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Jun
21
It seems like months since I was here, online. I haven’t looked at my blog, haven’t checked my reader or email in several days. Part of me just didn’t want to come back. I’m so tired, my heart is just worn out.
I meant to just peek in here real quick; I just got home and am unpacking and trying to straighten out my life that I’ve had to neglect here. I had almost convinced myself that I shouldn’t even get online. I’m so glad I did.
I don’t have time to respond to the very kind comments right now, but I wanted to let you all know that your sweet, encouraging words brought tears to my eyes – even though I was sure I was all cried out. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and write and pray. It means so much, especially right now.
My head is still spinning from everything that’s happened in the past week. My dad is still in bad shape, but he did get to attend my uncle’s funeral. There was no way to keep him from that. I didn’t want to go to this funeral, but I got to see some family members that I hadn’t seen in decades, and I am grateful for that. Many people commented how sad it is that it takes a funeral to bring us together, and I agree. But life goes on.
It did my dad good to see his brothers and other relatives, but we all could see that his heart is broken over the death of his closest brother. This was completely unexpected; a routine procedure went terribly wrong. The doctors tried everything they could, but after awhile, my aunt said to stop. She wanted him to be at peace, even if that meant losing her husband and best friend.
It makes you wonder how it is possible for so many sad things to happen so quickly. I’m refusing to go down that road though. Doubt and anger and bitterness never lead anywhere good. Instead, I’m focusing on praying for my aunt, for my dad and mom, and for all my family. I’m telling my husband and kids stories about my dad and his brothers, remembering the good.
I need to get my house in order, and after more than a week of emotional turmoil, I am actually looking forward to mundane tasks like laundry and picking up after my sons. Since I’ve been on this necessary blogging break, my baby has turned 13, and in a few days, my oldest will turn 15. We’ve got some make-up celebrating to do here, and I need that even more than they do. I need to wrap myself in my life, in the people that I live with and love, and try to overcome the sadness that has surrounded me for the past several days. Because life does go on, and it is still good, so very good.
Slowly but surely I will get my email box cleaned out, and I will respond to your sweet comments. Slowly is the key word though. Life does go on and the world does keep turning, but I think it’s okay to slow it down a little. Too often I find myself fast forwarding through life, frantically trying to get things done and check them off my to-do list. I realized these past few days that life is not a to-do list that needs to be completed. It’s okay to just meander through sometimes, and accomplish nothing more than being. Just being is enough.
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Jun
11
This is one of those “how do I write this” kind of posts, but I feel like I should write something. I started this post three times already, floundering with each one. I wanted to write about my busy life, how I’m already behind and it’s just mid June. I wanted to apologize for being behind on blog reading and commenting. What I want to write about is anything except what needs to be said.
My dad is having some complications following what should have been a minor surgery, including blood clots. I’m not sure if any surgery is minor for a 77 year old with as many health issues as he has, though. This latest problem is serious enough that my mom asked us to come, so we’re going.
It’s easier for me to let myself get wrapped up in the chaos of my life than to let myself reflect on the seriousness of the things going on with my extended family. I’ve got problems, we all do, but mine aren’t life threatening. I can’t wrap my brain around “life threatening”, so I avoid thinking about it. I’m scared of going. I’m scared of seeing anyone I love in the hospital. I’m scared of seeing the people that I love afraid. I’m scared of seeing my parents scared, because that’s not how it’s supposed to be.
But it is. It’s how it always is. It’s the circle of life; they take care of us, then we take care of them. So I’ll push my fears back, and go where I don’t want to go. Face what I don’t want to face.
This is why it’s so hard to write about this. I feel selfish for writing about my feelings and my fears. This isn’t about me. My husband and I talk about how we’ve never lost a close a family member, meaning parents, siblings or children. Even the grandparents we have lost happened years ago, when we were children, so we can’t remember it well. We talk about how we’re “not ready” for death. Despite our talk, I know that no one is ever truly ready for that season of life when weddings and celebrations turn to funerals and grieving.
