Monday...

I was awakened this morning by my son crawling into bed between my husband and me. He was wiggly from the start, and was trying to get more elbow room. Well, we have a full-size bed. There's not much elbow room, as small as my husband is. It wasn't long before he became somewhat claustrophobic and left. Baby woke up, and soon they were in our room, next to the bed. They came to say good-bye.

"Huh?"

"We're leaving today; we're moving to Grandma and Granddad's house."

I don't know why, but this hurt. I remember wanting to move to my grandparents' house, but I think I had more to run from. So I played along.

Here are my dear children, leaving home. You can’t see what they are carrying, but they did make sure to take a couple pair of undies, a stuffed animal to sleep with, and a couple little toys. And Baby took her pink feather boa.



















"BYE!"

They were home for lunch.

DH has been pretty faithful about working out/playing on the Wii Fit+. Here he is hulla-hooping with the kids. Precious.

Today the Dish Network guy came – 5 minutes after DH left for work. Perfect timing, huh? DH decided to get a DVR through the dish. The one we have is full of recordings. We now have another 359.9 hours of hard drive space. And a new remote to learn.


I think we need another remote. Or two.

Seriously gotta get serious

if I'm going to lose weight before the middle of August!

I've lost just under 5 lbs. in the last 3 weeks. That's not fast enough. I need to get moving, and I need to figure out what to do in the middle of the afternoon and late evening when I get the munchies. Tonight I ate some carrots. Fine. It worked, but I don't think they will satisfy me every day. And what if I turn orange like Baby did when she was tiny? I tried to find a picture of her to link, but I can't get to it from my laptop. Ugh. But I'll find one.

My list of things to do and get whipped into shape just keeps getting longer.

Did I say ugh?

Running the Race

I teach a Sunday school class that is a bit unique. I have students who are 2nd-6th grades. I usually have 1-2 boys who come regularly, and occasionally have a couple sisters who come.

I also don't enjoy the Sunday school curriculum that the church uses. So I write my own lessons.

Our lessons are revolving around the verse in Hebrews that tells us to lay aside every weight, and the sins that drag on us so that we can finish the race.

I feel an object lesson coming on...

Jamming and Twirling

A good laugh

Little Boy just told Baby, "Pretend that you're actually a normal person..."

I laughed and they both just looked at me like, "What?!"

Oh boy!

What's for supper?

So what do you make for supper when you are sick? Daddy already fixed frozen pizza for lunch.

I think we might go with chicken nuggets, or something else that is easy and not too stinky pungent fragrant.

But what I'd really like to eat is this:

Simple Chicken Noodle Soup in a crock pot

1 chicken in pieces (3-4 leg/thigh quarters) I take off the skin & as much fat as I can
2 Chicken bullion cubes or 2 cups chicken broth
2 quarts water (less 2 cups if you use broth)
1 T. salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
¼ c. fresh parsley
½ tsp. Marjoram or basil
1 bay leaf
6 oz. Wide Egg Noodles

Directions: Place all ingredients except noodles in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove chicken and bay leaf. Take meat off the bones & dice – return meat to the pot. Add noodles. Cook ½ hour on high.

We buy the large bag of leg/thigh quarters from Wal-mart. Great with garlic cheese biscuits (recipe on Bisquick box).

Would anyone volunteer to come make this? I don't think I could stand that long. Blah.

Not feeling so great

I got up this morning and didn't feel wonderful, but a mom's job is never done... So I got up. While I was checking email, I felt a cold sweat come over me. And I tagged DH - his turn. He's on 2nd shift this week, so I went back to bed, and let him deal with the kids. The very loud kids. Who decided to sword fight with lincoln logs. @@

I should have closed the bedroom door and put earplugs in my ears.

I got up close to noon and got a shower. I'm feeling a bit better, but I'm very thankful it's almost naptime.

It's not that far into the month, and I have missed a couple days of my 365 project. But I did get some cute pictures. I'm going to keep trying.

Here are the kids after eating pizza at lunch - making "big eyes".

You might be asking yourself, "Why is Little Boy curled up on the floor like that?"

Here's why:

Haiti

Tragic what is happening in Haiti.

But after offering up a quick prayer, I got online and applied some action and made a donation through Samaritan's Purse.

Samaritan's Purse delivered its first shipment of relief supplies yesterday.

