The Great Toothbrush Intervention of 2012

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See anything wrong with this picture?

How about if I tell you that this is the bathroom of my children.  I have three children.  Nobody else uses this bathroom on a regular basis.  That is either 11 or 12 toothbrushes right there.  (One child uses an electric one; not sure if it's on the charger and too lazy to go check.) (Oh wait - I can see in the picture that it's not in there.)  So - there are 12 toothbrushes in my children's bathroom.

And there's a Spiderman toothbrush in my bathroom, which I can assure you is not mine, and I'm reasonably certain it doesn't belong to my husband either.

Three children.  Thirteen toothbrushes.

There is one friend who frequently spends the night, so maybe we can assume that one toothbrush might belong to her.

I am puzzled by this.

I asked the children why they had so many toothbrushes and (surprise, surprise) they have no idea.  One child told me that it was so that if they lost one, there was another one available.  Then another child told me that he just chooses one that's dry.  Okay, awesome.  And probably a little gross.  At least we now have the answer to why there can never just be one child sick at my house!

We are going to have a toothbrush intervention around here.  I think I'm going to toss out every one of these, minus the electric one, and start over.  This will be super easy because there is a package of 20 in my bathroom.

Apparently the little apples don't fall far from the tree.

But at least the ones in my bathroom, other than the one used by me, and the one used by my husband, plus the aforementioned Spiderman, are NOT opened or used!

(Oh my ... as I was typing this earlier, the little one brought me a few more that he keeps in his room.  I guess you never know when you might need to give your teeth a couple of swipes and it's too far to walk the three feet from his bedroom to the bathroom!)

Thankful Thursday

Pin It Let me just start out saying I'm not feeling so very thankful right now.

It's 10:00.  Here is a glimpse of our morning so far.  I had told the girls they could sleep in a little. 
My definition of sleeping in:  8:30.
Their definition of sleeping in:  11:00.

Mistake #1:  Not being specific as to the definition of sleeping in.

The little one is always the first of the three to wake up.  He was being sweet; we snuggled a bit, and everything was rocking along.  I decided it was time for the girls to wake up.

Mistake #2:  I sent the little one in to wake the girls up.  Oh sweet heavens, WHAT WAS I THINKING??

Now we have the middle one shrieking at the little one.  The little one is laughing maniacally.  The oldest is hollering for both of them to please shut up.

Awesome.  Just what I was going for; everyone mad within two minutes of waking up.

From there, we have one crying with teeth hurting, two fighting over waffles, one doing his best to require a visit to the ER by vaulting over his desk, and a mama who is wondering if she could fit under the desk and just hide out there for several hours. 

Things that have not worked to get our day on a better path:
~ Group hug.  Nope. 
~ Nicely saying "Love your sister" and "love your brother."
~ YELLING "LOVE YOUR SISTER!!" and "LOVE YOUR BROTHER!!"
~ Bribery.  (Hey, you gotta try what you gotta try.)
~ Chocolate.
~ Separation.  (Well, this has kind of worked.  Nobody is any happier, but at least they're not yelling at each other.)

Now I'm just trying to laugh about it.  And that does seem to be helping a little. 

I AM thankful that both girls accidentally skipped a math lesson earlier and didn't realize it for a couple of days.  I figure if they skipped a lesson and were able to move on, then they can just skip that lesson for good.  This means that being too busy to get to math yesterday didn't make us behind.  Very thankful for that.

I am also thankful that the little one already knows the blend he is supposed to be learning today, so his lesson is easy.

I am thankful that it's Thursday, which is typically a pretty easy day around here, both in schoolwork and in life in general.

I am TRYING to be thankful for the tons of rain we've had.  I am sure I said last summer in the midst of months of no rain that I would never complain about the rain again.  Really, it's not the rain that's driving me crazy now.  It's the days and days of gray skies.  No end to the gray skies.  BUT, we've had enough rain that the doors no longer stick, and that is definitely a good thing! 

Okay, maybe we can get this day back to happy!

Hi!

