Motivation

I am trying to get motivated to clean a room upstairs, but it is just not happening. I think one of the reasons is that the children's rooms are up there and I'm not real excited about the potential for protests when I start pitching stuff. The other room I have to do is our everything room. It is an office/music/craft/storage/sewing room that sometimes doubles as a extra guestroom when we get the air mattress out. It is also the smallest bedroom in the house so you can imagine the cramped mess that awaits me. Maybe I'll start on JD's room. He actually keeps his room neat most of the time. Except for the rare occasion when he, as he puts it, swings around doing his monkey business.

In the mean time, for those family members who have not joined the Facebook cult, here is a picture of Rocky's very first (and hopefully last) wreck.

Today I am thankful that he is not hurt and for the flexibility of Georgia pine trees when they are still small. We are still waiting on the official damage report.

Easy Peezy

For my first room upstairs I picked something really easy, the guest room. Right now Rocky has it transformed into the sick cave because he has had a nasty cold. Normally it would look much better than the before shot seen here.

(note: the red and gold faux finish and fancy window valance came with the house)

There isn't a lot to this room. There is the bed, a couple of side tables, a rather ugly blue folding table, and an equally ugly but very comfortable blue chair in the corner that is unseen in this picture. Not a lot of thought went into this room when we moved in and not a lot has changed over the years. I got to thinking that the only way to really feel like this room had been redone was to move everything around.

Tada!

The whole room is now reversed. I am loving the way it looks, but I guess I need to have some house guests to know if it is really working the way I want it to. See the pretty covered table? That is the ugly blue table covered with a quilt that was placed backside up. I added a couple of framed pictures to it to make it look like a real piece of furniture. I'd like to get another small lamp to match the one I already have to go on the other table. In the meantime I used 3 pretty candle holders I had laying around. Ideally, I would have also get a new comfy chair with a floor lamp for reading next to it, a new comforter set, and a small decorative trash can. Dave Ramsey says I can only have the trash can and not so much decorative as cheap.

After a Compromise

The coat closet is finally done. It is one of the smaller spaces I have done, but I needed the most help with it. I decided that the coat closet was indeed for coats, but that if an item could be stored against the wall and not block the path from the door to the coats then it could stay. To help me determine what this applied to I rolled out my rarely used yoga mat. If it didn't touch the mat, it could stay. I have a small storage box where instruction manuals can live, one folding table and it's chairs and two t.v. trays. On one side I installed a 6 peg coat rack (Lowes $10- thank you Ginny!). It holds hats, scarves, and an old shoe bag that no holds gloves and winter hats. It is similar to an idea I found in the book as well as the blog of the author ( From Messed to Blessed). I just did it with what I already had around the house.

I need to follow up on a couple of undone tasks and then the inside of my downstairs will be finished. I have to clean the inside of my microwave, shred one more stack of papers, and empty my tiny box before I can call it really done. I also decided that hanging the coats on the chairs was working but also the only thing that still looked a little messy. Thanks to my friend Michelle I found a really pretty hanging coat rack at Hobby Lobby on sale for $7. It is going to be hung next to the door to the garage.
I really can not believe it has been a full month since my first project. I've had house guests, a party, sick kids, and a sick husband, and the crazy thing is the house is still clean! I could go make pictures of every area right now and aside from the slightly scary looking unshaven man laying on the couch and the unmade bed, it is perfect.

Valentine's Day

I am taking a brief moment away from cleaning to explain why I am not a fan of Valentine's Day. Did you know that not only is Valentine the patron saint of love, but also of the plague? I'm not making this up. I googled it.
Not one time in my entire school age years did I ever have a boyfriend on Valentine's Day. When you add in all the people getting countless deliveries to school (a practice I am firmly against) with general teenage angst you get a special kind of depression that tends to color one's outlook. My senior year in high school was especially bad because we had a really bad ice storm and my family ended up having to take in a relative that was a chain smoking, foul, and generally nasty person. No one in the house even realized it was the 14th until a couple of days later when we got to go back to work and school and the relative had left.
I can not go into too much detail about some of the worst ones I have had because they fall under my 10 year rule. I refuse to hold on to any anger, bad feelings, or resentment past 10 years. I try not to at all, but 10 years was sort of my "it is silly to still carry this around" point.
The highlights from those years would be Rocky standing me up for the better part of our first Valentine's (completely unintentional), the year he forgot and dug a deeper hole trying to make it better, and the picnic year- freezing cold, chased by geese, and getting lost to name a few of the things that went wrong. It hasn't all been on him though. I've had some serious stomach troubles go on that killed the day. JD had strep for a month and the doctor kept trying to tell me it was a stomach bug. After throwing up his lunch yet again they finally called to tell me the long culture came back positive and called in a prescription that he turned out to be allergic to. That was the second worst one because my kid was so sick. The all time worst for us was the year I was pregnant with JD and had been put on bed rest because of food poisoning. I was hurting, afraid that my baby was going to be born too early, my mother was there helping out but my father couldn't come so they were apart. We really spread the misery around that year.
Last year we went to help Rocky's parents move. To be totally clear, I did not mind that even a little. I was happy we could help them. Goodness knows they have helped us enough over the years. The only mistake we made was in trying to go out to eat that night any way. Rocky's mom set us up with dinner reservations and they watched the kids for us, which was really thoughtful. Sadly, after a long day of moving we were both so exhausted that I could not even guess at what we ate that night or if it was good. We couldn't even keep a conversation going, and if you know Rocky and me then you know that talking is never a problem for us.
This year we are skipping it. We'll get the kids a little something and maybe a card, but that is it. No presents, no flowers, and most of all no plans. Our anniversary is only a month away. I'd much rather spend the time and money on a day with real meaning and happy memories.
On a side note, I am also displeased with how having reservations that night just means you have reserved the right to wait on a table and how flowers that usually cost $15 suddenly cost $150. Getting flowers is my favorite thing, but paying Valentine prices for them sucks all the joy out of it. How are these things romantic?

Just Before

Today I am home from work with two slightly sick kids. They both have colds. They are both almost well, but not well enough to go to school. I thought this would make for the perfect day to finish my last area that I planned on cleaning before moving this job upstairs, and that is the coat closet. However, before I have even started I am at a loss for what to do. Although it is a coat closet it is located under my stairs and is fairly deep. The rack for hanging coats is at the back leaving all this floor space to store things, but if you do store things there you can not get to where your coats are and as such, they never get put away. I know that this is going to either be a coat closet or a storage closet, but it can no longer be both. My question is, which one should it be? Either way I am faced with finding new and creative places to put whatever is left out.


Take a look at the before


It actually hasn't been that long since this closet was cleaned out. In fact, I think my mother cleared it out last year while she was here helping me as I recovered from surgery. I know the kids have coats in there they have outgrown and there is really no telling what is in that box back there. I'm going to start by taking literally everything out of the closet. Maybe then I will have a clearer picture of what can go back in.
I'm open to ideas and suggestions here. Should a coat closet be just for coats, or do we need to start keeping them in our own closets and let the vacuum and folding tables live in here? Maybe there is a happy middle I have not yet considered. What do you think?

The Desk

The last area that I really wanted to finish before the weekend was the desk in my kitchen. It would complete all of the visible areas in the downstairs. This desk is the catch all spot to end all catch alls. Not only does the top get cluttered, but it also has 6 full drawers that quickly became junk drawers. No one needs 6 junk drawers! You can never find anything. This area usually gets cleaned about twice a year and involves me shoving everything on the desk top into a box to sort later, which of course never happens. The cabinets above the desk usually hold seasonal dishes and my medicine chest type things. I made the bold decision to repurpose this whole area. The medicine could stay, but the rest of the desk area will now be for school and homework supplies only. I managed to find space for everything that needed a new home and the whole job was rather painless.

