The Monk's Wife

In Case You Were Wondering...

2010-08-30T23:30:00.002-05:00

I accidentally deleted my old blog template.

Yep. Some things never change. I'm just as technologically impaired as ever. I went in to try and clean some buttons off and remove all of the links and then ... ooopsy. I realized a little too late that I accidentally copied, then deleted, a few too many things.

Ahem.

I contacted my designer, who so GRACIOUSLY sent me another copy of my template, but Michelle the Wonder Monkey can't figure out how to install it.

And I'm too embarrassed to ask for help. I'm telling y'all, I need a 12 step program.

Sooo, this is how it will look for now. I was looking to change things up and simplify a bit anyway, but never planned on annihilating the whole template. Hopefully I won't annihilate the content as well. :)

I have to tell y'all, I wanted to end this post with a picture, but Blogger makes it so stinking hard to upload a picture that it's not even funny. Look at me. I'm not laughing.

And I'm not posting a picture either. So there.

I Was a Rock. If You Don't Count the Ugly Cry.

2010-08-24T01:00:00.001-05:00

So... yesterday was THE day.

I sent my 10 year old Grace and 7 year old Liv off to public school for the very first time. Grace attended a private school last year and we simply didn't have the funds (as in COLD HARD CASH! Private school is ex-PENNNN-sive, ya'll!) to send one of them back, much less TWO of them. It's this little thing called eating that our family likes to do occasionally. Liv has just homeschooled for the past 2 years.

I'm not going to get into as to why we chose public school and whether or not it's wrong or right for Christians to send their children there. I might tell that story later - because I used to be one of those that said it could only be one way. Let's just say that I believe there is grace in many things and for my own personal sanity (quite literally), this was the best decision for us at this time in our lives. And look at me ... talking like people are actually READING this thing! Ha! (With exception of you, Jennifer! Thank you!)

It was a hard morning all the way around for me. The getting up part, especially. I am not a morning person, y'all. The girls, however, were JACKED up! And when the lunches were packed and the backpacks on their backs, making them look like cute little pack mules ... it was time. We had to walk out the d00r

Wow Liv. Thanks for that shot of the paper towel and Kleenex. Real classy.

And then one in front of the school... and again, the paper towel.

And then came the long walk in. Okay, not really, but it sounded more dramatic that way. Bet ya can't guess what's under Liv's left arm..

BUT...

I begged for just ONE more picture. Because we all know that there is nothing more special than a shot in front of dirty, red brick.

And guess what?

AGAIN... that lovely roll of paper towel forever preserved in our 2010 Back-to-School pictures!

And then we walked into the building taking Liv to her class first so she could finally unload that cumbersome roll of paper towel. And as we stood there waiting for the teacher to greet her and send me off, I felt the lump swelling in my throat. I did not want to break out into the Ugly Cry in front of a bunch of 2nd graders, so while we were waiting I leaned down and whispered into Liv's ear that she was going to have a fantastic day and how much I loved her. That's when my voice cracked. I tried to cover with a throat clear, but I'm not 100% sure she was buying it. I managed to not sob into the teacher's bosom, waved goodbye and left.

Then I had to take Grace to her classroom. Y'all, I SO did NOT want to be THAT parent that walked into her kid's 5th grade class. But I was. She can get therapy later. I sat her at her desk and again told her I loved her, said my goodbyes and left. And I kid you not ... she was SO stinking small compared to the other girls! In more ways than one.. ::wink wink:: ... holy cow! But that's for another post. I could tell she was ready to be on her own and when the girl next to her said 'hi' to her I felt a whole lot better.

I walked down the hallway, supressing the emotional wave that was engulfing me, then out of the school. I had to walk across the street to get to my Suburban and dang it all if I didn't have to use the crossing guard. I so BAD wanted to take a picture of her, but thought that would look a little creepy to the other parents standing around. Yea. So I didn't. I finally made it across the street, got into my Suburban and proceeded to cry the very definition of the Ugly Cry.

No sir-ee, it was not pretty in the least. I went on a guilt trip or two, beat myself up a little, wiped the mascara from my weepy eyes and then drove off. It was over.

Good thing I had a busy day planned out or I KNOW I would have obsessed a time or 52. I took Hope and Charlie with me to the chiropractor and then we headed to the Land of Shoes and Great Clearance ...

Target. (angel voices singing loudly)

This would be the Target where walking through the Ladies Shoe Department, Hope loudly proclaims,

"Mommy! You have boobies!"

Charlie decides she wants in on the fun and begins yelling,

"Boobies, boobies, boobies!!" And then proceeds to start poking the aforementioned area.

I shushed Hope, but apparently not enough because the next (loud) thing out of her mouth was,

"WHY do you have boobies, Mommy? Are they to feed Charlie?"

I'm certain that is some mother out there who could have used this as a learning opportunity, I however, was NOT that mother.

We exited the shoe department swiftly. I'm not ashamed to say I ran.

I spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and only showed up 30 minutes early to pick the girls up. I thought that was pretty good for the overprotective momma that I am can sometimes be.

I am proud to announce there were two very happy, exhausted girls.

I was good until last night when I was reminded that we have to do it all over again today. ::sigh::

But hopefully without the Ugly Cry.

I'm Back.

2010-08-23T00:42:00.002-05:00

Why, you ask? Aren't I off photographing something magical for someone somewhere else and now have a 'professional' photography blog?

Yup.

And in the meantime I've quit my own life. And I hate it. Not the photography, just the fact that I'm not documenting the life that matters. My own. My children are growing and time is slipping away from me and a gazillion and one funny things have happened and milestones have been achieved and I've written how many down?

Zilch.

So I'm back. I don't even care if anyone reads this blog. I don't really even like the 'looks' of it anymore. Funny how tastes change over time, isn't it. The point is, I'm here to tell my story. I'm here to celebrate my children.

I'm here because I need to be.

So if you've lurked around in hopes that I might come back ... you're in luck. If you just forgot to delete me from your blogroll, then guess what? You're in luck. Or not. Because I'm back, baby.

Is my photography blog important? Yes. It's terribly behind, too. But guess what? I don't care. This is the life that matters to me. The here and now. And for whatever reason, I just can't spill my guts over there and tell funny anecdotes from the things that Hope does or how I love wrapping my fingers around Charlie's soft blonde curls or how Madgirl got her driver's license this past week. I just can't.

So here I am.

I'm not sure how much I will be around but I WILL be around.

First up on the order of discussion: School.

Grace and Liv start public school for the first time tomorrow ... uh .. today. I. Am. A. Wreck. For many reasons, but mostly just because I love having my babies close to me. Call me overprotective and I'll .... I'll...I'll .... agree. ::sigh:: I am SO one of those moms.

At any rate, there's lots on my mind concerning this big day, but seriously people... I have to go to bed lest I get up late, making my children late for their first day of school.

And that is SO something I am capable of.

Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You. I Have Actually Posted.

2010-01-31T20:04:00.003-06:00

Two months.

That's how long it's been since I've posted. I know. Bad. Not conducive to good blogging conduct as well. Some of you have even been worried about me and for that I am VERY sorry. And just for the record I am fine, Monk is fine (maybe not mentally, but that is neither here nor there) and the kids are fine.

The gist of my absence largely rests upon my photography business. It got way out of control, way fast and I didn't know how to handle it, a large family and a blog. Things were way out of balance and I had to give up something.

And it was my blog.

Y'all. It was like giving up a child. Okay, maybe not quite that bad, but close. I mourned over not blogging and I cannot tell you just how many times I thought to myself, "I can't WAIT to blog this!". And then I couldn't. It was hard people. Very, very hard. And for a long time I didn't think I would ever find time to get back to it. So many things happened, including the demise of my Dell laptop.

Yes, THAT Dell. The Dell I just got last year. I killed it. In one year. What can I say, it's a gift.

I spent weeks crying because I thought I was going to lose clients pictures because my computer was malfunctioning so badly. I didn't have enough money saved in my business to be able to buy a new one and I didn't know what I was going to do. My computer was working so slowly that it was taking 3 times as long to edit pictures as it should. I was behind. Very, very behind.

I spent many evenings during the weeks leading up to Christmas at a local Border's Books just editing away. I would come home and stay up late into the night, going to bed at 1 am and getting back up at 7 am. It was a rough time, a learning time and a time I care to never revisit again.

Then my husband rescued me. He bought me a new computer. Not just any computer either. A 17 inch Macbook Pro with a 17 inch screen. It's a beauty, y'all. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love this computer. It has made my job a whole lot easier. And slowly but surely I am digging out from under the mountain of editing that had piled up.

And guess what else? I'm blogging again. But more on that later... First, I'm going to give you a brief list of the things that have happened since I last blogged. Just so you know I'm not kidding when I say I was busy!

- In October I second shot my first wedding. LOVED IT!

- In November I did MANY family photos, children's photos AND photographed an entire wedding ALL BY MYSELF!

- In December my sweet Charlie turned 1!! It killed me not to blog that! My Liv turned 7 and I shot ANOTHER wedding as the lead photographer and shot a birth! By this time my computer problems were in full swing and things were not good at all.

- In January I got my new computer 2 weeks ago and since then I've shot two births, booked to be a second shooter in 3 weddings AND My Boy was accepted the University of Arkansas!! He's a HOG, y'all!! This saddens me greatly due to my undying love of my beloved Texas Longhorns. However, because of my great affinity for bacon I do believe that I can deal with him being a Hog. Sooooiiiee!!

And here's the BIG news I've been saving for last. Some of you may like it and some of you may hate it. And that's why I'm throwing it out here because I really want your opinion. And if nobody comments then I can assume my decision is made for me. So here's your chance for your voice to be heard. So SPEAK, people!

I'm fairly certain that I'm going to stop posting at all on Monk's Wife. I'm going to try and find a service to back up my years of blogging on here and call it a wrap.

HOWEVER. (Now that y'all have sucked all of the oxygen out of the room and your children are gasping for breath!)

I have purchased a professional photography blog. And because it's my personality to be totally different (or weird if you may), I'm not only going to post my photography work there, but post my personal stuff as well. Yes, even the crazy, disgusting things that occur with 6 children. I want clients to know me. The real me. And I also want to keep up with all you fine people, but I want to do it all under one roof ... er.. um...blog.

Some have told me that it's photographical suicide. Others have said it's brilliant. I need to do what my gut tells me to do and my gut says this is right for me. So here's the deal.

Go visit the new blog all week this week. I'll be posting personal and professional stuff all through the week. Then come back and tell me what you think. And be honest. Keep in mind that I haven't finished tweaking my blog yet. I just haven't had time. I've got the basic stuff up that I needed to get going and I'm starting there. I'll get all technical-ish later. Tell me what you like, what you don't and if you like my hair.

And the new "professional" (oooohhhh!!) blog address is:

www.michellemonkphoto.com

So go on. Get out of here. And if you're still reading here after a two months absence ... God bless you.

The Gist of It...

2009-11-11T23:47:00.002-06:00

If you're wondering where I've been ... it's to Crazy Town and back.

Take a look over here to see what I've been up to. Then tell me I'm supposed to have time to entertain you people. Sheesh. :)

Sometimes crazy is good and sometimes it's bad. I've got a little bit of both going on right now. But I'm always thankful for the crazy.

It means I have a life. :)

Little Girls and Sweaty Curls

2009-11-03T16:40:00.003-06:00

Charlotte's hair normally has a little wave with a curl or two here and there. However, nothing compares to this kids hair when she starts sweating. She doesn't even look like the same child!

So last week, at the beginning of her illness and one of the few times her fever broke, I took a few pictures just to prove it.

See. I'm not lyin'...

Oh my goodness... swirls of curls

And even more...

And we wondered why the thermometer quit working. Now we know...

And the cutest little curly headed sick baby ever!

Here's to sweat. And the curls it produces.

I'm Here ... In Spite of the Plague. Feed the Children. This is a Long One.

2009-11-01T21:21:00.003-06:00

Oh, y'all. It has been a doozy last 4 or 5 days. Whew. I need a do-over.

The Plague 2009 has been upon us, is upon us and will be upon us ... as in, I don't think we're quite finished with it yet. I can hardly believe what has transpired in the last week.

When I went on my small bloggy break we had just finished Day 8 of our cleanse. Charlotte had started running fever on Tuesday evening (Day 7) and thought it was just a simple viral thing. And we're still pretty sure it was a viral thing, but there was nothing ...NOTHING, simple about it.

This child ran fevers between 101 and 102.5 for FOUR straight days. I only managed to break it twice and it was short lived when I did. I don't treat fevers that are below 101 usually and for the meds to not be able to break the high ones was ...well ...FREAKING ME OUT A LITTLE!!!!

I took Charlie to the doctor on Thursday and he (who -was- not- her- normal -doctor and whom I did not care for ...especially his little dig about vaccinations ...) didn't really know what was wrong with her. Probably a virus was his best guess, but said if her fever spikes we might want to take her to the local children's hospital. He did a flu test ~ which was negative ~ and sent us on our way. For only 25 bucks and a prescription for Amoxicillon for something that may or may not be there. Whaa?

Anyway.

That night (last Thursday) I was in the recliner horking up my left lung and telling Monk that it felt like I was coughing out razor blades. I was also congested and sounded like I could take out a pack of Camels in no time flat. Monk kindly (and wisely) suggested that I head to our doctor's after hours clinic, there was still an hour left before they closed and he wanted to make sure I didn't get any sicker. I hemmed and hawed and finally conceded and headed out the door.

Y'all. I have bronchitis! Dang it all.

That time the 25 bucks got a diagnosis and TWO prescriptions. An antibiotic and a cough medicine with Codeine. Now before you get too excited about the doctor prescribed narcotics, it was pretty much a bust. But I'll get to that later.

Have I confused you yet? Good.

So Thursday night I take my Narcotic Num-Nums and proceed to go to bed. Charlie wakes up crying. I nurse her (which is a very loose term because she was not nursing well at this point) and check her temperature. It's 11:45 pm and her temp is 102.4. I give her some Advil and we both go back to sleep. I'm awakened at around 1 am by her squirming around. Out of habit I touch her forehead and she is BURNING UP! I take her temp again and it is now 103.8!!!

I JUMP (and I seriously mean JUMP!) out of bed and proceed to throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. I wake Monk and tell him I'm taking Charlotte to the children's hospital. I grab and extra set of jammies for her, some socks, wrap her in a blanket and head out the door. It's now 1:15 am. Children's hospital is only about a 15 minute drive and I was ever so relieved when I pulled into the parking lot to see it wasn't that crowded. I throw open Charlie's door, get her out of the carseat and proceed a few steps. I pull her to me as I'm walking and touch her forehead to my lips.

Nothin'.

The fever was practically gone. I stood in the garage for a few minutes contemplating what I was going to do. I walked back to Phil and got into the backseat with Charlotte. I sat there with her held next to me for probably 15 minutes and then decided to head home. I wasn't going to expose her to every other germ in Fort Worth if she wasn't running a dangerous fever anymore. And so we headed home.

After getting home I nursed her in the recliner and we stayed there to sleep. She woke me up and hour later throwing up all over me. It was fun times, my friends.

I had a chiropractor appointment on Friday and I took Charlie with me so we both could get lasered and adjusted. She was still running a high fever and very lethargic. Luckily for me, her normal doctor called while I was driving home and asked about her. When I told the nurse what was going on, she told the doctor who in turn wanted me to bring Charlotte back in that afternoon!! Oy.

Now are you confused?

We went back that afternoon and had yet another flu test done (Charlotte is not a fan of a giant Q-tip thingys being shoved up her nose!) and had a strep test done. Negatory on the deuce. Her doctor was perplexed and a little concerned. She ordered a blood test and an xray.

I left her office and proceeded to the lab. Y'all. Consider yourself lucky if you have never had to watch someone draw blood from your baby. Oh my. When we walked in I told the girl she had better be a One Stick Wonder because my baby was not going to be a pin cushion. She assured me she was and she kept her word. She only stuck her once, but she dug around with the needle in her arm for about 10 MINUTES! I'm pretty sure that if I stuck a needle in my arm that at some point I would, in fact, hit a vein! Then once she did hit the vein the blood came out very sloooooooooooooooooooooooowly. My word. I was never so glad to be done with something in my life

The x-rays weren't much better. There were issues there as well. Then on my way home Monk proceeds to call and tell me that Liv has a fever of 102. Um ... okay. I was never so glad to pull into my driveway in all my life.

The doctor had put stat orders on both of these procedures and was going to call me that evening (Friday) with the results. Would you believe me if I told you that the doctor called and said the xray place messed up and we weren't going to have the results until Monday?! And would you believe me again if I told you that the doctor called back an hour and a half later to tell me that THE LAB DIDN'T TAKE ENOUGH BLOOD TO RUN THE TEST?!?!?!

Needless to say, she told me that if Charlie wasn't any better by Saturday evening then we needed to go to the children's hospital. ::sigh::

Saturday came and Liv woke with a fever of 103. Charlie was 102. I had to go to my great-nephew's birthday party and had determined if Charlotte wasn't any better by the time I got home I was taking her in. After arriving at my niece's house I noticed that Hope was a little quiet and pale. We took her temperature and it was 101. Really? Three kids with temperatures and a momma with bronchitis. I was fairly certain that at this point if anyone came to our house they were going to need a hazmat suit. It was that bad.

When I came home from the party Charlotte seemed to have perked up a little. Hope was miserable, Liv was doing better and Grace just bebopped around as if the world was her oyster. I, on the other hand, wanted to collapse.

Charlotte's fever broke Saturday night and she stayed fever all night and all day today. Thank you, Lord! Liv on the other hand woke up feverish and ended up vomiting. (Which interestingly enough, Hope felt the need to reinact the vomit scene by coughing and gagging into a bucket. She told Monk, 'I frow up, Daddy. ' HA!) She was extremely miserable all day today until this evening and she seemed to have relief from the relentless stomach cramping. Charlotte is still fever free, but very fussy and needy still. Hope seems to be fine. Freak incident or calm before the storm? I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

And me?

Well. I'm still taking my antibiotics and hacking my brains out. I ditched the cough syrup with codeine and went old school. I made myself up an old hillbilly remedy that my mom used to give us as kids: Honey, Whiskey and Lemon. The honey coats your throat to soothe it, the whiskey dilates your bronchial tubes and the lemon helps break up the congestion. It's done more for me today than the prescription one has for the last two days.

The recipe is as follows:

Honey, Whiskey and Lemon Cough Syrup (and hot toddy)

~ 1/2 c. honey
~ 1/4 -1/2 c. whiskey
~ 1/4c. lemon

That's it. I put all mine in a Mason jar and shook it up. Done. Take about a tablespoon every 4 hours. Or more if the kids are driving you nuts.

It's so pretty ...

Some of you may say, 'But Michelle! That has whiskey in it!".

I say, 'Yep. And if it doesn't stop me coughing at least I won't care."

Okay. Not really. I'm not a teetotaler anyway, but I can assure you that there is not enough alcohol in a measley tablespoon to turn you into some babbling lush.

Unless this post could be considered written by a babbling lush then disregard that last statement.

Today has been spent recovering, recouping, cleaning and trying to get the general mayhem that has permeated our lives for the last 5 days under control. I will tell you now that after Day 9 of the cleanse, all deals were off. For our own sanity we chose to go off for the weekend just to make things a little easier. As you could imagine. We are going right back to it tomorrow and we don't feel one single bit guilty about it. (You should see how much weight Monk has lost! Wow! I should have taken before and after pics of us!)

But today was for comfort. So I made this ...

.... and we called it a day.

Small Bloggy Break.

2009-10-28T22:11:00.002-05:00

Sorry friends.

I am very congested and feeling pretty lousy due to a miserable cold. My little Charlie Bird is running a high fever and feeling pretty crummy as well. So I'm going to be taking a break from blogging until both of us feel a little better. Carry on amongst yourselves.

See y'all soon!

Day 8 ~ Not the Best Day Consider the Whole Fat Lip, Fever and Vomiting Thing.

2009-10-27T22:01:00.002-05:00

Today has not been a great day.

For some reason I'm just mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted. I've struggled all day long and fought some MAJOR sugar cravings. I didn't eat any sugar, but the cravings were still there. I think a large part of it stems from the fact that I'm exhausted from not getting sound sleep. Monk's phone went off in the middle of the night last night TWICE. When you add Hope's screeching, grunting and general murmurings in the night it just makes for a very tired momma.

I was going to cover some pretty unusual, and almost humorous, observations I have made over the last few days concerning the cleanse, but the day has been long, non productive and a little stressful so I think I'm just going to wait and share those later.

However, I will quickly cover the other exciting, but not necessarily good, things that have happened today.

Charlie has learned how to climb. She climbs in and out of one of the little rocking chairs in our family room on a regular basis. What she hasn't mastered is leaning forward in them without doing a face plant onto the floor.

This would be the fat lip part of the day. She fell face first out of the rocking chair today busting her top lip and tearing that little skin thingy that holds the upper lip to the gums. There was a lot of crying, a fair amount of blood and WHOLE lotta fat lip.

...and a fairly pitiful look...

I still think she's pretty doggone cute ~ fat lip and all!

Then poor Charlotte's day didn't get any better. She started running a fever around 5 pm and by 9pm she had a nice little fever going. And then came some vomiting. On me.

Oh yes, my friends, that is one way to curb your appetite. It was so bad the dog didn't even like it. Are y'all profusely gagging now? Good. Now we're even.

Time for me to go line the bed with beach towels and find the bucket to keep handy. Good times, friends. Good times.

Good night, y'all. Everyone sleep well!

Cleanse Day 7 ~ Confession is Good for the Soul. Plus I Really Hate Guilt.

2009-10-26T21:26:00.002-05:00

So I cheated a little this past weekend. Not as bad as Monk, but I did cheat. (How's that for deflection?)

I let myself get too hungry and then ate a few french fries. Oh, the guilt y'all! I wanted to get down in the floorboard of Phil the Suburban and start confessing rightthatverysecond. I was more mad at myself than anything after I did it, but let me tell y'all ...

...there was definitely pleasure in sin for a season.

But my conscience bothered me the rest of the weekend. Monk on the other hand ate two chocolate cupcakes at a birthday party, drank a cup of coffee with a hot chocolate chaser and didn't have nary an ounce of guilt. I think he needs to have a little talk with Jesus.

What I have come to realize is this: I. Can. Do. This.

Some moments are harder than others, but by and large I'm managing to get through the days without thinking about food 24/7 like I was those first few days. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to 'crave' particular salads and vegetables. WHO KNEW!! This is what's supposed to be happening and that is a good thing. It means that I'm retraining my taste buds to like things that are good for me!

Does it mean that I still don't crave a Ding Dong? Um..no. I still crave sweets, chips and soft drinks .... just not all-the-time-every-second-of-the-day sort of craving. It's occasional now and fairly short lived. (However, the other day I did want to jump some kid with a bag of Doritos, but I don't feel the need to go there right now.) I also have a supplement called Gymnema that is supposed to help curb those cravings. My plan is to start taking this supplement tomorrow to see how it affects me.

(That is if I remember to take it. I am horrible at remembering to take my supplements!)

Today was a chilly, dreary, rainy day here in this here part of Texas. The perfect weather for soup! Rainy day + soup = comfort. One of our standard favorites around here is Tortilla soup. Normally tortilla soup has corn, tortilla chips and cheese, but today we left those things out and just added some carrots to add some color and texture to the soup. I didn't feel like we were missing anything eating this soup! It was extremely flavorful and filling and we walked away from the table not feeling deprived at all.

(Although Monk missed the tortilla chips a little and I missed the cheese ... well... a lot. But it was STILL good!)

Another little gem I have come to discover is the Pomegranate.

Y'all the Pomegranate is like a little burst of sunshine in your mouth! You open it up and it's like a little game of hide 'n seek trying to find the juicy little bits of goodness!

And guess what?! I convinced 3 of my girls to try it ~ very much against their wills ~ and they LIKED it!! This would lead me to Tip #3 ..

Let your children try all the fruits and veggies! You wouldn't believe the things I've discovered my girls will eat! The pomegranate was proof enough for me!

But who wouldn't love this...

The only area of the cleanse that I'm slacking in is sleep. Mostly because our non-sleeping child named Hope tends to yell and talk and scream in her sleep which pretty much means I'm awakened sometimes hourly. Nice, huh? So that means I'm trying really hard to go to bed earlier. Which is really hard for this night owl.

So I'm wrapping this post up and hitting the sheets! I'd love to hear any questions or comments from y'all out there. Especially you lurkers ~ you know who you are! Do you like me chronicling my journey or am I boring the daylights out of you?! I need to know these things!

Goodnight, y'all!! Hoo-hoo.

Weekend Snapshot

2009-10-26T09:47:00.003-05:00

Hope's love for Charlotte is deep and abiding .... in that choke hold sort of way.

I think they will be alright. Eventually.

But Hope's need to have a firm grip on the situation at all times could prove to be a little problematic... Especially when Charlotte learns to, you know, grip back. And that day is coming my friends, it is.

Because this little crooked tooth grin right here ....

... it pretty much means she's up to somethin'. Yup.

So you better keep an eye out Hope ...

Charlie's comin' to get ya ...

Day 4 ~ What a DIFFERENCE a Day Makes!!

2009-10-23T22:49:00.002-05:00

Oh. My Word. Y'all.

I cannot even begin to tell you how incredibly different I feel today! It is absolutely amazing! All along people told me (and the program did, too!) that the first 3 days were incredibly difficult and once you could get past those first days then you would feel totally different.

They. Were. Right.

I have had NO headaches today and the cravings have decreased SIGNIFICANTLY! I just can't believe it. Monk agreed with me and said he felt really great, too! I even went to the grocery store today, yet once again to buy MORE vegetables, and it didn't bother me a bit. I actually found myself wanting a spinach salad of all things!

If someone had told me the difference between Day 3 and Day 4 would have been this great, I never would have believed them. It's been very interesting to witness these things first hand. It's almost as if I were a 'junky' trying to come clean. I truly believe my body was in withdrawal from all of the caffeine and sugar.

