winding down and warming up

I just returned from a conversation packed Ladies Night. I know that "what happens at Sonic, stays at Sonic".... but since this happened at my sister's house, I feel like I can share- without naming names ;)
I'm amazed at what comes up in conversation when you throw a wide variety of ladies together.
Tonight we discussed bodily functions and failures, mammograms, the composititon of poop and constipation, the king from the Bible whose intestines fell out (2Chronicles 21:18-19), pot, kids, dancing, speech delays, youtube ;), surgeries, tubing, hitmen, cancer, death, and disabilities... among other things.
I always enjoy hearing the stories and hearing the laughter.

I came home tonight to a 62 degree house and I recall a phone conversation that I had earlier today:
"Hi. My heat pump thingy isn't working too well. It's been doing weird stuff, off and on....do you think I could set up an appointment for you to come by and check it out sometime next week? Sure, Wednesday is great."

I'm sure that I can go without heat till wednesday. really. it's spring.
But I wasn't planning on a 24 degree night. Thank goodness for my new down comforter :o)

exciting irritation

FINALLY!!! The school nutrition people have implemented an online "cafe prepay" program, for an easy way to manage my kid's school meal accounts.
Other school programs have had this ability for years and I was waiting patiently for our school system to catch up.

For the past few years, I have been blindly sending money to school for their lunch accounts. I would give them permission to buy lunch or breakfast.... and I was really trying to keep up with their balances. But then, out of the blue, I would receive notices that one or the other kid owed the school money!
I would get so frustrated... being pretty sure that they were purchasing food when they weren't supposed to, or buying "extra" junk with their lunches.
It's the litte stuff that irritates me. Like disappearing money.
I even went as far as to request that the cafeteria ladies not feed my kids unless they had cash in hand. But alas... I still received "balance due" memos. Argh.

So... imagine my delight when I recevied the letter about the online account! SOOooooo thrilled :-)
I just went online to set up an account and check their balances.
Oddly enough... L has a balance of $10 and change. And D has a balance of 95 cents.
D claims that he is only buying when he has permission. He suggests that perhaps someone else is using his PIN number?! (Which he told me earlier in the year that this is impossible since a mug shot shows up on cashier's computer)
Something's fishy here. And I think it's his story.

So... I'm thrilled to have the ability to track their accounts online. Which I plan to watch like a hawk!
But I'm super irritated that I have sneaky kids. And I'd sure like to know what he purchased with $9 worth of lunch money!

green day

I've done something motherly!
Check out the lunches that I'll be sending with my boys tomorrow. I am super proud of my effort because it's probably the only nifty thing that I'll pull of this year.



In case you can't appreciate all of the genius above, here is a rundown.... Turkey and cheese in a GREEN spinach wrap, GREEN goldfish, GREEN pear flavored apple sauce, GREEN koolaid, GREEN veggie chips, and a GREEN mint!

Pretty sure that my kids aren't gonna eat any of it... but it looks amazing, eh?
I'm sure that they would be thrilled about the veggie chips if I had raised them on a diet of cardboard.
Because they are disgusting!!!
But they are GREEN! ;)

Not sure what has gotten into me-about the green... it's weird.
I'm the mom that totally overlooked the school classes on important holidays... like Christmas! But yet I volunteered to provide a snack for St. Patricks day. That's random.
Once again... genius... I'm taking green koolaid, green jello jigglers and Lucky Charms cereal :-)

Happy St. Patricks Day!

time to reclaim

I've been living in a disaster of a house for several weeks now. Every room has crap thrown all over the floor and the counters are piled up with stuff. I've been unmotivated to dig out of the pit. I've allowed myself to wallow a bit... But I know that "this too shall pass".

A lady at our church was killed in an accident last Sunday and the circumstances ended up playing havoc on me...as I thought about what her family was going through.
It's just been a weird week.

I had planned a get-away this weekend that was canceled because the receiving end was sick. I was REALLY looking forward to escaping for a few days.
My initial thought was that I would take flight with the kids and find a random hotel where we could flee our week and swim in the hotel pool.
But that is quite a lofty plan. Especially since that would involve shaving my legs. :)

I decided to stick in town and go to the movies. We saw Alice in Wonderland. (I love Johnny Depp) ;)

I am proud to say that, this morning, I reclaimed my living room. It is now clutter free, carpet vacuumed, furniture dusted, and plants watered. One small area of sanity in this crazy house, in this crazy life. I am hoping that the small oasis of motivation will decide to spread to the rest of the house, and life.

it's a God thing

As many of you know.... L has been dealing with alot of anger since Thayer died. I would say that his change in attitude and his behavior have been some of the most dramatic changes that have occured as the result of Thayer's death.
Well... that... and the fact that I don't cook anymore. So really, attitude and diet have suffered the most since Thayer's death.
(Yes, I'm sure that the diet has affected our attitude but that's another subject altogether.)