For this one I had the forethought to leave the doors open.

Before

After

Now each of us has a file folder for mail and papers (super cheap from Ikea). The shredder sits under the desk so I can shred junk mail as it comes in instead of letting it pile up, and for the first time since we have lived here, I can fit a real chair at the desk and expect it to stay long term. This is a great homework spot because I can keep an eye on the worker, but they can not see the t.v.

I tossed a good amount of expired drugs and even a bottle of baby vitamins - my youngest is 5 now. I like to buy over the counter stuff generic which can make it hard to tell what it what. I took out a sharpie and wrote the brand names on there as well as expiration dates. The mystery is now gone.

This one comes with an extra picture because opposite the desk is our "new" coming and going area. The china cabinet use to be here. Now I have two chairs that we hang coats on, a basket for gloves and hats, reusable shopping bags, and a table for purses and bibles. We also made room for shoes, school bags, and anything I need to remember to take with me in the mornings. It makes getting out of the house a lot faster and certainly looks better than having everything piled in the floor.

Island of Despair

Having an island in a kitchen seems like such a wonderful idea. My kitchen is laid out perfectly for it's island. It manages to increase the work and cabinet space without being in the way. Sadly, that is where the good points end. Our island is a constant landing place for anything and everything. Check out the before picture.

Most of the stuff on there isn't even kitchen related. There are so many things to pick on here that it is hard to know where to start. I have 2 rolls of paper towels out but neither of them are on the paper towel holder. There is part of a loaf of bread that should have been thrown out last week, but wasn't because somehow the new loaf got placed on top of it. I think my favorite is the shampoo bottle mixed in among the dirty glasses. This is one that truly makes me hang my head in shame.

Well, not any more!

The real work in this room actually went on behind the closed doors. I wish I had shots with the cabinet doors open. I took the time to really think through the work I do in my kitchen and laid it out accordingly. I also scaled down on things. I have a whole big box full of extras and stuff I don't use. I've put it in the garage for a few months to make sure I really don't need 3 cheese grater (still don't know how or why I had 3), 12 dish towels, or any of the mystery lids.

My table cloth experiment in the dining room has paid off big time so I decided to try it on the bar as well. I used a table runner that I had found on clearance at Walmart, got another one of those gold chargers I had hanging around and that is now the place we keep fresh fruit like apples and bananas. It looks pretty, reminds people not to put stuff there, is easy to remove if I need the work space, and as an added bonus, we are eating more fresh fruit.

It has been a few days and it still looks great. People have even started putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher so as to not mess it up. Having family over this weekend is going to be the real test. If it is still even remotely clean on Monday I will be thrilled and amazed.

JD's Good Job

I sent JD upstairs this morning to pick up all of his dirty clothes. When he came down he said he had a surprise for me and that I needed to bring my camera. With a 5 year old you really never know what the word "surprise" means. This time it was a good surprise. He had picked up all his clothes and made his bed all by himself without being told. Since I have been making pictures for the rooms I clean he thought I needed to make a picture of his bed. Then he sweetly suggested that I could post it on my blog so everyone could see his good job. I quite agree. So, here is JD and his awesomely made up bed.

Kitchen Closet

Instead of just storing food and a few small appliances, my pantry had become more like a closet for junk that was vaguely kitchen related. I clean out my pantry on a fairly regular basis, but all it takes is one trip to the store for it to fall back into chaos. This time I got out my label maker and made tags for each shelf. I have a space labeled for breakfast foods, beverages (tea bags, lemonade mix, etc.), snacks, crackers, cooking supplies, mixes, and canned goods. On the top shelf that I have to strain to reach I put small appliances and extra paper towels. The floor has a couple of heavy things like the crock pot and the fire extinguisher.

Here is before:

One big problem I found in there was that of empty boxes. There was no way for me to know that we were out of "x" because the box was still in there. So I took out everything that was individually wrapped and placed them in a ice cube bucket (the kind that comes with your frig for no good reason). For the snack section I used a plastic box from Dollar Tree that is about the size of a shoe box. Now I know when things are empty and boxes are not taking up so much space.

And now for the after:

The last thing I did in there was to mop the floor. I didn't want to haul out a whole mop bucket and mop for this tiny area so I snagged one of the kid's sand pales and did it by had with a sponge and some Murphy's Oil. I even got up a paint spot that came with the house. One cleaning tip that came in handy tonight was that a pencil eraser will get up scuff marks with very little effort. Just remember to do it before you mop or it will leave kind of a dull spot. It is a little sad that the cleanest spot on my whole kitchen floor is in the pantry, but hopefully that will be fixed tomorrow.

The Closet

I vacuumed the floor of my closet today! I didn't stop there. I got the cob webs out of the corners and even did the baseboards. Do closets usually have baseboards? It seemed odd to me.

I have got a ton of clothes to donate, which I am pretty excited about. The only real change I made in this room, aside from clearing it out, was to add in a small trash can so that when Rocky empties his pockets of tissues he can throw them away instead of letting them pile up on a shelf (ewww!). I also took out some worn out shoes that I don't wear any more which made room in my hanging shoe rack for things such as swimming suits. Now I don't have to try to cram them onto the self we have for socks and underwear.

Here is the before

And the after

I'm not sure pictures do this one justice.

This weekend I am tackling the kitchen. Nix's birthday is next Friday and I am trying to have the downstairs completely done by Saturday when we have family coming to celebrate. This may be a stretch because my parents will be spending the whole weekend here so I do have to get the upstairs in order, too. My plan is to send Rocky upstairs with the kids to tackle a basic clean upstairs while I rearrange the kitchen. If I can get the pantry done tomorrow, that will be a huge head start.

Mostly Finished Bathroom

First I must explain my before picture. Since I have yet to retrieve my first before shots from my laptop I took a new one right before starting work on the bathroom. Several things from the bedroom project got moved in as did the cleaners and the previously mentioned tiny box. So, do me a favor and keep in mind that this before really is much worse than my typical bathroom mess.

And now the almost after

It is counted as an almost after because I am done organizing and purging (3 trash bags this time), but the deep cleaning part has been put on hold. While using my shark steam cleaner, which I love, I managed to steam my hand. As I learned in 9th grade Principles of Technology class from Mr.Toy, steam burns worse than hot water. I'm fine, but my left thumb has been sidelined for a couple of days. Thank goodness I can type without my left thumb, right?

Most of the cleaning is done. I just have to finish the shower, tub, and toilet. After that I have promised myself a nice hot bath in my perfect bathroom.

I think the most dramatic part of this room is in the linen closet. Since I was able to move the sheets into the bedroom I opened up a lot of space in there. Combine that with throwing out the junk and things that didn't belong (like the bullets) and I have a ton of room.

The Weirdest Award

I knew that when I embarked on this cleaning journey that I was bound to come across a few weird things in odd places. Up until today the most out of place thing has been a DS game in a stack of papers under my bed. We still haven't figured that one completely out yet. However I have now been crowned the bestest mom ever for finding it.
Today while emptying out my linen closet in the master bathroom I found something that is sure to go down as the strangest most out of place item in the history of house cleaning. I know I am only a few rooms into this, but it can not get any weirder than this.

For those of you who are not familiar with firearms, those are bullets for a .22 caliber rifle. The really strange part is that I do not have a 22 in my house. Even if I did, I still can not imagine a reason for putting bullets in the back of a linen closet. I am pretty sure that this is a box I got when I first learned how to shoot. That dates them back to the mid 80's. I suppose I should find them a nice new home. Maybe somewhere with some woods where the bullets could run around and feel useful again.

