Bureau Top Memories...

One day when I am old and grey I want to have a bureau like every other old lady. I want to have the top filled with framed photographs on top of crocheted doilies that need to be dusted, but my eyes will be too feeble to see. I want to have trinkets of times gone by tucked away in paper boxes that smell of peppermint and age. I want to have memories of my husband and my life filled to the brink with love, strength, forgiveness, and laughter. What a thing to aspire for a collection of junk in anyone else's eyes.

If that monument to a life well lived will one day be a reality it is something that I must aspire for today. Today and tomorrow and line upon line, precept upon precept. Looking my children straight in the eye and giving them a smile from my heart. Sucking in a deep breath before I snap at something that hasn't gone my way. Letting those in my life know how much I love them everyday.

Right now it is easy, at this very moment my toes are toasty warm and the house is quiet and tranquil. Right now it is easy to smile and give and love. However, when it is easy it just doesn't count as much. It is when the dog has puked up the same sock for the 3rd time and the 4 year old who is being particularly whiny wants your attention. Meanwhile, the neighbor comes by and says do you want some pointers on making your lawn look better and the phone rings and your hubby says whats for dinner. It is those moments when it counts, when the smile and the love and the PATIENCE and the laughter count.

It doesn't make the impact when it is easy, when we are well fed and every bill is paid on time with money to spare and the children are growing up in wisdom, stature, and in favor of man. It counts when the bills are piling up and the creditors are calling and the kids feel a little unstable and depression is looming. That is when it counts.

This attitude will play into my bureau top in more ways than wonderful memories; hopefully it will carry over into my relationship with my adult children and elderly husband. I feel it is an important lesson to show our children (more is caught than taught). I have always felt really sorry for an elderly person when I see their adult children being trying with them or disrespectful and then I have to stop and wonder if the elderly person once upon a time taught disrespect and impatience to the adult child.

I know for me in my life, that sometimes it is just easy to not give enough, even when times are good and if we aren't giving all that we need to give when times are good then how can we ever manage when times are bad. I also know that I can't give at all without somebody filling my cup, and that is only given by God. So before I can wipe away a tear or smile at the trying neighbor or hold my nose and clean up after the dog, I have to ask for the strength and the love and the patience and the long suffering and the endless amount of strength from the only Person to obtain it from, only through the word of God and His strength. (Phl 4:6).

So today I'm going to try and give an extra hug, give the counters an extra swipe, give my husband a wider berth and practice long suffering and forgiveness....and aspire for a bureau top full of loving memories, one moment at a time.


Matthew 5:44-48 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Hey fellow crafters....

check this out. If you don't read this blog, you really should. I find out about a ton of great deals through this site! So check out her post and RUN to your nearest Michael's...leave me a comment and tell me what you scored!

New crafting posts in the very near future...I have been busy creating...post ya soon!

What I learned from TeenBeat....

When I was about 22 or so I went to my parent's home to help them pack up all of their belongings from our family home and prepare for it to be moved to their city of choice for retirement. I have a sneaky suspicion that the invite was also a ruse to make sure that I removed all of my high school memorabilia, as it was packed up in a box marked, "TAKE THIS TO YOUR OWN HOME!" I don't know WHY they didn't want to store my homecoming mums or Letterman jacket, but alas they didn't and I had to decide what to do with it.

I thought I better go through the box and purge a little before I hauled it home. So I tore into the time warp from the early nineties and meandered down memory lane. Somewhere in between my withered corsage from my first date and a MASH game with a favorable outcome, I found an old TeenBeat magazine.

On the cover, the one and only Scott Baio!

The cover also teased of a personality test inside. Well, since there was packing to do, my sister and I decided to take the test.

It was a test that would resonate with me (what does that say about my life - TeenBeat resonated with me - you would be hard pressed to find that sentence anywhere else in the world!) There were 4 possible outcomes all in the form of shapes. Your personality would either represent a squiggle, a square, a line, or a triangle.