Pin It I am still here.  :)

I actually have several blog posts in progress.  We are back in the swing of regular life around here, so maybe I'll be able to get back in the swing of regular blogging as well.  Or maybe not.  We'll see.

That's what I like best about me.  I'm consistent.  Haha~!!

I love getting back into a normal routine. 
The house has been de-Christmas-fied.
The kids are back working on school things.
The New Years resolutions are written.
The leftovers are being eaten/planned for/frozen.

That is kind of the way I like it.  I'm always anxious to get the Christmas stuff out and get all decorated, but I am equally anxious to get it all put back away and get the house back in order as soon as the last present is opened!

Ah ... schedules ... routines ... calendars ... menus ... BACK TO NORMAL!!

Blogging?  We'll see ...  :D

Home Again, and Giggling

Pin It First, thank you all for the concern and prayers regarding my last post.  I really am doing okay, it's just that some days are hard.  I know you all know what I mean.

We got home safely, and I really just have a minute to post, but I am totally giggling and have to share.

Our Christmas ornaments have been through a lot.  Some have been through several moves, and most were not top quality to begin with.  I started a series of Disney ornaments about 19 years ago with the intention of saving them up and then giving them to my nephew when he was old enough to have his own tree.

Not gonna happen.  Sorry, nephew.

These ornaments really were so cute to start out.  Various Disney characters, brightly colored and cheery.  Through the years though, well, they have shown some wear and tear.

My oldest commented that opening the Christmas decoration box is a combination of Christmas and Halloween all in one.  Peter Pan is missing an arm.  Scrooge McDuck is missing a leg.  The number of intact dalmations is way less than 101.  The worst off is poor Snow White.  I am not sure what the dwarfs did to her, but she is missing a head.  (The only dwarf that is still here is grumpy.  'Nuff said.)

Now I can't stop giggling at the Christmas/Halloween tree.

At least it looks really pretty when it's dark and the lights are on!

(And yes, pictures are to come.  My memory card is full of pics from our trip and I've been afraid to get them off because I'm hoping that the perfect Christmas card pic is on there, and I don't want to be disappointed!)

Inconsistent Blogging!

Pin It Wow, am I ever rocking the inconsistency lately!  I feel like I am behind on everything except school, which is taking up most of my time.  I am going to do a weekly wrap-up post today.  (I am.  I am.  I really really am.)  I think we had a couple of birthdays I neglected to post about, and some other fun things we have done lately.  I am planning to do these in separate posts, so I may end up posting a bunch today.  Or not.  Because I seem to be all about inconsistency regarding the blog lately. 

In the meantime, a couple of really sweet pics of my oldest and my niece.  These two girls are a year and three days apart.  From the time I heard about my niece being on the way, I pictured giggling and sleepovers.  Since we don't live in the same city, that hasn't happened as much as I pictured.  Well, at least the sleepovers haven't happened as much as I thought.  The giggling has. 

You can totally see the family resemblance, right?  haha ;)

And one more:

This one was from the camp they went to this summer.

Okay, working on a weekly wrap-up post now.  Or maybe I should call it a monthly wrap-up at this point.

Just some random stuff.

Pin It 1.  The little one said something funny the other night.  "Mama!  That is LOADED!!  You shoot the WALL, not the SISTER!"  This was after I picked up his Buzz Lightyear shooter thingie, aimed at the middle one, and shot her.  OOPS.  Who even knew he had a clue where the little disks were?  Things I never thought I'd hear my kids say ...

2.  The oldest and I watched American Ninja Warrior the other night.  Oh my heavens.  We loved it and were amazed (and a bit horrified, to be honest) through the whole thing.  I cannot believe we invested two hours into that show and NOT A ONE of them made it through the third course.  I don't usually get into shows like that but I hollered out "NOOOOO!" just like the oldest did when the last guy was SO close and didn't make it.  I can't imagine the strength it takes to do that.  Can't imagine.

3.  The house is back in order, mostly.  I still need to put the little one's books back on his shelf, although I was actually planning to just randomly scatter them through the house, because no matter how much effort we take to put them neatly on the shelf, within minutes they will be scattered randomly through the house.  Why not just save some effort. 

