, Scott and I had talked about trying to do that with our family, but we hadn't moved on it yet. One of our church pastors, Steve Lucas, had said at one time that his family observes Passover and I think maybe other Jewish celebrations. Why? Well, think about it, if you are adopted into a family, you would take on the traditions of that family, right? As Christians, we've been adopted into a Jewish family. Of course, we have our own celebrations, but why wouldn't we celebrate and observe the traditions of our adopted family? So when Hunter suggested this, I was thrilled...until....

Yeah. Hunter wants to have a passover dinner. One where all the food is on the table and we "pass" the plates "over" each other to get our own food out.

Thanksgiving, babe. It's called Thanksgiving.

Sigh.

A Quiet Place

2008-11-09T21:40:00.003-06:00

Most mothers know there is no place you can escape your children...they will hunt you down. This thought occurred to me this morning as I tried to have a quiet moment to myself for, well, you know, a "bathroom moment". Through the closed door I listened to the little voices growing louder, "Mommmmmyyy", "Mommmmmm?", "Mommy?", "Where did Mom go?", "where Mommy?", "Missy? Have you seen Mom?", and on and on. Okay, they both know where I am. They are both standing outside the closed door doing this. If I answer them, they'll try to carry on a conversation with me. If I ignore their calls, they'll continue on. There is no escape.

My mother told me one time of a similar story. My mother has four children with a 15 year age span. At some point in time with all four in the house, she chose to escape. In our house, there was only one bathroom, so that was not a good place to escape to, but we did have a basement in which the pantry held a freezer containing ice cream. Mom said she had to get away one day, so she went to the basement pantry, grabbed a fudgcicle from the freezer and sat on a stool in the pantry enjoying her treat and the show going on upstairs...much like my own this morning, with the constant calls of "where's Mom?" My dad finally found her in her hidey hole and when he told her the kids were looking for her, she answered, "yes, I know."

He was surprised that she would go to such lengths to hide, but then again, Dads usually get to go tinkle by themselves. Maybe one of these days I will once again get that experience.

Where Do They Learn This?

2008-11-08T12:37:00.002-06:00

Scott and I ask ourselves and each other this question rather often concerning our children: "where do they learn this?" Of course, the question is answered at some point in our own behaviors, comments, actions, etc.

For example, today after lunch, the kids were sitting at the table having a Popsicle. I put on some music and started dancing around the kitchen being all goofy and everything. I was having fun watching the ice treat eating faces just blankly staring at me until Hadyn ROLLED HER EYES AT ME!! I mean, it was so obvious and it was watching a 2 year old foreshadowing to her teen years and saying, "ohmagosh Maawwwmmmmm! How embarrassing!" Then the 2 year old came back and started cracking up at herself...or at me...I'm still not sure. My jaw was on the ground and then I realized that while I was thinking, "where did she learn THAT?" I rolled MY eyes. Oh. Yeah. That's where she learned it. Oh boy. I told Scott the other day when he was asking about her temper and demanding nature, "I'm sorry, babe, but she is me." I've matured somewhat, she hasn't. Bless his heart. He has two of us.

But don't feel entirely sorry for Scott. Hunter is every bit his Daddy. Things that are said from that boy's mouth originated from his Daddy's. Hunter gets a swat on the tuckus and sent to his room...maybe I should call Scott's mom and see if she can swat him, too. He has Daddy's good qualities, too, like telling mom at just the right time how much he loves me and how I'm the best mom in the world. Yeah, he's his Daddy's boy all right.

I love my babies. Life is certainly an adventure with them.

Growin' Old Together

2008-11-07T09:40:00.003-06:00

I made a mistake this morning. I took my mirror, went to my glass back door with all the bright morning sunlight coming in and sat down to look at my face (and pluck eyebrows in natural light). Ewwww. Not a really pleasant sight for my eyes. You see, my mind tells me that I am still a very young woman. I mean, I have two young children so I must be young, right? Either that or my children are aging me very quickly.

Anyway, I noticed how age has crept up on me. Oh, not that I think I look old, I still think I look young enough, but the harsh brightness of sunlight lets me know different. Then I started to think about women my age and older who lose their husbands to divorce or death and have to start over. I would not want to start over for anything. I pray that God does not have that in his plan for me. Where would you start? And do you want to find someone who looks as old as you? Do you have "work" done so you look as old as your mind tells you that you are? Yuk.

I went and hugged Scott extra tight after all that ran through my mind. When I told him what was going on, he remarked on how he was looking older, too. Yeah, but that's okay with me. Because we are growing older together. I don't want to do it by myself.

Of course, I think my children may be aging me at a tremendous speed right now. But that's a tale for another time. HA!

New President

2008-11-05T08:16:00.002-06:00

Well, the election is over (finally) and we have a new President. It may not be the choice of around 49% of Americans, but Barack Obama is now the President Elect of the United States of America. So, what do we do? We support our new President as EVERY American should. He was not my choice, but that is irrelevant now. Hunter saw the results coming in last night before he went to bed and was very concerned with all the blue he saw on the map. I told him that the election wasn't over, but even if Obama won, we should always respect the office of the President, that he would be THE President of OUR United States of America. God is in control, not us, so let's support our new president and let God lead us in our coming future.

God Bless America!!

Racin' Weekend

2008-11-03T11:23:00.005-06:00

Hunter had a terrific weekend! It was race weekend here in Texas so we started it off on Thursday by taking Hunter to Grapevine to meet the NASCAR driver of the #6 car, David Ragan, and then meet Fox Sports commentator (and former crew chief), Jeff Hammond. David is a young guy with a great future ahead of him, but for right now, his public persona needs a little polishing. This young sweetie was signing autographs without looking up much, if at all. I had told Hunter before we got in line to be sure to introduce yourself and tell him it is nice to meet him. So when Hunter got to the front of the line, David was head down and engaged in conversation with the gentleman beside him. I was so bummed that he wasn't even going to look at Hunter. Then my little race car driver said, "Hi! I'm Hunter and it is very nice to meet you." At this, young David stops his conversation, looks up at my little bitty and says, "Well, hi, Hunter, it's nice to meet you, too. I'm going to sign this 'to: Hunter'." Wow! All it took was a little boy saying, "hi." Then I asked if we could have a picture and he pulled up a chair for Hunter to sit down beside him. Wow! Again!

A little bit later, Jeff Hammond came in for autographs and we got in line again. Jeff is much more experienced and polished, but Hunter did his same greeting and he again received a personalized autograph and another picture.

When we left Grapevine on Thursday, I nearly had to tie Hunter to the car to keep him from floating away. This kid was in the clouds! So was I, for him. How cool! But it didn't end there.
On Friday, we went to Texas Motor Speedway for NASCAR Sprint Cup practice and qualifying. Casey Mears, the driver of the #5, was on hand for autographs as well. So, we jumped in line and again, another picture and personalized autograph. Then the man himself, Jeff Gordon, came out on the stage for a short Q&A and Hunter again was in the clouds! But to top off Friday, Jeff Gordon got the pole for Sunday's race and we were there to watch it! Whoo!

Sunday was race day and we had purchased tickets in June for this race for Hunter's birthday. It was a awesome day and he is still buzzing around the house talking about how cool the race was. Yeah, I think he's hooked.

But we are, too!!

Daylight Savings Time

2008-10-30T10:28:00.003-05:00

Daylight Savings Time (DST) ends this weekend and we are back on Standard Time. Finally. As an adult paying the electric bills, I really detest DST. I read an article this morning from the Wall Street Journal suggesting that DST doesn't save electricity as was the original plan, but rather, wastes it. Well, yeah, duh. If the Spring/Summer/Fall supposed seasons run into 100+ degrees every day and daylight lasts until after 9PM, then my air conditioner is running longer and harder every day which means so is everyone else around me.

I propose that the great state of Texas do away with DST and save $$ on our valuable electricity. It will still be light outside for our activities in the Summer and cool off a bit so that we can actually enjoy them.

Who's with me? Let's get this started. Who do we call?

See You at the Polls

2008-10-25T16:42:00.004-05:00

I usually don't like to pass around political musings. I consider myself more Independent than either side. I do this because there are people on both sides of the political spectrum that I just don't want to be lumped in with. But there are things that I'm concerned about with this election. A friend and I have been trading information on both candidates in a very friendly, Christian way to show why we believe our candidate of choice is the way we are going. I told my friend that I don't think either man is the wrong man for the job, but I'm very concerned about the controlling party in Congress depending on who gets the gig.

Then this article crosses my laptop from our home-school coalition. It's a bit lengthy, but pretty much sums up my Christian concerns. Some of it may be a bit far fetched, but how much? And do we really want to find that out too late? And I just love the part about home-schoolers. See you at the polls.

End of Day --10/22/08

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer

COUNTDOWN TO NOVEMBER 4TH: 13 DAYS TO ELECTION DAY

The Angry Left vs. Middle America

In past reports, I have warned that the "angry Left" is not trying to win an election, it is trying to destroy the conservative movement. Once in power, it intends to use the force of Big Government to shut down Christian and conservative talk radio with the Fairness Doctrine. Pastors will be gagged by "hate crimes" legislation. Religious liberty will be further threatened when a new liberal Supreme Court majority redefines marriage in every state of the union.

Liberal labor bosses will get sweeping new powers, including stripping the right to a secret ballot from workers. Radical leftwing groups like ACORN and Planned Parenthood will get more of your tax dollars to promote leftwing candidates and causes. And all the while, Big Media will hail the "new Great Society" as Joe the Plumber is taxed to "spread the wealth" for socialized health care and "tax cuts" to those who don't pay income taxes.

But before any of this can become a reality, the Left must seize power at the ballot box. ACORN has been doing its part – working overtime to register new voters – real and imagined, including Mickey Mouse and a dead goldfish. Its efforts have seriously gummed up the process and are creating chaos for elections officials and poll workers in critical states. (This week, all nine Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee have signed a letter demanding an investigation into ACORN's activities. Why aren't any Democrats concerned?)

