Glad to be home

Yesterday was a LaPorte day. I was supposed to go LAST week, but got rained out. I was a bit anxious about the weather, but since it was all clear at 5 AM, I decided to go ahead and go. It took 3 hours to get to work. Not a horrible trip, just long. Great day at work, great meeting at the end of the day. And then another 3 hours home...

My first memory of the Washburn Tunnel is my brother telling me that we were going underwater. In my head, I pictured my family (in our Cordoba, of course) driving underwater...imagine my relief when it turned out to just be a tunnel. That image came to mind last night as I drove through heavy, heavy rain...the kind of rain that seems to surround the car and that wipers just can't do anything about. But I couldn't stop, because the rain wasn't going anywhere and it would have just prolonged my agony. So I kept going. As I drove over Spring Cypress, I saw a Suburban literally up off the ground, spinning down the other side of the highway. I don't know that I have words to really capture the image--it was surreal, awful and awesome all at the same time. I hope the people inside are okay...I didn't see how it landed, but I'm hoping it just slid to the side somewhere. God must have been watching out for them, because amazingly, that section of highway was clear instead of packed with slow-moving cars.

So I'm glad to be home, and grateful for 6 hours of safe driving yesterday. It was weird to get home 14+ hours after I left...and to know that 6 of those hours were spent in the car. I was figuring up how far I could have gone if I'd been heading for Kansas, or anywhere...Oh! And I did such a girl thing yesterday...still not sure how I did it, but I caught the Pilot's running board on a curb and tore it up. It was one of those things that I heard, but I was already up on it...had no choice but to get off of it and do that much more damage as I went. Yes, I'm sighing at myself. But I'm grateful that it was my running board and not a wheel...and then when I got into the nasty rain, I was reminded that it could always, always have been worse.

This morning I'm a lot tired and a little melancholy. I'm supposed to drive in again today for a lunch meeting, but understandably, I'm not too excited about driving INTO that again. We'll see how things shake out in a couple of hours. Right now, it's time for some coffee and a shower...and I'm already looking forward to our family breakfast outing. :)

Best. Monday. Ever.

So, about 11:00, the back door opened...James came home from work since he wasn't feeling well. Which gave me the opportunity to drop everything and hang out with him all afternoon, watching TV, eating soup, and even, yes, taking a little nap. But alas, as car line time approaches, even this good thing must come to an end. In an hour, our house will be filled with the shouts and laughter of not one but three first grade girls (long story, but good times) and one little boy who loves nothing MORE than first grade girls (Noble during Kayci's Girl Scout meeting here yesterday...priceless!). And I've got cookies to bake, which on this rainy day, pretty much makes me the best mom ever.

Happy sigh.

I Love Fall!

Doesn't that just make you smile? Found an awesome pumpkin at the Farmer's Market today!


-- Posted from my iPhone

Like a box of chocolates...

Today I have/had the whole day blocked off to be at home and just crank out some work (I need several sitting at the computer typing hours--not the most exciting, but necessary). Hmm. I blew right through my 9:00 start work deadline (Noble needed wipes for school, I found out that a friend hasn't been feeling well so I thought I'd cook some soup for them today...you know, things snowball once you get to the grocery store). Oh, and I realized that once again, it's the end of the month and I forgot to get the Teacher Appreciation Committee moving on something...so I spent a lot of time at HEB just THINKING of what I can reasonably put together for next week. You know, next week when I have to fit in a day at GP, a day at LP, oh yeah, and a day at the Renaissance Festival for Kayci's field trip. Oh, and get our family of 4 ready for the trip to Philadelphia next weekend. (By the way, congrats Phillies fans...but didja HAVE to make the World Series the one and only time I'll ever be in Philly? I'm just sayin'.) So I've got a lot on my mind this morning, but it's all good stuff. I'm going to start my work day at 10, with a short break to help out a friend. This just means I'll have to work a couple of hours tonight to finish up my billing day, but that's not a big deal, either.

Just have a lot on my mind. You know, what Amanda calls "mind chatter." I can't sit down to work until I unload some of it and can focus on the task at hand instead of the tasks I'm trying to schedule for next week. The good news is: we're home this weekend. ALL weekend. We'll make one trip to drop off a DVD for one of James' clients near Navasota, but even that should be fun in this gorgeous fall weather. And we might run through College Station to hit the bank and maybe pick up a pizza or something...who knows. The weekend is wide open! We have promised to finish our scarecrow and at least START on Kayci's tree house. And if we have time, James and I are hoping to lay out our new flower beds and figure out exactly which stones we'll use for edging and price them out...maybe we'll even bring a load home and work on it one evening next week. Or not, depending on how much time I'm in Houston. :) We'll see--that's not a big problem, having muddy ex-flower beds ringing our house. I just keep thinking how much we're going to appreciate our new and improved beds...right? Right?!