Pray for my dad, and for my mom. They are scared, and I know he has fallen deeper and deeper into depression these last few months. Pray for me, that I’ll find words that comfort and give hope. That I won’t be too afraid to be where I’m needed.
That I’ll have the courage to face the important things, and let the rest go.
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Jun
7
Both my boys have June birthdays, so we have celebrations on the brain around here. We don’t go crazy with parties, but we have had parties for them when they were younger, and they’ve gone to many summer birthday parties, too. When my kids were little, we would have a combined party for both of them, since they had the same friends. Now that they are older, we don’t usually do big parties, but instead we’ll let them pick one or two friends to do something with. I thought I’d share some of our favorite parties – some we hosted, some my kids attended. Here we go, counting down to number 1:
10. An art party. When my kids were younger, they were invited to an arts and crafts party by the sister of one of their buddies. This probably wouldn’t go over too well at their ages now, but for six and seven year olds, it was a huge success. This family set up card tables in their garage and had two simple crafts for each kid to work on. Even my not-so-artsy child enjoyed this party.
9. Gymnastics party. My sons were friends with some kids that took gymnastics, and they had a party at the local gymnastics school. They were about five years old, and the kids absolutely had a blast. This is probably pretty typical of any party at a business; they had the party room for presents and cake. But here the big attraction was the gymnastics rooms, with ropes to climb, foam pits to jump into and general rowdiness.
8. Party at the park. We did this several times as a combined party for both of them. This was years ago, but I’m pretty sure we were able to rent a covered eating area at local parks for around $20-$25 dollars for 2-3 hours. We did this as a potluck with extended family or just with cake for friends. This is one of the easiest, low maintenance parties we ever did. Which is a big deal for mom 
7. Party at the movie theatre. My kids have been to lots of these. Our local theatre has a couple party rooms for the cake and presents and an arcade. You can pay extra for a private movie viewing room, or just watch the movie in the regular theatre – the kids really don’t care.
6. Party at the drive-in movie theatre. We did this for our son a couple years ago; he chose two friends and we saw the Cars movie. It was a huge hit with the boys. I had forgotten how fun a drive-in is, and I loved it too.
5. Party at the amusement park. My son was invited to celebrate a friend’s birthday at a local amusement park. The birthday boy chose three friends to spend the evening riding the rides and eating the junk food. This was a small amusement park; I don’t know if I’d attempt this in one of the large mega parks. But I’m a chicken that way, lol.
4. Sleepover party. There are endless variations on this party theme. We were never content with the plain old sleepover, so we had to mix it up. That usually meant sleeping outside in our tent that we use for Boy Scout camping. Throw in smores, root beer floats, and late night flashlight tag outside in the dark, and the kids had a great time. These kinds of parties are my favorite, and it’s the kind that we did most often: inexpensive, easy, and a lot of fun.
3. A paintball party. This has become a recent favorite; we did this last year for Nolan. Something about shooting your friends with globs of paint and causing lovely welts and bruises – ?? I may not understand it, but they love it.
2. A swim party. We did this years ago as a combined party for both boys. A small town about twenty miles away would let you rent the public pool for several hours in the evening. We had called all over to price this party, and this small town pool was cheaper than any party option we checked into. Since it wasn’t at my house, we didn’t have to deal with clean up or space constrictions. We brought food and drinks and shared with the teenage lifeguards; they really made the party fun for the kids. The boys still talk about how great this party was. I’d have to agree.
And the #1 birthday party that we have ever had (drumroll):
Party in the backyard. Yes, it’s true. We would fill hundreds, maybe thousands (ok, that’s an exaggeration) of water balloons, fill up the kiddie pool, turn on the sprinkler and let them get soaked. We did this several times, starting when they were in preschool and on up, usually as a combined party. This does mean a lot of clean up for the parents, but it’s so easy to do. Sometimes we would have cake, sometimes a cookie cake, sometimes we’d do snack foods. The kids didn’t care about the food, they just loved the water play. These parties went on for hours, and my boys slept like a rock when it was over. I miss those backyard parties.