My sister went first and she was a line (not much of a shocker there!) My sister is such a point A to point B person. She is always on the ball and very efficient at whatever it is that needs to be done. She will arrive at her destination early, looking like a million bucks, and very prepared! Yep, I'm jealous!

I went second; I avoided the triangle, which I believe was reserved for the truly weird (think Trekies) and the rectangle which was for the most concrete thinkers (this was heavy stuff - I mean it was TeenBeat). However, I landed on the squiggle.

Hmmm....let me see what does that mean? You will arrive at your destination in life at your own speed, on your own terms, and with many side trips! I wasn't too fond of that - nope - not one little bit! I wanted to be a line! I wanted to be efficient and early and....not gonna happen (especially the early part).

So fast forward 10 or so years and I look at my life and I think about that test and it is so true. I'm a squiggle. I'm pointed in the same direction as my line counterparts, but it will take me longer to get there because there are so many scenic side trips to interest me. Every time I have tried to be a line I just felt like an impersonator. I'm learning to accept that and embrace it and realize it is fun but quirky. (My stomach is lurching b/c I'm waxing poetic about TeenBeat!)

Some "lines" that I have met in my life have a hard time with the "squiggle". The looks of, "are you just a little different" don't escape me, because I know it well, it is the same look I give the "Triangle Trekies."

Food for thought...

We are drowning among all the packing boxes and giddy about our upcoming adventure so I really don't have a lot of time to update the world on the goings on in my head, but I will leave you with a quote that I love:

Love Others and Control Yourself

Not

Love Yourself and Control Others

Author: unknown

I'm slowly getting there....

I figured out how to change the main body to white, but I know have this annoying cream bar at the top of the page. Oh well, one small success at a time!

Summer...

is going by too fast and we are enjoying every sun filled moment of it. Needless to say blogging hasn't been on the forefront of my mind!





Rather we have been here a few times:

and here a couple of times:

and we have been here once:

It has been a busy time and we have been making lots of fun summer memories. Soon enough it will be time to pack away the canning supplies, the water shoes, and the sunscreen and buckle down to school, but for now we are having too much fun!

An observation...

I was giving my girls pedicures for some fun Mom/Daughter memories the other day; meanwhile Dear Son and Hubby were tossing the baseball. After a while dear son sauntered into the room and was observing the "stinky stuff". Then he commented, "Is Sally Hanson to girls what Black N Decker is to guys?" I had to laugh!

Anger

What does anger accomplish? I have had some random thoughts bouncing around in my head for some time on this topic and since I rarely have time to actually think through a whole thought process I will attempt to "think out loud" on the subject. (Hope you like stream of consciousness.)

- anger can be a selfish emotion.

- Jesus was angry in the bible, thus giving us an example of righteous anger. (Mark 3:5)

- anger can be used as a manipulation tool many times to control others behaviour.

- anger doesn't really solve anything

- we are supposed to be slow to anger (Proverbs 16:32)

- the sun isn't supposed to go down on our anger (Ephesians 4:26)

- being angry is exhausting

- is irritation the same as anger

- I don't like it when someone is angry at me (especially if I feel like they are trying to control me)

I guess my overall thought process is trying to decide when it is OK to be angry. I know I don't discipline in anger but I have been angry with my children before. I get irritated at my spouse sometimes but being angry at him really doesn't solve anything except make him dig in his heels and not budge. My children will jump to attention if they hear anger in my voice and heed everything I am saying but I don't want to gain their attention in that manner.

I haven't had anything major happen that is causing this reflection but I have had it on my mind for a couple of days. My concluding thoughts are that I think it can be a dangerous emotion if overused and I think it is very easy to overuse it in this day and age because it is one of the only emotions our world accepts. (How is that for a run on sentence?) Obviously, just from observing Jesus example in the Bible, anger is necessary sometimes but I feel like I have only been righteously angry about 2 times in my life the rest selfishly angry, that is sad.

