Project 365

Pin It Yes, I'm doing this again this year. :) I really enjoy going back and looking over the pics I took last year, so I'm excited to do it again. Maybe I'll just try to continue forever.

I have a hard time uploading pics on blogger. It takes a while and somehow I always manage to get them backwards. I started putting the 365 pics on facebook. I'm still doing that, and will probably continue to do so, but I started today to put them on 365project.org.

I just uploaded the first six weeks of 2010 today, and will update it with the rest of February this week (lots of editing to do first.) It looks so easy to use! If you're doing a project 365, consider uploading your pics here. (And, you can feel free to follow me if you like.)

Oh - if you didn't already know - project 365 is a commitment to take a picture a day. I set very low standards for myself, so mine is more like a project 300-something. Last year I think I ended up with 340, not too bad. :) AND, if you are interested, just jump in. Doesn't matter that it's the end of February!

I Heart Faces - Hands On Fun

Pin It I was going to skip this week because I couldn't think of any "hand" pictures. Then this one scrolled across the screen. It's not technically fabulous, but I love it. This was the first of the jewelry parties at Grammy's house, playing in her jewelry boxes. Madelyn ran downstairs all jeweled up and declared "Are we having a jewelry party, or what, y'all?!?" in her full Texas twang. What a fabulous memory!

Let's See ...

Pin It Let's see if I can take a day when I really can't string two words together and come up with a blog post.

Last week was a hectic week, and this one is starting out that way as well. Brendan was sick last week, and then my mother in law came to visit. I felt really lousy over the weekend, and the weather has been so up and down that not a one of us knows if we're coming or going.

We're having a very pleasant visit with my mother in law, and I'm glad that we're close enough for her to be able to come visit without her son being home.

(Speaking of which - we have less than seven weeks left!)

The kids have been delighted to have her here and seem to be on a mission to separate her from any extra money she may have lying around. :-/ They were quick to make plans to take Grammy shopping. I guess it's much more fun to take Grammy shopping than to take mama shopping. Ha.

Madelyn has a couple of friends over today, and they are having a ball! She had a rough couple of weeks in the friend department recently, so I'm very happy that these three are having such a good time together. :)

Brendan had a buddy over earlier too. It's so funny to watch Brendan and his buddy together. They've been missing each other so I know they were excited to get together.

Gabbi is sad and lonely, no friends for her today. She thinks she's an adult anyway, so it's all good.

And with all of that said ... if you happen to still be awake ... thank you for reading. I promise posts with at least something interesting in them soon.

The Lazy Blogger

Pin It That's me!

I really haven't had anything to say. Weird.

I do have a couple of PSA's though.

PSA #1: If you tell a four year old child that he will not get a shot, and then he needs to have blood drawn, he will see that as a shot and will think that you lied to him. Even though he feels completely miserable and will want you to comfort him, he will be mad at you. It will take loads of comforting plus a nice toy to get him to forgive you. It will probably require sedation to get him back into the doctor's office. He will probably need some too.

So now you know.

We had a rough week around here. Said four year old has been fighting off a cough and cold for a couple of weeks now. Monday night he was wilty, and then he came home from MDO on Tuesday completely wilted, and by Tuesday afternoon was running fever. I called at 4:58 pm and made an appointment for Wednesday, assuming that it was either ears or throat. Then the fever shot up, and the boy was crying in pain, holding his side. I was thisclose to panicking, and kept praying that the Lord would just tell me if I needed to take him to the ER. He slept and whimpered all night long, and we went to his appointment a little early because he was still completely miserable on Wednesday.

The doctor said he thought it was a stomach virus. Huh. I was thinking no way was that a stomach virus. Then the doctor said he would do a blood test just to make sure. I was kind of relieved about that. (You didn't miss the PSA, right? Take note of that, please.)

Hey guess what.

Wednesday night, Brendan started feeling a little better, thanks to Tylenol and Zofran.

Thursday, he was still "off" but still a little better. Thursday night, he said "hey, I'm hungry!"

Friday, he's fine.

So, it was a stomach virus. This brings me to another PSA.

PSA #2: Sometimes stomach viruses involve fever, even high fever. Who even knew that? (Okay, evidently our doctor did. Thankfully.)

See, I want my blog to give back to its readers. You can thank me later.

(And thankfully today, he's all better, and so far, nobody else has been affected.)

I Heart Faces - I Wanna Dance!