In recent weeks, we have received many messages from McCain/Palin supporters telling us that their yard signs have been torn down and ripped up. I have seen it in my own neighborhood in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. Today, there is a news report that the home of Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman was vandalized. His garage was spray painted with this ominous warning: "You are a criminal. Resign or else."

Yesterday, five CodePink protestors interrupted a speech by Karl Rove and tried to handcuff him in a citizen's arrest for "treason." Did anyone try to arrest Harry Reid for saying the war in Iraq was "lost"? Did anyone try to arrest John Murtha for calling our Marines "cold-blooded killers"?

Now one Washington, D.C., news outlet is reporting that police departments coast-to-coast are "preparing for possible civil unrest and riots" on Election Day. According to The Hill, "Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue…Others based the need for enhanced patrols on past riots … and also on Internet rumors."

This is America, not some banana republic. We have been holding peaceful elections and respectful transitions of power for over 200 years. Yet, why are police suddenly worried about riots on Election Day? Who will be rioting? The angry Left. The same folks who stormed the streets during the Republican National Convention; who turn out to shout obscenities at our soldiers when they are deployed overseas; who regularly shout down conservative speakers on college campuses and who protest capitalism during major economic summits.

James Carville has already warned us that "it would be very, very, very dramatic out there" if Obama loses. Carville said, "A lot of Democrats would have a great deal of angst and anger." Is that a threat? Of course, no one worries about riots if Senator McCain loses. People like you respect the rule of law and put our country first.

Friends, I almost didn't write this article today. I worry that it might demoralize and frighten some of you. But we cannot live in a spirit of fear. Men and women of faith should not try to intimidate or shout down our opponents, as the Left does. We should calmly, patiently and respectfully talk to them. We should not try to handcuff anyone. We should pray for them. We shouldn't vandalize property. We should vote!

This is our country, too. We must not be intimidated. We have every right to be involved in the public process and to have our voices heard and respected. As Dr. Dobson said on his radio show today, we can decide the outcome of this election.

What's At Stake

It's difficult to overemphasize just how important it is for everyone to vote in this historic election, because I do believe our values are stake. Just consider these points and how John McCain and Barack Obama would respond to each one:

Five Supreme Court justices will be 70 years old or older next year. The two most liberal justices will be 76 and 89. Think about the potential consequences for the right to life, the meaning of marriage and the Second Amendment.
The Bush tax cuts will expire during the next president's first term. That means income taxes will go up. The per child tax credit will be cut in half. Taxes on dividends and capital gains will go up, and like a monster in a bad movie, the confiscatory "death tax" will return in all its horror.
The free world remains at war with Islamofascism. Earlier this week the Associated Press reported that radical Islam is on the rise in the Middle East. And Israeli press are reporting that an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is recommending a preemptive strike against Israel. Is this the crisis Biden is warning about? Obama supporter Jesse Jackson has said that in an Obama Administration, pro-Israel "Zionists" will be out.

Conservatives must vote for John McCain, Sarah Palin and conservative congressional candidates. Not voting or voting for a third-party candidate with no chance is as good as voting for Obama. And after listening to Sarah Palin's interview with Dr. Dobson today, I'm even more excited about voting. We clearly have a lot to vote for!

And don't forget about the ballot initiatives. Folks in Arizona, California and Florida can vote FOR traditional marriage. Folks in California, Colorado and South Dakota can vote FOR the right to life.

But we also have a lot to lose. In recent days, Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann have been excoriated in the media for their comments about patriotism. But I doubt many of you heard the following quote from a major Democrat Senate candidate, Mark Warner in Virginia. He said:

"One of the things you are going to see is a coalition that is just about completely taken over the Republican Party … It is made up of the Christian Coalition… It is made up of the right-to-lifers… It's made up of the NRA … It is made up of the home schoolers… It's made up of a whole coalition of people that have all sorts of differing views that I think most of us in this room would find threatening to what it means to be an American."

Mark Warner delivered the keynote address at the Democrat National Convention this year. Warner was recruited heavily by national Democrats to run for an open Senate seat this year. While Warner's derogatory comment was not new, it reflects his values and those of the Angry Left.

And it's not very different from Barack Obama's comment about "bitter Americans clinging to their guns and religion" or the anti-American remarks of Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright, who screamed from the pulpit, "God D--- America." It's clear that in the Angry Left's America, there won't be much tolerance for men and women of faith.

In the remaining days of this campaign, ignore the polls and ignore the media. They told us Ronald Reagan could never win and he won in a landslide. They told us America had lost the war in Iraq, but, thanks to John McCain, we are winning. Now they say John McCain cannot win. I say Middle America hasn't spoken yet, but its voice will be heard loud and clear on November 4th!

Conspiracy Theory

2008-10-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

Yeah, okay, I'll admit it, I like to assume conspiracies on the part of big business, governments, etc. occasionally. So now, I've figured another one out: Gas Prices! See, it was always the plan for gas prices to be around $2.50-$2.60, but "they" knew we would whine and complain about it, so "they" jacked the prices up to and over $4 bucks so when the prices "dropped" down to $2.60, we would celebrate and sing praises to the oil and gas companies.

HA! I've figured it out!!

Or not.

New Interest?

2008-10-19T14:07:00.003-05:00

One of our home-school groups has a team that just competed in a local robotics competition against area high schools (and a few middle school teams). Our team ended up in 3rd place overall out of 22 teams!! And most of our kids are in 5th grade, from what I hear, so more kuddos to their teachers (parents) and of course, to the kids themselves.

Hunter had signed up to be on the Jr. team for this competition, which would have just "watched" and "supported", but learned more along the way. But he ended up being the only junior to attend an initial meeting, so the decision was made not to have a Jr. team. However, the parent leaders kept Hunter in the loop of the progress and offered him to be included in the process if he so wished. Timing kept us from going to some of the beginning meetings - and I don't think Hunter's interest would have been kept for long in the design phase, but when the robot was up and running and the team was practicing driving for the competition, Hunter went over to watch and was invited to "drive" the robot.

He was in Heaven! That's all he could talk about all day long. Then this Saturday we went to the competition event and he saw the other school's robots. He thought his team's robot was better and kids were better drivers. And yeah, from what I saw, pretty much.

Anyway, he is all into robotics now and can't wait for the next junior opportunity to get involved somehow. Cool. He's never been into sports - except for NASCAR - so this may give him something to "do". Yea!!

No Wonder I'm Tired

2008-10-08T22:39:00.003-05:00

I just found out tonight why I'm so tired.

My parents are moving from the house I grew up in. I was 3 months old when they moved into that house. My mother told my sister, Jodi, that they had been in that house for 50 years and had so much to go through.

To which Jodi replied, "Fifty years, huh? I can't wait to call Lori and let her know that."

The reason I would be concerned...I turned FORTY at my last birthday as far as I know. But the one person in this world that you would think would remember when I was born is saying she's been in the house for 50 years -the house they moved into when I was an infant.

No wonder I'm so tired. I'm 10 years older than I thought I was. Dang, I look good for 50.

From Mars

2008-10-08T16:53:00.003-05:00

Do you ever have the feeling that someone just does not like you? Do you ever know why that is? There is a lady at my church that looks at me like I'm from Mars nearly every time I see her. She was a mentor mom in a mom group I was in a few years ago and I thought that would give us a better chance to get to know each other, but no, she avoided me like the plague and again, gave me the look. I read blogs from other friends and talk to other people who just nearly - not entirely - worship the ground she walks on, so to mention this to them would elicit the looks from Mars as well. I know that I have never been rude to this lady - I've had no reason - I've always greeted her and her family anytime I have seen them, but still...the look. I actually ran into her at a restaurant recently as we were leaving and went to greet her. She and her table mate gave me the look and then she sighed and asked if we were coming or going. I replied that we were just leaving, but I saw them and wanted to come say hello. And that was about all of that conversation. I certainly don't try to force myself on her or anyone else for that matter, but I won't be rude.

Yeah, it bothers me to the point of wondering did I inadvertently do something so long ago to really hack this woman off to the point of holding a grudge for years and years (I've been at my church for over 12 years - this has been on going since the beginning), or does she just not like the way I look? Or my husband? Or my children? Or what?

Now, there are people that I just don't like, and it's usually been over an attitude toward me or my family. But I have always greeted them and been friendly because I can't change them, but I can change my attitude towards them. If this lady is holding a grudge from the beginning, it most certainly could have been over an attitude of mine in the early days - I was 12 years younger and very immature in many ways.

Perhaps I am still immature in many ways if this still bugs me when I see her or hear people raving over how wonderful a person she is. Or maybe I'm just hurt that I would love to get to know such a wonderful woman better and feel left out of that circle. Again, immaturity. Jealousy, maybe.

Just needed to be a little transparent and throw this out there. Thanks for listening.

Sad Day for Hunter

2008-10-05T21:23:00.003-05:00

It was a sad day in McKinney today for a little boy watching a race going on in Talladega, Alabama. Jeff Gordon was doing really well today and Hunter was so excited...until...well, a blown tire on another car took Jeff out of the race - and out of championship contention.

Hunter buried himself under pillows on the couch. I asked him to come sit with me and a very teary sounding - but muffled - voice said, "why? I'm not crying." He did sit with me for a short while, but soon left the room to go mourn in his Jeff Gordon sanctuary of a bedroom.

As much as some people may not like JG, I think he is great. My little boy sees a leader of a man admitting mistakes and accepting blame when necessary and no matter what, always praising his team and their hard work.

Yeah, it was a bummer seeing him leave the track, and it was discouraging to see Hunter so upset, but it is always a good thing to be able to talk about things like this - that life doesn't always go the way we want it too - and how we can praise God in all things, no matter what.

Sorry, Jeff, but thanks for the good lesson!

Princess Diva

2008-10-02T16:53:00.004-05:00

Hadyn loves "nunns" and "wings". For you without innate knowledge of almost 2 year old speech, this means necklaces and rings (I haven't figured out what bracelets are called). Oh, my, how we love to dress up in our nunns and wings. So much so, I found a little shelf for her growing jewelry collection.