And the best part about these last four days?

I went to get dressed this morning and I only had one pair of clean jeans. I wore this particular pair of jeans last week and they were a little ... um .... snug. As in, I had to go old school and do a few squats to be able to wear them. Well this morning I pulled them out of the closet and lo, and behold, guess what?

They zipped right up ... and WITH NO SQUATTING!!! They didn't even feel tight!

To say I squealed with delight would be a severe understatement. I might have even done a little jig and quite possibly whooped a time or two!!

Don't get me wrong, it's still hard. I still have cravings and moments where I think I can't do this another second. But if today is any indication of how the next few days will go ... then I think I can make it. And I really want to make it. Remember? I don't like quitting.

I'm also learning some new things to cook and that would be my Tip #3 for this cleanse.

~ Have meal ideas prepared before you start the cleanse. Talk to people, get ideas. Then make a grocery list and buy at least a few things more than what you think you will need. Trust me, you will eat it! Let me just say that Portabella mushrooms make a great meat substitution!

Today's fare included some stir fried veggies and they were yummy!! Monk even said he could eat them ever day! Well isn't that the point of this whole thing? To change our tastes and habits? Score for me us!

And some more for dinner along with some brown rice and a little fresh cod for me!

(And can I just say that my dinnerware is SO 1990's! Ewwww. I've been looking for new stuff for a while, but I just don't know what to go with. Something simple yet classy ... but kidproof. Yeah. That's why I haven't found anything yet. ::sigh:: Any ideas?)

So I'm taking the weekend off from blogging about my little 'cleanse' ( I really hate that word), but I'll be back Monday to fill you in on all my new, clean, veggie ways!!

Day 3 - Just Kill Me Now...

2009-10-22T21:11:00.002-05:00

Today is the end of Day 3. I hated it. I hated every cotton pickin' last minute of it. Why?

Well for one, I had the most horrendous headache of my entire life for most of the day. It was like someone had my head in a vice and just squeezing all day long. I was not a happy person, my friends. As a matter of fact, I was just downright mean. I was absolutely going crazy with pain and Lord help anybody who got in my way. Monk was pretty smart and just tried to lay low and acknowledge me with grunts and hand signals. The kids just stayed in the other room and tried to ignore my ranting. It was a fairly ugly situation.

Then I texted my friend Cindy. I begged her to tell me I could take a Tylenol, an Advil ... a 5th of Vodka. ANYTHING!! Seriously. I just needed some relief from this headache. She told to try and sip a little unsweet tea to sea if that would help. I hate unsweet tea, y'all. But you know what? I did it. And guess what? About six sips of unsweet tea and a little bit of chicken breast took that headache right away. Holla! You've never seen a happier momma.

Well, except if she had a cheeseburger and a Coke .... she'd be really happy then.

Today has just been crap. I usually don't use that word on my blog as I really don't want to offend anyone, but I just can't help it. I'm miserable and I don't want to do this anymore and crap is the only word that seems appropriate. I mean, what was I thinking? 21 DAYS?? REALLY? Birthing a child doesn't even take 21 days!

I guess I'm just mad. Mad that I let myself get in the position where I need to do something like this. Mad that I can't have what I want. Mad that what I want is a cheeseburger and a Coke. Mad that I spent money on this. Mad that I sound like an ungrateful sin wad who can't be thankful to see an opportunity to get healthy.

But mostly I'm just mad because I want to quit. I hate quitting anything and yet here I am. I'm tired, my head is throbbing again and I just don't want to care anymore.

But I do.

And so I will just go to bed and pray that tomorrow is a better day. Pray that the visual assaults I see while driving in the form of advertisements, billboards and restaurants, just won't get to me. Pray that I won't gag when trying to choke down yet another shake/smoothie/gag-me-with-a-spoon drink. Pray that I can get through another day even if it means hour by hour, minute by minute and moment by moment. Pray that the stupid headache will go away. Pray that I won't want a bowl of cereal in the morning. Pray that my unnatural love for the Ding Dong would be replaced by the more natural love for the ... eh .... carrot.

Because I could cheat. I could SO cheat. I have plenty of things in my kitchen rightthisverysecond with which I could cheat. Namely this....

See! I'm healthy! It's organic for crying out loud! And do you see the price on it?!?! Do you?! I got it for HALF it's normal price!! And I can't even eat it.

When I showed it to the girls their little eyes lit up and they bared their little Piranha-like teeth and I just looked at them and said, "Seriously? You seriously think I'm going to give you my chocolate? My Green & Black's Organic Chocolate? That I only paid $1.72 for?". And I promptly placed it upon the shelf to act as some trophy or prize I've yet to attain.

*Note to self: Eat ALL chocolate in house BEFORE starting a 21 day cleanse.

So I could cheat. I really could. But I'm not going to. At least not today.

Hopefully I can say that tomorrow as well. And the next day .... and the next day ... and the...

The Cleanse - Day 2 ....Day of the Pounding Headache

2009-10-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

Well, I think my title pretty much sums up Day 2 of this cleanse. My head has throbbed all. day. long. I wanted a Coke so bad I could hardly stand it ~ for medicinal purposes, of course ~ but I managed to make it through the day with the headaches coming and going. I know they're going to get better, but let me tell y'all .... it's hard to function with small children when you feel as if your head is going to explode.

Food wise I did fairly well. I had some cravings today, but nothing I couldn't get through without a little thing I like to call .... distraction. When I began to think about various foods I just started doing something else. I did accidentally lick a tiny smidgen of peanut butter off of my finger this morning while making Grace's sandwich. After I did it I sort of froze. I wasn't sure what I should do. Should I spit? Should I gargle? Should I ::gulp:: purge? And then I realized I was being an idiot and went on with my day.

The morning was the most difficult part of the day and then I made myself this big, honkin' salad for lunch and I felt much better after that. Wouldn't this make you feel better?

And there was homemade dressing on it to boot!!

On Day 1 I had felt really woozy by 5 o'clock pm. I truly thought I would pass out. I didn't realize that because I was still nursing Charlotte that I was still allowed to have some protein. WELL, HEELLLLOOOO ENERGY!!! Thanks to my friend (and former chiropractor and wife of my current chiropractor) Cindy, she informed me in the comments of my Day 1 post that I was supposed to keep the protein in there. So because of her wonderful news (Cindy, remind me to kiss you when I see you ... okay, that'd be a little weird.... a hug will suffice.) I was able to eat a few extras on Day 2 and wow (WOW!), did it make a difference!!

There was even some hummus among us...

My tip #2 (tip #1 is in the first post) for this cleanse is - Have a plan for what you're going to eat. The worst thing I've done so far is let myself get too hungry because I wasn't prepared for the next snack/meal.

I had to go to the stinkin' store again and once again ... it was a nightmare. Not as bad as Costco, but still hard. I can't tell you enough, if you're gonna do this make sure you have enough groceries for at least 3 days!! And normally I do, it's just been a very crazy week AND I didn't anticipate just how many veggies and fruits we would go through.

Today's trip only happened because the organic carrots that I bought at Target the other day were slimy when I opened the bag. Yea, pretty gross. I needed carrots for Day 2 dinner so I didn't have a choice. I ended up buying some lemons, limes, cauliflower and some butternut squash while I was there. I'm not very good at the whole "I'm gonna just grab one thing" at the store bit. Besides, I figured if I bought it then, then I wouldn't have to buy anything the next day.

Well, at least that's my theory.

Anyway, I took Day 2's dinner of Lentils and Veggies from, once again, my friend Cindy! She finished the cleanse a few days ago and documented a bunch of yummy recipes on her blog. Go check it out!!

This particular dinner didn't make us feel deprived one stinking little bit. We loved it! It was a cold weather, meat on your bones, comfort food meal if I've ever had one. And it was healthy to boot!!

My picture is not that attractive, but I assure you ... it was G-O-O-D!!!

Day 2 is now complete and I'm feeling pretty good. My moods seem to swing back and forth between, "I can totally do this!!" to "I'm never gonna make it, just pass the chocolate". If I can work past a craving then I'm totally fine.

This morning I woke up more rested than I have felt in a very long time. That was because I got ....wait for it ..... wait for it ..... 8 HOURS WORTH OF SLEEP!! I wasn't sluggish and my head felt clear ... until the pounding headaches started, but overall I felt great! I'm looking forward to how I'll feel tomorrow and hoping it continues to get better and better. And that being said ...
since I was already asleep by this time last night, I do believe it's time for me to wrap things up my little friends.

I need to go to bed before a Ding Dong craving hits.

Because I Felt the Need to Torture Myself...The Cleanse...Day 1

2009-10-20T20:39:00.002-05:00

You know, it wasn't too long ago that my eating habits were vastly different than they are now. I tried to buy as much organic as I possibly could, I avoided artificial anything and all the snacks at my home were made by me so I could control exactly what I was feeding my children.

Well after Charlotte was born I fell off the bandwagon. Not only did I fall off, but I'm pretty sure I rolled under the bandwagon and was backed over about a 152 times. It was a bad fall to say the least. My healthier eating habits went to the wayside and I threw caution to the wind, not really caring what I put into my body.

As evidenced by my deep and abiding love for Coca Cola.

And Ding Dongs.

Well all that tomfoolery (now there's a cool word, my friends) is now coming to an end. Why? Honestly, I just became convicted about what I was putting into my body and my children's bodies. When Hope would see a Sonic and start asking for a Coke, it started making the momma (HELLO, ME!!!) look real bad. When the other girls would beg to go to Sonic Happy Hour on a daily basis, it started making the momma look real bad. I can site several more instances, but since I feel bad enough already I'll just shut up about it.

So. I've been noticing several people, that I either know personally or indirectly, that go to my chiropractor's office that have been doing this cleanse. Now y'all. The word 'cleanse' would strike fear in my heart by the mere mention of it. I couldn't imagine denying my body of certain things for a whole 21 days! That would be crazy! Especially sugary things!

Well, guess what I started today? Apparently I'm crazy.

I've seen and heard of the many positive experiences people have had doing this and I'll be honest .... I'm tired of feeling like garbage. My joints hurt, I'm tired, I have no energy and I just want to feel good again! Believe it or not .... Monk is doing it with me!! When he said he wanted to do it too, I told him, "You do realize you can't have meat for the first 9 days, right?!?!". My bacon-loving man just nodded his head yes and well ... here we are.

I'm going to try and document the 21 days on here the best I can. Why? Well, it gives me a little accountability and seeing that it's only the end of day 1 and I want to dive head first into Hostess truck I figured it might be a good idea to 'see' my progress in print ... or type ... or whatever you call what I'm doing.

So, here we go ...

The first 9 days of this cleanse include the Standard Process supplements, fruits, veggies (lots and lots of veggies), small amounts of brown rice and/or lentils and some special shakes. You can also use healthier oils like Flax, Coconut and Olive oil. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus loves me by the mere fact that I can have butter on this cleanse!! On day 10 I get to incorporate some fish and/or chicken. But right now ... I'm in the trenches.

This was my first shopping trip ... I labeled it just because I love you all. You're welcome.

You're supposed to use all organic fruits and vegetables, but since that is just not fiscally possible around here, I just buy a little organic and a little non organic. I LOVE all the colors in this one!

And here's all the supplements. Exciting, eh? Especially the Gastro-Fiber. Yuuuuup.

I didn't quite finish my shopping on Saturday, so I had to go to Costco today to pick up a few more things. NOT A GOOD IDEA!!

Oh, the temptation swirling around me!! Costco is a veritable sampler's wonderland!! I nearly accosted the man giving out samples of chocolate covered almonds because those are one of my most favorite things EV-VER!! I could have literally thrown my body onto the bagel table and rolled around in all the carbohydrate goodness for hours. I was just too hungry to be there and it was dangerous!

Tip #1 - Have all your shopping done before you start so you don't have to leave the house for a the first few days when it's SO dang hard not to want other food.

Here was my Costco trip today ....

Let me tell you something, my friends .... you've never seen a happier woman upon realizing she could make GUACAMOLE!!!! I used carrots and {English} cucumber today to dip with and am thinking I may even try some celery!!

It was pretty yummy if I do say so myself...

Around 5 o'clock today I hit a wall. Headache, body aches, no energy, etc.. and I haven't recovered since. I knew I need to cook dinner fast and opted to make Monk and I a raw vegetable soup in the Vita-Mix.

It was yummy, but it was yummier after I made sweet potato chips and put them in there!!

It is not even 9:30 pm right now and I am struggling to stay awake. I knew this would happen as the brochure made no efforts to cover up the fact that I'm going to feel wiped out the first 3-4 days, but good golly y'all!!! I certainly didn't expect to be THIS wiped out! Wow.

Anyway, I had planned on giving a whole lot more information tonight, but since I've had to wake myself up about 3 times while typing this .... I plain just don't care right now and I'm going to bed.

I'm happy to have Day 1 behind me. Now I can go to sleep and have sweet dreams of creme fillings.

Obviously my train of thought is not quite where it should be. Then again ... has it ever been?

Betcha Thought I'd Never Post Again, Huh?

2009-10-19T22:54:00.003-05:00

Surprise! I still know how to type!

In all honesty.... I've enjoyed my break. It's funny because my blog was originally just supposed to be some sort of online journal of sorts. A place to share funny stories, post my opinions or just get my feelings out there. It wasn't really supposed to be read by other, you know... PEOPLE! Little did I know that a few years later I would have actual relationships with people that I've only known online! Crazy! And when those people don't post I actually worry about them. Really. I do. So whether or not you've missed me .... I've missed you.

I'm feeling a little revived and I like it. It may something to do with the fact that that the planet Sun decided to finally make an appearance again after two straight weeks of nothing but dreary gray days. And the rain! I could swear I heard the cats talking about finding 'ark buddies'.

And I'll be honest. I'm trying very hard to find balance in my life once again. Don't get me wrong ... it's still crazy ... but I'm trying to control the crazy now. I'm trying to ...::gulp:: even make a schedule of sorts. I KNOW!!! You-Know-Where just froze over!

At any rate, I'm not feeling so out of control and that, my friends, has made a world of difference. Some days I just have to stop and pray and ask God to show me what's important and where to slow down. I'm here to say, it's working!

I feel like I need to catch you up on SO much that's going on, but then that seems like such a daunting task that I figure I might as well just pick it up right here and now. It's easier that way. Y'all aren't scratching your heads saying, 'huh?' and I'm not having a nervous breakdown at my computer because you didn't know that Monk took the girls to the State Fair of Texas last week and ate Fried Butter. (Seriously, he did.) Or that Madgirl started Driver's Ed tonight (BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS!) or that I once again switched my photography blog, or that I spent the weekend having a blast with old college friends (one that I haven't seen in 16 years!) and I didn't take one dadgum picture! Seriously, I'm stupid.

Oh wait. I just caught you up.

This past weekend here in Texas was what's known as the Red River Shoot Out. It was the University of Texas Longhorns versus the Oklahoma Sooners college football game. And in case you didn't know ... I LOOOOOVE me some college football! And in case you didn't know again ... I LOVE THE TEXAS LONGHORNS!!! I'll be honest, I'm rather fanatical about it. Monk and I love nothing better than to sit and watch college football on Saturdays together. We bond through the tossing of pigskin. Now that's true love right there, y'all.

Anyway.

This game is HUGE down here and we've been looking forward to it for weeks! So I made us up some Buffalo Chicken Dip with mandatory Frito's and a couple of Cokes and we planted ourselves right there on the couch. It was a much needed time of rest and quite relaxing if I do say so myself. Might I add that there was a lethal amount of cream cheese in that dip. Amen.

We also had a couple of little girls that we're starting out early to be little Longhorn fans. We raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord first ... then we teach'em the Hook'em Horns sign....

We start young ....

.... reeeaaaal young.

And just so you know .... our team won. We were happy. Or ecstatic might be a better word.

But in the midst of all of this celebration, I looked to my 4th daughter or 5th child, and saw this ...

Apparently, Hope finds it not only appropriate, but quite comfortable to wear shoes that are two sizes too small and on the wrong feet. And you know what? I let her.

Choose your battles is what I always say.

See y'all tomorrow ~ you'll NEVER believe what I'm fixin' to do!

Me -1 Discover Card - 0

2009-10-07T22:07:00.009-05:00

I think I mentioned before that Monk and I have started doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. If you've never heard of Dave Ramsey or FPU, you really need to go to daveramsey.com and check it out. It will change your life. Guaranteed.

Anyway, just over a week ago I had the exciting privilege of paying off my Discover Card. (Give me an AMEN!) This particular credit card has been a thorn in my side for many, many years now. When the opportunity arose to pay it off ~ I was more than elated!

Monk and I gathered around my computer and he watched me check the little circle that said 'Pay Full Amount'. And then I held my breath and clicked the button that said 'Submit'. Then those beautiful words appeared on the screen ...

Payment Accepted

Monk and I whooped and hollered and then we fist bumped. I could swear I felt a chain fall from my wrist at that very moment. I logged in a few days later just so I could see that under the balance it read, '0.00'. What an amazing feeling.

Anyway. I kept meaning to call and close the account and just kept forgetting. Until today.

Y'all. I tell you it took an act of Congress to close that stinkin' account!! I was nervous at first. Then I found it hilarious. Then I became angry. Then it got funny again and I finally convinced Discover Card that I was D-O-N-E!

The conversation went something like this:

Discover girl: Hi, this is Mindy, how may I help you today?

Me: Yes, I'd like to close my account please.

Her: I'm very sorry to hear that (me thinking: yeah, I bet.). May I ask why you are wanting to close your account?

Me: I'm trying to close out all of my credit card debt and only use my debit card.

Her: I understand. I see that you've recently paid your balance in full. You do realize that credit card debt is not something that we are responsible for (really?) and now that your balance is zero you could treat you card as a debit card and still earn 5 % blah, blah, blah, blah. Are you interested?

Me: No, thank-you.

Her: I see that your interest rate was recently raised from ?% to ??%. I could lower that interest back down to your old interest rate for you and credit back your account $50 for some of your interest charges (REALLY? $50?? This is where it was almost comical), does that sound like something you might like to do.

Me: Um, no. Just close the account please.

Her: Okay, I understand. I see that you've been a long standing customer with us for the last 14 years (me: don't you mean 'sucker' for the last 14 years, lady?!) and we would certainly hate to lose you now. I could offer you a guaranteed interest rate of 3.4% for the next six months and you could take advantage of that low interest rate on some purchases that perhaps you've been wanting to make (But they don't encourage debt, right?). How does that sound?

Me: That sounds like debt. I think I've paid y'all enough for the last 14 years, I don't care to give you anymore of my money. Please close the account.

(This is where she changed her strategy. She was done trying to woo me back, now she was going to use fear mongering. This is when I got a wee bit angry. Okay. I was ticked!)

Her: You do realize that your 14 year relationship with us is on your credit report, don't you? By closing this account you do realize that you are erasing that long credit history and thereby affecting your overall credit score. You don't want to do that, do you?

Me: My credit score is of very little importance to me at the moment. Getting out from under credit card debt means more to me than that credit score at the moment. Please close the account.

Her: Blah, blah, blah....(I really don't remember what she said here because I was mad and had tuned her out by this time.)

Me: (interrupting) Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey?

Her: Yes I have.

Me: I'm doing Dave Ramsey's program right now and Dave told me to get out from under credit card debt. I don't want to waste anymore of your valuable time and nothing you say is not going to convince me to keep my account open or otherwise. Please do us both a favor and close the account.

Her: (pause) Okay, Mrs. Monk, your account is now closed (FINALLY!). Please destroy all cards and or checks you may have pertaining to this account. (pause) And just so you know, your account can possibly be reinstated in the next 90 days without a credit approval should you wish to reconsider.

Me: ::sigh:: Okay.

Her: Thank you Mrs. Monk. Have a nice day. (don't you know she was banging her head on the desk and and sticking pins all over her little Dave Ramsey voodoo doll!!! haha! Then I bet she yelled to the whole room ... ' we lost another one to that dang Dave Ramsey!')

Me: I will.

Y'all, it took me TWELVE (12!!!) minutes to cancel my dumb credit card! I've heard the stories, but I've yet to experience it until today!! CUH-RAZY!!

Poor Mindy. She probably hates Dave Ramsey.

This will be the first of many debts we plan on paying off and quite honestly, I can't wait to call the next person to cancel an account!! I'm just gonna have fun with it and mess with some people's heads! Because I'm a little evil that way.

Oh, y'all. That conversation pretty much made my day today!

And in the word's of Dave ...

"Live like no one else so you can live like no one else"

I think he'd be proud.

And Yet ... Nothin'

2009-10-04T22:56:00.002-05:00

I bet y'all are thinkin', 'this is another blog post about her telling us why she's not blogging!', right?

Well yea, it is.

Except this time I'll try to give a little more of an explanation. One that doesn't necessarily rectify the situation, but at least gives you and idea of why I'm not blogging. Or something like that.

Friends and family have been giving me gentle hints about my neglected little corner of the blogosphere and I have told them that I honestly want to blog. I really do. I just can't seem to find the time these days.

Or should I say, I can't seem to make the time. Or I'm mismanage time. Or all the above.

Since school has started I've been busier than I care to be. I'm homeschooling one child, taking another to a homeschool enrichment program two days a week and yet one more to a private school where I take her every morning at 8 and pick her up every afternoon at 3. I'm not complaining about these arrangements as they are what is working best for our family right now, I'm just having a little trouble finding balance.

I've also been doing a fair amount of photography these days which is exhilarating and frustrating all at once. Exhilarating in that I'm am SO excited about this whole new world (hey, isn't that a Disney song?) which is opening up before me and frustrating in that I can't learn things or spend as much time learning as I would like. At this very second I am editing 3 different photography sessions. Whew. I still pinch myself some days because I get to do this! It really has changed my life and I hope it will impact other's lives. I really do love it!

Throw a husband, two babies 2 and under and a house to upkeep (and I'm using that term loosely) and you have a woman who is living on the edge.

That would be me in case you didn't get that last part. I'm the woman on the edge.

I don't like the crazy in my life right now, but it is what it is at this very moment. I'm trying to set things in order to take the crazy level down to just mildly manic, but it's going to be a process. And in case you didn't know....processes to take some time. ugh.

There are plenty of things that I want to blog about (namely my new adventure in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University!!) at the moment, but by the time I'm done taking care of the day to day things, putting children to bed, editing pictures and just sitting brain dead for 2 seconds, there's really not much of my good humor left to blog about.

Right now I consider my facebook page as my mini blog. I tell Hope's latest shenanigans there, post my feelings concerning things like rain, Sonic Happy Hour and how much I love my family. It's just easier and faster. And frankly .... it has made me lazy where my blog is concerned. It's like the fast food of writing. It's a quick fix that limits you to how much you can blabber on about.

Unlike now where I just keep going on and on and on... about nothing, really.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I can't say that I'll be around tomorrow or the next day or even next week, but I'm certainly not giving up.

Not just yet.

It's Sort of a Cheat Post Really .... {Wordless Wednesday}

2009-09-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

Okay...so I can't keep my mouth shut .... but don't you sometimes wonder what's going through their little two year old heads?

And just for the record .... I stuck my hair in fly paper to get this shot. Two words: 'Ew' and 'Ow'.

That's all.

Stating the Obvious

2009-09-23T23:27:00.002-05:00

Just in case y'all hadn't noticed .... I'm taking a little bloggy break. I'm not going away for good, I promise. :)

I've just done quite a few photography related things lately and my evenings that used to filled with blogging are now filled with editing photos. And editing photos is SO MUCH more fun for me now because I finally FIGURED OUT PHOTOSHOP!!

Okay...well... sort of. But I'm a ton better than I used to be!

I've been so tired lately that even my toes hurt. And I even forgot to tell y'all that I got the big ugly boot off last week!! I'm hobbling around slower than ever, just sans the boot!

Anyway, I just wanted y'all to know that I'm still here .... I'm just in neutral for a while! Give me a few days and I'll be back! :)

18

2009-09-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

That's how old My Boy is today.

I'm the mother of an 18 year old. It's so hard to believe.

It seems like just yesterday that he was 3 years old and causing me to pray for patience about every other minute. I'm happy to say that his little sister Hope has taken up that cause for the time being.

Funny, isn't it? Eighteen years later I'm still in the middle of Toddler Chaos and yet today I miss that 3 year old little boy that was a force to be reckoned with.

He done growed up on me, y'all.

I'm trying really hard not to cry today. But I'll be honest and admit that I'm losing that battle. And that's okay. They're happy tears about a little boy who has made my life fun, interesting, exciting and at times, extremely stressful. And now My Boy has grown into a beautiful young man who's handsome, funny, sensitive, kind and best of all .... he loves his momma. A lot.

He flashes that crooked little smile and I pretty much melt. ::sigh::

No long, sappy post from me today. I just wanted to talk about My Boy a little.

Happy Birthday, son. You've brought more joy than I could have ever imagined.

I love ya, kid.

In Case You Were Wondering...

2009-09-15T01:51:00.002-05:00

...why I didn't post here.

Well that's because I've been a little busy and tired. You can go HERE to find out why.

Be prepared to smile.

Why I Declare Y'all ... It's Good Enough to Eat!

2009-09-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

Something I haven't done very much of lately is bake. I love to bake. I also love to eat what I bake. Thus the reason I haven't been baking very much. I tend not to have any self control in the area of sweets sometimes. Or all the time. Like I can wipe out and entire pan of Rice Krispie treats by myself within a 24 hour period. Or less. Just ask my family.

But yesterday morning I had a hankerin' for somethin' special. Actually, I've had this particular hankerin' now for almost a month. Broken ankles are not conducive to hankerin's. But now that I'm more mobile I just couldn't hold off anymore. Nope. I had to bake. And I had to bake yesterday morning.

Do y'all know what Monkey Bread is? Well the recipe I made was Monkey Bread .... on steroids.

It's called Gorilla Bread and the recipe came from Paula Deen.