Tiny Box

One of the steps in doing the cleaning I am doing is to have a "tiny box". It is a box to put tiny things into. As you are cleaning and organizing you run into all sorts of tiny things that have no home such as paper clips, safety pins, loose change, etc. You take those and put them in the tiny box and then sort them out in the end. All of your tinys now have a home and you know where to find them when you need them. You can stop buying bobby pins and rubber bands because chances are good that you already have more than you need.
My tiny box is about the size of a shoe box. My thinking was that if everything that went in there was tiny then how much room could you really need. Also, I'm great at keeping little things in special spots so they don't get lost. After 3 rooms I have found out that not only am I not as good as I thought, but that a bunch of tiny things take up a lot of room.
I wasn't feeling so hot today so I arranged to take today off instead of Friday. As I sat around doing nothing I began to feel guilty for not getting anything done. I think that is another delightful skill that comes with motherhood, guilt over being under the weather. So anyway, I decided I could sort my already full tiny box while sitting on the couch watching t.v. hoping to feel better. I really wish I had thought to make a picture of this box while it was still overflowing. I had no idea I had so many safety pins. I may never have to buy pencils again. I am still trying to figure out where all the screws came from, but on the bright side I also found all the screwdrivers needed to put them back in when I find out.

Dust Lions

Dust bunny is much to mild of a word for what I found living in the corners of my room. Dust lions seemed much more appropriate. I still can not believe the amount of stuff I pulled out from under my bed. A lot of it should have been thrown out awhile ago. Some of it was things I had been looking for and thought were lost for good. The truly scary thing I found under there was enough dust to choke a horse. I can not believe we have been sleeping on top of that all this time. We (I) have decided that nothing will be stored under our bed ever again and to that end I have tucked our bed skirt up so it no longer hides that area and we will not be tempted. It took me all week to purge this room of junk. I took out 2 full bags of trash, a packed box of things to go through later and possibly store and/or donate, and one table that we had books on. The books are now in our wardrobe where I also found room for all of our king sized sheets, storage space for candles, and I still have a couple of drawers I can put things in if need be. The wardrobe had been a mess of things and a bunch of sweaters I never wore because I forgot they were in there. They have been moved to my closet and all of the junk found a new home or was tossed.

I think the best way to handle my before and afters this time is to use pictures taken from the doorway of the room. I think you will notice some obvious changes right away.

One cute tip I picked up from the book that was helpful in this room is to take a pillow case from your sheet set and store the rest of the set inside. This keeps pillowcases from wandering of, fitted sheets from magically unfolding, and in general keeps things neater.

Below you will find a picture I just took tonight of my den and dining rooms. It has been a full week since I transformed both these rooms and as you can see, it is staying clean.

p.s. I have red flannel snowflake sheets because Target put them on sale for $15 in king size and this was the only print they had left. I don't care how badly they clash with everything I own. They are really comfortable and they were cheap. You can not pass that combination up.

Snow Day!

My friend Tiffany just posted memories of snow days and it took me back to living at the merge of Manley, Duncan, and Reynolds drive hills.
Growing up, my house sat on the corner of the two steepest hills in West Tennessee, and just down from a third. They may have been the only 3 hills in West Tenn. This was great for two things, 1. riding bikes and 2. sledding. It was also good for wrecking both. Everyone from my neighborhood has a story about a wreck they had on those hills. Most of the stories involve trips to the ER. Yes, this includes super cautious me. Although mine did not require medical treatment, I do still have tiny scars.
One year after the perfect snow for sledding we were taking turns riding down the smaller hill next to the house. I guess it was my brother's turn for a trip to the doctor that day because he hit the end of the cove just right and went flying.
My parents took him in to get x-rayed because his wrist was looking pretty nasty. After a few minutes the doctor comes back in and says they need to x-ray the other arm as well. This made no sense because his other arm was fine. Then the doctor explained that Matt's wrist was bent and they didn't think a sledding accident could do that and they wanted to check to see if the other arm matched. It did, and he was sent home. If I had a dollar for every time a doctor has said to one of my family members "We've never run across this before" I could...well, pay all the doctors bills that come after that statement.
I never had a sledding wreck, but only because I was too scared to go fast. It must be genetic because Nikki is the exact same way.

The Wrench in the Plan

Any time you start on a big project you can just about count on something going wrong that aims to derail you. In addition to my cleaning project we are working on making this the year we become debt free. Both of these projects have gotten off to a pretty good start. I have started on my most challenging room to date, the master bedroom. Between the amount of stuff to be purged and work starting back it may take the rest of the week to finish. I am planning the biggest change yet in this room and am very excited to see the before and after. This is where the wrench comes in. The monitor on my laptop seems to have stopped working right. All of my before images are now trapped along with a fair number of family photos. Thankfully I backed up everything in November, but a lot happens in December and I am slightly paniced that we won't recover it all.
In the past we probably would have spent every last dime we had saved to get a new laptop, but that is not in the debt free plan. We do have a working desktop now so I am not totally in the desert, but it will take time to make it my primary computer. Rocky says there is a $5 adapter that will help get my photos back but until we find one I won't have any before to share.
I should probably stop pouting over my computer and get back to work so I will have an "after" to show.

Getting Excited

I was worn out yesterday. It took most of the day to "convert" my den. Every minute was well worth it, but I was wondering if I would have the drive to carry on. Today I had scheduled my dining area. I thought it would be easy. There is a rug, table, and four chairs. There is not a lot of room for change. WRONG! True that it did not take as long as the den, but I think the change is more exciting. In an effort to keep junk off the table I put a table cloth on it. I'll let you know how that works out. Then to discourage junk on the counter I laid out three gold chargers I had hiding in a cabinet. My one big problem was a tall chair I have next to the stairs that has become a spot to dump coats. I'm not a big fan of coat racks so I am actually okay with having a coat chair I just don't want it in the dining area, but where to put it. In a stroke of brilliance I decided to move my china cabinet into the dining area (duh!). It is curio sized and shockingly fits like a glove in the tiny space I had available. This leaves the area where the cabinet was (by the back door) open for both of my tall chairs. The one new rule I did make was that each family member is only allowed one coat on the chairs at a time.

I'm not sure if the changes I made here are going to work long term or not, but for now I feel like I am living in a house set up for an open house. Just looking at it I feel lighter.

Another thing I am noticing is that our furniture seems to go together better now. Our furniture varies from stuff we bought as newly weds, to hand me downs, to a couple of newer pieces I actually like :). I've never felt like our home was decorated, but it is looking more like it each day.

This before is not that bad

But the after is AWESOME!

Here is a look at both rooms as seen from walking in the front door.

Start at the Very Begining

The first step of the new cleaning plan I am trying is to let your house get good and messy. I was able to skip this step. We just got back from traveling for Christmas and came home to 4 house guests. So, with new stuff in the house, suitcases out, and about a week of 8 people living here, I thought the first step had been reached. In all honesty I actually cleaned a little during this step because I wanted to take the Christmas tree down before I started.

The next step is to start a journal of your mess. We are going to give this system a fair shake on the main floor of our home before trying to convert the children so I have only done half the house. To start you make pictures of your mess. This is to give you a great "before" shot and also because it is easier to see the mess you step over everyday when you look at it in a picture.

The next step is to describe the mess. This was a bit painful.

Now you write down your excuse for each problem. The inner child in me was great at this step. A lot of blame got passed around.