4.  Because I evidently have expensive taste, the kids don't have bedding to match their new pretty rooms yet.  In time ...  Their rooms look FABULOUS though!  I keep seeing the red wall in the little one's room out of the corner of my eye as I'm in the living room and it is continually taking me by surprise.  I love it though.  I had a huge "WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?" moment while the paint was going up, but after it was all dried, I love it.

5.  There will be a school report tomorrow.  Remember my last post said I was trying to be flexible?  Yeah, that.  For a preview of things to come, we're also changing some things up for the middle one.  Thankfully the little one seems to not need any changes at the moment.

6.  Is this the most boring post ever?

7.  We are all very excited today because the little one's lesson involves cupcakes.  We are all wishing we were still in kindergarten and thankful for a little boy who loves to share.  :)

The Flash / Muffin Story

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To develop the proper appreciation for the story, you need a picture of the dog in your head.  This is not the actual dog.

Troy fell in love with English bulldogs.  He was in high school at the time, which means I had to be in college.  I'm not sure if it was the Baylor days or the Sam Houston State days ... probably both??  Oh wait ... it had to have been a little later than that now that I think about it.  So yeah, definitely SHSU days (for me) which means he was out of high school.  Well ... 20-ish years ago, anyway.

So ... the parents got him an English bulldog. 

(pause for a moment ... did *I* ever get an English bulldog??  Nooooo ....

.... not that I actually wanted one.  Just had to take this sisterly opportunity to complain.)

She really was a cute dog.  Tongue hanging out, ran kind of at an angle, like her back legs ran faster than her front legs, did the head tilt ...

In typical short round dog fashion, she did not move very quickly unless there was a lawnmower around, in which case that dog could BOLT.  TO the lawnmower.  So evidently not the sharpest knife in the drawer ... but I digress.

So ... Troy named the dog Flash.  We're all great fans of the sarcasm, so that was probably a really good name for her. 

BUT ... I was a big sister.  Getting along peacefully?  Um, no.  Needling and annoying?  Yes, please.

So ... *I* named the dog Muffin.  Which annoyed the SNOT out of Troy.  Which meant I had to RUN. WITH. IT.  Which meant, not only did I call the dog Muffin, so did all of my friends.  I made a collar for the dog with Muffin on it.  I bought him a stuffed dog and put Muffin on the collar.  I was generally as much of a pain in the butt as you can ever picture any sister being.  Ever.  And, bless his heart, I think he got really mad every single time I referred to the dog as Muffin.  Which is exactly why I kept doing it.

You want to know the really funny thing though?  I remember Troy coming here for a visit several years ago and we were talking about the dog.  Generally now I refer to that dog as Flash/Muffin.  HE ACTUALLY REFERRED TO HER AS MUFFIN.  Then he gave me that smart-aleky face that brothers always reserve for sisters.

This is the actual Flash/Muffin with Troy.

So that's the Flash/Muffin story.  And the story of how I was a rather obnoxious sister.

The Oldest Cracks Me Up

Pin It We're still in the midst of the busiest couple of weeks of the year, so there will likely not be a whole lot of blogging going on, but I had to write this down before I forget.

Saturday we worked all day at a garage sale fundraiser.  My niece was here and I dragged the girls out of the house at 6:30 by luring them with Starbucks and they seriously did WORK at the garage sale.

We finally got home and there was a dog beside our house.  They were all convinced that it was the neighbor's dog, and the neighbor's dog is never loose!  I told the oldest to see if she could catch the dog and take it over there.  She did, and then went next door and came back saying the neighbors weren't home.  I told her that if she was CERTAIN it was their dog, to put her in our dog's crate and go put a note on their door to let them know that we had the dog.

Here's her note:

Hi!  We have your dog.  Either that or we have stolen somebody's dog that happens to look like yours.
~ The Neighbor Children

The neighbor had been out looking for her dog, so she saw the note pretty quickly and came to get it.  (It actually seems to be a sweet little dog, and I take back most of the bad things I've said about it.  I guess it can't help it if it has the yapper gene.)

Anyway ... the note just cracked me up ... my child the dog thief.