I bet y'all felt your arteries seize up just now at the mere mention of her name, huh? Yea, me too. Actually when I typed her name I do believe my heart contracted a little. And my cellulite jiggled in celebration.

Anyway.

This stuff is to DIE for (hopefully not literally!) it's so good!!! If you have some sort of brunch or ladies get together to attend and need to bring a dish ~ This. Is. The. One. I'm not kidding. People will luuuuuurrrrve you for it and then you will become epic. People will start saying, ' Ooooo, I hope Michelle brings that Gorilla Bread!'. You will, in fact, become a food icon at the local Baptist church.

I'm not gonna post the recipe. Mostly because I'm a little lazy and don't feel like typing it out. But all you have to do is go HERE to find it. Easy as that! But the other reason I don't want to post the recipe is that I'd rather just feed your eyes.

Pictures of fattening food. It's a whole lot less calories, my friends. But a whole lotta fun to post!

First there's the canned biscuits sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar ...

Oh yes, my friends. That would be a square of CREAM CHEESE in the middle ...

Oh, the marriage of the stick of butter and the cup of brown sugar ... mmmmm....

And we wrap up those little cream cheese surprises because they are a gift, my friends!

Then the layering begins. The recipe calls for walnuts, but I'm allergic, so I used almonds. Love me some almonds! Use whatever nut you feel like. I bet macadamia nuts would be incredible in this! And add an additional 3,ooo calories. But that's neither here nor there.

The first row of our little gifts ...

Mmmm...mmm....and a little of that butter/brown sugar marriage goin' on ...

The second layer that finishes with more of the caramel-like sauce and more almonds ...

Pop it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until it gets golden and bubbly ...

Let it sit for about 5 minutes and then invert it onto a cake plate. Stand back and cry like a baby at the confection you just created.

Can I get an Amen?!

Looks good enuf to eat, dudn't it, ya'll?!?! (That's totally a word. My blog, my say-so.)

I do believe I'll have me a little bite of this. Or half of it. Whatever works.

Are your eyeballs droolin' yet?!?!

Good! Then I've succeeded! Y'all go have a wonderful weekend with your families and make some Gorilla Bread! Let's feed our cellulite together!

It's Just a Season

2009-09-09T23:34:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a challenge. The day before that was a challenge. I pretty much figure today's gonna be a challenge, too. This just seems to be the going trend in my life currently.

There is so much that needs to be done right now. So much so that my Overwhelm 'O' Meter is registering off the charts at the moment. I started to make a list of things that needed to be done so I could seem a little organized and systematically check them off as I did them, but once I hit 50 things To-Do I just wadded up the paper and threw it in the trash. I'd be happy just to get the toilets cleaned.

Oh well. So much for lists, I guess.

Monk always likes to tell me that you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. Well, what do you do when the room is full of elephants and you have no appetite? Hm? Tell me that.

Well.

You continue to do laundry, cook meals, sweep floors, wash dishes and pray like crazy that the doctor tells you your foot is well enough to be out of the silly boot. You continue to do what you do, even if you feel like you're on autopilot, because it is the only way to keep from drowning in the sea of people you like to call your family.

And somebody has to wash all the underwear.

You block out words like: failure, inadequate, overwhelmed and weak. Those are words to lose by - not to live by. It's what you feel, but you simply can't give in to those destructive words. They will eat you alive. I know this.

These are the things we do in this season of life because it's just that ~ a season. Mine just feels like it's a very looooong winter at the moment. But rest assured this season is only temporary.

How do I know this? Especially when I'm smack dab in the middle of it? Because the Bible assures me that this is only a season and it won't last forever.

Even though it feels like it.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.

I just wish there was something in there about a time for Sonic's Happy Hour.

Or any Happy Hour for that matter.

A Little of This and a Little of That, But Mostly a Whole Lotta Nothin'

2009-09-07T22:23:00.002-05:00

This last week has been a little challenging for me. Not counting the sweat attack to beat all sweat attacks, it's just been a very frustrating week in a lot of different ways.

Charlotte has been sick all week which has really put a damper on some things getting done. Poor baby. I've more than obliged her in the area of attention and one night I slept almost upright in the recliner just so she could breath. Wouldn't you know it was the night after I had gone to the chiropractor. ::sigh:: Needless to say, my house and my sleep are suffering.

...my poor little snotty nosed baby ... you can tell she doesn't feel well ...

And this boot on my leg? Well, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna burn it once the doctor lets me take it off. It is really becoming ANNOYING! I sort of liked lounging about for the first week, but now that it's been a month later I'm fairly certain I might have a hissy if the doctor makes me keep it on any longer! It's driving me cUh-RaZy!!

I've also acquired some extra poundage over the last month. All that lying about and eating highly fattening comfort food and drinking Sonic Happy Hour Cokes has had an impact. And not a positive one. My Mommy Muffin is now officially a Mommy Meatloaf. With mashed potatoes and gravy. So I've put myself on a new eating plan. It's called ... Eat Less and Drink More Water. I'll be doing ELDMW for about a week and then I'm gonna try and Low Carb it again. My carbohydrate, sugar loving genes just cowered in fear and are begging for chocolate to make them feel better. Don't worry, I shut'em up with some salt 'n' vinegar almonds. That'll teach'em.

I did get most of the grocery shopping done this week already and that is a definite plus. Well, besides the 5-10 items I forgot because you know, I didn't make a LIST! Hope went with me to Target and we had a swell time with one another. She belted out 'Jesus Loves Me' 5 of 52 times all through the store. And I let her. We had our own little praise and worship time right there in the midst of the Ethnic Foods aisle. People were looking and I just smiled and started another rousing chorus with her. It was just precious if I do say so myself. And it made me not be so mortified whe she announced to me quite loudly in the Paper Goods aisle that she found a .....

'Boo-guh'.

Monk found out this week that he has to go away on a business trip later this month. He'll be gone for a week. He was a little taken back after he told me and I exclaimed, "LUCK-EEE!". It was quite reminiscent of Jr. High when my friend Nat got her bi-level haircut (read: mullet) and I was jealous because I didn't have one yet. But anyway. He moaned on about how he would be all alone and I just clicked my tongue and shook my head. I reminded him of how he would have a fancy hotel room ALL. TO. HIMSELF. and that he would be able to sleep through the night without a baby in the bed and a toddler next to the bed waking up at all unholy hours. He just looked at me with his sad face. Then I said,

"Dude! (Oh okay, I didn't really say 'Dude', but I wanted to...) Honey, I would give anything to be able to get 4 full nights of sleep!! Think of all the reading you can do! Think of all the non-Barbie movies you can watch! Think of all the food you can eat and not have to share one single morsel"

Sleep, reading, movies and food are obviously things I highly value. Anyway, he's still been moping about. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss him, but I'd still kill to get all that uninterrupted sleep. I think I'm going to call him in the middle of the night a few times just so he'll feel at home.

And finally, I went for my sonogram at the Doctor 'O' Gynecology this week ~ you remember, that was one of the 'tests' I had to have done after the Appointment of Sweat. And I was quite pleased to learn from the sonographer that my uterus looked really good. Her words, not mine. I immediately texted Monk and said,

'Sonographer said uterus looked really good. Wanna have another baby?' BUAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I do love messin' with that man's head. Not that he thinks babies are bad because he doesn't, I just like to mess with his head.

And I succeeded.

And we wonder why our children all act so weird...

Oldest and Youngest ~ Wordless Thursday ~ Because I Forgot to Post it Yesterday

2009-09-03T08:50:00.001-05:00

Yes, This Really Happened

2009-09-02T00:00:00.000-05:00

For all you fellas that might read here (::snort::) ~ this may not be the post for you. Consider yourself warned. Just sayin'.

I had to make a little visit to Ye Olde Female Doctore this past Monday. I've had a few ...um... issues I've been dealing with over the past few months and I finally decided to bite the bullet and make an appointment. So I loaded Charlie into Phil the Burb and off we went to the OB/GYN's office ~ broken ankle and all.

(And no, I'm not pregnant. Now you can rest easy. Especially my sisters and sisters-in-law.)

I was a little nervous about going to the doctor because I haven't been to see Dr. Z. since I was expecting Hope and actually left her services for those of a midwife when I was 4 months along. I didn't know if she would be offended or irritated over the fact that I had birthed two children without her assistance and I didn't even want to think of how she might, you know, get me back.

::Shudder::

Anyway, the nurse gets me (and Charlie ~ stroller and all) into the room and takes my history ... yada ... yada ... "oh by the way, I've had two more children with a midwife" .... yada ... yada ... ::eyebrow raise:: ... yadda ...yadda. Weight check (2lbs lighter than the last time! woo-hoo!) at which I had to take off the blasted boot!! Blood pressure check (118/72). And then those famous words we females all love to hear,

" Here's a sheet, go ahead an undress from the waist down."

Dang. So much for small talk.

I realized rather quickly that undressing was going to prove more difficult than usual. My boot wouldn't fit over my capri pants, so I had to completely remove it before I could even attempt to undress. By the time I removed the boot, undressed and put back on my boot (while naked I might add ~ I apologize if you just threw up in your mouth a little ), hobbled myself up onto the table and applied my ~~napkin~~ sheet, I had worked up a little sweat.

Sweating has been an issue with me lately. I don't sweat. I perspire a little, but rarely do I do a full on hard sweat. Except for lately.

People. I've been sweatin' like a hardened sinner at a Pentecostal tent revival in the middle of July. Buckets, my friends. Buckets. This was one of the reasons I was at the doctor this particular day. I'm afraid that even at 40, I'm still a little too young for, you know, the change 'o life hot flashes!

Anyway.

As I sat there waiting (which in my mind is the absolute worst!), one would think that my glands would get the message. I wasn't doing anything active, just sitting, yet the sweating was getting worse! I had brought a magazine with me and began to fan myself. I figured that would help.

Nope. It only got worse.

About 5 minutes later I realized it was going to take a little more that Southern Living to take care of this particular diaphoretic episode. The back of my thighs and rear were beginning to stick to the white paper on the exam table and I was becoming more and more uncomfortable. I had to take drastic measures.

I grabbed the sheet and began to furiously fan myself, throwing the sheet into the air and abruptly back down, shifting my weight from one side then to the other, desperately trying to get some air into my nether regions. I knew that if the doctor were to walk in while I was fanning myself with one side of my hiney perched into the air, she was going to assume that I had ... uh .... been gastronomically expressing myself or something.

Right about this time Charlotte decided to wake up. I wriggled myself down the table far enough to scoot her stroller a little closer to me. It was at this point ~ while I was attempting to wriggle ~ that I realized the lovely white paper had pretty much glued itself to my backside. I grabbed the magazine and once again began to fan furiously, trying to unstick myself from the paper and the vinyl. It wasn't working.

Then the doctor walked in.

I won't say panic set in because by that time I pretty much knew my fate was sealed. I just decided to ride the wave. Dr. Z. played and chit chatted with Charlie for several minutes and then she noticed me fanning myself. She asked whether I thought it was hot in the office or if it was just me. I let her know that this was one of the reasons I was in to see her ~ my profuse sweating.

Momentarily I thought just maybe I was gonna get out of an exam. But nope. She called for her nurse to come in and pulled out the lovely stirrups. Then she asked me to scoot down the table.
I just sat there. How was I to tell this woman I was physically bonded to her examination table with my own perspiration? She looked at me and I began to stammer.

"Uh. Well. I'm sort of stuck to the table ...hehe...or rather the paper is stuck to me....hehe....I told you I was sweating a lot!"

:: Mortified::

I then leaned over to show her the saturated white paper adhered to my backside. She seemed nonplussed by the whole situation and sort of exclaimed,

"Oh my, you are sweating a lot." ::someone just shoot me now::

Then she tells asks the nurse if they have any chux pads. A CHUX PAD, y'all!! For sweat!

Once they find the chux pad, Dr. Z. asks me if I can lean over so they can just slip it under me. Um, no. Because once I leaned over the stupid white paper tore from the table and came with me! I had to stand up (half naked!) and then PEEL white paper from off of my butt and thighs!!! It wasn't coming off easy, either! Oh, no! It was all rolling up and coming off in bits and pieces! At that moment, I seriously couldn't believe that this was my life.

I was apologizing profusely and the doctor, being the amazing woman that she is, just kept helping me peel the paper from my backside and telling me that I couldn't help it. Once most of the large pieces were stripped away, I quickly sat back down where the doctor proceeded to do the examination.

Quite honestly, I don't remember much after that because my Mortified-'O-Meter had just gone off of the scales and I was absolutely dying of embarrassment. She basically ordered some blood work, another test and in a round about way said my ovaries had HAD it. Or so she thought. She said a few other things I don't remember and then said she'd see me in a few weeks and left the room.

I sat there, every ounce of dignity gone, looking at the shredded paper on the floor, wondering what I had ever done to deserve such a horrifying experience. I stepped down from the exam table so I could get dressed and guess what? I STILL had to peel more paper from the backs of my legs and rear! It was at that moment I had to laugh. And once I started, I couldn't stop.

As a matter of fact, I chuckled all the way home. I went out with some girlfriends that night and when I told them the story we laughed so hard we cried. It was especially funny when I was demonstrating in my storytelling of how I was leaning to the side on the exam table and then realized I was fanning my backside with a menu! I'm fairly certain the other patrons in the Olive Garden were pretty much displeased by this little demonstration.

So what have I learned from this experience? Well.

- I've learned that exam table paper is most definitely not waterproof.

- I've learned that when exam table paper is wet, it adheres to skin quite well.

- I've learned to always ask for TWO sheets ~ one for cover and one to sit on.

- I've learned I could probably make a fortune if I could come up with waterproof exam table paper.

-I've learned that if you lean to one side and fan your backside with a menu at a popular restaurant, you will get funny looks.

-I've learned not to take myself too seriously.

I mean really. If you had been the nurse's assistant in that room that day, would you not have gone home and totally laughed your tale off telling your family about the lady with the sweaty paper stuck to her backside?!?!

I so totally would. And I did.

They Were a Little Jumpy this Weekend...

2009-08-30T21:33:00.002-05:00

...the girls, that is. On the trampoline.

Hope is fearless on the thing and scares me to death! Charlotte was introduced for the first time this weekend and just giggled and giggled. Grace is not nearly as subdued as she used to be and Liv is just a wild woman. Maddie is a total instigator and I'm certain that eventually somebody (read: Liv) will be going over the side under her watch!

Me?

I just limp around and take pictures while trying to avoid stepping in doggy poo.

I could just eat her up. She found the whole experience "electrifying"...

One of the few times she was still. Oh, the hair this child has...

See, she's coming out of her shell ....

...and this one obviously has no problems being a wild child ...

These two cracked me up with this one...

After looking at these pictures again, I just realized I could've titled the post, "Hair", not typed another word and y'all would have completely understood.

And people wonder why I'm always running late because of hair. Sheesh. I'll just direct them to this page from now on.

Firsts and Lasts

2009-08-26T21:32:00.005-05:00

So Monday was the first day of school for my sweet Grace. It was a hard, hard, hard day for me, my friends. I was not ready to watch her walk into that school. At. All.

The decision to put her into a private school was not taken lightly. Several factors were taken into consideration, but ultimately we decided it would be what was best for her. And me. As much as I knew it was the best decision ... it was still very hard to let her go. You see, Grace is my helper. She's the one I can always count on. She's also just a really, really sweet girl to be around. I knew I was going to miss her.

But Monday morning came and she was beside herself with excitement. She also felt like she was gonna throw up -- a trait she inherited from ...um ... her mother. The morning did NOT transpire in the way I had hoped and because of several circumstances we ended up running late for the first day of school. Um, yeah. She wasn't technically late, but we certainly weren't early either.

I had pre-planned all the pictures I wanted to take DAYS ahead. Pictures of me and her, pictures of her with one of her best friends, pictures with her teacher... Guess how many I ended up with before school? Four. Four pictures. I wasn't mad, just disappointed. Okay ... and a little mad, too. I really wanted a picture of us together. Why? I don't know. I just did.

Anyway, here's my girl ~ not in front of our house or pretty flowers ~ but sitting in Phil the Burb.

And the one (ONE!!!) picture I got in front of the school. Can't tell she's excited or nothin', can ya??

I had only taken 3 pictures at this point because we were running behind, but apparently my girl felt like she had been subjected to a full fledged photography session because no sooner had I finished taking this picture when she turned to me and said,

"Are we going to do this every morning? Because if we are then I might as well just stay home!"

Oh yes, she did.

I didn't get a picture with her teacher, but at least I got one outside of her classroom. She was losing a little patience with me at this point.

I ~~walked~~ limped out those doors, got into my truck and bawled my eyes out. Then I pulled myself together, went home, put my foot up and watched the clock like a hawk until 2:45 pm. I also watched a little Food Network, but that's neither here nor there.

My friend Anita picked me up and went to get our girls together. I was never so relieved to see Grace's sweet face walk out those doors in all my life! She was smiling and bebopping her way to the truck like she had done this for years. She was a teeny bit overwhelmed, but mostly had a really good day!

And to celebrate her very first day of school EVER, we went to Sonic and got a Jr. Candy Sundae!!

And your probably asking yourselves, "We get the 'Firsts' part of the post title, but what about the 'Lasts'?".

Well Monday was the last "first" day of high school that My Boy will ever have. I can't believe that I'm the mother of a senior, y'all. I'm also having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I'm going to have an 18 year old son in less than 3 weeks. Or maybe it's hard to believe that I'll have an 18 year old AND a 9 (NINE!) month old!!! Oh my word. God is good, isn't He?

Anyway, this is the last year to sit in the football stands and cheer him on (and pray he doesn't get hurt!) on Friday nights. That makes me really sad. He's played football since he was 10 years old and it will just be ... well ... weird without it.

I guess this means we'll have to retire our Warrior headdress hanging on the rear view mirror of Phil, too. ::sigh:: I just love that thing.

So there you have it, my friends. The 'Firsts' and 'Lasts' of this past Monday. It was an emotional day to say the least. I'm spent.

Good thing I bought that double pack of Nutella last week.

Random Things ~Or ~ Business As Usual

2009-08-23T15:41:00.009-05:00

Well, I just passed week 2 (TWO!) of the Flip Flop and Drop Debacle of 2009, which can now be referred to as Post Traumatic Idiotic-Moron-for-Tripping-on-My-Flip-Flops-and-Falling-on-My-Can Syndrome. Or PTIMTMFFFMCS.

Whichever you prefer. I'm easy.

Some of you have asked for pictures of my foot. Sorry. Feet are gross. I took about 15 pictures of my foot and erased every last one of them. Not because of the bruising, but because unpedicured toes were just too ugly to look at. But here's a pic of the lovely black boot!

I've learned a few things, experienced a few firsts and have most definitely exhausted my family with all my ~~demands~~ kind requests these last few weeks. I've gotten up a few times against doctor's recommendations and tried doing a few things. My sanity depended upon it and in my head I justified every ill advised act.

Unfortunately, my ankle paid for it. So, the first thing I've learned is that when I get a wild hair in my keester to get up and you know, try and take pictures of my adorable sleeping baby or cook a full blown meal, it usually knocks me back down for a few days. Ask me how I know.

But honestly now. How many of you, broken ankle or not, could resist getting up to take pictures of this?

or this?

Totally justifiable if I do say so myself.

And it's fairly safe to say that Food Network has been my best friend over the last few weeks. You all know that I absolutely adore the Next Food Network Star and this last one was a doozy! I absolutely LOVED Melissa d'Arabian and was just thrilled that she won. Well, ever since I saw her pilot on the last show I have wanted to make this and this. And I made BOTH this week! Let me tell you, my friends ... it did not disappoint.

However, my ankle did not approve one teeny tiny itty bit. ::sigh::

In the last two weeks I've also realized how to get rid of my dry, cracked heels. It's simple, really. Stop walking on them. Really. They've all but gone away. And for me, that's a miracle. The little Vietnamese lady at the nail salon will be so thrilled, y'all!

I am a barefoot girl and quite frankly, that is one of the worst things you can do for your heels. I'm fairly certain that's why I was kicked out of Fly Lady. I wouldn't obey the whole "put your shoes on and tie them" mantra. Well, that and I don't think ever in the history of Fly Lady was anyone else's entire house deemed a "hot spot". I'm just sayin'.

And speaking of personal hygiene (okay, there was just no good way to segue into that!).

I took one of the longest, most enjoyable showers ever today. I didn't realize how grungy one could feel from just sitting and doing, oh you know ... NOTHING! I washed my hair (which Marinell the Hair Genius, was so kind to color and highlight for me a week post breakage. She stayed late ~ like until 10pm late ~ Just. For. Me. I love her. I don't think I could have handled both a broken ankle AND bad roots. It's just not right, y'all.). Anyway, I washed and rinsed although I did not repeat. I shaved my legs, which has proven to be quite interesting with a broken ankle. I shaved under my arms (I only have to do this twice a month, so it's quite exciting for me when it happens.) and I used my vanilla bean body scrub.

I also plucked an eyebrow or two and gave them a haircut. If I don't trim them Monk begins to call me Abe ...as in Abe Vigoda. Got to the link. You'll understand. I did not, however, put on any makeup. Because I don't have to, that's why. It's been quite freeing actually.

Here is my makeup-less self lounging about the couch. As usual. Nice, huh? Blech. Picture courtesy of 9 year old Grace.

I've worn makeup only twice this week. Once when I went to Costco and once when I went to Target.

And speaking of Costco... ( ahHA! Now THAT was a good segue!)

I was getting cabin fever and some grocery shopping needed to be done, so my good friend Anita came over and went with me to Costco. Monk made her pinky swear to make me ride around in one of those little Scoot About things that beep like a Mac truck when you back up. Right at the end of the shopping trip my Scoot About died on me. Lucky for me Anita is a NASCAR fan because she whipped right in behind me with the shopping cart and drafted me all the way to the checkout line. It was classic.

While I was at Costco I also purchased a double pack of Nutella and my life hasn't been the same since. I think about this stuff and what I can do with it incessantly. I do believe I'm going to make a pizza creation that involves a pizza crust, Nutella, almonds and marshmallows. I'll let you know when I try it. I could use my finger and eat it straight from the jar, friends. It is that good.

And just so you know ... the Scoot Abouts and Target were much better than the Scoot Abouts at Costco. I'm fairly certain that the Target one was so fast that it broke some sort of supermarket speed limit. Poor Sis was having to chase me through the store while pushing a loaded grocery cart. I just laughed maniacally and went faster, embracing the whole NASCAR like experience from Costco and had to refrain myself from trying to "bump" Grace into the Chef Boyardee Ravioli. That is until I nearly gave myself whiplash by accidentally letting go of the little lever thingy and my little Scoot About came to a rather unpleasant and abrubt halt!

(BTW, Jennifer asked me where I got Hope's puzzle rack and the answer is Target, of course. And the best part is that it came with 4 puzzles!! For under $20!)

Well, that pretty much wraps up my exciting life around here lately. What have y'all been up to? Anybody have any new blog worthy recipes to try? What are your eyebrow plucking habits? Finding any new interesting blogs? Anybody else draft people in a Scoot About at the local Costco?

Really. These are the things that make my life happy right now.

The 2nd Birthday Party...

2009-08-18T21:42:00.005-05:00

Poor Hope. It really stinks being the 5th child. Actually, if you ask Olivia, she might tell you it stinks being the 4th child, too. And little Charlotte just doesn't have a chance at all, I'm afraid.

Birthday celebrations just seem to get more and more difficult with each child I have. Somewhere in all the hubbub of vacations, broken water pipes, broken air conditioning, broken ankles (it was a month of brokenness apparently!), Hope's 2nd birthday party just didn't happen.

::slapping myself:: Bad momma.

So because of the current state of my ankle bone, we knew a bigger family birthday party just wasn't gonna happen. I can barely get to the bathroom, much less try and get things read for a birthday party. So we improvised.

We decided that we would have a mini, mini, mini, mini birthday party for her this past Sunday. There were no party plates or hats, no balloons, no special outfits and no guests other than me and Monk and her 4 sisters. The cake was and $8 chocolate cake from Wal-Mart and the two gifts she received from Monk and I weren't even wrapped.

This little party we had went against everything I have ever believed that a birthday party should be. I felt like we had somehow let Hope down and gypped her of her special day. (Because we all know that when you deny your 2 year old a birthday party she will most definitely need therapy as an adult, right?) I felt that having this sort of impromptu party was somehow a major fail on my part.

But you know what? I was wrong. Dead wrong.

This little mini family party turned out to be one of the single most enjoyable birthday parties I've ever had with one of my children. There was no frantic shopping, or cleaning, or decorating. It was just us and our sweet 2 year old girl.

SHE didn't care that there weren't party plates and hats. SHE didn't care that there weren't balloons. SHE didn't care that her gifts weren't wrapped or that she ate an $8 Wal-Mart cake. She just smiled and giggled and loved the fact that we sang Happy Birthday to her.

And that my friends, is not a fail. It's what celebrating is all about. As a matter of fact, after it was all over I began to ask myself why I hadn't done most of our previous birthday parties this way. It was fun, relaxing and best of all .... I wasn't in a bad mood beforehand. Or during. Or after. I just enjoyed laughing and smiling at my sweet girl.

And just so you know that Hope had a great time .... here are a few pictures to prove it!

The $8 Wal-Mart cake

This is what she looked like when she saw daddy bringing her gifts!

Her new puzzles and puzzle rack...

The child has a fettish for picking her nose ...

She had just discovered her new Mega Blocks

Hmmm... what's in here?

Building, building, building...

And then there was cake ...

... and just so I don't forget her dimples and rolls...

She's a lot like her mother where the cake is concerned ...

Couch Confessions

2009-08-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow will be one week since the dreaded Flip Flop and Drop Debacle of 2009 began.

I have spent and entire week either on the couch or in the recliner. At first I thought this was going to be a really cool mini vacay where I watched nothing but Food Network and had people wait on me hand and foot. Where life was good and the living was easy.

Oh dear, friends. How wrong I was.

