Goodbye 2006

It's been a crazy year!! After reading Inkling and Ang's blogs I started thinking about each month of the year and seeing if I could come up with something, but I actually couldn't. January has simply disappeared for some reason... who knows. In February D.K. turned 7 and Bee turned 3. March marked 12 wonderful years of life together for Smart Guy and myself and 34 years on the planet for him, and I traveled to Illinois to give Inkling the bridal shower that I had been longing for her to have for years with Aunt Silver Belle. In April I turned 32, we came to our soon to be new home for a weekend visit at the new church, and we started swimming every afternoon after school. In May we started packing to move, school ended, and we drove to Missouri for the beautiful wedding of Inkling and H.D. so all of us but Smart Guy could take part in her day (Honey maybe if you'd been nicer to her...), and I mourned the loss of my single friend. In June I began learning to celebrate the relationship with my newly married friend, and came to realize that we now have another thing in common. I no longer had to wonder if it hurt her inside when I talked about my wonderful hubby and what it's like to be a mom. This was also the month that we found out Ruby and Mr. Debonair would be parents to yet another baby.

June also brought one of the most life changing events of my life. As we were driving from Alabama to the Midwest on moving day I happened to be in the wrong 10 feet on space on the planet. I was driving north on I-65 doing 70 mph when a 23 year man fell asleep in the southbound lane and came across my lane in front of me. I t-boned him at 70 mph with no chance to slow down. We flipped thru the air at least two full flips, witnesses say it may have been more, but it happened too fast to tell, and then landed upside down. I have never known anger like I've had toward that fool. I have probably used every name in the book to refer to him. At that time and for a long while after, I wasn't sure when the time would come that I could say I had forgiven him. At this point, I still think what he did was so irresponsible, it could have been prevented, but my anger has changed. At this point, traveling on the interstate with my children is very difficult. The trip to Smart Guys parents a few days ago was the first time I'd gone further than an hour away with my children in the car since the wreck. I unfortunately forgot my xanax, so it was a rough trip, but I made it there and back without a nervous breakdown... that seems like an accomplishment to me.

July brought a time of physical healing, anger festering, feeling loved by the new friends around me, getting to spend a lot of time with my mom, and unpacking my new home as the pain allowed. August brought a new school year at a new school for the boys and a visit from Mountain Mom and Grizzley Dad. September brought Prophet's ninth birthday and disbelief that it had been nine years since my oldest child's birth. We celebrated his birthday with a big family celebration for Labor Day at Mom and Dad's house with all my cousins's and aunts and uncles. October brought costume ideas and a family reunion at our new home. It was crowded, but it was fun!! November brought another family time with Thanksgiving and a trip to Cincinatti for the Youth Specialties conference and a wonderful and amazing time of worship, renewal, and reflection. December brought Christmas and the Advent season. It also brought a cold and the stomach flu into the house. Yuck!! Bee was fun this year. She was much more aware of what was going on than in years past!!

All in all, it's been a good year... we now live in a big, beautiful home near my mom and dad... we work with a wonderful church... we're one more year closer to getting the hospital debt paid down... we all survived what could have been a horrible wreck... the boys are doing very well in their new school... and I've learned that while relationships change, that it's okay, and it sometimes makes them even stronger.

God's been good to us this year... sometimes thats been hard to see thru my anger, but he's always been there along side me... sometimes in the form of a friend saying goodbye... sometimes in the voice of a new friend by my hospital bedside at 2am in the morning... sometimes in the concern of my boys when they would carefully help me out of bed even though they themselves were still in slings... sometimes in the arms of my mom... sometimes in the laughter of my children... sometimes in the ringing of a phone call from Canada... sometimes in a worship song that suddenly popped into my head at the right time... sometimes in the encouragement of someone who barely knows me, but still thought to speak to me....

and sometimes in my blog family... non-bloggers don't get it. How could you possibly love a bunch of crazys whom you've never met? I'm not sure I myself get it yet!! It's wierd... you're all a part of my life. I talk about you like I've known most of you forever. I know my family thinks I'm nuts!! Sometimes I find myself refering to ya'll as simply "my friend" instead of "my blog friend" so people will not think it less of a friendship. Silly huh!!

Well, I'm being beckoned downstairs to eat our New Years brownie sundays with my family!! The kids are still going strong at 11:30 and actually so am I!! So, Happy New Year dear, sweet girlfriends, I love each of you and wish you all the best things in 2007!!

Velveeta

Okay now ,I've had some people trying to give Velveeta a bad rap!! Okay, so it's processed, yes, I know that, but it's so freakin' good. We only eat it about once a month, and even then it's just 2 cups of the shredded stuff split between an entire pot of soup, so it's not gonna kill us. When you're needing to melt cheese into something, it's definitely better than cheddar. For example, just this evening, Prophet wanted salsa with cheese melted in it... all we had was cheddar (because that's the main cheese we use I do admit). So, we sliced some up and melted it in a bowl of salsa. It looked great for about 20 seconds, and then... oooo gross... it got all goopey and nasty lookin' and the feel in your mouth was downright awful.... if any of you wise sages have any advice on how to prevent this problem and can honestly tell me that you've never had this problem, I solemly (sp.) swear to give up Velveeta in 2007!! Okay, thank you for listening, I've said my peace, I'll shut-up now!!

Hallelujah!!!

Well, next Tuesday when the check that we mailed is posted, we will have payed-off yet another large bill!! We are slowly but surely getting out of debt.

For those of you that don't know us personally, nine years ago when we had Prophet was the start of a big financial mess that is still being worked on!! Having a child in the NICU for 3 months and being sick, having surgery, and in the hospital myself for 2 weeks, brought on some pretty hefty bills!! Even after insurance our portion of the bills was 30 grand!! The total was over 300 grand!!!

The frustrating part about this is that I know someone who had no insurance for their child when something tragic happened to her, so she was under the state's healthcare, and they havn't had to pay a dime for any of her healthcare and she also recieves social security on top of that!! And here we are 9 1/2 years after the fact, a couple who had no debt before this happened, didn't even use credit cards, and we're still counting every penny every month and working our butts off to do it all on our own without help!! Seems so unfair!!

Anyway, enough with the pity party, we've managed to stay on top of things and are getting closer and closer all the time to seeing the light at the end of the "in debt" tunnel!! A couple more years and we should be out if nothing else happens!!!!

Anyway, I'm excited to finally have that one weight off our shoulders, now onto the next big bill!!!

Prayer Request

I have a pretty gruesome prayer request for everybody!! My in-laws have lived next door to the same people for a long time now!! Their son is around my SIL age, and him and his ex-girlfriend have a little girl named Zoe who is 8 years old. My boys and her have been friends for years now and love to get together to play when we're here. I think we'd been here about an hour on Wednesday when she called for them to come over and play. But, I digress.... Zoe's mom and dad were in the process of getting back together, but apparently her mom was with the other guy on Wednesday night. They were in his truck when he pushed her out, ran over her, and left her there. He then went back a short while later, pulled her into his truck, and took her to his mother's house and called the police to tell them she had fallen down the stairs. As soon as the police got there, they knew that she hadn't fallen down the stairs and went out to check his truck, which was full of blood. They immediately rushed her to the hospital. After they got her to the hospital, they actually had to return to where he hit her to get her scalp. There was an hour between the time she got to the hospital and the time they were able to begin reattatching her scalp. Her scalp was completely removed all the way across her forehead, around her ears, and around the back of her neck. During the surgery they had to take blood vessels from her legs to reattatch her scalp. There is presently blood flow to the scalp, so they are hopeful, but the next 72 hours will tell!! They do not know yet if there are any other injuries, they have been focusing on her head. They do not know yet if there is any brain damage. They are letting her wake up some to see if she has movement in her limbs.

Please, please, please pray for this family. Zoe is the one who is going to suffer the most from this horrible thing. They aren't really telling her everything yet, but are slowly trying to prepare her for what she'll see the first time she sees her.
How exactly does one go about explaining to an eight year old little girl that a man tried to kill her mommy? I can't even imagine the heartache!!

Ang, I am even more amazed at your courage and strength and have been thinking of you alot since yesterday!! You're an amazing woman!! I know you know what this feels like and know more specific how to pray for this situation!!

I love you guys!! Have a good one!!

Interesting Fact

Did you know that during the making of the new movie "Charlotte's Web", they used 40 piglets? Apparently piglets grow so fast that they had to keep getting new ones to play the part of Wilbur.

Thank Goodness for Technology

We left for Mountain Mom and Grizzley Dad's house yesterday around 9:00. While we were on the road, Smart Guy used the cell phone to call our home voicemail to see if anyone had called. We had two messages... one from the clinic about next week's "tube down the throat" thing and another one from the people who interviewed me for that job last week that I never told you guys about. They wanted to meet with me at 9:00 this morning and wanted me to call back to confirm the time with them. I called them back to tell them we were out of town and I wouldn't be able to be there. Fortunately this job is at our church so they were okay with it. They told me what they wanted over the phone. They wanted to tell me that I got the job with a minor change to the original job description. Instead of two people doing the job at 20 hours a week, they added 5 hours to the total, making it 45 hours, and are now splitting it 3 ways at 15 hours a week for each.