Fitting, don't you think?

Pushing

2008-10-01T20:16:00.006-05:00

Hunter and I have head to head combat occasionally. Oh, not in any violent way, but in a Mother/Teacher to Son/Pupil type of way. There are those times when he will decide on his own that something is just too hard to do and all of a sudden, he "can't do it." I really don't like those words and usually won't let them fly too far out of his mouth before "yes, you can," leaves mine.

The math curriculum we have this year is Singapore Math, which moves very quickly and is more advanced on grade level than what we would be doing in public school this year. I'm trying to make up ground from what he forgot/didn't get last year in school. So to really drill in addition math facts, I found a worksheet that has 100 boxes on it with all the math fact equations (you know, 0+1 through 9+9). The worksheet goes on top of a blank paper and the student then fills in the answers in the boxes.

When we started this worksheet on September 11th, I decided to time Hunter to see how long it would take him to do this sheet. I clocked him at 26:49. This time was atrocious! So, I set a goal for him. If he could get the time down to 8 minutes, I'd take him to Bono's Race Shop so he could pick out a new NASCAR car. We did the worksheet 3-4 times a week and charted and graphed his progress. Each time we did the sheet, his time would get better, then go back up, then progress down, on and on. Finally, on this past Monday, Hunter hit 8:30. The goal was 8 minutes so we were super close. Tuesday morning we sat down with the worksheet and talked over some problem problems and discussed how we "skip" answers we don't know immediately then come back to them later. I started the stop watch and watched my little boy blitz through these addition math facts. He hit the end and went back to the top to skim for skipped questions, answered all of them, and I hit "stop". The time on the watch was amazing to us... 6 minutes and 45 seconds!!!

We sang and danced all over the kitchen. So, yes, we went to Bono's on Wednesday and Hunter got to combine his two loves: Jeff Gordon and Speed Racer with a new 1/64th diecast car.

What a fantastic accomplishment for him (and for me). I told him that I knew he could do it and that I will continue to push him when I know he needs it, so just get used to it. I love seeing him happy with himself.

Yea!!

P-E-O-P-L-E

2008-09-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

P-e-o-p-l-e. That is usually what my husband spells out for me when I naively ask a "why?" type of question about something or someone that I have encountered. Not that either one of us think of ourselves as higher beings or anything of the sort. And we know we are most certainly lumped into p-e-o-p-l-e, too.

I love the quote in Men In Black as K is talking to James Edwards about joining the MIB:

Edwards: Why the big secret? People are smart. They can handle it.
Kay: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

I been at two community consignment sales (for kids clothes/toys/etc) the past two weekends. For both sales, the last part, whether a whole day or just a couple of hours, was designated as 1/2 price sale. The consigner could choose to mark his/her items to be sold for 1/2 price or not. After the sale, the consigner could also choose to donate the left over items to charity or to pick up. Okay, I've been a consigner for one of these sales and I placed items in the sale that I was cleaning out...I did not want them back and if I could make at least 1/2 my marked price, then that is more than I was making on it sitting in my garage. And if it could be donated for someone else to use, then good. Better than sitting in around here doing nothing but taking up space. But that is me. So, I find it amazing to see all the Do Not Donate tags or Do Not Discount markings on children's items that have been worn, used, played with, and are not going to be gold mines of opportunities for more cash other places. But again, that is me. And I'll just sing Scott's p-e-o-p-l-e song.

My other "why" question of late has been over family. Seems that almost everyone is in crisis of some sort. And more often than not, the crisis is of their own making. Yet, these p-e-o-p-l-e keep looking to someone else to bail them out of their own crisis. I guess I get a little more agitated about this since it is family. With the other stuff, I can roll my eyes and sing the song and go on my merry way (probably with someone singing their own "people" song about me! HA!). But with family, I can't just walk away.

Then the big questions hit. Why am I so bothered by this? Am I a closet control freak and I can't do anything about this? Or is it because I've lived so much of this stupidity and have come out of it that I can't understand why others haven't come out yet? Or because I let go of worry, fear, control (an everyday battle) and strive to live my life in joy, not because of religion, but because of a relationship with Jesus and I so want my family to do the same?

Yeah, the last one is probably more to target.

Oh, Bother. I've been Tagged!

2008-09-17T17:03:00.002-05:00

Thanks, Holly.
I've been "tagged". I've seen a few variations of this floating around the blogging world and looks like I've been hit. So, apparently, I am to post the rules and then follow them. Well, here goes:

The "rules" of the game are as follows:
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

Okay, rules posted, now to think of something random about myself.

1. I don't like being wet. I take showers because I hate stinking worse than being wet. Not a big fan of swimming. I'm made of sugar...I might melt.

2. I was the anchor leg of the mile relay team in HS track. At any given time there were only 1 or 2 of us that gave a hoot about being good, thus the reason I was the anchor leg - to try to catch up.

3. With a little patience and focus, I can usually teach myself to do just about anything...most of the time when someone has told me that I can't do it. Yeah, stubborn...that's not random info though, that's common knowledge.

4. I've attended 5 different colleges and have 2 Associate degrees to show for it. You'd think I could put it all together and have a doctorate by now. I was considering becoming a professional student at one point. I could never settle down for that long after being freed from my home town.

5. I wanted to be a Stormtrooper from Star Wars when I grew up. I liked the white click clackie uniforms. Maybe that's why I like my white click clackie Mac iBook and iPod. Does this mean that Steve Jobs is Darth Vader?

6. I like nice neat orderly things. I pick up things all day long in my house to make sure it stays neat and orderly - fairly. I have no problem throwing away things that don't get used. Too bad I use so much of the stuff laying around here.

Okay, there is my 6 random bits of info about me, now onto tagging 6 other bloggers:
Kristy, you're up, sister.
Cate, I'm sure you have some witty things to add.
Stacee, I'd just like to know more about you.
Maria, you haven't posted in a while, this will give you something to post on. :)
Andrea, oh, anyone with another 7 year old Hunter needs to do this, too!
and Janet, as if you didn't have enough to do.

Okay, there you have it. If you haven't been tagged and are reading this, please feel free to post a comment with your 6 random things.

Enjoy!

Less Than Pleasant

2008-09-15T15:29:00.002-05:00

Okay, I admit it...I have been a little on edge today and I probably could have been a bit more pleasant at the store this afternoon, but doggonit, give me a break, people!!

I just don't understand why a person has to park their grocery cart and walk somewhere else to retrieve an item and then rather than hurry back to their basket to move it out of the way, will just stand and continue to block the progress of anyone else waiting to get to a cart-blocked item.

THEN, when the person returns to the cart with others waiting to get to those blocked items, does person move the cart? NO! Person peruses over items in the basket and checks and double checks. Okay, okay, I'm still calm, she probably has a lot on her mind and it is just a slip - not an everyday rudeness. We all have those moments.

So I round the corner to get down another aisle blocked by woman on phone and friend with cart. Phone lady gets off the phone, I say very politely, "excuse us" (us, because I have family with me), and cart friend sees me, but says nothing to phone lady. "Excuuusse Usss," I say a little more sweetly but a touch louder. Cart friend still just looks at me while phone lady continues conversation with her. "Yeah, HEY, Hello! Excuse US!" Well, now they both stop and look at me, then move and I see them continue to look at me as we go down the aisle. Yes, I could have and should have continued to be more polite, but apparently it was getting me nowhere...and now I'm the rude lady in the store according to these two.

Final straw: I had a dozen eggs, some of which mysteriously broke in my basket (two children in and around basket - yeah, it's a mystery). So I picked up another dozen eggs. Now, how many times have you picked up eggs in the refrigeration aisle to find them busted open? Unpleasant, isn't it? So, I though I would be polite and take the eggs to the front so they could determine what to do with them from there - instead of leaving them to be found later. The cashier, who not only didn't speak very clear English, also didn't understand it that well, either, kept trying to scan the broken eggs so he could "exchange" them for me. "No, I haven't purchased those eggs and I don't want to, I just didn't want to leave broken eggs in the back." Again, he wanted to scan the eggs for me. "NO, I don't want THOSE eggs, I haven't purchased THOSE eggs, I want THESE eggs, I just didn't want to leave broken eggs for someone else to find." This went on for a while before he finally told me they would just throw them away. Pity, there were some good eggs left in the carton. But after all of that, who am I to argue with store policy?

So, yeah, I could've been way more pleasant today. Way more. Sorry 'bout that.

Luann - Home school comic

2008-09-10T21:22:00.002-05:00

YES!!! I love it! This was forwarded to me from one of our very "social" home-school groups.

Beautiful Babies

2008-09-10T18:43:00.004-05:00

It's been a day. Not a bad day at all, just a day. I love home-schooling Hunter and challenging Hadyn on new things, too. It's really a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) dream. But there are the not so dreamy parts of the day, too. I am finding it very challenging for myself to educate a 7 year old and entertain an almost 2 year old at the same time while Daddy is in his home office working. It's not impossible, just challenging.

And then there is the constant cleaning. I find myself with an almost OCD type of thing going on when I walk into a room with toys and stuff scattered all over the floor. I feel compelled to stop, bend over, pick it up, and put it where it belongs. All day long I do this. So by the end of the day, I'm toast.

After dinner and kitchen clean up, I just want a nice neat house to look at. So, I've sent my children to Hadyn's room to play.

And that is where the beautiful babies part kicks in. My son and daughter are playing so preciously together right now. They are "cooking" and bringing me all sorts of taste treats to try out. Some, I tell them are wonderful, and some need some more work. They think it is funny and they are enjoying playing with each other. Hadyn just adores her "bubby" and Hunter finds it fun to play "down" with his sister sometimes. I just love watching them play in the room together then run down the hallway to give me a treat. So precious.

And beautiful. Yup. God loves me.

Political Rant

2008-09-06T14:59:00.003-05:00

Okay, I'm going to make some people mad here, I'm sure, but I have to get this off of my chest. Presidential politics is kicking off in high gear and from what I'm seeing so far, we are going to be as divided a country as we have been in the past two elections (at least).