Never, ever, ever wish that you could have a break from things. You just might get one. Literally. I have never been so sore and bored in my entire life.

Now don't get me wrong, I love me some Food Network and can scarcely get bored with Paula making things like Peanut Butter Cups in a Blanket. Seriously. They exist. Or the lovely Giada whipping up something Italian-ish and making it look incredibly easy. And I can't forget Ina. Dear, dear Ina. So full of class and making simple yet delicious looking dishes like Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes or Apple Pear Crisp. She's delightful.

It's the sitting that's getting to me. The mindless sitting. After about 3 days of it I had determined I was done. My rest was over and I was ready to get moving again.

::insert raucous laughter here::

I went to my doctor's appointment yesterday. He re-took some x-rays and I was waiting for him to come in and tell me they were mistaken and they were all wrong and it was just a bad sprain. ::insert raucous laughter again:: A bone in my ankle is definitely broke. It broke because of SEVERE strain to my ligaments and I ALSO have a slight crack in my outer metatarsal on the outside of my foot. He then told me these things:

1. He was putting me in a boot up to my knee

2. I have to wear it for a minimum of 30 days.

3. I have to stay on the crutches for 2 more weeks ( Crutches are of the devil, my friends!)

4. I have to stay off of my foot as much as possible for the next TWO WEEKS!

5. I'm looking at 6-8 weeks for recovery.

This is the part where I go crazy. And I start to soul search.

I do believe that God is Sovereign. And for that reason alone I believe He allowed this to happen to force me into a season of rest and reflection. When I say force, I mean it in the best of ways y'all. You know that still small voice that we all (as Christians) can hear? I do believe the Bible calls him the Holy Spirit. Yea, Him. Well, He's been after me a while and I've been pretending not to notice, you know. I'm noticing now. Loud and clear. I've been doing some reflecting and frankly, I don't like my reflection too much at the moment.

So I'm purposing to read my Bible and pray every day (hey, I just remembered that's a song!). Praying that the Lord would create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Praying that even though I don't like my circumstances right now that I would take the focus off of me and onto Him. Giving Him the glory in all things. Even the Flip Flop and Drop Debacle of 2009.

And the rest? I haven't had rest since 1982, y'all. I need it. My body needs it. My spirit needs it. My house doesn't need it, but that's a whole 'nother subject. It's one of those areas that's going to be difficult for because of my natural Night Owlish tendencies, but it's something that's necessary I believe. I know the dark circles under my eyes will thank me.

And the complaining? Oh, I'll still complain ... that's just me. But I'll praise, too. I'll be praising a lot more than complaining. Or at least that's the plan. Y'all can call me out if I don't. Just be nice.

I'm a delicate flower. As evidenced by my beauty and grace at falling in flip flops.

Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

The Story of How I Broke My Ankle

2009-08-10T17:08:00.006-05:00

Yes, you read that right. I broke my ankle this past Saturday. Let me tell y'all, I am a picture of grace and poise.

It all started like any other Saturday. I ~~jumped~~ crawled out of bed, begging my eyelids to work with me and dragged sorry self to the kitchen. I threw down a bowl of cereal and proceeded to start getting ready for the day.

I was scheduled to take pictures of two little boys that morning who were one month and two years old. I'm usually on the floor or ground while shooting so I need comfy clothes. I pick some jean capris and layer a couple of shirts. My footwear of choice are some cute brown flip-flops that I had purchased on Thursday.

(Note: I rarely ever wear flip-flops, y'all. Ever since my experience with some unpleasant Plantar Fasciitis, I just don't wear them. Veeery unlike me to wear these to shoot pictures in.)

(Just in case you didn't catch it in the last parenthetical paragraph above .... there was some foreshadowing going on up there. Read it again if you must.)

I was already running behind and I knew it. I always run behind. I do believe it's a spiritual gift of mine. If not a gift, then a curse. All I know is that I'm proficient at it.

Anyway.

Because Charlotte is now crawling (NOW CRAWLING, Y'ALL!! OH, WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?!) I couldn't bring her with me. In hindsight, this was probably a very good thing. I had to nurse her right before I left so she wouldn't need to eat while I was away. Charlotte, who is a Power Nurser Extraordinaire, decided my breast milk was like a fine wine that morning and apparently needed to savor the moment, rolling the flavors around on her tongue a little. Or something like that.

By the time I got out the door I was running a good 15 minutes behind schedule. I was going to be late arriving and I was not happy about it. Even though I wasn't happy about it, I REALLY needed some caffeine and decided that a quick roll through a drive through for a Coke was not only permissible in this situation, but totally acceptable and necessary. I needed to be on my game and quick jolt of sugar and caffeine was going to do that for me. You go, girl.

I get to their house, 15 minutes late, grab my camera bag and one of my baskets and walk to the door. We get the usual greetings out of the way and then I proceed to make my way back out to Phil the Suburban to retrieve the other "props" I use in pictures. But before I walk out the door, the mom says to me, "do you need any help?".

Now y'all. These words will haunt me until my dying day. If I had just said yes (YES!), things could have turned out SO differently.

I walk out to Phil, open the back doors, grab my last basket that's filled with different fabrics, my lamb's skin, etc.., close the door and begin to step up onto the curb when Lo and Behold...

I got tangled up in them dang flip-flops!!

The next thing that happened plays out like some sort of slow motion scene from a movie. I knew what was coming. I knew it. I just couldn't do a single, cotton pickin' thing about it!! My ankle twisted, I felt excruciating pain and I started going down. My hands were full and I knew my fanny was gonna hit the pavement.

In my head I'm yelling (in that deep slow motion voice), "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!". My rear hit the pavement (I'm fairly certain I may have bounced a little) and the basket, along with its contents went flying everywhere.

I laid there amidst the carnage of leaves, leftover lawnmower grass and various quality fabrics and thought to myself 3 things:

1. $#%@#, my ankle HURTS!! ( Just tryin' to keep it real.. I love Jesus, but sometimes I swear a little.)

2. Please Lord, don't let anybody have just seen that!

and

3. Wow! This one's goin' on the blog.

I sat up and began brushing the leaves and grass of off me and my fabrics. The searing pain in my ankle was unbelievable! But I thought to myself, "Girl, you gotta go take some pictures". I stood up, gathered up my basket and proceeded to ~~walk~~ limp into that house. I was not about to go in there and tell her, "I fell off your curb (because I'm a dork) and may have broken my ankle so I can't take your boy's pictures." Nope. Wasn't gonna do it.

Pride cometh before the fall, y'all. Except mine came after.

And with all the dignity I could muster, I took pictures of those boys for over an hour. Mind you, I didn't get up off of the floor one, single time. At one point though, I swallowed my pride and told her what happened. Mostly because I kept scooting all over the floor like some crazed dog with "itchy rear issues" and I didn't want her to think that I was lazy. Or weird. Or itchy. She brought me a bag of ice for my ankle and I was very thankful for the brief time it stayed there.

Then her two year old started eating it. And that was the end of the ice.

At the end of our time I was ever so thankful that her husband came and offered to carry some things out for me because when I stood on my foot I thought I would surely die. Very slowly I managed to limp out of that house and down the driveway. I felt certain that I didn't do a very good job on the pictures because of the pain I was in and I was just hoppin' mad that the whole unfortunate incident had even happened.

When I finally got in the truck and pulled away, I realized that I couldn't even hit the brake with my right foot. I called Monk, told him to get Charlie ready, I'd be there in 20 minutes so we could go to my doctor's after hours clinic. My foot, ankle, leg and pride were throbbing.

By the time we arrived at the doctor's office I couldn't walk at all. Monk had to go in and get me a wheelchair. Our time in there was rather uneventful except for me wanting to slap the x-ray technician senseless. The unnatural positions she wanted me to put my foot and ankle in were just plain uncalled for! Honestly, I was a little surprised when the doctor told me he thought it was fractured. I expected a bad sprain, but not a break.

He sent me home in an air cast, which frankly is nothing more than two pieces of plastic with velcro around them, and told me to stay off of it for several days and I would be contacted by my normal doctor on Monday. A husband and five children at home and I'm told to stay off of my foot for several days. Nice.

Well. I was contacted today and it is definitely broken. I have an appointment on Thursday (THURSDAY!!!) to see how it looks and if they're going to give me a boot or a cast. They told me to stay off of it until then. Do these people not realize I have a family?? And I honestly believe my butt will be petrified by then! In the meantime, I'm being waited on hand and foot. Sort of. I'm mostly sitting and complaining that my hiney hurts. And my ankle.

Out of utter depression, I ate an entire IKEA chocolate bar by myself yesterday. I figure by Thursday I'll either be the size of Shamu or in a diabetic coma. Forget the pain meds, I self-medicate with chocolate. And Fritos. And Salt 'n Vinegar Almonds (my new favorite). You know....all those low fat food items.

And since a post is rarely ever complete without a picture .... here is a peek at the pics I took on Saturday. With a broken ankle. In case you forgot.

Harley. The Dog with a Purpose

2009-08-06T00:00:00.000-05:00

Most of you may remember that fateful day last summer, almost exactly a year ago, when I announced to all of blogdom that we acquired a Harley.

Little did you all know that it was a 100 pound, brown, slobbery beast of a Chocolate Lab!

For the last year Harley has been the source of many emotions in our family. Many of them un-Christian like on my behalf. He chewed my new-to-me love seat, broke our back window, pulled out trash, slept on furniture, contributed about a 1000 pounds of dog poop to our back yard, shed about 2000 pounds of hair through my house, got me in trouble with neighbors for his barking, took food from the table and most recently managed to pull down the sheers on my windows in my family room. To say the dog caused me great deals of stress is a severe understatement.

On the other hand, he has the most amazing, pitiful brown eyes I have ever seen on a dog, he turned into a wonderful playmate for the girls (aside from knocking Hope and Charlotte over on a regular basis), he was voted top of his class in his obedience training and turned out to be a decent guard dog.

But he was just too much.

Our 1950 square foot house just wasn't big enough for 2 adults, 5 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats. Especially when one of the dog weighed more than 3 of my children put together!

Needless to say, I have been on a quest for some time to find Harley a more suitable home. Some people told me to take him to the shelter ~ that somebody would surely take him. Even though I didn't feel right about it, I let Monk take him to the shelter one time and they told him they didn't have room and they would take Harley straight to the back and euthanize him!!! Monk brought him back home.

I finally decided to put Harley on Craig's List. Surely somebody would want this dog. I put my first ad out a few weeks ago and I received 3 emails, ALL of which were families desperate to have him as their pet! The first family sounded WONDERFUL! They had 4 children, all 5 and older, 10 acres of land for him to run on, a pond for him to swim in... and then they fell through. The second and third people fell through as well.

So this past week I put him back on Craig's List. Two days of nothin'. At one point I questioned as to whether God was testing me in my patience through Harley. I figured that somehow this dog was going to be used to begin a good work in me. Or kill me. Then it came.

The email.

Not just any email though. It was someone interested in Harley, but not just as a pet. This person had a 12 year old son who had gone through a kidney transplant at 4 years old and had Asperger's Syndrome. They were looking for a dog that could be trained to be a service dog for him. The mother had been told that Labs were highly trainable and very good service dogs and then proceeded to ask me what Harley's rehoming fee was. They were trying to save money to be able to afford the training once they had found a dog.

I was floored. I read the email to Monk and after a very brief discussion we decided that there was no way we could sell Harley to these people. We were going to give him to them. I contacted the mom via email and prayed she hadn't already found another dog. The next morning (this past Saturday) she called me.

She was overwhelmed that we would give Harley to them and said she had been praying for a dog for her son Tyler for 2 months. She had planned on spending that Saturday going to shelters trying to find a dog that would work for them. But on Friday evening she happened to get on Craig's List. Coincidence? I think not. She told me that before they could consider him they needed to let the trainer work with him to see if he was a good fit. I agreed to meet them at a local park so their trainer could look Harley over, work with him and see if he could indeed be trained.

So, I loaded Harley into Phil the Suburban and off we went. We had a short meet and greet before I handed Harley over and assumed my position in the truck (I couldn't let him see me otherwise I would be a distraction). I watched the trainer tug at his hears, his tail, generally mess with him to see if he was aggressive. He wasn't, of course.

He's a lover not a fighter, you know.

Anyway, they needed some treats for him to see if they could get him to obey some simple commands so I volunteered to run and grab some. When I returned, the trainer's husband had been playing fetch with Harley while he was on a 25 foot leash. Harley was LOVING it! I handed over the treats and reassumed my position in Phil (the air conditioning was much better than the sweltering heat). I watched as Harley did all sorts of stuff for treats. That dog will do anything for food. He and Monk are a lot alike in that regard.

Then I watched as he laid down in the shade; happy, exhausted and full of liver treats. The next thing that happened took me totally by surprise though. I watched this little 12 year old boy lay down on the cement next to my dog. I watched him lay there and pet Harley and talk to him and then I watched him lay his head on Harley. And Harley let him.

And then I did what I'm doing now. I cried.

After a few more minutes they motioned for me to get out of the truck to come and talk to them. When I walked over, the exact words that were used were, "you have an amazing dog". All the stupid things Harley had done over the past year just melted away and all of a sudden I was proud of that great, big, slobbery beast. Then that sweet little boy came over to me, hugged me tight around my waist and said,

"Thank you for giving me your dog."

(If you didn't cry before I do believe you are crying right about now, right?)

I wanted to bust into the Ugly Cry right then and there, y'all. That little boy needed our dog. Our Harley was really smart and he held a greater purpose to his life other than sneaking pizza crusts off of our table and sleeping on the furniture at night. We tolerated his shenanigans for a whole year so he could move onto greater things. A service dog.

We turned Harley over to this lovely family later that evening. Grace and Liv seemed at peace with all of it and even went with us to drop Harley off. Maddie, on the other hand, wouldn't speak to me.

Tyler was SO excited! Harley galloped all over their yard, was terrorized by their other dog ~ a little "snack-size" dog as we like to call them ~ and then he christened their yard with his first of many poops. Good times, y'all. We left knowing that somehow, our dog was going to help this little boy's life. That was a good feeling.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, I sat on our love seat and cried. Not just cried ~ I sobbed great big heaving sobs. Over a dog that had tormented me for almost a year. I questioned as to whether we had done the right thing, had I given away my children's pet for my own selfish reasons, was Harley truly going to be happy as a service dog ~ oh y'all... I was a Perfect. Mess.

Through the wisdom and encouragement of some very sweet friends, I realized that yes, we had done the right thing. Dogs like Harley needed a purpose. They are working dogs. Natural protectors. Harley, who has ALWAYS needed a lot of attention, will eventually be going to school with Tyler, into restaurants with him (now THAT I have to see!), to the mall with him ~ he will, in fact, be the center of attention. Saturday I learned that Harley was not just smart, but really smart. And with the proper training, which Monk and I could never provide, he's going to be an amazing dog some day.

But essentially, it goes beyond that. It goes back to that little boy. That little boy Tyler, will have a companion in Harley. Something a lot of children with Asperger's don't often have. He will have a friend 24/7 that will look out for him and never treat him poorly. He will have someone to sleep with him and to play with him and to always keep him company. Amazing.

Who knew.

Harley. The Dog with a Purpose.

We're gonna miss you, buddy. But we know you're moving on to do greater things.

The Youngest Old Couple I Ever Did See..

2009-08-03T00:00:00.002-05:00

So last Friday I took pictures of my two great newphews, Elijah and Austin. You can see some of their pictures here.

Austin and Charlotte are only about 4 weeks apart. He was born October 31st and she was born December 3rd. We always enjoy watching how they are going to react to each other when they get together, seeing that they are almost the same age.

Friday was pretty funny. We sat them next to each other and once Austin stopped giving these "who ARE you?" looks to Charlotte and she quit trying to bite his face, I managed to get the funniest picture of them.

They look like a little old couple. Seriously.

Notice his hand gently on the back of her neck and her arm laying gingerly on his lap?? And their expressions!!

I think from now on I'll call them George and Edna. The youngest old couple I ever did see...

Tender Moments ~ Monk Style

2009-07-30T08:39:00.003-05:00

Yesterday afternoon was a bad day for me. I'll admit...I was a grouch. I was irritated over lots of things and I just didn't want to deal with anyone.

So. I went into my bedroom with Charlotte and locked the door. Oh yes, I did. I needed to think quietly and I also didn't want to spew my venom on anyone else. In other words, I gave myself a timeout.

I knew Hope was having a hard time as it grew closer to bed time. Madgirl bathed her for me and put jammies on her. I heard her get upset over something random and Maddie finally brought her to my door. I relenquished my solitude and let her bring Hope into me.

Maddie left and I held Hope, laying across my lap. I looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back through that silly pacifier. I leaned forward, close to her face and I looked deep into those hazel green, tear stained eyes and my heart just burst with love for this child! And so I started this conversation:

Me: Hope?

Her: Hmm?

Me: Mommy loves you so much.

Her: (something muffled from underneath her pacifier)

I thought I heard what she said, but wasn't sure. So I said,

Me: What?

Her: Booger.

Me: What?

Her: Booger.

Me: Mommy has a booger?

Her: Mmm hmmm.

Me: Thank you, Hope.

Her: Welcome.

And there you have it friends. Another conclusion to .... Tender Moments ~ Monk Style.

Because Sharing is Nice

2009-07-29T09:16:00.002-05:00

You all should know by now that I luuuurrrrvve to bake! I heart baking. Well, except when it's stinkin' 253 degrees here ~ which it has been for the last month! I haven't had the time or the air conditioning to handle one of my favorite pastimes lately. And honestly, I do believe I audibly heard my bee-hind thank me the other day!

(Okay, maybe not audibly. That may not have been the best choice of words when speaking about my bee-hind.)

Anyway, I'm always looking for new baking resources, ya know....cause I like to mix things up a little. Get it? Mix things up a little? Mixing = Baking?! I'm so punny ~ I really do crack myself up sometimes! ::deep sigh::

Annnyway...

I stumbled upon this REALLY awesome baking blog the other day on total accident because I was doing a search on Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies. Oh dear friends, the gold mine I stumbled upon! It's called Joy the Baker and this girl is F-U-N-N-Y! And she has some crazy mad baking skillz AND she's self taught! I wanna marry her. Okay, that's just weird and a little sick, so I'll say I want to be BFF's with her. Go check her out ~ well not like check HER out, but you know....her BLOG!!

And just because I love to share and you all are always so nice to me... here's the recipe for:

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

-1 egg
-1 c. sugar
-1 c. smooth peanut butter
-1 tsp baking soda (optional, but I'd recommend it)

Mix together, roll into balls (about 1 tsp size), do that fancy little crisscross design on top with a fork and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks and then enjoy delicious peanut buttery goodness. It makes approximately 2 dozen.

And for good measure (Get it? A baking pun again? I'm just full of zingers today!) I put 3 little milk chocolate chips on top while they are cooling because nothing in the history of the world beats the marriage of peanut butter AND chocolate! Deeeee-lish, my friends!

And no. There is no picture. Why? We manage to eat them faster than I can photograph them.

Maybe next time.

Go see Joy. It's worth it.

Pretty in Pink (Eye)

2009-07-27T20:53:00.002-05:00

So, I've been a mother for going on 18 years now. In all those 18 years we've had various disease and illness of the garden variety around here. You know, things like stomach flu, Chicken Pox, Roseola, Selective Hearing...oh wait...that last one probably doesn't technically qualify as a disease.

But it is, my friends. Oh, yes. It is.

Anyway.

This morning sweet Charlotte woke up her usual happy self. It didn't take me long, however, to realize that her eye was not it's usual happy self. Crusty, red and watery, it was. I immediately had that sinking feeling in my gut. Could it really be pink eye? None, and I do mean NONE, of my children have ever had pink eye! How on earth did my almost 8 month old get it?

(It's those nasty shopping carts that are dirtier than toilet seats, I bet!! But I use this kind of cart cover, so I don't really think it was that.)

Now Pink Eye is not to be confused with Stink Eye. Stink Eye would be the look I give my children when they are irritating me. Or Monk gets it when he tells bad jokes. Monk gets the Stink Eye a lot. The Stink Eye has been caught on camera, but the guilty photographer, whoever they are, is forced to erase the picture lest they get the dreaded Stink Eye of Death. You do NOT want me to give you the Stink Eye of Death. It's not pretty, my friends.

Anyway. One trip to the doctor confirmed my suspicions and my sweet Charlie is now a confirmed Contagious Germ Carrying Nemesis. Or at least that's what the other girl's think. We now have Pink Eye to add to the list of disease and illness my children have had over the years. But this one, not unlike the stomach flu, is one infection I do NOT want to get!

Not necessarily because of the crusty, itchy, watery eye aspect of it either. If I get it that means I have to throw out ALL of my eye make-up and start completely over!!!

Wait a minute... ::thinking:: ::conniving:: ::evil smiling:: :: light bulb shining brightly::

That would mean I would have to buy ALL! NEW! EYE! MAKE-UP! Aw, darn! I would haaate to have to buy all new eye make-up!! ::double crossing fingers behind back:: Maybe this means that I'm just gonna hafta take one for the team, ya know?!

Wow. I digressed so badly on this one....

Anyway, here's my sweet baby with her weepy little eye, that actually doesn't look that bad in these pictures. But it gives me an excuse to show my little weepy eyed cutie, so why not!

(note to self: when letting the baby play with your lens cap as a bribe to look at the camera, chances are, after they've pounded it on the cement 852 times, you're gonna need a new lens cap)

No Excuses

2009-07-24T08:47:00.002-05:00

That would be for not posting anything all week! OY! And I call myself a blogger!

Honestly, not too much blog-worthy news has been happening in these here parts lately. Unless, of course, y'all would really like a whole post devoted to Charlotte's new habit of biting me while she nurses. I think it's fair to say that I might title it something like:

YEEEOOUUCH!!!! or #%&*#*$@*!!!

Oh, I kid on that last one. Mostly.

Anyway, I'll tell you a little bit of what's been going on in my little pea brain and that might explain why I've been a little Out 'o The Loop lately. In bullet fashion, of course!

Schooling decisions have weighed heavily on me lately and have consumed my emotional tank for the better part of 3 weeks. I'm just not sure that in this juncture in my life that I am best suited for homeschooling. In other words ~ my nerves are shot! So. The decision has been made for Olivia to homeschool (1st grade work is not that difficult) and Grace will go to a local private school. Maddie will be homeschooling, but most of it will be through a homeschool enrichment program and independent studies. I may devote an entire post to this later, but for now I simply don't have the emotional energy to do so.

My photography business is not very busy at the moment...as in...almost nothing. And I think I'm okay with that at the moment. BUT there are lots of decisions to be made concerning that as well. I'm not the most technologically advanced person on the block and some of the computer related stuff involved just frustrates the living daylights out of me. It has been very hard to find learning resources for me ~ as in, actual physical human beings~ that would actually teach me some things. This frustrates me to no end.

Along those same lines, I've been debating about hiring someone to design a photography blog (mostly so I can quit fighting with blogger myself!!) for me and closing up Monk'swife altogether. I would still be here, but everything would be on the photography blog. I would still tell stories and updates, etc (oh wait, that would be if I ever, you know, actually wrote on the blog!)..., but there would also be photography related stuff on there as well. Because y'all, I really hate having two blogs. It's not fun. AT. ALL.

My roots are showing and this makes me especially grouchy. I need a color and highlights in the most awful of ways, but there's this little thing called....M-O-N-E-Y that has been rather scarce around here lately. That would be because of broken water pipes, birthdays, broken air conditioners and the impending tuition that is coming upon us. I have come to realize that my hair related issues may be on the brink of total disaster. It's a sad, sad day in Monkville.

Harley the Beast will be finding a new home shortly. I think. I put him on Craig's List and had several people interested in him. The first family, who would have been perfect, fell through. I'm still waiting to hear from the second guy. The emotional toll this dog alone has taken on my life has been just short of mind bending. He's not a bad dog per se, just high maintenance. And OH. THE. HAIR. this dog produces!!! I absolutely cannot wait to be free of this hair producing machine!

And lastly, I've just been in a funk. A depressing funk. When I'm in these sorts of funks I either write a LOT or I don't write at all. I bet y'all can guess which one I'm in, huh?

So, anybody have any opinions about any of this? Anybody totally ticked that I want to shut down this blog and combine it into one big one? Anybody want a post on the Booby Biting Baby?

Anyone? Anyone?

Bueller? Bueller?

Two

2009-07-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

It's here. The big 2. Her 2nd birthday.

And I don't know quite how to feel about it.

Her birth story is here, here and here, so you can read of her amazing beginning to see how it all began. But today? While I'm rejoicing in my sweet little girl, I'm a little sad as well. How come, why for?

Well. She's not 1 anymore. I'll never, ever, ever, ever get to have a 1 year old Hope ever again. That year is gone. And while I'm happy and thankful for every day with Hope (as with all my children) it just seems to get harder, as I get older, to watch them grow up. My Boy will be 18 in two short months, so I know all about this whole time fleeting thing.

It's a bummer.

I wanted to get some pictures of her last night so I would have official documentation of exactly how she looked the day before her 2nd birthday. It didn't go as planned. She was grouchy and whiny and just wanting her daddy.

I pulled out the Birthday Tutu thinking I could coax out her inner girly girl and hoping for an attitude adjustment. She wasn't buying it. I moped. I then put the tutu on Charlotte and tried to play the jealousy card. Nope ~ she wasn't born yesterday and I should have known better than to encourage jealousy. Bad Momma.

Then all of sudden...::blink of an eye::...she decided she wanted to wear it. On her terms. As usual. Oh I fretted here and there and all about, y'all. She simply couldn't look like that for her 2 year old birthday photo that was going on the blog! I couldn't have it! No shirt, birthday tutu pulled up under her armpits, hair hanging in her eyeballs and that blasted pacifier stuffed firmly in her mouth.

Then I smiled. It was her. That's her. That's my Hopey. Day in and day out. She's not prissy, she's not super girly... shoot, she's downright crabby most days, so this mood fit her perfectly.