So you ask, "Grace could you please share what this job is with us?" Well, I am now one of our church's part-time custodians. I'm actually really excited about it!! It's incredibly flexible, all I have to do is email my intended schedule to my "supervisor" each week. I can take my kids with me if I need to. I'll be at work with Smart Guy in the same building. How great is that!!

It's really pretty cool how this all worked out... About a month ago, one of the church's part-time custodian's moved to Louisville because her new husband found a new job. When they moved, they put their house up for rent. We have friends at church who were wanting to move out of their parents house into their own, so the mom found a job so they could rent the house. Since she is now working, I am now watching Billy Boy 5 days every two weeks. So basically, because one person moved away I have ended up with two jobs because of their move to Louisville. Both jobs are flexible and enable me to be there for my family still. I know neither job is exactly glamorous, but it's what my family needs at this season in my life. Watching Billy Boy is wonderful for Bee and provides her with the playmate that the boys always had in each other, he's pretty easy to take care of, and I can drag both kids around if I need to do something. I've got plenty of time to find a "glamorous" job after everyone's grown up and gone.

So starting next week, I'll have 15 hours less free-time to blog!! EEEEK!! How horrible is that? I'll just have to be sure to make a scheduled time right before bed each night to sit down and read and type!! I definitely can't give it up now that I found all you guys!!

Blast You Blogger, Blast You

I have been unable to comment on anyone's blogs all day long, except of course my dear Smart Guy's and I just talk to him. So here's everyone's comments...

Ang... Maynard? Seriously Ang!! Prophet walked in while I was reading your post and said, "oooo, gross is that someone's stomach?" Okay, whatever Prophet!! :)

Farmwife... So glad to hear you and B.B. seem to be better. The noise, ah the noise, I'm very familiar with the noise... it's my life!!

Inkling... Yes, I agree that Larnell Harris does an amazing job with "Sweet, Little Jesus boy".

Lauren... I'm praying for your friend. My grandfather died of brain cancer six years ago this past September. I watched my mother watch her father disappear. It was horrible to watch.

Cate... I had to laugh when I saw the McDonald's coffee cup sitting next to the plate of wonderful looking home cooked food on Christmas morning!!

Sarah... I hate folding chairs. Our church has them in the worship area. Bee doesn't always want to be held during worship, so she wants to stand on them so she can see and gets upset with me when I won't let her. Oh well, she'll live... if I don't let her stand on one of those dumb chairs.

Temera... I love the picture of Thomas and Jonus, that's priceless. Only you could find the fun in smelly sewage!!

Our Christmas

My Christmas started around 11:30 on Christmas Eve as Santa Claus was putting Bee's baby doll swing out and realized that the elves had forgotten to pack batteries for it in his sleigh!! What's a Christmas present if one cannot play with it on Christmas morning? So Santa scoured the entire house for toys that used "C" batteries, found that most batteries used in children's toys in this house use "AA" batteries. Finally Santa managed to scrounge 3 "C" batteries from the boys' toys without waking any children or a Grannie and Pa sleeping in the same room (although Grannie and Pa's black lab Jessie did get up to greet the Jolly Elf!! Santa had successfully put all presents in the living room by 1:30 a.m., said goonight to Smart Guy and myself and was off to the next house.

The kids were told they could not get up before 7:30, and that if they got up, saw it was 7:30, but it was still dark outside, they had to wait until it was light out. Prophet was apparently awake half the night waiting for 7:30, because that's when he showed up at my side of the bed announcing the time. Unfortunate for him, it's still pretty much dark at 7:30 here in the Eastern time zone, and since it was rainy and yucky it was completely dark. I told him to go back to his room for awhile. I laid there feeling totally guilty for about 10 minutes, then I got up and went downstairs to light some candles and put on Amy Grant's Christmas music (the best ever recorded as far as I'm concerned). By this time, it was light, so we got the camera and everyone tromped downstairs.

Prophet was crazy excited about his new gameboy, not even noticing that his pile looked miniscule compared to the other two. He opened the other presents only because he needed a game to play and hoped there was one in one of the other packages.

D.K. was equally pleased with his Imaginext Mega T-rex. This thing is freaky. It's entire neck swings around, it's eyes light up, and it roars when you push a button on it's back. After all was opened, he brought down the rest of his Imaginext dinosaur collection, which now numbers in the teens and played with them all day, occasionally taking breaks to peak over Prophet's shoulder to watch his game in progress.

Bee has loved playing with her new talking baby doll and Graco baby swing. The swing is so cool. It looks like the real thing. It's metal with an open top and it runs on batteries. I want one!! My grandma was very impressed with her new baby too when she came over.

We made Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast this year. Usually we make a big breakfast, but we just had a big breakfast with everyone at Mom and Dad's on Saturday morning, we were having a big lunch, and I havn't been feeling great for two weeks now, so I opted for easy. We also had apples and bananas just so I could feel better about it.

We let the kids stay in the jammies all day. I didn't even comb their hair. Bee did eventually get dressed. She came down in a pink flowered turtleneck, pink shorts, and bright Santa Claus socks. It was great!!

Lunch went great. We had pork tenderloin cooked with carrots and onions, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Beef House rolls!! mmmmm yummy!! For dessert there was pumpkin, praline, cream chess pie, strawberry pretzel salad, and all kinds of goodies people had sent home from church!!

Mom and I played Mancala several times. I wish I could say I wooped her butt, but I think we were about equal. We usually sit and snack while we're playing, so right before we sat down to play, I opened a bag of shrimp that we had thawed and arranged them on a heart-shaped dish with a little bowl of cocktail sauce for everyone to eat. There was also an entire loaf, minus 3 slices or so of pumpkin bread sitting on the counter. While we were all occupied with other things, my precious little sister, also known as Jessie the neurotic black lab, went into the kitchen, propped her front feet up on the kitchen island and helped herself to an entire loaf of pumpkin bread and about 30 shrimp. We'd been careful with the food all day, because Jessie has always been bad about getting food off the counter. She loves butter and has been known to eat an entire stick. One Halloween, she ate all the boys candy, wrappers, sticks, chocolate, and all. We called the vet, they laughed and said she'd probably puke all the wrappers and sticks up, but she'd be fine. Milk chocolate is apparently fine for dogs, it's the dark and baker's stuff that dangerous. So, anyway, Jessie-girl was on our poop-list for the rest of the day... poor baby. The thing about Labs is that they're smart and they know when you're mad at them, she moped around for quite awhile.

All in all it was a good day. Fairly calm for the most part. We ate, we rested, we talked, we played, we just had fun being together. We were all up until 11:00 last night, even the kids, so we're all tired today, but I've got laundry and packing to get done because we leave for WV to go to Smart Guys parents tomorrow morning at 8:00. I don't know if I'll be able to post while we're there, it's gonna be crowded. There will be 6 adults, 6 kids, a dog, and a cat staying in a not so big house. Could be interesting. On Thursday we will have the family Christmas blow-out with the entire family. My father-in-law is one of ten kids so Smart Guy has cousins crawling out of the woodwork at family things. I can't wait, it's so much fun!! I'll post if I can, but don't hold your breath!!

See y'all later!! Have a wonderful week!!

It's All Fun and Games 'Til the Smart Guy Hits the Floor

Okay I have to admit, I've had some reservations about posting this so as to save my Smart Guy some possible humiliation, but in the end the evil, non-submissive little wife that lives in me is winning out, so here it is!! Yesterday morning, around 11:30, after presents were opened and breakfast was done, Smart Guy and I were upstairs in our room getting showers and getting dressed. We were jokin' around and I said something ornery to him while I was ironing my shirt. He came racing across the room to "kick" my butt... when he got to me, he lifted his leg up to get me, and... he fell flat on his butt!! It was absolutely hilarious! I havn't laughed that hard for awhile!! He didn't just fall over slowly, he went straight down with his feet in the air!! He just laid there for awhile laughing and moaning all at the same time making it even funnier!! Later when I went downstairs they said they couldn't figure out what all the noise and laughter was about!! I don't know what Mom thought we were doing up there, but she said she didn't come up because she figured if it was any of their business that we would tell her. Well, WE didn't tell her, but I sure did!! Poor Smart Guy!! I wish I could say I had some sympathy for him, but alas there was none to be found in my soul. He deserved to fall flat on his hubby bahooney!!

My Christmas Wish for the World

This is a classic song that's been redone many times since Amy Grant's original because of it's incredible Christmas message. I've been singing this to myself the entire Christmas season!! I hope everyone is having an amazing Christmas day. Please know that I love you all! I wish you and all your families love, laughter, hope, innocence, peace, and all the fun in the world!! With all my love, Grace

Update....

The baby is born and Mom and Dad will be headed here in about an hour and a half. I have to admit, I've had a couple of less than stellar doula daughter moments today imagining Mom not being here with us!! They'll probably be here shortly after we return from the Christmas Eve service at church!! We're gonna make pizzas and salad, cookies for Santa, read The Night Before Christmas, read The Christmas Story, hang stockings, and then go to bed.

When I just wrote "hang stockings", I just remembered that we can't find the kids' stockings this year, which just makes me sick to my stomach. The boys have had theirs for years and Bee's is the stocking that Inkling made to match her when we lived together in college. I know they're here somewhere, and if you could see our garage you'd understand why we can't find them. We're planning to completely gut the garage sometime early this spring, I'm sure we'll find them then. We have not bought anything to replace the lost ones for this year, so Smart Guy just ran over to Walmart which closes in 25 minutes to see what he can find to do the job this year. Hopefully they have some left at his late hour.