Here's their article:

Catastrophic Earthquake Hits Haiti

The first Samaritan’s Purse cargo plane arrived in Haiti Wednesday with emergency relief supplies for victims of the massive earthquake that rocked the country on Tuesday. The initial shipment included shelter material, hygiene kits, and water purification kits, as well as members of our disaster response team.

Our team is comprised of veterans of many disaster responses, but even they were shocked by what they encountered when they arrived.

“The streets are full of people that have no home to go back to,” said Dr. David Gettle, medical advisor. “They’re running out of food, fuel, and water. The situation is desperate and tense, and there is tremendous suffering.”

Samaritan’s Purse deployed a disaster response team just hours after one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the Caribbean in decades to help with water, shelter, medical care, and other emergency needs.

“The damage is staggering in a nation where three out of four people live on less than $2 a day,” Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham said. “The people of Haiti need our help like never before.”

We are partnering with HCJB Global, a medical ministry out of Ecuador that will be sending six doctors to join Dr. Gettle. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association is deploying chaplains from its Rapid Response Team to help our team meet spiritual needs.

Staff with Baptist Haiti Mission, our local partner, report severe damage throughout the area. Power is out, and there is no water.

"It's overwhelming," said Kyrk Baker, director of operations for Baptist Haiti Mission. "We have a 100-bed hospital, and right now patients are lining the floor. There are big box vans coming in with people to see a doctor. It's just unbelievable the amount of people that are lined up trying to get basic medical care."

Baptist Haiti Mission is located in the mountains outside the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, about 20 miles from the epicenter. The hospital and other buildings are operating on generators.

The massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake was the strongest to hit the country in 200 years and was felt as far away as Cuba. The tremor sparked widespread panic as it brought down buildings including the presidential palace, hotels, a hospital, and the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince.

The city “is flattened,” said Haiti's consul general to the U.N., Felix Augustin. The death toll could be between 45,000 and 50,000, with a further three million people hurt or homeless, a senior Haitian Red Cross official said on Thursday.

The earthquake was centered about 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares a border with Haiti on the island of Hispaniola. Some panicked residents in the capital of Santo Domingo fled from their shaking homes.

Samaritan's Purse responded in Haiti with emergency food and shelter material in September 2008, when four major storms including Hurricane Ike slammed the Caribbean nation.

“Being able to help people in a time of need demonstrates Christ's love,” Baker said.

Armoire

This may be our next big purchase.

Or something similar.

Sometimes Christmas gifts are expensive.

What I can do

I can only do what I can do.

That may be a cop-out. Or I may just be giving myself permission to not be the perfect person my head (Satan?) keeps telling me I should be. And I'm trying to not live a life of guilt for falling short.

So my Christmas cards will go out in the middle of January.

My Christmas tree will be put away after the Christmas cards are done.

I won't feel guilty for taking my daughter out to eat after ballet instead of going to the Ladies' Fellowship meeting.

I won't beat myself up, or allow anyone else to beat me up, for not taking my kids to Wednesday night church.

There are many other things that I look at every day that need to be done or taken care of or cleaned, and I'm giving myself permission to get to them when I get to them.

Right now I'm focusing on losing weight, keep my son on track in homeschooling, and spending enough time with my daughter.

I feel like my husband is getting the leftovers. Poor guy.

Epiphany?

I've been really determined to lose weight this year. I was thinking about how difficult things are for my 6 year old son to deal with. He has to... wait for it... wash his hands before each meal. Some days he acts like I'm asking him to do something very difficult.

Not so terrible, but then he has to poke his finger, squeeze out a drop of blood and test it with his meter. OUCH. And after DH and/or I calculate his carbs, he gets a shot of insulin before he eats. He acts like that doesn't even faze him, but I know it must sting at the very least.

And realistically or not, we expect him to do this without fussing.

So if I can ask all this of my son, I can control the food that goes into my mouth!

I need to type this out and post it with a picture of the dress from my last post, this pic, and Philippians 4:13 on every flat surface in my kitchen to remind me.

My goal and reward

I want to lose weight this year. But it's so hard! I fix food for the kids and sample as I plate it. I snack without realizing it. But I found this dress last night. Our 10 year anniversary is this year. If I can get down to a size 18, I am going to reward myself with this dress. It is totally ME.

