A post about our weekend

I’ve got a wonderful post that needs to make it’s way from my head and my heart down through the fingertips and into the keyboard.

We had an awesome weekend.

Know what I’ve been doing lately?

It’s quite fun! I have a new hobby!  I’ve been clicking someone from my blogroll and then clicking someone from their blogroll and someone from theirs and so on and so on!  I’ve been finding some really awesome blogs out there. I wish I was organized and patient enough to take the time to write these down.  Instead, I just leave them a comment and hope they return to leave me one so it’ll be easy to blogroll them.  How lazy, right?

Know what else is going on?  I’m totally going away!!  I’m soo excited.  It’s only a weekender, it’s only 4 hours away but it’s AWAY!  As in, AWAY FROM HERE!  Whooot!  The best part?  I’ll be with hubby bubby and we get to play hubby and wife.  Sure, I’ll miss Julia – terribly – I probably won’t know what to do without her.  But, I can already feel the therapy that will naturally take place when hubby and I are exploring the streets of St. Louis all by ourselves!

Oh Snap, I’m getting Old

Please excuse my language, but I had no idea that SNAP is now a bad word for four-year-olds.  Or maybe it’s just sassy/snotty and easily inappropriate?

I just learned a few days ago that the new ‘thing’ to say is “Oh, Snap” instead of Oh crud, oh crap, oh shoot, oh shit, or oh darn, or oh yougettheidea.

Am I getting old?

Deal, or No Deal

Preface:

We moved out here to KS because Rich’s job was a sinking ship (with MCI, formerly Worldcom, formerly MCI). It’s not that he would have been let go – in fact, he survived round after round after round after round after…. of layoffs. But, his group was slowly deteriorating and he did the smart thing – shopped around for options.

We joked that we should move closer to the In-Laws – that KS wouldn’t be such a bad place to live – that it would be really COOL to get away from my family.

Then, the opportunity came up and we stopped joking about it and started talking seriously about it – and tried as we might – couldn’t help but get excited about the prospects.

I think it was literally like ONE MONTH from the time he got hired on out here to his moving date. Talk about jumping ship QUICKLY. I was doing in-home childcare … I needed to give notice to my clients, sell the house, pack up our lives and get the hell outta dodge.

Rich moved out here 3 weeks before I did. Those were 3 very long, hard weeks. It’s almost been a year – Julia and I treked across the states on October 30 of 2005.

Our house hadn’t sold (it was horrible seller’s market anyway) and our lives were in limbo. I landed a great job at a really terrific daycare out here where my SIL works. I jumped through all necessary hoops to get the job (which required a high level of security clearance since it was with the FAA) and had a start date. (Well, kinda – I mean, I had a start date at a different lame-chain daycare – which was good enough for me, until I learned that this other job was way better and I could work with SIL while having Julia in my own class.. yadda yadda) anyway..

We had to live with dear MIL and FIL for a while… a long while … Three Freiking Months. LOL they are great people. I love them – especially my MIL. But, I don’t care how great the people are … once you start putting two families under one roof (with a toddler) things start to get very cramped very quickly.

Anyway, with prayer, our house sold quicker than we ever thought it would. In fact, we go the call from our realtor saying that there was a good offer on the house the same day I had a miscarriage. (Well, I miscarried on Thanksgiving day – but I knew I was going to … I found out a couple of days before turkey day and the offer was made that Wednesday.)

We were going to build a house. We already had our land picked out and our house picked out and we even put down a deposit and signed some papers. But, the developer didn’t want to build THAT house on THAT land – so the deal fell through. Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers, right? Yeah – turned out to be a very good thing.

We found this house, made an offer …. and obviously, moved in shortly there-after. (Though moving in when the residents hadn’t quite moved out yet was pretty awkward … that’s a whole ‘nother post.)

So that’s how we got here. Now, a year later – things are changing some more!

My overdue post about the weekend

Busy busy busy – thats all you’re used to hearing around here, right?

But, I’ve gotten better.  I’m now taking more time out for myself, my family, my hobbies, my books, me me me me!   I spent some of this past weekend resting, playing, enjoying myself, and some of it working (of course).   I figure .. what doesn’t get done, doesn’t get done and who cares!  (Yeah – well, then Sunday rolls around and that whole philosophy goes right out the door, blech.)

