Country Living

We always dreamed of having a home in the country where our children would have the luxury of spending most of their time out doors instead of in front of the TV. And we are grateful that we are living that dream in an amazing way....

We have enjoyed sipping soda's on the deck and taking short walks over to the lake. We have listened to the wind blow through the pines and listened to the crickets chirp happily at sunset...

But there has been trouble around our friendly woods...

There is a large family that lives here in the country with us. The nasty Poison Family. They looked harmless enough...honestly we really hadn't even notice them, but they are there... hiding, and lurking about. Through reliable sources we have found they are completely, undeniably, unscrupulous and sneaky. They are despicably mean and they have a tendency to bite.

They are three little "Untouchables" by the names Ivy, Oak and Sumac. And they have overtaken our acre...and my firstborn child.

I was a little bothered when I saw them hanging around the driveway, but now they have messed with my baby...the war is on.

We won't be defeated! NO! We won't back away. We are ready and armed with "Weed-B-Gone" and Prednisone!

We are taking back our yard if it's the last things we do!

A Happy, Happy birthday!

After having Jen in town and celebrating my birthday last weekend, I feel like I get to have a birthday two weekends in a row!

Today I am officially 33 years old and it was a great day...

I got to spend the day with my favorite man, shopping and hanging out. We had lattes at Starbucks, bought red shoes at REI, ate a yummy lunch, picked up the kids, had pizza for dinner and had my fave cake...Baskin Robbins ice cream cake: chocolate mint chip/chocolate cake flavor.

It was a great day...

I got lots of amazing gifts...but this was the best...

In the early morning darkness, dimly lit by a small lamp, wrapped in a blanket, drinking coffee, and reading at my little desk I heard a little one come creaking down the stairs. It was The Girl who was still warm in her cozy fall-time PJ's and shading her eyes from the light. She says "Happy Birthday, Mom" in a sweet quiet voice...she crawls into my lap for a minute then hops down and the says she'll be right back. A few seconds later she comes back with a piece of paper in her hands and announces, "Here's an early birthday gift for you..." and I reach out to receive the paper when she leans over, gives me the sweetest kiss on the cheek and quietly scampers out of the room, paper still in hand.

Precious.

I also heard from many friends. How fun is it to come home from doing all that fun stuff and hear voice messages from people all over the country including new friends right here in town.

Have I mentioned it was a great day?

Someone asked me why I liked birthdays so much. She didn't really like birthdays...cuz it means you get older. My thought was that I love birthdays because it gives us a chance to be happy for someone, to be thankful, to be encouraged and to give a gift.. Whether it's a phone call, or a visit, or a kiss on the cheek. But what I said was "I grew up in a home where we enjoyed celebration. I like to celebrate."

And now I look forward to next years birthday...

On this day next year my family and i will be celebrating like never before...

'Cuz my youngest brother is FINALLY going to tie the knot with a gal we all think is pretty cool.

364 more days...the countdown is on.

Pride...The Root of All Botched Eyebrows

There is a biblical saying that goes like this: Pride goes before destruction...Proverbs 16:18

And let me announce that it is always good to have a little bit of humility before one waxes her eyebrows.

About a year ago I decided that I was tired of paying someone almost $20 bucks to remove unsightly facial hair. I mean really, how hard can it be to put hot wax above your eyeballs and strip away unwanted strays...or in my case large strips that look like the gigantic, black, furry caterpillars my kids find in the yard....my face actually feels lighter afterward...some people take off their shoes when they weigh themselves...I wax my brows. But I digress....

I had been doing pretty good, if I don't say so myself (which is precisely where I got myself into trouble).

Today, I was in a rush. And I had been doing so well. I thought myself a pro...

Confession: I was beginning to think I could do this on other people...not anybody I know. Just some people I saw on TV or when I people watch at the mall, etc.

I now know why people actually go to school to learn this stuff and get paid big bucks to do it...plus then you can blame someone else when people ask why you look surprised in one eye all the time.

Oh well...the good news is that they most definitely will grow back...Do you think the Uni-brow will ever become fashionable?

Things I'm Grateful For...

I am known as a lover of "little" things. I love babies. I love coffee beans. I love a small price tag (like the running pants I bought on clearance at Target this weekend for $3.50). It doesn't take much to make me happy and often these "little things" fill my heart with gratitude that sometimes feels like it might be too much for me to heave around in this small chest of mine (no pun intended).