Frustration

School.

Son.

Reading.

Crying.

Yelling.

Threats.

Completion.

Lunch.

Naptime!

Ahhhh.

Cranky

So I have what the kids have been kindly sharing with me. And my head hurts. And I have NO patience. But I'm aware of it, and I'm trying to be kind.

But I haven't been overly successful.

"Little Boy - I'd like you to..."

"NO."





Patience flew out the window.

Thankfully, it's naptime. For all of us.

Maybe Daddy will fare better when he gets home.

Truth or Lie?

I told my son I didn't want him to play with his Playdoh until he felt better. I told him I'm afraid he'd get germs in it, and then the next time he played with it, he'd get sick again.

I did a quick Google search, and didn't find anything definitive.

Was that the truth, or am I just avoiding that nasty stuff?

I guess a better question is: "Do I care?"

LOL

Brrrrr

I've been happy that we have snow on the ground. But today was COLD. I don't remember the last time it was this cold, but that could just be because I can't remember well. :0P I had to go grocery shopping, and I about froze putting stuff into the Explorer. It's 10 degrees here, but we have 25+ mph winds. Making it well below zero. One of the neighbors was commenting to me before Christmas about the weather/snow. Then he stopped himself and said, "But you're used to this." Yeah. Right. 10 years ago. I don't know that I'm used to it, but I'm much less impressed than locals, I guess.

Did I say, "Brrrrr"?

New Backgrounds

I put new backgrounds on my blogs. It just felt like a good way to start the new year.

So many things I need to work on improving this year.

But I'd say one of the major ones is losing weight. I just cannot stand it.

I had DH order some Reliv weight loss stuff for me. So it looks like I'll be "eating" shakes a couple times a day for awhile.

I just hope I can stick to it.

Inspired

My friend Bessie has started her Project 365. Every day she takes a picture of herself.

She's inspired me. I'm going to try to do my own Project 365 - a pic of each of my kids every day. Or a pic of them together. But at least one every day. We'll see how well it goes.

Christmas pics

So I spent about 3 hours yesterday (might be a bit of an exaggeration) waiting for pictures to upload into Photobucket. I even downloaded Firefox to see if Explorer was the problem. And I put the pics into a slideshow and waited for the slideshow to load. And put it here.

And this morning realized I put the Tinkerbell pic in twice.

OH WELL.

We had a very nice Christmas, and the kids were both very well-behaved for most of the day.

Next Year

I've been trying for a couple days now to upload pics of Christmas and of the kids' Christmas program. But the computer is running slowly, and I'm not sure what the deal is.

So, I'm not fussing with it tonight. Instead, I'll deal with it next year.

LOL

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve - waiting to open their "one" present.

And it's.... JAMMIES!

Someone is not happy with new pajamas.

But he came around.

They opened their 2009 ornaments.

He got a John Deere tractor w/a bucket, and she got a ballerina.

And then they begged to open "just one mooooore."

So we let them open their gifts to each other.

And then it was time for a bedtime story:

Christmas Ballet is done!

Little Mice in the Nutcracker Ballet

Little Bo Peep and her Sheep

After the first show, and after the second show. She loves her flowers!

The sheep with her Daddy!

And with Mommy.

This was taken at the Tea before the Sunday performance. Proves we are still a napping family.

Christmas Card pic

We thought about using this picture...

but we chose this one instead.

A Very Nice Christmas

I was very content with our Christmas this year. I didn't over-buy for the kids. I got nice gifts. The kids were basically well-behaved. And I got nice gifts.

How immature is that? LOL

But after being depressed last year, this year was just right.

I wanted a 4 track digital recorder to record songs, and my husband bought me an 8 track recorder. It has special effects you can add, and I'm looking forward to playing with it. I also got a Wii Fit Plus. But I won't be entering any of my body stats while anyone is home. LOL It asks for your height and your age. It measures your weight and your BMI, and then it estimates your virtual age. If my husband was 6 years older in Wii age, I'll be like, 90 years old.

I got my husband a coat for work - it's made of fire hose material. And I got him a new set of jersey sheets. LOL. And three games for the Wii - two of which are just for him b/c of the rating.

My kids were happy with their gifts, and I think they would have liked to open more. That, for some odd reason, made me sure I hadn't given them too much. Next door at the in-laws' house... different story. They didn't have as much as in years past, but they still were in overload.