The topic that is really getting my goat today is abortion. I just read that the Obama campaign is putting out an anti-McCain ad regarding McCain's stance on anti-abortion. A comment was made stating that John McCain will make it illegal for women to have an abortion...women would no longer have a choice.

What??? Women would no longer have a choice? Sister, you have a choice from before the first time you drop your drawers! Women still have and will always have the choice to say "no," or to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies or insist that their partner do the same. To say that women would no longer have a choice is such an asinine statement to make. Everyone pretty much knows how babies are made and if you go through the motions, then you most certainly have made your choice.

I rant about this because I know some women personally who would pitch a fit about not being able to have their "oops" abortions - multiple "oops", even though they certainly know their bodies and what their bodies are capable of doing, they continue to "make their choice". Yeah, stupidity is a good reason to keep it legal.

Why don't we see campaigns against anti-stupidity? I guess we'd all be illegal at some point in our life then, huh?

Ewww. Yuk.

2008-09-04T13:18:00.003-05:00

There is nothing that will get my attention faster or make me jump higher than to be greeted by a precious little-bitty blonde with her five adorable little fingers sticking up in the air showing me, "Mommy, poopoo."

Ewwww!! Yukkkk!! Run, run, run, to the bathroom, don't touch anything on the way, barf, gag, ewww, yuk.

Apparently, she has become quite aware of her bodily functions AFTER the fact. I've tried to introduce the potty, which she loves to sit on, but just doesn't get the idea of what is actually supposed to happen while there. But she will tell me, "wee wee" and grab herself after the incident and of course she has to go examining herself to see what is the issue after the "poo poo" fact.

Ewww. But this is a stage we are in and it will pass all too quickly and later I'll reminiscence and laugh. However, I should be in really good shape for as much as I have to jump and run with her!!

New English Comedy Routine?

2008-09-01T13:20:00.003-05:00

A headline on my Yahoo! news caught my attention and after reading it and getting a giggle out of it, I thought maybe this will show up as a new comedy routine somewhere - SNL perhaps?

Lloyds TSB - the 5th largest banking group in the UK had an issue with someone on staff taking offense at a client's password:

Steve Jetley of Shrewsbury discovered this firsthand, after he changed his telephone banking password to "Lloyds is pants" ("rubbish" to us American sods on the wrong side of the pond). Upon calling in, Jetley discovered that his "pants" password didn't match what was in the system. Instead, his password had been changed to "no it's not." Initially, this was no big deal.

"I thought it was actually quite a funny response," Jetley told the BBC. "But what really incensed me was when I was told I could not change it back to 'Lloyds is pants' because they said it was not appropriate. I asked if it was 'pants' they didn't like, and would 'Lloyds is rubbish' do? But they didn't think so."

"Barclays is better," didn't meet with approval either, seeing as how Barclays is another, even larger UK bank and a Lloyds competitor. At that point, Jetley was suddenly told that passwords had to be one word. When he offered "censorship" up as an appropriate password, he discovered passwords were required to be just one word, and no more than six letters long (not terribly secure, that). This undoubtedly came as something of a surprise, since his previous password had been accepted by the system, but the staff manager in question was apparently adamant.

Lloyds has since apologized, and told Jetley that the staff member had been let go. The bank also clarified its password policy, stating, "Customers can have any password they choose and it is not our policy to allow staff to change the password without the customer's permission." Lloyds did note that it is "disappointing" that Jetley chose to express his dissatisfaction by changing his password, indicating, perhaps, that he should have expressed his satisfaction by finding a different bank.

Oh, yeah, I can see this on SNL for sure.

Easy Dinner Recipes and Easy Dessert

2008-08-30T14:41:00.005-05:00

We had some very good friends over for dinner last night. We always enjoy their company and it had been a while since we had visited with them. Laura has celiac disease so I was not sure what I could prepare for her to eat. I googled (God bless Google, huh?) celiac disease recipes and of course came up with a ton of stuff. Okay, I'm not a gourmet chef by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy cooking dinner for my family and friends, so I was really at a loss here.

Ordinarily I might make chicken enchiladas or a meatloaf dinner, but both recipes have wheat flour - gluten - in them (I'll post my recipes below - I'm a short-cut cook - I like easy!!). So, we all decided that burgers and hot dogs on the grill would be great. Laura brought her own bun and everything else was okay for her.

But the highlight of my cooking evening was dessert. I found a flour-less peanut butter cookie recipe that fits my style: easy. Laura said it was the first pb cookie she had in over three years. I was so happy to oblige and she was happy for the simple recipe. We also had Breyer's All Natural Ice Cream and a chocolate syrup that I found at Market Street called AH!Laska Organic Chocolate Syrup that is gluten free, tree nut free, this free, that free, but FULL of wonderful chocolaty taste. Do I sound like a commercial? The cookies, the ice cream, the syrup, ahhhhh, was a taste delight.

Our evening ended way too soon, but we all had kiddos to put in bed so we'll have to get together again soon! But for those reading this, enjoy the recipes below:

Flour-less Peanut Butter Cookies
(good for those who can't eat gluten - and good for everyone else, too!!)
1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used an organic creamy, but whatever PB you use will work)
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp real vanilla (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll into balls and place on greased cookie sheet or baking stone. Flatten in criss-cross with a fork. Bake 10-12 minutes and allow to cool. They might be crumbly, but oh so tasty.

Lori's Chicken Enchiladas
I cook without measuring many times, so bear with me on this.
Servings: oh, I don't know...four or so
2-3 chicken breasts
8 flour tortillas
1 pk cream cheese
1 tub of sour cream (I think it is the 8oz size - not the biggie)
1 small can of green chilies (I like Hatch the best)
grated cheddar cheese - how much depends on how much you like cheese, I guess!
1 can red Enchilada sauce (again, I like Hatch the best)

Oven on 350. Grease a glass baking dish (I would guess a cake pan will do the same) to hold enchiladas. Cut cooked chicken breasts into small pieces and set aside On each tortilla, spread equal amounts of cream cheese, then top with a dollop of sour cream - saving some sour cream for the top of your enchiladas. Spoon a little bit of green chilies on each tortilla, then place chicken on each tortilla. Sprinkle each tortilla with grated cheese then roll up and place side by side in greased dish. Top with remaining sour cream and top with enchilada sauce and more grated cheese. Pop in the oven until cheese is good and melted. Yummy. Tasty and most definitely not low fat!

Easy Meat Loaf
Again, I rarely measure anything. It's my Grandmothers' fault. They would add a pinch, throw in a dollop, smell if it is ready, etc.
1 pound lean ground beef
1 egg (maybe two depending on how much bread goes in)
1 cup spaghetti sauce (or ketchup, but sauce already has more seasonings in it)
1 cup bread crumbs (I have used the Italian seasoned crumbs)

Mix all together, pop in oven at 350 for about an hour and voila`, meatloaf. Easy. Add in some mashed potatoes and green beans and you're set for dinner.

Smart Politics?

2008-08-30T09:37:00.001-05:00

John McCain (or the people around him) must be one of the most clever persons around. Following up on the heels of the Democratic National Convention, he announces his Vice-Presidential running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin - a woman!!!

No matter how this election turns out, it will be historic. We will either have our first woman VP or our first African-American president. How cool is that? As long as the candidates are ready and capable of leading and have the right stuff to do so, it is cool.

But I say John McCain is very clever because, well think about it....the Dems can't say she is too young because Obama is only three years older, if they say she doesn't have enough experience, well, Pot, meet Kettle. And the kicker for me was if anyone dare says she can't lead, or she's not ready because she has young children, especially a baby with Down's Syndrome, oh my, can you imagine the backlash from mothers all over the country?? Ouch.

Oh, it is politics and there will be more negatives pouring out of both camps than positives, and everyone's dirty laundry will be aired, but for this brief moment...the smartest move seems to be on the side of GOP.

Election year. Don't you just love it.

School Daze

2008-08-27T11:34:00.000-05:00

Home schooling is going pretty well for us so far. Hunter has told me on more than one occasion how much he is liking home school. He should. So far, we've gotten done with school work by 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning with an 8am starting time. Next week we'll add in a few more subjects, so it should take us until Noon to complete the work. Of course, that's not counting any outings we make.

On Monday we had a "Not Back to School" party with one of the home school groups and Hunter met another boy named Hunter, who is also 7 years old, and is also in 2nd grade. Both boys thought that was the coolest thing ever! Then yesterday we met up at our neighborhood park with another group and Hunter got to meet even more boys to play with.

I heard a moms yesterday talking about the "socialization" issue many have with home schoolers. The point was made that at "school" you meet and play with kids from your same age group and for the most part, the same socio-economic status (with district boundaries and all). In home school groups, you meet and play with kids of different ages and different socio-economic backgrounds. More likely what you'll meet and work with in the real world. I had not thought about it that way, but yeah, Hunter likes to play with older and younger kids as well as kids his age (and with the same name!).

Hadyn is just blending in with all of this so well. I realized today that she is actually going to be picking up on so much more than I would have been doing with her if Hunter were away at school all day. This morning I gave her a coloring book and her crayons at the table while we were doing school work. I had her repeat the color names back to me and then we would say them in Spanish. It was then I realized, I wouldn't be this detailed with her right now otherwise. And she seems to like having bubby around all the time, too.

Well, I'm being told it's lunchtime. And Backyardigans is almost over.

Back to School - Sort of

2008-08-25T14:19:00.001-05:00

Today is the first day of school for many North Texas kiddos. Mine, too, however we are homeschooling, so it's back to school work, not necessarily back to school. Hunter was so excited this morning to start. We got up early and got ready as if we were leaving to make it to class by 8am, and at 8 o'clock, we started. He did a journal page - and wrote about how excited he is - then we started with our first day of work.

I'm using the My Father's World curriculum for 2nd grade, so everything is pretty much laid out for me. I've got a board on the wall showing what all we have scheduled for the day and will check off as we finish. Today we learned what the Pledge of Allegiance means:

I pledge (promise) allegiance (loyalty - to do good and not to harm) to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic (a government by the people, not a king) for which it stands, one nation (country) under God, indivisible (cannot be divided), with liberty (freedom) and justice (fair and right) for all.

