A Walk to Remember

We walked to the library a couple of nights ago (I just LOVE that it is close enough to walk to!), and on the way back, Sammy fell asleep. And was he ever asleep! I couldn't wake him up. I tickled, bounced, even made his sleepy little body do a jig, and he remained solidly zonked. Now, why would I want to wake up a sleeping baby, you wonder. Because I didn't want him to wake up crying for his bedtime bottle (which he's too old for, some would say) at midnight and have to give it to him then. Much better to force-feed on my time schedule.

Anyway, it was a lovely trip. Just a hint of a chill in the breeze. I think Spring might finally be here! Not that I'm counting on it. I mean, this is Kansas. One just never knows around here.

Sammy's First Haircut

Griffin has always loved getting his hair cut (okay, so he didn't mind... too much), so we just naturally assumed Sammy would be the same way. I know, it hasn't worked that way with anything else; they are very different except for their mutual love of all things round. But we thought, maybe this once, we would be in luck. And it was almost true!

Sammy had a rocky start. When we put him on the nice soft booster seat they have for little ones, he started to kick and writhe and squirm in a desperate attempt to escape. And then, when they placed the brightly colored... what's that called... cloth? vest? hair jacket?... around his neck, he protested even more, and the hair stylist had to distract him with one of the tropical fish displayed on it while she fitted it and snapped it closed.

They had already started Griffin's haircut at this point, so I was trying to take pictures of both of them and yet focus on Sammy at the same time... the trials of having two. Griffin is an angel in the stylist's chair; he hardly moves. Which is great when they need him to be still, but doesn't come in quite so handy when they need him to bend his rigid little neck to one side. It's like a very thick, solid, strong brick wall -- oh wait, that's a line from "There's A Monster at the End of This Book" -- anyway, it's almost unmov(e?)able. But he is very well behaved, and sits very calmly, especially since he knows there is a sucker waiting for him at the end of the haircut.

Sammy's sucker couldn't wait until the end. I was trying desperately to hold him in place while the poor stylist cut haphazardly at whatever hair she could manage to grab between jerks of Sammy's head. I feared that there would be no hair left when she was through (which wouldn't have been too bad, considering it is usually a long time between haircuts for the boys), so I felt I needed to intervene.

"Do you have a sucker?!" I finally managed to ask between trying to take pictures and hold Sammy down. Mike was also doing a stellar job of keeping the little booger still. Actually, I don't know if I really helped all that much. But I think I stressed out about it enough that it seemed like I was helping.

"Yes!!!" the relief in the stylist's voice was evident. She hadn't thought of the sucker tactic. Maybe because of what she knew was bound to happen to it, which we had yet to learn.

Sammy was ecstatic! He loves suckers. Even if they have lots of freshly cut hair on them.

And he was such a good boy throughout most of the rest of the haircut.

As was Griffin, of course. Oh, and Mike. All the men needed haircuts. I didn't take pictures of Mike's though. I was too busy chasing two sticky, hair-covered boys through the salon.

Good times.

But Mommy!

So we're sitting at dinner the other night, and Mike and I are talking away. Actually, I am talking away, and Mike is listening, which is the typical scenario.


Griffin really wants to contribute to the conversation, so he is making noise, trying to get our attention away from each other and onto him. Well, I don't like to be interrupted. I like to be the center of attention, too, for goodness' sake!


"Griffin!!!" I shouted. I had to shout, because his noise-making was a few decibels louder than a jet plane flying directly over the dinner table.


The noises stopped.


"If you need to say something while Mommy and Daddy are talking," I proclaimed, "you don't just interrupt us, or make loud noises. You need to say "Excuse me!""


I was attempting to look parental and wise, instead of displaying how I really felt -- like an annoyed little girl.


Griffin stopped making noise, and was about to concede the point and say "okay"... his mouth had already formed into an "O"...


And then he stopped.


"But Mommy!" he exclaimed, with a look of confusion creeping over him, "I didn't burp yet!"

Don't Cry

A couple of nights ago, as Mike and I lay dozing -- I can't remember whether it was very late night or very early morning -- Sammy began to whimper in his crib. We could hear him tossing and turning, probably rubbing his sleepy little eyes. After a couple minutes of Sammy's sad little noises, we heard a tiny tired voice in the baby monitor.

"Don't cry, Sammy... I love you."

And Sammy stopped crying.

Our New Dog

Gordon's hair starts shedding in huge clumps in the spring, and he looks like he has some kind of wasting disease. His whole hind end starts losing all of the lighter colored hair, and the dark hair underneath shows where the big clumps of light hair have fallen out. I would imagine it is very itchy. And our carpets suffer too.

He is part Great Dane, part Golden Retriever, so I would imagine that this is the Golden Retriever part showing through. He has already outlived a lot of Great Danes, and he still acts like he has plenty of life in him! He turns 6 this month. Happy Birthday, Gordon!!