Giggles ...

I Read Something Fabulous

Pin It I read a BUNCH of blogs.  Seriously a bunch.  Some people read news, or magazines, or such ... I read blogs.  I figure if something is going on in the news that I need to know, somebody will blog about it.  That's worked pretty well so far.  ;)

Yesterday, I was flipping through blogs in my reader and came across this:

"I'm Never Inviting You to MY House!"

How awesome is that?  I have been kind of thinking of that lately as I was talking with a friend about dropping our masks and being REAL with each other, and remembering a fabulous Sunday school teacher from a few years ago trying to get us to realize the same thing.  What can I say?  I'm apparently a slow learner who needs the same message delivered in many different forms before it sinks in.

My kids have asked me before when I've gone on a mad cleaning spree "Who's coming over, Mom?"  Yikes. 

Think maybe I'll give myself permission to just accept myself and my house as they are?  Probably not.  Maybe I WILL relax a bit though.  :) 

I can tell you with reasonable certainty that I will likely NOT vacuum though.  I hate vacuuming and don't do it.  (Thank you Jim.) 

So local friends?  Come on over and see my lived in house.  Not so local friends?  You come too.  :)  But let's all give Jim time to vacuum first.

(See ... slow learner.)  ;)

Busy Busy Terribly Busy

Pin It I was going to look for the Busy Song from Veggie Tales and post it as a video here and decided that y'all probably didn't want that song in your head all day long, so I didn't.  You're welcome.  :)

(Although I DO realize that most of you saw the title and the song started going through your head anyway.  hehe.)

I have lots to blog about.  End of the year co-op open houses, field trips, more t-ball, graduations, recitals, and concerts, but unfortunately, because of the above-mentioned list, I haven't had time to do a bit of it.

I'll be back to regularly scheduled blogging soon.  In the meantime, we're going on a field trip!  And then going to graduation, possibly TWO graduations if I can fit it in! 

Random Observations from the Middle One

Pin It I'm starting this off giggling just thinking that it's redundant to use the words RANDOM and MIDDLE ONE in the same sentence!

Anyway ...

We went to the store tonight, just the two of us, because the oldest one guilted me into going and the little one was already in bed. Seems I forgot that the little one has an Easter hat parade tomorrow and is supposed to wear his hat for this parade. This would be the handmade hat that he doesn't actually have. Oops. Probably would have been nice to have thought of that BEFORE 8:30 pm the night before, but hey, I'm really just happy dancing that I remembered it at all.

So, he's half asleep and the oldest is making his hat. We started with what I can only call a dunce cap, then moved on to an aluminum casserole dish. We found this really cute craft online that was made out of a paper plate. Well, we don't have any paper plates so I was *trying* to go with what was available. Apparently, in the eyes of my oldest, not going to the store was akin to child abuse. Then I tried a bucket. Then I realized that he really did look kind of ridiculous, and agreed to go to the store.

Because some of my kids don't always mix well without much supervision, I took the middle one with me.

The middle one? She can talk incessantly. (And see how I've gone on and on and haven't even gotten close to the point yet? I can't imagine where she got that talking incessantly thing. The point is coming, I promise.) The middle one has no secrets because every thought that goes into her head comes out her mouth. (The oldest would probably do well to learn this ... I'm just sayin' ... ) Want an update of life in our house? Just ask the middle one, but get ready because not only will you hear about what we've got going on, you'll hear about everything else in her life. And I do mean everything.

So we're in the car going to the store and she's telling me about who she's going to marry. Apparently there are several people in the running, and she likes it that way. And apparently she has given this a lot of thought. I asked her how on earth she was going to choose between all of these fine young men and she said "well, whichever one proposes first is the one I will choose." And I said "um ... okay ... we should probably talk about that" (not to mention the fact that she's actually devoting thoughts to this topic at all!) She replied that there might be several of them that propose, so maybe they should offer kittens with their proposal, and she could choose the one who offered the cutest kitten. Then she wanted to know if it would be wrong to keep all of the kittens.

So. Kittens. There ya go. I love that child.