Well, Merry Christmas dear friends and family, I love you all!! I hope your Christmas is a blessed and safe one!!

Silent Night.... Louououd Morning

Prophet, D.K. (which according to Drama King now stands for Dinosaur Kid), and Bee are sooooo wired. Bee was pretty calm laying in bed with me until her big brothers informed her that it's Christmas Eve and Santa is coming tonight... Let the chaos begin.

We had a good time at Mom and Dad's house. Bowzer went with us, so we had 2 big dogs in the house along with all the Christmas stuff. My parents have a very neurotic black lab named Jessie!! She's the kind of dog that never, ever, ever stops moving unless she's sound asleep. You can't even give her a big hug, because she's always on the move. She's ten years old, you'd think she'd be more of a cuddler by now. She does sleep more than she used to, but man she can be crazy, but we love her. Prophet and her are buds. Most nights that we're there, she sleeps in his bed, and he loves it. The kids each got 4 of their presents from Mom and Dad. Mom stretched it out over the entire time we were there, giving them only one thing at a time. She actually hid a couple of them for them to find before they could open them. It was fun!!

I stayed up way too late last night (this morning actually) wrapping the kids' presents. They are all tucked away under a quilt in our closet. We don't put anything under the tree. In the morning when they walk into the living room, there will be a pile for each kid. One unwrapped present, which is the one thing they asked Santa Claus for, and then 4 more gifts around it. Prophet's pile will look so small because of what he asked for. D.K.'s is just right, and Bee's will look kinda big because her stuff is bigger, just like the boys' stuff was at her age. What's funny is that even though Prophet's pile is small, he actually has the top dollar amount by about 5 bucks... they get bigger and their toys get smaller (and cost more).

Well, the inevitable has happened. My mother called on her way to a birth at 8:30 this morning. That mom who was due on Jamuary 3 went into labor sometime after we left Mom and Dad's house at 5:00 last night. She was on her way to the hospital this morning and so was my mom. Maybe I really should have scheduled that C-section for Friday. Let's all pray that it's a quick and easy labor and delivery for this mom, partly for the mom, but mainly because I want my mom here tonight!

Smart Guy and I had a fight at 11:00 last night that all started over a stupid roll of tape. I couldn't tell you the last time we had a fight... it's been years. We do occasionally argue, but nothing nasty!! I guess I've grown to take it granted that we don't fight, because I feel really wierd this morning knowing I was nasty to him. Yes, I admit it was my doing. He ended up going to Walmart at 11:30 last night, after we apologized, to get tape, carpet cleaner, and pantyhose for church this morning (for me, not him :)) After he came home, we stayed up, cleaned the house together, and talked until almost 2:oo in the morning. I'm fried! Ya know, I hate that we had a fight, but we did apologize, get thru it, and moved on!!

Well, I must get everyone ready for church... I just had to post this morning.... I couldn't do it yesterday at Mom and Dad's or here when we got home because for some reason we were both having internet connection problems! I was having some serious issues yesterday afternoon when it was 3:00 and I hadn't been online for almost 24 hours, it was horrible.... well, actually it's was quite pittiful, but I know you all understand my pain!!

Dr.'s Orders

Well, I've recently returned from the Dr. She said to up the Prilosec to morning and night and to add Pepcid AC. And then in a few weeks, I get to have a tube with a camera on it shoved down my throat while I am (hopefully) sound asleep and oblivious to it all. While I've had the "other end" scoped several times, I've somehow escaped to top side. I know, I know, you're all envious of me, but some people are just more fortunate than others. Oh well, at least I get to be knocked out cold, that's always fun!!!!!!

We're on our way out the door to go to Mom and Dad's 'til tomorrow evening... if I have a chance I'll post some pictures!! 'Til then... parting is such sweet, sweet sorrow....

Dr. Appt.

Okay Inkling and Mom, I have a Dr. appt. at 2:15. Really bad timing seein'how the boys get out of school at 1:30 and I have Billy Boy today, but I have to take it, the next one available isn't until Jan.4. Pray for me please!

This Song is Amazing

Masterpiece by Sandi Patti

Before you had a name or opened up your eyes,
or anyone could recognize your face,
you were being formed, so delicate inside,
secluded in God's safe and hidden place

With your little tiny hands,
and your little tiny feet,
and little eyes that shimmer like a pearl.

He breathed in you a song,
and to make it all complete,
He brought his masterpiece into the world.

You are a masterpiece,
a new creation He has formed
and your as soft and fresh as
a snowy winter morn, and I'm so
glad that God has given you
to me, Little Lamb of God...
you are a masterpiece.

And now you're growin' up,
your life's a miracle,
everytime I look at you,
I stand in awe.

Because I see in you,
a reflection of me,
and you'll always be my
Little Lamb from God.

And as your life goes on each day,
How I pray that you will see,
Just how much your life has meant me.

You are a masterpiece,
a new creation He has formed,
and your as soft and fresh
as a snowy winter morn,
and I'm so glad the God
has given you to me.
Little Lamb of God,
you are a masterpiece.



This song was on the front of Ruby's shower invitation when she was pregnant with Missy Moo Moo 4 1/2 years ago. For a long time after the misscarriage I would stand in the shower and sing this with tears rolling down my face... I know, way to torture myself huh!

A Crazy Day, But It's Okay

As soon as the boys left for school this morning, I jumped into the shower so I could take Bee to school and then head to Walmart to get stocking stuff and to buy the stuff for the kids' teachers' presents. While at Walmart I discovered they were completely out of Pillsbury gingerbread cookie dough so I freaked a little, because Drama King volunteered me to make gingerbread cookies for his class "Winter Holiday" breakfast tomorrow morning and unlike Farmwife I had no intentions of making them from scratch. I ran home to prepare the gifts for Bee's teachers during the hour I had left before I had to pick her up. I made each of her teachers and the director, a gift bag with lunch in it, containing a ziploc bowl with screw-on lid full of chili, 2 pieces of cornbread, 2 turtle cookies, a ziploc baggie of cheddar cheese, 2 napkins, and a plastic spoon. I did all this... cookies, cornbread, and chili... in one hour. Really stupid, huh! But I got it done!! Then I picked Bee up from school, went home, rewet my hair and actually did it right, put on some makeup, ironed some clothes, put them on, somehow managed to find two shoes that matched and looked somewhat better than my typical Merrill clogs, and then after calling Inkling to tell her I was leaving for my job interview and telling her to hit the floor (in prayer not because I was holding her up) left for a job interview (did I fail to mention that, sorry). Came home from that around 2:00, Inkling called about then to see how the interview had gone. Tried to clean up this mountainous heap of a mess that I call home for awhile and then left aroun 3:00 to go pick up the boys. Went straight to Target with all three kids to look for gingerbread cookie dough there. I found it within 45 seconds of walking into the store, they actually had a bunch of it in one of those coolers with the sliding doors at the ends of the cash registers where there's usually pop (soda). They were 2 for 5 bucks. Sold, grabbed two, went straight into the empty line right next to the cooler and was out the door in literally 3 minutes from entry. Ain't life grand!! I was so excited that I forgot to go look and see if they had any Christmas plates left (Walmart only had poinsettas, not exactly 2nd grade party material). From Target we went straight to the church, picked up Smart Guy, who took over the driving, went home to swallow 4 teaspoons of Gaviscon, put the gingerbread in the fridge and grab the O'Charley's gift card we had recieved earlier today from friends at church, ran back out the door and went to eat at O'Charleys. I had Chicken O'tenders, smashed potatoes, a salad with their wonderful ranch dressing, shared 1/2 with my veggie loving Bee, and their wonderful rolls. I only ate half of it, the boys ate the rest of my potatoes and I brought the rest of the chicken home for lunch tomorrow. The kids all got balloons on the way out of O'Charleys and you'd have thought they'd been handed gold. We had to stop at the Party Store for the plates I had forgotten earlier. Got 20 of them for $1.59 on sale!! Yeah!! We stopped by the church so I could help Smart Guy hang up the FATHEAD he had ordered for the youth room walls. When we got back in the van, Prophet's balloon made a break for Heaven. Being nine years old he handled it well, but Drama King still popped his when they got home so it would be fair. Actually I think it was partly just a good excuse to make a really loud noise. We came home, I made a ton of little tiny gingerbread men with Bee taking all the scraps and making a huge mound of dough, iced them, (even though I told Inkling I wasn't going to) and now they are drying on the kitchen counter so I can put them in a container in the morning and send them to school with Drama King. I then came upstairs, read Bee a book, prayed with her, her daddy tucked her in and now I am so sleepy that I have actually been rambling all this to ya'll for the last 15 minutes. I actually typically love days like today, but feeling like this has completely worn me out. I'm calling my Crohn's dr. tomorrow, I'm afraid at this point that maybe I've got some inflamation in there somewhere that's making me feel this way, and not just good old fashioned heartburn. I did get to talk to Inkling today and Cleanin' Cuz '75 while I was making the cookies.