We also did our Bible study lesson, part A of lesson 1 of the Spelling book, a history timeline, art, reading, and his music lesson (drums) before going to a "Not Back to School" party at

Boomerang's

with one of our home school groups. He had a blast and so did little sister.

Tomorrow we'll add science, then next week comes the math and Spanish, then we'll add the English work in. And of course, we'll go to classes and play times with the home school groups.

Lot of fun to be had!!

Olympic Track Soapbox

2008-08-21T21:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm dragging out my soapbox again, but this time regarding track athletes in the Olympics. PEOPLE, YOU ARE OLYMPIC ATHLETES - KEEP RUNNING UNTIL YOU CROSS THE FINISH LINE!!

I am so frustrated with watching these athletes in qualifying and finals slowing up before they cross the finish line. I still remember well over 20 years after the fact that you don't ever do that. I would have gotten my tuckus chewed off for doing that and here I'm watching world class athletes doing it. Am I the only one that had a coach to ride my butt like that? I just watched one guy just nearly lose out on all medals because of it, but no one points that out.

Whatever. Yeah, I'm not an Olympic athlete so what do I know?

Oh yeah, I also know that you should have the baton firmly in your closed hand before you pull your hand away from it. Bummer.

Vacation Part 3

2008-08-20T10:22:00.002-05:00

August 15th
At Hunter's request, today we went white water rafting in Taos, NM, on the Rio Grande. It was awesome. The water level wasn't too bad and we got some Class 3 rapids. Hunter wants to go back in May or June (however, I think the water level will be too much for him to be able to go on then). Yeah, he's hooked. And he did great. Our river guide, Jake at Far Flung Adventures, was so excellent and worked with Hunter so well.

Yeah, Scott and I will want to go back and try some more adventurous rapids for more adrenaline rush!

22 Months

2008-08-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

My baby girl is 22 months old today. We are only two months away from her being a whole 2 years old. Man, time flies and crawls at the same time.

It seems it was just a few months ago that I was miserably pregnant with her, but on the other hand we look at each other questionably and wonder how 22 months can seem like 10 years! HA!

I just have to look at this cutie pie smile and laugh. This is why God made her so cute - to make up for the fiesty, stubborn, onery little girl that she is.

Precious!

Vacation Part 2

2008-08-16T15:19:00.001-05:00

August 14

I forgot to put a pic of the bat on the other post. I'll put him/her on this one.

Today we drove over the pass to Taos. We had a Taos Dining catalog so we perused through it to find a good place to eat lunch. We were surprised to find so many organic and natural food restaurant options. We chose 5 Star Hamburgers to eat. Wow! It was really good! The kids enjoyed and Scott and I were really getting into it.

Then we headed north of Taos to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. It’s a pretty cool sight to see. As you are driving across the flat plain area between mountain ranges, BOOM! There it is! All of a sudden in the middle of seemingly nowhere is a canyon second to the Grand Canyon. Hunter is such a worry-wart usually, but today, the kid was walking to the edge of some very unstable looking rocks, much to his mother’s chagrin. Then as we were walking across the bridge, the wind picked up over the canyon and I just had a horror film vision of the wind picking up my skinny little boy and carrying him over the side (Scott had a good hold on Hadyn). But this did not deter Hunter, who would squat down, knees through the rails on the bridge peering over – and he HAD to get us in the middle of the bridge so he could be right over the river. The kid who is afraid of everything wasn’t afraid of what he might should’ve had a healthy amount of fear. Go figure.

Anyway, tomorrow, at Hunter’s request, we are going white water rafting. Whee!!! This will be added to our list of completed things like bungee jumping, snow skiing, scuba diving, and sky diving.

More tomorrow!

Vacation Part 1

2008-08-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

August 12th

We drove to Eagle Nest, NM today. What should have taken us four hours to drive from my parents house took us close to seven. We made many bathroom stops, lunch stops, picture stops, and just stretch little bitty legs stops.

As we drove through the winding roads of Cimmaron Canyon, we noticed the outside temperature was a nice 66 degrees. Last week in the Dallas area, we were enjoying 106 degree temps. What a change. I don’t know what the temp was last night, but it was chilly. The kids have long sleeve shirts and jeans on this morning.

Our excitement last night was bat catching. Yup, bats. Everyone was in bed but me and Scott and I noticed a fuzzy little something resembling a mouse on the rock wall behind the fire. I walked towards it (yes, aren’t I the brave one) to see what is was and YIPES, it was a bat. I’ve never seen a bat that up close and in person. We gently caught the little creature and took his picture then released him outside. We sat back down to relive our conquest when we heard scritch-scratching again. Low and behold, another little bat was in the house. We caught him, too and released him (could be a her – I wouldn’t know how to look).

Anyway, it’s a good, cool trip so far. Today Hunter wants to “climb some mountains.” Yea.

Cool Weather!

2008-08-06T19:16:00.000-05:00

I am heading north. I'm tired of the heat and I'm leaving. Well, temporarily. My niece is getting married on Friday (she wanted her date to be 08/08/08) outside of Amarillo. No, it's not really any cooler than it is here in our part of Texas, but it's a dry heat. You can cool off in a breeze under a shade in dry heat - sorta. I don't know, once it gets over high 90's, it doesn't really matter if it's a dry or humid heat. It's just hot!

Anyway, Scott is planning on meeting us in a few days to go on up to my parent's cabin in Northern New Mexico - in the mountains. I just checked the weather there: Highs in the 70's Lows in the 40's. YES!!!!!

Now, I have to try to dig out cool weather clothes for us. You know, it's always something, isn't it.

Keep cool,
Lori

Diversity - A dirty word?

2008-07-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

I'm wondering more and more is diversity truly what it means? Or is it just a cop out for people who want to express their opinions while shutting down the voices of others? I'm in an email loop - I'm in several, so I'll protect the innocent by not naming the group - that claims diversity as part of it's appeal. However, I'm learning as I read more emails on this loop that diversity seems to reach only so far. IF you are a Christian, as I am, I don't think your opinions or beliefs will be allowed here.

I joined this particular group because it was not strictly Christian so we could be outside of "church world" more and be the salt of the earth that God calls us to be. I am not going to go Bible thumping across someone's head, but I hope that the Light of Christ shines through me and my family. I need prayer now, for sure, because tonight I read a line on an email that brought tears to my eyes regarding a leadership type book for teens written from a Christian viewpoint: "it's not something I'd want my kids to read."

Okay, okay, you don't have to agree with the book, you don't have to believe the book, you don't even have to like the book but to not let your teens, who I would hope you have raised well in whatever way you chose to raise them, read and make their own viewpoints from this angle, well, it is painful. If the book was from another religious viewpoint, say Buddist, or Muslim, or Hindu, or anything other than Christian and had good things to say, would THAT be okay? It's funny since all other world religions either encourage their followers to read Christ's teachings or revere Him as a wonderful teacher, that people in our "diverse" country will shun Christian teachings on the basis that it is just that: Christian.

Actually, that ought to be a wake up call to ALL CHRISTIANS! YOU ARE DOING A VERY POOR JOB OF YOUR PURPOSE! Okay, to ALOT of Christians, not all, but really, if just the name Christian freaks people out, then they really have gotten a bad message from somewhere. It's not about religion. It's not about rules. It's not about pointing fingers and making judgments. It's not about taking the abuse anyone doles out to you. Anyone who has done these to you is only human and needs to go back to the beginning and figure it out for real this time.

It is about relationships. God loves you. Jesus loves you. Wherever you are. Whoever you are. You are not alone. Find someone who really understands what the call is about. And let your kids in on it too. At least let them ask their own questions.

Pampering

2008-07-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

I have been pampered in the past day or two, it makes me not want to ever leave the house! Hunter has decided to take up massage - at least on Mom. He has given me foot rubs and a back massage that is actually very good. He already has my next foot massages scheduled for today. Apparently, I'll be the recipient of 3 of them today. Whoo Hoo! Scott isn't much on massage since it always hurt his hands to do so. But now, wow!

Also yesterday, Hadyn, jealous little thing she is, decided to get in on the Mommy pampering by showering me with hugs and kisses. Oh my. I made the comment as I was being hugged and massaged, that if they were older, I'd wonder what they were up to.

But at 7 years and 21 months, I think it's just pure love for their Mommy.

And I am loving every second of it!!!

Drum Lessons

2008-07-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

Hunter is not interested in sports, except for NASCAR, so in trying to find something to "involve" him in, we all settled on drums. Scott's friend, Scott, gives drum lessons, so we got Hunter hooked up and into to lessons. There is a drum kit in Hunter's closet. Clothes on one side, drums everywhere else.

But even though he wants to play, the actual lessons and subsequent practices are lacking in the interest department. He'll fuss and groan through a lesson at which time Mr. Scott will put his sticks down and tell Hunter that since he seems to "know it all" anyway, he (Mr. Scott) doesn't need to be there. And practice at home tends to be "forgotten" due to a "bad memory". Uh huh. This is the child who will recite verbatim things that were said years ago. Bad memory my foot.

So, today, Hunter went to do his practice. Five minutes later he emerges telling me he did his practice. No, that was just the warm up. I sent him back in for at least 10 more minutes and it was on the dot that he came back out telling me he was done. Scott just freaked him out telling him that they were going to go back in for 45 more minutes. Now keep in mind, Scott used to sit with his guitar in his younger days for HOURS on end practicing. So 45 minutes is nothing to him. But Hunter is nonetheless freaked!

Time will tell, of course, whether we have a drummer or not in the house. It would be cool. The we'd have a family band!

Funny Girl

2008-07-15T19:05:00.000-05:00

Hadyn is really becoming a full blow toddler. She's learning how to pretend. Yesterday as I was typing an email to a friend, I saw her "sneaking" up on me to tickle me. She quietly tippy-toed her was to me, right in front of me, with her little hands up ready to pounce. Oh, was joy was had when she got me and tickled, tickled, tickled Mama.

