it's a slow learning curve

2010 a Recap...

2010-12-29T05:49:00.000-08:00

Once again, it has been a while since I've been able to post. The fall seems to hit us hard w/husband's school starting, cross country season, oldest daughter's school (and in turn school friends sharing germs), then Halloween, birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. It's enough for me to DO those things, let alone reflect on them and write about them. We haven't been without family drama either... our relationship seems to be built up around family drama, so in some ways it seems par for the course. But.... I'd be lying if I said that I didn't envy those people for whom life seems to fly by effortlessly. Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side. You think your family is the only one with problems, but really, everyone's got 'em.

But I digress... this post was supposed to be a re-cap of 2010....

I started off 2010 pretty pregnant, not that you can tell from this picture. But I also got a snazzy new haircut, which I desperately need again.

On February 21, we welcomed another sweet girl into our family...

Fast forward and we had a fun 4th of July, first having a parade at my dad's and then going to shoot fireworks at husband's grandparent's house.

I got to spend some quality time w/middle daughter while husband took oldest daughter to visit his dad's family.

We had another first day of school... oldest daughter is now in PreK4!

We celebrated halloween as tinkerbell and snow white

I got a little bit of sewing in... I'm doing much better doing applique and made turkey shirts for Thanksgiving for our 3 girls and our niece.

And did a few crafts here and there... this is our advent calendar made from pages in magazines & a gift bag.

Went to see Santa

And had this waiting under the tree (from mom & dad)... we built this play kitchen w/a few supplies & a nightstand!

And most of all... we had a lot of fun as a family. Here is hoping 2011 is just as fabulous!

winner winner chicken dinner

2010-10-11T08:37:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness... I can't contain my excitement... I just won an official Gussy bag! Yeow!

I know I've been a little crappy with the blogging lately... home and work have been busy and stressful and it looks like things will be staying that way for a bit... this alternative certification process is going to end up taking a bit of concentration and preparation... hey... maybe I can keep myself better organized and control the paperwork that it is taking me to get this done in my new Gussy bag?!?!

Anywho, thank you to Gussy and the folks at Love Feast Table for having the fabulous giveaway. I'm super excited!

8

2010-09-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to my amazing and wonderful husband!

win a gussy!!!

2010-09-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Go here and follow her instructions for your chance to WIN your VERY OWN gussy bag !!!

Also, if you've never heard of GUSSY, please crawl out from under your rock now.

=)

for June

2010-09-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Within my reach...

2010-08-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

... so in a past post, I mentioned some job questions that have come up for me, and since I keep this blog fairly anonymous (not to mention that my boss knows about this endeavor of mine)... I'm putting it out there... for the sake of asking prayers, support, advice, etc.

I want to be a teacher. I have always wanted to be a teacher. My journey has not yet led me to that place. When I went away to college my life was personally in a total upheaval and so I 'upheaved' it right back by changing my 'safe' major of English, to something less steady, yet more personally fulfilling.. Theology.

I've worked for the Church for the past 8 years and have learned a lot and grown a lot. I can't even begin to describe the ways I've been blest. But our family situation dictates that a change is needed and me pursuing this dream (teaching) fits.

Finding a way to break into the teaching field is a whole other story though. Budgets are being cut while standards are being raised, and getting myself certified (I really am CERTIFIABLE ha ha) was showing itself to be 100% completely necessary. The route of finding an office job in a school and then working my way into a classroom became a clearly closed door (just for the record, it is RIDICULOUS how little a public school secretary gets paid... we're talkin' food stamps here.)... we just wouldn't be able to swing that financially.

It was starting to look like going back to school and doing a second Bachelor's degree in English might be my only option, so I started researching programs, online degrees, night classes etc. and while I do have a love of English, grammar (not that you can tell from my quickly written and rarely edited posts here), and literature, going back to school was not very appealing. A necessary evil, basically. (Let me point out here, that I'd love to go back to school someday, but would prefer not to wait until at least my kiddos aren't so little!)

Well, a sudden thought came to me that I should get in contact with someone at our state department of education and look for some professional advice on the best choice available to me. The man I wrote to emailed me back today and gave me the biggest piece of hope I've had in a while... the potential that a letter from my university acknowledging that my Theology degree could qualify me to test for alternative certification in social studies!!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how excited this makes me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will go down with this ship...

2010-08-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

...I won't put my hands up and surrender.

Abandoned.... that's probably how any of you blog readers of mine (you dear dear people who put up with my mindless drivel) feel. I apologize. Our summer has been more than hectic. So, Iwill update you what's been going on in our lives...

These three amigas were in their gaga & papa's neighborhood 4th of July parade

While this amiga and I watched and cheered.

This sweet little thing

has become this sweet chubba-lubba

(look at those thighs! AND she CAN get her toes in her mouth).

These two jetsetters took off for 6 days in New Jersey

(and obviously a day trip to NYC)

while this little chica

has some fun with her cousin, little sister and...

a dinner date and...

boat ride downtown with mom.

(PS that look of mischief on her face epitomizes her personality right now...

she's probably thinking... "while mom is fiddling w/her camera phone I wonder if I could jump off this boat and into the water and scare those ducks")

And these two cuties were flower girls in our good friends' wedding....

after which we got down and did some shakin' of our booties....

until it was definitely time to go home.

uneasy

2010-06-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Embracing the things that mkae us feel uneasy... that is waht is on my mind these days...

like accepting the chaotic state of my house, doing what I CAN about it, and letting the rest go... even on days when my dad & stepmom are coming over for dinner. My house is not perfect, far from it, but it is filled with LOVE and that is what is most important.

knowing that change is coming... I'm on a job search. This one is not cutting it for us. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my job. But I do not love my paycheck and I do not love how chaotic our family life becomes during summer when mom is the only one not home all of the time. Not to mention that we have a car payment and an extra kiddo in daycare in the fall. Not to mention that it has been my life's dream to be a teacher and the time has come for me to buckle down and do something to make that happen.

issues... husband and I are trying to work through a lot of STUFF right now. Nothing earth shattering... budgeting, bill paying, debt, family issues.

planning... our parents are all in their 50s. We're starting to put a little bit of thought into making sure that our parents are taken care of when they get older and can't take care of themselves. Not to mention... don't tell anyone... but we haven't done our will... we NEED to take care of that. So many hard decisions to make there.

facing my own weaknesses... I need more discipline in my life. and exercise. and organization. and discipline. and prayer. and did I mention discipline?

some day

2010-06-21T13:48:00.001-07:00

Emily at Chatting at the Sky has a beautiful post today about remembering what it is like to be a mom to little ones... which got me thinking about this:

I'll never forget last summer... I was pregnant and nauseous all the time and had just finished doing the 'big grocery shopping' with my then 3 & 1.5 year old in tow. I realized that I hadn't thought to find a parking space next to one of the cart return stalls and I had just loaded up the girls, started the car to get the a/c going (blasted Oklahoma 100*+ summers) and loaded all of my groceries into my trunk. I stood there with my cart, probably looking pretty perplexed, and weighed my options

leave the cart in the middle of the lot where it will probably get caught in the wind and put a major ding into some undeserving person's vehicle
make a run for it, leaving the girls in the car, and hope no one notices that there is an unattended car running
unload the super cranky children and make them go with me to the cart stall

... and then like an angel, another mom pulled up next to me saw the trouble on my face and offered to take my shopping cart for me. I will NEVER forget that small act of kindness. She mentioned that she knew what it was like. I hope that some day I can offer the same kindness to another.

church

2010-06-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Lately, either through suggestions from friends or my own internet wandering, I've stumbled upon a few blogs and sites w/beautiful written word and exuberant faith shared. Of course I'm not forward thinking enough to have, ya know... saved those links or anything. If I find them all again I will edit this post to include some links.

But that isn't the point... what has been a learning experience for me has been to read what has been on some owmen's hearts, their need to journal/blog about their faith and the familiarity of so much of what they write. I find myself thinking... is she Catholic too? More often than not, the naswer has been 'no'. But I'm (just being honest here) workingon allowing myself to remain open after I come to that discovery (that they aren't Catholic).

You see, I've lived a very beautiful, but somewhat narrow life. Growing up going to Catholic grade school for 7 years, and then attending college at a Catholic university, I didn't have a lot of people of other faiths in my life. In grade school, there was one baptist girl in my class (she attended there because her mom was our music teacher)...

In high school my horizons were opened when my parents moved us to a home in the country to begin life as public school students. There was so much that was unfamiliar about life in a public school (going from a class of 24 to a class of 104!) that in some ways I found myself clinging to the intimacy of youth group and religious education classes at my parish even stronger. While I did make many friends with non Catholics, the majority of my circle of friends (a beloved bunch of misfits) were not church goers in any way- "Chr-Easter Christians" at the very most (Christmas & Easter). So, in my daily life, faith sharing, evangelization, and ecumenism were not lived experiences.

In college, once again I had a sprinkling of non Catholic friends including my room mate and my would-be husband's best friend. They were never much in a position or perspective to be strongly evangelizing their other churches to me, seeing as how we lived an experience of our Catholic faith with witness from professors who were monks & nuns, consistent involvement in our campus ministry group, and an opinionated and vocal group of fellow Catholic friends who loved to gather at breakfast to debate moral theology over waffles.

Here I am now, 8 years (EIGHT YEARS?!?! WHAT???) out of college and with my theology degree in hand (or on wall) deeply immersed in a very Catholic adulthood. I've worked in parish & diocesan environments, my oldest daughter attends our parish school, our daycare provider is a fellow parishioner... I'm living my faith in a professional manner and husband and I are making our way through raising our 3 girls in the Church.

And through happy circumstances (making friends w/an amazing and diverse group of women who all had babies together and all returned to work after our respective maternity leaves- shout out to my beautiful NOV05WM!!- gaining a larger extended circle of friends and acquaintances, plus that beast Facebook brining me in contact w/so many high school friends, and let's not forget the good ol' internet and world of blogging) I've expanded my horizons socially & spiritually... or at least I'm trying to. The familiarity I've found in speaking with and reading the words of people of other backgrounds and faiths have brought to light a tremendous truth for me... we are all church. We are broken and divided and do not see eye to eye on a number of topics, but the Truth that lives in each of us, His Word living and serving on a daily basis is real. I won't be leaving the beautiful traditions and ritual that are so familiar and nourishing to me, but I do relish the opportunity to witness and admire the aspects of others' faith and how it grows in them.

NEED IDEAS!!!

2010-06-01T08:57:00.001-07:00

I have 4 days to come up with 2 wedding gifts. The couple I intend to give them to are very sweet and dear friends of ours and I want to give them something personal (i.e. I want to make them something)... I mean... anybody can go grab them a Target gift card or run to BBB and grab them some wine glasses from their wedding registry, right?

I've done several Lorelai aprons from the book A is for Aprons, so I may do one of those (maybe w/matching potholders???

That's the only idea I've been able to come up with.

And seriously, these are close friends of ours... husband is a groomsman and oldest & middle daughters are flower girls in their wedding.

So... if you've got/seen a stellar tutorial online w/some amazing homemade wonderful-ness that would be perfect for some superfun abouttobenewlyweds... hit me up with some LINKS!!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

minivan mom

2010-05-31T12:09:00.000-07:00

do you think this video could make it cool to be a mini van mom? i totally have a swagger wagon (well, mine is a grand caravan, not a sienna)

bentoish2

2010-05-20T09:08:00.001-07:00

posting another bento-ish lunch... we have ONE WEEK of PreK3 left... oldest daughter loves taking her lunch which works out well since I can't seem to remember to send her to school with a check to pay her balance on school lunches...

clearly i need to get to the store... we need FRESH fruit & vegetables

butterfly shaped pb&j, boiled egg, whales crackers, raisins, & apple juice

food

2010-05-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

2 posts in one day, I MUST have things on my mind (soon I will share... we will see what happens IRL first)...

I've been doing some reading, some contemplating, some wearing of clothes that are too tight and I really want to work on mine & my family's eating habits... and don't get me wrong... I'm not talking major crazy huge changes like going vegan or something... just healthier... getting away from processed CRAP and filling my body with the fuel it needs to give me the energy I want to do what I have to do (be a wife & mom)... easy enough, right?

I think this will probably be the beginning of another series of posts (haven't forgotten that financial journey series... just need to think through some of it some more)...

so, first I will think about the ways we've done better as a family and where we could stand to improve...

once upon a time husband and I went out to eat 3 or 4 times a week... and that was just dinner... it didn't include stopping at McDonald's or Taco Bell for lunch... horrible (what budget problems?)

once upon a time making cheeseburger macaroni was 'cooking'

once upon a time (like this morning... ) our favorite breakfast item was toaster streudel (i blame husband for this one... talk about filling your body with pure sugar and crap to start your morning... and oldest daughter is hooked... I think the store will have to be out of toaster streudel in the near future)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

one of my favorite 'changes' has been to stop using jarred spaghetti sauce. since pasta is a go-to meal at least once a week, it feels good that we are taking the time to make our own sauce & we know what is in it... depending how this summer's garden goes, i think it would be great to be able to jar our own italian stewed tomatoes to take the 'homemade' to a new level (we do start w/canned tomatoes...)

i LOVE wholewheat pasta... husband.... doesn't. i wouldn't buy white pasta again if it were completely up to me (same goes for rice)... there are a few dishes (mac n cheese, penne, etc) where I can usually get him to go with it...

beverages... when I was on weight watchers, they made me very aware that when you have soda or alcohol you are drinking your points away... you aren't getting much or any health benefit in return and you are probably hardly staying hydrated. 95% of my liquid intake comes in the form (in this order) of ice water, ice (DECAF!) tea, coffee, milk or juice. every once in a blue moon I'll have a dr pepper or alcohol, but really, the cheapskate in me doesn't like spending the money on that stuff... plus I feel yucky after I've had it (exception would be a nice glass of wine at the end of a hectic day)

speaking of garden (what? i mentioned it like 4 paragraphs ago!)... i am trying out another garden this year... i had mixed results last year, and I hope things go better this year... so far we've planted okra, tomatoes, basil, jalepenos & zucchini. i'll be adding yellow squash, onions, cilantro, & maybe some pumpkin to that mix... yay!!!! looking forward to a jar of grown-by-us salsa!

what do you do to help your family eat healthier?

Twister!