We leave for Mom and Dad's tomorrow afternoon after Billy Boy is picked up. We'll be there until Saturday evening. We'll come home, hopefully clean this house and then they'll come over on Christmas Eve and be here until Christmas evening. If it was just my parents coming, I wouldn't worry so much about the house, Mom knows how I've been feeling, but my grandma is coming too, so it HAS GOT TO BE CLEAN!! She's only been here one other time, and well you just have to know my grandma to understand. She's one of those people from that generation that just keeps going a thousand miles an hour no matter what and her house has never been messy a day in her life.

So anyway, goodnight sweet girlfriends, chat tomorrow, if I can find a spare moment!!

Another Redeeming Moment

We went to O'Charley's for dinner. Awesome place. They have the best chicken tenders anywhere!! Anyway, after we ate, all three kids got balloons. Prophet accidentally lost his into the heavens, so Drama King says "I'll pop mine when I get home since you lost yours, that way it's fair." Brotherly love!! It's a good thing!

My Call For Help

Dear Heavenly Father, Please help today to be a calmer, more patient, more productive, and tranquil day than yesterday.... even if it is 4 days before Christmas and my house is a mess and I still have to finish my shopping, and I still don't feel great!! Amen

I Will Not Be Left Out

Okay, so I'm copying everyone else.

Do not falter, little donkey,
There's a star ahead.
It will guide you, little donkey,
To a Grace.

Little Donkey
from the Christmas Song Generator.

Get your own song :

I thought this was hilarious!!

Suela the Doula

I've had a request for the link to my mom's website, so here it is!!

Mommy Meltdown

This afternoon at approximately 4pm eastern standard time, Prophet and Drama King were both sitting at the kitchen table asking for homework help, with no manners... Bee and Billy Boy were still not cleaning up the dining room after many, many requests to do so... Billy Boy had his first potty accident of the day...I'm still not feeling that great, the heartburn is still an issue... and then the stinkin' phone rings. I'm actually suprised I could hear it over the ruckus that was currently going on in my house. I looked at the caller ID with plans to ignore it, but it was Ruby, so I answered. I answered with something to the effect of "Hello, I'm having a mommy meltdown at the moment, the boys need me, the little ones need me , I don't feel good, and I wanna pull all my hair out, when I get it together and Billy Boy leaves, I'll call you back." She made sure I was not truly in the middle of a crises and then we got off the phone. So two minutes later, the phone rings again, and again I had no plans to answer it, but it was our lawyers office, so I answered. I had to go into the laundry room and shut the door to hear her. How stupid can they be to call someone with kids at 4:00 in the afternoon and expect to have a business-like phone call... ugh!! (Ruby you don't count as stupid, your my friend and don't mind listening to the chaos). So while I'm talking to her on the phone, Billy Boy's mom rings the door bell. I told the lawyers office lady to hang-on, ran to the door, grabbed the dog by the collar, opened the door, said "Hi, I'm talking to the lawyer about the wreck, can't get off right now, you can grab him and go, I'll call ya later." So I went back to the laundry room, (which by the way smells horribly right now and I cannot figure out for the life of me why) We finally get off the phone, I help the boys with their homework, finish cleaning up the mess from Bee and Billy Boy, call Inkling to ask the teacher part of her about something Prophet had brought home from school, called Ruby back, used the bathroom, and then said goodbye while Smart Guy and all three of my children walked out the door to head to the church to play video games for an hour or so in the youth room........ so now I take a deep breath and sit still with only my fingers moving in my COMPLETELY silent house. The only sound I here is the ice in my glass of water settling. I'm gonna get off of here and go take a hot bath and watch a DVD on the portable until they get home. Later Taters!! Hugs!!

I Finally Defeated the System

I'm on, I'm on, I'm on, I'm on!! Sound the trumpets it's a miracle. I had almost lost all hope that I was gonna get to my dashboard today. Blogger has apparently decided that it's time for everyone to switch to beta and it's got everything screwed up. I can get to everyone's blogs, but I can't comment. MISS CATE'S blog keeps telling me that I'm not a team member so I can't comment... odd since I just commented yesterday and we're linking to each other now!! UGH!! I couldn't comment to ANG at all yesterday and I so desprately wanted to!! Can I just pull my hair out now and get it over with!!!

I must introduce my newest link on my sidebar. Her name is Cate and I can't help but add the Miss Cate. Another southern thing that will never go away is the habit of putting Miss in front of all female names, big or little. When I'm speaking to someone I consider a peer, it's not a problem, I don't do it, unless I'm speaking to my children about them, but Miss Cate has children my age and grandchildren the age of my children. She needs a proper title, so.... Miss Cate it is!! I love reading Miss Cate's blog and it's stories about her grandchildren, children, parents, digging up apple trees, baptisms, and birthday suits :)! So go check her out!!

How Could That Possibly "Bee" A Blessing?

After looking at the calendar I realized what today is. Today marks the fifth anniversary of the day I found out I had lost our baby. I just wasn't feeling right, so I called and went in. They did an ultrasound and found the baby, but no heartbeat. My world came to a screeching stop that day. I remember calling my mom and having to tell her. Mom and Dad were at our house within about six hours, pretty good since they lived five hours away at the time.

I remember sinking onto the kitchen floor in front of the stove crying, as I told Inkling. I remember trying to explain to a three-year-old Prophet that the baby he'd already named Rachael had died and gone to heaven. I remember yelling at the nurse to get me a pregnant teenage mom from the hallway so I could give her a piece of my married-for-nine-years-and-never-had-an-easy-pregnancy mind while they were trying for the tenth time to find a vein for an IV. (not my proudest moment) I remember putting away all my maternity clothes. I remember not talking to a single person other than Inkling and Ruby on the phone for days. I remember wanting my grandpa who had died the year before and knowing that he'd have been there in a heartbeat if he'd been alive. I remember cleaning 24/7 for 2 months. I remember going to bed only to wake up shortly after and not be able to go back to sleep. I remember being told by Inkling that Ruby and Mr. Debonair were expecting their first baby and not knowing how to sort out my emotions of grief, jealousy, and utter joy that they would finally experience parenthood. I remember immediately beginning the planning of her baby shower. I remember the first time I went back to church and left crying 10 minutes later. I remember the stupid things people said because instead of saying nothing and just loving on me they thought they had to say something. I remember the meals that were brought to us for two weeks or so. I remember the people from church who stopped by to check on me. I remember the sympathy cards. I remember my mom and dad being there for over a week. I remember playing Mancala with my mom at least 500 times while we sat and ate our traditional, Christmas shrimp ring that also included crabmeat that year. I remember making chocolate dipped pretzels with the boys for Santa that year. I remember that the boys got a stuffed crocodile and a play grill that talked that year for Christmas. I remember that planning that shower for Ruby was the beginning of my healing and ability to move on. I remember the women that came out of the woodwork to share their stories of loss with me. I remember thinking, "I'm not alone". I remember the feeling of being so loved in the middle of the most utter devastating moments of my life.

Wow, could that seriously have been five years ago? I sit here and cry as I post this... I havn't done that for years. I think the most stunning realization is that if that incredibly horrible thing hadn't happened to me, I would never have known my precious Bee. Six months after that, we were pregnant again. The entire pregnancy I was out of mind. After two premature births and then a loss, one can not help but be scared to death during the next pregnancy. It was actually when I had traveled to MO to do Ruby's baby shower with Inkling that I told everyone that I thought I was pregnant. I have said since I was ten years old that I wanted four kids. I have four in my heart. I have a small box of things from that baby. Ultrasoud pictures, sympathy cards, prescription bottles from the pain medication, and a bar of soap that was bought for the boys that year containing a plastic dino inside... the smell is a reminder... oddly enough not of the horribleness of it all, but of how surrounded by love I felt. I never thought at the time that anything "good" would ever come of that time, but now five years later I have a memory of a time when my mom and I bonded even more and I also have a blessing running around my house like a maniac as I type. Her name is Bee.

Bee's Protest... Mommy's Sad

When we moved to Alabama, Bee was only three months old. I was determined at that point that she would be girly as long as I was in control of the situation. There is a tradition for little girls in the south that I latched onto and never really let go of... the hair bow. Not just any hairbow. We're not talkin' about the terry-cloth covered bands with a measly ribbon attatched to it like you get at Walmart. We're talkin' big handmade bows that you can only buy at one of the boutiques that exist on every other corner in suburban Birmingham, AL. We actually started out with fairly small bows, her head was still fairly small then and I was new to the bow phenomenon being a midwesterner. It was not long though before I was buying bigger and bigger bows and actually taking her outfits into the boutiques to match them with a bow like a true Southerner (this is hard for me to admit). If you couldn't find a bow to match (which is pathetic because most of those places have at least 1/2 a wall's worth of bows to pick from), call the bowmaker and she'd make one for you... I know you're all rolling your eyes. It became a very serious situation... I was addicted.

When Bee was two and a half or so, I decided that with all my fun making her girly, I was going to make her vain. So, I stopped using the bows on a daily basis, only putting them in for Sundays. The problem was that it was too late. The damage had been done. She already had southern-belle blood running thru her veins. She was developing a southern twang and refused to leave the house without her bow. Since I was already feeling guilty about having 30 or so bows sitting in her drawer that weren't being used, I easily gave in and let her have them back. (this is desparately hard to admit).

