Back in the Saddle Again

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Only going to spend a moment here, gotta do the Thanksgiving Betty Crocker thing and make some pumpkin bread. And pack for our trip.

It's a holiday, and you thought I'd be staying home? Ppppppffffff..... Haahaa!!!

Also gotta find someone to watch the pups last minute, since the person I had to watch them forgot about it and is now going out of town. Not her fault, I should have been better about reminding her so I would've known not-so-last-minute. :(

Busy busy busy and no rest for the weary. Just pray my kids cooperate today so I will still have hair to celebrate Thanksgiving with.

Spamalicious

They're just so funny I had to share!

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Translation, please????

But for the grace of God, there go I...

I've been thinking about this a lot. It's really brought a lot of humility to (what I didn't think was) my judgemental attitude. I didn't even notice I was doing it. But then again, 99% of us don't. A woman in my group today again brought this up, and another commented that you shouldn't ever say, "My (child, husband, self, whatever) would never do that..." for the simple reason that you'll end up learning your lesson the hard way by experiencing it.

It's how I've learned to detect those who don't have children. Those who have never had a child that (we're pretty sure) has ADD. Those who have never had a Houdini child. Those who have never had a child cry all night until you give in and let them sleep in your bed. Those who have never thought that leaving the store when your child starts acting up is giving them exactly what they want.

And they say such hurtful things, even when they don't know you. After my Houdini child escaped from our locked back yard and ran into the street, trailed by my son and our three dogs, one person who helped me round them all up actually said to me, "You need to watch your children." And gave me a horrible You're a bad mom look.

That man either never has had children, never had a child that wasn't stumped by his locking mechanisms, or it's been so long that he has had that child that he has forgotten what it was like. Like forgetting pregnancy pain. I always told myself I'd never forget that pain. But I did.

That is just one example of the quick and the judgmental in this world. How was he supposed to know that I'd gone through four different locks in the past month trying to outwit her? He would've known if he'd asked. If he'd had a little...

Empathy.

Which brings us to our next point. When you see someone you'd like to judge, please put yourself in their shoes. Imagine what that poor, tired mom's day has been like before you judge her on bribing her children to be good for five minutes so she can finish getting groceries. Could that man that snapped at you have lost his job today?

Patience. Empathy. Love. All in a perfect world.


P.S. Thanks for a lovely weekend, Mom. I loved getting to spend some time with you, Dad, and Sis. I'll be praying for your Board notice this week. Love you.

No Children

Today has been... weird. I woke up and got ready for our playgroup at church, only to call my friend who is the coordinator to find out that it was cancelled. So I decided to go to an estate sale instead.

Backtrack to last night... we had another family over for dinner, and we were just cleaning up when I got a phone call that my friend Tom was outside our house. He wanted to make sure we were up before he knocked. Tom has a talent for showing up unannounced, but we love him so we always let him in. He crashed here last night. He's in town for his girlfriend's birthday, so we get to see her tonight, too, even just for a little bit.

So Tom's at my house and I take the kids to the estate sale. I unload the kids, think to myself that it's a cute house, and wonder about the guitar I saw advertised in the estate sale's flier. Since the entire block is full of cars, I'm hoping that being there only an hour after it opens means that I got there in time enough to grab it before someone else did.

I walk the block to the entrance and see several items I might be interested in. I'm counting my money in my head, seeing how much I can spend, since I already see several items I'm interested in. Then, a big glaring neon green sign on the front door.

NO Children/NO Ninas

I stop in my tracks, so much that my daughter runs into my legs. They can't be serious. What kind of people are they???

Instantly two scenarios come to mind:
1. They think all kids are noisy, unruly brats that break everything they touch, wreak havoc and cause trouble for no reason. They think I'm going to wait until they are tired and cranky and then bring them to their estate sale to break things and annoy their other customers. These are usually people that didn't have kids, and for good reason.
2. They honestly think something bad about ME, the mom of the rejected chidren. I'm going to refuse to take responsibility for my kids, I'm going to let them jump on the furniture. I'm going to come in, let them rearrange their preorganized affair and then leave without buying anything.

Both scenarios are obviously insulting. Still, I wanted that guitar. So I tried to stop a lady that was obviously working the estate sale. I stayed outside so that I could be respectful of their wishes. I called to her three times, and she completely ignored me. So I decided they didn't need my money.

I felt horribly for my kids. They're good kids. I actually took them at a time when they weren't hungry or tired or needing attention. They were looking forward to it. My four-year-old daughter kept asking me why we couldn't go in. I didn't know what to tell her.

On the way home I was struck by how much construction was taking place near my house. New roads, new buildings, everything is under construction. And I had a happy thought: property value increase. Yay.

I consoled myself and my daughter (baby boy was taking a nap) with some baby carrots and hummus dip and a huge glass of water. It was exactly what I was craving. Yum!

Note to self: When did I become such a health freak?????

Harvest

Don't have much time to post, but I wanted to give a quick update. Tonight was the Harvest Party at our church. I'll take any excuse to dress up! I went as a fairy. Awaiting a good pic of me in the wings, I'll post it when I get it. See the ears???




Here's the kids. Mine are the pink-haired punk rocker and Superman. Boy, they were cute!



