Tuesday, November 25, 2008

ME crazy?????



I have been telling my family for months now I think I am in the early stages of Alzheimer's. I seriously do. The kids think it is hilarious when they find house hold cleaners or lotion in the frig or milk placed on TOP of the refrigerator instead of inside. I on the other hand do not find it as entertaining. My most used phrase throughout the day is "please remind me to....".

Friends who love me and don't want to think the worst say "Oh, you just have a lot going on, that's all." Some friends tell me it is hormonal and it will get better. I am praying for the later but in the mean time I am writing myself notes, wrapping string around my finger and doing anything and everything to help me remember what it is I need to do.

Here is an example of a typical morning for me. I walk into the playroom to get something out of the pantry. Walking through the playroom I notice the rabbit is out of water. I walk back into the kitchen, fill up the water bottle and head back to the playroom. I replace the water bottle to notice the dog needs food. I feed the dog, then thinking my job in this room is done I walk back into the kitchen. I stand in the kitchen for a few minutes trying to think what it is I am supposed to be doing. Not remembering, I decide to go to the bedroom to get some dirty laundry. Once in the bedroom I notice I need to hang up some clothes and make the bed. I make the bed, hang up the clothes and head back out into the front room. Now, at least 20 minutes or more have passed and I STILL have not retrieved my item out of the pantry OR started the laundry. This can make for a very long day.

I then started to think.... "Maybe I am not forgetful, maybe I am crazy." How do other women do it???? How do OTHER moms keep from losing THEIR minds???? Then it came to me the other night while observing our family in all our glory... My whole FAMILY is crazy... not just me. :)

Now, before you start to judge me or think I am this ungrateful mother and wife let me say this.... I love my family, I love them more than life itself. I am a rather serious person...sometimes TOO serious. I do like to have fun and I enjoy a good laugh but not as much as I need to. God, I think, has a great sense of humor. Soooo, he blessed me with this incredibly funny man as my husband and then a little chip off the ol block as a son. They torment the ladies of the house relentlessly with their jokes. Nick found a little Fisher Price man a while ago and he spends his time trying to find places to hide him where I will find it and laugh. He hides him in my purse, shoes, pillows, washer machine... well you get the idea. He isn't even around when I find him, he just knows it will be funny.

Check out the video of my "flippy Nick".



Let me explain some of our craziness. We have weird sayings for things....... like the word "deets" means thank you. This is how Leslie used to say thanks when she was 2. Why do we still talk this way??? Crazy. Bread is a piece of "Nah"... we owe that one to Nick.

We see smiley faces on EVERYTHING! Our turkey was sitting on the counter yesterday and Les walked in and said "Hey look, the turkey has a smiley face on it". Sure enough... at that angle, the printing on the turkey looked just like a smiley face. Why????? Cause we are CRAZY!!! :) We see faces on cars, trees, clouds.. you name it... we see it. :)

Is it crazy to bring wild baby squirrels into your home??? Ummm... YES!



















Here are a few more photos in my defense.......


Do you like the smell of electronics?

Who does this to their dog???


Who does this to their child....and then takes a picture?? :)


Ummmmm.....that is a crab hole!


Well,... a photo is worth a thousand words...


I am so blessed to have such laughter in our home. It makes my heart swell to hear our kids say... "Man, I laughed so hard my stomach hurts". I pray we can continue to have great times of laughter. I have found as life goes on it is the times of laughter that get you through the times of tears. It is the memories you share with a person that lasts a lifetime. A loved one may leave this world but the memories you share, the laughter you share, will never leave your heart.

My motto when it comes to me, my family, and our craziness..... If you can't beat em... join em, and have the time of your life! :) I have learned I am not crazy ENOUGH...the crazier the better!




Friday, November 21, 2008

A Twilight Journey


This past year Leslie began reading a book series called Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. After reading the first book she was captivated. Then she told me a little about the book and I thought I would read the book too. You know, make sure my daughter isn't reading some cult book about vampires. :)

I wasn't expecting much since the author targeted junior high/high school girls; I mainly wanted to make sure the book was "appropriate". Well, needless to say, I too became captivated. It was a great book and it left me hungry for the second book, New Moon. For those of you who have not read the series, the story is based upon a dream Stephanie Meyer had about a vampire named Edward who falls in love with a girl named Bella. It isn't the typical vampire story and it has a neat twist.

Luckily, Les and I started reading the Twilight series after the first three books were already written so we could go from one book on to the next. Les read all three of books in three days; these were not little 100 page books either.... 500 pages plus!