Now comes the time for the 100 year clean. It is like a 100 year flood, but with a mop and vacuum. I started in my den and performed a cleaning so profound that the neighbors might have wondered if we were trying to sell the house. After that was done I was able to think through the next few steps to make the necessary changes to the room.

Tonight I am very pleased with myself. My first room was a great success to this point. If it still looks even half this good next week I will call it a win.

The Family Room before

Drum roll please...

the after!

The area under the jumbo tron has been completely reworked so that a lot of the mess now has a neat home there. I have also managed to hide a good sized toy box in this room. I removed 2 side tables that were serving no purpose other than to be a flat surface to hold random junk. No table, no where for stuff to sit. Genius! It is a little on the minimalist side, but if it stays clean, who cares? One big win already is that I vacuumed the drapes and found about an inch of dust in my vacuum when I finished. We are no longer breathing that in.

Oh Really?

As kind of a joke way of being helpful, my mother gave me a book for Christmas called "The House That Cleans Itself". As anyone who has been to my house for a planned visit can tell you, I keep a tidy house. As anyone who has dropped in unannounced can tell you I am great at hiding things, panic cleaning, and could win awards for my messiness. Basically, my house lives a double life, the one we let people see and the one we try to hide at all costs. I don't mind if people know I keep a little clutter, but in the back of my mind I do worry a little that the health board would get called if people saw my real housekeeping habits. For someone who isn't a hoarder and doesn't tend to shop a lot, I have a lot of mess.
I got to thinking that if Rocky can go on a diet for New Years I could try to fix some of my cleaning issues. In fact, I have realized that we are messy people in a lot of areas. We need to de-clutter our house, our budget, our diets, and our spiritual lives.
The book suggests setting a time goal of a couple of months and at the end of that have a party of some sort to help you have a goal in mind. I guess we could do that, but I thought using the blog to journal the whole thing might keep me more honest. After all, I am the queen of cleaning for a day. Don't believe me? Just look under my bed.

A Christmas Homecoming

I woke up this morning to the news that not only one, but two great men had died the day before. One of the men, Dr. Jackson Reeves had been in failing health for some time. Jackson was a bit of a kindred spirit. We had both grown up in the Methodist church, our families had left for the same reasons, and we still held on to a few of the teachings we were raised on even after leaving. He made me feel so welcome in this baptist church I now attend. He seemed to me to be looking forward to an eternal healing. It is for that reason I am finding it easier to be happy for Jackson in his passing. My heart goes out to his wife and family. He will be missed. I will miss him, but I think he was ready even if we weren't.
The second man we lost was the man I've been asking prayer for all week. Mr. Thomas Blue Sanderson, T. Blue to most, Santa to anyone who saw him. It has only been a moth since my kids were sitting in his lap talking of Christmas. When I first saw T Blue I thought he was a man who looked like Santa Claus. After I met him I realized that God had just made his outsides reflect the jolly, loving, and giving soul on the inside. At first I thought his passing at Christmas was profoundly sad, but then something my daughter said changed my mind. Nix said when I broke the news to her, "He can say Happy Birthday to Jesus in person this year." Although that statement might not be theologically sound it brought me back to that childlike view on death. It is full of hope with eyes on the eternal picture. There is no doubt that these deaths are sad and to be mourned, but both of these men got to meet the Lord today and they did it together. In that there is comfort. That is the promise we celebrate more than anything this Christmas season. So, in an odd way T Blue has, if for one last time, reminded us all about the real meaning of Christmas. I am blessed to have known them and even more blessed to be able to say I will see them again.

Bounderies

I was struck today by the lines people draw for themselves. Specifically I mean where people place lines between good and bad. Many have mental lines when it comes to their weight. You have the weight you'd like to be, the weight you are, and the number that wakes you up and tells you it is time for a change. I have heard people say things like, "Even at my heaviest I've never weighed X amount". In their mind, that number crosses the line between a little heavy and "fat".
I started thinking about this while listening to an interview of Whitney Houston. She had a line in her mind that smoking a little weed wasn't too bad. Even when she started in with cocaine she was very specific to draw the line between the expensive cocaine she was using and street crack. She seemed perversely proud that she didn't drink while getting high, that she wasn't strung out on meth or heroine. She stayed while her husband called her names, cursed at her, and even spit on her, but was careful to let you know that she would not have stood for him hitting her. That was her line and he knew it. It just amazed me how clear her lines where and how very different they were from my own.
Houston seems to have lived a lot of her life standing as close to her lines as she possibly could. It brought to mind a sermon I heard Scott (our youth minister) give. He pointed out that it is a lot harder to fall off a cliff when you are standing a mile away from it than it is when you spend all your time on the edge.
I don't think I'm standing on any edges at the moment, but I do think I need to take a minute and take a few steps back on one or two things.

Maybe I Need a Lawyer

In recent days it would be difficult not to know what is going on in Tiger Woods' personal life. Every time I turn on the news or the radio or even pull up a news website, his name is in the top headline. I haven't really paid much attention to it all, but I did see a story today that gave me pause. It said that 11 women have now been identified that he has had an affair with. When you read further you find out that all but one or two of these women say they have never had a relationship with him. I couldn't help but notice that their "official statements" were being issued from people such as Gloria Allred, a lawyer known for taking on cases like these. This got me to thinking of all the times I have had to hire a lawyer to explain my own perfectly innocent behavior. That would be never. I have yet to feel the need to hire even a publicist. Maybe I'm going about life all wrong. Think of all the people I haven't had a relationship with. Maybe I need to make a statement.
For the record, I have never been friends with Kate Gosselin, I have never been to church with Tom Cruise (but I'm pretty sure Rocky has), and I have never even shared so much as a meal with Tiger Woods.
This is one of those times where you really see why the Bible warns about even having the appearance of evil.

Fruit Salad Kids Will Eat

Tonight as I was mixing up fruit salad for Thanksgiving I was remembering how much I loved it as a kid. It really was my favorite dish. Now that I make it myself the mystery is gone, but the kids love it. I thought in honor of the holiday I would share the secret to making this fruit salad.
I'll start with the grocery shopping as it is an important part of getting the kids to eat it. First buy a box of orange jello, the kind you actually have to add water to not the pre-made stuff your kids beg for. Now comes the fruit. Get a short can of crushed pineapple. The ones that look like old school tuna cans but with pineapple in them. Next is a medium can of mandarin oranges. Not the big can but also not the tiny can. It is the one in between. Pick up a bag of miniature marshmallows. Don't buy them more than a couple of days in advance or you will not have enough left by the time you make it. Head on over the the refrigerator section and pick up some cottage cheese. It's the size just big enough to be a tub but not so big that you need a long handled spoon to get it all out. Last you'll need two tubs of Cool Whip. Actually the recipe only calls for 1, but we all know that one tub will magically disappear as soon as your husband knows it is in the house.
The night before you want to eat this and after the kids go to bed, get out a big plastic bowl with a lid. Drain your pineapple and oranges and dump them in the bowl. Next goes the cottage cheese. It is very important not to let any children or child like adults see this step as they are usually terrified of cottage cheese, or maybe that is just my house. Yell at your husband for eating the Cool Whip you had thawed out for this and then grab the still partly frozen tub you had hidden behind the vegetables in the bottom drawer of the frig. Fold it in. Now add a fist full of marshmallows in, or how ever many it takes for your kids to notice them before they see other ingredients. The last step is to open the orange jello mix and sprinkle in around a half of the packet. After stirring you want a peachy color and slight orange smell without it becoming a full "Oh, Tang!" kind of a thing.
The next day the kids will blissfully eat it up without a clue of what is hidden in it's fluffy folds. You can sit back and smile at what you have tricked them into eating. That is, right up to the point that you realize that the unhealthy ingredients greatly out weight the healthy, but at least you can still say that they ate fruit salad.