2010-05-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

This movie was filmed in my husband's home town. Oklahoma is considered to be 'tornado alley' and we are 'famous' for our tornadoes. Unfortunately, the one we experienced yesterday has claimed at least 7 lives. Trust me, we have EXCELLENT reporting (and forewarning) when it comes to tornadoes in Oklahoma. For there to be numerous lives lost means SERIOUS weather... of course that is confirmed by the reports this morning of no fewer than 26 seperate tornadoes. Scary.

Now, here's where I start to sound like a fool... many of my non-Oklahoma friends know that we are famous for our tornadoes and make it a point to tell me how they don't know how they could possibly live here... tornadoes seem so scary. And, don't get me wrong, they are. But to me, it isn't any different than any other kind of impending threat that is based on your region. Sure, we get tornadoes, but coastal people get hurricanes or earthquakes. Some get ridiculous fires, others get monstrous snow storms (take into account that Oklahoma's great blizzard over Christmas 2009 resulted in about 12 inches of snow w/3 ft drifts. Some of my east coast friends would consider that to be a dusting)... we all get bad weather and other natural disasters, so instead of thinking that one is worse than another, I prefer to do my best to stay educated about what WE have and know how to keep my family safe. We do not have a basement or shelter at our house. I'm sure eventually we will prioritize that in our finances, but for the time being, our hall closet protects us well (with the girls wearing bicycle helmets) or, if it looks particularly ominous, our next door neighbors do have a shelter in their backyard.

So, please pray for our safety and when I hear about your wildfires or blizzards, I will pray for yours.

mommy

2010-05-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

my first mother's day w 3 darling daughters.... LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

occasionally I still get the question "are you going to try for a boy"... ummmm.... no. not that I have anything against boys, but really, I believe God will give us the children we are meant to have, our hands are pretty full at this point, and the assumption that our family isn't complete without one of each gender makes me feel like the person asking me must not realize that there is not one canned 'boy personality' and one canned 'girl personality'... with 3 daughters I know that they are each very different, and they are each such wonderful gifts to me

I thank God for that!!

Bento Bento Bento

2010-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Just a Girl had a list of links and one of them that I checked out was this great blog...

the goal: HEALTHIER lunches for your kiddos... the kind that they will actually eat, mind you.

why it works: We all know that toddlers/preschoolers tend to be grazers. They love to snack rather than sit down for a giant meal (at least that's how my 2 older girls are)... so, to me, this idea meets that preference and at the same time fills their bellies w/healthy attractive meals that will keep them fueled through their busy days. I'm no pro yet. I don't have fancy egg shapers or anything like that, but I finally remembered to take a picture of one (I bought the gladware disposable divided containers and they fit PERFECTLY in older daughter's lunch box)...

what's for lunch for her today?

~1 boiled egg (she would eat her weight in these if she could)

~1 slice of american cheese (it's under the juice box... usually we have string cheese, but momma needs to pick that up at the store)

~1 apple juice box

~2 big cut up strawberries (she's picky w/fruit, so we will see how this goes

~a handful of whales crackers (whales are Target's version of goldfish)

my other lunch tip... oldest daughter loves to get a 'special note' in her lunch each day (sometimes I have trouble thinking of something)... but to multi-task, I buy colored beverage napkins (you can usually find fun ones on clearance at Target) and write the note on the napkin w/different colored sharpies... fun!

Sewing challenge...

2010-05-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

I'm on a bit of a crafting/sewing kick these days... not that I've accomplished all that much, BUT I have scoured the internets =P and found some great tutorials that I'm trying out a few at at time. I have already done this tutorial once, just to try it out... and came up with this:

I'm pretty happy with the results, although it turned out MUCH bigger than I was expecting, so I think I'll make a few adjustments to the size. The size of this lime green beauty is perfect though on my teal oversized bag. Anything smaller would have been swallowed up, I think.

Anywho... my budget is tight this year, so with Mother's day right around the corner, I've got some crafting planned for gifts. I'll be making those flowers for my mom & stepmom, one for oldest daughter's teacher (because of course, in honor of mother's day coming up, we busy moms also get to busy ourselves with thoughtfulness & stress of teacher appreciation week), and one for each of the girls' godmothers.

Additionally, for my mom, I am working on this little project. As I've mentioned here before, my family has never been one to keep any kind of history or link to our past. I'm determined to change that for future generations and starting by having each of my parents do a little journaling for me.

I'm hoping to take a few pictures and show off the results of these projects soon, so stay tuned!

sewing...

2010-04-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, little number 3 got 'all washed up' this weekend, but leading up to it, I was itching to try a few tutorials that I've found online... the pictures are NOT great, and I didn't even get a picture of the baby in her matching outfit (after mass), but the main goal of this post is to link to some great tutorials that I recommend....

the girls skirt came from here

the rosette (which actually comes out MUCH smaller than the tutorial pictures would make you think, fyi) came from here

and little one's matching onesie/dress (not shown... I'll try to get a picture of her in it in the

next few days and update) was an interpretation (I didn't use elastic for the skirt, I just sewed a ruffle - one long running stitch set at highest tension and longest stitch, then pull the threads... next time the elastic may work better) from here

Happy sewing!

never forget

2010-04-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

So many of my facebook friends are saying "I can't believe it has been 15 years"... but I know there is another side... a side that KNOWS it ahs been 15 years... 15 years since they kissed their momma goodbye before school, 15 years since their sweet daughter called to check on them before heading off to work at her new job, 15 years since holding that sweet baby boy, 15 years since he could keep from feeling scared to go to work... think of what has happened in the last 15 years of your life... for me, I completed high school, college, got married, started my first job, and had 3 babies. Lost my nana and papa. Traveled to Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Pennsylvania & Minnesota. In other words, I've lived quite a lot of life in the last 15 years. My heart is especially with the Enoch/Alexander family who lost their sister/wife/mother. They have lived 'a lot of life' in the last 15 years without her.

And my prayers are with the perpetrators and their families. I can't imagine the pain, guilt and remorse they feel.

Never forget.

step-family ties

2010-04-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

When parents divorce and later remarry they may overlook preparing their children for how to deal with new stepfamily issues. Maybe they don't realize that issues will come up. Maybe they don't anticipate that 'kids' who get along well might not be adults who get along well. Maybe they don't know to expect that the strains of divorce will eventually rear their ugly heads and the differences between how one family was raised and another may not be seen in the beginning, but pop up later. Whatever the case, as a 'child of divorce' (which here, 13 years later still seems like a strange label, since the first 17 years of my life did not carry that label) I (and as an extension my family) feel these strains.

Both my mother and father have remarried and both remarried wonderful people whom I love and am lucky to have in my life. That doesn't mean that I'm happy my parents are not together, but at the very least I can say that I am happy that they are happy. Both of my step-parents have children from previous marriages and in turn each of my step-siblings have very unique personalities. I can see good & bad qualities in each of these 3 people (not that I'm trying to be judgemental)... a step-brother and step-sister on my dad's side, a step-brother on my mom's side.

It feels glaringly obvious comparing my sister and I with our step-siblings that we were raised in very different homes... different experiences, different expectations, different values. Divorce has colored our lives in shades that I think I would describe as wounded. From my own description and point of view I can honestly say that my own parents' divorce still hurts. But one thing is certain, it isn't ever going to go away.

There has never been any type of manual or guidance as to how to be this new version of myself. My parents divorce, coming when I was 17, was easy to put at arm's length. I only had one year of high school left, afterall... I could ignore it, just 'deal' with it for a year and then... a new life. A life of my own choosing. One that didn't require me on a daily basis to face my family being torn into pieces. I only had to think about it on holidays or during the short summer months.

But I digress.

I definitely would NOT say that I dislike my step-siblings. I think the best way that I can describe it is that the wounds of divorce have led (at least two of) them to make choices that contrast with some pretty important values in my own life. I'm REALLY not judging. I imgaine if they knew the way I've kept so many of my feelings and wounds buried these 13 years, they might not think I've made the best choice. Like I said, there's no instruction manual. And I don't judge. But that doesn't make any of us best friends.

But now, as an adult with a family of my own, learning to live with family you didn't pick (but that your parents DID PICK!!!) is DIFFICULT. My dad has been re-married for 9 years, my mom for 8. To this day, I don't completely know how to get along with my step-siblings (particularly the 2 who live in state... there's not a lot of getting along required for a step-brother half way across the country). When those differences in values, the results of choices made by wounded people rub me the wrong way, and I don't know how to stear my own family through the mess. Sometimes the best I can think to do is to keep my own family at a distance, not allow ourselves to be immersed in the chaos and mess. Sometimes I can really feel the pain that that distance causes my step-siblings, parents and step-parents. I feel bad for that. But at the same time, none of us knew how this was going to work and none of us could have expected that sometimes it really does get tangled and messy.

I think it is important to realize & remember that we're all doing our best. We're all trying to figure things out and we don't all get it right all of the time.

Burying my feelings was never a GREAT choice but it was all I knew to do. Maybe some day I can dig them up, dust them off, put them on a shelf and give them their deserved place to be observed at a distance and maybe someday I'll be able to drum up some more positive perspective.

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

Life is hectic with 3 kiddos. Who woulda' thunk it? But inspite (despite? I can never remember when to use which one) of that, GOD IS GOOD TO ME! Just take a look at my beautiful family this morning.

thrilled

2010-03-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

pardon the lowercase and any typos.... i'm blogging and nursing... necessary multitasking.

i just couldn't wait to tell everyone that one of my all time favorite blogs, the painted house, is BACK!!!! she took a bloggy brreak, but next week she is coming back in full force and having some giveaways to celebrate (including one of her fabulous paintings... lemme tell you i would just die if i won!!!) so,please go take a sneak peak... she is fab-u-lous!

3

2010-02-21T19:21:00.001-08:00

Baby girl #3 has arrived... I can't begin to describe the wonderful. She is perfect and beautiful and lovely. I'm loving the time I have to spend getting to know her. This was easily the hardest labor I've ever had, but I also appreciate this 'after' so much more. I guess that is a pretty decent trade, considering I have a forever of 'after' and the labor was only temporary...

more on her birth story in a bit, but for now... feast your eyes...

have you had the baby yet?

2010-02-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

I'm getting that and similar comments a lot lately... you're so huge! are you having twins? when is the baby coming? what is the baby doing?

I'm getting to that uncomfortable and cranky stage these days and the snarky answers that I come up with in my head, fortunately aren't leaking out to the rest of the world... yet.

But, today is the 16th, and my edd is the 25th. Since I'm using a new doctor this time, I don't know his policies on letting moms go past their due date, but all signs point to the fact that I'll be holding my sweet baby girl within the next 9 days. Only 9 days left! It is really hard to wrap my brain around.

We have 2 major things left to accomplish 1)choosing her name (which won't be posted here anyways, but trust me, it is HARD finding a name that you and your husband agree on that 'goes' with the names of your other 2 girls) and 2)buying a minivan. We're hoping to do that on Friday (if I haven't had the baby yet!!).

That's right... I'm going to be one of 'those' minivan moms. And since husband coaches soccer at school, the 2 older girls already have a deep fascination with all things soccer. Which means, I may eventually have to become... gulp... a soccer mom. Maybe I should start wearing jumpers and keds... sigh. I'll think about that another day.

But really, this post is about my baby. I cannot wait to meet her, to hold her, to nurse her, to witness her sisters meeting her for the first time. I cannot wait to take that first bleary-eyed photo of the 5 (yes, I said FIVE!) of us together. Baby girl come soon! Your family cannot wait to meet you!

29+1=

2010-02-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Our financial journey...

2010-02-02T11:37:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Melissa at A Familiar Path, has started writing the story of her family's finances. This is fascinating to me... the idea that your finances can be a story and not a list. So I've decided to run with that idea and start our story too. Maybe some day when my girls read this blog they'll have some insight to our family's financial history and be able to use that information to make wise choices. Hopefully.

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When husband and I met in college, we had each already established ourselves in some ways with our finances (in other words, we were both already locked into student loans). Since my parents split up when I was a senior in high school neither of them had the financial stability to provide much in the world of tuition assistance. Being a 'first generation' college graduate (my dad has an associate's degree, but did not come by it as a traditional out of high school live away in a dorm student) there wasn't a lot of knowledge or support on how the whole system worked either. The way that I made my choice of which college to go to was that I picked the one that was giving me the most scholarships. With my ACT score and half way decent GPA I had secured a half tuition scholarship and additionally my dad's membership in a men's fraternal organization through church got me an additional $500 per semester. I showed up for freshman orientation and was informed that as a first year student I didn't qualify for enough loans to pay my entire tuition and room & board, so I called my dad crying telling him that classes were supposed to start the next day and I couldn't go b/c I didn't have any way to secure the rest of a loan for my bill. He took the afternoon off of work and signed a parent's loan in his name, immediately paying it off by borrowing against his 401K. I was so grateful, but at the same time clueless as to how to manage any finances from there. I had been working as a cashier at a lumber company in my home town and retained that position, coming home to work on the weekends. I had a $6200 loan from my bank for my car and made just enough to pay that payment each month along with gas and a few groceries in my dorm fridge. My dad gave me a $100/month allowance which paid for my car insurance. That was basically my story for the next 4 years. After my parents divorce was settled (not reflected until the next year's taxes), I could claim just one parent's income on my FAFSA which helped me obtain a government grant to take the place of my freshman year daddy bailout. I worked hard at school, won a few other scholarships, but basically continued on this way for the next 4 years. My last car payment was made by my little sister as a gift for college graduation. I graduated college with about $500 worth of graduation money, an engagement ring on my finger, an offer to live at home with my dad until I got married, $10K in student loans, and a stack of resumes to start looking for a position using my new Theology degree. I was set!

Husband didn't have much financial support coming from his mom going into college. She had just purchased her first house and was trying to get out on her own for the first time. He had several scholarships like I did, and very supportive grandparents who bought him a car and opened a small joint credit card that he used when he needed new clothes or school books. He received grant money coming from a single parent household but for the most part he lived modestly and saved as much as he could from working during the summers. When he graduated, a year before me, he had already been offered 3 full time positions, took the one that was closest to visiting me, and additionally secured an extra full time temporary position for the summer at a camp. His master plan at the time was to save all of his income from one of those positions and use it to buy me an engagement ring. He lived on his own for a year while I finished school and while he occasionally allowed himself a few luxuries (like the supreme cable package with 800 channels), he lived very modestly through that year. Part of the way through he was able to move out of a 1 bedroom apartment and started renting a 3 bedroom house from the parish where he worked, paying the same in rent he had paid for the apartment.

