Monday, December 31, 2007

It's really quite simple

I'm out of my pot and feeling better. Had a good talk with my friend and we seem to have soothed the issues we were having. I think things will always be changed, but that's ok, as we both are a work in progress. I guess that's the crux of it, always trying to be more Christ-like, spending our whole lives in the refining and sanctification process, means that sometimes our growth is painful. We can't stay the person we have been, and sometimes He must break us in order to change us.

Today's a cleaning and laundry day. Trying to get the house in some sense of sanity, as I cannot think straight in chaos. I love having the kids home for the Christmas break, but it does mean more mess than ever. The decorations stay up for another week though, until after Epiphany, so at least I don't need to worry about that today.

Yesterday the Princess was explaining to me how to do something on the WebKinz site. She began and ended the tale with, "It's really quite simple." I'm not sure where she picked up that expression but I found it both amusing and ageist at the same time, as I felt like a doddering old person being told how to press the elevator button.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Stew

I'm in my stew pot today. Not a big pot, just a medium one, but still. I hate feeling like I don't have a friendship that I thought I had with someone. Like we're friends, but my perspective of the relationship is different than the other person's. I have expectations of how I will be treated, and they weren't met today. I know it's not the end of the world, there are bigger things to worry about in the world. Just doesn't feel great, and I don't like it. I hate when you suddenly get a new view of who someone is, and realize that things won't be the same anymore. You can't go back to not knowing this facet of someone else, realizing that they wouldn't have treated you the way that they did, if they thought more highly of you. Stew stew stew....

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Rusty

I think my whole thing with wanting this blog is just that I want to write, I need to write, and I am so rusty it's pathetic. I always wanted to be a writer, and I know the Lord has given me some talent in this area. I just have allowed myself to hear the negative voice instead of the positive one, that tells me I am not good enough, I am not able, I will never be published... If I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and I really do believe that, then why do I make excuses for this? Why do I still assume that when my kids are all in school, that I'll go back to doing data entry for 11 bucks an hour, instead of writing? Why is it that when I think about going back to get my degree, I consider Biblical studies instead of writing? I really do feel passionately about Biblical study, and I do want to learn so much more of the Bible, but I know it's also a way to avoid writing, which is what I really want to do.

So for now I'll use the bloggity for whatever writing pops into my head, and have no excuses. No worries about what anyone will think when they read it, because for now no one will except for me and God. I'm sure I'll share it at some point, but at least for now I'm getting the ball rolling....

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Well, it isn't your birthday really, but since we don't have an exact date, 12/25 will do nicely. Today was a long and beautiful day, and I'm not sure why I'm still awake, other than trying to think of something bloggy. Lots of splenda gifts were exchanged today, including a coffee grinder to me from the hubs, bless him. I really want to try it out, and am refraining from grinding the only beans I have, which are pinto and would make terrible coffee. *note to self*- coffee bean shopping trip tomorrow!

My folks gave me an old copy of Little Women, a book I've been thinking would be nice for the Princess and I to read together. They also gave us a deep fryer. We'll be taking it out for it's maiden voyage for Little Christmas next month, when we make the whiting.

A beautiful day, all in all. Celebrating the birth of our Savior becomes more meaningful to me every year. I could barely contain my tears of joy at the 11pm service last night. The glowing candles, the thick greenery, the choir in their satiny robes, all of us singing of our joy for Him. How blessed we are.

Monday, December 24, 2007

The very first blog

Well here it be. I have wanted a blog for a while now, but kept thinking that I didn't need one. And I don't really, as I have a family web site where I gabble on about all of our comings and goings, and I have MySpace to keep in touch with friends and use adolescent sparkly graphics. So I really don't need a blog, another thing to keep up with and fuss over. Maybe it's an early Christmas present to myself. Maybe it's where I can *really* let my hair down. Maybe I just don't need a reason?? Maybe I'm too lazy to find my journal file on my old computer?