Finding THE Truth

JD is asking questions. Big questions. He wants to know when the world is going to end and if he will go to Heaven when it does. The one that threw me a bit was, "How will I find you when I get to Heaven?" Even though Nix was a little younger when she started on this path, she some how seemed older. I didn't have any doubt that Nix knew what she was doing when she prayed to accept Christ. I was there, I felt... well for lack of better words, the movement of the Spirit. I was almost as sure of her salvation as I am of my own. Certainly as sure as one can be about another's faith. I guess I am searching for that same assurance with JD.
At some point everyone reaches that all important age of accountability. It's the point in your life when you know there is a choice to be made. You can either follow the path of God or follow the path of man. I put it that way because when you say the choice is right or wrong, good or evil, it makes it seem like a no brainer, and it's not that easy. Rocky likes to say that a choice is not a choice without two seemingly good options, and to many the ways of the world look pretty good. In the short run it is certainly the best looking on the surface. In the long run you spend eternity learning why it was wrong.
As I remember it, coming to an understanding about God, Life, the Universe, and Everything, hit me like a bolt of lightening. It was like I had just finished a puzzle and saw the whole picture for the first time. At that moment, I understood, I was ashamed, I was grateful, and I wanted to do whatever I needed to do to let God and the rest of the world know that I believed. My parents didn't push me, I pushed them. It seemed very similar with Nix. I want it to work that way for JD.
As a parent, no, as a Christian parent, my greatest fear is that my son will understand, but wait. He'll let something hold him back, or doubt what he is feeling. It is hard to have a fear like this and still restrain yourself from pushing, so I pray. I pray that JD will understand, that God will work in his life to make him a great Christian man, that I'll know and be sure, and that I will not turn into the Christian equivalent of a stage mom.

Dishwashers and Microwaves

I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I think that the dishwasher and the microwave are contributing to the obesity problem in this country. This thought came to me the other day when, in 30 minutes, I covered some very healthy strawberries in some very unhealthy chocolate. I started with washing the berries and ended with washing the dishes and still got it all done in 30 minutes thanks to the microwave. I even used two different kinds of chocolate.
For Halloween each year I make chocolate covered caramel apples. When I was a kid this was the type of thing you got once a year at the fair, twice if your family went to Gatlinburg. Can you imagine the time and mess involved in making such a treat before microwaves and the clean up before dishwashers? No wonder people didn't make these for themselves. Now all it takes is a corning ware dish, a microwave, and a dishwasher. I can knock those things out in minutes.
Later I got to thinking about all the things I make quickly and easily that a few years ago would have taken all day and messed up every pot in the kitchen. It would quickly become a dish not worth the trouble or best saved for special occasions.
What I'm realizing here is that if you take a treat normally reserved for once a year and invent something that allows you to make it easily once a month then it stands to reason that people will start to put on some extra weight unless they restrain themselves. I don't know if you've noticed, but our generation is not real big on restraint.

You Try Not to Laugh

I recently posted this great quote from Erma Bombeck:
"Laughter rises out of tragedy, when you need it the most, and rewards you for your courage."
One of the greatest things about Erma Bombeck's writing was how she had a knack for pointing out that we are not alone in our struggles or our victories, however small and odd they may be. Until I read that quote I really thought that my family was alone in the way we grieve, but I can tell that Mrs. Bombeck probably laughed at a funeral or two in her day as well.
I have often said that my family puts the "fun" in funeral. It's been on my mind a lot this week. I shared with you all Sunday that it was the 28th anniversary of my salvation, and many of you know that Friday will be the 28th anniversary of my grandfather's death and how those two went hand in hand. What you may not know, and what we don't talk about that much is why the family had to leave the room during visitation.
As you can imagine, the lose of the patriarch of any family is not easy. My grandfather was in his early 50's and a very kind and loving man. We were all very torn up. We were comforted by the idea that he had gone to be with our Lord and we would see him again, but that never completely takes away the need to grieve the lose of one in your life.
Many people came to pay their respects. There were friends, family, and work colleagues, but none exactly like my cousin's wife. She was young, and I guess it was her first funeral. She knew to wear black, she got that part right. However, a skin tight floor length cocktail dress was not exactly appropriate. When you combine that with her pale skin and long straight black hair, she looked just like Morticia Addams. She was even having to take tiny steps due to the tightness of the dress.
My poor dear saintly grandmother. She looked up and saw this sight and just about lost it. She quietly excused herself as did her children. We all gathered in a private family room and started laughing. You sort of feel guilty for laughing to the point of tears on such a sad occasion, but looking back I know it was truly a gift from God. That day would have been unbearable for all of us had that not happened. I think it says a lot that to this day what I remember most about the funeral was this rare moment of laughter.
Since then I have come to find out that laughter is not uncommon at funerals in my family. It is always unexpected, unplanned, and greatly appreciated. For my children's sake, I hope that trend continues.
So, as the date approaches, I am choosing to focus on the joy and laughter that my grandfather brought to my life. He took me on my first motorcycle ride, my first opossum hunt armed only with flashlights, and gave me that first glimpse at unconditional love as only a grandparent can.
If family reads this, I hope it doesn't make you sad. I know memories of this are probably a lot different from an adults point of view. I hope seeing it the way I remembered it bring back laughter and not tears.

Things I Wish I Didn't Know

Did you know that Northside Hospital has a special wing for pregnant woman they are trying to keep from having premature births? That is one I learned the hard way when JD tried to be born at 27 weeks.
Did you know that there is a section where all the mothers have doves on their doors instead of storks? A friend learned that one when her son passed away shortly after birth. I'd give anything not to know that one.
Did you know that there is an organization made of photographers who volunteer to take photographs for families who have just lost a child? It is called Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep and because Key Photography volunteers for them, now I do too. This is a round about way to tell you that I had a rough day at work today. Normally I am invited into happy and joyful moments of people's lives, but today I was asked to look into the most tragic moment of a family and it broke my heart. I am glad that I am able to be a small part of something that will hopefully help a grieving family and equally glad that I didn't have to go with Keith while he sat with the family.
I pray that none of you are ever in need of this service and that God will comfort each and every family that does use it.

Truth in Advertising

A couple of years ago Dove started up the Campaign for Real Beauty and released this video.

You may have already seen it. Basically it shows as they take a nice, but semi-ordinary looking woman and you watch as she envovles into a model through makeup and computer manipulations. The point is to remind you that supermodels don't wake up looking like you see them on magazine covers. I recently had my own evolution day. By now you have probably seen my pictures on Facebook, but there is one image that you haven't seen yet. It's the "before" shot. Although I treasure each and every comment I got on my images, I realized that I wouldn't feel true until I also posted this one. There is only one that I really used the reshaping program on and I think it was pretty clear which one, it didn't look like me anymore.. EVERYONE can get results like these with the right photographer (thanks Keith!), makeup artist (seriously Paula, awesome work), and retoucher (even if I do say so myself).

Rocky said something wonderfully sweet about the whole thing. He said the "after" is how he always sees me. This gave me a new perspective on my job. I'm not taking away wrinkles or covering up who you are. I am making your portrait look the way the people who love you see you every day. That is a pretty cool job to have.

I think that the magazines have gone too far. You can make someone look good, even great, without shaping them into a different person. I kind of feel sorry for girls like Kelly Clarkson, who is such a beautiful woman, but over and over again they take her image and fit it into the mold of the shape they think she should be. The industry as a whole is really pushing that whole "truth in advertising".