In August I secured a part time youth ministry position in the neighboring town to his. In September we were married. We had over $20,000 in student loans, a run down country house, and I had big dreams...

Project-ed

2010-01-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

It seems the one thing that husband and I are REALLY good at... is starting projects and not finishing them... Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of projects around our house that we HAVE completed and usually the hang-ups to completion are my two friends Time and Money.

However... if there's one thing we've got going for us it is elbow grease. We are both hard workers, just easily distracted (i.e. overwhelmed) by the busy-ness of life.

If there's one more thing we've got going for us, it's that having a third kiddo in our house in the next month (MONTH!!!!?!) will not take long to pose some space issues and the reality that we need to find an affordable home with more space is looming before us.... thus having this house prepared to be sold is going to be taking more of our attention...

Since I managed pretty well with my new year's resolution (one sewing project per month... I know I at least averaged out to that even if there wasn't one project completed each month) I thought I'd write a list of projects I'd like to see us work on. Obviously those time & money fools will play a part in how much of this list gets completed, but seeing us work through this list will also provide more motivation to complete the rest of it...

without further ado (i.e. blabbering)... and in no particular order...

1)finish master bath (counter & shower were tiled over Christmas break, need to do floors, walls, figure out mirror situation, install vent, paint woodwork, accesorize)

2)guest bath (new tub, tear out wood paneling, repaint walls, new vanity, new floor)

3)countertops in kitchen (just replace with something neutral, decent looking and affordable)

4)PUT UP SHED (this one has been a thorn in my side b/c we purchased this shed 19 months ago and it has been sitting in boxes in our garage ever since. meanwhile our lawn mower is currently sitting outside w/6 inches of snow on top of it. how does this make any sense?)

5)flooring (we replaced the carpet in the house about 2 years ago, but it is looking B-A-D. would LOVE to put some sort of wood- even fake- down through the kitchen, dining, living, & hallway. bedrooms will be fine as-is)

6)paint woodwork (this is one of those pie in the sky dreams for me. i think it would be time consuming but would go a long way in updating the look of the house.)

7)new garage doors... enough said

8)put up a screen door w/our backdoor (while it would be amazing too replace the sliding doors with french doors, it just isn't something i'm interested in putting money on)

9)make curtains (mistreatments) for living/dining room. the blinds are necessary but ugly. let's bring on the pretty

10)replace living room furniture (we've had handmedowns since we got married and it is time to be grown ups and buy some stinking furniture. one couch and one recliner. that's all i'm asking for... and maybe an entertainment center of some kind)

whew! that's it. that's my list. only 10 things... not too shabby. of course, some of those are pretty expensive projects and it is going to take some thinking on how we're going to be able to afford some of those projects BUT the goodnews is that we can do a lot of the work ourselves (along with help from knowledgeable family) and our goal with all of this is not to have a high dollar makeover but just to update our house so that it really is ready to sell.

... let's see where this list is in 2011!

Surreal

2010-01-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

Outside my office window it is sunny and in the 50s. Tomorrow we are anticipating a major ice storm. Meanwhile, not too far away...

our brothers and sisters are suffering. But I know that soon, some of my more closely located brothers and sisters will be without power or heat in below freezing temperature. So today, I do what I can to prepare so that my family will not have to suffer, but more importantly, I pray for those who are suffering, who will be suffering, who have suffered. I pray that our common Father in Heaven will reach His loving arms out to us, that we will know the power of His strength and love to get us through whatever hard times any of us are facing.

true colors

2009-12-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays. It seems that for better or for worse, the holidays are the one time that you can count on your loved ones to show their true colors, and this has been true once again this year. Having family members with issues, family members who have overcome hardship, family members who struggle with mental illness... well.... add that all up, shake it up like a snow globe and wait to see how everything shakes out, know what I mean?

The hardest thing for me on the holidays stems from being a child of divorce. My parents didn't split up until I was 17, so for 17 years I grew up with one sense of normal... then my world was ripped apart and I had to muddle through what a new normal was going to be. The problem is that all of that came right as I was getting ready to head off to college and not actually have to live it on a day to day basis. The holidays were the biggest chunk of time that I actually went home, and bouncing between my parents was less about establishing a new tradition for myself and more of just taking the chance to see my parents for a bit, albeit individually.

Since husband and I got married, we've muddled through the holidays and making plans for them has always been tedious at best. Some of the worst fights we've ever had have happened in the middle of carrides between family members, trying to cram in seeing everyone all on December 25. Talk about the reason for the season. We have at least managed to limit ourselves to seeing one set of family members on any particular day and we do manage to make this work pretty well. Becoming parents has stirred the pot a bit with all of this, because everyone wants to be the one to get THE day. While everyone WANTS to be THE one, the way they all address that issue comes across differently. I will say that none of our parents have managed to handle it perfectly all the time, but we are especially grateful for those who acknowledge how hard the bouncing around can be and usually say "we'll see you when we see you". Husband and I had a big talk once where he pointed out that that attitude is really the one that our parents OWE us, having put us through the pressure and stress of splitting up and therefore forcing us to split our focus when seeing family. I had never really thought of it that way, and I certainly very rarely take a perspective of anyone owing me anything... however.........

Today our state is facing an enormous ice & snow storm, and our plans to go out of town to see some of husband's family are being postponed. The hardest part about that fact is that whenever we do reschedule, not all of the family members who are there today will be there when we go up. We will get to see the 'major players' but some aunts, uncles and cousins won't be around. Certainly not what we planned or what we want, but for a state that has had only 12 white Christmases since 1908, and it being Christmas eve w/BLIZZARD conditions, we have to make do with the hand we've been dealt. While my husband's heart is especially heavy in missing out on his family's annual Christmas Eve party (complete with a visit from Santa his own self), there really is no way we could safely navigate our way up. That doesn't stop certain family members from lying on the pressure to visit (don't get me wrong, many of them have called to say STAY HOME) or (even worse) assure us that the roads aren't bad and that we'll be able to make it just fine (insert eye roll here). Talk about true colors.

But, I guess that is what family is all about. You get all kinds of characters, and you love all of them, even the ones you don't like very much. Heck, even Mary had to hop on the back of a donkey while she was 9 months pregnant to make her way to Joseph's home town for some silly census nonsense and wound up stuck giving birth on the floor of a stinking stable. Which brings me once again to one of my favorite Christmas songs, and what I feel really puts me in touch with the true spirit of the season.

Enjoy... and Merry Christmas.

back to sick...

2009-12-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

We were doing SO well... we're one week away from oldest daughter and husband being out of school for the year. Getting to that point... that goal... it meant having just enough sick leave saved up for maternity leave... it meant not needing to take any more time off of work this calendar year... it meant not spending more money on co-pays, prescriptions, pedialite, and ramen... it meant we were all well and despite anything else that could have been going wrong in our lives, we had our health which is the most important thing...

... but little one woke up this morning and threw up. Immediately she was fine, running around playing with her sister and her cousin and not having a care in the world. I THOUGHT it might have been a fluke... unfortunately it wasn't. After lunch and during the afternoon nap whatever is ailing her decided to hit her hard. A fever all afternoon and she has thrown up more times than I can count now. There's an odd disturbance that comes with having a sick kiddo... the cuteness (not sure what else to call it) of their sick weak voice and their desire for cuddles, the helplessness as they need you to help with everything (whether it's changing them, getting them a drink, or literally helping through the act of throwing up), the weakness of their bodies, the heat a fever generates... it's enough to make a mommy weary. I was asked if I was going to take her to the doctor. My response was, "for what? a fever and some throwing up that has been going on for 12 hours?". I'm not sure when parents started taking their kiddos in to the pediatrician for every sniffle, and I hope I'm not jinxing anything by saying (writing)this, but I think we can tough out a little tummy bug without having it diagnosed as such by our pediatrician for a $25 copay (not that I'm complaining... about my access to health insurance OR our WONDERFUL pediatrician). I just hate for her sake that she's sick again and I hate the un-planned pause our lives are forced to take when we go through something like this.

I hope tonight boasts a miraculous recovery.

Holy H2O

2009-11-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

Husband and I have been through a lot lately, and our finances are struggling to stay caught up with the chaos. Above all of this, we are grasping desperately to a strong desire to recognize how much God has given us and to remember that we are called to give back, not from what is left over, but straight off of the top. The way that we have chosen to do this is to give 5% of our take home pay to our parish and 5% to other charities. Those charities vary each pay period, and after he gets up from the nap he is taking, I'm going to talk to him about this being our next charity. There is just no reason, with all that is good and wonderful and advanced in our world that a child could die from not having access to clean water. Talk about the simplest of necessities. So, wherever you stand on tithing, whatever your financial resources, please consider following the link below and considering a gift to children who have the simplest of needs... thank you.

http://water4christmas.com/

oh yes i am...

2009-11-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

3 guess who won 2 free tickets to the upcoming Billy Joel & Elton John concert.....

Seen & Not Heard?

2009-11-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

My venting on this topic might go on for a bit, so if it is annoying you, please feel free to get on my case about it or ignore it... either way really does not bother me....

I'm thinking about that whole idea that children should be 'seen and not heard'... I'm thinking about it in a historical context that my experience can date back to my grandparents' generation. I'm certain my parents were raised with that mentality (lest grandpa make them go out and 'pick a switch'... no lie). In turn, my parents' generation raised their children in more of a 'live and let live' kind of world. I think my generation was the beginning of the 'raised with privilege' and 'everyone gets a trophy' and 'who cares about appropriateness, let the child EXPRESS him/her self' kind of world... in other words... spoiled.

I was one of the 'poor kids' growing up. At least, in my world I was a poor kid. I went to private school for 7 years and had to buy most of my clothes at Target and shoes from Payless. Occasionally we even shopped second hand! I didn't have a seperate playroom in my house, and I was 13 before I had my own tv (a black & white handmedown from my grandparents!!!!). We only went out to dinner once a week. I took tap lessons for one year and since my black tap shoes that my dad found at a garage sale were not the right color for our recital, my dad spray painted them white. Yup... we were POOR (she says in TOTAL jest).

Ya know what... growing up 'poor' brought a lot of perspective, as has my background in ministry. As Americans (oh how I could go on forever) we don't know the first thing about poor. I don't think I know a single person who has ever dug through trash for food. In fact, I don't know anyone who goes without 3 meals a day (even if those meals were bought with foodstamps, WIC, or other charitable means).

The gift of my children is such a tremendous blessing, and raising my children in a balance between 'seen and not heard' and 'spoiled' seems like the right way to go. I don't spank my children, but I also don't let them get away with murder. My girls have an entire bedroom full of (new)toys and closets that are filled mostly with handmedown clothes.

I heard a story once about an American bishop going to Africa and celebrating mass outdoors. He was struck with awe over how quiet and well-behaved the children were a strong contrast to the noisiness of his urban cathedral back in the states. Speaking to his brother bishop about it after mass he wondered at how families in Africa were able to raise their chidlren with so much respect and discipline while attending a long, hot Sunday mass. The African bishop replied that the children were so quiet because they had no energy because they were hungry.

Do those who attend mass and look down their noses at noisy kiddos not understand this concept? Have they never been a parent and don't know what a struggle it is just to find that delicate balance between squelching their curiousity and teaching them reverence? Or have they forgotten? Or was it beaten into them and they accept that as normal?

I make no claims at being perfect in any way, least of all in my parenting skills, but I AM trying. I don't judge, but I see a lot of others who don't try at all. Do my efforts count for anything? Is it fair to preach about how sinful it is, and a bad example to one's children, to skip Sunday mass, but then at the same time make those parents feel completely unwelcome in the parish... rather it isn't the parents who are unwelcome, just their kids.

mildly disheartened

2009-11-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

Just have to put this vent out to the world... need to let it sit out there and be my 'silent voice' as it were...

Fake people drive me crazy. As an introvert, I do a lot of sitting back and observing... and when you keep your eyes and ears open and mouth shut, there are plenty of opportunities to pick up on two-facedness, shmoozing, charlatan-like behavior. There is a person in my life who seems to personify this lately. A person whose role is supposed to be 180* in the opposite direction. I'm not sure what insecurities lie beneath to make someone choose the fake over the real, I go back and forth wondering if it even matters. To be a learned person, to be a public figure, to represent yourself as a holy person but at the same time to live a life of greed, arrogance, and belittling... is there really any excuse that makes up for that? Some more patient, more understanding than me may try to say this person is "only human", but the blatant inconsistencies between how a person "presents" him/herself to the greater community and how a person individually criticizes and makes others feel unwelcome is not acceptable.

Maybe this is generally the response of a mother wanting to protect her family, guard her cubs if it were. I'm not sure. What I do know is that I am proud of my beautiful family and grateful for God's blessing on us. There isn't much I can do about this person, other than pray I guess. Why doesn't that feel like enough?

4

2009-11-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Today, my oldest turns 4. This one feels especially significant for me, and the only reason I can think to explain it is that my 4th birthday is the first one I really remember. There's a sense within me as a parent that if I know I have memories, clear specific memories, going back to that age, then my kiddo can too. And that reflects on the intentionality in my parenting. Not that I'm not already intentional, just that... I hope I'm not screwing up too much.

But enough about me...

a few pictures of my beautiful girl...

2 turns at joy

2009-10-28T08:46:00.000-07:00

in the past few weeks, despite the chaos, i can look back and remember specifically 2 things that are so joyous in my world...

the first is a major milestone, one that has been a LONG TIME COMING...

oldest daughter has struggled so hard with the potty training issue. when it comes right down to it, the girl is stubborn and the only answer to the potty training issue is that she would be 'trained' when she was darn good and ready. there wasn't ANY getting around that. i worried that we may be backsliding when 3 days in a row her teacher sent home clothes needing laundered from accidents. after those 3 days, i sat with her as she got dressed in the morning, showed her the 'pretty panties' that mommy had just purchased (some may call this wasteful, i call it grasping for sanity, but i am so over trying to scrub out stains from underwear. in our house they typically get thrown out) and how mommy really wanted her to try to not have an accident, to go poop and pee in the potty, and keep her panties pretty. now, i am nowhere near arrogant enough to think that it was those words that made a difference. i was pleading with her more than anything, and as i tried to hide the desperation in my voice, i know that above anything else, SHE made a choice that day. and boy did i get to hear about it. her wonderful teacher used her cell phone to let her call and tell me "Momma! I pooped on the potty- at SCHOOL!!!!!" I rejoiced with her, congratulated her, told her daddy would take her for a special treat, and encouraged her to keep up the hard work. I thanked her teacher for helping us on this journey and for sharing our joy and making that moment special for all of us. This all took place last week on Wednesday and we have been 100% accident free since then. In fact, she isn't even wetting her pull-up at night. This morning I asked if she thought she wanted to try to wear panties at night but she said no. I definitely will not push on that. I'm just SO PROUD of her.