There you have it; our favorite birthday parties. Feel free to share yours in the comments – I can always use new ideas, especially for older kids.
This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday at ohamanda.
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Jun
3
You know those blogs that give you great advice on parenting and how to improve your family life? Um, that would not be this one, lol. I’m one that needs great advice!
School has been out for a week now, and I survived. Slightly more frazzled, but I survived. My kids have had friends over, had sleepovers and went to sleepovers at friends’ houses. They’ve been busy little social butterflies. And I’m glad for that, except for the fact that these butterflies need a driver (that would be me).
I have to laugh because my kids have both complained before about how much work school is, how hard it is. But now that school is out and they are playing all day, they’re so much more exhausted at the end of the day. It’s being outside, walking a lot, riding bikes, playing baseball and swimming. These guys are beat. Apparently playing is actually more exhausting than “working” at school.
My oldest spent most of yesterday at a friend’s house, came home for dinner and to clean up, then spent the night at another friends house. I picked him up this afternoon; of course, he was so tired he fell asleep in the car on the way home. All that playtime again. But then tonight after dinner he asked to go back over to his friends house. This friend lives close enough that he can walk back and forth, and he just wanted to go hang out for awhile since we weren’t doing anything.
We said no. He really didn’t understand that, because we weren’t doing anything. I was working, which is pretty much a constant; my husband was being a superhero and vacuuming up the massive amounts of dog hair we are collecting, and Nolan was tired from his own busy day of playing. So why didn’t we let him go?
My husband and I both said no without discussing it with each other first; No was just the initial gut response. I said no because I knew my son was tired and needed to get to bed early. I also like having them home; he’d been at friends’ houses for almost two days straight.
My husband said no on the principle that sometimes you just gotta say no He just couldn’t think of a good reason for our son to be out again tonight, after being gone all day yesterday and today. And he wanted Tanner to be rested tomorrow to help with the yard work.
After we said no, I started second guessing myself. It’s summer, for crying out loud! Aren’t they supposed to get to do things they can’t do during the school year? It’s not like he needed to wake up early the next day. I mentioned my second thoughts to my husband – also known as the man who NEVER second guesses himself. He just doesn’t do that, he makes his decision then it’s done. So he didn’t agree with my second guessing, but no surprise there.
I sometimes feel like we say no just to say it, because it seems like what we should be doing as parents. I do think we made the right call tonight, because he is tired, and like most kids, he’ll choose to have fun even if he’s exhausted.
How do you set limits during the summer? If it’s during the day, I rarely say no when they get invited somewhere or want to invite someone over. The main reason: because I cannot be the entertainment committee (that is my summertime mantra). I can’t arrange their fun, I can’t be at their beck and call to drive them anywhere and everywhere at the drop of a hat. I can’t, and I wouldn’t even if I could. So I encourage them to find things to do or places to go.
I do say no more to sleepovers. I don’t think they need to sleep over at someone else’s house more than one night in a row. They don’t sleep well at sleepovers, they stay up too late and wake up too early, and we get the brunt of their tiredness the next day. Because of my chronic lack of sleep, I’m a little obsessed with making sure my kids get plenty of it. But that’s pretty much where I start to set limits. Other than that, I’m okay with them hanging out with their friends a lot.
I do have a few goals for my kids this summer, most of which involve reading lots of books that I have picked out for them. Other than that, I’m happy to see them playing, biking, walking, swimming and having fun.
Do you have set rules or limits on social activities, or do you decide on a case by case basis? Do you have a schedule that you keep in the summer with your kids, or is it kind of willy nilly, figure it out as the day progresses? (If you hadn’t guessed, I would fall into the willy nilly category.)
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Jun
1
My husband and sons just returned from a visit with relatives. My husband made the comment that his mom is so patient with our boys.