What is a Czar?

Czar [zahr] noun - any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field: a czar of industry.
Lately I have been hearing this word pop up in news reports over and over again. In my mind, I relate czars with Russian rulers, and not in a favorable way. So, when I repeatedly heard names of people who are being appointed as "White House Czars" I became curious. I found a Wall Street Journal article that was very informative on the topic and thought I should share.
You might be wondering why this is important. Haven't all presidents had their "special advisers"? Well, yes and no. Although many presidents have had one or two people that could fall into the "czar" category, this administration has named an unprecedented number that is now in excess of 30. That is a pretty big number. What makes this troubling, and why we should all care regardless of our political leanings is that there is no official screening process for any of these positions. It is simply a way to circumvent the checks and balances that Congress provides. All that is required to get one of these high level advisor positions is for the president to give them the nod. Then before you know it, this person who has not been approved by anyone other than the president, is telling cabinet members what to do and heavily influencing policy.
One would assume that background checks, or at the very least a simple Google search would be done before any one was offered such an important job, but you know what they say happens when you assume. We need to all be asking ourselves if the White House staff or even the president knew that they were appointing a one time member of the Socialist International's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, a group that wants wealthy countries (such as ours) to shrink their economy in an effort to reduce the effects of climate change. Don't we have a shrinking economy now? search Carol Browner: Energy and Environmental Czar. Or, how about the one that wanted animals to have legal right so that they can sue people and ban hunting? search Cass Sunstein: Regulatory Czar. Then there is my personal favorite, the guy who supported compulsory sterilizations and mandated abortions as the way to provide a higher quality of life (think China's 1 child rule) search John Holdren: Science Czar.
The most recent and certainly the most entertaining of the czars is a man named Van Jones, the Green Jobs Czar. He is openly communist, thought 9/11 was an inside job, blames white people for sending poison into the black communities, and was the great mind that told us all that even though young black kids might go to school and shoot another back kid, only white suburban kids shoot up the whole school. He went from crazy rantings to top level official without anyone noticing, or at least not caring, what his personal agenda might be.
I wonder what is in the background of the other 27+ people currently serving as czars, and you should be wondering, too.

Permanently Temporary

Don't tell my kids, but last week while they were at school I cleaned out the toy boxes. I pulled out an assortment of old kid's meal toys, which will soon has a new home in the preschool treasure boxes. There were a few things they had outgrown that got boxed up for the next yard sale. Mostly I just sorted things putting them in the proper place. I couldn't help but think of the line from Toy Story 2 were Woody is reminding the other toys that while he is gone the toys at the bottom of the box need to be rotated. My plan worked beautifully. The kids have been playing with different toys all week, and have yet to notice the box full of things I pulled out.
While I was cleaning up I noticed a magna-doodle that still had a drawing on it that JD had done over a month ago. He was so proud of this drawing that he told me to never erase it. He added "EVER!" just to be sure I got the message. The whole point of a magna-doodle is to be able to draw a picture and then erase it to draw something new. It is always changing. In one overly emotional moment it seemed to me that my children have been avoiding playing with this toy to keep from erasing part of their childhood.
While we were school supply shopping we got an extra notebook for JD to draw in so he doesn't have to worry about things getting erased. He calls it his "facebook" because it is the book he draws faces in.

Through JD's Eyes

Everyday when I get the kids at the bus stop they start to compete to see who can tell me about their day first. This results in a loud stream of stories, of which I usually understand about half. One day all I heard was JD saying, " And then we found my teacher and I wasn't lost anymore." In usual JD style, he was following behind a girl that turned out to be in a different class, but the mix up was discovered quickly. He ended with, "But I didn't cry or anything."
Today both kids had the same thing on their minds, this year's first fire drill. It scared JD, but I couldn't help but laugh when he told me "the worst part", which was that they didn't even get to see the fire. That's my little pyro in training. Once I explained that drill meant that it was just practice and not a real fire, he was noticeably disappointed.
To round out our full day of funny, I caught JD carrying a really large stack of napkins (about half a bags worth). When I asked him what he was doing, and after the usual innocent "nothing" reply, he fessed up to trying to open the microwave and the thought the napkins would give him the boost he needed to get onto the counter. Half of me is glad I stopped him in time, and the other half would really like to have been there when he stepped up on that stack.

Too Comfortable

There was a story on the news today about how the feds are now considering a move to ban texting while driving. I personally can not imagine trying to text and drive, but I find it hard to believe that we really need the "all mighty" federal government to tell us it is dangerous. I do talk on the phone while I drive, but I'm starting to have second thoughts about that. I worry about letting myself get distracted while driving.

I'm afraid that in an effort to make cars more family friendly and provide every possible comfort, the car companies have actually made us too comfortable in what is basically a moving weapon. We moms live to some existent in our vehicles. We eat in there, we spend a great deal of time with our children in there, and yes we even talk on the phone, all while trying to drive. I even know a few moms, who shall remain nameless, who do their hair and makeup while driving. I think that the comfort and familiarity makes us too relaxed. There was a female comedian who once declared that drunk drivers are better than drivers who are eating because at least the drunks are trying to drive. She was trying to be funny, but she makes a good point. People like me, who would never even think about driving drunk, wouldn't think twice about eating lunch while in route to the ball field. How different are the two, really? Studies are saying that being on the phone or eating while driving impairs your ability to drive safely just as much as a couple of beers. That is a shock to me, and makes me think twice about some of my car habits.
While I am on the subject of car safety, I'd like to pass on a little tip. When you are backing up your car, especially from a driveway in a neighborhood, consider rolling down your window to allow you to hear everything that is going on around you as you move. This will help you to be more aware of possible dangers such as a dog off it's leash or a neighborhood game of hide and go seek that could have made it's way behind your car and out of the sight of your mirrors.
Dive Safely!

Fear and God

This afternoon we passed a pet store that was having a pet adoption day and for a change they we showing kittens instead of puppies. From the car (because I know better than to actually stop) the children were oohing and aahing over the cute little fuzzy kittens. Nix started wishing that Rocky wasn't allergic to cats and that her mamaw (my mom) was not afraid of cats. I should probably mention that although she is slightly better now than when I was a kid, my mother is terrified of cats, but has no idea why. They make her skin crawl as if it were a snake. Oddly enough, snakes don't bother her. She would stand in a pile of full grown pythons before she would touch a kitten. Anyway, JD pipes up and says, "We could pray that God makes Dad not allergic and Mamaw not afraid, and then we could get a kitten." Tonight, much to my surprise, he followed up that thought during nightly prayers by praying for those exact things. I have to admit, I am pretty curious to see if it is indeed in God's vast eternal plan to cure my mother of a life long fear.
Another fear came up today that I was not expecting. As I was tucking JD in I sang him a song called "Hush My Dear". It's a beautiful song about God being with us and protecting us while we sleep. JD seemed to have something heavy on his mind. He asked me how would he be able to find me in Heaven after we all die and then he burst into tears. We had a nice talk about Heaven and angels, and I had to assure him that I would meet him at the gate. I'm trying not to go all Freud on this, he may in fact be concerned about how Heaven works, but he is also about to start kindergarten as well as move to a different part of the church for Sunday School. I'm wondering if he is feeling insecure heading into new places and he chose the ultimate unknown to voice his fears.
The night ended with me praying with him for understanding and security. I am curious to see how much of this late night talk will get carried over to the morning. It could be a really fun day for his Sunday School teachers.