I did my friend Jessica's makeup, too, and I was very proud of it, so here's a pic of it:




Please pray for safe travel for my husband, who will be going to his Aunt Sandy's funeral on Tuesday. Thankfully it's only a day trip, but the whole situation is stressful as it was an aunt he was close to. Pray for peace for the whole family.

Will post more later, I'm going to go spend some quality time with my pillow, watching the back of my eyelids.

My husband would be so proud!

You Are Beer!

You don't need to get totally wasted when you hit the bars. More of a social drinker, you just like to have fun with your friends. And as long as the beer keeps flowing, you're a happy camper. But don't mix things up: "Beer Before Liquor, Never Been Sicker!"

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

Apparently I'm bored.

Call me Dr. Jen

Guess I don't need to go for my Bachelors after all!!!

You Have Your PhD in Men

You understand men almost better than anyone. You accept that guys are very different, and you read signals well. Work what you know about men, and your relationships will be blissful.

How Well Do You Understand Men?

I Heart Texas

I love living in Texas. I may have been born in Louisiana, but I feel like I came home when I came to Texas. I guess living so close to it all my life, it rubbed off on me.

One of the many things I love is that Texas knows how to run an event. Today we went to a charity event that my husband's company was participating in. In true Texas style, it was a barbeque cookoff. Yep, leave it to Texas to make a charity event out of brisket!

We bought a ticket, which almost all of the proceeds go to the charity (it was a scholarship). There were over 40 tents set up with people barbequeing chicken, ribs, brisket, and countless other things. I have to give a shout out to my Shreveport and New Iberia homies that made gumbo... yum! It was a truly fun time Texas-style, with an entire arena for family activities. There was bingo, face painting, airwalks (four of them!), caricature artists, balloon artists, and a kiddie rodeo. Yes, that's right. The kids got to ride bucking sheep and chase greased pigs. I am not joking. We didn't get to let Princess do it because it was full when we went to register. I'm sure she would've loved it. Notes for next year: get there early to register for kiddie rodeo and get entered as a judge for the ribs contest.

From what I hear, the set-up party is more fun than the actual event...

There's just something about the atmosphere at a Texas event like this that just makes me content and happy. I always have a good time. Reminds me of the Red River Revel (which I loved back in Louisiana), only with barbeque instead of mudbugs. I get that nostalgia anyway with the annual church crawfish boil, though.

So, I'm home. I smell like dirt and barbeque. And loving every minute.

*Sniffle Sniffle*

So apparently we're all sick. I'm not so bad as the others in my family... but then again, I don't have time to be sick and my body respects that. I'm just dealing with a little throat tickle issue and a little more snot than I'm used to, which means a little snot. I don't tend to be a very snotty person. And I'm going to try to put the word "snot" as many times in this paragraph as I can. Snot snot snot!

Have you ever really looked at the word snot? It's a pretty funny-looking word.

Made ya look!

And I think the cold meds are getting to me.

Anyway, there was a birthday party yesterday. The Princess turned four, and in all of our royal splendidness, Her Royal Cuteness celebrated with a party that would make anyone who doesn't love pink have a seizure. But hey, it's what she asked for. She asked for a pink cake and a pink bear, and by golly we gave her both!

My husband took her to the mall yesterday morning and designed a Build-A-Bear with her for her birthday. Her name is Aura (Princess named her). It's pink. She picked out pink panties for it, too. And the frilliest wedding dress they had.

Hey, now... she comes by it honestly, you know.

While they were doing that, I decorated and set up for the party. Yay, me. I made a checkerboard cake with pink icing and a flower mound top. I used up 2 whole rolls of crap paper... sorry, crepe paper (can I say "crap" on here?)... to turn our house into a pink and purple castle. The kids decorated crowns, made wands, had their faces painted, and ate champagne grapes and pinwheels. And cake and ice cream, of course.

Today our insurance lady came by to look at our car. I got in a fender-bender a few days ago. Not a big deal at all, we were in a parking lot and weren't going over 1 mph. It was *technically* my fault (even though it was hers, it's just legally mine). The insurance lady is the nicest one I've ever dealt with, so I gave her a present, an old MK gift-with-purchase. She ended up buying $40, taking a catalog, and promising to give me at least 10 leads before she left. I'm not sure how it happened, I think the response is out of habit now. But hey, that's okay with me.

This afternoon we tried to go see Superman in the dollar theater. Yeah, that didn't work. I ended up leaving with the kids, madder than a hornet, and coming home to furiously clean. That's what I do when I'm mad. I clean. I think this is the first time in months I've seen my kitchen counter.

So, the kids are in bed. I still haven't seen Superman. My back and neck are stiff from days of sleeping wrong. I'm irritated still. I'm bored and not tired. I have too much to do and not enough motivation. But I'll give a million dollars to the first person to teleport here and give me a massage before I go to bed.

But my shopping list is made for tomorrow. And my to-do list. My checkbook is balanced and all the bills paid for this pay period. I've read the materials for my government assignment and done two loads of laundry.

And my house is VERY clean.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have figured it out!

No, really...

My husband is an excellent father. He loves to play with his children, and encourages them to use their imagination. He's also a boy.

When my daughter came to him with a dish towel, he did the "daddy thing" and tied it with a bread tie around her neck. She took it off and said, "No, daddy, not like that!" He was flabbergasted. What in the world was she talking about?

I leaned over and supplied the answer...

Honey, she doesn't want a superhero cape. She wants an apron.

And the crowd roars with laughter.