Then this morning she started a new thing. She'll lay down in my arms and pretend to go to sleep. She'll even put her little bitty finger by her mouth and do a "shhhhh" sound. I'll have to say, "oh, look, Baby is sleeping, we have to be quiet," then I am to tickle her under her arms. This afternoon during this game, she was squealing with delight before I could ever actually tickle her.

How funny. I wonder what she'll have in store for me tomorrow.

Parenting 101

2008-07-15T18:50:00.000-05:00

Every now and then I meet someone with their kid(s) and think, "man, that person (those people) really should've taken parenting classes before they had kids." And I'm sure at some point, the same thing has been thought about us.

But if you think about it, what if parenting 101 was mandatory for pre-pregnancy? Who would make the rules? What would it be like?

If we were in, oh, say, on the southern west coast, the class may be something like this: "Let your offspring be free to be themselves, don't limit them with rules, but allow them to explore their personalities vocally or physically. Never say 'no' as it will be a detriment to their inner being. Shower your children with all the material things you can grab, but never assume that you are wise enough or smart enough to education your own children. We have people to do that for you."

Then in another southern area of the country, the class may be more like, "Children are to be seen and not heard. Hard spankings are very much allowed and expected or you will be punished. Teach your children that people who are different from us are to be ridiculed and rejected." And so on.

Yeah, no one is perfect and no one here has the best answer for how to raise our children. I guess I'll stick to the "as mentioned in the Bible" tactic and see how that works out for us.

Smartie Pants

2008-07-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

I think Hadyn is getting too smart for us. Well, at least when she's a teenager, she'll be too smart for us. Last night Hunter was so excited for Speed Racer - The Next Generation to come on Nicktoons Network. It started and all of a sudden, Missy Bit decided to stop her playing and come stand right in front of the TV. I asked her to move and she did...three steps forward - right towards the TV. Okay, okay, babe, my bad, I meant move away from the TV. Yeah, well, she did that too...three more steps...right back to where she started - still in front of the TV but AWAY from it.

Did I mention she is 20 months old.

Oh, crap. We're in for it aren't we.

Fireworks!

2008-07-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

Hunter and I have been talking and reading about why we have an Independence Day on July 4th and why we celebrate with fireworks. We talk about the soldiers that fought for our freedom (and the ones that still are - that one is thanks to Auntie Jo's website www.supportingourheroes.com and the letters from the Marines posted there). But mostly we've been talking about the fireworks.

Hunter is, well, I'm not sure how to describe it other than scared to bloody death of fire and loud noises - and fireworks. So every year for Independence Day and any special occasion where there might be any firework displays, we have either had to leave early or try to talk a panicked, screaming little boy down from his hysteria. For 7 years we've done this.

Last night we went to Scott's mom's house and walked down to the golf course from her house to watch the fireworks display at the country club there. Hunter was ready. He was prepared. He had himself convinced that everything would be fine...until he saw the sparkler.

Panic ensued and he started screaming like - well, like people scream on horror films with a maniacal monster chasing after them. I got down on my knees in front of him and kept calmly telling him to "look at Mommy, look at Mommy, Hunter where is Mommy, look at Mommy." I got him to look at me and the screaming stopped and his breathing started returning to somewhat normal. I explained to him that the sparkler was being held by a little child and it was safe - no damage to Hunter or to the child. Once he calmed down and looked at it again, he was okay with it. Then sparkler kid's dad came over to offer us some sparklers. We hurriedly, but polietly shooshed him away before panic started again.

When the display started, it was much closer to us than in previous years so Scott and I just gave each other an "oh boy" look before looking over at the headphoned Hunter actually enjoying the show. Yup, he was enjoying the show. We talked about the colors and the "pictures" in the sky (an angry sun, Saturn, a star, among other things Hunter saw in them) for around 35 minutes before the show was over and we walked back to Grandma's house. Oh yeah, Hadyn was tired but she was enthralled by the show and kept repeating "booom".

So maybe now we can actually watch displays in the future without the trauma. Yea!!!

Really, THAT Old?

2008-05-30T17:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm one of these weirdo people who (1) thinks everyone I'm around is the same age I am, and (2) I think I'm still pretty young. When I get around people who really are my age and they're all moaning and groaning about getting older and they have kids graduating high school or college, I can't help but think, man, you really are old. But me, nah. I'm not old. I have two small children. God doesn't give those to people who are old, right?

Well, today I found out, I must be REALLY old.

I was at my Stroller Strides class this morning, doing my best to keep up with the instructor and keeping up with all the other moms. When we stopped at our last station to do some ab work, one of the moms made a comment to Hadyn about her little "jellies" shoes. She started to reminisce about her childhood "jelly" shoe collection and then other moms joined in. I was laying on my back thinking, "I just don't remember having any jellies when I was little", when one mom said, "yeah, everything from the 80's are coming back."

So, I opened my big mouth. "80's?" I said, "I was in high school in the 80's." Which explained to me why I didn't have any jellies when I was "little". The other moms, just kinda looked at me and then one announced she was born in 1980. Oh well. So, I told of my "thing" of thinking that everyone is the same age. Big mistake.

The conversation then turned to the "encouraging" - 'oh, but age is just a state of mind', and 'you're only as old as you think you are' and of course, the last nail in the coffin, "at least you are out here doing something."

WHAT?!? Um, okay. I guess I should be glad I'm "out here doing something" as opposed to sitting at home in my lazy boy recliner watching soap operas at my ripe old age of 40.

Man, did I think 40 was that old when I was in my 20's? Yeah, probably so. Oh well. I better go rest my weary bones before they just break on me. Now, where's my walker?

Freakin' Wildlife

2008-05-21T15:35:00.000-05:00

I grew up in the country - well, to me it was country. It was in the middle of the Texas Panhandle, very small town, outside the city limits, so, it was country. Anyway, I heard all sorts of animal life around me: dogs, cats, birds, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, coyotes, etc. I appreciate the wild - and not so wild -life. However, it's starting to bug me.

Every morning around 6AM, we are awakened not by an alarm clock, children, or even a city rooster, but by a lonely Cardinal that has claimed our cul-de-sac area as home. He gets in our backyard and calls out for a mate. Man, I'm really thinking of trying to buy a lady Cardinal somewhere and putting her back there just to shush him up! Where can I buy one? I don't know, maybe he has a mate somewhere and he's just proclaiming that fact out loud every morning. I think we know some guys like him.

Then there's the freakin' little bunnies. I really like bunny rabbits. They are so cute with their little bitty ears standing up and their little bitty cotton puff tails. Oh, yeah, they are cute. But doggonnit, they are eating my new flowers I just planted. I saw on the internet that you could put mothballs around the flower garden and the bunnies will stay away. Well, I try just about anything right now. My flower bed looks now like a hail storm hit it (moth balls and eaten up flowers). Now, if I can keep MY wildlife (kids) out of the marshmallow looking mothballs and deter the cute little bunnies elsewhere, I guess I'll be doing good.

I don't guess I'll have to worry about moths by the door for a while, either.

Freakin' wildlife.

That Baby

2008-05-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

I went to Hunter's school this afternoon to help with a class project. Scott had told me to bring Hunter home with me - rather than him ride the bus later - when I was done and he would take him to see "Speed Racer", which Hunter has been very anxious to see. We finished up the project around 2:40 so I checked him out of school and we left for home. I let him call Dad to tell him we were on our way and to let Daddy tell him about going to the movie.

Scott and I had already decided that it would be too long a movie to take Hadyn with us, so I told Hunter that it would just be Daddy and him going to the movie and I would stay home with Lil' Bit. Hunter was okay with that - he just wanted to go - but he sat quietly for a second and then said, "we used to go places all the time as a family, now we have 'that baby' and it's always just me and Daddy going." I laughed and agreed with him. Yeah, since we got "that baby", we don't always go and do as a family like we had gotten accustomed to doing. I did tell him that it wouldn't be too much longer before she would be old enough and more importantly, well behaved enough to go to the movies and other things like that and then we'd all go as a family again.

Hunter and I laughed together as we talked about "that baby" and what a feisty, ornery, hurricane of a little stinker she is, but wow! do we love her or what?! We couldn't imagine being without her. She is sweet and precious, smart and lively, happy and healthy, big and beautiful! Her big brother loves her so much and she adores him. She may be "that baby", but he's glad she's OUR baby!!!

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T09:30:00.000-05:00

It is Mother's Day, 2008. I got some good cuddles this morning from Hunter and then Hadyn woke up so happy and smiley and saying "Mommyyyyy" (she puts the accent on the last syllable - so cute). Yeah, a great start to a wonderful day. But it's the next thing that just made my morning.

I went to the home school book fair on Friday and picked up Hunter's 2nd grade curriculum for next year. One of the books included in this set was a NIrV Bible. I was showing Hunter how to look up scripture in his Bible and he has been reading in it all morning. He said his teacher at church will give him an extra "bible buck" (given to kids for memorizing their verses to spend at the "store") for bringing a bible to class. He sat on the couch just holding his new bible very close to his chest and told me about hearing on the news of a house fire that burned the family bibles. It made him sad to hear that and as he clutched his bible, he told me how much he loved his bible and how he hopes nothing bad ever happens to it.

It just brought tears to this Mommy's eyes. I know we have many more years and more trials ahead of us, but to hear my 6 - almost 7 -year old son express his love for his bible, just warmed me so much.

And not to leave little sister out, she loves her books, one of which is a board book picture bible which we read daily at her insistence -which she now refers to as her "bi-bo".

Thank you, Jesus, for giving me these precious babies to raise for you.

Dross

2008-05-02T15:31:00.000-05:00

For most of us, looking back at ourselves in the past probably isn't an entirely pretty picture. If anyone says they were just perfect or behaved just right, then I hope your doctor continues to renew your "fantasy land" prescription, because reality isn't for you. I can say this with impunity because apparently, I've been living a tad in this fantasy land myself.