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My other joyous story can actually be told in pictures. I don't want to sound snobby or arrogant, but I believe that I have 2 really beautiful daughters (and I'm growing a 3rd... watch out world!)... their similar looks really strike me at times, and this time was no different. I happened to catch a shot of younger daughter smelling some mums at a local garden center and the picture I caught looked (un)surprisingly similar to another one I had caught 2 years before (of her sister)... what do you think?

younger daughter almost 2, October 2009

oldest daughter almost 2, October 2007

Cruise Control...

2009-10-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

I'm sure its obvious if anyone is even still checking my poor little blog here, but I'v ebeen on serious cruise control. Keeping the car between the lines was about all I could manage for the last 2 months... here is a short rundown...

~husband started school and another season of cross country (which means waking up at 5 am)
~oldest daughter started school only 3 days after a diagnosis with a double ear infection
~youngest daughter developed an ear infection shortly after that
~youngest daughter and husband were diagnosed with a strange virus that resulted in sheer exhaustion, fever and sores in their mouth that made it difficult to eat or swallow

~youngest daughter came down with bronchitis followed up by a nice round of thrush from her antibiotics

~oldest daughter got a stomach virus

~husband and I caught her stomach virus

~oldest daughter came down with bronchitis

~oldest daughter got another stomach virus

~I was diagnosed by my ob/gyn with a medium (fist-sized)fibroid growing off of the back of my uterus (on the outside) toward my spine which can cause some pretty uncomfortable back pain
~meanwhile youngest daughter has had 5 weeks straight of unexplainable diareah

Yeah. Needless to say my life has been hectic, messy, frustrating, expensive, and tiring. Oh and did I mention that in the middle of all of that our dryer and our heater stopped working? Fortunately for us, the fixes for those only totaled $40 (which is good b/c our savings is about drained)...

We racked up well over $200 worth of co-pays to the doctor not to mention I-don't-know-how-much extra we've spent on: prescriptions, otc meds, sprite, carpet cleaner (for the diareah and vomit), paper towels, disinfecting wipes, ramen, applesauce, gatorade, etc. I think once we add all of that up the toal comes to around $500. Yikes. That is kind of a lot when you think about it. I could have a new couch for $500 easily. I need a new couch, but I won't be getting one anytime soon.

But, for now, I am grateful. Yes, you heard me... GRATEFUL. Today, my family (for the most part) is healthy, my bills are paid, I have a job and a roof over my head. Oldest daughter is THRIVING at her school, youngest daughter's language skills are skyrocketing, husband finishes cross country season this weekend, and this weekend we celebrate oldest daughter's 4th birthday with not one, but two fabulous birthday parties (one for family and older friends, one for the girls in her class). We also happily celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary, found out that this little peanut is going to be a girl (Lord help us! ha ha), and managed to go on 2 date nights within one week. Not too shabby. We are blessed.

So, Thank You Lord, for this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Amen.

these are a few of my favorite things...

2009-08-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

ok, once again I am stealing a blog post idea from June, who technically stole it from Oprah, who is rich and can afford for both of us to steal from her, so it's no big deal, right?

Here are a few of my favorite things:

we use T-Mobile for our cell service, and have been with them for 7 years now. We've always loved their service and coverage, and while I'm not a techno-savy kinda' kid, I do love me some texting. Husband researched phone options when I was in the market for a new one, and came up with this: it is the Samsung Gravity and it has a slideout keyboard that works great. While the teal/white one is prettier, the idea of cleaning makeup off of my while cell phone was not at all appealing. Very happy with this phone!

Sharpies... who doesn't love sharpies?! They are a staple in our household, either for labeling school supplies or party cups or even for general artwork by my 3 year old.... can't say enough good things about Sharpies!

This is the new line of OPI nail polish called 'Nicole' and it is I guess the 'cheap version' of OPI. The one I have is the one on the left, and I'm told in one of my mommy magazines that this kind of coppery/silvery/taupe shade will be very 'in' for the fall. Y'all know that is probably like one of my number one concerns- do I have this year's 'it' nail polish shade? This one is called "It's Possible" and looks great on. My only warning is to get a GOOD clear top coat, b/c the quality isn't quite the same as regular OPI. Still very pretty!

These are my current sunglasses. I do not believe in spending big bucks on sunglasses, and these are from Target. I do not know which brand, but I do know they were less than $10. I really love the look, since I have a big-ish forehead, I feel like a larger pair of sunglasses helps balance it all out. Seriously folks, unless you have serious vision problems that REQUIRE your sunglasses to be expensive prescription versions, please step off your high horse and get thee to Target (or yes, even Walmart) and find yourself a cute inexpensive pair. My sunglasses always last at least a year, which is well worth the price in my opinion.

funny things kids say

2009-08-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

My boss is always telling me to keep track of the funny things that my kiddos say because I'll want to remember them later and won't be able to.... so I'm starting by keeping them here and the post will always be titled ..... "Funny things kids say"

right now we are dog-sitting for my mom and so oldest daughter let them out last night to use the bathroom. she came back to let me know and said "mom, I put Eddy and Bonnie out so that they won't pee and poop on your carpet and then your tears will not come and you will not cry."

priceless.

how's this for pictures?

2009-08-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

We went and had family photos done today... since blogger will only let me upload 5 at a time, I'm not going to do all of them b/c I'm lazy and impatient, but here is our family thus far, before I am showing too much...

does anyone know how to rotate a photo in blogger? i am clueless.

ok, not to sound snarky or full of myself, but how blessed am I?

Me as a teen

2009-07-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

Life has been busy, that's all I can say. That's why I haven't posted lately.

Moving on...

June (from ByeByePie) did a post on herself as a teen and asked others to do the same, so I'm blogging it...

I think confused best describes me in high school. I think I was always caught in the middle, never exactly going full force into one side or the other...

a few examples...

I was really smart in high school but totally not interested in things like homework. So, I'd get to school early, find a friend who would let me copy theirs, get a halfway decent grade, rock my tests, and move on down the road. I think I had a 3.5 gpa by the time I was done, but with a little EFFORT I totally could have been one of the 8 valedictorians (seriously, from a class of 104 we had 8 valedictorians and they ALL gave speeches at graduation. How's that for ridiculous?) who all had something like a 4.2.

I was super dedicated to my faith. We went to mass every weekend, I attended weekly religious ed classes and was one of the few members of the youth group. I loved going on retreats and doing volunteer work. Meanwhile, my circle of friends at school were what you might call 'the rough crowd'. I was the only virgin among them (gasp!), the only one who didn't smoke (and I'm not just talkin' cigarettes) or drink. Just call me Sandra Dee. Or not. I still had some of my rougher moments for sure.

I had a pretty happy home life. We lived in a great neighborhood, took some nice vacations, had all of what we needed and most of what we wanted. But the summer before my senior year (on their 20th wedding anniversary) my parents announced to my sister and I that they were getting divorced, which tore my world apart and completely unsettled any sense of commitment, family, or happiness that I had known. To this day, even after experiencing tragic deaths of loved ones, I still believe that my parents' divorce has been the hardest most troubling experience in my life. Its something that (I believe unbeknownst to them) still makes holidays difficult, birthdays awkward, and leaves me questioning everything I experienced through my childhood.

I don't mean to make all of my life seem tragic and horrible, but re-living my teen years is something I wouldn't do for a million bucks. There's a lot to be learned through that time, but most importantly, I'm glad I'm on the other side of it all, having learned the lessons and mostly being able to move on.

2 more to go

2009-07-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

Oh my sakes.

When your world comes crashing down, it really crashes, doesn't it?

Last week on Thursday, looking forward to a nice 3 day weekend, husband and the girls and I went out to eat at Interurban. We were needing a nice relaxing, low energy kind of night, one without cooking or cleaning or rushing.

I'd spent the day indulging my new preggo belly in 'whatever sounds good' and thought I'd top it off w/their yummy fish tacos. Mistake number 1.

Did I mention it was 'free chips, salsa and queso- all you can eat' night? Mistake number 2.

When we got home, w/everyone's bellies full and bedtime still just a little way off, we all cozied up on the floor to watch Mary Poppins. Mistake number 3.

About midway through the movie I started to feel some rumbling in my tummy, so I got up off the floor, onto the recliner, and checked out for a bit. (Didn't go take my prilosec immediately, waited about an hour) Mistkae number 4.

(are you seeing a pattern here?)

Fast forward to midnight, clutching the toilet with all my might and wishing I was DEAD... sigh. I was short of breath (b/c it hurts to breathe when you think that your heart has grown fingernails and is attempting to claw its way out of your chest), dizzy, felt like my hands, feet & chin were going numb. I started to worry about stroked symptoms I had read on posters in doctors offices. Husband had been up with me for a while, seeing how truly brutal my stomach can be, and we decided it was time for a trip to the ER.

That was a less than positive experience, since my attending doctor was ready to send me home after 20 minutes. I had received a very special 'GI cocktail' that included lydicane, which hadn't done anything other than numb my tongue and she didn't even bother to find out if that had helped. With my pain level staying nice and high around an '8' both husband and I demanded further treatment, time and examination. There was discussion that it could potentially be my gallbladder, but a test revealed that was not a problem. They did finally give me a shot w/a nausea medication and some morphine which brought my pain level down to about a '4'. I could finally attempt to rest (not sleep, mind you, just rest) and went home with a new prescription for a more pregnancy-safe heartburn medicine.

I spent the next 4 days pretty much exhausted and passed out on the couch. I'm restricted to a bland, acid-free, fat-free diet which is making eating interesting. At this point I'm going to spend most of my paychecks at jamba juice. Getting this little nutrition doesn't lend itself to having much energy which comes at a super inoportune time because husband is gone all week at CHWC.

The good news? I finally landed an appointment w/a GI doctor for later in the month and husband will be home on Saturday AND I have taken next week off as my own little stay-cation. I know the girls will appreciate having both mommy and daddy home for an extended period of time and not be passed around between family members and babysitters. Although, I think we will be hiring a babysitter so that we can go catch Harry Potter one evening.

Life never slows down.

a stowaway

2009-07-02T08:09:00.001-07:00

I had a suspicion as I left for St. Paul that I might be bringing along a stowaway. A little someone who decided to join me on the trip without paying for a plane ticket!!!

Turns out I was right. The prayer candles above represent the prayers that I offered at the Cathedral of St. Paul for the 4 members of my immediate family. Yes, I said 4. Yes I know... I have 2 little girls and a husband and now one little bun in the oven.

So, I'm currently exhausted and desperately trying to catch up here at work, but I'm still around. Haven't forgotten any blogging obligations, just trying to make it through the next few busy weeks. So, hang in there with me.

Leavin' on a jet plane

2009-06-22T18:32:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I leave for St. Paul, MN to attend the NACFLM conference. I've never been given the opportunity to travel in this job, mostly because I've been pregnant a significant portion of the time I've worked here. I'm especially thrilled for this opportunity because of an NFP pre-conference all-day workshop I'll be attending, along with a number of keynote speakers that will be speaking (particularly Christopher West!). Not only is this my first time to travel for my job, its also my first time to leave the state since I became pregnant with my oldest kiddo.

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous.

Leaving my kiddos w/my husband is not the scary part. Leaving my kiddos is the scary part. I haven't been away from them for more than 2 nights in their entire lives. I know it will be great. I know that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I know that my plane won't crash... but I can't help but be nervous about all of that.

I booked into my trip nearly a full day with nothing to do, several stops are planned (including here and here). We get to attend mass at the beautiful Cathedral one evening. I know it will be great. But... pray for me while I'm gone? And... pray for my family while you're at it?

My Top 10 List

2009-06-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Let me start with mentioning that although this is a list of things I'd rather be doing than what I am doing right now, I'm certainly not complaining about what I'm doing right now. It just isn't on my Top 10 List... (hat tip to Darcy from Life w/My 3 Boybarians for the idea)

Top 10 List of Things I'd rather be doing right now...

10. Reading magazines on my back porch while sipping a margarita

9. Watching Gilmore Girls & sewing

8. Getting a mani/pedi

7. Being at the zoo w/my hubby & kiddos

6. lying on a beach some where

5. having less than 97% humidity

4. ordering office supplies (I'm sick, I know. there is no help for me.)

3. baking banana nut bread for my sweet friend who just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, her 6th fabulous kiddo at home! (that is, her 6th kiddo living in her home, not gave birth at home)

2. shopping

1. Reading a book on my couch & drinking iced tea!

Awesome giveaway

2009-06-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

I love the vintage-y look of flour sack style prints. I live in a town with an old flour mill.... wonder if I could find some authentic flour sacks.... hmmmmm... well, until then, check out this giveaway! So much cute stuff plus 3 winners! (Thanks to my buddy C-re who clued me in on this one!)

One Thing

2009-06-13T05:29:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Fussypants offered a challenge of choosing ONE THING to work on yourself for the week. I probably should make mine 'remembering to exfoliate and moisterize' but instead I opted for "avoiding complaining"... I think the opportunity to focus on how God has so graciously gifted me in my life will be a real mood lifter and day brightener, both for me and the rest of my family!

What will your ONE THING be?

p.s. CK, I'm gettin' those pillows finished! Don't give up on me!!!!!!

Success

2009-06-11T11:10:00.000-07:00

My oldest kiddo made it through her surgery just fine!

Here she is waiting for them to take her back...

they were running early, so she was actually finished with surgery before it was even scheduled to begin. She was pretty cranky and out of it when we first got to go back to recovery to check on her. It was heartbreaking and at the same heartwarming to hear her crying all through the recovery area (she was way in the back) with the very nice Dr. Smith (the anesthesiologist) holding her and rocking her.

and here she is in the car on the way home...

by 10:30 in the morning she was running outside with her dad to see the trash man come and pick up our trash and she helped dad pull the trash can back up to the house. I'd say that's a pretty easy recovery!

Here's the sweet thing being treated to her second helping of ice cream for the day (chocolate with 'moshmewoes', otherwise known as rocky road)

I'd say it was an uneventful day aside from the fact that MY allegies are the devil and have taken over my poor head and body. I was seriously in bed by 7:30 last night, not to mention that I had about a 1 1/2 hour nap midday. I guess all of the lack of sleep from my heartburn was catching up with me.