So, basically since she was about 3 months old (she'll be 4 in Feb.), Bee has only had a total of about 10 days that she wasn't wearing a bow in her hair.... until 4 days ago. She has now decided that she no longer wants to wear her bows!! This actually makes me sad. As all of you that personally know us know, her bow has kinda become one of her trademarks. She looks unfinished without her bow on her head. I don't feel quite so guilty as I did when I didn't wear them on her for awhile last year. During the last 6 months while we've lived here in the midwest, we've slowly lost several of them and without a boutique on every corner to buy a new one every other week or so when they disappear, our collection has dwindled to about 15 bows now. One of the mom's at our present church gave her about 10 bows a few months back, and while she has worn them and I appreciate the thought, they aren't the "southern" style that I'm so fond of.

So apparently we're coming to the end of an era in Bee's littlegirl-hood. It's hard on this mama to watch her baby girl walk out the door without her girly-lookin' bow in her hair. So for all my slammin' the south and it's craziness, I thank you for your tradition of making little girls be little girls, it was nice while it lasted.

*by the way, just so you all know, if anyone questions me about this, I will absolutely deny that the south ever did anything I approved of.

My Mom... Suela the Doula

A doula...

• recognizes birth as a key life experience and as a fundamental rite of passage.
• understands the basic physiology and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.
• complements and works with the woman's partner and care provider.
• allows the partner to participate at his or her own comfort level rather than as a "labor authority."
• stays with the laboring woman throughout her entire labor.
• provides emotional, physical, and spiritual support

A doula is not...

• Your voice. She can, however, help you to find your voice.
• Medical personnel.
• Someone who tells you how to give birth. A doula supports you however you need.

Studies indicate that doulas can:

• decrease overall casarean rate by 50%
• decrease length of labor by 25%
• decrease the need for epidurals by 60%
• decrease the use of oxytocin (pitocin) by 40%
• help partners participate with confidence.
• decrease postpartum depression and anxiety level

*copied and pasted straight from my mom's website


My mom loves pregnant women. She is drawn to them like flies to butter in grandma's farmhouse. When I'm out with her and she sees a pregnant mom, it can be like keeping Bowzer off an unoccupied table full of food. She just loves them. She loves the power of the female body and mind and it's amazing abilities to cope during labor and delivery.

I have vague memories from years ago when my mom's cousin was pregnant. As a child it seemed that my mom was waiting anxiously for the phone call that would announce the arrival of the first signs of labor. Everytime the phone would ring, someone would yell, "Boil the water". (I have yet to actually figure that one out, there was never boiling water at the birth of any of my kids :)) Finally it came. It seems that Mom went off and came back after the baby was born. If I remember correctly this would have been my mom's first experience as an unofficial "doula".

The next time would be when I gave birth to my first child. I was in labor at 28 weeks with Prophet. There was something terribly wrong with me and even the doctors at Magee Women's Hospital (one of the best) couldn't figure it out. I was sick with something and it was causing me to have contractions that their strongest drugs wouldn't stop. My mom was with me around the clock, comforting me when I cried, laughing when I laughed, and telling me to shut up so she could sleep at 3 am when the magnesium sulfate they had given me for contractions was making me (and her) bounce off the walls (as much as someone who is bedbound can bounce anyway). She was there helping me get thru those contractions while I was still insisting on doing it without an epidural and still after the doctors made me get the epidural for fear that if an emergency occurred it would be easier to do a c-section. She continued to be there every waking moment after Prophet was born for the next almost 3 months until after he was home.

While she doesn't stay around one on one that long for her clients, for the last six years or so I've watched as my mom recieves card after card and note after note that contain pictures of newly born babies, toddlers from years past, and some with multiple children all after my mom was at their side thru the entire labor and birth process. They all contain words of praise and thanks for what she did for them in their pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Time after time, things like "you made it wonderful", "it wouldn't have turned out so great without you", and "thanks for everything" are repeated over and over.

This makes me proud!! She has a passion and she lives it!! What's even cooler to me, is that she was almost 50 when she became certified to persue her passion. Her years of dedication to raising her family were over and then she found her new passion. That showed me that I don't have to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life for another 15 years or so, I can focus on my family.

I've said for years, "Show me a doula, and show me a passion." Doula's are some of the most passionate people you'll ever meet. If you want to set my mother on fire you can say one of two things "Bush is the best thing to ever happen to America," and "Epidurals are the best thing to happen to women since Eve ate the fruit." Her reply to the first one is another post altogether and her reply to the second would probably be "Actually epidurals were the best thing to happen to the medical community, because a mom with an epidural is a much easier mom to deal with. She takes up less of the nurses and doctor's time and doesn't cause any uproar." She is passionate about educating women about pain in childbirth. Most of her clients hire her for the support of another woman during their labor and because many of them are desiring a natural childbirth, or as natural as one can be in a hospital setting.

She was there with me when Bee was born naturally and Smart Guy didn't make it in time. She was furious for me when the doctors didn't believe that I was truly in labor and about to deliver and even more furious as they put that stupid scalp monitor on Bee's little scalp as she was crowning. She was also by my side when she was born and she immediately fell in love with the little girl who would someday turn into the little fireball we know today. That was the most amazing labor and delivery of my three... it was epidural free and I had my own personal (and free) doula. I actually did it drug-free and was absolutely amazed at my body and mind's ability to do what it needed to do to give life to my litte girl. I was on a high for months afterwards. Most women think I'm crazy, but I'm serious, it was amazing!!

When we go to the farmer's market on Saturday mornings, we always run into at least 2 or 3 of her clients from the past. It's cool. They are always so excited to see her and show off their child or children to her. They love her for what she did for them. She's my mom!! I'm proud of what she does. It's not just any ordinary job. It's way more than a job. It's her life.

I have to admit, it does quite often get in my way. There were times when we lived far away that family plans were cancelled or altered because she had a mom due and couldn't travel 10 hours away. It drove me nuts!! Well, it still does sometimes. The thought that she could be called away from my kids on Christmas day for the mom she has due on January 3 makes me wanna personally schedule a c-section for this Friday to prevent any possibility that she would be called away from us. At least we live close enough now that she can travel the hour here and keep in contact with her moms that are due, and if there's a sign of labor she can judge from whether this is her first, third, or fifth whether she needs to leave immediately or just keep in contact. I've often said that her job is the biggest inconvenience in my life. It's true sometimes, but I'm still proud of her.

I'm proud that she's my mom. I'm proud of the things she has overcome. I'm proud of her different job. I'm proud that so many people call her to be a part of the most intimate times of their lives. Yah, sometimes I get a little annoyed at those women who have the nerve to go into labor when it's inconvenient for me, but at the end of the day (or the delivery) she still belongs to me!!

That picture up there is of my mom holding the baby of one of her moms. She loves what she does!!



*after reading this and crying her way thru it, Mom called me and told me something I didn't know... *Right after she had me, 32 years ago, she decided then she wanted to do something with pregnant moms and labor and delivery. At that time in her life I , and later my brother, were her priority*. Being a doula takes more time and schedule flexibility than most jobs. You have to be able to drop your entire life at any given moment to go to the side of a laboring mother. Sometimes that can be for a few hours and sometimes it can last a couple of days! I've seen my mom so sleepy she couldn't even walk straight after some of her longest births! There were times in the past when she would no sooner get home, rest a few hours, another mom would call and she was off again. It's not easy, but she does it!!

I'm Sooooooooooo Sleepy!!!!

Well, Smart Guy came home, cleaned the kitchen, picked up Bee's room (kinda) which was a mess from being gated upstairs with us sickos all day yesterday, and he's taken her to Walmart and back to the office for awhile. Naptime... here I come!!!

On the Mend

You know yesterday was a bad day, when I feel like I've accomplished something by taking a shower, and putting on clean clothes. I couldn't even stand-up long enough to take a shower yesterday. I don't think I've gone a full day without a shower since I was about ten years old, except maybe when I was in the hospital for two weeks after Prophet was born and had the bowel-resection. Even then, my mom brought in Bath and Body Works shower gel and lotion and my nurse (Rosanne) would give me a sponge bath.

Thankfully it doesn't seem to have hit either of the boys as hard. Drama King hasn't thrown-up since 2 am or so and Prophet hasn't since later yesterday afternoon.
I got bowls of jello for the three of this morning and 45 minutes later Prophet was asking when he could have breakfast. He wasn't very happy when I told him the jello was his breakfast. Drama King's not happy because his lunch is gonna be chicken-noodle-soup. He claims he doesn't like it... that's news to me.

So I have all three kids at home with me today. Thankfully we live in the times we do and I have the TV to keep them occupied. Although finding something acceptable for two 2nd graders to watch on a weekday morning can be interesting. I'm still tired and pathetic, but at least I got up the energy to "wash the stink off" as my mom has been known to say.

This has ruined the boys perfect attendance at school. In his three prior years of school, Prophet has never made it until December without many days already being gone. Because of his prematurity, whenever he gets sick with something that everyone else has, he gets sicker than everyone else and for longer. He'd end up losing weight because his coughing would lead to vomiting constantly. We've been thru many inhalers, used the nebulizers, and all. Thankfully last year he finally seems to be growing out of that stage. I hope this trend continues!!