Anyway – it was a weekend to remember.  Rich took half the day off work and when I got off, we cruised up to The Legends where we were to meet our buddies who were out all the way from good ole’ Ca-doe-wadoe.  My friendship with Garnie started waaaay back in 1996 – when she and I were both much different.   … we were different from each other and different from who we are now.  Our differences made us stick together, I think, because even though we were so different, we were still so much alike.  Confused?  You’d have to have a friendship like it to understand.

Anyway, more than ten years later, we still wuv each other – making Garnie my oldest friend ever.  That is to say, she’s been there with me through lots of crap and there’s nobody else I know now (as in, regularly ‘talk’ to, share experiences, visit with) that I’ve known longer than her.

We’ve lived very parallel lives – even though nobody would ever suspect it having met us separately.

Rich and I are trying to make friends out here in KS – and I’d have to say that we’re not doing to bad.  But, good friends that last 10+ years just don’t come around that often.  And, sometimes – they’ll be in your life and you won’t even know it until 5 years later.

~~~~ I digress. ~~~~

Saturday was a good day for chores and gettin-stuff-done.  I had a sense of total PEACE Saturday morning – I know it’s weird, but I felt so alive, so perfect on Saturday.  Julia was on my shoulders  at Walmart while hubby and I meandered around the store getting stuff for the house, for Julia, for work…  We were all laid back and it was nice.  Then, we came home and I worked while Julia watched “Doggies!”  and then we went to the Outback with SIL, BIL and their kiddos.  All in all, it was a very good day.

Sunday brought mixed emotions.  First service at church ran smooth and easy … second service I was a complete wreck.  After church, I was totally bummed about the way second service turned out and I almost let it get me into a slump.  It made me remember WHY there’s no time for play during the week … the more I prepare for Sundays, the better Sundays flow…

I was bummed, but then we went out for some good Chinese and it was all good again. And, of course, after lunch on Sundays – it’s … NAPTIME!
Sunday night, we went to MIL’s for homemade pizza (she makes it SO good!) and then we came home and I gave Julia a batch and we played in the tub (which seemed like FOREVER, we were having so much fun!)

Note to mommies out there:  The bathtub finger paints – not so great.  Goopy, clumpy and hard to paint with.  However, the crayons are a total blast! (great for drawing mustaches, beards, fun eyebrows, etc.)  And, I highly recommend the color tint tablets … blue and red make purple!  Hehehe – I love bath time.

Alas, today is Monday.  Tomorrow, I’m supposed to take my preschool class to the pumpkin patch -but it’s going to be super muddy and probably wet.  We’ll see how that goes.

… And now back to beautiful moments with the hub and kiddo as I continue to live out my American dream.

Our little hot shot

Click here

to see the video that I wish I could embed.  Should I fork over the $25 and just buy some credits with wordpress??  rawr.  Anyway – watch the video – our daughter is superCUTE!

A perfect moment – Caution, warm fuzzies ahead

I had just woken up on a down feather bed, pulling the mosquito net open to marvel at the sunrise over the horizon on the other side of the ocean.  Rich was lying next to me, and I remember saying out loud, “we really ARE in Jamaica!”  I pulled back the curtain-like net, (I know there are not that many mosquitos in Jamaica, lol but hey – it was a dream) and sat in bed only to realize that I was waking myself up from this wonderful dream.

So there I was, I was lying in bed listening to the dog snore.  I could tell it was getting close to alarm clock time by the light of the morning on the bedroom walls.  I held my breath as the alarm clock on the other side of the bed began to beep and hubby leaned over to hit snooze.  Just as I thought he would, he gently placed a hand on my arm – trying to quietly and respectfully wake me up – expecting me to panic for the reason that I was still snugly in bed at the time his clock beeped.  Usually, when his alarm rings – that’s when I hit the bathroom with my toothbrush and am ready to head out the door to work.

I whispered to him that I didn’t need to get up becuase I had already called in sick.  Just as I thought he would, he whispered back, “What?”  I softly said “I called in sick.  I think you should, too.”  He sat halfway up for a minute or two looking around the room.  Then, just as if he could hear my prayers, as if I was shouting them for the world to hear, he dug his cell phone out of his pants pocket, and called in to work.