Thank you God for a successful operation. Thank you for holding my baby in your sweet hands and keeping her safe.

hard to breathe

2009-06-09T12:54:00.000-07:00

I had that stinking heartburn again last night. 1 prilosec, 1 zantac and 4 tums took until 2:30 to kick in. Blah. Leaves me a little bleary eyed this morning and my thoughts are a little fuzzy. Then I got a call back from oldest daughter's ENT. He's only available for surgery on Wednesdays (she needs her adenoids removed) and we need to do it either this week or next week. So by 9 am this morning with no coffee in me (I'm cutting out caffeine until I have a few nights heartburn free) I was facing booking a (minor) surgery for my daughter for first thing tomorrow. She can't eat after midnight and that's harder to handle for younger patients, so they book in order of age. She gets the 8:00 appointment which has us at the outpatient surgery center by 6:45. She'll be under full anesthesia for the 30 minute procedure and I know it will be the longest 30 minutes o fmy life. I keep going to my facebook profile and looking at this picture

it's from this weekend, we went up to see my MIL for her birthday. We were out to dinner and the girls just started hugging each other and I had to snap a quick shot. All I had was my phone handy, but really that's all I need. Oldest daughter's beaming face as she embraces her sister is burned into my memory. And I'm terrified. I'm sure the sleep deprivation is playing into this quite a bit, but putting your child's life into the hands of another in such a significant way leaves me feeling helpless. It makes me want to say "NO! Forget the surgery. I'll sleep in her room every night and stay up and make sure she can breathe all night long. Don't worry about me getting any sleep, I've done without it in the past, I'll find a way to manage."

See? There's that pesky sleep issue again. So I'm muddling through the day, trying to clear up any last little work issues so that I'll have tomorrow off, and if anything else comes up, I'll have everything settled and not need me to attend to it for a few days.

So, please keep my sweet girl in your prayers. I'll post an update as soon as I can.

how do you spell relief?

2009-06-04T00:27:00.000-07:00

This post is not for the weak stomach-ed. And, to clear things up. I'm NOT pregnant.

So, for about the last 6-9 months I've been suffering from severe heartburn. Not that whole time straight, mind you. Its very sporadic, not connected to any specific foods, and always at night. About a month ago, I had my a$$ handed to me one evening when it was severe enough to having me throwing up. That was not a fun night. So, I made an appointment with my doctor and he asked me "have you tried prilosec?" actually, I hadn't. Even though it is over the counter now, I had kind of felt like 'if antacids don't take care of it, and it's bad enough that I'm throwing up, I think I should go see the doctor. I'm only 29 for cryin' out loud." So, he wrote me a prescription for prilosec (its cheaper that way) and sent me on my way.

Now, being one to always try to save money, I didn't actually take it every day, I just waited for the next night when it set in, and then got up and took it. And that kinda' worked. Instead of being up for 3 hours waiting for an antacid to kick in, I was only up for an hour. Cool. Or not.

About a week ago, I woke up with that twinge in my stomach, went and took my medicine, and nothing happened. In fact, it got worse. And I threw up. Again, and again, and again. I couldn't keep the medicine, or antacids, or water down. For about 4 hours straight this went on, and I was beyond miserable. Words just can't describe how I was feeling. I pretty much wanted to reach into my chest and pull my heart out. I did finally manage to force myself to curl up in a ball, take the medicine, and pretty much will myself not to throw up anymore.

The next morning at work my coworkers chastised me on and on for not taking the medicine EVERY DAY, so I've been doing that. And now, here I am. It's 2:30 in the morning and I've been awake since 1:00. I've taken antacids twice now, and I don't know what to do. Should I go back to my doctor? Should I start researching super bland grandma diets? Should I seek the help of someone who does alternative healing?

Has anyone out there in bloggy land ever had anything like this? I'm desperate. I kinda need sleep for all of that functioning throughout the day business that I'm expected to do.

Sigh.

Summer is upon us

2009-06-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

For me, summer doesn't mean much different from any other season. I go to work M-F, I help with our programs, I meet with clients, etc. etc.

For husband, it means being home most of the summer with our girls while fitting in 1)writing new lesson plans 2)preparing for CHWC, 3)attending a first aid/CPR course, 4)leading a week long (evening!) soccer camp, 5)being trained in 'care & prevention' (a sports injures class), & 6)a conference on using technology in the classroom. He's not exactly accustomed to his 'free' schedule yet. He's grown kind of used to a set plan for each day. He hasn't gotten to do much 'planning' for being a SAHD for the summer.

For my girls it means no daycare, fun times with daddy, and being at home.

For our family it means 1)not paying for daycare for 2 months (!!!!!!!) 2)coming up with free/inexpensive ways to spend their time 3)not draining our family's budget in the process.

Yesterday I put together a calendar for husband. It is color coded (green for zoo, blue for pool, purple & red for local libraries, black for other libraries) and lists the activities that are available this summer each day. Since our 'metropolitan library system' shares resources, many activities are duplicated from day to day, so I did my best to find the most age appropriate (not to mention most local and interesting) items for each day. They are offering TONS of great things to do (everything from plays, to storytime, toddler aerobics, art, music, movies) and most are free. A few required advanced registration, so for those I listed that information w/the phone number.

I made an additional page that includes the hours of operation for local pools (we do have access to some free pools, but since it will mostly be husband by himself, going to one that has a splash park or kiddie pool is the best option for him), indoor play areas, and libraries.

Finally listed on that page is a list of at home ideas. I divided it into two categories "indoor & outdoor" and tried to come up with a variety of ideas under each category.

The calendar is hung above our family calendar, with the extra list to the side where husband can glance when its been raining for 3 days straight, he needs an indoor activity, and shipping them into the playroom or putting on a dvd has gotten old.

This was the best way I could think of to contribute and prepare our family for the summer. I'm looking forward to finding a few more ideas, though!

The Reality

2009-05-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

Its taken me a little while to get around to doing some updates around here. For the longest time, I've had this whole 'routine' here as I read my way through blog land... there are my 'must reads' that are in my recent history, then the blogs whose url's I know by heart and type in by hand, then a whole list of different blogs that are bookmarked in my 'favorites' list which also contains a whole mess of other bookmarked links, so in other words, I have this little routine of jumping around from here to there and back again. Inevitably there are a few I forget to check and doing so means I miss out on a cool giveaway or an important announcement in the life of those I follow in blogland. My list is not complete, I have a few changes and additions to make, but at least I've compiled that majority of my 'daily' (ok, they are not ALL daily reads but I do check these frequently) reads. I don't know why I put off creating/updating this list for so long, it seemed tedious, but now that it is finished, in honestly only took about 15 minutes. Please feel free to peruse this list of wonderful sites and blogs. Hopefully you'll find something new and inspiring to read!

Another prayer request

2009-05-18T11:02:00.001-07:00

My husband's cousin was in a car accident on Friday. It was senior day (which I am assuming means senior skip day) and he and a friend were driving around in the country. He hit a patch of gravel, his car spun out, and FLIPPED SEVERAL TIMES. Apparently he and is friend got out of the car and were wandering around aimlessly when the highway patrol came upon them, asked a few questions, assessed that he had been going 10 mph over the speped limit and gave him a ticket. Since his car was totaled, he couldn't get home and called his dad to come pick him up. His dad noticed right away that something was wrong and called a family member who is a nurse who immedicately instructed that he "lay down, not move, and call an ambulance"... afteran MRI at their local hospital, it was confirmed that there was a neck injury, so they drove him up to Wichita to a bigger hospital. There it was revealed that there was a fracture in the neck. Fortunately it was a very mild fracture and he will be wearing a neck brace for a little while, and be fine.

This young man is engaged to be married in August and has enlisted in the Navy and will be shipping out shortly after the wedding. I'm trying to find peace and not get too angry over the fact that no one from the highway patrol noticed him acting funny or offered medical evaluation.... they do not have health insurance though, and since he hasn't graduated yet or gone through training, I don't know if he is covered by the Navy.

Thanks for your prayers.

Prayers

2009-05-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

Please say a prayer for Clover Lane and Out on a Limb

Feliz Dia de Madres

2009-05-10T08:40:00.001-07:00

Just a quick shout out to all the mommas... have a fabulous day! Hope you get to sleep in, have starbucks, and read the target ad in peace.

a little sumpthin, sumpthin...

2009-05-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Be prepared for overload of my usual stream of consciousness ramblings ahead:

I'm such a neglectful blogger lately. Scratch that. I'm such a neglectful everything lately. I'm going to a wedding on Friday and need a gift for the happy couple. My issues were: 1)I like to give unique gifts, 2)I don't have a huge budget, 3)I need to meet a monthly sewing criteria for my new year's resolution.

The result:

this handtowel

and this apron

They match the fiestaware that the happy couple registered for (that I'm not buying). I'm thinking of finding a little whisk or spatula or something to throw in with it all.

CK, your throw pillows are next! I'm trying to get inspired for something really cute. I guess it would be good if I actually GO and LOOK for fabric, huh?

Oh, and this is the Lisa Leonard's Design necklace that my sister and I ordered for my mom (nanny is what our girls call her)

Finally, a picture of my girls, my neice, and my cousin's 2 girls and little boy (the first little boy we've added to our huge mix of girls) (this was taken way back on Easter weekend)

Great Advice

2009-05-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

I love to read Memories on Clover Lane for this mom's fantastic views on parenting as a Catholic. Her photography is beautiful, her life is real, her children are animated and fabulous.

Read this today. You won't be sorry.

Unwrapping another Tuesday and a Winner!

2009-04-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

Homemade pizza dough: $3.00

Food, drinks & parking at art's festival: $25.00

Homemade granola: $2.00

Raising my daughters: priceless.

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's cash. =)

I'm thrilled and at the same time trepidacious over the idea that my 16 month old wants nothing more than to cook with mommy. Her sister definitely did not take this much interest so soon. Meanwhile, attending the art's festival was both a necessity (our roof was being put on at the time, can't imagine staying home and listening to that racket) and quite a treat. I really appreciate Emily from Chattin at the Sky for reminding us to slow down and enjoy life's little moments. Even document them. And sometimes documenting those moments means grabbing your cell phone. C'est la vie.

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Congrats to Booderbean's momma for winning the 2 throw pillows! Her number was drawn by my writing the 5 entrants numbers down on strips of paper, wadding them up, and picking one. Very official. I'll get to work on the pillows ASAP!

100 & unwrapped

2009-04-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Pop quiz:

Today I'm:

a)hosting a giveaway

b)participating in chatting at the sky's Tuesdays unwrapped (which technically was Monday evening unwrapped)

c)celebrating my 100th post

d)all of the above

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take your time to think about this one.

===========================================

a)the giveaway: my friend ck suggested i do a giveaway that involved me doing a sewing project and I decided to take her advice. I will make 2 throw pillows for the lucky winner in the color scheme of your choice. all of this is 'within reason'. I'm not going to go out and buy $500/yd fabric, but I WILL make you 2 very pretty pillows. Promise.

Here's the details: if you want to enter to win 2 free throw pillows made by yours truly, leave me a comment with 1)something you've enjoyed reading on my blog AND 2)a description of the colors you'd like in your 2 throw pillows. You need to leave me some way to get in contact with you, so if you have a blog, leave me a link, if you don't make sure I have your email address.

Finally: one entry per person PLEASE! comments taken through Friday April 24th noon CST.

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b)Emily from Chatting at the sky is hosting Tuesdays unwrapped... just a little glimpse into every day life. Last night, husband had a soccer game late in the evening and I was a little frantic about having the girls at home by myself for the third night in a row. So, we decided to make things easy by having sandwiches, bananas and cheese crackers for dinner and just playing in our backyard. Our backyard is not fancy and will never be featured in a magazine (unless its the 'don't' type of illustration), but it has come a long way since we first bought this house 3 years ago. We haven't oured a ton of money into it, but every summer it gets a little better and it is now finally safe enough and has the appropriate toys for my girls to have some fun playing... here's a picture:

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c) and finally, yes I am celebrating my 100th post. I know I don't have a big following like some of my favorite bloggers- June from byebyepie, PW of Pioneerwoman, Nester from the nesting place... but I really didn't start this blog as some sort of popularity contest. Its really just a glimpse into my life that I hope I'll be able to keep up so that my girls can see what my life is all about. So, here's to the next 100 posts!!!

Holy Fabulous Giveaway, Batman!

2009-04-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

ok, i'm not the one giving anything away, but one of my favorite online jewelry shops, lisa leonard designs, has linked up with the fabulous kimba of soft place to land to offer a $50 gift certificate giveaway. you should definitely NOT go check it out so that MY chances of winning are greater. then again, what you REALLY should do, is scoot on over to Lisa's website and look at all of her super beautiful jewelry THEN go read her blog w/amazing photography and the story of her 2 beautiful sons and great hubby.

not to be bossy or anything.

oh, one more thing.... my next post will be my 100th post. exciting? perhaps we will have some sort of little giveaway to celebrate. what think you? leave me a comment and tell me what you think i should give away. not that i will actually do it, but just curious what YOU think.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T20:10:00.000-07:00

May you feel the ultimate blessings of Christ who died for you and who rose this day in glory!

help me find....

2009-04-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

every once in a while, i stumble up on a blog that i think is so charming and i forget to add it to my favorites list (need to update my links over there--> but i'll have to do that some other time), and this is one of those times.

this blogger is a super cute texas mom w/a video camera. she did a specific blog post having to do with 4 ways to tie a scarf. i wanted to check back in to her blog for some other reason (that i can't recall now) but i don't remember which blog this is.

does this sound familiar to anyone? anyone? beuller? beuller?

if so, leave me a comment!

the Gospel of Abundance

2009-03-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not church bashing, really I'm not (well, ok maybe a little)... there was a time when all that I ever saw on the tv evangelists was more and more talk about the ABUNDANCE that God was supposedly going to provide everyone. (one particular 'gentleman' w/slicked back black hair, a big ol' smile, and a southen accent stands out in my mind) Of course, they were quick to post their 1-800 number with someone ready and willing to take your credit card number so they could take this 'message from God' all over the world (do ya smell what I'm steppin' in?)... um.... excuse me?

And now our 'nation under God' is floundering. And we wonder why. A long time of over indulgence in the name of God has resulted in broken promises... mortgages not paid, car loans in default, investment accounts dwindeling...