Hopefully we're all gonna be able to get together with Brother and Mrs. Clean the day after Christmas since we weren't able to be together this weekend. Well, it's time to start washing all the blankets, sheets, towels, etc., and keep spraying the entire house with Lysol. Of course, Smart Guy still hasn't got this crap. If he does, I'll blow up the air mattress and put him in the closet until its gone!!

Let the Hurling Begin

At the moment we've got three people down. Prophet, myself, and now Drama King!! Drama King officialy joined us about 15 minutes ago. I have decided that tomorrow would be a good day to call my doctor and tell them to do a colonsocopy seeing how's my intestinal tract has got to be nearly empty!! I can not remember the last time a stomach virus hit us all this hard at once. Actually it was in February of 2001. The only reason I remember the date is because it was Drama King's birthday. I already had the Blue Clue's cake made with all it blue icing and about 300 meatballs waiting to cook in the fridge for meatball subs. All four of us came down with. Smart Guy took one of the boys and I took the other. It was awful. Thankfully so far Smart Guy is still okay. He says he gonna go sleep outside... I said if he's gonna get it, he's already been exposed.

Well, I'm gonna fall over if I sit here much longer. Love to everyone ( no hugs tonight, they're contagious) and goodnight.

Bucket Please

Well, now I've got a stomach bug, or should I say a stomach monster. Prophet has it too. Apparently that puking that Bee did a week ago was more than an upset tummy. I feel bad for Prophet because whenever he's been throwing up because of the flu, his reflux from being premature gets triggered for several weeks and he'll randomly throw-up. Poor guy, just like when he was a baby, he has a sneezing fit right after he gets sick. So now Smart Guy and Drama King have to get it over with before Christmas. I hope it's gone because my mom and dad won't be able to come over for Christmas if we're still sick. Her and Dad had it on Friday and Saturday, hence the reason we didn't go over this weekend for Christmas with Brother and Mrs. Clean. They're both doin' better now!!

On a happy note... Smart Guy brought a present home to me after church today. Last week I was talking with one of youth sponsors while we were cleaning up after the party on Sunday night and she saw me scrubbing out my little crock-pot without a removable crock. She told me I need to get one with a removable crock so I could put it in the dishwasher. I told her I'd had my mom's old one a one time, but about 6 years ago accidently melted the plastic coating around the wire and ruined it. As soon as I saw the package I knew that's what it was! It's one of the big oval ones with the different electonic buttons on the front of it. Cool! I'm so excited. Now when I actually feel like eating again I can make a roast in it... roast is much better in the crock-pot than in the oven, but the one I have now is way to small to cook for 5 of us.

Pray for me, my house is in it's usual weekend slump, but it's driving me crazier than usual. I made some Jell-o for Prophet and I and I actually had my head on the counter the entire time I stirred it. Unfortunately Sundays are not a good day for a Y.P.'s family to get sick, it's a very busy day for him. He did go shopping for chicken noodle soup, jello, crackers, and sprite though before he left. Bee is asleep on the couch for now. She was pathetically covered up with a flannel-lined plastic table cloth when I checked on her last... I don't even know why it's out let alone being used as a blanket on my three year old. I took it off and covered her with a real blanket. I hope she sleeps the rest of day! Well, I better go, the way my brain feels right now I could probably babble on forever.


*While I've been typing Drama King said to Prophet "If you don't go to school tomorrow who's gonna save Courtney at recess?" Prophet said "You can". Drama King replied, "Uh no I can't, I have my own duties, I have to save Taylor." My boys are always trying to protect the girls from the other boys that chase them at recess.

Here's My Great Family

That's Bee on the left, duh, Drama King in the middle, and Prophet on the right! This is one of the pictures we got while we were taking pictures for the Christmas cards.



Another Christmas card cast-off!! Open your eyes Drama King!!



This was at the Children's Advent Celebration at our church 2 weekends ago!! Prophet and I are making a wreath with a paper plate and paint!!



Smart Guy, Bee, and Prophet making Christmas cards for our local troops overseas.



We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and everyone got a yummy cupcake!



That's Bee, I need say no more!!



Self-portrait of Bee and Me!! Man, I look like my mom!!



That's Bowz with a Bee shoe on his side. Thought it would be a good way to see how big of a moose we share our home with!! That pictures shows what he does with most of his life.... sleep!!

Well, there we are!! Enjoy Inkling!! See, her hair's getting longer!!

Redeeming Moments

As a mom there are times when life is anything but calm and collected. There are moments of the day when it's just plain crazed around here. On weekday mornings from 8:00-8:15 is one of those especially crazy times. Shoes on, lunches packed, snacks in backpacks, hair combed, check for homework again, coats on, backpacks on, kisses for Mommy and out the door with Daddy. To make matters crazier, on the days that Billy Boy comes, that's when he walks thru the door, making it all the crazier. Most mornings I wake up praying that Bee will stay asleep thru it all, but she very seldom does, as the wall our shower is on in our bathroom is shared with her bedroom and there is no way to keep the noise out of her bedroom. She actually sleeps longer on those mornings when she has come to sleep on our floor sometime during the night. When she gets up everything comes to life. The boys can be fairly quiet if the occasion calls for it, but Bee hasn't got that figured out yet. If she comes in to wake us up at 4:30 AM because she wants something, she uses her regular voice, which at that time of the day sounds like a foghorn. She's got a very short fuse... tell her no and caboom... she starts screaming and you just wanna hand her to the first well-dressed person that walks by. Smart Guy is much more patient with her than I am... that's why God put us together... his fuse is much longer than mine is and we somehow balance each other out. Bee is famous for her crafting ventures in our house. They usually involve paper, lots of paper, lots of cut-up paper, and sometimes paint. She can make a perfectly clean space look as if Hurricane Katrina just came thru in a matter of minutes!! It's really quite impressive. We can put her to bed and she'll still be in her room awake 3 hours later. Why is it that at 5:30 in the afternoon you can't hardly get her to stay awake, but if you do, by 8:00 she's wide awake? Her version of cleaning her room is somewhat daunting. Pile it on the bed... works for her, not me. She hasn't quite figured out that she's supposed to put her shoes in the closet when she takes them off, so we're always looking for them, sometimes having to settle for a pair other than the intended because the intended is nowhere to be found. If I give her a pile of clean panties and tell her to put them in her panty drawer, I'll more than likely find them on the floor in the middle of her room next time I go in. Good golly!!

But I was just reminded of those "redeeming moments" when Smart Guy came up and said "you have to go look at your daughter." So I did!! She's sitting straight up on the couch with a big pillow over her body for a blanket and she's sound asleep, looking as sweet and innocent as the day she was born. Yah, she drives me bonkers sometimes, but I seriously can't imagine her any other way. She has spirit without a doubt! She also has this remarkable way of calling me "mama" in the sweetest little-girl voice ever. "I love you, Mama", just makes me melt. She's a cuddler, she loves to hug and kiss me. She loves to help me in the kitchen. She loves to make me pictures. She loves to write "mom" on my pictures by first writing the "o" and then putting an "m" on both sides. She's my baby and probably always will be because right now I don't plan on anymore kids, so she's a bit "tainted" as my dad would say. She gets away with way more than the boys ever did. I want to make sure I slow down and relish every second left of her little-girlhood. She'll start kindergarten in a year and a half and at that point they seem to grow-up even faster. Sometimes it she seems like she's been three years old forever, and other times it seems like I should still be waking up in the middle of the night to nurse her. Where has all that time gone?

Take a Bow

When I became a mom, I realized that using the bathroom without an audience was highly overrated!!

Very Cool!!

Why can't all kids music be this cool and this hip?

Bee is so funny, she knows that I like these videos, so whenever one of them comes on in between her shows on Disney she comes and gets me to watch it with her. My favorites are Jump, Jump on Choo Choo Soul and Catch that Train by Dan Zanes!!

Toothbrushes are Good For So Many Things

Ya know that commercial for that Dyson vacuum cleaner where the guy with the English accent say "other vacuums get hopelessly clogged"? Well, my vacuum does get clogged, but since I don't have the $400 to put out for a Dyson, I just have to deal with it. I don't even like to pay for a new filter for mine. I'm kinda cheap. Actually the main thing that clogs it up is baby powder. Now, you would think since that I would be out of the baby powder stage since Bee is almost four years old, but no!! She has an obsession with baby powder. She finds it wherever I put it and coats herself in it. I'm not sure how her lungs are still working properly. At nighttime if she's restless and not wanting to sleep, baby powder does the trick. I know it's wierd, but it works. Well, when she puts it on herself, I can always tell she's done it the second I walk up the steps to upstairs because I can smell it. My Hoover Widepath Foldaway with hepa filter and bagless canister sucks it up in a jiffy, BUT while some of the powder goes on into the cannister, much of it gets stuck in the hepa filter. Now that's what I call "hopelessly clogged". I was beginning to think I was gonna half to breakdown and buy a replacement filter, but after contemplating it, I decided to try to brush it out with an old toothbrush. It was rather dusty, but I got a bunch of it out and into the trash. I'm sure I probably just ended up sucking a bunch of it back up into the vacuum. It's working much better now and I have succesfully vacuumed up all the "snow" in Smart Guy and I's bedroom, which is where most of it was. Now on to the steps to clean up the blizzard there!!