Bragging and Nagging

I have noticed that on more than one occasion Rocky's business trips have dissolved into a bad John Candy movie. I thought we had escaped that trend with this latest trip to Jacksonville. Both his fights were smooth and on time, no luggage was lost, or trains missed. He didn't even get sick this time. He called me when he landed in Atlanta and said he would call me again when he got to his car. After a pretty good length of time he called me back and told me there was a problem. His car keys were missing. He thinks they got left in the security tub in Florida. I need to drive down to the airport to take him his spare set. Did I mention it was 9 at night and the airport is an hour away, oh and that the city of Atlanta stands between me and the airport? Thankfully my parents had stayed the week with us, so we decided to just all pile in their van and head out (yes, that is my parents, both kids, and me). I have only been to the airport a couple of times and even then it was daylight. Dad drove. Even he got a little unnerved navigating the 14 lanes of Atlanta traffic in the dark when we weren't 100% sure where we were going. When we got there it was so crammed with cars that we practically had to toss the keys out the window to him. Two hours and almost 100 miles later, we were all home safe and sound.
Now that I have told the bad on him, I must follow up with the good. Rocky went to Jacksonville to argue a case against Countrywide and try to make them buy back bad loans that they made. They presented 17 loans, 9 were won on the spot, 5 were sent back for further review (at least 3 of those should be wins), and he only lost 3. To put it in perspective, people usually only win about 3. In 2 days he won his client just over $7 million. Needless to say, they were happy. Now if he could just get a bonus of a 1/2 of 1% of what he has won... ah, if only!
Just to be clear, Rocky is the mortgage insurance company's expert witness in the informal meetings against mortgage companies. If the cases go to court he will have to testify, but it is in the mortgage company's best interest not to let it get that far.

My Closet's Closet

The house we live in was once the model home for this neighborhood and as such it comes with more than a few quirks. For example, we have a glass pane door to our garage instead of the usual solid door, also to run lines for our t.v. we had to go to the attic and through the upstairs linen closet. Perhaps the oddest thing about our house is the closet within a closet in the master bedroom. We have yet to figure out what the room was originally used for but the mass of wires hanging from the top seems to indicate it was some sort of electrical storage room. My closet is not huge, but it is a good sized master closet. In the back corner there is a very wide slatted door that opens to a smaller unfinished space. When I say unfinished, I mean only two sides even have dry wall and even that has construction notes hand written on it. it looks like they meant to take a sledge hammer to it and finish out the rest of the closet like normal when the office folks vacated, but I guess they forgot. For the several years I have gone back and forth as to what to do about this closet within a closet. This week I have finally organized it. I put in a large set of plastic utility shelves. Now I can fit all my luggage and a good bit of random junk in there as well as my vacuum cleaner and even my bathroom cleaning supplies that I have been dying to get out of my linen closet.
I do have one tiny confession to make. While I was cleaning it out I noticed that there was a bag in the very bottom. In the winter "Santa" tends to store stuff in there and it seems that a couple of years ago one sack got left behind. It was a very cute flower picture frame for Nix, which I am trying to decide if I should just give it to her lest I forget again. JD took the box for the shelves and turned it into a club house

Brain Overload

For the first time in years, our vacation to Jackson had corresponded with my uncle's visit as well. JD has never really met his Great Uncle Lee and Great Aunt Cathy, so he has been very excited to get to know them. Today we were discussing with him different ways we were all related to Lee. We explained that he was my uncle, my mother's brother, and that Cathy is his wife. It was at this point that JD made a noise something like an explosion and exclaimed, "My head just exploded!" I honestly have no idea where he comes up with these things.
After we calmed down from laughing my mother insisted that I must blog about this. JD piped up again and said "But how do you spell { insert exploding noise}?" Obviously, I have not figured out how to best spell it. You will have to use your imagination.

My Super Power

Although I do not know anyone that can fly or has super human strength, I do know of a few people that have an unusual ability rarely seen. Take, for example, our friend Jim, every time he orders a milkshake at a restaurant their shake machine is broken. I know everyone has had this happen a time or two, but Jim has not had a drive-thru milkshake in going on 15 years or better. He has given up trying to order them. He has even had one breakdown just after the person in line in front of him got their shake.

I had a friend in high school that repelled technology. She could sit down at a computer, not touch anything, and it would start having issues. I was beginning to think she had one of those weird magnetic fields surrounding her. I can just imagine her trying to use one of those self check lines at Kroger. The last time I talked with her the power was wearing off and she was even able to finally send out emails.

My personal super power involves animals. If I ever draw attention to an animal then inevitably the animal picks that exact moment to relieve itself. It has gotten to be a running joke in the family, especially on car trips. Again, I know that this is just something that happens, but with me it is about 9 out of every 10 times. Today's trip to the zoo was no exception. At one point my father told me to stop pointing out animals because he would like to see one that wasn't pooping. The farm exhibit was especially bad. The worst by far was the chimp that took the time to climb a rope over to where I was standing and drop poo right in front of me. Even while we were watching hummingbirds at my parent's feeders this morning I actually saw two different hummingbirds leave droppings. On the bright side, seeing a tiny bird squirt tiny poop tickled Jack to no end. Rocky says they should rent me out to zoos as a natural laxative. All things considered, I think reading minds would be much more fun.

notice the panda poo- that was all me :)

Old Navy Coupon

A few weeks ago I was able to score an Old Navy Coupon for $75 off a $100 purchase. Nix and I had some great mother/daughter time and left with awesome clothes. This week Old Navy Weekly will be having a coupon worth $65 off $100. The trick is, you'll have to be on their site within about 5 minutes of them loading it and then be lucky enough to click on the right hidden spot to find the coupons.

OR

You can got to this lovely blog http://tinyurl.com/nhmjja Who will be randomly giving some away to readers. You get to enter once because you love Old Navy, another time for facebooking it, a 3rd for twittering, and 4th for blogging about it... all in all there are 6 ways to enter you name into this contest, so head on over and comment to her before the 4th.

You Tube'n

Somehow I have ended up with several different circles of online friends. I have local friends, high school friends, family friends, and a few blogger friends I have never actually met in person. From time to time someone from one of these groups will send me a video from You Tube that is hyesterical, but then I quickly forget which circle of friends has seen it and which hasn't so I end up not posting it at all. So, today, I will be posting some of the videos I have been sent that are too good not to pass along. If you have seen one, or were the one who sent them, enjoy this little trip down memory lane.
From the blogging friends: Interestingly enough, I found this one on the recommendation of a group of women who were all Asian.(watch to find out why that is funny) Click here for direct link


From family: This one comes thanks to my sister-in-law after spending some time around college kids. It is an actual music video from India with subtitles of the words it sounds like they are saying. This one is not good to watch with children who can read. If the player isn't working click here


From high school friends: My hip hop rap loving friend who also happens to be a short (very) white woman who lives in South Florida now with her husband and son.
I'm sorry to say, it won't let me embed this one so you'll have to follow the link. It is the Soulja Boy set to clips of Winnie the Pooh.
click here

From my local friend Mendy (and especially for my friends from WBBJ who worked on many a local commercial with me): Here is the link for this one

The Uncle Theory

My mother and her sister both married men named Bill. This means that regardless of which of the three siblings you are an offspring of, you have at least 1 Uncle Bill, which prompted my brother Matt to declare one day that, "everyone has an Uncle Bill". I got curious and began asking around. As it turns out, most people I know of my generation have either an Uncle Bill (or William) and/or an Uncle Bob (Robert, Bobby etc.). Rocky had one of each, as did I, if you count great uncles in this. Most of the exceptions I have found are people that either do not have uncles, or their family is of a nationality that does not traditionally use names like William or Robert.
Recently I was scrolling through pictures on facebook and noticed a trend. It seems that several of my children's friends have an Uncle Matt. Even if it isn't an uncle, we know a lot of people with a Matt as a close family member. This has brought me to the conclusion that Matt is the new Bob/Bill.
I really don't think this cycle will be able to continue for my grandchildren. We are in that odd group of people who took to naming their children random surnames, a whole new breed of unisex names like Peyton, and trying to be creative with spellings. However, there are a lot of Jacobs out there, so maybe there is hope for the uncles of tomorrow. Oddly enough, according to the Social Security Administration, William and Matthew are both still in the top 10 baby names. Maybe that means that children will go on having Uncle Bills and Uncle Matts for generations to come. I know we have been blessed by ours and hope the trend continues.

