March - Days 30 & 31

Yesterday's challenge - your favorite song. I don't know that I have an all-time favorite. But this is the song I can't get enough of right now. "What Faith Can Do" by Kutless. I get chills when the drummer plays the first shimmery sound on the cymbal.



Today's challenge - the best thing about being me.

The best thing about being me would have to be being married to my husband and loving on our two children. They all are the answer to many prayers when I was single and lonely, and God gave me everything I asked for and more.

Anxiety

So last night I bought my tickets to Spokane. I think. I double, triple, quadruple checked everything, but I am always afraid I missed something or messed something up. I might be going to Texas or Alabama or something.

And now the low-level anxiety begins. I am already feeling nervous. Going a new place, by myself? And having to get to the airport on time or else... I need a pill. A big, fat chill pill.

March - Day 29

In this past year, what have I learned.

I don't know. Because right now my blood pressure just peaked. Between my son who cannot chew gum without sounding like a slobbery cow, and the fact that he can't close the door without getting the rug stuck. And then there's the stubborn little princess who lives in this house who makes breakfast MISERABLE. She asks for food and then refuses to eat it. Even with the promise of an orange when she finishes. And then she acts like I'm mean for expecting her to eat what she asked for!

AAAaaarrrrgggghhhh!

I know what I've learned in the last 5 minutes! Birth control is a VERY GOOD THING.

March - Day 28

A pic of you (me) from last year and this year, and how have you (I) changed?

No Way.

I'm tired of the picture challenges.

I've gained weight. 'Nuff said.

Mother's love

This is not meant to offend my wonderful SIL who cuts her sons' hair short!

But I asked my son if he knew that I love him.

Yeah.

Do you know how you can know I love you?

Uhhh. How?

Because I don't cut your hair to look like a chemo patient.

I follow a cute blog. The mom just buzzed her 3 older kids' hair. She must have taken off the attachments b/c you can barely see where their hair should be.

I think they look pitiful.

She thinks they're washable. LOL.

Giving

DH and I were discussing tonight about how much Americans have and how we take it all for granted. He was telling me about a Ch*nese Bible study. This person taught for days on end - 8 hour days - about the Old Testament. And when he was done, they asked him to teach about the New Testament. We get antsy if the speaker goes longer than 45 minutes.

We also talked about how little Americans give to others. Even though we are the most generous nation on Earth. And when we do give, we feel so great that we donated $20 or even $50. We (I'm speaking of my husband and I) do feel great about the $$$ we donated to our church last year. And yet. We do not give sacrificially. We do not give until it hurts.

Glenn Beck has proposed a day of giving - a day of charity. I like Glenn. I think he has a good heart. But I think he likes to make everything hyped up. I used to watch him daily, but lately the bad news w/o suggestions or remedies makes me too frustrated to watch.

But I am mulling this idea he has proposed. He is asking that on April 21st, people give a bag of groceries to a random person. He likened it to a flash mob of sorts. I'll write about the experience if I decide to follow through on it. I'm afraid I'd find someone who didn't really need it, and they'd be offended. But I'm thinking about it.

March - Day 27

Why are you doing this challenge? I thought it would be fun to write each day without having to come up with the topic myself. Not that it's difficult, but I thought it would be a motivator to get back to writing every day.

March - Day 26

What I think of my friends.

My closest friends are great. Angela, Tammy, Anna, Gina... I would trust them with my life. I would even trust a couple of them with my kids' lives. lol I would do whatever was in my power to help them.

I have plenty of other acquaintances. I think it's too much work to groom any of them into a close friend.

March - Day 25

What you would find in my bag pocketbook purse.

2 Checkbooks, a calculator, my pink and white giraffe-print wallet, several pens, lipstick, 3 crayons, gum, shopping list, nail clippers, cell phone, appointment book, ibuprofen, sunglasses and some bendy straws.

I carry a little baggy with bendy straws for my kids. If we stop somewhere to eat, my kids can drink without having to get up on their knees or taking the cup off the table. It helps us all have a much more enjoyable meal since Mommy isn't freaking out about spills.

I like my purse. It isn't leather, but it feels like it's super soft leather. Soon it will be time to put it away until next winter.

March - Day 24

Your last 5 Facebook status reports.

I am screaming at the lady doctor on The Doctors. She keeps making generalized comments about diabetes. Type 2 runs in families. Type 2 can be managed by food choices/portion size and exercise. Type 2 is not the same as Type 1!

So far, so good with Baby this morning. She wasn't too happy when I told her I think she and I can do a page of school work. Little Boy told me that would hurt her head; now she's repeating him. @@ Thanks, brother.

Barfing baby girl. :-(!!!! She did feel well enough to pick out her Easter dress, though. Looks like I'll be staying home from church tonight. sigh

Came away from church feeling much better this week than last! Three blessings today!

Baffled, concerned, frustrated... Little Boy's numbers are running high. At lunch time he was 327! Hope we can figure it out. :0(

March - Day 23

Something you crave.

Salty and Sweet. Some days my mouth waters at the thought of Salt & Vinegar potato chips, and some days I have to have a Kit Kat.

But the thing that I have to have every day? Hugs and kisses from my growing-way-too-fast kids babies.

March - Day 22

What makes you different from everyone else. I don't know!

Everyone is unique, so is being unique actually unique?

I think the things that make people unique are their experiences. The combination of good things and the bad things that we've gone through, and the way we allow those things to affect us.

Each thing in and of itself isn't so significant. But the varied combinations make us unique.

I'm a child of the 60s. I'm a second child. My parents were gifted, but thoroughly flawed. See, so far not so unique. I've moved 14 times. I've worked as a secretary, a teacher, an accounting clerk, an administrative assistant for a professional orchestra, a teacher...