It's Soapbox Time Again

So, here I sit at my own computer, in my own chair, in my own house. We didn't go to Mom and Dad's house for the night. Mom is sick and not feelin' up to havin' us there, even if I did feel like takin' my family in to be infected with her germies!! Smart Guy and the kids are havin' their weekly, traditional, Friday night campout in the living room while Mommy gets some time to herself upstairs. I worked on my Christmas cards for about 2 hours this evening. They now have the pictures attatched. As soon as I get the journaling part done and the envelopes addressed, we'll be in business. Next year when I decided to make my own cards, throw me some virtual reminders of how long it takes. Oh, well, I know it'll be worth it when they're all done.

It snowed in our house tonight. Actually it's been snowing in my upstairs for the last couple weeks. Bee's favorite pastime right now is using the hole punch to punch out zillions of little white dots. They are currently all over our bedroom floor and have been for about a week. I don't vacuum upstairs very often, the floor doesn't generally get that dirty up here, so there they still are. Well, Bee had left a small rubbermaid-type container of her precious dots on the side of the stairs, and when Drama King threw his pillow down the stairs for the campout, it hit the container and turned into the north pole. If it hadn't been for Bee's complete freak-out session over the entire ordeal it would actually have been funny. She was panicked because her precious dots were spilled. Of course, they weren't spilled on one step. They are on every step but the top three. They are everywhere. So, now they will be tracked downstairs also, so I suppose it's time to get the vacuum cleaner out and actually vacuum. I have nothing else planned for tomorrow, I was supposed to be shopping with my mom. Hmmmm.... shopping with Mom or vacuuming?

My heartburn still exsists. It's a little better after one pill this morning, so hopefully after the second one tomorrow morning it'll be even better. It really stinks cause everything makes it worse right now. I grabbed a very small gooey butter bar for a snack last night and was already sorry about two minutes later. It's crazy!!

Well, we watched the kids this morning for Jubilee. Mrs. Music and myself were all set for 15 kids and only two came. One of those was a psycho-possessed three year old whom we took back to his mother after 25 minutes. He was kicking and hitting and screaming like a little monster. I don't know how to deal with that, my kids can be rotten sometimes, but nothing like this kid. I have worked daycare, preschool, and as a nanny for years, and this little turd took the cake. Mrs. Music did way more talking than I did with him. In our house we don't parent our children as if they are equals, they aren't. If any of my children ever hit one of us, they would sit on their little bahooney's for a very long period of time, forget that whole 1 minute per year junk. At 3 1/2, children are capable of listening and obeying and getting the consequencenes (sp) if they don't. Even when Bee throws her fits, she's not physically mean and she doesn't scream at anyone in particular. I can't even explain this child. His mother said she was embarassed and that it was her fault for never leaving him anywhere before. Prophet had never been left at that age, and he would cry if I put him in the nursery at church, but he NEVER hit or kicked a grown-up. This is a really sour point with me, because when I was pregnant with Prophet I was working at a daycare center in the Atlanta, GA area. There was an angry child that kicked me square in the stomach. It took 18 months to get pregnant with that little guy and every teacher in the place knew it. That kids mother was called and he was outta there within an hour. I had no compassion for the kid after that. As a childcare worker, when you have a child that acts like that, it's very hard not to wonder what's going on at home. Usually, even if a child is a brat at home for their parents, they'll be little angels for other people when they're not at home. Okay, that my judgemental soapbox of the day... sorry if I've offended anyone!!

By the way, pray for Lauren as she sorts thru all this infant baptism stuff. Pray that she have wisdom to make a choice and have peace with whatever choice that is.
Parenting is hard enough without having to doubt the day to day decisions you make, let alone the ones that could have an eternal impact on our precious one's souls!!

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to bed I go... and I fully intend to sleep-in in the morning. Goodnight!!

I'll Just Suck It Up

One more thing before bed.... several nights ago, Bee was acting funny, like she was really sleepy and lethargic. She suddenly jumped up and ran for the bathroom... she didn't make it though, she hurled all over the living room carpet and Christmas tree skirt. Lovely I know!! Ten minutes later, she was standing in the kitchen and did it again. This time, WHILE she's puking on the floor, she's saying (in a voice that sounds like she's talking with a mouthful of pudding) "oopsy daisy". She never did act sick after the first time she tossed her cookies. She actually told me that if she threw-up again, she'd "suck it up", until she got to the toilet that time so I wouldn't have to clean up the floor again. I think her lunch must not have settled well that day, because no one else has gotten sick yet and it's been several days now. I hope no one gets it, I don't have time!!!

Woo Hoo

I only have one more thing to buy to finish off my shopping for the kids. I'm so excited. I had everything spread out all over our bedroom tonight so I could look at it all... the door was locked of course even though they were all sound asleep!! Now everything has been hidden in our closet and covered with blankets. While this may look obvious in a normal closet. Our closet is about 8 x 16 and already has a pile of stuff (boxes, blankets, and such) on one end, so I just added to it. I've actually been considering taking the light bulb out until Christmas, but Smart Guy says it would be too dark for him to get dressed in the morning!!

Last night and tonight I've been at church getting ready for our weekend Jubilee. Every year our church sponsors 20 families in the county and gives them their Christmas.... box of food, box of cleaning supplies, new toys for each child, new outfit for each child, diapers and wipes if needed, and then we also collect "gently used" clothes to put together a big used clothing room for each family to "shop" from for free. It takes a lot of work to coordinate this whole thing. Thankfully their are a few people in the church that consider this to be their yearly ministry. I just show up and they tell me what to do. We've been putting everything in the attic as the donations came in, so there have been a 100 trips up and down the stairs to the attic since last night!! Tomorrow morning the worship minister's wife and I are watching the children of all the people who are helping so they can get it all put together and done for Saturday. I won't be there Saturday, we're leaving for Mom and Dad's house around 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. While I feel a little guilty about this, it's the only time we're gonna be able to see Brother and Mrs. Clean during the holidays, so we're going.

Several years ago, a week and a half before Jubilee, everything that had been collected was stolen. Someone broke into the building and stole it all. That's one of the reasons it all goes up in the locked attic as it comes in now. Apparently the story goes that on Sunday morning the minister at the time announced what happened and by the end of the week, EVERYTHING had been replaced in time for the families to come. We truly are ministering with an amazing church.

Well, I've gotta get to bed. I've had heartburn for 3 days now. Ya know, the kind that makes you feel like your having major issues. Everything in my neck and chest hurts. The antacids I've had to take to make it livable aren't good for my Crohn's and they in turn make me sick to my stomach... I'm talkin' runnin' to the potty over and over and over sick. UGH!! I'm tired. I start a 14 day regimen of prilosec tomorrow morning with breakfast. That has worked for me before hopefully it will this time. Unfortunatly it takes 1 - 4 days to start working so please pray for me. I'm about to go crazy and I don't have time to do that right now... too much to do!! Love to you all and goodnight!!

Dangit Blogger

So I was doing my usual quick check first thing this morning. I run down all my links to check everyone's comments and such... usually takes about 5 or 6 minutes. Unfortunately, this morning I noticed that several of my comments from last night popped up as anonymous instead of Grace... I think I caught them all and recommented to let you know who they were!! So, while I was able to comment to everyone yesterday finally, not all of you know who they were from. Oh well!!

Keep all of our West Coast Friends in your prayers today. They have horrible storms moving in today. They'll probably lose power and such!! Temera, Ang, and Inkling, you're all in my prayers!

Did You Know That Plastic Melts in the Oven?

After I read SARAH'S POST earlier today, I was reminded of what happened to Ruby last Christmas morning. We don't usually talk until the day after Christmas, so we can spend our time with our families, but I got a phone call to relay this story.

Ruby makes sticky buns for her family every Christmas morning. Last Christmas Eve, she made them, covered them with plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge for the night. The next morning on Christmas, she got up and took them out of the fridge to let them warm up a little, while the oven warmed up. Her hubby, Mr. Debonair, went into the kitchen to do something, so Ruby asked him to throw the sticky buns into the oven. He did!! She checked on them several times and they didn't appear to be baking right. They were still shiny and not rising at all. They baked and baked and baked. Then one time she looked at them, she realized something. The plastic wrap she had used to cover them for the fridge was still on them. Mr. Debonair didn't take it off. He thought it was okay in the oven and by the time Ruby checked on them the first time, it had melted onto the buns and couldn't really be seen.

So, last Christmas they had no sticky buns thanks to a well meaning husbands attempt at helping his wife!! Ruby, use aluminum foil this year, babe!!

Question of the Week

Okay, so my mom went to the grocery store around 10:30 this morning and when she came home, she brought back some chicken fingers from the deli at Walmart. For anyone that has not had these, they are actually really good. Better than some big restaurant chains I've eaten at. Anyway, I was reading the back of the deli bag. They had the ingredients listed. Wheat was the very first ing. on the breading list. What I don't understand is that underneath the ingredients that had just listed wheat as an ing., they had an allergy allert panel stating that there was wheat in them. Pardon me if I'm being insensitive, but if you or your child has allergies to wheat and you see wheat in the ing. list, don't you assume that you should avoid that product? The craziest one I've seen... a peanut allergy warning on the back of the jar of peanut butter, come on. I'm allergic to peanuts (not deadly or anything) and I just roll my eyes at that one. Can anyone say, "duh". I can understand a warning if the product was made on a line with an allergen but doesn't contain that allergen, but why is it necessary to put allergy allerts for things that are very plainly listed in the ingredients list? Can anyone explain this to this apparently simple-minded Grace?