Open Book Policy

I am trying really hard not to force my parenting style on others and I am having a hard time keeping my mouth shut about something. This is why having a blog is so awesome. I can post what I'm thinking, get it out of my system, and hopefully not blurt out personal opinions at the wrong moment.
When Nix was 8 she asked a question about something that lead into "the talk". Mostly I let her ask questions and answered them as honestly as possible, but we covered a lot of ground that day. Since then she has had other questions that she has brought to me and I have answered all of them. I've encouraged her to ask anything that comes to mind. I want her to be ready for the changes she will go through and the things that life will throw her way. What I didn't realize is that this is not what every mom does. To me, waiting on talking with your children about adult issues is like not teaching a kid to swing a bat until they have already been hit in the head with a baseball. If your children feel like you are shutting them out now, then when the time comes for them to share with you, they will shut you out.
This year in school they divided up the boys and girls for the nurse to talk to them about "health issues" in regards to puberty. Nix asked to be excused from the class because, as she put it, "I'd rather learn about these things from my mom than a school nurse in a room full of other girls. I trust my mom to tell me the truth." Yes, I did burst with pride that day. I may have even teared up a little.
To date Nix and I have covered some about sex, drugs, pregnancy, STDs, alcohol, smoking, swearing, modesty, puberty and all it's ugliness, self respect, molestation, and even a few topics about boys. In fact, just today we had talk about long term consequences for short term enjoyment. It was mostly about why huffing and the like are idiotic, but the lesson applies to a lot. My goal is to train her to ask me questions when she becomes curious about something. It helped me skip that dangerous experimental teenage phase, and I am hoping it will do the same for her.
Okay, it's out there. That is my parenting style. Others may differ and that's okay. They can be wrong. It's a free country :)

Pratice Make Perfect

Yesterday my children were being unusually good. They were playing quietly together. There was no yelling, or screaming, or noticeable fighting of any kind. Naturally this made me suspicious. They had to have been plotting something. So, I stop what I am doing and listen. They appeared to be doing nothing wrong, but that couldn't be right. Finally, I stopped them and asked what they were up to. "Nothing." Isn't that always the standard answer for trouble? I continued to pry. This is when Nix "confesses". She explained that they were just practicing being nice to each other. Her theory was that if they could try to be nice to each other a couple of days a week then maybe it would stick. I encouraged them and praised them for their efforts and waited until I was all the way out of the room before laughing. I don't know how they came up with this plan, but the past two days have been down right peaceful at my house.

Smooth Talker

To those of you who have daughters around the age of my son, let me just go ahead and apologize now. In our attempt to raise him as a well mannered sweet young man we have inadvertently created a tiny 5 year old player. Somehow he has caught on to things some grown men have not figured out yet. He knows how and when to compliment a lady of any age. On Sundays, he always make a point of telling me AND his sister that we look beautiful before we get in the car for church. I have heard him compliment other women and a few little girls when he thought they had dressed up or changed up the way they look, such as a new haircut. He has several of his sister's friends wrapped around his little finger and there is a 5 year age gap there! Sure it's all giggles and "he is so cute" now, but what about when he gets to be a teenager? What are we going to do with him then?

We had a few minutes with just the two of us yesterday and he was telling me that he was unsure of who he would grow up to marry because, "There are just so many cute girls out there." He also added that it was a shame that he couldn't just marry me. He was probably most disappointed by the news that Aunt Becca was off limits as well because she was already married to Uncle Bo.

He has already worked his magic on the girls at preschool. My personal favorite was Cate because when he introduced me to her, she pointed her finger at him and said, "You listen to me, when I'm a teenager, I am going to college." He had the great come back of, "When I'm 5, I am going to kindergarten." He has also been sweet on Catherine, Morgan, and Peyton, who he once referred to as "his wife".

We better get busy on the restraint and values talks with this one.

Memorial Day

Every year our church has a wonderful Memorial Day service. We have a bagpiper and drummer usher in the colors for each of the branches of the military. Regardless of how you feel about bagpipes, I promise watching that display will give you chills. Then my husband Rocky has the honor of playing Taps. By the time the service is over all of the women and most of the men have had to pull out a tissue. Being the sensitive girl she is, Nikki asked me why I was crying. I guess she was concerned that something had made me sad. I wrote her a little note that I would like to share today.

Memorial Day is a day to honor the people who have died serving our country in the military. On days like today I am reminded of the price some have paid for my freedom and for yours. I am so proud and honored to live in a country like ours, and humbled by people who very literally give their lives to insure that our freedom is sustained. I'm not crying from sadness. I am crying because I am so filled with emotions that they had to spill out and they do that is the form of tears.

It started all over again this morning when I heard part of a speech Ronald Reagan gave on the subject. He closed with the line, "Thanks you, and may God cradle you in His loving arms."

I hope you all enjoy this Memorial Day!

Our Star Trek Top 10

Top 10 things we wish old Spock had told young Spock.

10. Goatees make you look evil
9. I know Saavik is hot but there is a good chance she is your daughter, so hands off
8. While on Omicron Ceti III don't inhale
7. T'Pring is just not that into you
6. Save the whales
5. Tell Kirk if you appear dead and McCoy is acting logical, don't toss your body out the window
4. Let sleeping Khans lie
3. For a good time call Nurse Chapel
2. If Sulu invites you to his quarters, pass
1. Klingons + Tribbles = good fun

Please feel free to add your own, and yes I know I am a huge geek.

Too Rich or Too Thin

We have all heard it, and we have all probably even said it. You can never be too rich or too thin. It's not true, at least not anymore. Oddly enough the reason why goes with another famous saying. The only certainties in life are death and taxes. If you are too thin you could die and if you are too rich you get taxed right out of it.
It has been on my mind a lot this week. It started on Sunday with a lesson on Proverbs 30 where a man is actually praying not to be too rich because he fears it would lead to him turning away from God. It is certainly not a common prayer I'd bet.
Then there was a news story about a beauty pageant contestant in Australia that everyone is saying is too thin. "Her bones are showing", they gasp in horror. She maintains that she has never had an eating disorder, that she is full of energy, and that this is just normal for her. Still everyone scoffs, everyone but me that is. She is 19 years old, 5' 11", and 117 pounds. I ran the numbers and when I was her age, my height to weight ratio was actually lower than hers. To be perfectly honest, it still is. I have never had dilutions about my body. I know I'm thin, I know I have been too thin, but I also know that I am not too thin now. Too thin was the day at the height of my digestive problems when I stepped on the scale and it said 89. I cried that day- a lot. I was not healthy that day. Today, I am happy to say that I am at a healthy weight for me, and that is all any of us should ask for.
I think I have mentioned it before and I know it isn't popular, but think before you criticize someones weight, even us skinny folks. I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life. Just because I'm not trying to lose weight doesn't make my struggle any less real or my feelings any less fragile.