(Oh and pics of the hat might be a Wordless Wednesday post.) :D

Hey, I'm a Belieber Now!

Pin It Oh yes I did go there on the title of this post. I kind of can't believe it myself! :-P

This past weekend, the middle one and I went on a mother/daughter date. I did this with my oldest when she was nine, and it was the middle one's turn. It was fun to get away with just her; she's the middle one, so it doesn't happen a whole lot that I get alone time with her. We went out of town overnight and had a great time. As I said yesterday, we did a lot of shopping, ate some fabulous food, went swimming, she dragged me into the exercise room, and did some talking. This child is SO cute. Now she knows what the vending machines in women's bathrooms are for. Apparently she always wanted to know that. So cute.

The mall had a movie theater, and we had a couple of hours to kill. I had decided that if the movie happened to be starting within a few minutes of us walking by the theater, we'd go see the Justin Bieber movie, Never Say Never. I knew she had been wanting to see it, and I knew how delighted she would be to be able to come home and tell the oldest all about it. That's the thing with middle ones - it's very rare for them to be able to do things first. Of course I didn't tell her that it was possible that we would see the movie. Well, we walked by the theater at 3:15. Movie started at 3:20. Alrighty then.

At 3:20 on a Friday, I figured we'd have the theater pretty much to ourselves, and we did. My plan was to break the rules and play "Words With Friends" on my phone for as long as a) people played me back and b) my battery held out. That didn't happen, and not only because my child kept saying "MOM!! Did you not SEE and HEAR the PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE so that you don't disturb other people sign?"

But then it was okay, because I kind of got into the movie. It was sweet; home movies of a mom devoted to her really cute and sweet little boy. He kind of had me from the beginning, when an obviously very talented 4-5 year old was playing the drums and his mom asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Expected answer: rock star. Actual answer: "I want to be a crossing guard!" Very cute!

I am still surprised that I enjoyed it. From watching him interact with his family and friends, to seeing the behind the scenes concert stuff, to watching the people who promote him show that they really care about him, to just seeing him - from having a bit of a petulant tantrum to being (what appeared to be) genuinely caring about his fans, I left there with a new appreciation for him and his music.

I suspect that part of the intent of the movie was not so much to entertain kids who are already Justin Bieber fans, but the parents who are forced ... guilted into ... chosen ... to take their children to see it. It worked. Oh, and having a very excited movie date singing along next to me certainly didn't hurt!

I Love Shaun Groves.

Pin It I love Shaun Groves. I do. From the first time I heard "Welcome Home" I've been a fan. I've followed his Compassion International blogging trips and I'm incredibly excited about his next CD, "Third World Symphony". His blogging is a constant challenge to me, and then sometimes just plain makes me laugh. I just love him.

This though.

I am DYING. Perhaps it's because I didn't get enough sleep last night every night last week. Or perhaps it's because my stress level is a wee bit high right now. Or perhaps it's just because I am in need of a giggle.

I laughed so hard over this that I cried. I'm STILL laughing. And I want you to have a giggle too, so I'm sharing it with you!

Click over to Shaun Groves's blog and read this entry: Love You Forever. Lock the Windows.

What I really want to know is how my daughter-in-law is going to react when I do that. I mean, um ...

Make a {TOTALLY RANDOM} List

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1. I probably do not want to know how toothpaste got on the ceiling in the kids' bathroom. And, if anyone knows where the lid to their toothpaste is, please fill me in.

2. The boy is now named Super Boy due to the half bottle of vitamins he ate the other night. Thankfully there is no iron in them, so it wasn't the medical emergency I feared when I saw the mostly empty bottle. The good news? It took care of the remnants of his leftover flu cough. And he can leap from couch to loveseat in a single bound. Oh wait, he could already do that.

3. Dental appointments are mostly scratched off of the to-do list until August. One child has some more work to do, but the appointments are scheduled and plans are made, so that counts for scratching it off the list, right?

4. This is the first time we've ever had dental insurance and it was NICE to see "total charges" of this awful amount and "your portion" as a much more reasonable number, as opposed to the usual pattern of those numbers being the same.