I could go on and on. It's so boring; I'm boring myself.

My son is a T1. Each day, more children are diagnosed. So that doesn't make me (or him) unique. But it does set us apart. I watch cooking shows. It may be simple to whip up a meal, but then I have to count the carbs. And I see pictures of people at parties, having a great time. Parties make me sweat. How do I count the carbs?

I homeschool my kids. Most days we just get by. Occasionally, we work something fun in. But my son hates school, so we are doing good just to get through the basics before we have a meltdown. And the fun stuff doesn't motivate him to enjoy it more; he just wants to do more of the fun stuff. Although, the last couple days he has read from a book about construction that he enjoys without fussing. That's been refreshing.

I enjoy singing. I am fairly good. I'm not really recording artist material.

Dang. This is supposed to be fun, but this is just depressing. I'm.. so... average.

March - Day 21

A picture of something that makes you happy.

My kids, getting along, having fun. This is from our trip to Wisconsin last summer.

Easter Dress

Yesterday I found 3 options for Baby. This is the dress she picked.
She asked me if it will be warm on Easter. She has a sweet little white sweater to wear with it. I also recently bought her a lilac colored trench coat. She's going to look adorable. :0)

This Sunday

So last Sunday night I left church angry. I haven't spoken to the deacon's wife who went after me. I did cancel/postpone the cleaning day. I don't plan on being the one to reschedule it. And I am afraid that I will not be available to help on the day it is rescheduled.

Blessing 1 - My student came today. I hope I am an encouragement to him. I try. He comes from a broken home; he lives with his grandmother and on weekends sometimes goes to his father's house and occasionally goes to his mother's house. He has so much potential.

Blessing 2 - One of the ladies at church handed me a gift bag. She had a couple others she was passing out. When I opened it, it was just some little goodies, but it was an encouragement. She always has something positive to say.

Blessing 3 - Our new interim pastor's wife talked to me after church about helping out with teaching children's church. She offered to take turns teaching 2 weeks at a time. As I was leaving, I mentioned to another girl that if she was still interested in helping, I'd like to work her into the rotation, too. That way, we'd each have 4 weeks in the service, and 2 out. She said she'd be willing. Wow. I feel so much relief. I've been teaching my SS class when my student(s) come, and children's church every Sunday (with 3 exceptions) for over 6 months now.

And sadly, after she woke up from her nap, Baby had a couple barfing incidents. So I stayed home with her. Which actually is blessing 4 - I don't have to even see "that" lady. And Baby and I got to spend some time together watching a new episode of Olivia. :0)

March - Day 20

Someone you love.

How do I pick just one? I have a small group of close friends/family who love me. But I have to pick my husband.

We met in our 30s and married a year after we met on a Christian dating site. But for the first 6 months, we communicated long distance. That wasn't easy, but looking back it was a blessing. We spent every minute "together" talking. We didn't chit-chat about where to go, or what to do. We talked. We did Bible/book studies over the phone. We prayed together. We talked about favorites, pet peeves, hopes and dreams. We shared our frustrations and heartaches. We learned all about each other. I don't think there were very many surprises when we actually met and spent time together. We had an easy, smooth transition when I did move here.

He loves me inspite of all my shortcomings. He loves me in deed. Almost daily he cleans up the kitchen, and often clears the table. He loads and unloads the dishwasher. He washes his own laundry, and often throws the kids' clothes in, too. By the end of the day, when my legs, feet and back are killing me, he is my hero. He comforts me when I am hard on myself. He insists that our children speak to me in a respectful way. That really is a blessing.

I LOVE that man! I'm so glad God brought us together!

March - Day 19

Nicknames you have and why.

I don't have any now, per se. I mean, I go by a common form of my proper name, so I guess that's a nickname. So I guess "Mommy" and "Sweetie" are the closest. The first is pretty self-explanatory, and my DH and I call each other Sweetie. We've called each other that since before we met in person, and I remember the first time I had to call to him by his name, it felt weird.

When I was little my parents called me Miss America. They said it was because they thought I was so beautiful and because I had a Miss America behind. lol I think I know what they mean when I look at my daughter. My sister had plenty of nicknames for me, and in Jr. Hi, the High schoolers called me Shorty. I think I was only 4'10" in 10th grade, so that one explains itself, too. That freaks me out a bit, since my 7 year old son is already 4'5"!

March - Day 18

Plans/dreams/goals you have.

Where do I start?
I'd love to get my house cleaned and organized. We are on the verge...
I want to take my kids to Disney World. This is something that I wanted to do as a kid, but we were never financially able to do. My kids are at the perfect age.
I need to lose weight. I can't stand looking at myself in the mirror any more than absolutely necessary.
I would love to be more organized; I think it would help us all be less irritated.

Dream? That someone else could make all the above happen and it wouldn't require any pain or adjustments on our part. ha. Okay, not just a dream... A pipe dream. (sigh)

March - Day 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Hope you don't get pinched!

Someone you would like to trade places with for one day and why.

I asked my DH this question. He said he'd trade places with the president so he could repeal all the laws he's passed. And he'd tell 'em (Congress) to hurry up and he'd sign a bunch of bills. But since there wouldn't be time for that, he'd write a bunch of executive orders. I told him that would be fine for him, but would that mean that the President would be here in his place? blech

I am not sure who I'd trade places with. Since this is hypothetical, I'd trade places with a professional organizer who lives in a quiet home, with a housekeeper and a chef. One day of quiet while my home gets a make over.

Oh well.

March - Day 16

Another picture of yourself.

Good grief, people.

This was taken after Baby's ballet; I love the look on her face.