She always has been. It’s a grandma thing. When our first son was born, we lived next door to my in-laws. At the end of many days, when I was worn out from feeding, carrying, and rocking my baby and he still wouldn’t stop fussing and crying, we’d walk next door. As soon as I’d hand my usually crying baby to my mother-in-law, he would calm down.
It infuriated me to no end when that happened. I’d ask my husband, how can my baby like his grandma better than me? (Sleep deprivation tends to make you think irrationally) He’d laugh, but I knew why.
I was exhausted, stressed out, afraid I was “doing it wrong”, afraid that my baby crying meant that I was no good as a mom. I was tense, and my baby knew it. When I placed him in her arms, he could relax, because she was relaxed. She wasn’t tense or worried.
These days my boys are too old and too big for their grandma to hold them. But the difference is still huge.
When I see annoying habits that irritate me to the point of anger, she sees funny quirks that make her laugh.
When I see behavior that they refuse to change despite my instructions to do so, she sees teenage boys trying to grow up, and she recognizes that all kids go through it.
When I see behavior that borders on rude or obnoxious, she sees her charming grandsons acting living up to “boys will be boys”.
When I see boys that have tested me and pushed me to the breaking point, when I am certain that their futures are doomed, she sees her brilliant, kind, sweet grandsons that only make her proud.
Her sight isn’t clouded over by past hurts or past fits of anger and words flung carelessly around. She sees them clearly without remnants of last week’s disobedience or power struggles.
She sees them with her heart.
How do we see our children? Sometimes I am so worn out from the battles of parenting, on top of the battles in my own life, that I only see the things in my children that drive me crazy. I only see the arguments, the fights, the slammed doors or messes left for me to clean up.
I am trying to look at my sons through their grandmother’s eyes. To look at them with love, first and foremost, without any of the other things that can cloud my vision. I want to see only their goodness first, before the rest comes rushing in. I want to see them with joy and love, looking from my heart.
I want them to be able to see that in my eyes when they look at me.
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May
29
My family is off visiting relatives this weekend, and I’m kind of surprised by how much I’m missing them right now, by the depth of the feeling. They’ve barely been gone 24 hours, for crying out loud, and I feel so sad.
I know this feeling is just a reflection of the week I had. They needed to get away and have fun. I’m glad they went, but I needed to hold them close after the storm.
I’m getting a lot of work done, which is why I stayed behind. Can I have one more gripe and just say how tired I am of staying behind to work? There, that’s my last complaint. Promise.
I have to listen to music while I work, otherwise my thoughts run rampant and I get distracted. A song came up on Pandora that I’d never heard before, and the lyrics hit me like a brick. Here is just part of the song:
I want to open my eyes
I know that all I need is time
I’m growing stronger every single dayGot to go I’ll leave it to you now
Letting go of all my fear and doubt
I can’t do this on my own so I give you controlThe pressure makes us stronger
The struggle makes us hunger
The hard lessons makes the differenceAnd the differences make it worth it
The song is For Those Who Wait by Fireflight. I went to their website to find the lyrics, and I found this blurb from the lead singer, Dawn, about the story behind the song:
“There are so many hard things going on in so many people’s lives that life sometimes can be seen as a giant waiting game. We’re just waiting for those hard things to teach us something. Those hard things that happened to you can become the best things that ever happened to you because God can use that pain. He’ll turn it into power for your life, to help yourself and to help others. And those will be the cornerstones of your entire life and the basis and the formation of your character.”
I can’t imagine words that fit my life better than that right now. I have a hard time remembering that the hard lessons make the difference, or that God is working in me right now. When you’re in the depths of the struggle you can’t see very far in front of you. Trusting is the key, and I’m continually working on trusting.
Another thing I have a hard time with is praying for myself. I waver between giving up completely and feeling like I’ve prayed it all before. So when you all say you’re praying for me, you have no idea the gift you’re giving me.