5. Grammy is coming tonight. I am really looking forward to seeing her, and I'm also excited about having everyone pitch in to get the house clean. Nothing quite like a houseguest to motivate some cleaning!

6. Not going to elaborate here, but I saw a number this morning that I haven't seen in over ten years.

7. I bought a group coupon purchase from eversave.com that saved me I think $30 at shoebuy.com. I used that plus another coupon code and got these shoes, which I think I may never take off. Favorite shoes ever. Need them in more colors!

8. I am limiting myself to three of my Candinas Chocolates per day. This means they will all be gone on Saturday. I am very sad about that.

9. For the first time ever, I have read the story of Cleopatra. Fascinating stuff! Who would ever have imagined that I would enjoy something like that?

10. In the time it took me to write this post, I could have gotten that toothpaste off the bathroom ceiling. Or folded some clothes or swept a floor or something. I should probably close this and get to those things.

**Don't forget to scroll down a post and enter my CSN Stores giveaway! $35 in FREE MONEY!**

My Kids Are So Weird.

Pin It They have had me laughing lately.

The oldest - her sister walked off, leaving the refrigerator door open.  Oldest says "Leaving the door open is the worst mistake anybody can make becaaaaaaaauuuuuse .....???"  Silence.  Then she says "HEY, someone is supposed to finish the quote!"  More silence.  Then she hollers out "It could let in a GIRAFFE!!"

Um, hon?  That would be DRAFT.  Not giraffe.  So now I've been teasing her about letting giraffes in the house when she leaves the door open.

(And yes, I told her that was blog fodder and she's reasonably okay with that.)

The middle one - she and I are going on a mother-daughter date in a couple of weeks.  I did this with the oldest and I'm looking forward to it with the middle one.  I told her that it was a two hour drive from here to where we're going and she said she would bring her DSi in the car.  Then she said "oh wait.  I'll bet you want to talk to me about puberty in the car, so maybe I shouldn't bring it."

I nearly fell over from laughing.

(And yep, she knows I'm posting this too.  She may be less delighted with me posting this story when we're actually on our trip and she finds out what puberty actually means!  haha!)

And then there's the little one.  All five year olds are a riot by nature of being five.  Jim has this plaque thingie he's making to hold his coins that he has from military things.  The little one thinks these are very cool.  Sunday night he was looking at them wistfully and said to Jim, "Someday when you're dead, can I have one of those?"  Completely innocent.  I laughed so hard I cried.

It also cracks me up when he asks which foot his shoe goes on.  I'll tell him, he'll put that shoe on, then will ask me which foot his other shoe goes on.  Ummm ... thinking maybe you could figure that one out on your own, kiddo!  :-P

* hey - don't forget to scroll down one post and enter my giveaway for Ann Voskamp's book!  One Thousand Gifts!  *

This Horrible Weather

Pin It I know you northern people think y'all have it bad with your weather.

Just thought I'd share how awful it is here. 



Isn't that hilarious?  I saw it on another blog.  It really does crack me up that the entire town shuts down here.  I mean, I know ICE is a big deal.  It's the preparation for potential ice that has me giggling.

(As I say that ... it's been raining and it's 31 degrees.  I tackled a lady at the grocery store earlier for a loaf of bread and stocked up on firewood and hot chocolate.  Of course I used this as an excuse to make chili.  Again.  I'm not immune to the craziness.  Neither are my kids.  They've been going from window to window just in case a flurry of snow should fall.  They certainly wouldn't want to miss that!  I'm also QUITE glad that there is no reason for me to leave the house tomorrow!)

Go ahead you northerners.  Laugh at us.  I don't blame you, and it's okay, we're laughing at ourselves too.

Wordless Wednesday -- Dear Jason

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Okay, we need to be clear from the very beginning that Wordless Wednesday + Melanie just isn't something that is going to happen.  Ever.  The very thought of posting a picture with no commentary ... well, it makes me shudder.  I am physically incapable.

That said, I'm breaking up with Jason.  I thought I would share the letter I'm sending.  (Yes, I'm breaking up via blog post.  Sad but true.  I guess this ranks as just a little bit better over breaking up with someone on facebook.)