And here she is...MY perfectly disheveled, lovable Hope... wearing the birthday tutu on her terms...

This little girl is a smart one. And she gets the best of this Momma sometimes. God gave me Hope to teach me more patience. I'm failing miserably.

Last evenings events reminded me of her birth.

When I look back at her birth, the first word that comes to mind is intense. Her birth was very intense. My water was broke for 38 hours before I actually went into labor with her. Again, her terms. Then, when I did go into labor we found out a few hours in that she was posterior. Difficult and intense.

(When I think of a good word to describe Hope ~ intense comes to mind!)

Then God's grace abounded and she was born! Oh! The joy in that single moment! And the pain and intensity and difficulty passed away and I forgot.

(Well, not completely. Posterior babies are not something you totally forget. But I mostly forgot. :) )

That's how most days are with Hope. She can be difficult and taxing and more than likely on my very last nerve, then all of sudden, something will happen and God's grace will abound. She will smile, giggle or do one of her crazy antics ~ even just watching her sleep ~ all of these things make me forget.

I forget all of her irritations and I'm just thankful. Thankful that I have her here with me, healthy and whole. Thankful that God chose me to be her mother. Just thankful that I have her.

When I was putting this post together she was ~~crying~~ screaming while walking through the house. Monk was trying to settle her and take her to bed away from me so I could finish typing. She came crying into the living room and just kept saying, "Momma". I'll admit, I was irritated with her crying and the whining she had been doing earlier and I really just wanted her to go to bed. Monk came and got her and took her into the bedroom where she really began to do some lung exercises.

Then it hit me. She was crying because she was tired...stumbling tired....BUT...she needed ME. Plain and simple. Just me. I went and got her and she snuggled up next to me, with her hiney in the air, and fell asleep. Just. Like. That.

I looked at her long and hard and then you know what I did?

I forgot.

Happy Birthday my precious Hope. July 15, 2007 will always be one of the best days of my life! I love you.

Blessed and Bouncy

2009-07-12T23:09:00.003-05:00

I SO love Facebook.

I know there's a lot of people who think it's a waste of time and trust me, it can be a BIG time waster. BUT...

(Everything before the BUT[t] is bologna!!)

... the fact that I have reconnected with SO many old friends has just made it priceless! It has opened up a whole new world for me and I LOVE that about it. I also love that I'm friends with some of you! How cool is it that I'm friends with people I've never met in Real Life! Love. It.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I reconnected with a good friend of mine from years ago. Her son and My Boy were great friends and we lived around the corner from each other. They moved and as circumstances would have it, we lost touch. Facebook reconnected us. How cool is that?

Anyway, one of my friend's Facebook updates mentioned her giving away their trampoline for FREE to anyone that wanted to come pick it up.

Hello?

I was ALL over that one my friends! You have no idea how long and how badly my girls have been wanting a trampoline! F-O-R-E-V-E-R, if that gives you any idea. So, Monk and I headed over to my friend's house (which was only 15 minutes away - pathetic, huh?) to pack up the FREE trampoline. It was SO MUCH FUN to see my friend again!

After loading it up we came home and put the thing together at 8 o'clock at night. We were still sweating bullets if that gives you any idea of how hot it was! Unfortunately, it was too late to jump by the time we got it together. SO. They had to wait until the next evening. (It's too hot during the day and the black bouncing area will literally sear the bottoms of your feet!)

Apparently I should have washed it off before letting the girls bounce! They were filthy! But had SO much fun!

..and a different perspective...

You would have never known that this dirty little thing had never been on a trampoline. She owned it.

And if there were ever a picture that could sum Liv up in one shot ~ this one's it...

And Sis? Well. This was about as wild as she got...

Well, that is until I asked her to smile. Then she did this...

Oh, yes. Blessed and bouncy. That's us.

Now let's see how long before I have a post titled Our Trip to the Emergency Room.

A Mini Update of Sorts..

2009-07-10T20:27:00.002-05:00

No, I haven't kicked the bucket since turning 40.

Yes, I have taken a Mini Bloggy Vacation this week. I can do that now. Because I'm old and crotchety.

No, I haven't forgotten about Strolling Down Memory Lane. I realize I stopped at 18 years old. Do you suppose that was a Freudian Slip of sorts?

Yes, I will continue the stroll ... hopefully beginning Monday. It's a bajillion and one degrees here right now and that makes me mostly just want to lie around drinking sweet tea and declaring loudly, "Could it get ANY hotter?".

But before I finish my mini vay-cay, I'll leave you with a brief smidgen of what happened this past weekend...

Do you know why this truck had to be summoned?

...and can you guess on which day it had to be summoned??

Oh yes, my friends. If you guessed that my air conditioning went out ON the 4th of July ~ aka my 40th birthday party ~ then you were very correct, indeed.

It was 104 degrees outside that day. My house? That was FULL of people? Only a hot and sticky 84 degrees!!

Despite the sweating though, it was a fun day FER SURE!

And 40?

Well ... it ain't so bad. Except for the crotchety part, that is.

We Interrupt This Program Stroll...

2009-07-02T22:41:00.003-05:00

Due to technical difficulties ~ as in, I have no technological prowess whatsoever ~ I haven't been able to finish working on our stroll down memory lane. Don't worry, I'll make it happen, it'll just have to be when Monk can start scanning pictures for me again.

What's that? Why does he do the scanning and not me?

Well, that would be because of the 3% rule.

What's that? What's the 3% rule?

(Do ya wanna smack me now for all the "what's that?" cracks??? You do, don't you?)

The 3% rule is as follows:

Ahem. In order to operate anything, one must be 3% smarter than the object they are attempting to operate in order for it to work.

And now y'all know why I can't scan pictures. I ain't near as smart as that thar copy/scanner/faxer machine doo-hickey.

That and the fact that ours is so decrepit you have to crank it, anoint it with oil, lay hands on it, dance necked with rattlesnakes and then...

... it just might work.

Anyway, I'm sure one day I'll figure it out, but for now I just like to sit on the sidelines and cheer Monk along. Somebody's gotta tend the rattlesnakes.

Soooooo....hopefully tomorrow we he can get the pictures scanned and I can do an all out Power Post that will cover the last 22 years. I have the perfect title for it already:

From Fabulous and Fit to Flabby and Forty.

Do we really even need pictures for that one?

Anyway, I'm in all-out Panic Cleaning mode for the big ::whispering:: 4-0 ::stop whispering:: birthday party on Saturday, so I need to get to bed. Yes, how wrong is that that I have to clean for my own dang party. Some things in life just aren't fair. Like calories.

Before I close though, I want to leave you with the picture I took immediately following the one above...

Is it just me or does she appear to be chewing something??

Strolling, Strolling....Strolling Makes Me Quiver: The Jr. High and High School Years

2009-06-30T21:15:00.005-05:00

(Okay. Lame title, but I had to pay a little tribute to Tina Turner ~ she was one of my favorites of the 80's and this blog post is ALL about the 80's. Which is by far one the best decades EV-AH!!)

Unfortunately, I accidentally forgot to give Monk my 7th grade picture to scan. :( Bummer. I essentially looked the same as 6th grade except for the fact that I had a really cool navy blue corduroy blazer on. I thought I was all that and a little bit more in that blazer. Now I just realize that the whole female blazer era was just really bad taste.

I was loving Jr. High! There was more independence and I didn't have to deal with all the idiots from elementary school. PLUS I was reunited with a lot of my friends from my first elementary school. I thought I was exceptionally cool because I now had a locker and got to change classes every period. Life was good.

I changed a lot from 7th grade to 8th grade. In 8th grade though, I was allowed to wear a little blush AND lip gloss. Oh yes, this was the high point of my little 13 year old life!

And please notice my clothes are not disheveled even one eency weency bit!

9th grade was another interesting year for pictures. It was the year of the Bi-Level haircut. Which I can tell you right now is just a fancy name for a mullet. And yes, I had one. I will have to muster up a picture from somewhere to show to y'all because you simply MUST see it.

9th grade was also the year that I started taking ~~my drama~~ theatre seriously. I LOVED to act and I was in all the plays that year. Interestingly enough, there weren't enough guys for one particular play so I played the part of a bald man. Let me tell you, it was not fun getting all my hair under that rubber cap.

I had also attended 4 weeks worth of music camp the previous summer and was now first chair trumpet in the band. I was excited that I was going to get to be in marching band in high school and couldn't wait for band camp. Ha! Little did I know!

As a side note: the last day of school in 9th grade I went to the theater to see Ghostbusters!!! Who Ya Gonna Call?!?!?!

10th grade brought SO many new things to my life! Marching band, ~~more drama~~ more theatre, boys, chocolate malts at lunch and so much more! While the general rule in our house was that I couldn't date until I was 16, my mom conceded and let me go on my first date when I was 15 1/2 years old. A few months later I had my first kiss. It also brought my first break up, but I was okay with that because I liked my friends better any way!

I was now allowed to wear full make up and my ~~mullet~~ bi-level was finally growing out!

11th grade was a rough year for me, so to speak. My first boyfriend and I had rekindled our relationship and were dating again and kids, I was head over heals for him. There was SO MUCH DRAMA in my life, too! On stage and real life!

I was made first chair trumpet in 11th grade and the pressure to perform was almost unbearable. A lot of the senior players resented me and I soon began to resent band. I now had my driver's license and me and my friend Jules went EVERYWHERE together ~ the new found freedom was great! I would drive and drive listening to .... wait for it ... cassette tapes!! ha! Phil Collins, Lionel Richie, Air Supply, Huey Lewis and the News, The Pointer Sisters and Cyndi Lauper just to name a few! I was struggling through Chemistry and actually failed the second semester of Geometry (I had never failed anything! Ever!). I hated Geometry.

It was also the year that the drama club (the actual club and not my specific group of friends!) decided to do a musical. I was in band and sang in church, but boy was I surprised to land a lead role in Guys and Dolls! And thus was born my unusual love for Broadway show tunes! I played Miss Adelaide and had to produce a thick New York accent! It was one of the best memories of my life!

My boyfriend at the time (remember, the one I was head over heals for?) asked me to his prom (he was a senior)! I was SO excited! I went and bought a dress and then guess what? He broke up with me! Heart broken, I would drive for hours listening to Lionel Richie croon out Stuck On You. He finally decided that since he had already asked me and I had already bought a dress that he still wanted to take me. Good thing too, cause Lionel was wearing out! (FYI: still one of my favorite songs of all time!)

Let me tell you my friends, when that boy saw me on Prom Night ..... he swooned. I saw it! And here we were. Prom 1986. I still have this dress by the way. Cool, huh? This was one of the best nights of high school! I had a ball!

This picture was my summer before my senior year. Isn't my room all dainty? So not me. And clean, too! It was rarely like that so I'm glad I have photographic evidence! Ironically, I thought I was fat here. I wish I was that fat again.

My senior year was bittersweet for me. I had a lot of senior friends from the year before and missed them terribly, but I was SO happy about being a senior that I wasn't sure how to feel at all. I had a new boyfriend, Andy. I'd met him at church camp over the summer and we fell madly in love. He was 19 and moved from Ohio to Michigan just to be with me. Our song was Glory of Love by Peter Cetera from Karate Kid II (sticking finger down throat and gagging profusely - not at the song, just the whole our song thing).

I absolutely HATED band and the band director by this time and it was starting to show. I had been secretly tapped to be Drum Major for that marching season and turned it down at the last minute. My mother was furious with me, but I just wanted to be with my unit and not have anymore pressure. Over the year it became worse and I almost quit band and joined the choir, but my mother had put her foot down. After I graduated I barely picked up my instrument again. I sold it a few years ago.

The drama club did another musical ~ this time it was Gypsy. Now do y'all know anything about Gypsy? Yea well, neither did I until I landed the lead role and THEN found out Gypsy Rose Lee was a famous BURLESQUE DANCER!!! Try telling that one to your youth pastor when he wants to come and watch the show! Can you imagine my mother telling people I was the lead role in the school musical and when they ask what part, she replies, "Oh, she's the stripper!". Eegads, people. I, however, did not strip one teency bit. Gypsy was considered the Lady of Burlesque. Ahem.

Prom that year was not fun in the least. Andy was being dumb, my hair was bad and I missed my friends from the previous year. We did, however, drive to prom in a Fiero!!! Oh my, we thought we were cool.

See? He just looked like he was acting dumb, didn't he?

By the way, Scarlett O'Hara called and she wants her dress back.

Here is one of my senior pictures. I thought these boots were all it, y'all! Fringe was so cool. These boots would be in style right now if I still had them!

And then the yearbook shot... and just so you know... I cried the day I graduated. I didn't want to be done.

Oh, to have that smooth skin and 80's hair once again... ::sigh::

Next up: The College Years and more!

And the Stroll Continues...the Elementary Years

2009-06-29T21:26:00.005-05:00

As we continue our leisurely stroll through my childhood, we will experience the Elementary Years today. These were tumultuous years for me to say the least. Or at least 5th and 6th grade were. After 4th grade my elementary school closed. They divided all of the students amongst 3 other elementary schools in the area. NONE of my friends were at my new school.

I was also the fat kid. We all know what that means.

For the life of me I cannot figure out why I have freely chosen to post these pictures on the world wide web, for crying out loud! I have spent most of my life trying to avoid looking at them as they pain me so and yet, here I am.

It must be because I'm turning 40. It's senility. I know it.

After the rage of The Shag wore off, then came the new style... the Dorothy Hamill. My mother rushed right out and got me the coolest new style. What she neglected to think about was the fact that the Dorothy Hamill looked best on those with straight hair. Needless to say, the Dorothy Hamill was a total pain in the keaster for me.

I couldn't find 2nd grade's picture so we're skipping straight to 3rd. Notice the stylish barrettes? Either that photographer needed to tell me to sit up straight or I needed some extra support at the ripe old age of 8! Sheesh!

Now the next two pictures get a little foggy for me as I'm not sure exactly when my mother hacked ALL my hair off and which on of these were first. All I know is that after the deed was done, my brother called me Michael for a solid two weeks. This was also during the time of my mom's Olan Mills obsession.

I'm thinking this one was first. I'm also thinking the bow was just lovely, don't y'all? ::smirk::

And then... the hack job. The authentic looking wagon wheel made it all better though.

Y'all. I look like a dude. A lavender wearing dude.

And lastly, 6th grade. It was now the 80's. Mt. St. Helen's erupted, there was an assassination attempt on President Reagan and I was done with elementary school! I couldn't wait to begin Jr. High! I had already bought my first issue of 'TEEN magazine, was beginning to discover my talents and most importantly, I had regained control over important hair decisions!

Apparently it was never meant to be for my clothing to look neat and tidy in a grade school picture.

Tomorrow our little journey will take us through Jr. High and High School, some of the best times of my life! My weight, my hair and my personality all begin to change! And best of all ~ there are prom pictures involved!!

The Countdown ~ 40 Years of Me: A Walk Down Memory Lane

2009-06-29T00:00:00.002-05:00

Well, it is upon me, y'all. There is no denying it anymore. On Saturday July 4, 2009 I will turn 40 years old.

4-0. For-tee. Forty. 40!!!

This milestone has bothered me for quite some time now. I'm not exactly sure why other than the fact that I don't feel 40. I still feel like I'm in my late 20's to early 30's and I most certainly act like I'm about 12 most of the time. 13 on a good day. Just not 40. When I was a kid 40 sounded SO old. Now I'm screaming, "I'm young! I'm young!". Go figure.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm coming to grips with my own mortality. If the Lord chooses to give me a long life then odds are I've lived half my life. If He's chosen not to give me a long life then I've live over half my life, maybe less. Fairly morbid thinker I am, wouldn't you say? I realize that I'm dwelling entirely too much on this whole number thing and it would suit me best to just Let. It. Go. And I have for the most part.

And since I've decided to enjoy this new decade in my life and just be happy, I've also decided to share a few pictures of how I came to be the ripe old age of 40. Or mostly just to laugh at what a dork I used to look like. Either way it will be fun.

So, this whole week will be spent sharing photos and memories of me from babyhood in 1969 (wow, that sounds like a long time ago!), through the 80's where the big hair and the music ruled, all the to where I am now. A Jesus loving, blogging, photographer wannabe, wife and mother of 6.

It's all good, my friends. It's all good.

Humble Beginnings

Michelle Renee, the 5th child born to Troy and Betsy on July 4, 1969. My mother let my sisters and brother name me. My name could have been Ethel Nadine, ya'll. I do not believe I was an attractive baby.

I was a happy baby and obviously had a desire to eat everything in sight at an early age (this habit hasn't changed much). Monk says he sees little bits of Charlotte in this picture.

This next one is the beginnings of my sausage curls. I was cute and chubby at this age. Those two things do not go hand in hand once you're 40 though. Just sayin'. This is the picture where I see lots of Hope. With the exception of the fact that I did not throw fits and wreak emotional havoc on the rest of the family. She got that exclusively from Monk.

I couldn't find the picture of me in the red dress complete with knee high black patent leather boots and the sausage curls streaming down my back. Instead, y'all will have to settle for the Easter I was 5. Sausage curls, but no cool boots. Obviously I'd eaten a few too many chocolate bunnies by this time in my life. If I had one word to sum me up as a child it would be chub. I had lots of chub. What about that retro couch in the background though, eh? That's authentic 70's right there people! This was also the year that I nearly bit my tongue completely off when I slipped and fell while running at church. My tongue had to be stitched back together and they thought I could possibly have a speech impediment as I got older. ::pause:: BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I had the sausage curls through kindergarten and then The Shag haircut became all the rage. My mother opted to cut my curls so I could be cool. Or not. This picture is of me in first grade with my cool shag. I love the picture with the exception of that jacked up turtle neck. Would it have been asking too much of the photographer to have fixed it or to have simply said, "hey kid, pull down your turtleneck!". I mean, REALLY!

By the next year ( 1976) my mom had cut all my hair completely off. I would not regain control of it again until 1982. My walk down memory lane could quite possibly turn into a tribute to my hair I fear. That's okay though. A good Hair Anthology never hurt anybody, right?

Tomorrow? We finish up the elementary years, showing you my mother's fetish with Olan Mills and we just might make it through junior high. Depending on whether I can talk Monk into scanning more pictures for me or not!

I hope you all enjoyed the beginning of 40 Years of Me.... definitely more to come!

When the Going Gets Hot...

2009-06-26T00:21:00.002-05:00

....the hot go to the water park!

I don't have much photographic proof because frankly, I was too busy chasing an almost 2 year old around with an almost 7 month old on my hip! Not much time (or enough hands) for picture taking!

It's only 267 degrees here right now, so I figured going to the local (read: cheap) water park was a great way to beat the heat! That and I didn't feel like cleaning out my fridge.

(Procrastination: Why do today what ~~you~~ I can put off until tomorrow.)

It was a whole lotta fun until the two ultra tan bodybuilder moms showed up. They pretty much ruined it for the rest of us white- as- parchment, Shamu-ish types. But I'm not gonna complain. I may have been a little (or a LOT!) self conscious in all of my postpartum baby flabbage, but it was worth seeing the smiles on the girl's faces! And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the swimsuit I wore was actually...um...my maternity swimsuit. From last summer.

I really should be ashamed of that, but for some reason I'm just ... well ... not.

Two really happy girls...

...and this one I couldn't keep still if my life depended on it...

We were all having a really great time until some kid pooped in the intermediate pool (not the kiddie area and it goes until about 3 feet deep). Then all bedlam broke loose. The pool had to be evacuated which Hope did not understand one eency weency bit and demonstrated her confusion with ... well... screaming. Then we watched as one of the lifeguards grabbed a long pole with a net and retrieved the offending piece of ...ummm...waste. I thought to myself at that moment:

1. What a crappy job (then I laughed at my pun!)
and
2. What do they do with "it" once they retrieve it?

I then proceeded to watch them dump a ton of chemicals into the pool and at that point I decided to call it a day. I know there are chemicals in the pool to begin with, but I just didn't feel right about taking my babies into a freshly chemical-ed pool, ya know?

The two littles slept on the way home and the two older ones ate everything they could get their hands on the whole way home. Why is it that swimming makes you so doggone hungry?

Y'all want to know just how tired poor Hope was? Dinner says it all...

We decided that it was so much fun and such a great day that you know what we decided to do?

Yep! We're going back for Round 2 today!!

Y'all have a great weekend! We have a busy one planned and Monk and I will celebrate 11 years of marriage tomorrow!!! Woo-hoo!! Love that man!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-24T10:25:00.001-05:00

Some Happier Highlights of Vacation

2009-06-22T22:53:00.002-05:00

I know I sounded all Negative Nellie in today's post about our vacation. Make no bones about it ~ it was rough. BUT. There were good times to be had too! And I wanted to share those as well!

Here are some of the happier times of our trip.

My sister T. (the nurse and Master Gardener) had some kicked up flowers on her deck! I just fell in love with them. She had not one, but TWO of these bad boys! Does it not make you want to run to the nearest nursery and spend $200?!?!

Ah, Charlie. She always makes me smile. :)

This is Christopher. He's my great nephew I saw for the first time in Michigan. He's a hambone and a cutie! He'll be 1 next month right after Hope turns 2. They weigh the same. This boy has girth. And drool.

Hope took filling the sand pail quite seriously.

Look! It's Peg Bundy's kid sister!

I bought this doo rag as a joke at a gas station on the way to Tennessee. Guess who really liked it and has taken up wearing the thing? It's black and has orange and red flames all over! I told him to look mean for me. He does it quite well, don't you think? Oooo, Monk. Scary.

I can't help myself. She's too cute.

She's HIS girl. That is for certain. Nice doo rag, huh?

A big metal slide. In the middle of a lake. Every kid's dream.

These two had a ball with each other.

And this poor baby just swung her self right to sleep she was so worn out. No kidding. She's sleeping in the swing.

Speaking of sleeping. That's what I need to be doing. I get to take newborn pictures in the morning!! Woo-hoo!!

And that, my friends, is about as abrubt of an end to a blog post as you can possibly get!

Good Night!

How to Sum Up a Vacation Like Ours...

2009-06-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

...the trip from H - E - Double Hockey Sticks. That's how.

Seriously.

Monk would tell you otherwise, but he's always been a "glass half full" kind of guy anyways. And frankly, all that positive-ness gets on my nerves a little.

And he didn't lose near the sleep I did. But I'm not bitter.

Let me give you a brief summary of the events that transpired on our first ever 2 week vacation, shall I? And because I like to live on the edge a little, I'll do it in bullet form.

We leave Saturday morning June 6th for Tennessee.
Before we've been in the car 2 hours, Charlie has a diaper blowout of epic proportions. All over herself, me AND her brand new car seat that had been purchased the day before.
2 hours later Charlie has a repeat performance. Just tell me this...how much can one baby hold for goodness sake?!
We arrive in Tennessee around 9pm and totally crash.
Sunday was a great day ~ rested and spent time with my mom.
Monday was a great day ~ met up with my friend Jill and her family. I haven't seen Jill in 20 years and it was wonderful to catch up! That is until Monk nearly killed us all with a Roman Candle
5am Tuesday morning Hope wakes me up throwing up.
Hope feels bad all day Tuesday and throws up one more time that evening.
Hope starts perking up, but still not herself Wednesday and then gets horrific diarrhea.
Monk and I debate whether to just head home. My sister Teresa begs me not to and we decide to move forward with our trip to Michigan.
Thursday morning June 11th all seems well and we start heading to Michigan.
We're making great time and at the last stop (a restaurant) Liv says her tummy hurts. We are about 2 hours from my sisters.
About 5 minutes from my sister's house Liv begins to cry and say she's going to throw up.
I text message my sister letting her know my child is going to puke in her driveway.
We pull in, I get Hope out of the car seat in the back and hand her to Monk.
Hope throws up on Monk
I pull Liv out of the back and she pukes in my sister's yard.
We are quite the guests, are we not?
Monk changes his shirt and 15 minutes later Hope pukes on him again.
Liv then gets the horrific diarrhea aspect of the virus. The kind that really can't be controlled not matter if you're 2 or 6. More clean up. Ew.
Liv feels bad on Friday and starts to perk up on Saturday a little
Saturday night I meet with my bff's from high school that I haven't seen in 20 years. A definite highlight!
Sunday morning I am awakened by Grace crying in the bathroom. Guess what she was doing? Yep. Throwing up.
By 2 pm she is feeling a little better and we head to the lake by my sister's house. Another definite highlight. We spent most of the day there and it was beautiful. And fun!
Grace and Liv's tummy's still hurt on and off on Monday and Grace gets the nasty, uncontrollable "D" word. I go and buy Children's Immodium AD for the trip home. Just. In. Case.
Everyone was healthy on Tuesday and we all loaded up and went to this absolutely fabulous place called Greenfield Village. An AWESOME historical sight to visit! I was STOKED! I went there several times as a child and couldn't WAIT for the girls and Monk to see it.
I walk through the gates, take about 8 pictures and my camera DIES! Totally. I didn't bring my camera bag so I have no extra battery. I was bummed and mad at myself beyond belief. BUT we had a great time!
Wednesday morning we start heading home and have no health issues or bowel catastrophes whatsoever.
Thursday we are continuing home when Madgirl calls to tell me there's hardly any water pressure at our house. Hmmm... We call the water department. Nothing wrong on their end.
Madgirl calls back to say that the yard is flooded around our water meter.
Call the water department back and they send someone over.
Madgirl calls back a few hours later to tell us a note had been put on our door that we have a broken pipe close to the meter so THEY SHUT OUR WATER OFF!! Madgirl proceeds to use bottled water for the dogs and to wash her hands.
We arrive home on Thursday, June 18th at 7:30 pm to absolutely no water. None. I go buy 4 gallons of water and Monk starts calling plumbers.
Friday morning at 9am the plumber arrives and fixes the pipe for a mere $300.

And there you have it. Our trip in the nutshell. (How was that for brief?!?!) I cried a few times during the trip out of frustration and sleep deprivation. Coming home to no water nearly sent me over the edge.