I do have a prayer for all of us this weekend. While I’m missing my family so much that I physically ache, I pray that you will be wrapped in the love of your friends and family. If not literally, then in your heart. Love what you have, love the life you’re living, treasure the gifts you’ve been given.
The only sure thing is right now. Cherish it.
For more Tuesdays Unwrapped visit Chatting at the Sky
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May
5
My life was forever altered by a baby boy.
I had big plans. I had finished my first year of law school, but my then boyfriend and I were tired of the long distance relationship after five years of seeing each other only on weekends. So I decided to take a year or two off from school. This decision was met with extreme opposition from most of my friends. Why should I quit school for a guy? It would never work; I would never be able to go back. Marriage can wait, school can’t. I heard it all, but by the time I spoke out loud what I wanted to do, it was already a done deal in my heart.
We would get married, he would finish his master’s program, then he could transfer to the closest town with a law school. If he couldn’t transfer, then I would drive back and forth to school in the part time program. It was very doable, and we were committed to that plan. I loved law school, and I had no intention of not finishing.
Which leads me to ask, do we choose the paths we take, or are they chosen for us?
Things went according to our plan for awhile. We got married and he worked on his master’s. I called the two closest law schools and got the necessary paperwork so when he graduated I would be ready. I was following my chosen path.
Three months after we got married I found out I was pregnant. This was such a shock to me that when the doctor’s office called and confirmed it, I left my job and drove to the university where he was studying for his exams. I had no idea where he was; I had never attended his university. But I searched the parking lots until I found his car, and finally I found him. He thought I had dropped by over my lunch hour to give him some support and encouragement.
Instead, I gave him the news that would change the path of both our lives forever. We were going to have a baby.
It takes a lot to render my guy speechless, but that did it. All we could do was hug. And cry.
Tears of absolute joy and unabashed happiness. Tears of wonder at God’s blessings for us.
Our families were happy for us, but the unspoken words were of concern and worry. We were young and poor, and without mentioning it, everyone wondered about our “master plan” for me to go back to school. I still believed it could be done, just a year later than planned and definitely part time. I still made phone calls and filled out paperwork.
One month after my husband completed his master’s degree, our baby boy was born. And a door closed forever.
I was completely in love with that baby before I ever saw him, but when I looked into his eyes for the first time, eyes almost identical to my own, my heart cracked wide open. Nothing else mattered but our little family.
I never went back to law school. It took me 14 years to go back to school for my master’s degree, down a completely different path than I ever planned. I have never looked back with regret. Only thankfulness that God chose me to be the mother of that baby boy. Thankful that He had the best path for me, even though it was radically different than the path I had chosen. So thankful.
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Apr
29
Okay maybe you didn’t ask, but I’m sure that question keeps you up at night I should really save these gems of wisdom for some very important meme, but I will share with you now. Here are just a few of the reasons why this mama is Worn Out this week:
My son likes coffee. Fine. As long as it’s decaf, I don’t care what he drinks. So he makes coffee every morning for himself, and sometimes his dad will also drink it. I do not drink coffee. I do not make it – I don’t know how to make coffee. There, I admitted it. Since I don’t make the coffee, I have been a little baffled the past few days because when I am cleaning the kitchen after they’ve all gone off to school or work or wherever it is they go, there has been a muddy puddle of mud by the coffee pot. The first day I assumed “someone” had a spill. The second day I got a little annoyed. The third day, today, I asked both my son and my husband why they kept making a mess with the coffee. My son nonchalantly said, “Oh, I told you, I broke the coffee pot”. First, no he did not tell me. Second, so it’s broke, but he is still using it to make coffee??? Apparently he figured that a cracked coffee pot is still usable, and he could not be bothered with the mess he was making. I am still rolling my eyes over this one.