Now, I most certainly do not think of myself as perfect. I'm nowhere near it and have never tried to achieve it. My mistakes have come in expressing my opinions, mostly when they were not asked for. See, I like to read things and research things that interest me or that I'm just curious about. So, when a topic comes up that I've seen or read about and I hear incorrect or differing information, I have expressed myself in probably not so nice ways. As I look back on some things said or done, I am truly embarrassed and would like to move on, but alas, only Jesus will wash away your sins and forget about them. Friends and family, do not.

In the past couple of days, I was given a reminder about "back then" and it really hurt. I mean, I'm glad that I have hopefully matured in my Christian walk and have gotten past a lot of my "opinion expressing" but it really stings to have things brought back up. I took a "Breaking Free" (Beth Moore) class at a church not too long ago in which we discussed God's refining process of us. One of the things that has stuck with me is the "surfacing of the dross". Dross is all the impurities in the precious metals in the smelting pot. As the metal (gold, silver, etc.) is heated - put to the fire - TRIALS - the impurities will surface, you can see them and do away with them - or rather, ask God to do it. EVERY day is a trial of life and like I said, just having a reminder stung. It stung because I thought "back then" I was doing nothing malicious, anything I did was out of love for my friends and family, and I had the best intentions for all. To hear that someone had problems with me more or less shocked me. But it also made me realize that some of that "dross" must've been overlooked due to pride. You know the, "what? I don't have the problem, you must have it!" type of pride. Ouch.

Scott has told me not to worry about it, but he knows where I'm at, where I've come from, and what's in my heart. But I want to be refined so that others can just see it too, without me having to tell them. So, again, I've had a letting go of pride trial. Man, it is never ending, is it? But this is a fire I am glad to walk through...I am not alone here. Praise God!

Teeth

2008-04-26T18:12:00.000-05:00

It's easy to see the logic behind our Divine Design when you are a parent. You can see God's glory being played out in your children and in your own life from time to time. But right now, I'm wondering...what is the purpose for painful "teeth cutting"?

I mean, I nursed my children, so I am very thankful they were not born with a full set of chompers, but this little girl is going to send me over the edge lately. I told Hunter that when they are grown, he'll have the right to tell her that it was her appearance on the Earth that sent Mom completely over the edge into insanity. Oh, yeah, he will have had a good part of it, but it is Hadyn that cinches the deal. For the past few days, she hasn't slept as well, eaten as well, or been as well behaved as usual. And it's driving me crazy. Everything is whining, crying, screaming, fit throwing, food throwing, and then there's what Hadyn has been doing. HA! No, just kidding, my stress level is holding pretty good lately.

I guess this is a patience builder (we didn't have this problem with Hunter - his teeth cut pretty effortlessly) and I'll just keep hold that this too shall pass quickly. God bless these babies. I love 'em.

Still Feeling Good!

2008-04-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been four weeks since Scott and I started taking the Univera product, Ageless Xtra, and WOW!! We can so tell a difference in ourselves. At first, I thought maybe I was feeling better because of the NovaSure procedure, but I was told to give my body at least 3 months for a difference there - and it's only been under one month, so it has to be the Ageless Xtra.

I blogged about some effects of this on my last blog entry but I had only just started the product. My Mom (who is 75 - don't tell her I told) is taking it, too, and she is just now beginning to tell a difference. This is not something to take if you are expecting a sudden burst of energy and a huge, immediate, drastic difference in your energy, stress level, mental clarity, and joint comfort/flexibiltiy...there are dealers on street corners with stuff for immediate action. No, this is subtle. Very subtle. My Mom said she was looking in the fridge for something, and noticed some containers that needed to be cleaned out. Normally, her thought pattern would be something like, "oh, those need to be cleaned out...I'll get to them later..." and of course, we know, later only comes when you have no other choice. But on this day, she grabbed the containers and cleaned them out. Then she noticed her sink faucet needed a good scrubbing, and she started on that. Before too long, she realized that she had cleaned her kitchen...something that she knew needed to be done, she just didn't have the energy for it. Now, when I talk to her on the phone, she's not sitting in the living room with my Dad watching TV all the time, she's up doing things. As the product works into her system more, I would imagine her focus and clarity will start sharpening up, too.

Scott has been taking it with me and he doesn't come home from work and crash on the couch at night anymore. As an example for him, last Friday, he took Hunter to school and came home and decided to clean the house. Naturally, I let him! He cleaned the kitchen, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom floors, shampooed the carpets, and then went out to mow and edge the yard. Then, that evening, we played at the church for the Women's Conference. His focus is really coming back to him to get himself organized and structured on a work and practice schedule, which is something he has struggled with doing lately.

For me, I've had more energy, more clarity, way less stress, and now I've noticed that my back and shoulder doesn't bother me as much as it had been. Okay, yes, I have been going to a chiropractor for a while, but I think it is the combination that has really helped me.

I talked to someone else the other day who said she isn't telling much of a difference, but she might not be able to tell it right now...remember, it is subtle.

Anyway, for something that is not chemical laden, good for you, and really works, I recommend it. I'm still feeling good...and starting to lose some weight, too!! Whoo Hoo!!

Take care!

Feeling Good!

2008-04-02T10:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, as odd as it may sound coming from me lately....I feel good. I'm not bouncing off the walls or anything, but I just "feel" good...or I feel well...whatever works for you.

I've been taking Univera products my doctor suggested and I can really tell a difference. The company's website (along with my doctor) claim that the Ageless Xtra product I'm taking does the following: Promotes Vital Energy, Supports Mental Clarity and Focus, Helps Manage Stress, and Promotes Joint Comfort and Flexibility. Uh huh, right, sure. Right? But guess what?!! IT DOES!!!

I could tell a difference in two days of taking this product. It was subtle, but there. I caught myself thinking "I feel good". I haven't thought that in a long while. I don't feel as tired as I have been feeling. I'm not jittery (no caffiene), not "reved up", just good. Then two days ago, we went through a small, but evident crisis here. During the afternoon, our tornado sirens went off and the local news was telling everyone in our area to take immediate shelter. I had Hunter, Hadyn and Ethan here. Hunter and Ethan flew off to grab pillows and headed to the bathtub in my bathroom. Hunter was screaming at me to come on, hurry up, etc. I went to grab their shoes, and a board to put over us in the tub. I had them in the bathroom and was trying to corral Hadyn to stay in the bathroom while I was watching the news and trying to see what was going on and where. With 3 little ones - one in a panic, one who would not stop talking, and one who did not see why she had to stay with the other two - you would think I'd be a little stressed, but no. After that crisis, the boys were playing and starting fighting and screaming with each other. I hate screaming. But again, I was stress free and just separated them and went on with my day.

Yeah, I think it works. I'm sold anyway. Anything that is natural, been around the world forever (30 years in Korea), my trusted physician has researched and likes, and the fact that IT WORKS, well count me in.

Let me know if you want to feel better, too! I'll hook you up!!!

Changing of the Guard

2008-04-01T21:00:00.000-05:00

Hunter is 6 years, Hadyn is 17 months. They love each other. They adore each other. They can't wait to see each other every day. And for right now, Hunter can bug the crud out of his sister. I imagine it won't be long for the changing of the guard and it to be the other way around for a while.

They take their bath together (this will be something else to change in time, too). It is generally easier on me to put them in the tub together and let brother "keep-an-eye" on sis so I can clean up after dinner and get their pj's ready for them for bed. But I do have to leave the bathroom with the command, "keep your hands off of her, keep out of her face, don't dump water over her head, and quit annoying her!"

It's funny to have to tell the older sibling this when, being a younger sibling myself, it's usually what gets heard by us young 'uns. So, that is what tells me that it will be a short time longer before I'll be issuing that command to little sister - quit annoying your brother.

But it is sweet to see them always wanting to love on each other. I do hope that sticks around for a long while.

Broken Hearts

2008-03-29T14:28:00.000-05:00

My heart has been broken this week for a church friend and neighbor who suddenly lost her husband. It was such a shock to hear - totally unexpected. I related to a girlfriend that death is never easy to take, but things like this are seem so much harder to come to grips with because of the unexpectedness. I mean, you expect your elderly or sickly parents or grandparents to come to the end of their life - maybe before you are ready, but you expect it. You expect that a person fighting a deadly disease could lose the battle - we pray for that not to happen, but it is not out of the realm of expectations. But you don't expect someone just going to work for the day to never come home. That just isn't right.

Scott and I talked about it at some length the other night. The bottom line...you just never know. Be prepared, love one another, because you just never know. Another friend who just experienced a sudden loss in her family asked if this is satan's work or God's timing. I told her I thought is was both - we live in a fallen world where bad things are allowed to happen, but God has a reason for everything and a time for everything. We don't have to understand, but just to have faith in Him that there is a reason and to keep praising Him in everything. I can't imagine if this happened to me. But I would just have to pray that I would hold on to God and His strength to get me through. I pray this for my friend and for all the families that are being hit by tragedy that I'm hearing about this week.

God knows about broken hearts and he loves us. His strength is sufficient to get us through. Praise!!!

Just Fine

2008-03-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well, I had my NovaSure procedure yesterday. Only time will tell if that will help my anemia and do away with the PMS. However, the down side to it is now I have no excuse. You know, the "I can be cranky if I want to because it's my time of the month" excuse, or "I can eat this whole container of chocolate ice cream because it's my time of the month" one, or the "I have to lay in bed all day long because I'm cramping (or have the hormonal headache) and can't cook and clean right now" justification. Yeah, that is gone now. Hmmm. I didn't think of that before.