Like this weekend...I realized how much I like curbside drop off at the airport. And although i do not like the circumstances by which this curbside drop off became pretty much a mandatory thing...I have to say I am grateful that I do not have to walk my visitors to their gate and sit and wait for them to board the aircraft, and then sit and wait for it to take-off...as we used to do in the "old-days" when everybody and their brother was allowed to enter the airport terminal.

I love curbside drop off because in a world that has become so aware of things like "denial" and "pain avoidance" I can drop off my visitors at curbside and avoid all the feelings that go along with saying goodbye...and get away with it.

By the way, if this blog was entitled Things I Hate....saying goodbye would be top on the list.

This weekend, my sweet friend Jen came to help me celebrate an early birthday (also a "little thing" that I really do love!)

We had the greatest time doing "little things"... we did a little relaxing, a little shopping, a little eating, a little hiking, and most importantly, a lot of talking. Oh, and went to a real movie theater and saw a movie...which is a little something we always wanted to do in TX but never felt that we had the time...

So when you come to visit and I take you to the airport and I do a "Drop and Run" at the curbside of the airport...you can know that I miss you already...and can't wait til you come back.

Laundry

I think I may have invented a new extreme sport.

I have just spent the last two days doing nothing but laundry.

Literally.

well, I did do other things but I literally did laundry...hauling, washing, drying, folding, (some ironing), hanging and putting away. I have sore muscles and lost 2 pounds....

Extreme Laundry...it could happen.

Kills Bugs Fast

This morning, after the kids were off to school and I was in the middle of some serious oatmeal eating and reading the paper on the internet, I notice something scurry across the foyer. After a second look I realized that a huge (about the size of a dime), black spider was hurrying off to find someplace nice to build a nest and have lots and lots of baby spiders in my home...my first reaction was to holler for my seriously brave bug killer...my 8 year old son.

These are the times when I seriously consider homeschooling... that way I won't ever have to worry about being alone in the house with insects...or worse...Arachnids. But I was brave and found a nearby shoe and killed that spider in one hard swat and then I cleaned up the mess...which is also a gross task that he readily takes care of (and I might mention that my sweet, brave boy will not very often pick up after himself until he has killed a bug...then it is fun to clean up and inspect the fresh kill).

After this exciting adventure, and a few minutes of nice thoughts about the advantages of having a cool son, I thought that maybe I would blog about it...but then decided not to, in the event that someone may not know of my bug "issues" and think less of me.

But I was wrong to think I could hide such a flaw.

The Boy came home today and said that his class had written a book and everyone in the "whole school" was going to read it. He was so excited to show me his copy of this book. It was a photo copied copy, neatly bound with staples down the middle to make the spine.

The book is called "Helping With The Jobs". And it explains what everyone in the class does to help their parents at home. Some said they helped with laundry, some said they cleaned their room. One little boy said that he helped his Dad with the goats! After about 20 pages I asked The Boy when his page would come up...he said it would be soon...

The very last page of the book read:

The jig is up. I am afraid of bugs and I use my children to kill them.

Rabbit Rabbit!

In eighth grade I went to school with a girl whose family had a tradition to wake up on the first day of each month and race to see who could say "Rabbit Rabbit!" to each other first. Whoever said it first got some sort of prize. I think it is funny that I can't remember why or what they did this for but I still think to myself "Rabbit Rabbit" occasionally on the first of the month...weird.

Well, speaking of rabbits who are fast runners...You all have heard the story of the Tortoise and the Hare...

Just by the fact that my fingers are typing this blog you can assume that I have made it through the 10K. I actually did pretty well...for someone who is not a rabbit. My goal was to run the entire course...without walking. And I did meet that goal. My running partner and her two friends wanted to run it in under an hour. My goals were not that high! I just wanted to finish! At the last half mile or so the others decided to go ahead and try to make their goal of less than an hour and quickened their pace. So the last 1/2 mile I just kept going along... Slow and steady (think tortoise). But I didn't too bad. I made it in 1 hour and....drumroll please....1 minute. Not too shabby for this "jogger" girl. My running friends made it in just under an hour and met there goal as well. Of course this was a "club" run with only a handful of "non-club" members (that would be us!). The club is fairly serious with true "runners" who took this run like a stroll in the park and in under 40 minutes! And let me tell you when that 70 year old lady passed me by with nary a bead of sweat or a breath too long, I was humbled... and yet encouraged!

But I wasn't dead last...and I didn't walk.

But now after several weeks of training...I am walking for the next week! This ole' turtle needs a rest!