This group of guys that I live with is on a health kick. They make a lot of smoothies. I do not eat smoothies. I do not know how to make a smoothie. Well okay, I could probably figure that one out, but they don’t need to know that. So they all make their own. Earlier this week I was cleaning up the morning mess in the kitchen. Someone had left the big canister of protein powder out after making his smoothie. I grabbed the canister – did I mention it is huge – to put it away. I grabbed the huge canister by the top. The person who failed to put it away also failed to tighten the lid, so when I grabbed it by the lid, the huge canister thing crashed to the ground, leaving me holding just the lid. Sigh. At least I got most of it swept up before my dog could overdose on protein powder. And yes, my husband already pointed out that this is the second time this has happened, and I should know better than to grab it by the lid. I KNOW!
At my youngest son’s baseball game the other day, I begged whined pleaded asked my oldest son to go with me. I like it when he comes with me; we text each other during the game. While we are sitting beside each other. Mother/son bonding. Anyway, he didn’t want to go, but I guilted him into it convinced him that it would be fun. You know how when someone whacks a ball and it goes over the fence, but behind the batter? Everyone yells “heads up” so that no one gets hit with the stray ball. And in my eight years of going to my boys’ baseball games, no one has ever gotten hit with one of those stray balls. Until last weekend. Guess who got hit in the head with one? My son. The one sitting right beside me. I knew that darn ball was coming right at us, but I also assumed that he was paying attention and looking up. It happened so fast, and luckily it was more of a lob than a hard hit, but it still whacked him on the head pretty good. He didn’t even see it coming. I beat myself up for awhile, thinking I should have reached out and at least tried to catch it (yeah right) or deflect it away from him. He is okay, and because I have seen many injuries over the years from kids hit with a baseball, even some pretty serious injuries, I am very grateful that it wasn’t worse. He keeps saying that he never wanted to go in the first place, so of course he would be the one to get hit.
In an act of supreme klutziness, I managed to slam my finger in the front door today. Don’t ask me how because I couldn’t tell ya. All I know is that my poor ring finger turned purple and swelled up. When I reached into my jeans pocket by habit and lightly brushed that finger against my pocket, it hurt so badly that I may have screamed. This goes on my list of “things that do not happen to most adults, but somehow happen to me”. It’s a long list.
We are almost at the end of the school year, with just a few weeks left. So it is very fitting that now, so close to the finish, I get a phone call from my 12 year old’s school. I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize, and when I answered, it was my son. I instantly knew that something had happened, because otherwise he would be calling me on his phone. I refrained from saying WHAT DID YOU DO? but I was thinking it. Seriously though, this boy has never been in trouble a day in his life; he is the child that at every parent/teacher conference, his teacher says “He’s a good student, he’s just so quiet“. Well, my boy has come out of his shell. Apparently he and his best buddy were walking down the hall on their way out of school, because the last bell had rang. They may have been a little rambunctious. My son’s friend may have swung his backpack at my son. At which point my son returned the gesture. All the teacher saw was my son swinging his backpack towards the other boy. The backpack hit that boy’s leg, but because of where the teacher was standing, she thought he got hit in the, ahem, area where boys do not want to be hit. I guess she called them both over and asked the other boy if he was okay. That boy said yeah, it didn’t hurt, and that he thought it was funny. The teacher was not amused, and had my son call me. He is lucky that he didn’t get detention. Instead she just wanted me to know what my fine young man was doing. Needless to say, my son knows that I do not want to get another phone call like that ever again.
Well there you have it. That is just a small sample of the excitement that I experience on a pretty much daily basis. Try to contain your jealousy. But seriously, I think this kind of week is a perfect example of why all mothers are saints!
I read some article recently about being a successful blogger, and one point was that you should try to pass along some tip or bit of wisdom in your posts. Ha! Um, I mean here are my helpful tips:
- Do not let your teenager make coffee or smoothies.
- If you by chance happen to dump an entire container of protein powder on the floor, Do Not tell your husband. The sympathy you are looking for will not be forthcoming.
- Do not go to any baseball games. If you do, wear a helmet.
- Wear thick gloves at all times to avoid the possibility of slamming your finger in a door.
- If you get a call from a number you don’t recognize, just don’t answer it. It might be a telemarketer, or it might be your child’s school. Either way, it can’t be good.