And, someone really needs to remember to remind me if there is a next time that I don't handle anesthesia well. I can't seem to remember that. Could be that I'm under anesthesia and really don't have that great of a memory while drugged up. I was just fine yesterday when they sat me up in the little waiting room. My nose was still itching and it seemed as if I hadn't stopped talking since I went under. I also apparently talked to my doctor about his website in which I'm working on re-doing for him. I wish I knew what I said. It might have been profound! Anyway, I started having some cramping which is normal, so I was given Advil. Then nausea set in, which is also normal in some, so I was given Phenergan along with animal crackers and gatorade. But the pain was still very strong, so they added Vicodin to the mix. I waited uncomfortably for a long while for relief when my body decided to upchuck everything. Scott reminded me then that I did the same thing while under epidural having a c-section with Hunter (which I remember), and immediately after having my gallbladder removed (which I don't remember). So, yeah, next time, someone needs to remind me that I get sick. Then, I was administered some Zofran which helped.

We came home (longest trip EVER from Plano to McKinney) and Scott gave me 2 Vicodin and then I went to bed until around 3:30. I got up to see my kiddos and get hugs and kisses. Hadyn was so overjoyed to see Mommy that she would hardly let go of me to let me do anything. Hunter brought home an OUTSTANDING report card that I was looking over when missy would let me. I took a couple more pain pills around 4pm and then was good for the rest of the night.

So far today, I've been good. I've had just a little cramping but nothing like yesterday. My nurses told me that my uterus was "angry". Angry? No, I know what angry is. It wasn't angry, it was full blown #$%@ off!!!!! But today, we've made up and I'm just fine.

Again, time will tell, but I'm looking forward to not ever having "that time of month" again, even if it did blow my excuse mix out of the water. Whoo Hoo!!

Suburban Girl

2008-03-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

I grew up outside a very small country town in the Texas Panhandle. The closest "big" city to us was Amarillo and going there to shop or eat was a big deal and had to be planned out in advance. I played basketball in other small towns you could smell (cattle stock yards) before you reached them and locals called the smell "money". My Dad told me that the other girls in those towns were big ol' corn fed girls that were up before dawn tending to the ranch before breakfast, which was why they could "womp-up" on my skinny "city girl" butt in our games. City Girl? What? Me? At the time, those were fighting words. Now, well, yeah, he knew. Of course, I'd love to be called skinny again.

Scott would love to live in the country. I wouldn't mind the peace and tranquility of it as long as I either have the resource of an airplane and runway beside my house to take me to town or live within a 30 minute driving distance of the city. Oh, I guess it's not so much "city" as it is the "suburbs". I really love the country hospitality of small towns, but I crave the newness of a growing suburban city. Mmmmmm, that new city smell, don't 'cha love it? Carrie Bradshaw may have her Manolo Blahniks to keep her happy, but watching a Sonic and a Home Depot being built across the street from my house, Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!, tater tots and a paint brush within walking distance - close to Heaven? Yeah.

We are visiting my family in the Texas Panhandle right now for Spring Break and we giggle and chuckle to ourselves about how bad the traffic is around here and that it takes forever to go anywhere (sarcasm dripping in buckets off these statements), but if the job was right, I think Scott might want to stay a while.

I don't know. Tater Tots may be down the street a little bit, but the nearest Home Depot is 45 miles away. Eeek!

Not Crazy After All - A Woman Thing

2008-03-12T17:17:00.000-05:00

I had some blood work done a week or so ago during my annual "womanly" exam because I have been feeling so...well, not tired...but drowsy and sleepy all the time. I will have moments where I feel a slight pressure in my upper chest then I will get light headed - not dizzy - and then feel super drowsy. I just want to sleep all the time and it's stressing my family out. My doctor suspected anemia, but wanted to check other things as well. If you are not a woman reading this and feel squeamish about "that time of month" talk, well, maybe you should read elsewhere today. Otherwise...

Results came in and sure enough, I am anemic, along with low iron, nearly non existent vitamin D and D something, and low testosterone. All of which will lead to my sleepiness and no energy. So, my doctor recommended a NovaSure procedure which I am scheduled for at the end of the month. This is a safe uterine ablation procedure which will essentially stop my periods without side effects or having to take hormones and giving me back my blood volume. He thinks I am losing too much blood during my periods and is sure that I will regain my energy level. Another cool thing about this is PMS is reduced or done away, too. Yea! It's only for pre-menopausal women who are not having any more children. Since I had my tubes tied after Hadyn, I think I'm done.

I went yesterday for the procedural uterine biopsy and water sonogram to check for polyps or fibroids, which there were none. And I'll go back at the end of the month for the short procedure and hopefully, prayerfully, after that, I'll feel a return of my energy and my life. I love sleeping. I could consider it a hobby, but when it interferes with my life and my family, it's a problem.

But just knowing that it is something physical, and that I'm not losing my mind, has given me a little burst of life. I was in the yard today pulling weeds. Oh, I'm tired, but there is something about knowing that it's not in my mind that helps out a little bit. And now that I've got the kids asleep, I could go to sleep myself. But I'll stay awake for a little bit to see my hubby.

I'll keep posting to see how well this works when it's done.

GoodSearch - A search engine that gives!

2008-03-06T08:28:00.000-06:00

In doing some web-surfing the other day (I was on JeffGordon.com) I found this search engine that will donate money to specified non-profits for every internet search you do. I put in a charity we've supported before and put the search engine on my web browser toolbar. Easy to use, powered by Yahoo!, and helps fund charites, schools, churches, etc. Yeah. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. If you are interested, here's some info about it from their website: www.GoodSearch.com.

GoodSearch is a search engine which donates 50-percent of its revenue to the charities and schools designated by its users. It's a simple and compelling concept. You use GoodSearch exactly as you would any other search engine. Because it's powered by Yahoo!, you get proven search results. The money GoodSearch donates to your cause comes from its advertisers — the users and the organizations do not spend a dime!

How do I raise money for my favorite charity or school through GoodSearch?
Last year search engines generated close to $8 billion in revenue from advertisers. We've developed a way to direct some of that money to the causes you care about most. It's easy ... every time you search the Internet at GoodSearch.com, your charity or school earns money and the more you search, the more they make. Add up the money generated from all your searches and those done by the millions of other people who we hope will use GoodSearch, and we can make a real difference to the people and causes that need funds most.

How does it work?
* On the GoodSearch homepage, choose from thousands of organizations or add your favorite cause to our list.
* Search the Internet just like you normally would — the site is powered by Yahoo!, so you'll get high-quality search results.
* Fifty percent of the revenue generated from advertisers is shared with the charity, school or nonprofit organization of your choosing.

Are the search results going to be as good as the search engine I am using now?
GoodSearch.com is powered by Yahoo! so you'll get high-quality search results!

How much money could this generate for my charity or school?
We estimate that each Web search will generate approximately $0.01 for the designated charity or school (image, video and site-specific searches are not included). It quickly adds up! Here's an example of how much your organization can earn:
Charity or School Size: Small / No. of Supporters: 100 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$730
Charity or School Size: Medium / No. of Supporters: 1000 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$7,300
Charity or School Size: Large / No. of Supporters: 10,000 / Ave. Searches Per Day :2 / Estimated Revenue/Year:$73,000

The sky is the limit. The more people use GoodSearch, the more money will be directed towards causes. There is no cap on how much money we will direct to charities.

Ouch!

2008-03-04T21:56:00.000-06:00

Time is something that we all have to guard very carefully. It slips past us so easily if we aren't paying attention to it. And when you try to cram some activity into nearly every minute of your day, then it goes into lightspeed motion and you may end up having nothing but a bad attitude to show for it.

Scott is working through how to balance and set boundaries around his time right now. We should all learn how to do this but usually it takes a critical point to snap us into action. Since we did not home-school Hunter this year, the time that Scott and Hunter spend together has diminished to nearly non-existent. And the time they do have together can be a little rough since Hunter has picked up a little attitude issue this year (someone let me know, is this just a normal 6 year old thing or has my precious boy been body snatched?). Well, one day last week, after a stressful, rushed morning, Scott got very frustrated with a loud, very vocal Hadyn on the way to drop Hunter off at school and he snapped at her to hush. This bothered brother, who is very protective of his baby sister. When Dad was getting him out of the car, he told Hunter that he wouldn't be home until after Hunter was in bed that night. Our little boy responded with an under-the-breath, "who cares." Scott questioned him about that and said, "don't you care that you won't see me tonight?" Hunter turned and looked at him then declared, "No, we have pictures of you."

Ouch!

Yeah, that hurts. But the kid knew where to hit with his verbal punch. And it woke both of us up. Time is so precious. Kids are only kids once. Do we really want to rush them through it? I don't want to coddle him so much that he won't grow up, but he IS a six year old little boy.

School was delayed a couple of hours this morning due to ice on the roads. What did we do? We used our time very wisely. See for yourself:

Enjoy your time - whatever you are doing!

Say What? Pt 2

2008-03-03T21:45:00.000-06:00

I've often compared having a baby to having a puppy in the house. Now I think that parents of small children and drunk college students have some of the same phrases. For example, "Is that pee I'm stepping in?", "Huh, I just found a chunk of cheese in the dryer," and "Is that peanut butter in your ear?" As a matter of fact, I may have uttered these statements while in college, but I wouldn't know for sure as I was memory impaired at the time.

Yeah, I love being a mom. I actually enjoy these times and these bizarre phrases that are such a normal part of my day. Of course, I have a vague memory of enjoying those college days, too. And, I wake up every morning now feeling like I just got hit by the same freight train as hit me then. Of course, a beer glass can't give me a big hug and kiss with chubby little arms.

Ooooooh! I just can't wait to get more tomorrow and hear myself say more things that only another parent would understand!

Finding Fun

2008-02-23T18:17:00.000-06:00

There are a few things that I can really get lost in the joy of doing - website design is one and video editing is another. Hunter wanted to make a movie. I don't know where that idea came from, but I told him that yeah, we could make a movie, but we'd have to do it right. I had him write out a semi-story board (no pictures) and think out a script (no writing). Then we got our "props" in place and our actors ready. Because of the preparations, we had our movie shot in about 5 minutes. Cool. Try that, Hollywood. Of course I did have some actor issues - all three threatened to walk off the set at some point in the shooting (again, it was only 5 minutes). It was a good family time experience and I'm glad we were able to do it. So, I uploaded the video to my computer, sat down with iMovie and put together the following masterpiece. Enjoy.