We got him a birthday present (actually, it was just to maintain oour sanity and hair-free carpet). It's the Shed-Ender, a professional de-shedding tool we saw on TV and bought at the As Seen on TV store. And does it ever work!! Every brush stroke resulted in a big clump of hair that was obviously coming from his undercoat. It pulled out all of the light clumps quite easily. It was time-consuming, partially because he is such a large dog and has SO much hair, and partially because of his Great-Dane-ness that causes him to be quite nervous and want to turn in circles and lick the brush and our hands and the leash we used to tie him onto a chair to keep him still.

But it all only took about two hours, which is actually a very short time compared to the time we would have spent cleaning up dog hair off of the floor if we hadn't brushed him. We had a "normal" dog brush, but it didn't get down to his undercoat very well, and would leave lots of hair that would work its way to the top. Brushing him would just make him shed even more for a few weeks while the leftover hair worked its way out.

As fascinating as this subject is, I think I'll stop here.

Let's just say that we have one very happy doggie. With a lot less hair.

After the Cut

Okay, here are my Post-Haircut pictures. I loved my stylist, and will definitely be going back to her. Went to The Hairem. It was an awesome experience! I told her that I would never be able to make the haircut look as good as it did when she finished, but it's actually not all that hard, it just takes a while. And some mousse, styling wax and hairspray... and a hair straightener. And a half-round brush. I don't have the brush, and I need to get a straightener that doesn't pull my hair out when I use it (mine was very cheaply made). I love the haircut, though, and will most likely keep it up even after the blonde fades.

Y-luh-doo

Sounds strange, I know. But this is Sammy's new phrase for the week.

Have you guessed what it is yet?

Yes, you're right.

He's saying "I love you."

My heart melts.

Originality

"Originality is not doing something no one else has ever done, but doing what has been done countless times with new life, new breath." -- Marie Chapian


I think this means that every time I fold a load of clothes or load the dishwasher for the third time today I can do it with originality. But how does one achieve originality?


Is it found by buying new things that make me happy to look at them? My new little white and green sauce cups from Crate and Barrel do that.


Is it found by doing my chores a different way each time I do them, or on a different day of the week every week? I have never kept a cleaning schedule, with the excuse that I could be more flexible if I wasn't tied down to doing a certain thing on a certain day.


Or is it found by just being happy and content in the midst of my chores, and letting the routine become a soothing part of my life? I believe that the men in my home would appreciate some order and routine.


I tend to lean toward the last option as the "right answer", if there is such a thing. It is the right answer for me, anyway. People are different, and I know that not everyone has my tendency to wait until something absolutely has to be done before doing it. Some people thrive on schedules, lists, routines, etc.


I have always believed that I would not be able to stick with a routine. And perhaps that is why I never have. Believing something about yourself changes many of the choices you make in life, and that can impact your life positively or negatively, depending on the belief.


Say I believe I am overweight. My thought pattern tends to be "Oh, I can't shop at that store, I'll never find anything that fits." But if I *believe* that I am losing weight, there is a smorgasboard of new opportunities that await me (and not just in the clothing department). I will say "Yes, it is a bit tight now, but I am losing weight, so it will fit perfectly in not too long!" or "My stomach is shrinking, so I'll pass up the triple bypass burger today because I couldn't possibly eat it all." Or maybe even "I need to go to the gym today because I really wouldn't want all of the work I've put in so far to go to waste!"

Wow, that was pretty motivating, huh?

Blonde Bombshell

I think I'm going to like being a blonde. :) And it cost a whole lot less than going to the salon! I spent a little over $10 for Loreal Frost and Design's "Dramatic" (that it is!), "High-Precision" (we will only do every *other* hole in the cap next time), "Pull-Through Cap" (and poke, and pull, and poke, and pull, and poke, and pull), "Highlights" (would have been if we'd have only done every other hole).

Mike worked so long and hard last night poking all of those little holes in the plastic cap, and pulling the little bits of hair through. Then I mixed up the formula and he was nice enough to spread it onto my hair and make sure it was all evenly placed. He spent at least an hour pulling all of the hair through. Gotta love a man who'll do that!! You have no idea how much work it is to highlight hair with a pull-through cap until you have done it at home (or are a hair stylist, God bless 'em). Mike asked me how much it costs to have it done at a salon. I told him I would have spent $50, and he told me I could tip him later. ;)

I love my new hair color. I can't wait to do fun things with it as it grows!

Her arm is... where???

Okay, I just realized that it appears as though Bonnie has an extra arm in the picture I posted with her in it. Sorry, Bonnie! Hopefully you don't run for office someday. That picture might come back to haunt you. But isn't she cute?