Needless to say we didn't see much of our daughter during those three days. She would finish one and go out immediately and purchase the next one. I didn't read them quite as fast; one book per week I think.

Les and I both had finished reading all three books by the time summer hit. We then had to wait almost 3 months for the 4th book to come out. We heard the release date was August 4th when we would be in Florida on vacation. We called and reserved the book and asked if we could pick it up when we were home. It was done... we were prepared and anxious to read the 4th book.

While in Florida we were given the opportunity to extend our vacation for 3 more days. After calling home to make a few pet arrangements we were excited to have 3 more days in sunny Florida, EXCEPT.... we would miss the release date of the book. What a travesty! We CAN'T miss the release date! What if all the books are sold out when we get home and we have to WAIT to read it??? We called the book store and they told us if we didn't pick up our reserved copy within 2 days after the release it would go back on the shelf. So, we tried to find a bookstore in Florida who would have it. Greg called a bookstore at 9:01 on August the 4th and they said they had 3 copies left; Greg pleaded with them to hold it for him for 30 minutes. He and Les drove to the bookstore and 45 minutes later Les walked through the door of our condo with the precious fourth book. Leslie had promised a good friend at home she would wait to read the book until they could read it together locked in her room. The two of them spent a lot of time texting one another with anticipation.

After arriving home from vacation both Les and her good friend locked themselves in Leslie's room with their two books and a whole pan of brownies. I could hear gasping and "oh no" coming from the room at different times. Which was driving me crazy because I wanted to know what was happening in the book. When they took mini breaks I would grab a book and read a few pages and then yell la la la la la with my fingers in my ears as they discussed it together :)

The fourth book was my favorite book. Stephanie did a great job wrapping everything up and it was a great "feel good" ending. Between reading the second and the third book we heard rumors a Twilight movie was in the making. Les spent time on the internet watching clips of the movie as well as looking at pictures of the cast.

Well, long story not so short, once we heard there would be a midnight showing of Twilight on November 21st there was no doubt in our minds we would need to go see it. We bought our tickets online in advance to secure our seats at the midnight showing.

Yesterday, Leslie came home from school, changed clothes, got a snack and went to bed. Greg and I tried to do the same but had no luck of going to sleep. Nick wasn't really into Twilight and decided to stay home and sleep with Murphy. Greg wasn't all too excited to see Twilight but wanted to drive us ladies to the midnight showing. He said he had heard on the radio it was a chick flick.... he was SUPER pumped to see it after that. :)

Once we arrived at the Greene at 10:30 we walked into the theater to find ourselves surrounded by high school girls. Theater employees were directing people to their designated "lines" for each theater. We were directed to our line and became excited because we were second in line. Come to find out we were in line 2 for theater 8. Unbelievable, what time did these girls get here to get in line???? Many girls were wearing "Team Edward" shirts... some had "Team Jacob" shirts (another main character in the series). We were lead down the hall in single file to our theater. Once inside we had another hour to wait for the show to start. A young man in the row in front of us decided to come to the movie dressed as Edward. Girls as they entered the theater would scream... "oh there is Edward... can I get my picture taken with you?" We were entertained for nearly the whole hour by the photo shoot with Edward.

The crowd became excited when the lights began to dim and the previews started. . Once the word "and now for our feature presentation" came on the screen the crowd went WILD. It was hilarious! As each character was shown on screen for the first time the crowd would clap. They really came alive when Edward entered the scene. Some girls were yelling, "oh he is so beautiful" or "look at his gorgeous eyes". I felt like standing up and saying, " Hey girls, this is the same actor who played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films... did you go crazy over him then too? " Amazing what a character role can do for someone. Greg said he felt like the testosterone in his body was being drained just by being in the room. We had 5 in our group and we remained pretty quiet just taking it all in. :) I would like to see it again sometime so I can hear all the dialogue; between all the whistling and screaming I didn't get to hear everything Edward said.

The movie over all was very good. Some of the special effects were lacking a little, but for the most part is was good. We drove home discussing the movie and anxious to go to bed... it was 2:30am and we all had to get up in 4 hours.

So this is our Twilight journey.... I am sure there will be more since this was movie #1 of 4. This experience will always be something Les will remember. If you notice a movie you would like to see offering a midnight showing, go to it. It is something you have never experienced in a movie theater.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Consumed??












