Fa, la, la, la, la...

Seriously... April. Was. My. Last. Post.

I obviously suck at blogging.  But whatever.

Ok, so greetings... Merry Christmas and all!  Tis the season for ragged moms frantically searching for last minute Christmas gifts.  Like me... searching for a cheerleading uniform for my daughter.  Because she decided to add that last minute gem to her letter to Santa.  Last night.  Which she sent by way of the Elf on the Shelf.

{clicky clicky clicky}... that's me scouring the internet trying to find something I can order and be shipped in a couple days.  FAIL.  Unless you are a size 2T or 4T girl...or you want to pay $80 for a random uniform... or are a "ris-kay" football cheerleader wanna-be with scraps of fabric covering important parts... I caint find nuthin!  Santa might have to send an IOU this year.

The hooplah of the season graces our home as well as probably most everyone else in the US.  I vowed this year to not buy as much as last year.  And this year, as well as every other year, I have failed miserably.  I think I end up buying more every year.  It's all those little things that keep adding up.

The hubs as been asking for about 2 weeks now when we are going to get our yearly dose of Christmas fiber... I mean chex mix.  Seriously, why do people only make this stuff at Christmas?  It's not a red & green treat and I can easily make it year  round.  But I don't.  Yes, I know you can buy the bagged version of it and it's nowhere near as good.  So I bought a box of cereal here and a bag of nuts there and last night finally put them all together into some salty goodness.  I bake mine... no microwaving here.

I had chex mix for a late night snack...chex mix for breakfast...chex mix for lunch...and I'm sure I'll have chex mix on at least 2 more occasions today.  Bathroom beware.

...la, la, la.laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

In All Things

"BE PRESENT.... Her favorite moments were those when she let go of all expectations and worries and just simply celebrated the very moment she was living. In those precious moments she was truly present and listening to Grace."

Be Present.  I find myself checking out a lot here lately.  I retreat to go read a book, I bury myself into my laptop to work, I rush around cleaning up the house and doing laundry.  In other words… I’m not always present even though my physical body might be visible.  But, that’s not where I need to be.  I need to be present in all forms…in the now…. with my family… with my husband…with my friends…living life and having fellowship and connection with one another.

Raising kids is hard and I’m not going to lie, the older they get, the harder it gets.  I used to think “oh I can’t wait till they are older because it will be so much easier.” WRONG!  It’s so much more complicated than giving them a juice box, goldfish and a Veggie Tales movie to watch for 30 minutes or a bandaid to cover up the boo-boo.  I am shaping them into adulthood, teaching them to grow up and make life decisions.  Fashioning these little lives to know how to face the challenges of life and do so with the perspective that God calls us to.  That’s pretty gigantic when you really think about it. 
Be present.  When I am “here” my problem with being in the present is that I want perfection.  This leads me to being stressed out a lot when things don’t go as I planned.  Meaning…. “I’ve already asked you to clean that mess up in your room.  Why is it still laying there?” Even though I’m raising these kids to be adults, they are definitely not yet adults.  I need to remember they are not going to react in an adult manner or think in one either. 

Be Present.  Let go of expectations.  This doesn't mean my kids don’t have to listen or do as I ask, or that I should let laundry pile to the ceiling and dishes scatter over the counter, or that I should just work when I want to.  I still am required to parent my children, be a wife, structure my home, and run my business…it just means that I need to simmer down.  My problem is, when I want something done, I want it now.  Not 30 minutes later… not this afternoon…not tomorrow… Now.  Most of the time, it’s not something that is really required NOW, I just think it is.   Learn the balance in things and don’t get so uptight if it isn't happening now.

Let go.  Be present.  Live in the moment.  Teachable moments.  Moments to reach out and love the ones you are with.  God gives me grace day in and day out.  Lord, let me show grace to my family and love them like my Father loves me.

Did that really just happen?

If you know me at all, you know that I love to read.  I would even go as far to say I’m kinda a book addict.  No.  I AM a book addict.  For whatever reason, I finally discovered that reading is an enjoyable hobby and I wish I had found this passion when I was in school.  ugh.  I’ve read a lot of books this past year by many different authors, but I have a few favorites that just really knocked my socks off.  Maybe not so well known in the realm you would think as “famous authors”… but to my fellow book nerds, yeah… they are super famous.  Most of their books remain at the top of Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iBooks charts, so they are pretty fantastic to me. 
When I find a really good book series I get attached to it… the characters, the story, the emotions…. almost as if it’s part of my family.  So, when a really good story comes along, I often like to create something to remember it by.  Since my job is graphics design I always have ideas floating around in my head.  There have been several books series that I have sentimental endearment to, therefore leading me to create artwork inspired by the books.  This one book series I did that exact thing.  It’s the Significance series by Shelly Crane.  I posted my creation on Pinterest on my I {heart} books! board and didn’t think much anything else about it UNITL….
The author re-pinned my pin onto her boards, *ding… email notification*…. started following me on Pinterest *ding… email notification*, posted it on her Facebook page *bleep… notification alert*, sent me a private message requesting to use it *bleep…notification alert*…, sent me an email and then she sent me an early copy of her latest book *ding… email notification*.  Wow!  Here’s my journey…

All that to say…I was pretty happy freaking ecstatic about this whole thing.  It’s a BIG HUGE deal to me!  AND, to top it all off, this book is being made into a movie major motion picture to be released sometime next year! I have no idea how she plans to use this graphic… my mind can only dream and she said she had some things she wanted to make with it… but regardless, she totally made my day with all of our interactions. 
That’s my story & I’m sticking to it.  Yes, that really happened. 

Sandwiches

I’m so over sandwich meat and loaf bread.  I was never a big PB&J girl growing up and still to this day could care less for it.  So I learned to be satisfied with turkey, ham and bologna.  And I ate a lot of it growing up. 

These days, I fix 3 sandwiches (at least), 5 days a week for my kids lunches.  Sometimes I just want to buy a freaking lunchable.  Why do I tell you this?  Well, our budget is on a diet.  Yes, my husband & I are currently taking the class Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey.  Three weeks in and I’m still feeling really good about the outcome and what's to come, except I’m over eating sandwiches.  See, the thing is, when you take this class, you have to learn to save money and saving money requires eating at home more.  Sandwiches. 

I know one day when I’ve taught my money how to eat a balanced meal, I’ll be able to go out to eat whenever & wherever I want.  But for now, don’t ask me to go out to eat after church on Sunday.  Because more than likely I’m gonna go home to eat a stupid sandwich.