Bonnie's Lemon "Lick-The-Floor-Clean" Cake

Bonnie makes a fantastic homemade lemon cake that has four scrumptious layers of lemon curd sandwiched between moist lemon cakey goodness, topped off with a mountain of fresh whipped cream and sweet-tart berries. It is the picture of perfection, and I'll post some pictures of the actual cake when she sends some to me (hint, hint!!). She made one for Valentine's Day, and our family got to come over for the first-ever Lemon Licking Cake Tasting! No, it's not actually called "Licking" cake, I just made that up.

She came to our house a few weekends ago and baked two more of these delectible perfectionisms (hey, it's a word now!) for a baby shower while we listened to the audiobook The Secret, which I will write more about later. When the cake was done, she whipped the cream. As she transferred a spoon coated in whipped cream across the kitchen floor, two things happened. First, a small "plop!" Next, two small boys plastered themselves on the floor to lick up the results of the plop. The floor was clean, by the way. Or I could say... the floor WAS clean.

Sammy was especially excited about the prospect of actually licking the floor!! And when he graduated to licking the whipped cream spoon itself, he was in High Heaven. Until Bonnie (oooops) accidentally dropped (after a couple of firm shakes of her wrist) another plop on the floor.

She had to do this, as my camera had needed new batteries and the first plop-licking was un-photographable. But my new camera batteries were raring to go, so her ploppings were photographed with delight. Oh, that sounds so wrong...

We were all bent over laughing by the time the whipped cream was all licked up.

And two little boys can't wait to taste Bonnie's Ploppings again.

Eight Thousand Words

For Caleb

So we're on our way home from the American Indoor Sports Arena last night, where we went to walk around and watch the people and kids (not that kids aren't people) play soccer.

Mike says "Griffin, what does the cow say?" and Griffin says "Eat More Chikin!" just like the good boy that we taught him to be. Actually this time we had wanted him to say "moo", because Sammy tries to say it now (it comes out "mmMMm") whenever he hears someone else saying it, and we wanted to hear Sammy try to say it so we could laugh at him.

"No, what does the REAL cow say?" we asked Griffin.

"Moo" he said after a moment's hesitation. We really should stop confusing him, but it's just so darned funny!

Than Mike said, "Griffin, do you know what Caleb says?"

Griffin went silent.

"Caleb says "Get a Garmin, or get lost!" can you say that? "Get a Garmin, or get lost!""

Griffin ponders things for a little bit, while Mike and I repeat this phrase over and over so that he can become very familiar with it before saying it back to us.

I stop talking and shush Mike, because I think he's finally ready to say it.

The golden moment has arrived!

"Get a Garmin, and GET LOST!"

We laughed all the way home.

The Sammy Game

Sammy is now backing down the stairs by himself, so I don't have to play The Sammy Game anymore. It went kind of like this...

Sammy climbs up all of the stairs. Sammy selects large throwing object (usually something the he knows Griffin will object to, such as Thomas the Train). Sammy then proceeds to throw said object as hard as he can from about 12 feet above the hardwood floor. This makes a loud crashing sound. Sammy giggles. Sammy selects a second large throwing object. Mommy stops what she is doing and runs to the staircase. Mommy looks up at Sammy and says "Sammy, what are you doing?" Sammy throws said object as hard as he can, narrowly missing (and sometimes hitting) Mommy's head. Mommy runs up the staircase to retrieve the little mischief-maker. Mommy carries Sammy down the stairs and sets up the child safety gate. Mommy walks away. Sammy knocks over child safety gate and climbs over it. Sammy climbs up all of the stairs. Sammy selects large throwing object...

This was known to go on for hours, interrupted only by breakfast, naptime, lunch, the arrival of Daddy, and dinner.

Sammy protested greatly every time I showed him how to back down the staircase by himself. He didn't want Mommy to have a reason to end The Sammy Game. But now it is over, and Sammy has decided to cut his ties to Mommy and embrace his freedom. He is now Master Of The Staircase.

Cookie

I made cookies today, and this is the second time Sammy has tasted my chocolate chip cookies. The first time he reacted very favorably to them, and even cried when the cookie he was munching on was all gone.

This time I sat him down in his high chair and sat next to him, laying the cookies down on the table beside us. He took one look at them and grinned from ear to ear.

"Cookie!" he pronounced, and then proceeded to cry until I had placed bites of the cookie on his tray, at which point he gobbled them up like there's no tomorrow.

He said it a few more times, looking his sweetest, until the little bits of cookie were all gone. He then threw the biggest tantrum I have ever seen.

The End.

Beautiful

Love the way
Winter's chill disappears into the sunny breeze.
Laughter rings as little ones skip lightly across chalk-colored driveways.
Grass softens and strengthens for the coming green.
Buds emerge from tree branches long held silent.

Love the way
Friends grow closer every day.
Husbands and wives find new ways to love.
Children learn new things about their world.
Distant relatives discover electronic communication.