And then DH and I got our gift from his parents - a new 40" flat screen TV and $100. DH's sister and her husband got one, too. What a generous gift, but now we have a small dilemma. What to do with our old TV. It's a 40" TV, and it still works fine. Oh well. I'm letting my husband worry about that.

The kids are in bed, and when they wake up, we'll go back next door for supper. And to pack up the rest of the loot, I mean. stuff.

Our Tree

I took a picture of our tree this morning. Last night DH and I stayed up quite late wrapping presents. I think kids enjoy seeing the presents under the tree and seeing their names and wondering what could be in the packages.

I also found this picture on my camera, and got a good laugh.

Colossal Fits

Why is it that my son chooses to throw his most extreme fits before we are supposed to go to church? Tonight we had to wake him up from his late nap to go to our Candlelight service at church. He woke up horrible. He threw a fit about eating supper. He threw a fit about wearing ... clothes. And CHURCH clothes, at that. And how dare I imagine that he would wear a belt? and a TIE?!!! and his new DRESS SHOES???!!!

OH MY WORD!

Part of me wanted to just forget it and stay home. But that stubborn, gotta-be-right part of me decided WE WERE GOING.

I finally walked into his room where Daddy was valiantly trying to dress him and stay calm at the same time. I told him he needed to listen very carefully. I told him that if he didn't stop throwing a fit immediately, I was unwrapping his presents and taking them back to the store first thing in the morning. I told him naughty little children in this house do NOT get presents. And Daddy added that he was going to have a horrible Christmas if he had to sit and watch us all open gifts while he would have NONE.

Needless to say, we were late, but he was fully clothed.

I WON.

Barfing Baby

Baby wasn't feeling too well yesterday. And as the day progressed, her fever went higher. It was 103.1 by evening. I gave her Tylenol and put her in the tub. The fever came down.

I checked on her at midnight when I was on my way to bed. Her fever was 100, so I gave her some chewable Motrin. This morning, she woke us up crying and when I got in there, she had barfed in her bed. I grabbed the trash can, but she was trying to not barf. I kept telling her to just go ahead, but she wouldn't.

So now she's camped on the couch. She was laying there when she started crying. Daddy and Mommy asked her what was wrong. "A bug just flew in my nose!" There aren't too many bugs this time of year, but you never know, right? I asked her to blow it out into a kleenex. She blew very hard, but no bug. She said she saw it on the window, and then it flew in her nose. I think she's a little delusional. She also told her Daddy not to tease her, or he would get coal for Christmas.

Who knew she could be so funny when she was feeling so sick?

Snow Snow Snow

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Big Soft Ginger Cookies
From "Amy1028" on allrecipes.com

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Chill the dough until firm. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

I like to add a tsp of cinnamon and the large sugar sprinkles to roll the cookies in.

Where is my brain?

I ran to the store last night; it was blustery, raining, and getting colder. But we needed milk, eggs, cheese, snacks, ice cream, and a couple other things. I got home, and wondered if I was going to get help unloading groceries. I made 3 trips back and forth from the vehicle to the basement. Hmm. "I'm home." No help. I put things in the freezer and fridge downstairs and trudged up the stairs with both hands full of plastic bag handles. I set things down in the doorway, and went back downstairs for more. Maybe someone would move the things from the doorway for me. Nope. I struggled past the pile I left in the doorway. I moved things around and fit almost all of it in the cabinets; put things in the fridge. Had my son check his sugar, and got him a snack.

And this morning I opened the fridge. No eggs. WHAT!!!??? I knew I bought 2 dozen eggs! And there they were, in the bag, by the basement door, on top of a box of stuff that's been sitting there for months.

At this point, I just feel like everything in my life is just being shuffled from one pile in the corner to a box to the basement to the garage. And somewhere in one of those boxes is my brain.

Little Boy made this

Saturday Snow Storm

What can I say?

Busy Day

It's a busy day, so I don't know why I'm posting, except I had a thought.

I write things I never say. Like, I never say, "Yay!" but I post it often. And "woo-hoo". I never say that.

Back to making cookies! And I have a counseling session this afternoon. And our church ladies' Christmas party. OH - I need to wrap my jingle gift.

Gotta run!