Dear Jason,

We've had a great relationship.  We've spent a lot of time together.  Especially over the last couple of months.  I had even considered having my mail forwarded to your Deli, as I seemed to be eating there more frequently than at home.  Your chili?  It's delightful.  I have awakened several mornings thinking about it and planning my day so that I could go visit you for lunch.  You never disappointed.  I guess I've been planning to cheat on you all along though.  First there was a packet of chili mix that I tried.  It was okay, but not quite what I was looking for.  Then there was the box.  It was a little bit better, but still didn't have that special touch that yours had.  There were a few "from scratch" recipes that I tried, and all were *close* but were missing something.  Finally though, I have found a new love.  A friend mentioned a recipe in THIS cookbook.  I have had this cookbook for over a year now and never noticed this little recipe in there.  I'm sorry, Jason.  I tried this recipe today.  Not only is it as good as yours, I think it's even a little better.  I customized it with some Rotel tomatoes and served it over brown rice and I just have to say - it is a little bit of heaven in a bowl.  It almost pains me to say that our visits are going to be much fewer now.  It isn't you.  It's me.  Fear not though -- I have not been able to buy or duplicate your fabulous red pepper hummus, and I get serious cravings for your black currant iced tea.  And sometimes a girl just wants a sandwich that she neither has to make nor clean up after.  I'll still visit the Deli every now and then.

I hope we can still be friends.
melanie

What do you think?  Too harsh?  ;)  (btw - I still totally LOVE Jason's Deli, but I am absolutely DELIGHTED to find the exact chili recipe I wanted!  Pioneer Woman Cooks for the win!)

Oh, and the PIC part of Wordless Wednesday:

YUM!!

Feeling ... crafty??

Pin It Something weird is happening to me.  Very very weird.

I don't know if it's Micah's influence, or possibly Meri's influence.  Probably some of both.  I see the fabulous things Micah makes and they're way out of my league and then I see the fabulous things Meri makes and they're way out of my league.  Micah sews, Meri knits, Melanie glues.  See the problem?  Every now and then though, one of them will post a link to a tutorial and I'll think "HEY!  Maybe *I* can do that!"  (You know ... the stuff that takes very few skills, and nothing involving the words SEW or KNIT, and oh, it can't have more than about four steps, either.)

It is entirely possible that I may be muttering under my breath at both of these women as I watch my utter lack of craftiness go to battle with this crazy desire to make something.

I do have a glue gun, and I have done enough recitals that I'm completely fluent in E-6000.  Safety pins?  I am good to go.  I'm pretty handy with tape too.  OH, and we MUST not forget staplers.  (Y'all have heard the story of the butterfly wings held on to a costume with staples, right?)  (In my defense, they were on a REALLY little girl and they were QUITE heavy.)  (Going to search for a picture.)  (Darn it, I KNOW I have a pic of those butterfly wings somewhere!) (FOUND IT!!)

Oh no, those wings did not come attached.  They are thick cardboard covered in feathers.  They had to be attached to the costume and secured so that they didn't come off on stage and take the costume with them!  She was five at the time, love the gap-toothed smile.  :)

  

I made some blog decorations over the past couple of days and had fun with that, but I am wanting something more.  I want to cut, glue, pin ... NOT SEW ... and hopefully complete a project.  Maybe that's the real desire - to FINISH something, because everything I do has to be done again, usually in just a couple of hours.  (ahem ... laundry anyone?  dishes?  how about cooking?)

Okay, so all that said, yesterday I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and started a project.  I'm debating on whether to post what I'm planning to make or not.  Posting it would give me some much needed accountability because it would force me at some point to post a picture of the finished project.  But then it is entirely possible that the finished project will not look exactly like I wanted it to, and my photoshop skills aren't so fabulous that I can take something that looks lopsided and awful and make it look fabulous.

So maybe I'm going to leave it as a surprise for a while.  In case a) I lose interest before it's finished.  (Entirely possible.)  or b) I complete it and decide it's terribly ugly and would be well suited for decorating the inside of the bathroom cabinet only (probably likely.)