Love the way
Warm whole wheat cookies smell fresh from the oven.
Small boys sleep away the afternoon.
Windows show tiny handprints.
Dishes are all clean and put away.

It's a Wonderful Life

Wow. I just got back from www.wilhoite.blogspot.com, and was reminded of my mortality. This young lady, who is married and the mother of a just barely one-year-old little boy, is struggling for her life with leukemia. She was just diagnosed in 2006. The doctors say she has only two months to live. Eight weeks. What would I do with only eight weeks to live? I think I'll go spend some time with Griffin now.

Skunk Virgin No More

As of this evening at about 8:30 pm, I had never in my 26-year-old life smelled a skunk. Not once. Not even when everyone else in the car was screaming and coughing and hacking and crying and holding their noses and rolling down the windows, then quickly rolling them back up again. I simply did not understand what the big fuss was all about.

Sometimes, growing up, Mom and Dad would say they smelled one in the neighborhood, or even outside our house, and as they closed all of the windows, my sister and I (she's still a Skunk Virgin) would scoff and laugh at the silly people who reacted so strongly to something so minor as a cute little cuddly furry skunk. Fast-forward to this evening.

We were innocently driving home from a lovely marriage presentation (seminar? talk? lecture? class?) that the pastor and his wife had put together for us (well, not just us) at church. We were almost to our street when off of the median jumped a cute little cuddly furry skunk, who proceeded to run right under the van and stop as we drove over him. We heard a couple of very small noises coming from under the van, and then there was this big crack in the universe, as my Skunk Virginity came to an end. It was all over. And I will regret this in the morning.

No, we (or, I should say, Mike) did not kill the insipid little varmint. Oh, no. He got to toddle off into the already set sun as I died a slow death knowing that my life would never again be quite the same. My innocence has been destroyed. I will never see life in the same way ever again. My nose hath been corrupted.

I can't wait to go to the car wash tomorrow and ask for a tomato bath.

True Worth

"True worth is in being, not seeming -- in doing, each day that goes by, some little good -- not in dreaming of great things to do by and by."

Alice Cary

Our Love Story

I would like to share the story of how Mike and I met each other and fell in love. I thought it was an appropriate time of the year, having just celebrated Valentine's Day.

I was 21, and I worked at the Christian Book and Gift Store. Emilee was a manager there. She trained me as the store's "visual merchandiser" (a job I absolutely loved!!). We became good friends and hung out a lot outside of work. She and her husband Ken got four tickets to a KC Royals game and Emilee asked me if I wanted to go to the game with them. She said that Ken was inviting one of his friends too.

"We're not trying to set you up or anything, nothing like that... it's not a date... it's NOT a DATE!!!" they both urged emphatically.

So we went to meet Ken's friend (guess who!) at IBM, where Mike still works. When he walked out of the building, I thought he was good-looking, but I didn't form any opinions about him since I didn't know him. I had never dated anyone before (unless you count the guys I met in a Christian chat room, but that's another post... plus, I didn't like any of them once I actually met them); I wanted to wait to date until I knew I was willing to marry the man I was dating.

Some might say this is idealistic, but I knew what I wanted and wasn't going to settle for less. I know that I had been protected from a lot of heartache since I didn't attach myself emotionally to anyone before Mike came along. I had learned a lot about courtship over the years, and I really didn't want to get hurt by quickly developing an in-depth relationship with someone and then having him break it off because he wasn't as serious as I was. I wasn't going to date, I was going to court (makes me sound like a criminal!). I had my mind made up, and nothing and no one would change it. WELL.

After the baseball game we all went to Sylas and Maddy's for ice cream, and we sat at this little round table. It was so small that we couldn't really all scoot up all the way to the table. I sat across from Emilee, and Mike sat across from Ken. Which meant that I was sitting next to Mike. We had to sit so close together that our knees kept on bumping, and I was a bit embarrassed about it at first, but quickly realized that it wouldn't do any good to get embarrassed and red-faced about something that didn't seem to matter to him, and I tried not to pay attention to it, but it was hard!!

Mike and I got to know each other a little better over the next couple of months (we met in July of 2001), by going to Ken and Emilee's house and playing cards and visiting with them. I kept asking Emilee if this guy was ever going to show any interest in me (yeah, I was already starting to change my mind about the whole dating/courtship thing), but she said that she wouldn't give him my phone number unless he asked her for it. Well, I must have bugged her about it every day at work, because I really liked this guy!!

He was a Christian, and he was polite, funny, witty, smart, and "established" (he already had a house and he had worked at IBM for a long time). Those had all been on my list of requirements for my "perfect courtship relationship". I knew I didn't want to get involved with a guy who didn't have a steady job. I didn't have any age "requirements", but an older guy was probably going to fit my ideal a bit better. The fact that Mike is eight years older than I am is a definite plus, in my opinion!