Now don't get me wrong... husband and I don't even begin to pretend that we get it all right. We've been in a number of tight spots that not for the help of a willing friend or family member and we would just be another one of the statistics... but in all honesty, I don't think we've been overindulgent. We bought our house for 10% less than its appraised value. Its a fixer-upper for sure, but I know that we're also building the skills and knowledge to make us (partially) self-sufficient homeowners. Sometimes we've had to learn the hard way (like when husband installed our $100 thermostat wrong and it let the ac & heater run at the same time for a month), sometimes we've lucked into a more affordable solution (like when my stepdad's nephew came and fixed our heater blower motor for no labor charge), sometimes we've un-necessarily spent money (like $30 a month on a home warranty that denied repairing our broken heater blower motor), and a lot of the time... we wait. We wait to fix it until it NEEDS it or until we've saved enough to do what we WANT to do.

And that gets me wondering... do we as a nation know the difference between needs and wants anymore? When we attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, his guidelines taught us that food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are NEEDS. Note that furnishings, decor, landscaping (sorry C-re!), remodels, brand names, designer labels, dining out, elite neighborhoods, and new cars are not a part of that list. Because, none of those are needs.

I wonder how many Americans that are currently floundering realize that driving a hoopty (sp? ha!) is OK. Heck, until December of '08 husband and I both drove cars that were over 10 years old, and husband still is driving that ol' Jeep (its 12 years old, btw). And the 'new' (2005 Ford Taurus) car that I'm driving we bought from my mom with cash. We would still be driving the other vehicle that we had now, if that deal hadn't worked out for us. And that would be ok.

I wonder how many of them have closets full of clothes that they paid for with a credit card. I know that none of my clothes (w/ the exception of mmmhmmmm 'unmentionables' bought on credit when I was newly married and very stupid about money) ever sent us into debt. In fact, to be honest, when husband started his new job last fall at a very elite private school and needed new work clothes, I sent him to Goodwill. He came out w/ 4 pairs of khaki slacks (some still had tags on them!) for under $20. All were in great condition, and all will go back to Goodwill this summer b/c he has lost too much weight from coaching (what a problem to have, huh?). And all will be replaced w/more slacks from Goodwill. And none of the preppy kids at his school know a thing about it. And we're talkin' about kids who KNOW how to check out each other's designer labels.

So, what I'm saying trying to get at is this... I'm not judging you if you got into yourself into a bad spot. Because we're still digging ourselves out of credit card debt. We've been there. And its not fast or easy to dig yourself out. Its work. And we have to be willing to work. And suffer a little. And sacrifice. And honestly, the only abundance we have any hope for, will not come in this life.

What we've been up to

2009-03-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

(ck, this room should look familiar!)

the last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. If you every check me on twitter, you noticed that I've named my mom a saint (what? I can do it. the pope told me so! ;P ) because she agreed to watch the girls for us Thursday AND Friday evening which meant:

1)we got to sleep in two mornings in a row

2)we got to go anywhere we wanted all day Friday without- changing diapers, unbuckling from carseats, choosing a restaurant based on where we knew the girls would eat something

3)going to a movie

4)staying out late

5)SHOPPING!

of course I have no pictures to show of any of that. Because when you catch yourself getting reacquainted with your husband after a month worth of working weekends (either one or both of us... blah!... but, thank goodness we have jobs!) you don't have time to stop and get new batteries for the camera... you have to relish every minute!

We saw the movie Duplicity (fantastic!), shopped (Target, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Children's Place), ate (mmmmm PF Chang's!), talked (in the parking lot of Braum's in the car him-jr. cheeseburger, me-frozen yogurt in a cup)and relaxed (kwim?!). It was all fantastic.

Saturday morning we packed our bags, dropped some stuff off at the consignment sale, picked up the girls and headed out of town. Husband's grandparents were celbrating their 60th (yes, sixtieth. as in 50 + 10) anniversary and we were so glad to be a part of that! (even though it meant missing out on our neice's birthday party (so sorry, A!).

But, here are a few pictures of the anniversary party...

on top of all of this, I volunteered yesterday at our local JBF Consignment Sale. This is my number one favorite children's consignment sale in our area, and it is so well organized, friendly and FULL! I only had time to snap one quick shot before the sale started, but what you're seeing in this picture is JUST the floor toys. There are racks and racks and racks of clothing, plus strollers, furniture, small toys, shoes, bedding, etc. It is AMAZING! Check out one in your area soon!

With Faith Like A Sponge

2009-03-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but the world these days has me concerned. Killing, immorality, financial crisis, violence, health woes... if you turn on the news, prepare to feel blue.

But the reality is that tragedy is nothing new to our world, and suffering is something that God knows all too well.

Statistics show (and prove time and time again) that in times of crisis, people turn MORE towards faith, particularly here in our nation whenver financial problems arise. I think it has something to do with realizing what's really important, digging in deep and letting go of what's unnecessary, and clinging to that which you know will ALWAYS provide (your faith).

As I was scrubbing out my coffee mug (a task that was particularly difficult b/c our office is out of dish soap and there isn't money to buy more, without someone buying it personally... which hasn't been done... yet) this morning, I looked at the sponge in my hands and realized that I have a habit of squeezing the sponge tight before I run it under the fauce to absorb the water. Humanity is a lot like this. Its when we are squeezed tight, reach a point of struggle that we are then able to absorb and fully appreciate and take in our faith. From there we can do God's will better.

Scripture is FULL of struggle, but a particular Psalm brings me a lot of comfort and hope...
1
1 2 For the leader; according to "The deer of the dawn." A psalm of David.
2
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish?
3
My God, I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief.
4
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the glory of Israel.
5
In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted and you rescued them.
6
To you they cried out and they escaped; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.
7
3 But I am a worm, hardly human, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
8
All who see me mock me; they curl their lips and jeer; they shake their heads at me:
9
"You relied on the LORD--let him deliver you; if he loves you, let him rescue you."
10
Yet you drew me forth from the womb, made me safe at my mother's breast.
11
Upon you I was thrust from the womb; since birth you are my God.
12
Do not stay far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help.
13
4 Many bulls surround me; fierce bulls of Bashan encircle me.
14
They open their mouths against me, lions that rend and roar.
15
Like water my life drains away; all my bones grow soft. My heart has become like wax, it melts away within me.
16
5 As dry as a potsherd is my throat; my tongue sticks to my palate; you lay me in the dust of death.
17
Many dogs surround me; a pack of evildoers closes in on me. So wasted are my hands and feet
18
that I can count all my bones. They stare at me and gloat;
19
they divide my garments among them; for my clothing they cast lots.
20
But you, LORD, do not stay far off; my strength, come quickly to help me.
21
Deliver me from the sword, my forlorn life from the teeth of the dog.
22
Save me from the lion's mouth, my poor life from the horns of wild bulls.
23
6 Then I will proclaim your name to the assembly; in the community I will praise you:
24
"You who fear the LORD, give praise! All descendants of Jacob, give honor; show reverence, all descendants of Israel!
25
7 For God has not spurned or disdained the misery of this poor wretch, Did not turn away from me, but heard me when I cried out.
26
I will offer praise in the great assembly; my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.
27
8 The poor will eat their fill; those who seek the LORD will offer praise. May your hearts enjoy life forever!"
28
All the ends of the earth will worship and turn to the LORD; All the families of nations will bow low before you.
29
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations.
30
9 All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage.
31
And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you.
32
The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
(emphasis is mine)

This psalm is the one that Jesus quotes when He is on the cross. During this time of lent (and particularly when we read the story of the Passion at mass on Palm Sunday and Good Friday- ok I know its not 'mass' on Good Friday) hearing this psalm offers me reassurance. One part of me thinks, if this is where Jesus found His inspiration in the greatest time of trial and suffering, then it must have something to offer me. And this Psalm does give us many reassurances. But it continues to remind me of what is most important... to Cry out to God, to Seek refuge in God, to Proclaim God's greatness, and to have Faith in God's mercy and love.

If our God can be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, what sacrifices do I need to make in my life, to be worthy of God's greatness? If I am to receive Jesus in the Sacraments, how should I prepare my heart, mind, and spirit for Him? And, as a community of faith, what is my responsibility to those around me?

Shame

2009-03-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Announcements were made today that President Obama is lifting bans on Embryonic Stem Cell Research and hoping that America will "lead the world in the discoveries it one day may yield." Fantastic. I'm so proud to live in a country that will lead the world in killing innocent human life for the sake of MAYBE, POSSIBLY finding cures to diseases and injuries. Who cares that Embryonic Stem Cell Research has proven to do nothing so far. Who cares that other countries DO have Embryonic Stem Cell Research and have gotten nowhere quick. Who cares that we may one day be turning innocent life into cash crops for pharmaceutical companies. Fan-freakin-tastic.

So, for those of you who disagree, I leave you with:

and

www.catholicvote.com

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-03-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

OK, don't sign up for this. I want it. Bad.

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-03-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Come win one. Or don't so I can! So cute, huh?

He's closer than the air we breathe

2009-03-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

Thought for the day:
God made a covenant with us. The word covenant means "coming together." God wants to come together with us. In many of the stories in the Hebrew Bible, we see that God appears as a God who defends us against our enemies, protects us against dangers, and guides us to freedom. God is God-for-us. When Jesus comes a new dimension of the covenant is revealed. In Jesus, God is born, grows to maturity, lives, suffers, and dies as we do. God is God-with-us. Finally, when Jesus leaves he promises the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit, God reveals the full depth of the covenant. God wants to be as close to us as our breath. God wants to breathe in us, so that all we say, think and do is completely inspired by God. God is God-within-us. Thus God's covenant reveals to us to how much God loves us.

(this came to me in an email and I don't currently have a source, but so you know, its not mine)

How NOT to remodel (or build) your home

2009-03-02T13:18:00.000-08:00

Being a first time homeowner is a challenge. Knowing what you want in a home that you are BUYING, I think, is a work in progress. There are the easy parts of the checklist: number of bedrooms & bathrooms, size of garage, gas vs. electric, approximate age & neighborhood.... but then there are other things.... things that you don't really know until you've actually been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt (metaphorically speaking). In other words, you gotta make a few mistakes, get your hands dirty, fix what you don't like (if possible) and make a new list for the future of what to look for in a home. Things that a trained and/or experienced eye know to look for. Some are obvious, some are more difficult (but still able) to spot...

The obvious:
-I now know that I don't want tiled countertops. Ever. Never. Not on your life. Please, if you are ever doing any type of countertop work DO NOT put tile on your counter. Promise me.
-I now know that I DO want a larger laundry room. Mine currently is basically the walk-through style, w/washer & dryer facing each other and you pass between them as you come into the kitchen from the garage. Basically, the only thing this does is keep you from having to stand in a cold garage to do your laundry. There is NOWHERE to put ANYTHING.
-I want a yard that I cannot spit across. I have a very wide yet narrow yard. Next one needs to be bigger.
-I don't want to have to remove any wallpaper anywhere.

The less obvious... the things you really have to look for:
-I don't want to need or even want to replace any major fixtures, cabinetry, etc. I don't mind walls that need to be painted. I don't mind if your taste in light fixtures isn't great, b/c my husband is pretty good at changing them for me. I don't want to need new cabinetry b/c the one in my bathroom has been taken over by mold, which I didn't know because you put down shelf liner on top of it. I also don't want to have to re-drywall the bathroom because of mold b/c you are too cheap and lazy to install wallpaper correctly. And I don't want to have no option in having my foundation repaired b/c you installed new windows after it was damaged thus rendering the new windows ready to break if we fix said foundation. (I could really go on but what's the point?)
-If you are the home builder, DO NOT put FAKE rock (that is actually cement and glazed to look like rock) around the fireplace. That's disgusting.

My husband and I are slowly trying to dig ourselves out from under this mess. Seeing as we have two young kiddos and a small amount of debt to get paid off, its taking a little while. A step at a time. I know that we will make it and I know that our home will be more beautiful for our hard (albeit slow) work. I know that every young couple is better off for learning the hard way, for not pouring themselves into more (expensive) house than they can manage, for coming by a beautiful home by the sweat of their brow so-to-speak. I just want things to be pretty. And nice. And safe. They don't need to be perfect, or expensive, or even absolutely the most trendy thing ever.

The most bitter pill to swallow is that there are some either stupid or dishonest people who think shortcuts are the right way to do things. They are willing to make things appear nice on the outside in order to get the home to sell, all the time the choices that they've made, I have to undo at double, triple, quadruple (etc.) the cost. It would have been so much more cost-effective to do it RIGHT the first time.

It truly is a slow learning curve.

Sigh.

a few little things i've been up to...

2009-02-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

remember that whole "new years resolution" thing? well, i've managed to keep up with one of them... the one about sewing at least one thing a month. boy do i love having a sewing machine! (not to mention do i love you, dear reader, for not getting on my case about my current disdain towards capital letters, since we know they slow me down)...

but i digress...

i triple pink puffy heart my sewing machine!!!!!!!

(here we are on christmas morning)

so (or sew) first i made a quilt front as a gift for a woman here at work (sidenote: 3 women in my building have been diagnosed with breast cancer in the last 9 months. CHECK YOUR BOOBIES!)... when it is finished it will be a prayer quilt. another woman here at work is going to do the back and whatnot, and then individual threads will be pulled through where each of the corners meet up and the quilt will be taken around our building and indviduals will tie a knot in the thread while saying a prayer for her.

next, i made her some burp cloths (she is 8 months pregnant) as a shower gift (i think they turned out pretty cute)

and finally, another friend is having her 30th birthday this weekend and recently started as a counselor, so these throw pillows are to cheer up her drab and handmedown furniture office...

so... fun stuff!

Lent 2009

2009-02-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

We interrupt this membership at Weight Watchers for.... FAT TUESDAY!

2009-02-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

My paternal grandmother (nana) was raised in bayou country- Port Arthur, TX. She was the youngest of 8 children and they had a real-life honest-to-goodness mammie who pretty much raised her. She spoke broken french, otherwise known as Cajun, and the woman could COOK. Of course my childlike affinity for roast beef sandwiches from Arby's or McDonald's chicken nuggets didn't often let me explore her cajun cooking. I do remember having blue crabs at her house and she could make stew out of pretty much anything. One summer my grandparents took my sister and I down to Baton Rouge for a big family reunion. We turned our noses up at the real life authentic gumbo and we actually sent our papa to McDonald's for hamburger happy meals. Sigh. My naivete! Not to mention my grandparents' willingness to be total pushovers and let us make special requests for what we wanted to eat. I guess that's the perspective you take as grandparent though.