Monk kept reminding me that God was in control and this was teaching us to rely on Him more and that He would be glorified in this situation.

There he was being all positive again and all I wanted to do was wallow. And maybe smack him a little. But I wallowed for a good, long time. And I got over it. You know why?

Because I realized that we are home. Safe and sound, in one piece. My children are happy and healthy and my water is on. God didn't forsake us. It was just another one of those opportunities to trust Him. Monk succeeded and I failed. As usual. You would think that I would get this by now. Obviously God keeps trying to show me through these little trials.

Apparently I'm a slow learner.

Anyway. I'm home. I'm not rested or tan (as if!) or telling terrific tales of great adventure (is vomit considered adventure?). Heck, I don't even have that many pictures! But you know what? I am glad to be here. Where I belong. Doing what I do.

And I am thankful.

To Take My Mind Off of the Vomiting

2009-06-15T10:49:00.002-05:00

Well. Vacation 2009 has turned into Stomach Virus 2009. And to take my mind off all of the vomiting and diarrhea that has been going on since the wee hours of last Tuesday morning, I've decided to post some pictures of the better days of our vacation.

I bought this suitcase at the Goodwill in Tennessee and have all sorts of great plans for it, photographically speaking (and did you know old suitcases are all the rage in photography right now?) I plopped Charlie in it in front of the barn and she did not disappoint!

Oh, Charlie. You're such a doll. She makes my heart smile. :)

The lighting on this one wasn't the best, but you know what? Photography is subjective ~ and I happen to like this subject a lot!! She is so beautiful to me and growing up so fast. Monk and I nearly cried when we saw this picture. She just took our breath away. As do most of my children. ::happy sighs::

And my Liv is something else. She's her own person and even at 6 years old doesn't subscribe to what the world thinks is "in" or "cool". She likes what she likes and that's the end of it. Plus, she's beautiful to boot!! I found this skirt for her at the Goodwill and you would have thought it came from Ralph Lauren, himself. She loves it AND she rocked it!

Truth be told, by the time I took the other pictures up top, Hope was already throwing up and sick. My little spitfire has had a rough vacation. She was hit fast and hard by this virus and it has taken 5 days for her to get her fiery little personality back. But it's back. Trust me. This picture was taken right before The Plague hit. She was really sick of the camera being in her face and the look on her face let me know this was it. And it was.

So we start heading home on Wednesday morning and I'm just praying that there are no bodily incidents, if you know what I mean. Ha! Despite all of the sickness we have had a REALLY good time with our family and friends and extremely grateful for the time away. Just hoping that Vacation 2010 doesn't hold the same ...um... activites for us!

Hope y'all have an awesome day!

So Far....

2009-06-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

...there's been a lot of this...

...and a whole lotta this....

...I love the fact that my mom has always grown these....

....this one requests to "whing" about 2 or 47 times a day...

...this one got to "whing" for the first time and giggled out loud...

...and we had to resort to this....

....we took them here...

....so they could see this...

...one of the very best things was getting to visit with my college roommate, Jill. I haven't seen her in 20 years...too long...

....and that's a brief glimpse of what we've done ....

... so far.

I'm Leeeaaavin' On A Jet Plane In Phil the Suburban

2009-06-05T00:52:00.002-05:00

I'm here to announce that me, Monk and the Monkettes are leaving for vacation tomorrow!! Holla! ::Happy Dancing::

It is a MUCH anticipated and needed time of rest for our whole family. Trust me when I say the last year has been rather tumultuous. And it has been an entire year since we've been on a vacation as a family so we are VERY excited to be getting away for a bit.

When I say a bit, I mean TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!

(a side note to all would-be thieves, robbers and general menacing types: there WILL be people staying in my home. My house will NOT be vacant. There are two big dogs there also. One of them is murderous. Beware.)

I really am looking forward to a time of rest and relaxation. Well...if you call being in the car ( or Phil) for 12 straight hours with a 9 year old, 6 year old, not quite 2 year old and 6 month old, relaxing that is. I have an iPod and I know how to use it. 'Nuf said.

We also have one of them thar Fan-cee DVD players in the Suburban and the One-Eyed God will LIVE as we drive down the interstate. The children will be ~~drugged~~ entertained with videos and I will have in my iPod earphones. Can't get much better than that, my friends.

We're heading North for 12 hours on Saturday and then further North for 5 hours on Wednesday and then 5 hours FURTHER North on Thursday! And I will have to quit saying Y'all and start saying You Guys. And possibly, "eh". Eh?

Awwww, you say? She won't be blogging for two weeks. ::sniffle:: The heck I won't!! I plan on blogging the whole vacation!! Blogging is relaxing for me and I haven't been able to do it lately, so you better believe I'm gonna blog. Well, unless I'm having too much fun. Which is quite possible. But it is still The Plan to blog.

Oh! And look!

Because a blog post is SO much better with pictures .... I'm posting non-vacation related, cute pictures! Tell me you love me.

Hope nursing her dolly.

See! Told ya it was cute!

And a cute one of Charlie just .... well .... because.

Next time I post I'll be coming to ya from somewhere other than my living room sofa! Whoop! But I'll be more relaxed (hopefully), which means I'll be funnier (or not) and have scads of pictures (that, my friends, is a definite!)!! Please pray for our traveling safety!!

See y'all later!!

Happy Belated 6 Months

2009-06-04T09:42:00.003-05:00

Charlie turned 6 months old yesterday. I took pictures, but in the crazy busy I like to call my life right now, I wasn't able to get my post up for her.

I can't believe she's 6 months old already. While I very much try not to hurry time along, my heart already aches for the time that has past. I know she's our last child and each passing day gets a little more bittersweet for this momma.

But today? Today is a celebration of her arrival at 6 months old! She is such an easy baby and we feel SO beyond blessed to have her in our lives!

We celebrated 6 months with some sweet potatoes!! She enjoyed them very much!

Did you see her onesie?

You can tell she is so proud of her mother for putting such fan-cee frocks on her. Or not.

Let me just say this as an aside. The older I get as a mother, the less I appreciate fancy and the more I appreciate functional. A onesie is a perfectly functional piece of clothing. Maybe a little tacky when it talks about my child's big butt, but functional nonetheless.

Happy 6 months sweet Charlie Anne!! You are such a bright spot in our lives and we love you SO much!

Life With An Almost Two Year Old

2009-05-31T08:37:00.002-05:00

Hope will be two in July. Being the overachiever that she is (she IS Monk's child, after all) she has decided to get a jump on her two year old behavior early.

There's this...

...and 2 seconds later, there's this...

I'm telling you, this one could have given Sally Field a run for her money in the movie, Sybil. Can we say multiple personalities, everyone?

Apparently, it is a crime to take a picture of your almost two year old while she eats. Or at least in her book it is.

Some other observations of these particular pictures would be:

1. Yes, she is eating a Totino's Pizza Roll. Yes, it's unhealthy. It was also easier to pick it up while I was at Target as opposed to coming home and trying to make homemade dough, adding my own toppings and baking for 12 - 15 minutes. Thank-you Mr. Totino. You understand a tired momma's plight. And you're cheap to boot.

2. That is not a booger or pizza roll under Hope's nose. It is, in fact, a scab from where she fell down the other day. If you will notice, there is also a small bruise on her cheek as well. That would be from where she fell down the other day, too. A different day. She falls down every day so frankly they all seem to blur together now. Our days consist of fall down....cry.....fall down....cry....fall down....cry. You get the picture. That is unless, she decides to cry over me taking pictures of her eating her pizza rolls.

3. Did you notice her new haircut? Her significantly shorter haircut? That would because I took her to Pro-Cuts (or as I'm convinced...Pro-HACKS!) and the lady there completely wrecked her hair. I'm talking one side was about and inch shorter than the other side! People keep asking me why I left with it like that and the short answer is simply this: I don't speak Vietnamese and I feel it's safe to say that I wasn't going to communicate our particular issue effectively when a language barrier was involved! That and I wanted to beat her about the head.

In my desperation I called Marinell (the Hair Genius) and while she doesn't usually do children's hair, she made an exception for me. I'm convinced it's because she loves me. Anyway, she took the Hack Job and turned it into a really cute little pixie bob. When a particular little girl is not quite so emotional, I hope to take a better picture to show y'all. Which pretty much means...never.

And Charlotte? Well, she just pretty much sits there and smiles and coos while Hope throws herself on the ground and screams.

Somewhere in the back of her little 6 month old brain though, I bet she's taking notes.

I'm sure of it.

What's New?

2009-05-28T22:04:00.003-05:00

Well, around here....this is what's new...

...and this is what we've been doing with it..

....throwing in a little of this good stuff (and yes, the stems and all can go in!! Can anyone say extra F-I-B-E-R!!)..

...and a little of this stuff (L to R: Coconut milk, Kefir, wheat germ and flax seed meal)...

...top it off with some ice...

and give it a whirl.

Creamy, smooth, yummy and healthy. And a little pretty too, I think!

But the best part is the response I get when I make them...

...good to the last drop.

Oh wait. That's someone else's phrase, isn't it? Okay, okay, I got one...

...good to the last slurp!

More to come on the VitaMix and what else I've made in this new love in my life!

Let me just say this...you wouldn't believe the stuff I've put in that blender and the kids don't even have a clue! ::insert evil laugh here::

Also, I love it SO much that I'm seriously thinking about taking it on vacation with us next week. ::insert mental help here:: Seriously.

New Dresses

2009-05-24T20:48:00.008-05:00

So Granny (my mom) sent the four little girls new dresses that she had made for them. They all wore them to church today. Me, being the good daughter that I am, had planned on taking pictures so I could send them to her.

So she can, you know, prove that she has the cutest granddaughters ever. Like anyone else had a chance. As if.

Anyway.

In the hubbub of the morning, pictures didn't happen and by the time we got home from church, the two bigger girls had shed their dresses for something more comfy. Dang. Since I was down to the two smaller ones, I knew that I had to move fast lest someone spit up, have a blow out or get into the butter and ruin my chances for any pictures at all.

Yes. Hope eats the butter. Straight from the dish. All the time.

So we went out onto the front porch and this is what followed...

We tried really hard for a good one together, but you see how that worked for us!

So...we split'em up.

Charlie finally came to life...

And this one was definitely a keeper had it not been for Madgirl's orange toes in the background. And the lovely stream of snot running down Charlotte's nose. Orange toes and snotty noses aside, I just love a gingham dress on a baby girl!

Charlotte wants Granny to know that her dresses arent' just for wearing...they're delicious as well! And just so you know...after we finished taking pictures I most certainly did NOT use that dress to wipe her nose. No, I did not.

I thought Charlie's pictures turned out pretty stinkin' cute. Even if they were a little snotty.

And Hope's? Well, you just need to see for yourself.

We should have known with this first shot that things were going to get interesting. You can see the deviousness brewing behind her eyes!

I said, "look at Momma's camera Hope!" and this is what I got...

If you can look past the tongue, her dress really is quite cute.

Smarmy kid.

Then we tried to distract her. I said, "Hope, show Momma your nose!". And this is what I got..

...a proud parenting moment, I assure you.

So you think Granny should show that one to the little old ladies at her Baptist church in Tennessee?? They might need to hold a prayer meeting right then and there. Sing a chorus or two of Just As I Am or something.

This would be why my mom has coined the phrase, "the wild one" when referring to Hope. ::sigh::

Then about 2 minutes after that last picture was taken, Hope jumped off the porch, tripped over her sandal and did a face plant on the cement. Road rash all along the right side of her forehead and just below her eye, plus a slightly bloody nose.

Yep. The Wild One. I need to go pray now.

Not Me Monday

2009-05-18T20:47:00.005-05:00

So, in the spirit of the Not Me Monday segment of MckMama's blog, I am choosing to completely and totally reveal my most embarrassing, idiotic moments of the last week for all of blogdom to see.

Well. All two of you at least.

And here we go...

I was called at 4:20 am this last Saturday morning by my good friend and midwife, Ann. She informed me that she had a momma who was very much in hard labor (closing in on transition) and her birth photographer was very ill and could I please come and shoot the birth for them.

I most certainly did NOT in my groggy stupor tell her to check the momma and please call me back!!! Oh no, not me!! It's not like she's been a midwife for 20+ years and I've shot .... oh... TWO births! I certainly would NOT tell the midwife what to do! Not me!

While driving around the corner to my sister's house yesterday, I most certainly wasn't eating fried chicken while driving. First of all, that would be dangerous to drive and eat greasy, fried chicken. Secondly, it would make me a hick. And I am definitely NOT a hick.

And while driving I did NOT almost hit a mailbox when a piece of the aforementioned fried chicken fell into my nursing bra and I swerved Phil the Suburban when I went digging for it! NOT ME! That would be so tacky! And dangerous!

AND I most definitely did NOT EAT that piece of fried chicken after successfully retrieving it either!

Then after throwing the chicken bone out the window, 6 year old Liv informed me I was littering. I explained to her that the chicken bone was biodegradable and that while I wouldn't normally do it - it was not littering. She then loudly asked, "you mean SQUIRRELS eat chicken bones?!?!?!?". I most certainly did NOT, in any uncertain terms, tell her "Yes" because I just didn't want to get into it with her! That right there would be bad parenting y'all and that is SO Not Me!

And amazingly enough, since I sleep in my nursing bra and hit the floor running this morning without showering, I most definitely did NOT find yet one other tiny piece of fried chicken in my nursing bra earlier today!! Not Me! That would be so totally gross and I would never admit that! Ever!

I also didn't laugh hysterically after finding it! That would just be sick and demented and that is NOT ME!

(Just so you know...I didn't eat that piece. I was already full from dinner.)

Go check out what everyone else is NOT doing this week at MckMama's blog - it makes you feel a whole lot better about yourself!

Of course, it's pretty safe to say that most of you haven't eaten fried chicken out of your bra lately, so maybe it's not necessary to go any further than here... Just sayin'.

Still Here...Barely

2009-05-14T23:57:00.002-05:00

It's been one of those weeks, y'all.

I'm tired, overwhelmed and extremely behind on almost everything. I'm not complaining, just trying to adjust to the new normal. Which around here is never normal, so maybe it's just the new...weird.

I would, however, like to tell you one story though before I go back into my catatonic state...

I went to take some maternity pictures this last Tuesday night at the local Botanic Gardens in Fort Worth. I chose this beautiful spot by a pond and sat my little Pregnant Momma down on a rock. It was perfect; sunny day, shimmering water, good lighting (I think), etc...

Well.

I step back from the momma and I hear some rustling. I happen to look down and directly behind the rock where I have just sat the very Pregnant Momma and about 2 feet from my foot there lies ...

A BIG 'OL FAT BLACK SNAKE, Y'ALL!!!!!!!

It had to have been about 1 1/2 inches around and at least 5 feet long! {{{shiver}}} There he sat, all coiled up, flicking his little tongue out at me. My first instinct was to run screaming like a mad woman, yelling, "Snake! Snake! Run for you lives!!". However, I managed to refrain from completely losing my composure. And my bladder.

Aren't you proud?

I quickly stepped forward, looked Pregnant Momma directly in the eye, put out my hand and very calmly said, "you need to take my hand and stand up, NOW". Pregnant Momma didn't bat and eye and did exactly as she was told. I do believe she knew by my firm tone and possibly the petrified look on my face that something was seriously wrong.

Once safely on the sidewalk, we both shuddered profusely...ahem...some of us more than others (ME! ME! ME!) Quite honestly, it was one of those situations where I wanted to turn in circles while shuddering and wiping off imaginary creep crawlies from all over my body. And more than likely yelling, "EWWWWWWWW!!!!".

But I wasn't scared.

Needless to say, I don't remember much about the pictures after that point. I had become rather obsessed with looking everywhere I stepped! Unfortunately, I had also become less concerned with ISO's and apertures and more concerned with, you know...BIG, FAT BLACK SNAKES! So much for reckless inhibition.

Have I mentioned I'm terrified of snakes?

Then, in hindsight I was really mad that I didn't take a picture of the BIG, FAT BLACK SNAKE to post on here. I wanted to freak y'all out. Cause I like that whole "shock value" sorta thing.

Anyway, that's pretty much been the whole week around here. I hope everyone else's week has been awesome and has had no BIG, FAT BLACK SNAKES! Or bladder control issues. That's always good.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Happy Mother's Day To Me

2009-05-10T22:30:00.004-05:00

Well. This pretty much sums things up, I'd say.

A decent picture with the girls was not meant to be. ::sigh::

However, there are perks to being a mother of 6.

I got a pretty good haul, don't y'all think?? Um, the spa gift certificate? There were two of them. Can anyone else hear that massage calling my name??

Hope all you momma's had a wonderful day!

Go take a look here for something new!

The Miracle of a Curse

2009-05-07T19:03:00.006-05:00

I was up all night last night. And when I say "all" night, I do mean ALL night.

(I haven't pulled an all nighter like that one since college. Me and my friend A. decided to toilet paper our entire girl's dorm while staying up all night studying for finals. When everyone walked out the next morning it looked like a glorious winter wonderland! Except not. We also received work detail for using the school's toilet paper! Ha! Oh, the joys of attending a small Baptist college...::sigh::)

Anyway.

I had the privilege of photographing another birth last night. And just so you know, in my book it is always a privilege to photograph life. It is an absolute gift to be able to witness and capture a little one's first breath in this world. To be able to share in and photograph one of life's greatest joys as husband and wife is truly an amazing experience.

I was called to the birth center at 9:30 last night. Little did I know when I arrived at 10:30 pm that a baby wouldn't be born until 6:09 the this
morning and I wouldn't be heading home for almost 12 hours. It was a long night to say the least. Definitely different from photographing my first birth which was 4 1/2 hours from the time I arrived until the time I left.

As usual, Charlotte was an awesome baby! She slept through the whole thing, waking up only once to nurse around 4 am and then sleeping until 7 am ~ after all the excitement was over!

It was a hard birth to witness in some regards. Mama got stuck between 6 and 7 cm for many hours. She was exhausted from having been laboring for 24 hours and she was a first time mama to boot. Her energy and strength were waning in the wee hours of the morning and it was hard, at times, to listen to her cry out, "how much longer?". I could empathize. Those last hours feel like days and the option to just "go to the hospital" starts looking better and better all the time. This is where good coaching and encouragement from husbands and midwives is essential. And if I had to make an educated estimate, I would guess about 97% of the time ~ mama's make it to the end.

But as I watched, sometimes painfully, and listened to this mama's pleas last night and this morning, I was reminded of something. A stark realization that Monk and I had both come upon after the birth of Hope. It was a realization that would change both of us and humble us to our knees. Last night I was quickly taken back to that moment at the birth center when Monk and I, through tears, had both discovered the same thing.

We had just experienced Genesis 3:16

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.

Because of Man's sin, there were going to be certain, lasting repercussions. A curse for the serpent, "the dust you shall eat" the rest of his days, a curse upon the ground for Adam that he would have to work by the sweat of his brow, etc... And pain in childbirth was what was brought upon woman.

Before Hope was born I had experienced four previous births, all medicated in some form (Madison not so much, but not ALL natural either) at the hospital. I had never really experienced that "pain in childbearing" because I was always numb from the waist down. For me, birth in the hospital was less of a process and more of a procedure. I didn't get Genesis 3:16. I read it, but I didn't get it.

After Hope, I got it. But the great part is that the Bible doesn't stop there. It doesn't just say woman will have pain in childbirth and that's it. That's where John 16:21 comes in. It reads:

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. ESV

And there, my friends, is the miracle. We forget. We suffer through the birthing process with the pain that is at times, unbearable and yet God, in His goodness and grace, gives us a reward. When we hold that sweet babe, we forget. And not only do we forget, we get to have joy. Great joy!

This morning at 6:09 am I saw that. I saw a woman, who at just moments before her baby was born, was experiencing that pain in childbirth. A long, hard labor that at times she didn't think she could endure. And then, the minute that baby girl was finally born and she was given to her mama, the pained expression disappeared from her face and was replaced with a huge smile.

And then her mama said, "Hi, baby girl. Momma loves you so much".

Wow.

I can't even begin to describe what it's like to see that played out. It's one thing to experience it yourself, but it's a completely different thing to watch someone else experience it. To see those verses come to life. To watch God's faithfulness played out right before your very eyes.

He is faithful, my friends. Yes, He is.

Welcome Baby Liza. May you one day know what your momma went through just to tell you that she loves you.

iHeart Faces ~ Hats

2009-05-05T16:06:00.005-05:00

Since my sweet Charlie turned 5 WHOLE MONTHS OLD this past Sunday, I decided to make her my focus of Hat Theme at iheart faces this week!

I love her so and she has such a kissable head and kissable cheeks and kissable feet, and kissable....well, need I go on? Anyway, she's one of my favorite subjects to photograph these days because:

1. She's not mobile yet so she can't run or turn away or anything! She is completely and totally at my will! MUHAHAHAHA!

and

2. She doesn't have the vocabulary to complain about me taking pictures AGAIN. She just smiles and drools a lot. Perfect! And even if she screams I can still keep taking pictures....it's cute.

But today there was no screaming....just cuteness.

::Sigh:: I could take pictures of that sweet face all day long....

Go check out more hats and faces ~ you won't be disappointed. As a matter of fact, I think you'll smile. Just like y'all are doing right now!

Really Now..

2009-05-05T00:00:00.002-05:00

In light of the current Pork Pandemic the world is experiencing, aka H1N1, Swine Flu, Pig Flu or Soo-ey Sickness (the last one is of my own creation..), I have done lots of my own research in the last week to determine at what level of alarm I should be. If any at all.

I have found lots of information that is somewhat over the top, teetering on the brink of fear mongering. (Okay, not teetering ~ it's completely fear mongering) I have also found other information that could quite possibly be considered flippant, condescending and somewhat offensive in humorless circles.

Where am I?

Well. Considering that over 2,000 children die every day with Malaria, Swine Flu isn't exactly at the top of my Pandemic-O-Meter. I have been convinced that I should be no more alarmed by it than I am during regular flu season. Which pretty much means lots of hand washing, avoiding the obvious germ infested places and pumping me and my children full of extra Vitamin C and Echinacea.

Besides, who wants to hate bacon?

That was my thinking until I stumbled upon something that made me think twice about my Porky Position (and no, I'm not referring to my unnatural affection for Parmesan Garlic Thin Crisps. Although they are definitely doing a spectacular job on my waistline!)

I fear that I may have been a little hasty in my decision to not take this whole Swine thing a little more seriously. I think you will all agree with me after I introduce you to Dr. Alan Hay, Director of the World Influenza Centre and Swine Flu aficionado...

I believe the Swine Flu origins could be traced to this man's eyebrows.
Who knows what disease may be lying dormant beneath his brow hair.

These eyebrows evoke so many questions within me. Such as:

1.Does he feel the need to shampoo them? And does he Lather, Rinse and Repeat?

2.Does his wife really find these an attractive physical quality in him?

3.Do they impede his vision ever.

But none more vexing than this one last question within me....

4.Do you think he and Susan Boyle are long lost brother and sister??

(Watch how you cross them fingers now, Miss Susan... Just sayin'..)

Momma Gotta New Hair Doo

2009-04-30T22:55:00.003-05:00

My hair is once again front and center. It betrays me so. I love on it, buy it good products, pay good money for a cut and color and yet it hangs limp and lifeless. One word to describe my hair lately....

Blah.

I'm going to turn 40 in just two short months and I want to look better at 40 than I do at 39. At least that's the plan. (Maybe this would be a good time to quit eating the Parmesan Garlic Thin Crisps. Hmmm..) Anyway, lately I have had it with this limp and lifeless hair 'o mine. The ponytail has NOT been a good look for me.

So I called in Marinell, the Hair Coloring Genius. I've known for a while now that she could really color my hair. But honestly, I haven't had enough hair cut off to know how well she could really cut my hair.

Well. I found out today. And you know what?

She can REALLY cut my hair!

Introducing, the new me. The make-upless rather tired looking me.. BUT the me with a new doo that is quite stunning if I do say so myself.

The color would be my new Spring and Summer look. Quite blonde, isn't it?!? Well, at least my hair matches my brain now.

Also, I started my new photography blog today... I have two whole posts. Woo-hoo! I'll be adding more as I get the chance, but go check it out! It's an easy read.

www.beautifulyouphoto.blogspot.com

I hope y'all have a fantastic weekend!

Climbs and Throwdowns

2009-04-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

Okay. Y'all just rock. Do you know that? I am simply blown away by the kind and encouraging comments y'all left in the last post. Kinda makes a girl feel a little special, ya know? And a little guilty. Cause there's thing called posting that people have come to expect from me occasionally and I have managed to not do that very much lately.

Actually, I've managed to NOT do quite a bit lately. Mostly I'm just proficient in sitting on the couch eating Parmesan Garlic Thin crisps while perusing Facebook and learning how to work my new Blackberry.

It's all about goals, people, all about the goals.

And while I sit here, living out these lofty goals of mine, I have also had a couple of little girls who have been begging me to take them to a movie. Last weekend, the Big Birth Weekend, was supposed to be when I took them to this little movie, but seeing that I didn't get in bed until about 4 am Saturday morning you can pretty much surmise that I was ...uh...toast for most of the remaining weekend. Catatonic might even be a better word here.

Well, Monday rolled around and they were still begging. Specifically Grace was begging because while Liv may start to beg, something shiny will catch her attention and then she's all like, "Look! A squirrel!". That's a lot how my life works as well. Go figure.

Well, I decided that I was not going to put it off any longer and I took them to a movie. At 9 o'clock AT NIGHT, Y'ALL! Oh yes, my friends! We walked into the theatre and we were the ONLY ones in there. I explained to the girls that it was because all the really decent parents had their children home in bed already. They seemed happy with that explanation so I left it alone.

Anyway.

Now is the part where I make a huge confession. A confession in which I hang my head in shame while shifting uncomfortably in my seat. (Still clutching my box of half eaten Parmesan Garlic Thin Crisps, I might add.)

I took them to see Hannah Montana The Movie.