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I had the fabulous privilege of taking some pics at a wedding this weekend. This couple, I believe they said they had been married for 48 years, was so much fun! Eventually all of the young people on the dance floor just stopped to watch them. I hope when I've been married for 48 years, I'm willing to get out on the dance floor and make everyone stop to watch!

Something is wrong here!

Pin It From a child last night: "You don't love me! If you loved me, you would buy this toy for me!"

From a child just a minute ago: "You don't love me! If you loved me, you would be willing to do this thing for me!"

The last night child is wanting a backpack that has a stuffed dog in it. A ridiculously overpriced backpack with a stuffed dog in it. The child today is wanting me to cram a five hour drive into an already overbooked day.

Oh my at the over-indulgence I'm seeing here!

As far as the backpack goes, I gave this child some options to earn the money for the backpack. Things like a clean room, made-up bed, dishwasher emptied, vacuuming. I pay well for these services, in part because it's all stuff I don't want to do, and in part because the sooner she has the ridiculously overpriced backpack in her possession, the sooner she'll start whining and wanting something else. :-/ The backpack costs $18. So far she has earned $9, so halfway there. This is if I am kind and do not subtract money for things like temper tantrums and excessive whininess. (I should subtract for HER tantrums and whininess too). ;)

As far as the drive goes, we had plans for this child to go visit my parents this weekend. Several things happened to make that not an option. Rather than accepting a "no, I'm sorry, but not this time", this child has devised about 37 options so that she gets what she wants. Never mind at the inconvenience to everyone else.

I'm really really aggravated with them. I'm sure I'll feel bad later for using them for blog fodder, but I'm really at a loss and almost in shock at the selfishness I am seeing. (I know, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree ... sigh ...)

I think it's time to have a little talk about being thankful for what we have. Maybe add in a side order of "the world does not revolve around you" and for dessert, my personal favorite, "money doesn't grow on trees." Dinner is served.

Now excuse me while I go have a temper tantrum because I still haven't heard from the plumber. For THREE DAYS now I have had to brush my teeth in the kids' bathroom. Yes, that means walking an extra FOUR FEET every morning and evening, and sometimes in the middle of the day if there's been garlic. And my children think they have it rough.

Irony, anyone?

If You Give a Mom an Hour (to herself)

Pin It If you give a mom an hour to herself,
She'll be so excited to have some quiet time, but first
She'll probably decide to do a load of laundry
(Since all you really have to do is put it in, so it doesn't take much time from the hour)
Along the way, she'll probably notice a few scattered toys
So, she'll pick them up after doing then laundry
While picking them up, she'll probably notice some more dirty clothes
She'll pick them up
While doing that, she'll probably notice shoes in the living room
She'll put them back where they belong
Along the way, she'll probably see some dishes that were left out
So, she'll take them to the sink
She'll think that she really ought to just do the dishes
Then she'll realize that 1/4 of her free hour is gone
So she'll decide to sit down and read a book
Along the way, she'll notice a child's schoolbook pushed halfway under the couch
She'll know that to leave that would mean that it would be pushed all the way under, and she'll know she won't remember seeing it, so she'll go and pick it up and put it where it belongs
Along the way, she'll see a DVD on the floor without its case
DVD's are expensive, so she'll pick it up to find its case
Right after finding its case, she'll see a sharpie left where a four year old will certainly see it
Remembering how much fun it is to get sharpie off of walls, she'll grab the sharpie and put it away
Along the way she'll step on a tube of lipgloss
She'll grab it and put it away and realize that now half her time is gone
She'll go to sit down again and realize that the cushions for the couch are all on the floor
So, she'll pick those up
She'll realize that there are 47 stuffed animals piled up under the cushions
So, she'll pick those up
Then she'll notice that the floor really needs to be vacuumed
So, she'll do that
Then she'll see that the floor in the kitchen has little bits of lunch around every chair, so she'll sweep that up
Oh no, now there's only fifteen minutes left, really not long enough to get comfortable and read her book
Plus the washer is done
So, she'll move the clothes to the dryer, start another load, and figure she might just have enough time to do the dishes
Then she'll look around at the clean house
She'll breathe a happy sigh
She'll go and get her little darlings
And they'll decimate the house again in about 6.8 seconds
But she'll remember that she loves them and missed them for the hour they were gone
So she'll kiss them
And start another load of laundry

The End.

Not Me Monday

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The following words did not come out of my mouth:
No, honey, you can't have a pickle for breakfast. I'd rather you have something like a donut. Or hey, how about a corn dog?
I did not then sit down, watch my sweet girl eat her corn dog, FOR BREAKFAST, and then wonder what on earth I was thinking. Nope, not me.