We lay there, my hand on his shoulder, his hand on my hip.  As if to be right on cue, Julia walked in and joined us in bed. She lay between us – him tickling her leg softly, me tickling her back … soft enough tickles to keep her calm and savoring the moment – not the kind of tickle that throws one into a giggle frenzy.

As if that wasn’t cool enough, up plops the dog and lays right at the foot of the bed.

There we were, us four, laying in bed together at 7 in the morning on a Wednesday.  It was perfect.

Currently on the nightstand

Just so you know – I do read.  I just don’t read like I used to, and I miss having the time to breeze through a book and put all my thoughts down on paper.  But – I can’t go without a good book for too long!

Currently on my nightstand are:

… FINALLY!  I finally get to read it!  It is a hard one to put down, but – unfortunately, with a toddler and two jobs, I kinda have to sometimes.

A very good read that I happened upon while shopping for Velvet Elvis.  I’m very into this topic right now – mostly because of one of my students in class.  I’m so very interested and am almost done with the book already – despite the fact that I really don’t have the kinda time where I should be reading a book like this before completing my other daily tasks.  Hey – at least I’m learning!

This book goes along with a small group we are part of with our church.   It’s on my nightstand, but I haven’t opened it yet.  In fact, we are three chapters behind the rest of the group (oops! hehehe).  I can’t help it if the other two books are calling my attention more often!  However, the discussions in small group always leave me intrigued, and I really want to dive into it.  I guess I kinda feel like if I open it, I might not want to put it down – because if I put it down, I might not pick it back up again. But then, the discussions on Wednesday nights will make me want to pick it up again.  I dunno – I know that doesn’t make sense … it’s complicated!

Teacher Appreciation

I’m holding a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner for all the wonderful people who make my life a little bit easier every Sunday morning.  I want to give them a small token of my appreciation – and when thinking more about this, I remembered something cool I once got as a teacher..

I don’t remember the specifics (if I did, I wouldn’t be asking you, dear friend..) but it was a Ziploc baggie with a little poem or saying in it along with a cheerio, Hershey kiss, and some other fun things.  The poem/writing inside indicated what each item in the bag represented to show my boss’ appreciation for me.
That was like 5 years ago and I can’t remember for the life of me what was in the bag or anything..

Can you help?  Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?

By the way – when googling the topic, I found out that National Teacher Appreciation Day is October 5th!  How cool is it that my appreciation dinner was coincidentally scheduled on the 4th?!

Oh – and Happy Teacher Appreciation Day to you next week!  If you’re a teacher, do something special!

Something I learned about myself recently

We are on a bowling league with hubby’s family.  It’s really quite nice because it’s just me, hubby, his mom and his pop and they are super good people… it’s good quality family time and it’s kinda fun! (His dad bowls really well, well – he does too, I guess!)

Anyway, last week, I made a comment to my MIL that I haven’t forgotten.  It was an epiphany.  I suddenly realized something significant about myself.  Kinda neat!

I made the comment to MIL about how I tend to over-correct my ball.  Last week, my first ball was hitting all the pins on the right side of the lane, and when I’d go for the left pins, I often got a gutter ball.  (I rarely get gutter balls – but I couldn’t bowl worth squat last week).  Anyway, I told her that I tend to over-correct everything in my life – not just the second ball when bowling.  If I don’t like the way something is … I change it BIG TIME.  Or, if someone tells me something about me that I don’t like, I fix it – to the extreme.  If someone says that I don’t look good in green, well – I never wear green anymore! (Unless it’s someone I don’t care about, LOL, then they can say whatever they want and it won’t change my life at all.)

That could be why I took a very long walk yesterday with Julia in the stroller and the dog on the leash.  And, I got up 20 minutes earlier today so that I could walk to work.  Did you read my last post?  I started letting myself feel “fat and lazy” so – there I done and went fixin’ that!

Funny how a 1 minute conversation at a bowling alley with close friends can essentially change my life – even if only for the time being.