::cringe::

I know! I know! How could I? I don't know! I don't even like the show ~ for more reasons than just Billy Ray Cyrus's reasonably pathetic acting skills! They break my achy breaky heart!

Ba dum bum!! Thank you folks, I'll be here all week!

No really, I'm not a huge fan of the Hannah Montana hysteria. And usually I'm a big fan of a bunch of hillbilly's that achieve fame and fortune . But this time? Not so much. Not that I find anything offensive about the show itself (other than Billy Ray's obvious acting disability), I've just never seen what the big pull is.

(Thankfully, I'm happy to say, we missed the whole High School Musical rage and I firmly believe we are better people without having known Troy and Sharpay ~ don't even ask me how I know those names because I have absolutely no idea. It's probably government brainwashing.)

Now here's the second confession: I liked it.

I know! I also realize that my IQ just dropped about 40 points for admitting such a thing, but I can't help it. I liked it. It was really endearing in that hokey, hillbilly sort of way. It was a positive message about a father trying to get his daughter back to her roots and away from the materialistic draw that fame was having on her.

And it was in Tennessee and everyone talked with that southern draaaawl that is just Oh So endearing! Especially the Grandmaw. Which, by the way, was their first mistake because we all know (or at least I do) that if you're from Kentucky or Tennessee you call your grandmother Mamaw.

It's a fact.

Anyway, I texted my friend S. through most of the movie (which you can do when you're the only ones in the theatre because all the really decent parents already have their children in bed), but I really enjoyed it. And possibly got a little teary eyed in all the appropriate moments.

Especially when she sang, The Climb. Which I will also admit, is now the ringtone on my cell phone. Half of y'all just now deleted me from your blog roll and felt the need to take a shower, huh? Not counting the ridiculously cheesy video, I just like the words to the song and can really relate to it right about now.

Wow. I can't believe I just typed that I can relate to a Miley Cyrus song. Seriously. I think I need to shower.

I may have also smiled and tapped my foot a little when they were doing the Hoedown Throwdown in the movie. I will not admit, however, that I might have come home and looked it up on Youtube and quite possibly started learning to bust the moves myself. Nope. I didn't.

Grace, Maddie and my friend S.'s daughter, Elisabeth did... but definitely not me.

Grace's face was lit up like the Fourth of July through the whole movie, which was quite nostalgic for me. I remembered that same look on Maddie's face when I took her to see the Lizzie McGuire movie about 6 years ago. At that moment I was really thankful that I had taken the time to bring Grace and Liv to the movies. Even if it was 9 o'clock AT NIGHT and all the really decent parents had their kids in bed already.

Now Olivia? Well, at one point she announced really loud that, "this movie isn't funny AT ALL!", which ironically, was very funny. But she mostly just had to pee and then cried because she was tired because her mother had her at a movie at 9 o'clock AT NIGHT because (say it with me now..) all the really decent parents already had their kids home and in bed!

It also made me wonder what big movie I'd be taking Hope and Charlie to in 6 or 7 years. (By that time Monk will qualify for a Senior discount, so maybe he can take them!) Hopefully, it's nothing that requires busting a move or two because by then my Move Busting body parts may just be considered...um...busted.

And there you have it, y'all. The confession of all confessions.

You respected and admired me on Monday and now? Well...you just sort of feel sorry for me, I imagine.

That's okay, I feel a little sorry for myself too. And a little amused as well. I mean, what 39 year old mother of 6 downloads a Hannah Montana movie song to her cell phone and also tries to learn the dance moves to The Hoedown Throwdown???

Apparently me.

This is the Post Telling You What's Up. It's a Doozy.

2009-04-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Okay.

I'm not even sure where to begin. It's crazy really. Yet I know God's hand is firmly upon it. At least I think it is. Sheesh.

Welcome to my world lately. My crazy, exciting, feel-like-I'm-gonna-throw-up-at-any-second-I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this world.

And no....the feeling like I'm gonna throw up is not because I am pregnant. But I am dealing with pregnant women if that counts for anything.

Vomiting by osmosis. Who knew.

Part of me is a little embarrassed to admit this. Why? Well, it has to do with photography and while I've really become rather obsessed with photography over the last year, I'm still very much a beginner. Or amateur. Or beginning amateur. And there are some people who read here occasionally that have some absolutely STELLAR photography skills. (Hi Andrea! Hi Mindi!) And me? I'm a schmuck.

A beginner beginning amateur who is still learning about f-stops and apertures and white balance and whatever else I can learn, absorb or inhale about digital photography. I am a photography sponge. Well, with the exception of the whole Photoshop boob thing where I obviously have some sort of creative block. Or. I'm just a boob.

Anyway.

My "plan" was to take this year, while Charlie is still nursing, and just learn all I could about photography. Take classes, read books, scour the internet, send long emails to photography bloggers asking long questions and making them think I'm some sort of weird, creepy, fertile, stalker mother and just learn, learn, learn. ( I really did send an email, y'all. Or two.)

Then, AFTER I had done all of this research and practice..... I was going to start a birth photography business.

There. I said it.

Me, the very, very, very, very, beginner beginning amateur-lame-o-can't-even-understand-Photoshop photographer was going to start a birth photography business. I had a plan. I never have a plan, so the fact that I actually had one was a miracle in and of itself!

My plan crumbled 3 weeks ago. That's when the whole pit the size of a grapefruit took up residence in my stomach.

My wonderful friend and midwife, Ann knew of my aspiring photography plans and was very happy for me. After all, she is in the business of birthin' babies, owns a birth center, etc.., so I knew she could hook me up. Eventually. I'm not sure if she knew about the whole I'm-gonna-take-a-year part or not.

You see where this is going, right?

Three weeks ago, while eating hamburgers and baked beans at a cookout, she informs me that she gave out my name at her last birth class as a photographer who was willing to do birth photography for free while building my portfolio. Wha??

(This would be the part in the movie where the stunned expression comes across my face, my burger falls from my hand and the sounds of tires screeching to a halt can be heard in the background.)

But in all honesty, I sort of laughed it off. Who was going to call some schmuck photographer with no experience to take pictures of something as precious and as priceless as a birth? ::thought while chuckling to herself::

I got the first call on Monday. I met with the people on Tuesday and they hired me on the spot. (Is it truly hired if you're free?) Then, in a moment of utter insanity I offered to take maternity pictures and do newborn shots as well. Gratis.

I am building a portfolio, after all. Oh my.

Since that day I have done three sets of maternity photos, booked a second birth photography client and photographed my very first birth this past Friday night! All while screaming on the inside, "what the heck am I doing????".

::excuse me while I go throw up::

The plan is to start a photography blog in the next few weeks that will act as my "portfolio" of sorts ( I feel so weird and grown up using the word port-fol-io). It will be there that I record this crazy mixed up photography journey and post pictures as I am given permission to do so.

All the while learning more and more about photography. While still nursing a baby. A baby who by the way, went with me to photograph my first birth (a homebirth) this past Friday night AND who slept through the WHOLE ENTIRE THING thankyouverymuch!!! Ah yes, Charlie is a gem!

And there you have it. The Big News. It's a dandy, ain't it? I bet y'all were thinking I was pregnant again, huh?

I'm sure y'all want details about this whole "photographing the first birth" thing, am I right? Well. You're gonna have to wait. It's a good story ~ maybe not as exciting as my own hilarious tale of birth, but a good one nonetheless. And it deserves it's own post. You're thinking murderous thoughts of me now, are you not? Anyway, I'll try and elaborate on that one a little later in the week.

But I'll leave you with this picture. Just cause I'm nice. And you love me. And little Baby R is so precious I just can't keep her to myself! She was staring intently at her daddy in this picture.

So? Is there a stunned silence out there? ::cricket:: ::cricket:: Whadda y'all think?

(Not about the picture, but about e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g? But the picture too if ya want.)

Pick a Winner

2009-04-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Apparently my children aren't the only ones around here who pick their nose and eat it. Seriously. If I have nothing better to talk about than cat boogers than I am pretty pathetic.

::cricket. cricket. cricket::

Actually, we've been to the park TWICE this week and the Botanic Gardens once. It has been a week chocked full of frenzy, let me tell you. Unfortunatley, no house cleaning has been done and I simply MUST do that today.

So.

I'm putting a big hold on the Vague I Can't Tell You What's Up Quite Yet post. Sorry. I hope you understand. Frankly, if there is anyone still reading I will be MORE than giddy with excitement.

Y'all ARE still reading aren't you? Hello? Y'all?

Leave me a comment if you're remotely interested in this blog still. If not, that's okay....I can pass the time watching the cat ~~pick~~ lick his nose.

This Boy and His Momma

2009-04-20T08:00:00.004-05:00

This boy was in a car accident on Friday.

His momma was leaving Target with three children and a truck load of groceries when he called her.

This boy told her he was fine, but he was stuck in a ditch and waiting on a tow truck.

His momma dropped off the other kids and the groceries to go to his rescue.

This boy was standing beside the road, next to his car which was stuck in a bunch of trees and bushes in a ditch.

His momma turns Phil the Suburban around and proceeds to try and pull off the side of the little two lane highway on the opposite side of him.

This boy motions her to NOT do this because it had been raining and the shallow ditch was full of water.

His momma was quite sure that it would be okay because she would leave one of the back tires on the pavement and therefore wouldn't get stuck. After all, she was driving Phil the Suburban. (Phil being short for Philistine.)

This boy stood there and shook his head.

His momma rolled down her window to make sure her boy was okay.

This boy assured me he was fine and then told me I was gonna be stuck in the mud.

His momma laughed and told her boy she was driving Phil the Suburban and just watch her get out with her Mad Driving Skillz.

This boy stood there with a smirk and shook his head.

His momma started to pull away, but couldn't. Her tires were stuck in mud. Apparently she missed the pavement with that back tire.

This boy stood there and shook his head.

His momma rocked Phil the Suburban back and forth, back and forth and did nothing but sling mud approximately 20 feet.

This boy stood there and shook his head.

His momma realized she was stuck when she saw that her passenger side back tire had spun a hole large enough to be under consideration for a new lake. Or pond at the very least.

This boy said I was gonna have to call a tow truck to be pulled out.

His momma called Monk instead and asked if he could bring some boards and come and rescue her.

This boy stood there and shook his head because now he AND his momma needed to be rescued.

His momma had a stuck boy, a stuck truck and a 4 1/2 month old Charlie that needed to be nursed.

This boy stood and waved to the Good Samaritans who stopped by asking if he was okay. They ignored his idiotic mother on the other side of the road and thought it probably best not pull off and try to help lest they get stuck too.

His momma finally saw Monk coming around the corner and was relieved because she had a baby that was becoming hungrier by the minute.

This boy not only stood there and shook his head, but now laughed as well.

His momma watched as Monk approached Phil the Suburban and began to shake his head. These men and their head shaking was about to get on the momma's last nerve.

This boy still stood on the other side of the road, shaking his head, pretending he did not know the crazy red headed woman with the baby and the stuck truck across from him.

His momma watched as Monk looked at the mud half way up the back tires, shaking his head in disgust, trying to figure out if boards were gonna be enough to get Phil unstuck.

This boy watched as a kind passerby with a BIG truck and even BIGGER chain stopped by and offered to pull Phil out of his predicament.

His momma secretly happy danced and was ever SO relieved when Phil was released from his miry depths and driven off to a more secure, non-muddy spot.

This boy was relieved that his idiotic mother was now further down the road and not drawing any more attention to him and his stuck car.

His momma still waited with this boy long after Monk had left to retrieve the family some dinner.

This boy talked on his cell phone and must have talked to a dozen friends that drove by shocked and asking if he was okay.

His momma waited with him for 2 hours for that dumb tow truck.

This boy kept claiming that once his car was unstuck he could probably drive it home because he couldn't see any damage.

His momma shook her head.

This boy was very excited to see the tow truck approaching and finally got off of his cell phone.

His momma stood and watched as the tow truck had to block both lanes of the two lane highway in order to pull this boy's car out. People were not happy.

This boy was rather shocked that the entire front driver's side of his car was in shambles and his axle was broke plumb in half.

His momma shook her head.

This boy didn't think only going 30mph could do that much damage,

His momma shook her head.

This boy thought the tow truck driver was really cool.

His momma, in a moment of sheer irony, thought the tow truck driver reminded her of Mater off of the Disney movie, Cars. Dad gum.

This boy laughed when his momma told him that.

His momma was SO relieved when the tow truck finally drove away.

This boy, I think, was thankful his momma was there to rescue him.

His momma was thankful, too.

Especially thankful that this boy wasn't hurt. Cause she loves him. Just a little.

It's All Good

2009-04-17T09:25:00.004-05:00

Once again and entire week has escaped me and I've written nary a thing. It was, however, quite intentional this week.

You see, in the CrAzY that has become my life lately, I just needed some time to spend in my home, with my family and catching up on sleep. If I'm not careful I slip into what I like to call my Computer Zombie Mode. Which essentially means I become a dark eyed zombie, spending entirely too much time (especially late at night) perusing blogs and websites, etc...

This past week has been spent getting caught up on housework, which by the way I have become entirely convinced will NEVER happen around here, getting my laundry under the double digit numbers and actually, you know, cooking hot meals in the evening. I cancelled all lessons for the week, only appointments on Monday and made it to bed before midnight every night. And you know what?

It's been nice.

I'm not overly tired, I'm not feeling overwhelmed anymore (at least concerning household things) and I don't have any guilt hanging over my head for the things that haven't been getting done.

It's all good.

I will admit that I've missed blogging. I like that outlet and for some weird reason pouring my life out to the entire world brings me some sort of strange satisfaction. I'm just going to have to learn a few things about balance. When my family gets out of balance, EVERYTHING gets out of balance. And with the new things that are happening in my life at the moment, the pendulum just really took a hard swing to the right (because I would never swing to the left. Ever.). Balance will be more important than ever.

And yes, I'm purposely being vague, but guess what? I'm gonna spill next week! Why? Well mostly just because I couldn't manage to keep my mouth shut if I wanted to. But honestly, I just want to share it with y'all. I'm hoping that if I do, the knot the size of a grapefruit that has taken up residence in my belly might just decide to leave me alone. And I don't even like grapefruit, y'all.

But for now I'm just gonna enjoy being where I am and take things one day at a time. Because really, that's all I can do.

Scarborough Fair ~ And Not the Simon and Garfunkel Kind

2009-04-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

So thanks to Monk's abnormally large brain power he won us some tickets to a somewhat local event called Scarborough Fair. Being $21.50 a pop, we weren't about to let these bad boys go to waste! That and we've never been before.

We also heard it was thee place for Freaks and Geeks to gather and Monk and I are just meddlesome enough to go and see for ourselves. But we would never make fun of them. Never. Ever. ::snort::

So, we loaded up the four youngest of our brood, grabbed our good friends, Ann and Bob, and were off on our merry old way.

Or should that have read, Ye Merry Olde Way??

Upon arriving we had to park about a quarter of a mile away from the enterance. Not so bad, right? Unless one has to push the brand new double stroller carrying 36 pounds worth of children and another 40 pounds worth of junk for the upkeep of the 36 pounds of children.

Poor Monk. I just walked with my hands in my pockets. I was a little chilly.

But Ann and Bob? Well, they hitched a ride with a dude pulling a cart which was pretty much akin to a Renaissance Era rickshaw. I would show you pictures, but alas, my camera was on the wrong setting and those pictures pretty much came out blue. Kinda how I feel for totally messing them up!

Upon entering, my dear, sweet, Grace volunteered for a lesson in shooting a canon. She, along with several other adolescent volunteers, were some pretty good public entertainment for the next 15 minutes. Liv, who is our wild and crazy child and would seem to be the one more suited for volunteering for something involving a large weapon, sat crouched with her hands over her ears anticipating a loud noise. Which never came, by the way.

This was Sis being harassed during the demonstration.

After this last picture, Monk and I pretty much spent the rest of the time spending money. Oh yes, my friends, apparently it costs a pretty penny to be transported back to the Renaissance Era.

(And just a side note here to any Renaissance-ey, actor-ish people who might be reading here: When I order two turkey legs and then ask how much it will be, it most certainly does NOT lighten the blow when y'all reply, "13 shillings and 50, mum". Shillings schmillings. It's $13.50 for two stupid bird legs, people! Olde English and even the best British accent doesn't make that go down any easier!)

Oh look! Two fair maidens!

Next up was the swinging pirate ship. But this one was wasn't controlled by electricity. Nope, just ropes and a guy pushing the thing. And that thing went high!

(This photo pretty much sums up my girls in this sort of situation. Liv is all about the fun. Grace appears that she is going to puke, but is really having a good time. And Hope? Well, she was fairly nonplussed by the whole thing with exception of keeping an eye on the piratey dude. I think if her vocabulary had allowed, she would have been screaming "HIGHER, YA SCALLEYWAG!!!")

They sold pretzels as big as Hope's head.

Here was the parade. This dude was rather serious about his role. He fell under Geek category. Do y'all think the guy to the left is looking a little envious of the guy on the right? Maybe the red guy's legs looked better in the kilt. Ya think?

And this Jester was pretty funny. She would be a Freak (with a Geek! ha!)

And Momma found another cute, little fair maiden who happened to be hiding in the Mei Tai! Call me biased, but she is SO stinkin' cute! (Her, not me! Man I need to learn Photoshop! That "Whiten teeth" tool would have been effective here!)

Two of the sweetest people I have EVER known!

Um...another Freak. His name was Noobler and he had a catchy song that I can't get out of my head! Also, he had some of the most amazing dreads I have ever seen!

This picture sums up what Hope did most of the day. Oh, wait! She cried most of the day, but when she wasnt crying and running amok, she was eating. But at least she's a cute eater!

I know I've whined a little (or a lot) about how expensive it was, but I have to admit ~ for all the crying, the dirt, the sunburns, and yes, the money...it was ever SO much fun!! And we will probably go back next year. When we can take out a loan. Or sell a child. For parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

If you don't get that last sentence then you are young. Too young to appreciate Simon and Garfunkel. Go here if you would like to know what the heck I'm talking about. Be warned ~ 70's music will ensue.

p.s I realized AFTER I loaded all of them, that my pictures read Beautiful You Photography. They are supposed to say Monkswife.blogspot.com. Madgirl and I were messing around and the BYP got put on there by mistake. Because I'm technologically challenged, I have no idea how to change it. Please disreaguard. Or just think I'm stupid. Whichever is more appropriate.

Life ~ It's Happening

2009-04-07T23:30:00.005-05:00

It's never my intent to neglect my blog. I love my blog. Really, I do. I love the writing, the picture posting, the sharing, the interaction with complete and total strangers that I have grown to love and admire. It's sort of sick and demented and cool all at the same time, ya know?

But guess what?

Life is happening all around me these last few days and I honestly haven't had a moment to write. That and I'm just plumb tuckered out! My online adventures consist of updating my Facebook, checking a few blogs and Twitter and I'm done. Seriously.

There are so many wonderful things that are happening that are completely and totally being orchestrated by God that I'm just in awe. Unfortunately for y'all, they're not things I'm ready to share rightthissecond. They are good things that have me doing the Happy Dance AND trembling with fear and trepidation. It's been like riding a roller coaster. I'm having a ball and ready to throw up all at the same time. (Analogies? Apparently not my gift). Trusting God and yet saying, "God, are You sure?"

(And no, I'm not pregnant. Again.)

I do have about a bajillion and one things I want to post about right now, but I just don't have the time. I've had my dentist post almost done for about a week now. Just no time. New and exciting things are happening and I can't wait until I can share, but for now I just want to ask y'all to hang on!! Don't leave me! I won't be out of it for long! Just please pray for this new journey that I'm embarking on. Even though you have NO clue what I'm talking about ~ God will most definitely know!

Your prayer could go something like this:

Dear God: That crazy red head with all the kids? She asked me to pray for her new and exciting journey and that You would be in it. Please be in it. Please be glorified. Please don't let her be afraid. Give her wisdom and insight and peace. ~~Please help her to stop eating Ding Dongs.~~ Thank you Lord for giving her this opportunity. Amen

I will give you a hint though ~ another blog will "probably" be involved. Yea, like I need one more thing to keep up with, right?

Oh my word, people. Good things. God things.

iHeart Faces ~ My Friend and I ~ Kids

2009-04-06T00:30:00.004-05:00

This picture and these girlies mean the world to me. Elisabeth (on the left) is one of my very best friend's daughters and I've known her since she was in her momma's belly. And of course, my very own Madgirl whom iHeart very much! These two have known each other...well...forever. I could go on and on about both of them, but I'll spare y'all my stroll down memory lane for the time being. To be totally honest, my strolling has become more like tripping and falling. I'm gonna need some Ginkgo Biloba before long people.

Go check out some more friends at iHeart Faces this week!

She's My Sunshine

2009-04-03T10:05:00.002-05:00

A little sunshine, a little lamb skin, a little Charlotte....

...makes for a whole lotta beautiful!

Happy Friday, y'all! Have a great weekend!

Sweet Sixteen

2009-04-01T00:11:00.004-05:00

April 1, 1993 I was blessed with my first daughter. From the moment I met her I was hooked.

I was thrilled at the thought of all the bows and baby dolls, and all manner of "girlie" I was going to have the pleasure of experiencing with her. My heart burst with excitement at the thought of the grand adventure it was going to be to have a daughter.

(Little did I know that I would be swimming in bows and baby dolls with four more daughters many years later, huh?)

Madison (aka Maddie, aka Madgirl) never let me down in the girlie department. She loved bows, American Girl dolls, dresses and every other girlie thing on the planet. If it sparkled ~ we owned it.

She's pretty much the same today. Her sparkle just comes in the form of lip gloss, shoes, purses (all 40 of them ~ no kidding. She needs a 12 step program) and personality. She's a lot like me with one exception.

She has a backbone.

Where I have pretty much been a doormat for the last 39 years, this beautiful daughter of mine can stand her ground. And she does. She was put into a situation last year where she had to return to public school. She was not very happy about it then nor is she currently. It's been a tough two years because of this.

While I've seen her personality change to have a somewhat tougher exterior (which I don't necessarily like), I've also seen this amazing desire in her to stand up for what she believes in. Sometimes, much to the chagrin of her teachers. HA!

She's not somebody's wallflower to be seen and not heard concerning her Christianity. Not to say that she's perfect by any means, but this girl can ~~argue~~ debate. And she does. She may not always be the most eloquent or even in some cases, respectful (which I'm not advocating, by the way) in her disagreements, but she will make herself and her beliefs heard. Even if she's the only one on her side, she'll still defend until the end.

Why share all of this?

I guess because I blinked and my meek little girl with pigtails turned into a beautiful, bold young woman. One who wants to know the Lord and serve in any capacity He's called her to. Even if that means ::gasp:: missions. (She told me this the other day) And I'm just sitting here, shaking my head trying to figure out where the time has gone and how she got to be so stinkin' amazing.

(Amazing, but still very trying at times. Don't be fooled ~ we have our moments...ahem.)

And if I'm going to be honest, I may have prayed a selfish little prayer that said, "please Lord, don't take her far away from me."

I bought her a silver heart locket for her birthday and per her request, took her to have her hair cut and highlighted. When she was finished and Marinell (remember, my Hair Genius?) turned her around, I gasped and my eyes stung trying to fight back tears.

She was beautiful and for the first time it really hit me that she was almost grown. And that she really could go away and do missions someday! And that I just might not have her close by for the rest of my life! And that time was precious! Time was precious y'all and what was I gonna do if the Lord called her to missions and she moved far way from me and I want her to serve the Lord where He's called her and I don't want to be selfish, but Oh Please don't take her far away from me and, and and...

And then?

I breathed. I have her now. And now is enough for me.

Happy Sweet 16 Madgirl. I love you.

Barbara Walters I Am Not

2009-03-30T22:20:00.000-05:00

So, my sister T. was in town for Not Enough Time again, but OH! the fun we had! I've been just short of an all out depressive episode since she left on Sunday. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, my friends. But the good-byes?

They pert near kill me.

So while she was here I kept good on my promise to interview her. Let me just say something about my interviewing skills.

They stink.

I couldn't keep a straight face if my life depended on it. We giggled more than a gaggle of 6 year old girls. I should know this. I have a gaggle.

(Ooo fun....giggle AND gaggle...how often does one use both of those words in the same sentence?)

Anyway, here it is: Interview With My Sister ~ The Untold Story of...Stuff.

Me:Can I tell blogdom your real name or do you want to be all mysterious and only be known as "T"?

Her: I don't care. (So much for mysterious)

Me: So does that mean yes?

Her: Yeah, sure.

Me: Her name is Teresa everyone.

(hold your applause)

Me: Do you really read my blog every day?

Her: Yep. It's one of the first things I do every morning. I work out, eat my breakfast, read a little bit of news and then your blog.

(She works out. I hate her.)

Me: What do you eat for breakfast?

Her: I eat a Yoplait Fat Free yogurt, a quarter cup of cereal and soy milk with raspberries and blueberries.

(Who eats a quarter cup of cereal?? Really? Of course, this would be why she's lost 30 pounds and I "moo" when I walk)

Me: Did you know that fat free and soy isn't the best for you?

(I'm lookin' for a fight, can you tell?)

Her: You just think you know everything. The Chinese have been eating soy for years and they're healthy. Don't believe everything you hear.

Me: I'll send you some info, okay?

(really trying to push her buttons with that one)

Her: Whatever.

(Shoot.)

Me: Do I sound the same on my blog as I do in real life?

Her: Yea...hehe...yea.

Me: You like me the best in the family, right? ::snicker::

Her: (smirking) Of course.

Me: Is my house crazy?

Her: Absitively, posolutely nuts!

Me: What's the best part of being at my house?

Her: Umm...it's just crazy. We go shopping and I love going shopping with you guys cause you crack me up. AND...I always get to come down and see a new niece!! (raucous laughter!!)

(Notice the word "crazy" is key in describing my home, right?)

Me: (laughing) THAT was funny!