So anyway, here I was pestering Emilee about Mike, when is he going to call me, do you think he's even interested in me, and on and on... I'm sure I drove her nuts. Then one day, about 3 months after our first (it's not a) date, I got a call from him. I knew it was him because we had caller ID, and when I saw his number I whooped and shrieked and told Mom he was finally calling me!!! I'm sure she was relieved, because she had heard little from me but "Mike this, Mike that" for a very long time... maybe since the day I met him?

He WAS calling to ask me out, and he came by either that night or the next to pick me up for dinner. Our first real date after months of getting together in a group setting... I'd say it wasn't too far from courtship standards. Call it "modern courtship". Plus, I was 21 and he was 29, and neither of us were immature by any means. Since neither one of us could decide where to go to eat (a problem we still have to this day), we ended up going to a place we really aren't too crazy about, but we did have a great time talking.

He kept asking me "What does that face mean?" whenever he thought I was having a facial reaction to anything. Well, apparently I don't even know when my face decides to do something, because most of the time when he thought I was making a face, I hadn't been thinking about anything in particular, and was just chewing or smiling. He says he was just trying to figure me out and get to know me better, but that had to be the most annoying thing that happened that night. I don't know why I thought it was annoying, because now I enjoy it when he asks me what my facial expressions mean. Hmmm... Anyway, other than that it was fantastic. He cracked great jokes, knew how to have a good conversation, and didn't just let me talk the whole time, but also asked intelligent questions, and he responded with more than one-word answers to my questions! What a guy!!

We soon established a pattern. Mike only worked about 2-3 minutes from where my parents lived, but he lived about 30 minutes away in another city, so almost every weeknight he would come from work, pick me up and take me to dinner and the occasional movie, and then he'd bring me back home and go home himself. During the next two months that's how it went.

Then he went to Paris with Ken and Emilee and his parents and Ken's parents for a week. It was a VERY long week, and I missed him so much!! When they got back, he took me to dinner and gave me some presents (a soft, fuzzy black scarf; some chocolates; an Eiffel Tower keychain; some laser-cut glass blocks with the Eiffel Tower etched into them) . I loved the presents, but I was just glad to have him home! I had decided that he was the one for me. Now I just had to wait for him to figure it out too. When he got home it was late November, and we continued our "pattern" for a few more weeks, until one night at Applebee's. By this time I was working at EXPO design center, and Applebee's was right across the street from where I worked. No hard decisions there!

We sat down and made small talk for a while, and then I got really quiet. He asked me what was wrong and had to prod me a bit before I finally came out and asked him what he wanted from our relationship. Where were we going? We had never even held hands, and yet it seemed like we were pretty serious! He told me that he had always been a "one-woman man" and that he had assumed that we were going to exclusively date each other and be a couple. He asked what I wanted from "a relationship". Not knowing that he actually meant our relationship, I said "Well, I want to get married! I want to have children and be a stay-at-home mom." I'm sure this surprised him, and he probably thought I was being very bold. But I hadn't understood him and I just assumed he was asking me what I wanted out of life in general. I found all of this out after we had been married for a couple of years and had a conversation about that date!

Anyway, when I went home that night and the next day told Mom that we were "official". Mom said something to the effect of "It's about time!" and "You're getting married, right?" I just couldn't help myself. I cracked up laughing and told her that no, we'd just decided to officially be a couple until further notice. She seemed a bit disappointed!

Mike and I continued dating for 2 more months (during which time we looked at rings just "for future reference"), and then he took me to a special Italian restaurant called Gambucci's on Valentine's Day, 2002. After we were done eating, he said he needed to use the restroom. This wasn't typical, but I didn't suspect anything yet. Well, when he came back from "the restroom", his shirt was wet with raindrops (it hadn't been raining when we came in). Hmmm... Now I was suspicious. He sat back down in his seat, but he didn't stay there for long. Before I knew it, he was kneeling beside my seat and opening a box with a beautiful ring and asking me to be his wife forever. It was such a wonderful moment, and I answered with a hearty "Yes!!" and hugged him tight while the people seated near us looked on and smiled. He sat next to me in the booth and we talked for a long time. The waitress had apparently seen what happened, and they came out and took our picture, so now I can look at it and always remember how happy I was at that moment. It was so special!!

We talked over the next week and decided on September 21st of that same year as our wedding day, and seven months of planning and preparation later, we were married in our church. We did all of the decorating ourselves, except for the bouquets; I had a TON of help from my very artistic friends and family. The music was played mostly by the church pianist, who did a beautiful job. He always wowed us every Sunday with his talent, and it was no different at our wedding. Everything went off without a hitch (except ours, of course!). I started getting teary-eyed when Dad gave me away, but managed to compose myself. The only time we could have messed up was when we almost forgot to blow out the two small candles on either side of the unity candle. But we remembered at the very last second. Maybe it was because Wesley, my brother, was playing "How Beautiful" on the trumpet (he's a very talented musician!) and we were so overcome that it was hard to remember much of anything at that time! I finally lost it when, after we enjoyed our kiss as Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell(!) the recessional started playing, and I was so overwhelmed with everything that I started crying as we walked back up the aisle. They were tears of joy, and I was able to pull myself together so that I could greet everyone as a newly married woman. I felt so fulfilled and peaceful at that moment.