There, I feel a bit wiser already.
Do these kinds of things happen at your house? No? Anything even close? Pretend, for my sake. Tell me what kind of week you are having.
I’ve linked this at Friday Fails even though it’s more like a week full of Fails. Hey, does that make me an overachiever?
For more Friday Fails visit My Blessed Life - and share yours!
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Apr
28
I know Mother’s Day is over a week away, but it’s never too early to talk about it. My family is not big on gift giving; we usually limit gifts to Christmas and birthdays, and the other holidays might get a nice meal. My most memorable Mother’s Day gift was actually before I even had kids. When I was eight months pregnant with my first son, my husband got me two gifts for Mother’s Day; the book “What to Expect the First Year” and a tube of Lanolin nursing cream. That’s right, nursing cream. See why it was memorable? But honestly, I asked for both of those things, and I was so overjoyed to be “almost” a mom that I wouldn’t have cared what he got me as long as it said Mother on the card.
The other great Mother’s Day gifts I have gotten typically involve something that my kids made me. Cards, sculpey clay figures, and drawings. I still have all of those things, and I still love them. One year my husband let my kids loose at a neighborhood garage sale with $5 each, with instructions to buy something for mom. The boys were probably six or seven years old, so you can just imagine the hodge podge of gifts that I got. But the look of pride and joy on their faces when they gave me those gifts that they had handpicked was the sweetest gift of all.
So tell me, what has been your most memorable Mother’s Day so far? If you’re not a mom, what have you done for your mom, or wife, for Mother’s Day that made her happy? Anything from the tiniest, simplest gesture, like a long distance phone call, to the biggest, grandest Mother’s Day. Tell me how you celebrate.
Leave your comments below, and every comment on this post or tweet about this post will also count as an entry in my iPod touch giveaway. I’ve gotten quite a few emails from people that want to enter more but they don’t blog or do twitter, so this will give everyone an extra chance to enter. Thank you for sharing your Mother’s Day stories with me!
If you tweet about this post please leave the link and your Twitter id in the comments here, to get the entry for the iPod touch. Thanks!
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Apr
22
Well, The Big Reveal might be a little misleading. A better title for this post might be More Obscure and Random Facts About Me That You Probably Don’t Care About, but I’m going to post them anyway. That title is too long, so we’ll leave it as it is
I’m a pretty very extremely private person, and one might even call me shy. But I’m trying to overcome that, or at least share some bits and pieces of me with you, since others have shared their lives with me. While this list is probably not an all encompassing list of the most important things about me, it’s a start. Here we go:
- I was born two months premature, and I weighed right around three pounds.
- I have one sibling, a brother.
- My brother is 9 months younger than me.
- When I was a teenager and could fully comprehend what “9 months younger than me” meant, it gave me many sleepless nights. What were they thinking??
- My dad had his first heart attack at 36.
- My parents both grew up in tiny towns.
- When I was 11, we moved back to the tiny town my mom grew up in.
- For me, moving to a tiny town in the fifth grade was devastating. My grandma literally saved my life, by opening her home to me while my parents worked practically 24/7 and I had no friends.
- From the time we moved until about 8th grade, I was the outcast/new kid, trying to fit into cliques that were formed long before I showed up. It was hard, but looking back it taught me how not to treat people. I’ve never forgotten how it felt to be the outcast.
- I am what you might call a “non-athlete”. I tried softball, basketball and track, and I think it was relief to everyone when I gave up and went back to my first love, reading.
- When I say I lived in a tiny town, picture dirt roads, no stop lights, no fast food. That tiny.
- While I was in college, I volunteered for CASA for several years. I did it until I had my first child, and I would love to do it again when I have the time to devote to it. If I didn’t have to work, I’d spend my time volunteering with kids.