But woohoo for at least feeling crafty!  (I think.)  (Ask me about that tomorrow.)  (Better yet, ask my FAMILY about that tomorrow.)

Randomness and Thinking Further

Pin It This has just been a weird week. Doesn't seem like Thursday for one thing. Girls finished their schoolwork by 11:00 for another thing. (Yes, it's VERY nice when every class has an easy day on the same day ... but so much less enjoyable when every class has a hard day on the same day!)

The weather forgot that we live in Texas and that we're all a big bunch of weenies when it comes to cold weather. 26 degrees should never happen here. I think that's in my contract somewhere. We had a nice toasty fire the other night until I realize that there is some kind of crazy magnetic attraction that five year old boys have with fires. Let's all be thankful that the night ended with no ER visits. In case anyone was wondering, in the case of little green army men versus fire, the fire wins. Every time. And melted little green army men smell bad. Every time.

(Helpful. That's what I am.)

I am attempting chili again tonight. I have had this unnatural obsession with chili lately. Enough so that I have pleaded with friends to make it for me and have started forwarding my mail to Jason's Deli again. I am now armed with a new recipe and will be trying it tonight. I will keep you posted. Let's hope I'm not disappointed. Again.

If you read this post ... well, all of these thoughts are still rolling around in my head.

I hope I didn't make it sound like I think it's a "one size fits all" type thing and that if you follow the path you believe the Lord is leading you down, life will be all sunshine and happiness. It's still life, still filled with the muck and mire of sin, both our own and the sins of others which affect us.

I do firmly believe that His grace is sufficient for our need, and that His grace is applied where our need is. I also think, though, that we can allow things to get in the way. Fear, doubt, disobedience, rejection, and running ahead of His will can cause His grace to appear insufficient, or not "work" like it should.

I'm still processing my thoughts here ... and can't seem to put them into words yet. I sense a part three coming up soon.

Not Me ... Tuesday?

Pin It Just so we're clear, it is not me who is making the girls do some schoolwork the week between Christmas and New Year's.  If some stories to that effect should surface, just know that they're all lies.  ALL LIES, okay.  Because I'd never make my kids take their vacation and do schoolwork.  Nope, not me.

And if I did happen to do that?  It wouldn't be because it was driving me crazy to finish the semester on an odd class number.  Nor would it be because I couldn't handle the sound of the TV blaring an inane (and probably inappropriate) show.  School vacations are supposed to be filled with laziness and TV and a general uselessness, right?  Glad that hasn't happened at our house this week.

We are not currently frying some cereal.  I know you're glad to know that.  I did not cram the microwave full of stuff I didn't want sitting on the counter ... like cereal and crackers and the like.  One of these cereal boxes did not get a little .. um .. suicidal and jumped right from the microwave into hot oil when the oldest opened the microwave.  Cereal did not go everywhere, as didn't hot oil, which didn't burn the oldest's arm.  (btw - if this HAD happened, I wouldn't be marveling that she's not screaming like ... ahem ... someone else recently did with a burn.)  (And if it was pointed out by said oldest that she wasn't screaming, I wouldn't pull out the tiny dots on the arm versus ENTIRE PALM to justify.)  Glad all that didn't happen.  And glad I don't have the *lovely* smell of fried cereal in my house.  Glad I'm not just looking at it thinking there is no way I can do a thing about it until it's not so hot.  And especially glad I don't have a humongous mess to clean up.

and btw ... don't think for a second that it didn't occur to me that if I could some how find a way to put it on a stick, I could very well have the next fair food craze.  Fried cereal on a stick.  Yum.  Unfortunately fried Captain Crunch smells pretty bad.  Or I assume it does.  I really wouldn't know.

And for the record, as we're easing back into Dave Ramsey "we need to have an emergency fund" mode, I didn't make a two week menu using all of the leftovers, and then leave the house to go out to lunch before going to the grocery store.  I'd never be all hypocritical like that.  Nope, not me.

So ... with all that said ... there seems to be a mess in my kitchen that is requiring some attention.  Sigh.