The feeling gets stronger every day.

Valentine Funny

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did. I'm still laughing!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day to my dear, sweet hubby!! I love you so much and can't wait to spend five more wonderful years with you. For those of you who don't know, Mike proposed to me on Valentine's Day, 2002, and we were married seven months and one week later. :)

Last Night's Fun

So I got these three pages done last night. Or the night before? I don't remember. It's all kind of a blur... aren't I cute?

Cold Season

We all have a terrible cold right now, and are VERY miserable... well, except for Mike, who is watching KU beat Missouri at basketball right now. At least we hope they will! Griffin is almost over his cold, he just coughs a lot. But the rest of us are in full-fledged yuck mode, walking around like zombies with trails of Kleenex not far behind. How I long for some scrapbooking time!! I think I'll go do that now, while Griffin is sleeping and Sammy snuggles with Daddy on the couch. Maybe I'll post pictures, if I happen to finish anything. :)

Ambition

Just some thoughts I had today about finding purpose and direction in life.  Sometimes my "Creations" are just thoughts I have found the time to write down.  :)

You can't do everything AND be successful at everything you do at the same time. But you can "do one thing well" -- the motto of many entrepreneurs -- and everything else seems to find its own place while you are doing that. Not that your life will be perfect just because you are doing something you love to do, far from it. So many things will come up to make you think you aren't doing a good enough job, and that you need to change, and you will try (and fail!) to seek approval from outside sources to find fulfillment in what you are doing.

But joy comes in discipline, even though it seems that, as you go about your day-to-day existence, you are going to wither up and die and no one will have noticed all of your efforts here on earth. This is what Satan tells you so that you will be less effective in the world. He truly tries to keep you down by telling you this hogwash that you aren't "good enough" or "smart enough" or "working hard enough" to make any kind of difference. And that's just not true!!

The people who have made the biggest differences in the world (good AND bad) are those individuals who focused on one thing they loved doing and did it to the best of their ability, no matter what anyone told them. Some people even died thinking that no one was ever going to know what they had done to change the world, and only after they were gone did people see the contributions they had made. But they still kept at it while they were here, because they believed in it. Thomas Edison was told by his school that he wasn't smart enough to graduate. Michael Jordan was told by his high school basketball coach that he'd never amount to anything. There are so many people who have been criticized for doing something they believed in... and they overcame that criticism because they believed in what they were doing enough to keep doing it, day after day.

I'm not saying that a "positive self-image" is what's going to make you succeed. I'm not a big proponent of "self-esteem", "self-image", or any of those "self-" words, because life is about so much more than just focusing on ourselves. It's about discipline in the little things. Things that don't seem to matter to anyone, and it seems as if you are just busying yourself for no reason in particular, and that nothing and no one will ever be affected by anything you do. But you have to realize that even if one life (could be your husband's, your children's, your friends and/or relatives, or just random people you happen to meet) is affected positively by your daily "existence", then your life is absolutely worth living, and living to its fullest! Even in the tiny daily things you do.

So take heart, ladies!! Most days it seems we haven't accomplished a single thing, but God knows. He knows every struggle, every load of laundry that you squeezed into your day, every dish you washed and placed back into the cupboard for the 10th time this week, every prayer you said that seemed to hit the ceiling and reverberate throughout the room without really going anywhere, and every loving word you said to your husband whether you think he deserved it or not. Your Father knows the longings you have to make a difference in the world and to be recognized for the things you do in your lifetime.

I Thessalonians 4:11-12 says "This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we commanded you before. As a result, people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others to meet your financial needs."

This is a far cry from what many women are shouting from the rooftops today. "Well behaved women rarely make history" is a favorite quote of some well-meaning women who just want to be acknowledged for their contributions to society. Well, I am going to go against the flow here, but I would have to say that I would rather make the Lamb's Book of Life than the history books any day!

Thank you, Chipmunk!

Sammy now says "Thank you," as well as he can with a mouth full of gums (and 8 teeth). I say it every time he hands me something, which is one of his new favorite things to do, and we pass the item back and forth with me saying "Thank you!!" every time. I finally started to listen to the garbled sounds he was making back at me. It is definitely two words that sound like "Tlanlt tloo."

Tonight at dinner, Griffin jerked and looked very pained, and when I asked what had happened, he told me he got a chip stuck behind or between his teeth. I said "Wow, those chips can hurt, can't they?" and he grinned really big and said "Yeaaaah (as only Griffin can do), it was a chipMUNK!"

Who knows what that means!?