My nana started showing the signs of early stage Alzheimer's when I was about 10. When I was 12 my grandfather retired after 32.5 years at his job at a local tv station (ok, technically he started working there when it was a radio station) so they could spend some quality time together traveling. That never got to happen because of my grandmother's growing inability to remember much or care for herself or recognize her loved ones. When I was 13 my papa showed up at our house in tears. He had just run to the grocery store to pick up a few things and when he got home my nana ha confronted him at the door, not knowing who he was, and started hitting him with a kleenex box to make him leave. At the time they had been married for over 40 years.

He soon made the difficult but necessary decision to put my nana in a nursing home, knowing the time was growing close when she would not allow him to care for her at all. Always faithful to his vows and loving her until the end, he went to visit her in the nursing home every day, and sometimes twice a day. The growing cost of private nursing home care ate through most of his retirement savings so he took a part time job, first as a security guard at the airport, and later at the cowboy hall of fame. This continued until 2001 (I was 21 and in college) when he developed an aortic aneurysm and died from complications of the surgery 3 weeks later.

He died before she did. To this day the irony (is that the best choice of words? it felt more like a cruel twist of fate) of that fact has never been far from my mind- that sometimes life is not fair. Anyways, my sweet nana lived 3 more years (a total of 13 years in the nursing home, where her mind and spirit seemed so far away while her body continued on, strong yet small and frail) and died in December of 2003.

I will never forget the missed opportunities inflicted by 'losing' my nana to alzheimer's when I was only 12. The loss I felt was reflected deep in my papa's sweet spirit. While physically he continued to be present to her in any way he could, not having her companionship and care on a daily basis made him seem like a widower. The delicate nature of acknowledging that she was still alive and that her life indeed had value while at the same time knowing that everything was different, unfair, and painful held such a precocious balance. As a young teen I wanted to ask my papa questions, learn more about him and her, not lose their past or their stories, yet I didn't want to be a painful reminder of what he had lost/ was losing, so I kept quiet. Now they are both gone and there is no one to tell me their story... how they met... where they went on their first date... their parents... etc.

I don't write this story out of sadness... maybe a little bit of remorse, but not sadness. I had wonderful grandparents who set for me a beautiful example of the beauty of love and the value of life.

So, today I made beignets, my little touch of that history, a brush with the past. And I drink my coffee in my cafe du monde mug and I think of my nana. I hope to be like her in so many ways.

I done been tagged

2009-02-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Step 1: respond and rework—answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

Step 2: tag—eight other un-tagged people.

1. What were you doing before you started this post? some work... specifically, signing up a guy for a marriage preparation workshop, which he will be attending alone (sad) because his fiance is in Nigeria

2. What is the last thing you read/are currently reading? oh, I just finished The Idiot Girl's Christmas, which was a very funny & quick read. about to start reading The Eyre Affair (have no idea what it is about, but it was a Christmas gift)

3. Do you nap a lot? sigh. no. Uusally naptime for the girls on the weekends is reserved for me to get something done around the house.

4. Who was the last person you hugged? a lady here in my office who was just visiting, she used to work here but she is retired now, but when she did work here she was one of my weight watchers buddies

5. What is your favorite TV series? I have such trouble picking just one, but I'd probably say Grey's Anatomy. Followed closely by Private Practice, Survivor, and reruns of Boston Legal

6. What was the last thing you said out loud? No, you don't actually need to bring the letter with you, but you do need to go in through this side (gesture to the north) of the buildling

7. What websites do you always visit when you go online? thepioneerwoman, nesting place, bye bye pie, my working mom's message board on google, facebook, then all my other fun blogs

8. What was the last item you bought? ummm... well at lunch today I bought stamps (exciting I know, but they are raising rates AGAIN!) yesterday I went to Target and bought: husband a reece's peanut butter cup, some food coloring for valentine cookies, and some reusable shopping bags (4 really cute ones on sale for THIRTY-SEVEN CENTS EACH!!!)

9. What is your most challenging goal? weightloss

10. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished- anywhere in the world, where would it be? oh... hum. I can honestly say I'm not sure. I don't feel like I've been to enough places to really get a feel for where would be a perfect spot to live. But, I know that I could be pretty content staying here in Oklahoma... does this mean someone will come pay off my house for me?

11. Favorite Vacation spot? oooh... florida is pretty fun. nyc is cool too.

12. Say something to the person who tagged you: CK- You are such a fun person and really very inspiring. I know that we don't know each other all that well, but I appreciate your friendship. You are super enthusiastic about life, very courageous (esp. what you went through w/military man being gone), and a gentle spirit.

13. Name one thing you just can't resist no matter how bad it is for you:

chocolate

14. What is your favorite item of clothing? definitely something comfy. i probably own at least 5 pairs of black yoga pants.

15. If you could have any career you wanted, education and money were not an issue. What would it be?: A high school english teacher

16. Name one thing you can not live with out: my family

17. Has a celebrity's haircut ever influenced you on your own hairstyle? yes. i long for meg ryan's cut in You've Got Mail

18. What is your drink of choice?: I love an amaretto sour, a malibu & coke, a good dark beer, or a good pinot

19. What is something you do every day? EAT! (hence the answer to number 9)

20. What are you wearing right now?: grey dress pants w/burgandy pinstripes, a white button up dress shirt, and a grey sweater vest. i'm a nerd

21. What's your favorite room in your house?: my bedroom

22. If you were to have a baby boy and girl tomorrow, what would you name them?: Boy: Luke Joseph (that was supposed to be oldest daughter's name), Girl: ??????

(CK- regarding your wish for twins... WHERE WOULD YOU PUT THEM?!)

I'm supposed to tag people here, but I don't think I actually have that much traffic to get people to post... we shall see:

Chris at Just a Girl

Angela at Painted House

Meredith at Like Merchant Ships

Chickadee at A Familiar Path

Amanda at Soule Mama

that's a good start

Bringing the pretty

2009-02-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

My mentor in home decor, the Nester, is doing a FANTASTIC series about simple ways to address each room in your home, helping make it more beautiful, more functional, more liveable, more you. The one on Master Bedrooms really got me thinking, especially when she followed up w/a how-to beautify your bedroom on a budget. I was a woman on a mission.

The ideas she presented spoke to me. My bedroom needs to be my sanctuary. And it doesn't all have to be about spending a ton of money, finding what's 'in style', or even having to buy a bunch of stuff.

My goal in this project was to NOT spend a ton of money (for my birthday I had been given a gift card to Hobby Lobby, a little bit of money, and my mom had purchased me some sewing supplies to go with my new sewing machine). Some projects were in the works! And really, I'm putting myself all out there for you... my bedroom was a mess. It was the dumping ground for piles of laundry, shoes all over the floor, bed unmade... frump frump frump! So cleaning up and cleaning out was going to be a major part of this project... and here's the kicker... I had 1 day to do the majority of the work. I had taken a day off and while I COULD certainly spend more time on it (more time, more money, more STUFF)... I wanted to make this easy and simple. I knew this could all be a starting point and my mantra at Hobby Lobby was: you don't have to get that now, wait and see what you REALLY want in the room...

so, I present to you the before:

...I know. Its bad. All I can say is, I'm sorry.

And the after:

ahhhh.... OK, yes its just a starting point, but seriously? SO much better than the before, right? I bought the fabric for the comforter and curtains at Hobby Lobby, along w/a solid color sheet set at Target. Because I was doing this w/o husband knowing AT ALL what I was up to, I knew I needed to err on the side of caution with my fabrics and and not do any big floral prints. I knew there would be room for added touches of femininity as time went on. I hope to provide more posts later on as I finish out with a few more details.

For more information about bringing the pretty, and to gather some inspiration for so many others who are joining the Nester's party, click the button below...

Personal disclaimer: due to the nature of my project and the horrid mess I was starting with, my personal project took more than 10 minutes.

2009-02-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've now entered the last of my twenties... Lord help us!

Catholic Irony

2009-02-03T07:22:00.001-08:00

Today is the feast of St. Blaise and I woke up this morning with a sore throat. St. Blaise is one of my favorite feast days. I'll be going to mass today and getting my throat good and blessed. Yay.

And for those who are curious, here is some information about St. Blaise that I am borrowing from ewtn's website:

Many Catholics might remember Saint Blaise's feast day, February 3, because of the Blessing of the Throats that take place on this day. Two candles are blessed, held slightly open, and pressed against the throat as the blessing is said. Very few facts are known about Saint Blaise. It is believed he was a bishop of Sebastea in Armenia who was martyred under the reign of Licinius in the early fourth century. The legend of St. Blaise tells us that he was born into a rich and noble family who raised him as a Christian. He became a bishop. Later, a new persecution of Christians began. He received a message from God to go into the hills to escape persecution. Hunters discovered a cave surrounded by wild animals who were sick. Blaise walked among them unafraid, curing them of their illnesses. The hunters recognized Blaise as a Bishop, so they captured him to take him back for trial. On the way back, he talked a wolf into releasing a pig that belonged to a poor woman. When Blaise was sentenced to be starved to death, the woman, in gratitude, sneaked into the prison with food and candles. Finally, the governor had Blaise killed. Saint Blase is the patron of physicians, sick cattle, wax- chandlers, woolcombers, and of wild animals because of his care for them and of those with throat maladies. He is invoked against afflictions of the throat (Bentley, Roeder). As one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Saint Blase was much venerated throughout Central Europe. In art he is a bishop with a metal comb and a tall candle. He may be shown in many different ways: (1) with crozier (pastoral staff) and two candles (no comb); (2) martyred by being torn with iron combs; (3) in a cave with wild animals; (4) discovered by hunters, a fawn near him (not to be confused with the monk, Saint Giles); (5) blessing the birds in front of a cave; (6) rescuing a poor woman's pig from a wolf; (6) saving the life of a boy who swallowed a fishbone; or (7) with the city of Dubrovnik in his hand or being carried over the city by angels (Roeder).

Inspiration!

2009-02-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know about most of you, but getting into February gives me those "when will Winter be over" blues. While I do have my birthday and valentine's day to cheer me up as we make our way through the last of the potentially really cold months, I still look soooo forward to spring.

One website that I've found recently giving me a lot of inspiration for both outside our home and inside is: http://www.remodelingguy.net/. This guy has tons of great resources and ideas along with ENCOURAGEMENT! Woohoo. So definitely go check him out.

Oh, and we got one of those project guides from Lowe's last summer and I've had this picture on my fridge ever since:

Husband and I have big plans to do this on our side yard. I'm scouring craigslist daily to see when someone is offering soem free gravel that we can use to get this project started (did you know people are offering that all the time?!)... additionally, since Santa brought us some outdoor toys for our backyard, we want to create a play area (something like the one below, which is just a picture I found online) to keep mud and grass to a minimum and fun at a maximum. Our local 4H group offers free mulch every spring, so I just need to wait to see them post the sign and husband will be on his way over for a few truckloads...

... its nice to get the projects out of my head and down somewhere to give me a little hope for warmer weather to come! Got any big projects coming?

In Memory... on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade

2009-01-22T13:34:00.001-08:00

http://www.catholicvote.com/

Please watch this video and thank your mom for giving you life!

It is time...

2009-01-20T08:32:00.000-08:00

We are one of those families that doesn't have a large decorating budget for our home. Scratch that. We don't have any decorating budget for our home. I make or piece together a lot of the things that we use, or find things on sale or whatnot. Much of our furniture is that good ol' handmedown newlywed stuff. I'm totally ok with this. We are working hard to get out of debt which means that having a new couch is not a priority. But, that doesn't mean I want my house to look like trash. Like so many couples, we have left our bedroom as last. More often than not, it becomes the catchall for baskets of laundry that need to be put away, miscellaneous papers and books that husband hasn't sorted through, etc.

But I'm ready.

I'm ready to have a pretty bedroom. I know that I can't guarantee that it will always stay pretty and clean and neat. That just doesn't happen with a household that contains two parents who work full time outside the home and two toddler girls who haven't quite figured out how to always help with putting things away themselves (although older daughter IS learning).

We have new bedroom furniture, an anniversary gift to ourselves last year (yes I know it makes no sense to pick out nice pretty grown up bedroom furniture and not also buy nice pretty linens) and our walls are painted a really great shade of grey (that I love, but husband is getting tired of, although I'm certain if I can actually DECORATE the room he will love the shade again).

So I want to find something like this:

Its from anthropologie's Izak collection. The duvet is $200. Surely I can find something COMPARABLE (maybe not in quality, but in design) at a better price...

should I buy a plain comforter (the cheapest, plainest I can find) and attempt to make a duvet for it from fabric I can find at the fabric store?

should I buy a less cute print (not that I've found one) and try to pretty it up with other accessories in the room?

should I buy a solid color comforter and find some other accessories?

beaut-i-ful

2009-01-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

i just love her simple style and unique design.

in case my husband is reading this or if anyone wants to email him and clue him in, the freshwater pearl earrings would be perfect for valentines day!

http://lisaleonardonline.com/

Goals or Resolutions

2009-01-09T10:44:00.000-08:00

My online mommy group decided to do a list of goals/resolutions. I'm not sure which category my list falls under (I'm thinking goals)

either way, here's my list

Get back on track with our budget
Pay off our credit card and husband's student loan (that would leave only medical bills and mortgage for debt!)
Lose 20 (maybe 25) pounds
Complete one sewing project every month (did I tell you all I got a sewing machine for Christmas)
Buy husband a truck
Keep up with the house more
Get oldest daughter fully potty trained by the start of the summer

VOTE!

2009-01-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

I just thought I wasn't going to get all political on my blog... but it turns out... I AM! Oh yes, I am!

One of my favorite reads, Chatting at the Sky, is up for a weblog award- best small blog. So, now, you need to do your civic (ok so it isn't civic- its more pleasing me and miss Emily) duty and go vote for her once every 24 hours. Seriously. I just went and voted and she's getting whooped by like 2000 votes or something, so she really needs your support and more importantly her VOTE.

Oh, and go read her blog too. She's witty, creative, kind, compassionate, fun and REAL.

Here's the link where you can vote for her. Do it now.