Talk About Bad Timing

Last night while my mom and I were in the midst of making dozens of Christmas cookies...... my Kitchenaid went dead. Why couldn't it have waited until after the holidays? Although it would never be a good time, I use it very regularly!! This is not good. I mixed a batch of cookies by hand for the first time in years last night. I was reminded how lazy I have apparently become because my arm was killing me after just a few minutes. At least my mom was there to help!!

Driving Me Nuts

Okay blogger is driving me crazy!! I've noticed a couple other people have posted about it.... the inability to get to someone's comments... to read or comment. If you click on the time posted instead of the "comments" you can at least read the comments but it won't let me comment. Lauren's, Inkling's, and Farmwife's were fine, but then no one after that would let me in!! Do you guys secretly not like me anymore and have me somehow blocked from being able to comment :)!! (no I'm really not that paranoid)

Then Don't Pick Your Nose

Last night we were sitting at the dinner table eating and having our usual conversation. Suddenly Prophet announces to us that Alice thinks he's gross. I of course start to do the motherly thing and feel sorry for him and jump to his defense, but I decided to be calm. I said, "So how do you know she thinks your gross?". He said, "Because she told me so.". I said, "So, what's her reason?". He said, "Well hello, I pick my nose, duh? Everyone does it.". He said this with the rottenest grin on his face while rolling his eyes.

Oh, brother!! Smart Guy and I laughed 'til we cried!!! Smart Guy said "That's goin' on your blog isn't it!!". I said, "Heck yah!!".

Magic Cookie Bars

Sarah from Mom Chronicles asked me what Magic Cookie Bars are, so here's the recipe!!

Melt one stick of butter and pour into bottom of 9 X 13 pan. Sprinkle 1-1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs over the butter (I buy the box of crumbs in the baking aisle at Walmart because they lose their magic if you have to crush them yourself). Pour a can of Sweetened Condensed Milk over the crumbs. Now sprinkle with whatever you want, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, pecans, coconut, chocolate covered toffee chips, or any combo that equals about 3 cups or so. Press down into the milk a little. Bake at 325 degrees (350 for metal pan) for about 25-30 minutes or so. Let cool, cut, indulge.

I make these every holiday or when the occasion calls. I always have the crumbs, milk, and butter, and usually at least a bag of chocolate chips, so I can always throw them together quick if I need to!!

I Can Only Pray That My Boys Turn Out Like Their Daddy

My Smart Guy is a wonderful dad. My boys start each day with a drive to school with Daddy. They talk as they sit in the carpool line. Each afternoon he comes home to have lunch with Bee and I. Bee throws herself at him for a hug and kiss when he leaves to go back to the office and he loves it. Many days after school, he picks up the boys, comes home, and spends time with us for awhile. Every month or so, he and the boys go to Chuck E. Cheese for a couple hours after school. He knows I hate the place and that the boys love it. On the evenings he has meetings at church, he comes home for dinner with us before returning to the church. We are not one of those youth pastor's families that are neglected. Much the opposite. We look at the ministry as a very flexible thing. Smart Guy can leave to go on field trips, eat lunch at school, and help with Bee if I have an app't at the school, doctor, or whatever. He just simply makes up the time at the office in the evening. We can be at the church with him while he works in the evening when we want to. He helps get dinner on the table. He helps get dinner off the table. He takes the dishes out of the dishwasher, which is one of my most hated chores. He even occasionally fills it back up. He puts on jammies, reads to, prays with, and tucks in. He laughs with us, rolls his eyes at us, and just in general puts up with all of our little quirks. He's a great man. He's a patient, calm, understanding, and loving daddy. I'm so thankful he's mine. I can only pray that my children look to him and follow his footsteps as they grow in the Lord and as their relationship with The One Who Loves Them Most changes from ours being bestowed upon them to one of their own design and choosing. We are truly blessed to be able to call him ours!! I love you so much precious man!! Thank you for all you do for us!!

I Must Apologize

Okay, Lauren has reminded me that she is not an actual southerner after my jab about what southerners call "pop". She apparently refers to the cold, fizzy beverages as "pop" just as I do.

The entire time we lived in Alabama I was made fun of for using the word "pop". Even more than your average person because I am a stinkin' youth pastor's wife who is around teens on a regular basis, and they are notorius for torturing people who do or say things different. Everytime I said the word "pop" they would say "read the can, it doesn't say pop, it says soda". Okay, so they're right on that one.

I remember when it first dawned on me in that they were really refering to "pop" in general as "coke". I mean, how wierd is that. Sometimes it's Sprite, Mountain Dew, A&W root beer, ALE 8-1 (Kentucky thing), 7-up, or even Pepsi!!

All in all it's amazing our children call it "pop". They just spent the last six years of their lives in regions where it was not called "pop", but their midwestern mother would never dream of letting them lose their heritage and stoop to such levels.

Now that I'm back in the midwest, I find myself hesitating before saying the word "pop" and waiting for the reaction that I've recieved for the last six years.
It's wonderful that everyone around uses the same word for the refreshing, carbonated stuff, it's just one more thing to remind me that I've come back home!!!

Menu for Last Night's Youth Christmas Party

..which I made entirely by myself, because my usual helpers were unavailable yesterday and I didn't realize it until to late to get someone else!!

1. veggie platter

2. mini corn dogs (love 'em)

3. pizza dip

4. mini garlic breadsticks to dip in the pizza dip

5. little sausages wrapped in bacon, poked with a toothpick, sprinkled with
with brown sugar, and baked... I burnt the crap out of these babies.
The church only has convection ovens, which bake faster, which I knew. I know things usually take a little less time in the convection oven, but these things cooked in half the time. I was walking around the building with the timer in my hand, when it went off, I went into the kitchen and smelled burnt sugar immediately. I must confess, I said a four letter word. (under my breath of course, so it didn't count)

6. teryaki meatballs

7. potato chips and doritos

8. nacho dip... cream cheese, breakfast sausage, and rotel... looks like barf...
tastes amazing... and nacho chips

9. scotcheroos

10. gooey butter bars... or in the south, chess bars

11. magic cookie bars

12. chocolate peanut butter chip cookies

13. pop.... that's the carbonated stuff in a bottle or can that some wierdos in
other parts of the country refer to as soda, or in the case of the Atlanta area..
Coke... even if your drinking Pepsi... southerners, geez:)! (just kidding Lauren)

14. Grandma's Christmas punch... simply cranberry juice and 7-up. It was guzzled! She made this every holiday I can remember as a kid...the smell makes me miss her!


Thankfully I had made all the sweet stuff on Friday and Saturday so that was done. We went to church for Sunday School at 9:30 yesterday morning, went home for lunch at 12:30. Went back to the church at 1:15 and didn't come home until 8:00 last night. Just about all of it was gone when we cleaned up. I think someone actually licked the pizza dip dish clean:)! Of course there were veggies left, but who can blame 'em with all that other stuff there. Oh, yah, even the burnt wienies were eaten. I couldn't believe it. They apparently like Louisiana style blackened food here. Some of the guys went back and got a pile of them after they finished the first batch on their plates... personally, I found them to be disgusting... yuck!!

Well, I've got a house to get clean from letting it go this weekend. Mom's coming over tomorrow for the day so we can do our Christmas baking. I love that we're close enough to do that now!!!

Weighed...Wade?

The second grade classes at the boys' school are working on the "life skill" of explaining to someone how to do something. Last year, Drama King wrestled on the local jr. wrestling team. It was a very interesting season to say the least. Since this was something he knew he could do, he chose to tell people how to wrestle. He was telling us in the car yesterday as we drove to church what his directions say. On the very first line, he wrote "First you take off all your clothes, except for your underwear and socks." I thought,"oh great this is gonna be good". Smart Guy said, "Did you tell them you had to go get weighed?". Drama King's response, "Who's Wade?". Well, there ya go, another reason American English is so hard to learn.

I just hope they don't have to actually demonstrate their instructions in class like I can remember doing when I was in school. Guess we'll just have to make sure his underwear and socks are clean that day!!!!!!!!

How Quickly We Forget

Last night a friend from church was desparately looking for someone to watch their 18 month old little girl today. Her regular sitter is sick and not able to work. One of her back up sitters moved about 3 weeks ago, and the other one started working about the same time. So, I said I'd watch her. She dropped her off around 6:45 this morning. I am so not a morning person!! Although I'm better than Inkling with mornings. Anyway, she's so little. We'll call her Little La La. I see her at church all the time, but I never hold her or interact with her when her Mommy's not around. When your used to your littlest one being three (almost 4) years old, 18 months seems like such a baby still. She still uses a paci. We got the booster seat back out for her to use today and the pac and play for her to nap in. She fell back to sleep as soon as her mommy left. I successfully laid her on the couch without waking her up. I watched her sleep for a few minutes to make sure she was gonna stay that way. She'd start sucking on that paci like crazy every few seconds and then relax again. She's out!! I made the boys stay upstairs while they got ready this morning, I even fed them breakfast upstairs. I have a feeling Little La La's gonna show me how unbabyproofed my house has become. I'm also gonna be reminded how much they have to be watch constantly at this age.