A Definite Favorite

This is a meal that I made up, and it is one of our family's all-time favorites! It can be made with or without the sausage. My mom tried it with ground chicken sausage and that worked quite well also. I usually chop up an onion and a couple cloves of garlic and add them to the butter before putting the cabbage in.

Cabbage and Mushrooms with Smoked Sausage

1/2 stick butter
1 head cabbage
1 package fresh sliced mushrooms OR
2 cans mushroom pieces and stems
salt, pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 smoked sausage, cut into chunks
2 packages Ramen Noodles, oriental flavor, cooked according to package directions (drain almost all water before adding flavoring)

Chop cabbage into desired size pieces. Melt butter in skillet on medium heat (this is when you'd add the optional onions/garlic and add cabbage and mushrooms. Salt and pepper to taste and add garlic powder. Stir well. Cover and cook over medium to medium-low heat until cabbage is tender, stirring often. Meanwhile, brown sausage in separate pan. Mix cabbage and sausage together and serve over Ramen noodles. (If you cook the sausage in the same pan as the cabbage, your sausage will not brown and will lose flavor.)

A Clean House

"A clean house makes coming home even nicer." -- So states an advertisement for The Cleaning Authority -- "Your Residential Cleaning Professionals".

Well, some days I feel like a residential cleaning professional. Maybe that should be my new title. No more "housewife" or "stay-at-home mom" or even "domestic engineer", or my favorite, "domestic goddess." No! From now on, I am Mrs. Residential Cleaning Professional! Hear me vacuum!!

Okay, so I'm only a professional in my own home. Hand me someone else's cleaning to-do list and I am completely lost. But I have managed to keep a somewhat clean home -- as clean as two little boys, two cats and a very large black hairy dog will allow -- in my four-and-a-half years of married life. But there is always much room for improvement, especially for a Type W (Wait to clean it until it looks really dirty for Maximum Complement Potential) personality such as myself.

The ad goes on to say "Life's too short to clean your own home." Well, as a Residential Cleaning Professional (RCP) myself, I would have to say that my life is long enough to clean my own home. I know that's not the case for everyone, so don't take offense. Not everyone is called into the Residential Cleaning Profession! But I do actually enjoy the process, and especially the end result, of cleaning... yes, even the toilets! There is a certain satisfaction in entering a freshly cleaned bathroom, knowing that you are going to be cleaner coming out than you were going in.

Okay, enough potty humor. The reason I wanted to post this blog is to list the many, many things these particular RCP's do to maintain the beauty of the homes they clean. I could take quite a few pointers from these people!

This is what they do every time they come to your home:

Bathrooms:
tile walls, bathtubs and showers cleaned and disinfected
shower doors cleaned and disinfected
vanity and sink cleaned and disinfected
mirrors and chrome fixtures cleaned and shined
floors washed and disinfected/carpets vacuumed
toilets cleaned and disinfected
mildew chemically treated
cobwebs removed
general dusting

Kitchen and Eating areas:
countertops cleaned
outside of range hood cleaned
top and front of range cleaned
drip pans wiped
sinks cleaned and disinfected, chrome shined
fronts of other appliances cleaned
floors vacuumed and mopped
cobwebs removed
microwave wiped out
general dusting

Sleeping and Living Areas:
flat areas damp cloth dusted
stairs vacuumed
accessible closet floors vacuumed
all readily accessible floors vacuumed
wood floors vacuumed and dust mopped
cobwebs removed
picture frames dusted
window sills and ledges dusted
louvered doors dusted
mini blinds dusted
ceiling fans dusted
lampshades dusted
intricate items dusted
heavy knick-knack areas dusted

And these services are provided on a rotating basis:

Bathroom Detail Cleans:
tile grout scrubbed
shower door given extra attention
spot clean doors and door frames for fingerprints
knick-knacks individually cleaned
fronts of cabinets wiped
baseboard wiped
extra attention to floors

Kitchen and Eating Area Detail Cleans:
inside of range hood cleaned
grease filter cleaned
drip pans cleaned
doors and frames spot cleaned for fingerprints
appliances cleaned and shined
knick-knack areas cleaned
outside of cabinets cleaned
baseboards wiped
all kitchen furniture hand wiped

Sleeping and Living Area Detail Cleans:
doors and frames spot cleaned for fingerprints
window sills and ledges damp wiped
knick-knacks individually cleaned
furniture hand wiped
baseboards wiped
furniture and upholstery vacuumed
carpet edges vacuumed
areas under accessible furniture vacuumed

Okay... wait... maybe I DO want these people to come clean my house ;)

Regardless, I know I'm going to be adding some of these things to my cleaning to-do list! I always forget to remove the cobwebs, clean the inside of the microwave, DUST, and vacuum the furniture. So I guess I'm not doing too bad, I just have some things I need to work on. I think I'll print this list out and work it in to my cleaning routine. Or maybe I'll start with making a cleaning routine. Whoa! I'm on a roll. Any other RCP's out there?