- I met my future husband while in college. Our respective colleges were three hours apart, so we did the long distance relationship thing for four years. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder
- Maybe the long distance relationship is why I never noticed how very different my husband and I are. Actually, I think I knew it, but it didn’t matter. Still doesn’t, in fact, I’m pretty sure we make each other better. I hope so anyway.
- When we first got married, we rented a teeny tiny house from my inlaws. Next door to my in-laws. Yep. But really, they are wonderful, so it was okay. And I don’t cook, so we managed to make our way over there for dinner quite often.
- I got pregnant with our first son three months after we got married. Shocking, but oh so joyful.
- The next few years after that were a sleep deprived blur, but I know we had fun.
- Baby boy #2 came along two years after his brother. More joy, less sleep.
- Our second son was born with two thumbnails on one of his hands. He had the extra one removed when he turned one. Who knew that removing a tiny thumbnail required a full cast from his shoulder to his hand?
- That little stinker wiggled out of his full arm cast the very first night.
- We tried to get pregnant again for about six years, but it apparently was not in the grand plan for us.
- We moved three hours away from our families about eleven years ago. No more free babysitting from the grandmas and aunts.
- Consequently, we did not go on a “date”, or go anywhere without our children for at least five years. I know, I know!
- We brought a new baby to our home about six years ago. We adopted our Labrador mix (Coach) from a local lab rescue, and I’m not exaggerating when I say he is the best.dog.ever. I grew up with dogs, so I should know; I’m not just biased
- Let me get on my soapbox and say that if you want a dog, I highly recommend labs, especially if you have kids. Also, I highly, extremely, very much recommend adopting from a shelter or rescue organization. Our Coach’s mom was left tied to a fence in the backyard of an abandoned house; she was pregnant with Coach and his siblings. Luckily someone saved her, and the mama and several of the puppies ended up being trained as helpers for handicapped people.
- Coach is definitely smart enough to be a helper dog, but we are so glad we got to be his family instead.
- One of my sons is very talented musically and artistically, and the other one is a talented athlete. Because of that, many people question whether or not they are really my children. Luckily, I have the c-section scars to prove it.
- My favorite thing to do still is reading. I just need more time to actually do it.
- Some of my favorite authors are Stephen King, Anne Lamott, and Maeve Binchy.
- I’m not a big TV watcher at all. The only shows I watch are ”24″ and “The Middle”. (All you “Glee” lovers, don’t hate me)
- Right now I’m in graduate school, trying to get my master’s in library science. My dream is to be a librarian at a middle school. My goal is to make it through the program.
- I am very scatter brained. I have been known to put my car keys in the freezer and then forget what I did with them; leave the house without makeup on – not intentionally, I really thought I was ready, lock myself out of the house, lock myself out of my car, lose my cell phone then find it in the laundry hamper, and I often forget how to use my own remote. I am not proud of these things.
- My husband is completely the opposite of scatter brained, which is helpful. And he has finally stopped rolling his eyes at my absent mindedness.
- Our oldest child shows signs of taking after me in the scatter brained department. I hope he has a patient spouse.
- I believe we all have guardian angels. I think I must have a team of guardian angels. When I was 18, my car hit a patch of ice on a bridge and rolled several times before landing upside down in a ditch. I was so not hurt that I didn’t realize we were upside down and wanted to drive away before anyone saw me in the ditch. A few years ago I was driving in a rainstorm in heavy traffic on the highway. My car slid off into the median ditch and ended up on the other side of the median, facing the oncoming traffic. When I caught my breath, I pulled back over to the ditch, turned my car around and drove home, with only mud and grass all over my car to show for it. I don’t think anyone would have believed that actually happened, except I left deep tire tracks in the mud all the way across the grass, showing how close I came to hitting the concrete divider before my car stopped right beside it. It truly is a miracle that I’m still here.
Speaking of miracles, are you still here?? Whew, coming up with a list of things about me is hard, and I wasn’t even aiming for interesting things! Now you know a little more about me. Please don’t hold this post against me, I promise I won’t do it again.
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My boys
Where did those little guys go?Cuteness overload
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