Her: I sometimes miss my boys being little and then I come here! hahaha! (my nephews are 27 and 29)

Me: What's the worst part of being at my house? (me smirking...she's gonna say somethin' about the animals, I just know it!)

Her: The dog hair and cat hair probably

(Told ya! ding! ding! ding!)

Me: I agree completely.

Me: Was the cake I made for Grace's birthday party today totally awesome?

Her: Yea, it was!

Me: I'm cool aren't I?

Her: Yea, I think you're pretty cool. Well... you're okay.

Me: Does my backyard look like a Bosnian mine field?

Her: (laughing) Yea, it does. You have to play hopscotch out there.

Me: Hope does a pretty good job avoiding it though, doesn't she?

Her: Yea, she does.

Me: Did you feel guilty when you started throwing up the other night and thought you gave my whole family the flu?

Her: I was like, "I don't wanna go in there and tell her! She's gonna be so mad! I felt like crap though!"

Me: This is the first time I've used the word crap on my blog. How do feel about that?

(Again..me pushing buttons)

Her: If crap's the worst thing I say then I'm not doing too bad.

Me: You aren't staying awake for me tonight, are you?

Her: (Eyes closed, head laying on couch) Me? No, I'm fine.

...profuse giggling...

Me: Going back to my childhood...was I brat?

Her: (Nodding) Uh-huh.

Me: Really?

Her: Well, yea. You were the baby and you were babied too much.

(Well now. She doesn't mince words, does she?)

Me: What's the worst thing I ever did to you as a child? Puke in your hair when I was 5?

Her: Didn't you tell on me once and get me in trouble for something?

(Once? Once?)

Me: The Monopoly set?

Her: What?

Me: I called mom at work and told on you and D. (our brother) for playing Monopoly when you were supposed to be cleaning. Then she burned it in the fireplace that night.

(Our mother did NOT play around. As evidenced by the charred "Get Out of Jail Free" card!)

Her: Oh yea!

Me: Or how about the time I told you your boyfriend Paul got caught in tornado? Remember that?

(evil giggling)

Her: Oh yea, I vaguely remember that...

Me: Remember the time I bit my tongue off? (Not completely, but pert near)

(I really did. I was 5 and chasing a little boy around in Sunday School when I slipped and fell because of my black patent Mary Jane's. The only time in my life I've cursed a cute pair of shoes.)

Her: Oh yea, as a matter of fact Hope was running in the house yesterday and I thought, "she's gonna do exactly what Michelle did and fall and bite her tongue off?" I felt so sorry for you. You could only eat baby food.

(Banana baby food ROCKS, by the way!)

Me: Do you remember that they thought I would have a speech impediment?

Her: Yea!

Me: They were wrong about that one! HA! I even went on to play the trumpet! ( a musical instrument that requires the use of the tongue!)

( Teresa played trumpet too. At this point we offered to sing taps and demonstrate the Taps "echo" for Madison, but she declined. Hmpf.)

Me: Am I the most unorganized person you know? Be honest.

Her: Well, you're not thee most unorganized person, but you are towards the top of the list. (profuse laughter)

Me: You have to admit though, I'm better that I used to be and I even have more kids, right?

Her: Yea, that's for sure, you are better.

Me: So there's hope for me?

Her: When all the kids are gone and all the animals are dead!!

(LOUD BURSTS OF RAUCOUS LAUGHTER!)

Me: Do you think I'll have another baby? (major smirking and laughing on my part)

(At this point Madgirl interjects with, "Answer honestly, but don't encourage her!")

Her: (humming music to Jeopardy) Can you repeat the question?

Me: Come on now, all of blogdom wants to know....

Her: Let's put it this way....I think her name will be Emersen!!

(MORE LOUD BURSTS OF RAUCOUS LAUGHTER!)

Me: Final question. Do I spend too much money at Target?

Her: No. Not enough.

(Ha! She's my girl!)

Me: Monk's gonna hate you.

Me: Are you gonna miss me?

Her: Yea. It's gonna be quiet.

Me: Yea. Well it won't ever be quiet for me though.

~~~~~~~~Interview over~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And yes, things are too quiet for her today and not quiet enough for me. We miss each other terribly and are already plotting our next meeting together. In a little over 2 months! Woot!

Sisters are a good thing, y'all.

A really. good. thing.

iHeart Faces ~ Pets

2009-03-29T23:19:00.006-05:00

Oh boy. This was a hard one for me. Harley (the chocolate lab) is a complete and total pain in the patooty, but boy is he photogenic. Fat Otis, however, is just plain cool.

I chose the cool one. Also, he pretty much owns the place and he might eat me in my sleep if I don't use his picture ~ his name ain't FAT Otis for nothin' you know.

Head on over to iHeart Faces to catch some more animal action ~ I think it's just puuuuurrrfect! Oh wow. That was cheesy.

Nine

2009-03-27T08:35:00.004-05:00

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this girl....

...is nine years old today.

She is a precious gift from God and we are SO thankful to have her.

She is helpful and loving, generous and compassionate. She is the most tender of all our daughters and tears come easily for her. Not in a crybaby sense, but in an endearing God-given gift that allows her to feel deeply.

She loves cute clothes (she hearts Target very much), American Girl dolls, donuts, hamburgers with ketchup, Coke (hmmm...wonder where she gets that), fixing her own hair and most of all... reading books.

This is her last year to be in the "single" digit numbers and it's hard for this momma. It's hard to watch my chubby baby girl start growing into a beautiful young lady. Monk and I want to stop the growing cause we like her just fine right where she is. Unfortunately for us, it doesn't work that way.

We know God has a special plan for this girl and that's enough for us.

Happy Birthday Sis! We love you sweet girl!

I Assure You, She Did Not Come All the Way Here to Throw Up

2009-03-26T23:05:00.003-05:00

Just doing a little pre-weekend check-in with y'all to let you know what has been goin' on since my sister arrived. I'm gonna just hit the highlights and perhaps elaborate on a few points, K?

1. She arrived safe and sound Wednesday morning. I managed to have all the girls dressed, myself dressed and all of our hair perfectly coiffed before arriving at the airport ON TIME! I KNOW!!

2. After a lovely breakfast at Cracker Barrel we came back to our house where my sis ooohed and ahhhed over my new floors and paint.

3. The girls talked her into playing Wii bowling and tennis. I think she laughed and screamed as much as they did. I had to keep warning her not to work so hard at the tennis or she would be sore the next day. She has an extremely lethal backhand. Just ask Harley.

4. I made a boatload of guacamole and homemade pizza and we pigged out.

5. My Boy came over and he, my sis and myself all loaded up and went to...yeehaw...the Wal-Mart. I had to buy a few things for Grace's B-day cake that I could only get there. T. was becoming VERY tired at this point.

6. We trudged on and went to TARGET! It was SO much nicer than Wal-Mart. We bought a few things there and then headed home.

7. T. and I ate a second round of pizza and then topped it off with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. I told you we like to eat. T. was exhausted and decided to sleep on the couch in our family room.

8. The next morning I get up to find out that Fat Otis had driven her crazy half the night, bugging her and knocking over her water. AND!! She THREW UP TWICE AND THOUGHT SHE HAD THE FLU!! Oh YES! My sister flew all the way from Michigan to get the flu and throw up in my toilet. We are a hospitable bunch, let me tell you.

9. I make her a fresh bed in the girl's room, give her a Zofran (anti nausea medicine) and send her in there with a bucket and her Hot Flash Fan. I block off the hallway and ban the girls from that part of the house.

10. I proceed to the dentist for a filling. I got the nitrous oxide this time. I was like, "what filling?". I like happy gas. 'Nuf said. This deserves a blog post all it's own and will post it next week.

11. Found out my wisdom teeth DO need to come out. The dentist said, "you will need i.v. sedation for that." I said, "YA THINK?"!

12. Came home and my ~~zombie~~ sister came out of the bedroom a new woman! She felt a TON better and we think she was just overly tired which led to the puking. She had been up for 20 HOURS the day before. Um....yeah. Probably a wee bit tired.

13. I happy danced that I wouldn't be cleaning up puke for the next week!

14. Found out my sister was VERY sore from playing Wii tennis. I tried to tell her.

15. We went to Lowe's a proceeded to buy a veritable wonderland of beautiful flowers and plants and such for my front porch and a portion of my yard. Then find out that this crazy Texas weather is taking another cold spell on Saturday! Make up your mind all ready!

16. Came home, unloaded, got ready and Monk and I took T. out to a really nice restaurant where we ate salad and steak (medium rare, of course) and had real live adult conversation.

17. Came home AGAIN and totally vegged because we were both too pooped to do anything else.

I know it's weird to end on #17, but frankly I'm too tired to muster up three more highlights. Today and tomorrow are going to be crazy busy, but I really hope to take some pictures and interview T. She's gonna be in Super Fast Mode, so who knows if I can pin her down.

And guess what else?

Nothing.

I'm too tired from all the laughing, talking, eating, and worrying about puking to find anything else intelligible to say. Y'all are just gonna have to trust me when I say...

I'm having a good time.

Thar's A Yankee in Town!

2009-03-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

That would be my sister T. who's comin' in from Michigan bright and early this morning! Woo-hoo! I only get to see her about once a year, twice if I'm lucky! This year I'm gonna be lucky because she'll be here this week and then I'm going to see her in June!

I've done all the Panic Cleaning I can do and I can't do no more. There's still dirty blinds, dirty windows, a dirty fridge and the back yard still looks a Bosnian mine field with all the dog poo, but you know what? So what.

There I said it. So what.

Those things don't matter to her, and let me tell you she is impeccably tidy, and she'll probably offer to tackle something for me while she's here. Cause she's that way you know. I like her. A lot. She's a lot like me, just on speed. She's does everything in Super Fast Mode. Me? I'm more like Mosey Along Mode. She talks and works, while I have to stop and use hand motions when I talk. I really am quite frustrating sometimes.

Thus, my organizational nightmare.

And Oh. My. Word. can we both talk! And eat! We do a lot of talking and eating while we're together. And laughing too. I'm telling y'all, we are a regular PAR-TAY, us two!!

Anyway, she doesn't know this yet, but I think I'm going to interview her for my first ever Monk's Wife interview! Won't that be fun?? What sorts of things should I ask her? What do y'all want to know? She'll just tell y'all how much she loves me! Because you know, I am rather lovable. ::cough::

And hopefully I won't get sidetracked and I'll take lots of pictures! I'm getting my tripod this week so maybe I can actually be in a few, ya know?! Oh! The possibilities!

It's gonna be a busy week for sure. What, with all the talking that we do, plus Grace's birthday is Friday and we are celebrating her and Madgirls (her 16th is next Wednesday!) birthday's on Saturday.

Sisters and Laughing and Parties, OH MY!

Oh my! I am exhausted just from talking about all of it y'all! But OH WHAT FUN!!

I think I might be a little manic right now. Whew!

Alright, somebody might just hafta slap me! Okay y'all, I'm outta here. I'll be seeing you later this week!

The Alone ~ It's Good

2009-03-24T00:15:00.001-05:00

As I sit and write this, it's not from my normal spot on my tan, comfy couch. No, it's one of those rare moments in my life where I am completely alone. No children, not even the baby, are with me right now. I'm seated at a small table inside a local Starbucks, drinking a Cinnamon Dolce Latte (AGAIN!), waiting for my Madgirl to finish her violin lesson.

I have approximately 22 minutes of alone time. For me. All alone. No one else.

I brought two books: Photoshop for Dummies ~ I am still very much a boob in this area, by the way and a John Piper book, my Bible and paper. All for 22 minutes. Apparently I have some wicked time management skills. That or a totally unrealistic perception of just how long 22 minutes actually is.

(Yes, most of this blog post was actually penned rather than typed. It felt weird writing. I couldn't write as fast as I was thinking and I found it quite irritating. It also dawned on me that my children may never have a written memento of me, seeing that my blog is my journal of sorts. Is that sad? Should I actually write more?)

Most of you are probably thinking that I fall into the unrealistic category, huh? Well, you're right. You see, 22 minutes of total alone time, with no one crying, no one yelling, "Momma", no one coming in to ...ahem...assist me in the bathroom (Hope is quite the TP Operator in case you're in the market) is something that only happens around here maybe once every few months. These moments are golden and you better believe I'm going to give myself options as to how I'm going to spend that valuable time.

It's all about the options people. Options are a good thing. Martha would agree.

Honestly, I thought I would read. Then it struck me just how totally weird I felt to be alone. I felt almost...naked. (No visuals people, no visuals. Resist the urge.) I tried to think of the last time I had been alone, truly alone and able to think alone. Not shopping, running errands, just quiet. I couldn't remember. I almost opted to go into Starbucks bathroom and just sit there for a while, taking it all in. You know, unrolling my own toilet paper, without shouting, "yeah!" and clapping at my accomplishment. But I decided that might draw me a little unwanted attention and I just decided to write instead. I'm sure y'all appreciate my courtesy to you in that area.

Anyway. Me alone AND thinking (watch out, I might injure myself here). Here are my thoughts:

When I'm in the day to day chaos that goes on in our home, I don't really think about it. It's normal. It's the status quo. I don't know anything different. And most of the time I wouldn't want it to be any different. Quiet is not a word I would use to describe our family though. I've grown quite fond of our large litter of loud, giggly, moody girls and picking up hair clips, stepping over Barbies, folding Tinker Bell panties, filling sippy cups and breaking up spats over who's bossing who is something I'm used to and frankly, in no hurry to rush along. Even their shrill little screams don't bother me anymore. Much.

But this quiet? It's like honey for my ears. A balm for my soul. Valium for my nerves. I need it. I crave it. And I'm thankful to have it. For me, the quiet clears my head, allows me to think real live logical thoughts and reminds me that I need to do this more often.

Why more often, you ask? ( You did ask, didn't you? I thought so.)

Is it because I want to get away from my husband and children? Shirk my household responsibilities? Drink expensive froo-froo coffee and look like all the other hip, Starbuckish people?

YES! Aw, y'all know better than that....of course NOT!

It's because during these moments of quiet, when I can really reflect on things, that I become totally aware of how truly thankful for all that I have. I find myself again. And upon finding myself I remember that I really LOVE being a wife and a mother! It's who I am and I'm glad for it! It also recharges me, rejuvinates me, allows me enough decompression time to really thank God for all of those things with which He has blessed me. I'm going to go home a better wife, a better mother and definitely hopped up on a little caffeine!

Does it make me perfect? Nope. Because I'm human. I'm still tired and honestly, I'm still a little grouchy. But it's giving me enough time to breathe. Just breathe. And sometimes, especially as a wife and mother, that's all we need to do. Breathe. And eat a little chocolate. And it's perfectly okay to eat it in the form of a giant chocolate chip cookie with one's froo-froo coffee.

Not that I would know, of course.

So if you walk into a Starbucks somewhere in the the great state of Texas and happen upon some woman with a really awesome red dye job, drinking a large froo-froo coffee, pen in hand, writing feverishly in front of a stack of books, walk on over and say "hi".

Better be quick though. I'm only there for 22 minutes.

Really..

2009-03-22T21:20:00.003-05:00

A really good cuppa froo-froo coffee...

....a really, really good slice of Lemon Pound Cake...

...with a really, really, really good friend...

...made for a really, really, really, REALLY great afternoon of conversation.

Where, Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone..

2009-03-20T00:30:00.031-05:00

Have no fear y'all. I am still here!

::cricket:: ::cricket::

Life (LIFE!) has been happening all around me this week and I just haven't had a smidgeon of time to blog about it. Nothing actually noteworthy has taken place believe it or not. Unless of course, you consider sweeping kitty litter up from the laundry room floor noteworthy. If that's the case then boy, do I have a story for you. But other than that...nothin'.

I even took four kids 8 and under to the Procuts yesterday, totally anticipating something to go horribly wrong. Nada. They were great. Hope even cooperated for her haircut with no physical constraint or bribery in the form of chocolate.

So, in honor of everything being perfectly boring around here lately, I'll just touch on some highlights of the week, okay?

Highlight #1:

Our church had baby dedication on Sunday and our sweet Charlotte (aka Charlie, aka Baba, aka Chuck) was dedicated. It was sweet. The pictures that were taken during the actual service didn't turn out to well; as in they were a little blurry and I look as if I'd sucked on a dozen or so lemons (WHY the frowning??). And my extended family hightailed it outta there and so we didn't get a family picture either. I know!

Anyway, here's a sweet shot of Charlie I snapped after we arrived home.

I also wore this really cute coral, denim jacket (from where else??) I bought at Target. I wore it over a cute, simple streeeeeeetchy black dress (cause the stretch is good these days, my friends) with some new peep toe shoes and new ~~cheap, flashy~~ inexpensive, colorful jewelry to match. OH! And my freshly coiffed hair to boot!

I looked dang cute if I do say so myself. Of course, there are no pictures to prove it with exception of the lemon sucking few and I'm not about to post those here. Nope. Not gonna do it.

Highlight #2

Tuesday we went and spent the day with one of my good friends. She lives on a little property and has some chickens. The girls enjoyed collecting eggs and basically stalking the chickens. So much so that they had little tablets out there taking notes.

Really now. How much is there to write about the life of a chicken?

Cluck. Peck. Lay an egg. Repeat.

The egg comes out of where?!?!

Highlight #3

I'm getting totally stoked because my sister T. is coming to town next Wednesday!! I always get over the top excited over this because she only comes to town once a year and it is a Big Deal! I've called and texted her so much she's probably wondering if her airline ticket is refundable!

She's a Master Gardener (not for a living ~ by day she's a nurse) and she's gonna help me figure out a landscape plan for our front yard. Woo-hoo! What about the backyard? Well, it has so much dog poo on it right now it looks like a Bosnian mine field so we're going to concentrate on the front for now.

(BUT! I will be getting things ready to start putting the garden in soon!)

Highlight #4

I made the dentist appointment for next Thursday that will decide as to whether or not I have to have my wisdom teeth removed. ::screeching fingernails on a chalkboard:: (I'm now wondering it this is truly a highlight? Perhaps a lowlight?)

Y'all, I hate the dentist. Not the man, just the profession. It makes me physically ill to have to have my teeth cleaned, much less have two pried out of the back of my mouth. I am not in my happy place over this at all right now. At all.

I can feel them (the wisdom teeth)coming in and so I pretty much know the inevitable is going to happen. The good news is I only have two (well that explains a lot!). The bad news is those two still have to be pried from my mouth. But for now I'm just in denial. I like it here.

All I can say is I.V sedation has never looked so good.

Well, that's all for me this week. I hope y'all have a fantastic weekend!

I Heart Faces ~ Green

2009-03-16T15:23:00.005-05:00

In honor of St. Paddy's Day tomorrow, the theme at i heart faces this week is GREEN! How appropriate is that, eh? The picture doesn't have to be St. Paddy's theme, but it does have to have some green in it. Oh yea, and a face. Faces are always good.

Last week I bragged on one of my children being highly photogenic, right? I hadn't dismissed Liv's photogenic ability, I just didn't have her in the same league as Sis.

That is until I snapped this at the park.

Ah, bliss.

Head on over to iheartfaces and check things out. I think you're gonna like what you find.

And that's no Blarney, my friends!

Not Me Monday ~ Monk Style

2009-03-16T08:30:00.002-05:00

This week I'm participating in Not Me Monday over at Mckmama's blog. I'm having a hard time doing this because I would absolutely never admit to anything stupid or foolish that I've done during the week on such a public forum as my blog. Not Me. Ever.

Ahem.

I would also never admit that I denied 6 year old Liv a piece of my chocolate this week because she wouldn't let me pull the front tooth that had been hanging there for the past week. Then, when she succumbed to my pressure and finally let me try and pull it and then it wouldn't budge and I made her cry did I offer her many pieces of chocolate as a peace offering for my futility. I would never do such a thing because that would be bribery in parenting and I am not that sort of parent. Definitely Not Me.

I also did NOT tell her that the Tooth Fairy didn't come because I had stayed up too late and so she must have passed by our house. Then I most definitely did not give her two bucks for the tooth just so she wouldn't try to put it under her pillow again. Ha! Such a bad parent that would be! That is so Not Me!

And while Hope was once again attempting to drink from the dog water this week did I sit idley by and let her do it because I knew I had just rinsed the bowl and put fresh water down. I would never do such an appalling and disgusting thing! Not me, EVER!

(Just so you know, she only got a few sips in before I eventually stopped her...)

I certainly didn't wear the sweatpants I wore on Wednesday to bed that night and then again to a chiropractor's appointment the next morning. Wearing sweatpants in public is bad enough let alone DAY OLD DIRTY sweatpants. I would never even consider such a thing! Not me!

And above all, I would NEVER take Charlotte from Grace because she was fussy and attempt to smell her backside WHILE I was looking at the computer screen only to realize upon feeling something wet on my lip (OH, YES!!), that I had, in fact, given myself a poo-poo mustache. Because we all know that baby poo on one's upper lip would be one of the most vile, disgusting and certainly inappropriate things to EVER post on one's blog and I am WAY too classy to admit to something like that on MY blog!! Most definitely NOT ME!

If you're interested in finding about what more people did NOT do this past week, just hop on over to Mckmama's Carnival today and have a great time realizing that you're not such a bad person after all.

Actually, you've probably already realized that just from reading my blog. But I'm not laughing about it because I would NEVER do that.

Not me. ::snort::

Hold On to Yer Panties Folks! We're Goin' for a Ride on the Bi-Polar Express

2009-03-13T00:15:00.001-05:00

Oh. My. Word. I'm at it again.

Contemplating, pondering, deciding, worrying. You know....thinking. It's one of those things I don't do often, but boy howdy, when I do you'd better watch out! Somebody could get hurt.

I'm in one of those pickles of life (you know what a pickle is, don't ya? The in betweens..) and just trying to make decisions is making my brain hurt. Or perhaps explode. Not that it would matter anyway because at the moment it is pretty much mush. I need the contemplating, pondering, deciding and worrying to stop. In general, I just don't wanna have to think.

Just ask Monk, I'm not a good decision maker. I can't even decide between Ding Dongs and Twinkies most days, much less the Big Things of life. Okay, Ding Dongs. That was a bad example.

SEE!

So what am I contemplating, pondering, deciding and worrying about? Would you like the exhaustive list or just the highlights? Yea. That's what I thought.

1. This blog
2. Homeschooling
3. My hair color
4. The state of my house
5. My age
6. Deep spiritual thoughts and questions
7. Photoshop
8. The economy (not really, it just makes me sound sorta smart)
9. Computer time
10. Food in general and its affect on my Mommy Muffin

The whole blog thing has me in a dither because I keep wondering if I should keep it going. I absolutely LOVE to write and I intended for this to be an online journal for my children or grandchildren (Lord, help me) some day so they could see just what a crazy old lady I truly was/am/is/are.

Now, I wish I could say that there was some sort of collective air suckage out there that occurred upon the mention of me possibly giving up the whole blog adventure. But...I know better. Honestly, I could slip quietly away from blogdom and it really wouldn't matter a whole heck of a lot. If I were, say Boomama, there might be a small coup with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Quite possibly an intervention from President Obama, himself. Or Paula Deen. But me? Not so much.

But. (Have y'all ever heard the saying "Everything before the but(t) is bologna"?) Well.

I love to write. Plain and simple. It's my outlet and these days, trust me, I need (NEED!) an outlet. I just need to quit putting so much emphasis on what people are thinking. Stop trying to be validated through my blog, you know? If I feel compelled to share the story of breast milk squirting onto my computer screen and keyboard while nursing Charlotte (gives a whole new meaning to surfing the web, I assure you!), then I need to go with it. It's Who. I. Am.

It took a long time for me to be able to realize that it was okay to just be me on this blog. I looked around, saw what others were doing and tried to imitate it. Not me. Didn't work. Now I'm comfortable in my own skin (just wish it were size 8 skin), but I still worry about what others think or if I've offended someone or if my grammar is correct

( I really do worry about grammar, y'all. I am not making that up. And my grammar is off quite a bit. I truly don't know how I ever passed Mr. Farrah's 12th grade AP English class.)

Anyway, that's where I am. Did you get off the Bi-Polar Express at the last stop? Obviously not if you're still reading. You shoulda stopped at the title, I'm tellin' ya.

Look there, I didn't even cover numbers 2-6. Actually, #3 is being taken care of this morning. I've called Marinelle (Mary -Nell...isn't that adorable?) and she will be performing her Hair Coloring Genius on me at 10 am. Before y'all have even had your third cup of coffee. Pictures to come. (Do you suppose it to be a bad thing to get a cut and color on Friday the 13th??)

I guess I'll have to save the other Great Ponderings 'o Life for another post. Too bad, huh? ::snort!::

(Welp, technically I've touched on #9 because I'm up at midnight writing this thing!)

But for now? I blog.

Y'all have a great weekend!

'Nuf Said

2009-03-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

The Photographic One

2009-03-10T22:15:00.007-05:00

I would never want anyone to think that I prefer one child over another because I don't. Ever. Especially when one is throwing a screaming fit. Because I can assure you that I am the picture of patience when that is happening.

ahem.

However, when it comes to photogenic ability, my Grace really stands above the rest.

There is just something so pure and natural about her face and her expressions that it's a true joy to actually photograph her. I don't even tell her what to do most of the time. She just does what she does. And she do it well!

While on our little camping adventure I took advantage of the great scenery. I love old barns and houses anyway and this was my kind of place. Throw Grace in the mix and I so loved some of the pictures I came home with.

She was telling me a story and I just started snapping pictures.

We found this old chair back behind the little cabin house. A late 60's, early 70's discard, but oh, the personality it held.

While she naturally has some amazing blue eyes, if I could ever figure out how to use stupid Photoshop Elements I could really have some fun with her eyes. ::sigh:: Somebody help me grow a brain, please!! But I'm not bitter.

Unfortunately, Blogger (or my nincompoopishness) doesn't make the pictures as large as I would have liked. Her eyes are really stunning in this one, but you can't see them.

Ah. Love this pretty girl. Hopefully she'll never tire of me snapping beautiful pictures of her.