And also, cleanliness being next to godliness and all that (yes, I know that phrase is not actually in the Bible), I'd never let my son get absolutely filthy dirty playing outside when the sun finally decided to show itself after several days of rain. (Actually the more appropriate picture here would probably be the picture of the many layers of dirt that *weren't* in my bathtub after bathing the boy who didn't get filthy dirty. I didn't take one of those pictures though.)


I am not happy dancing, as I type this on Sunday afternoon to post on Monday, that my co-op stuff is ready. ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON (as opposed to Sunday night.) I've had all week to do it, so I'd never just wait until *almost* the last minute, and then happy dance that it isn't exactly the last minute!

I did not bribe my two older children with money to clean out a kitchen cabinet for me, and if I had, it wouldn't have been to serve several purposes. 1) To give them a project to work on together in hopes that they would stop bickering with each other, 2) to give them a chance to earn a little bit of money so they would stop begging me to take them to the Hallmark store to buy this little dog/backpack combination, 3) to give me the opportunity to go hide in my bedroom because the kitchen floor was covered with the stuff from the cabinet, and 4) because the cabinet really did need to be organized. Nope, I'd never do that.

What didn't you do this week?

On the Verge ...

Pin It ... of something. I'm just not sure what.

Ever feel that way? Like the Lord is trying to teach you something, and you're right there on the verge of getting it, but not quite there yet?

I'm very much there right now.

Some kind of breakthrough is just out of reach, almost close enough to touch, but I just can't yet.

I don't know - maybe it's just some general optimism about life. Things have been going well around here. A long term goal has been met (seriously - a goal set within days of moving here that seemed so unattainable at the time has been met!) There have been positive marital changes from afar, and for the first time since the army stuff started, I am feeling like I'm understood, and learning to understand. The kids settled back into their regular routine pretty quickly. Things are just generally going well around here.

But I keep feeling like the Lord is trying to shake me up in some ways. (Don't read more into that than is there.) I've been reading some things, and have been wondering if Jesus and God, as I know them, are REALLY who they are. Deep thoughts I know. I suspect that there are lots of routines in my life that are simply that, routines, or even religious routines, and I suspect that there is just way more out there than that.

But, I really don't know where it leads. I feel like I am right on the verge of finding out, but I'm not there yet.

And I do mean it when I say don't read too much into this. It's just thoughts in my head currently, and actually thoughts without much direction. Maybe a quest to find out if what I have believed for ages is accurate, or why I believe what I believe. Or maybe it's just that the Lord wants to take me to a deeper place.

I honestly don't know.

I'm kind of excited about it though.

The Doctor Dance

Pin It I'm home from co-op this Monday, doing the dance that all moms have learned.

Does this require a doctor visit? Should we just wait it out?

C'mon. If you're a mom, you're well familiar with this dance. At least I'm getting to do it on a Monday, which makes all of the moves much less frantic than on a Thursday evening or Friday morning.

This dance is further enhanced by a lot of second guessing. She whimpered all night in her sleep ... ahem ... in MY bed, so guess who didn't get to sleep? So, she should go. But then she just stood up and did a cartwheel. Well, if she were *really* sick, she wouldn't be doing cartwheels, so we'll wait. Hm. Maybe I should devise a point system.

Complaining of a sore throat = +2 points
Swollen lymph nodes = +2 points
Fever = +2 points
Fever over 103 = +4 points
Throwing up = +1 point (for this particular child. She throws up all the time. For the other two, it's +3 points.)
Doing cartwheels = -2 points
Singing along with the intro to Phineas and Ferb = -2 points
Talking baby talk to the dog = -1 point
The scary cough = +2 points
The scary cough lasting over a minute = +4 points
Sounding really hoarse = +1 point
Forgetting to sound really hoarse while yelling at sibling = -5 points
Loss of appetite = +2 points (again, for this kid. For the other two, this is both a sign of being sick and of being well, so throw this one out for them.)
Excessive whininess = oh good grief ... how could I even tell?

I'm sure there are more, but these are all that I can think of right now. I keep being interrupted by a child who needs a drink, and a blanket, and hey mom, I've already seen this episode, so could you bring me the remote, and oh hey, I think the dog is really cold, so could you bring her in, oh never mind, I'll do it, and I'll do a cartwheel on the way, and this pillow isn't as soft as that pillow, so would you trade them out for me?

Feel free to take my point system and incorporate it into your own dance. Maybe a score of 10 or more means to call, and less than that means to wait.

As for us, we're going to wait another day. She only scored a six.