Just my random thoughts on the subject. What do you think? Did I leave something important out?

Errands...

I heart to run errands! I don't even mind running errands with 4 kids in tow! It makes me feel so productive because I'm getting all those pesky things knocked off of my list and it doesn't entail cleaning anything, educating anything, or folding anything. Oh what a great way to spend a day!

I have found a new favorite....

website. This guy says exactly what I have been feeling forever. WWJD irritates me too! Not so much the original intent behind the question because I grew up with my Dad asking me the very same question but the marketing behind it.

It is OK, once the marketing moguls figure out there is money to be made they will sell anything to anyone. I mean why else are there 24,000 different type of homeschool text books today when in the 1980's they had to practically "score some Abeka" to teach their kids with a text book!

Just a thought!

MIA...

I have been a little MIA this week. Every time I started to blog I would just see a cursor blinking! So I would wonder away and a day would pass and I would think hmm... I need to check on the blog. I started to think of it like a houseplant that needs watering! (Some people think of it like an animal that needs to be fed daily, but mine just got stuck at houseplant as far as importance!)

My husbands grandmother was diagnosed with dementia this week, they aren't sure if it is Alzheimer's but none the less we knew it was coming, you could just tell when she asked the same question several times in a row. She is a sweet lady with a very generous heart so it is hard to watch but it is even harder to watch her children deal with it. As the grandchildren we are a little removed from the day to day care (although we would certainly pitch in if asked or even needed.), she had 7 children so there are many hands ready and willing to make light work.

Well I need to run I need to prepare for our hospitality Sunday tomorrow (the one Sunday a month that we purpose to invite a family or 2 over for lunch.) Also the one Sunday that I can guarantee that my house will be clean! Giggle! Liz

One more question...(UPDATED)

does anyone remember if it is humanly possible to sit up from a lying down position just using your abs. I can't remember if I was able to do this before children and have just forgotten how or if it is a skill that is just not possible.

If it isn't possible someone should probably tell me before I get an aneurysm while trying to be thin again! Those silly Pilates!

My dear sweet brother in law and sister in law just proved to me that this IS indeed humanly possible. OH HOW SAD FOR ME!!!!!!

Quote....

I have this little book that has some nice little nuggets that are, sometimes, quite thought provoking. The book is written by the "Mom's" children and are all the little PS messages she left at the end of the book. She seems like a zany woman who would save the monumental news to share as a little aside before exiting a room.

Like the type of woman who would come in and ask her dear sweet husband what he would like to drink with his dinner and then upon exiting the room she would pause briefly to toss her head and say, "Oh by the way, we are pregnant!" Not that I know anyone who would do that, cough, sputter... but I kind of like people who do. It keeps you on your toes! (and just for the record NO we aren't pregnant, but I would be ecstatic if we were! I will just have to cuddle my little niece when she gets here.)

Anyway, back to the book at hand (man if I was a preacher we would never get out of service because of all the little rabbit trails my mind makes! Not that I would preach - at least not in front of a roomful of men -never mind!)

So this book has many wonderful little truths that are so thought provoking and many times they are in medias res. (Glad I remembered something from college!)

For instance one quote says:

"P.S. I know how upset you are with Robert. But when you remember how hard it is to change yourself. You begin to understand what little chance we have of changing others."

Now I don't know who Robert is but man he is glad to have this Mom on his side. However, when I'm upset with hubby or think that I know better, it would be really great to remember this little adage.

And some are just funny:

"P.S. Your father defines an honest man as someone you could play checkers with over the telephone."

Now the truth is that I typically hate these little books. They don't tell a story and they are usually over the top with sentiment (think the Chicken Soup for the soul, children, mom, etc. - Sappy money makers - ugh...makes my stomach ache!) They are fillers for gifts and money wasters and dust collectors. Anyway, I usually feel this way but this little book is pretty sweet and the cherry on top is that it is not mine, it is my Mother in Laws - so it can sit on her shelf and collect dust and I can visit it and blow off the layer of dust every once in awhile.