Happy 50th Blog!

This is my fiftieth blog. So happy fiftieth blog to those of you who have been reading. :)

Griffin has been really sick over the last few days, poor guy. He has a very runny nose and had a fever for a day or two also. He has been coughing SO much, and even got sick quite a few times as a result of coughing so much. At first I thought he must have the flu, but he only gets sick when he coughs, so I put two and two together and figured it must just be a bad cold. Now Sammy has the runny nose/coughing. He lost a whole bottle this morning after a particularly rough coughing episode. Griffin has been sleeping very well the last few days, so I'm praying that Sammy will do the same and get over this bug quickly!

I have been reading a lot of material on homeschooling. Just trying to figure out what is right for us, even though the boys won't be in school for a few years. I really want to use Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I think this is what my mom used to teach my little brother to read -- Wesley isn't so little anymore and will be going to COLLEGE this fall.... time flies!!! He's already smarter than me, no fair!!! ;) He'll be studying something computer-related, like Dad and Mike... the men in the family get along very well. We women never understand what they are talking about -- all those letters and numbers make my head spin -- but it's great that they can relate on the computer-language level.

I am going to call my grandma, it was her birthday a couple of days ago and I have been so busy with sick little boys that I haven't taken the time to call her!

So again, happy 50th to me and my adoring fans. ;)

Obedience Training Update

Here's an update on how the obedience training is going with the boys. I have been correcting Griffin every time he does something wrong, and I make sure he knows the reason I am getting after him. Sometimes this means a spanking, if it is something like hitting Sammy or picking on the cats or the dog, or directly disobeying something I tell him to do -- for example, I tell him to "Stop jumping on the couch, please" and he looks at me defiantly and jumps a few more times, just to make a point. I don't just let it go or act like I didn't see it or tell him again to "Stop it!!!". I respond immediately and he knows that I will respond the first time, so the bad behavior isn't happening nearly as often. I don't just jump right in and spank unless he is hurting someone else, and even then I sit down and explain what he did wrong before I give him the spanking, and three small swats usually is enough to make him regret what he did.

Other times it just means sitting down with him and talking to him about why something is wrong. He is still learning what is acceptable and what is not acceptable, and I understand that. But sometimes he just constantly wants to test the limits -- we have some days where it seems like all I do is correct him all day long! -- and he does things that I haven't specifically told him not to do (removing the vent covers from all of the vents on the main floor wasn't in our list of house rules), but that he knows he shouldn't do. This happens a lot when we are in a store or at someone else's house, church, the gym, etc. He thinks the rules might have changed, so he will test the limits at each new place we go.

I know this stage won't last forever (it should only take a few weeks or maybe a couple of months), and I try to remember that fact when it seems like I am punishing him for the thirtieth time that day for smacking Sammy or running into him and knocking him over just to make him cry. Of course, my mom also pointed out to me that I need to teach Sammy not to constantly be in Griffin's business. Sammy just loves his brother and wants to be doing whatever he is all the time. So I'll be working with Sammy on his "independent play" skills. :)

When I first started this "intense training", I thought that I shouldn't have to follow him around all day long and constantly tell him not to do things, but how else is he supposed to learn what is acceptable and what is not? A 2-year-old's sense of reason isn't fully developed. I used to think that he should be able to figure out by himself that if something he did was going to make a mess or cause an accident, he shouldn't start doing it in the first place. I was wrong!

Something I have learned is that if I don't tell him not to climb up on the coffee table, then I shouldn't get mad at him if one day there is a cup of coffee sitting on it and he climbs up and accidentally knocks it over. If I have let him climb up there in the past, and there has been no punishment, and maybe we even laughed because it was cute, and then one time he climbs up there and there happens to be an accident, it is no one's fault but my own for not teaching him to climb up there in the first place. I have had to re-teach him in a lot of areas that were acceptable, but now are not because they could cause an accident at some point.

If an accident does happen, I do not punish him for it. This was a totally new concept to me. I had always just reacted to things he did, and if something spilled or broke or got messed up, I got mad. But this is the opposite of what needed to happen. If I teach him that something is not acceptable, and he does it, and then an accident happens, I punish him for the thing he did wrong, not for the accident. Accidents are just that -- accidents. It is my job to make sure his behavior won't cause an accident. Sure, it takes a lot more time on my part, but that's what being a mom is all about. I am there to guide, teach, and correct. Someday soon he will be able to reason for himself, and then he won't be under my "wing" quite so much, but for now it is up to me to teach my boys right from wrong.

That's all for now. Sesame Street is over and it's time for "workbook time". Griffin learns a new Bible verse every week and we get to read stories and do fun activities. Then we'll make lunch and Daddy will come home to eat with us. It's going to be a good day!