We are in the middle of a new series at church called Consumed. What a great time of year to think about consumption as a family. We have accepted the five day solidarity challenge through our church which I will explain later.


Our church gave us statistics on how half the world's population lives... I will share a couple with you. Half the world lives on $2.oo a day or less.... a whole day, not just lunch, but a WHOLE day. A lot of us spend that much just on our coffee for the morning. For most people, meals consist of 3/4 ounce (about the size of a chicken nugget) of oats, rice, beans and vegetables each day. Meat and fruits are luxuries. Americans on the other hand have super sized value meals and smorgasbords. This past week we have looked at our own family and our consumption. Not only food, but clothing, toys, electronics etc...

The 5 Day Solidarity Challenge has challenged us to eat a similar diet of what half the world's population eats. Our meals consist of oatmeal, rice, beans, and oh, did I say rice?? Yes, lots and lots of rice. It has put a lot in perspective for us.... first of all, we eat WAY too much. Secondly, we realized most of our eating is for flavor and not for hunger. I personally have realized the number of food commercials on TV. Seriously... it is ridiculous. You don't notice them as much when you are sitting on the couch enjoying a big bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips. When your meals consist of a bowl of rice with beans you notice the huge juicy burgers being flashed in front of you every 8 minutes.

With the money we have saved this week at the grocery, (rice is really cheap ) we have been asked by Southbrook to donate $25.00 Kroger gift cards. These cards will then be given to needy families locally who would maybe not have a Thanksgiving dinner without them.

We have also been challenged as a family to think about what DOES consume us. Our culture says... if it's newer, bigger, better, we want to own it.

Isaiah 46:4 says Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. We have been fortunate in this country to not read this verse and think of God sustaining our hunger, but rather sustain our spirit through our day to day life and trials. Very seldom do I personally pray to God for food or shelter; something I take for granted.

I need to read this verse over and over again in the middle of the day when I want to eat Arby's 5 for 5 instead of my bowl of rice. :) Thanksgiving is going to mean a lot more than just a turkey on the table this year. For starters, we will actually be THANKFUL for food after enduring the rice menu for this week. We will also be humble after having a tiny taste of what Thanksgiving and every other day is like for a lot of people.

For those of you who may be thinking " What kind of mother makes her growing children eat nothing but rice for a week?" The challenge was optional and Leslie chose to do the challenge. She is eating larger portions than a child in Africa may eat AND she is eating beans and some chicken for protein. Nick chose not to do the rice portion of the challenge because the child strongly dislikes beans and is not all that big on rice either. He did decide to give up his candy for the week and some other food luxuries such as snacking in between meals. :)


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ramblings of a mothers heart........



One thing I have learned about myself in my 37 years of life is...... I like to ramble. I ramble on and on about my family, about my kids, about my animals and most of the time I ramble to people who wished I wouldn't ramble. I have several friends who have blogs of their own, and although I am not one to jump off a bridge if my friends jump, I liked the idea and I decided to "jump" into the world of blogging.

The nice thing about having a blog is you can "ramble" on and on for days and if the person who is reading does not want to hear it... well, they can stop reading.


God has blessed me with an incredible man for a husband..... and if that wasn't enough he also gave me two beautiful kids whom I cherish and love with all my heart. In giving me these wonderful gifts God also gave me a home that is never dull or boring. I hope to not only keep you updated on our life with postings and photos, but to also bring a smile or two as I journal or shall I say "blog" my way through my life as a mom.


I know I am not alone when I say I am a mother who feels life is traveling at the speed of light.

I have a 16 year old daughter who is now looking at colleges and BOYS, taking ACT/SAT tests, playing soccer and she cannot live without her Ipod or cell phone. What happened to my little pigtailed, pudgy faced little girl who loved to watch Disney Sing A Longs, eat Fruit Roll Ups and drink Squeez-its? (or as she called them "rollers" and "fweez-its)


I have a 13 year old son who loves to play XBox 360, ref or play a soccer game and never stops texting his friends. What happened to my little man who would spend hours playing with his Hot Wheels, Legos or Trains?( Yay Yains as he would call them)

I think sometimes we all have feelings of "Gosh, I wish I would have played with them more" or "was having a clean house today really all that important?" Although having a clean house is not at the top of my priority list these days, I still find myself saying "I didn't get enough time again today".

My prayer for this blog is I hope to think about my day, my actions, my relationships and the fun situations which are given to me each day. I hope by writing and sharing my thoughts and photos with you it will help me appreciate each moment that much more.