It's Christmas Eve. The kids and I are all still in our jammies. We put together and decorated the gingerbread house today. The Man did most of the work with them, and then I helped use up the last of the bag of toothpastey icing. Got lots of icing on our hands and into our mouths, mmm. The tree looks festive, with most of the ornaments hanging the requisite 30 inches from the ground, to protect them from the Barnacle's little hands. The cat keeps drinking the water out of the pot thinger and the Man and the kids take turns swatting him. I gave up; like I really need someone else to yell at about something fruitless, as we all know he can just climb under there and suck it all up while we sleep. Much like he comes and lays his bum on my countertops when I'm not there to throw things at him. It's a futile fight to disagree with a kitty.
We'll go to church at 7pm tonight, and the kids will sing - well, the Princess will sing anyway, the Boy isn't interested in the stage, whether for lack of interest or courage we don't know. It's always noisy at that 'family' service since there's no nursery coverage and the toddlers don't know what to do with themselves. The paparazzi (read: mothers with video cameras) will do their best to sit on the aisle near the front to get barely lit footage of their child. I love our church videos, even if they are so hard to see. :)
Welp, off to run bath water and get us moving. More later.

*note* all the entries before this date were transferred from elsewhere.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

I be the Lord of the Flies, mwhaha!

Ok, so I must preface my story with this: Boys are dirty creatures that I will never fully understand. Ok, on with the tale.... So a week-ish ago my hubs and I started noticing fruit flies in the kitchen. We had one banana left from a bunch and made sure it got eaten that day. Still the flies persisted. I started noticing them on the high chair so I made sure it was extra clean every night. Still the flies pestered us and I began to live in fear of inhaling the little creatures. I cleaned the counter tops yet again, I checked the kitchen trash can and the fridge for anything offensive that the flies could be attracted to. Still the flies were with us and I was in my stewing pot.

So a few days ago the hubs and I had decided that we were fed up with our kid's sloppy rooms (there's a whole other post, gack) and decided to do some rearranging of things in the boy's room. (We call firstborn son 'The Boy' for your future reference. He is 5ish and dirty as aforementioned.) We sorted a bunch of stuff, threw some things away including a desk that just collects junk. The hubs then moved the toybox. It was then that we discovered the promised land of the fruit flies. They were all flocking to the mecca behind the Boy's toy box, which was the location of a half eaten, rotten, stinking banana. Yes, you may feel free to gasp in disgust now. It was smeared down the wall, which we guessed must have happened as it fell from the top of the toy box and slowly worked it's way to the floor in that narrow space.

My hubs, God bless him, cleaned up the ghastly mess and we both lectured the Boy on various topics of food in bedrooms and cleanliness in general. I have no doubt that these lectures were meaningless to the Boy but we felt obligated. At any rate, it's now 4ish days later and we still have house guests. So I googled how to get rid of the flies and found a cheap (free, haha) remedy. I poured some balsamic vinegar into two juice glasses, and put paper funnels into them, taping them in so there would be no gaps. The flies have been getting in and being that they have brains the size of.... well... fruit flies, they are then unable to get themselves back out. The slaughter of the fruit flies is a bit gross and fascinating at the same time, as there are some drowning in the inky pool, while other more suspicious flies are still perched at the top of the funnel, contemplating. I've squished a bunch through the paper funnel when they got near the top of the glass prison, so I may have played my hand too early and scared some of them away.