For the past several weeks, L has been on a rampage. The slightest little inconveniences have sent him into a screaming, destructive wreck. I haven't helped the situation either. I've lashed out at him on several occasions as well.
But overall, I do remain calm.

One day last week he came home from school like a bat out of hell. He immediately screamed about his homework- so I sent him to his room, where he destroyed his notebook and ripped up previous homework assignments. He then proceeded to fall asleep in his closet in a basket of stuffed animals.
(gotta admit that was cute). He slept from 4:30-6:45pm. Upon waking, he came out of his room and ate three bowls of cereal.
(I thought for sure that the sleep and food would cure his ill temper). Until he asked, "what day is it?" He was shocked and horrified that it was still the same day.
He had emerged from his closet sleep, assuming it was the next morning.... so he freaked out AGAIN and put himself to bed.

So here's the kicker!-
When I went to his room later that night, assuming he was asleep.... That little guy was on his bed reading the Bible!!
woah. This is completely out of his present character! And imagine my surprise when he asked me to sit on his bed so he could read the New Testament to me! He wanted to read "the red words that Jesus said". So I had him read several passages to me. He was SO willing and eager.
Then, he jumped out of bed to grab a devotional book that we used to read each night. He reminded me that it had been a while. He insisted that I would read the corresponding scripture and he would read the devotional.
again... woah.
We had an amazing time in God's word.

Once again, God used a little moment to teach me something big.

I know for a fact that God spoke to L's heart that night and encouraged L to pick up the Bible. L knew that he needed God to calm his heart and settle his anger.

And the cool part is.... I had NOTHING to do with it.
L and I had been on bad terms for about a week. Nothing I could have said or done would have given him the notion to call on God.
This was truly a God thing. This made real the fact that God draws people to Himself.
We could be great loving parents or frustrated single parents, imperfect and fumbling... but ultimately God is the one who will call our children to follow Him.
Of course, I have the reponsibility of raising my kids to the best of my ability.... but I know that God can work miracles amongst the ruins. And I found great relief in seeing this with my own eyes.

I have been praying all along that God will fill the void that my boys have in Thayer's absense. In theory, it's great to think that God will father my kids. But to actually see it happen was a huge encouragement.

using restraint

I just a read a blog in which I am dying to post a comment. I debated for a few minutes and then decided that it wasn't worth it.
My simple comment would be:

"and all the while your children continue to grow up so quickly."

there. I said it.
Just not to the blogger.
Every ounce of me wants to shout it at this person. But I will hold my tongue, this one time. For the sake of being nice and not offending.

wow. I didn't know I had the ability to hold my tongue. I learn something new every day :-)

um... but in reality, I guess I didn't hold my tongue because I just shared it with you. hah.

the unknown

I have had "caller ID" on my home phone for years.
Even so... 9 out of 10 times, I would answer my phone as if I had no idea who was on the line. :-) But of course I knew! Every time.
I had the ability to screen my calls if we were eating dinner or entertaining friends.
I was trained to come home and immediately glance at the phone to see if anyone had called.
It was quite convenient to foresee what type of conversation would follow the ring.

These days, I have become more fluent on my cell phone so I decided to cut my home phone services WAY back. I've got a super basic line with NO caller ID.

The first few days I would still come home and look at the phone screen... but it would be blank. I decided that I needed to replace the wall phone (that was equipped for caller ID) so I could break my habit of constant phone surveillance.

(Can you believe that a basic phone, without all of the frills, only costs $5!! Hard to believe you can buy anything for $5 these days!)

anywho. So I've got this regular old phone on my wall. And it's lovely. :-)

And now, when the phone rings, my initial reaction is, "oh! Who could it be?! And I wonder why they are calling?!"
It's almost like a guessing game for me! :0)
I really, truly don't have a clue who's on the line when I answer it! So please- identify yourself! ;)

In a world where we are so gratified by constant information... I feel like I've taken it down a notch. and it's so nice.