Holiday Recap

2009-01-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I took a short blogging break in order to make it through my time off... yup, my work (and husband's school) gave us 2 weeks off! Today's my first day back in the office. Boy is it hard to concentrate when your mind has basically been in free fall for 2 straight weeks....

so, here's a recap of our time:
23rd- got off at noon-ish and went shopping for the last minute stuff

24th- got up and went to my sister's house for Christmas w/her family and my mom & stepdad... the only picture i got was this: my mom opening the book that i got her (it's called 'my granny's purse' and it is TOO cute!)

left my sister's and drove to husband's home town for a little Christmas eve-ing at the in-laws (attn: booderbean's mom... your dad was great as santa yet again!), drove home that evening

santa came to our house too!

25th got up and did the presents and breakfast thing

(who's excited that santa brought her a new dora sippy cup in her stocking?)

(santa brought me my first sewing machine! ROCK!)

went to church

ate lunch at a flipping CHINESE RESTAURANT!!! (fa ra ra ra ra)
went to my dad's for more presents and dinner

26th went to oldest daughters godparents house for a little visiting... oldest daughter got some of her money out when we went to target that day and purchased a cake mix to make cupcakes for her godparents (isn't that the sweetest?)

27th went to a play place w/oldest daughter's godparents' grandchildren

28th went to my aunt's for a fierce game of dirty santa (i won an awesome coffee press!) and a fabulous gingerbread house decorating contest (for those of you looking for an activity for a post-christmas party, you can usually buy the kits for half off and they are quite a bit of fun... hopefully i'll have pictures of my team's winning house soon)

29th cleaned the house all the live long day so that husband's best friend from grade school could come down and stay with us

30th drove back to husband's home town for some delicious mexican food and some quality time w/friends and grandparents

31st youngest daughter came down w/ a nasty diaper rash and fever due to teething so we canceled our babysitter and our plans... had a somewhat quiet evening watching friend's son.

1st woohoo happy new year! friend's girlfriend got food poisoning. big fat bummer. avoid nachos at the cox convention center during flaming lips concert. went to church- feast of Mary the Mother of God (woot woot!!)

2nd got the girls out of the house so husband could get caught up on grading, then went out w/my mom and sister that evening and saw 7 pounds... it was FAB-U-LOUS!!!!

3rd husband decked our attic (or part of it) so that there is a GOOD (i.e. not the garage) place to store our christmas decorations, etc. went out w/husband that night at pf changs (at spicy sauce spilled all over my dress... booo! but cleaned it up pretty well) got free dinner, went to see 4 Christmases (pretty funny)

4th family slept in and we spent the day un-decorating (my house looks so bare!)

5th back here at work!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

smorgasbord

2008-12-19T12:42:00.000-08:00

Did anyone read the Babysitter's Club books? Do you remember that one family they babysat for that had about a gajillion kids? They used to always talk about how once a week instead of preparing a regular dinner the family would clean out the fridge of leftovers and one of the kids always called it 'Smorgasbord night' or something like that...

... well this is a smorgasbord post. Where I have little bits of things to mention, so I'm going to put it all in one...
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...Winner winner chicken dinner! Kimba of A Soft Place to Land sponsored a fabulous giveaway from Rowena of RubyRedRose etsy fame. I won my choice of one of her FABULOUS clutches. While it was nearly impossible to be patient for the mailman to deliver my blueprint clutch all the way from England, I'm happy to say it has arrived and already accompanied me on an evening out for my sister's birthday. Of course I'm not on top of things enough to take a picture then in all of its 'going out' beauty, but I did snap a few pictures this morning. On my desk. Holding not so exciting things (I could actually fit quite a bit in there- my cell phone, car keys, wallet, and a ziploc baggie full of pretzels)... isn't it lovely? Don't you want to zip right on over to Rowena's etsy shop and buy one for yourself to match every outfit? I'm sure she'll be accomodating!

Thank you Kimba for the GREAT giveaway and Rowena for your beautiful work!
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...Chris at Just a girl has a great post on scrounging up some extra Christmas decor in a low-budget kind of way. I stole... errr... borrowed the idea of getting some scrapbook paper to decorate a candle... here's my version

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Also, I'm posting a picture of one of my favorite Christmas gifts I've ever received. Ya know how when you're a kid, you can kind of romatacize your parent's jobs? You think about how important they must be that their job takes them away from being at home 5 days a week. You wonder if the entire world would come to an end if they didn't show up. Well, my dad worked for a company that made parts for pumpjacks. For those of you who don't know, a pumpjack pumps oil out of the ground, and we have a lot of them here in Oklahoma. So, one year, when I was about 5 I told Santa that I wanted a purple pumpjack for Christmas. Well, believe it or not, pumpjack toys are not super easy to come by, even in Oklahoma. But somehow, Santa managed to find one. Don't ask me how he did it. Now, it came in black and red, instead of purple, and he must have gotten his elves to make it at the very last second and they just simply didn't have time to paint it a spectacular color like purple, but here it is in all its glory. I still pull it out around Christmas time to think back to simpler days... not to mention the trouble Santa went through to find it...

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Finally, who doesn't love a good 'kid who hates Santa' picture? Well, we took the girls to see Santa, and this was the best I could get...

hope you're all enjoying these last few days of Advent. Christmas will be here before we know it!

As we wait, I think of Mary

2008-12-18T13:20:00.000-08:00

Charming, even if it is a little.... odd.

the reason for the season

2008-12-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

this is one of those 'out of the mouths of babes' things, only its a nice little arrangement prepared by my 3 year old...

Explanation: on our entryway table, in the middle of our Advent wreath, sits a small antique nativity set. the baby Jesus doesn't make his appearance in the manger until Christmas day, and I think my daughter has taken notice that he is 'missing'. So, she did what all good preschoolers do- improvise. She found this little white heart-shaped rock to sit in the manger when she plays with the 'mommy and daddy' figurines. So sweet... here we wait for Love to be born.

guess who is on hold with 'customer service' for the billionth time?

2008-12-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

My garland... the hard way.

2008-12-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

So, add me to the list of people who had to undergo much tragedy to achieve garland beauty (but not perfection!)...

The GOAL was to hang a shelf like the Nester's above my fireplace in order to have a faux mantle. Husband and I found out the hard way that our rock fireplace is in fact cement painted to look like rock. Lovely. Tacky. Blah. Not only that, the cement adamantly refuses to have anything hung from it for more than about 15 minutes. Fortunately/unfortunately I did not take a picture of the broken shelf (with garland beginnings still attached!) lying in a pile on the base of my fireplace. I just couldn't bear to do it, b/c it took a LOT of work to try to get the ding-dang thing up there. So, I waited a day to let the frustration and dust settle and compromised by repairing the shelf (in a very 'what would Nester do' sort of way... with my glue gun!) and hanging it above my couch. From there I adorned that puppy like there was no tomorrow and came up with this final product... (I'm posting a few pictures b/c some of them make the garland look better, others you can see the lights better)....

so, that's my garland story!

sneak preview

2008-12-09T09:09:00.001-08:00

don't you want to see the rest of this?????

garland still to come

2008-12-05T06:30:00.000-08:00

OK, with the busyness of trips to the ER, blown breakers to dryers, making arrangements for car purchases, not to mention a 'mantel' that just didn't want to go up without a WHOLE LOTTA work, I haven't garlanded up YET, but I WILL!!!!

THIS WEEKEND!

PROMISE!

Speaking of Learning the hard way... Childproofing

2008-12-01T12:47:00.000-08:00

I keep child proofing my house, but somehow they keep getting back in!

OK, let me start this with a little humor so that I don't have to cry my way through this post...

Yesterday was the ultimate day from he.

Husband and I were back in the bedroom getting ready for church, and like we do every Sunday, youngset daughter was taking her morning nap and oldest daughter was in the living room watching a video. The next thing we knew, oldest daughter came in our bathroom with a toy plastic plate covered in pink sticky stuff and said "mom & dad I took my medicine. Its all gone." So, obviously we freak out and she takes us in the kitchen where she's got a dining room chair pulled up to the cabinet and theres the empty bottle of children's tylenol w/a little bit of it poured out on the counter. I knew previously that the bottle had only been half full, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where she got it. We keep our medicine in the linen closet in the hallway up on a shelf that is about 4.5 feet up. (Still haven't figured that one out) So we called poison control and the guy asked her weight, how much she took, etc. and he told us that she would have had to have taken a lot more than that to hurt her, but to keep an eye on her and if she got sick to her stomach then to call back. Well, husband didn't really like that answer, so he called the after hours number for the pedi. She called us back and said that Tylenol poisoning can be really serious and not have a lot of symptoms leading up to it, so it would be better to just go to the er. So we loaded up to do that and she was so brave. They had her drink the charcoal and she just sat there and sipped it through the straw like it was no big deal. The doctor came in to see her and said that they have to wait until 4 hours after she took the Tylenol to see what her levels are to see if she needed the antedote or not. So I had my mom come down and get youngest daughter and take her home. The 4 hours waiting got to be really frustrating b/c oldest daughter was so restless. They had to put a port in her hand to draw the blood and be able to easily administer medicine if needed, which for that I just laid on the bed with her and held her arm still and just talked to her and she looked at me while they put it in and said "Ow mommy, that hurt!" And literally that was it. After the 4 hours they drew the blood, and her level was 4. The doctor explained that it would have had to be in the 100s for them to be really worried, so either the charcoal absorbed a lot of it or she didn't actually take very much (if that's the case, my best guess is that she poured it down the drain or trash). Whew. Needless to say it was incredibly scary and we are going to Walmart tonight to stock up on more cabinet locks and stuff. I really haven't been able to figure out how she got into the cabinet, other than if she used the bottom shelves (which aren't locked up b/c they just have towels) to climb to get up to the upper shelf. Either way, its all getting locked up now. I cannot begin to tell you how bad I feel. I sat in her bed last night just crying (she was playing in the other room with Joe) just thinking how very different the whole thing could have ended. So, hug your kiddos extra tight tonight and double check EVERYTHING in your house.

Lest I always be too serious...

2008-11-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to make this a short post.... let me just say that there is decorating planned. And one of my favorite things in the work is to go from having garland that looks like this:

to garland that looks like this:

(thanks Nester for the tutorial!)

(BTW, neither of these is my actual home, but the first does accurately represent what I've done in the past, and the second is what the Nester made that I plan to attempt to re-create!)

Waiting on Waiting

2008-11-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

In my faith tradition (do I need to tell you? its Catholic) we celbrate the season of Advent prior to Christmas. Advent is a time where we wait for the coming of the Lord, and a lot of people interpret that to mean waiting for His birth, but the greater reality (ok, Liturgically season-wise we are waiting for Christmas) is that we are waiting for the second coming. Now, if there's one thing that the Gospel according to Matthew teaches us, its this:

"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all these things, know that he is near, at the gates.
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24:32-37, NAB)

All of that is to say that none of us know the time when Jesus will return to us, so as I was saying, in our tradition we dedicate an entire liturgical season (4 Sundays) to preparing ourselves for Christ's coming.

This year, I'm finding it more difficult to not just jump right into Christmas though. I mean, I can justify it by saying that w/ youngest daughter's birth so close to Christmas, and this year celebrating her first birthday, we just have so much to look forward to. Or, I can talk about how I ordered really cute stockings for our family last year from Pottery Barn, they have our names embroidered on them, and I cannot wait to hang them by our chimney with care (it doesn't hurt to add that I got them for 50% off the day after Christmas!). Or, I could mention how with our failing economy and stores wanting to tempt us so much into SHOPPING that I've been hit by the bug and have found/thought of so many cute things for gifts and decor this year that I can hardly contain myself. All of these our true.

But I need to get my heart in the right place. I need to be excited for Jesus. I need to focus myself spiritually so that I can grow closer to Him and I need to work harder at teaching my girls about this important aspect of our faith. I love the liturgical aspect of our faith. Its so thought out, so planned, it always feels so right. It never feels like we had a pastor who just threw together a couple of random readings for the weekend and then got up and preached about whatever was getting his goat for the week. There's purpose to what we do, to how we pray, and its always directed towards something greater than ourselves. Participating in the liturgy (as little as I sometimes feel like I'm actually participating, more feeling like I'm just trying to keep my kiddos quiet enough so others can not be bothered) makes me a part of something GREATER. Which is such a Good thing.

Momma, I sick.

2008-11-14T19:52:00.000-08:00

It all started a week and a half ago when I started feeling achy at work, only to get the taletell signs of a UTI (tmi I know. good thing I hardly ever get anyone reading this bloggity blog blog) Then, last Thursday, husband came home feeling tired. The next thing we knew he was spending the majority of the evening bowing down to the porcelin gods (so to speak). The next day he drags his booty to school anyway and half-heartedly makes it through the day. I went and picked the girls up at daycare, and the oldest had just puked about 5 minutes prior. LOVELY. I had tried to write off husband's puking as food poisoning, but then it was clear we had a stomach virus. That evening, I never actually got sick but was utterly exhausted all evening. I just camped out on the couch with oldest daughter and slept most of the night and next morning away. By Sunday morning I hadn't really been sick and younger daughter hadn't been sick either and I thought we were home free. Oh contraire! Younger daughter proceeds to puke all over me as we get home from having lunch after church. LOVELY... I was convinced I was next. So, I took Monday off to keep her home and give her time to recover and continued on with my week. Well, I got a call again today from our daycare provider that oldest daughter said she didn't feel good. Low and behold, she's running a 100.1 fever now.

Fantabulous.

Please read and sign and spread

2008-11-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

This past Monday was my oldest's 3rd birthday!

We celebrated on Saturday (and Sunday and Monday) with a party at a farm (complete with Carousel ride, train ride, presnts, cupcakes, petting zoo, and an animatronic singing pig).

The next day, husband's family came by with presents.

Monday was a great day w/ a trip for the family to have donuts,

some toy shopping at walmart (what else do you do at 8 in the am in my small town) getting manicures,

bringing lunch to dad, mommy-kiddo lunch tradition at McDonald's,

and home for some movie time.

Dinner was at Johnny Carinos where we had a very big ice cream sundae. A good long weekend for a very happy, beautiful, smart, and fun 3 year old!

happy halloween

2008-10-31T19:35:00.000-07:00

our little family dressed as bugs this year for halloween. youngest daughter was a ladybug, oldest daughter was a bee, mommy was a butterfly (not that you can see the wings in the picture, but they are there) and daddy was a spider (and by spider i mean that he wore a black tshirt, was draped w/a mess of white thread and had a plastic spider hanging from it all)... it was such a fun evening, and as daddy said "oldest one totally loved it. she knew exactly what she was doing. she would hop out of the wagon and make a bee line for each person's door"... bwahahahahaha!