Now what to label this post. Hmmm.. definitely files under Rambling!

STILL...

coughing! Now combined with sore throats and fever...definately going to the dr. today! This stinks!!!!! Thanks for the emails to get better soon. WE are trying hard so that I can continue to entertain the 10's of you who have come to be entertained by the drivel that I try .... Ok I just can't be pithy. I'm too sick!

Things to be generally avoided...

1. Try not to answer your husbands urgent question without spitting out your mouthwash first. It will just make him laugh till he crys and then it will just make you mad that you can't stop laughing at yourself with a mouth full of mouthwash.

2. Try and not flush the potty before 2 year old who is soooo proud of herself and will wail, YOU PROMISED TO LET ME!!! Then you feel like a bad mom and spend an extra $3.00 on the water bill letting her flush it multiple times.

3. Try and not leave the front door open so that fresh air can come in the screen because you never know when the mailman may be delivering a package for you and 5 yo DD is streaking through the house because she just remembered her new undies that she would rather be wearing.

4. Try and not say "uh huh" to the repeatedly mouthed question of 7 yo DS while on the phone paying a bill because when you get off and hear the vacuum running in the backyard and you find your son trying to see if the vacuum will exert enough pressure to take off the lizards tail. Then when you say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING", he looks innocently and says, "You said I could!"

5. Try not to explain obese right before a shopping trip, your child may just try to find examples to point out to you.

So those are my contributions to the betterment of the human race. Don't ask where I pick these things up, they just come to me!

Lest I forget finances...and other ramblings

I posted my resolutions for 2008 and did not even mention one utterance of money. Hmmm....ostrich in the sand - maybe. No but seriously my goals for 2008 are to pay off our travel trailer and to replenish our savings that were depleted from the year in the valley (otherwise known as 2007). One day I will post about the year in the valley, but we need to get out of it first. Every time I think about writing about it my stomach hurts, but we learned some very poignant things this year, not the least of which is being transparent. Anyway, more on that later. We just finished out 2007 taxes and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. At least it is done - Yippee!

Some pictues of Fall festival that I forgot to post and other ramblings!

We had a ball at fall festival but I never got around to posting pictues of the event, probably because of this and this. So while cleaning my hard drive and organizing 2007 pictures I thought I would post - so enjoy!

2 year old DD as Raggedy Ann!

5 year old DD as Jasmine!

7 year old DS as Prince Peter

9 year old DD as Elizabeth Swann!

Mom as a Fifties housewife, should I dye my hair black.!

So there is Fall in January!

We still have Christmas family in town and will until the fifteenth of January. So the blogging will continue to be light! The kids and I are so excited about spending so much time with the family and not having to jump right back into our school session, but it makes life a little crazy for this introvert who craves her routine! I will survive, and this too shall pass, grin and bear it, find those boot straps...got any other great one liners to get me through the next oh, I don't know, 10 days!

Another funny

So I saw this at Smockity Frocks and I about fell out of my chair laughing so hard. These are the looks that I encounter when we are out and about during the school day! Enjoy!

A delicious mistake!

This morning I was making pancakes and on accident I added Peppermint Extract instead of Vanilla. It smelled good, but I wasn't really sure about how it would TASTE! It was actually quite good, then I thought hmmm what about crushed up peppermint candies, but then I thought well breakfast should be somewhat healthy so I left them out! What are your mistakes in the kitchen?

A funny

I asked my 2 yo DD if she wanted a dried cranberry, as I popped one in my mouth. She looked at me and said, "No I want duiced cwanbewwy!" After awhile of trying to figure out what in the world a duiced cwanbewwy was I finally had my ah ha moment and gave her a cup of cranberry juice! It was quite funny, and just in case you are wondering, no we aren't just the most lovingest family of cranberries, they were left over from the Best Dressing Ever recipe. I promise this week will contain more indepth blog fodder, but for now I think I'm still too busy digesting turkey! Bye.