I'll check for bodies in the morning and let ya'll know how it went!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The Boy is faster than western security

From September 4, 2007

We've missed attending church a lot this summer since we've been away most weekends. We had been wanting to go to church somewhere in the area of the campground but hadn't ever managed to do it. Some of our friends who have sites at the same place recently went to a megachurch nearby and really liked it. The man who owns/runs our campground goes to this church which is how we found it. It's so very different from our church, in good and bad ways.... They had really amazing classrooms for the kids though, and you register the kids at one of the check-in desks. They put you into the computer and print labels that go on each kid, and on you, and you get a pager too. The pager is on each sticker, along with any special instructions. (Yes, I was in OCD heaven, haaa) When I was filling out the paper with the kids' info I wrote under the Boy's special needs 'He wanders'. (My husband laughed, but he KNOWS that this is true and people must be warned!) Well, anything you put in that section goes onto their tag by code, so if they don't have a code for it I guess it doesn't go on the tag. After the service we went to go get the kids, and the Boy met us in the lobby area of the kids classrooms! He looked about ready to cry too, probably since the place is huge and it was crowded. The Man asked him what he was doing and the Boy replied, 'I was looking for mommy!'
I told the Man that I'd better go tell them in his classroom that he had gotten out so they didn't worry when they realized. (They check your stickers when you come for your child, and if you don't have your sticker you don't get your kid!) The main teacher happened to be our campground owner, lol, so I found him right away. I told him that the Boy had met us in the lobby and his eyes popped, lol. I told him that I had put it on the card I filled out, and he said that he would try to get that added into their coding system..... which totally cracked me up! We found out later that they even called a staff meeting afterwards to discuss the failure! I guess I shouldn't laugh, because it was a big deal to them, since they are really very thorough. But the Boy just threw them all for a loop because nothing and no one can keep him in. He's always been an escape artist and a wanderer!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Some things are too fun to give up

Recent conversation between me and my Mom....

Me: I got my cartilege pierced.
Mom: Ohhh....*fake confused mom smile*
Me: The top of my ear....
Mom: I see.
Me: Yeah, I've wanted to do it for a long time. I got the titanium since I'm allergic to nickel.
Mom: That's good.
Me: Mom?
Mom: Yes?
Me: Did you ever think that it would be your little girls who pierced and tattooed themselves, while your son put on a shirt & tie and went to work in an office every day?
Mom: No. No I did not. *laughs*

Gosh it's wrong how much fun it still is to torture her. Guess you never outgrow that. I have a precious memory of when she first saw one of my tattoos. I was putting on my wedding dress and her eyes got big.

Mom: *stares, says nothing*
Me: Mom, it's a tattoo.
Mom: *silence*
Me: Do you want to see the other one?"
Mom: No.
Me: Mom, I'm getting married. Is there anything else you want to know?
Mom: No. *leaves room*

Ahhhh, the memories.....
I did give her three cute grandkids though, so she has to have forgiven me by now.... right?

Thursday, January 11, 2007

How to traumatize your child with food in 3 easy steps

Sooo.... menu planning! I have never done this before but finally am going to give it a try. I was flipping through an old issue of Woman's Day magazine and they always give you a menu plan for the whole month. So I started getting some ideas from that, and the internet and we'll see how it goes. I figure this will help me to stay on track with one of my resolutions for 2007, which is to start cooking from recipes on a regular basis. I'm not a bad cook I guess, I just am boring, really - making the same stuff all the time.

I made myself a blank calendar and printed it out and am now writing in some different meals. It's silly, but I have had a box of lasagna noodles in my pantry forever. I have never made lasagna in my life so I don't know what I was thinking when I bought the box. And I'm lactose intolerant, so I can't make it with all the cheese. I looked today though and found a recipe that uses tofu instead of ricotta. I've never cooked with tofu either, but hey, it's a new year and I've gotta start sometime!

The Man made something of a pinched face when I said the word 'tofu', so maybe it would've been smarter to not tell him of this ahead of time. I'm definitely not telling the kids. The Boy is still suffering with his green bean allergy. I have never seen a child work harder to convince me that a quarter inch piece of bean would literally choke him to death - the gagging, the eye-watering, the tears... it's quite a performance, you should come over for the 5pm showing on Tuesday. It's second only to the show that the Princess put on when I informed her that the punishment for fighting with me this morning was to clean both toilets in our house. I'm pretty sure she'll need therapy to recover from that trauma.