Anyway, I'm wandering. Time to wrap it up--I've got a bed to make before I go sit down to work, and a few more groceries to put away. Oh! The title...I should get there before I close. So, you know Sami dog is old. She'll be 15 in February, and she's been "old" since she was 7 (she's a big dog). So, she's old. She's started a new thing where she doesn't just bark in the morning and evening when it's time for her can of food...she barks ANYtime somebody pulls up in the driveway or by her fence. And she barks and barks and barks until she gets a can of food. She started this last week--it was lots of fun during the police stand off, let me tell ya. But today I was a little bitter about having to get out in the rain yesterday to buy more canned food because she's eating an extra can a day and I keep exactly enough on hand for 2 weeks at a time...but I digress into my OCD tendencies. We've been using a lot of dog food lately, and it's thrown me off. So she started barking when I got home a little while ago and even came around to the kitchen window to bark at me and remind me that she wanted to eat. Again. So, I thought, this has got to stop. I thought if I tricked her and put dry food (not her favorite) out in her bowl, she'd leave me alone and quit begging for food outside of meal time. Geez, this has turned into a long story--but seriously, this is the crap that's filling up my mind this morning! Anyway, so I went to get her dry dog food to take it outside. And found this in the tub.

And I thought, that Bubby...you just never know what you're gonna get. (Hence the title--keep up.) I wonder what he was doing in the dog food in the first place? Probably best not to know. But the shovel...seriously, now I wonder what I'm going to find FILLED with dog food. Again, best not to know.

And then I thought, how funny is it that I blogged this morning and included a picture of Kayci in her "Smart Girls Rule!" shirt (yeah, we do!), holding her monster. She is a smart girl, and a good girl, and a fun girl, and a beautiful girl...she makes me proud. I know you're not supposed to compare your kids, but seriously, Noble's a goofball already. I think this is going to be fun to watch, raising these knuckleheads.

Noble cracks me up...life with him is truly an adventure, because you just never know what you're gonna find. This morning we had our weekly family bakery breakfast. As we were all getting ready to leave, I asked Noble for a kiss. He shook his head and said, "mo!" (that's no) and then turned his little face up, all puckered up for a kiss. Just melted my heart. And then I got back in the car and couldn't find my phone to take a picture of Kayci...and had that "oh, crap, Noble left my phone in the restaurant !" feeling. Turns out, he'd just hidden it in one of my makeup bags in my purse...which of course I didn't discover until I drove home, went into the house to look to see if James had put my phone on to charge, found a cordless, dialed long distance to CALL my phone...which Kayci heard ringing out in the car. Sigh. Well, a sigh and a smile. That's just how it goes around here anymore--there's always something to laugh about. I guess I could get grumpy about some of the stuff, but you know, life's too short.

And I'm wearing my fuzzy pants today (the Mom-iform, velour jogging suit--I only have one that I break out on special days, and James digs it and calls them my fuzzy pants. I'll stop there.) So how can I be grumpy? And the windows are open and fall's all in my house...seriously, gotta smile and be happy and grateful.

And now I've gotta get to work! Have a fun Friday!

In My Arms

I started out for LaPorte this morning. It was raining and thundering and carrying on, but I took the truck and thought, I'll be okay. I need to go...I'm going. 30 white-knuckle minutes later I was like, what am I DOING? Seriously--driving toward the bay? One of the schools is practically in a swamp...so I debated for a few more minutes, then turned around and headed home. And I'm glad I did; turns out, it's just as bad there as we feared. One of the teachers just called; she just made it to work herself, not a single kid is there, and the houses around the school will flood if it rains much more. :( So I'm not glad that the weather's bad at all--but I'm glad that I was able to listen to, as James called it, that still small voice of God. In my life, that voice is often in the form of gut feelings--if you know me at all, you know that when I say I have a gut feeling about something, it's usually spot on. So when my gut feeling tells me to go or not to go...I try to do what it says. But now I'm rambling. But I can, I guess, since I basically just won a free day this week. I still have tons of work to do--and I'll get to it--but I've cut out 4 hours of driving time today (minimum...that's not factoring in rain time), so I feel like I've just been handed an 8 day week. My new goal for today is to take time to do some organizing work stuff I've been putting on the back burner while I put out fires...you know, the boring stuff that nobody sees but you that you've still gotta do or it drives you nuts. Or gets in your way. So that's what I'll do today. It was great to surprise the kids this morning--James didn't tell them when they woke up that I was coming back home, so their faces when I came in were just priceless. And since I was already out in the rain I stopped at Wal-Mart for dog food and basic groceries, so I don't HAVE to run errands today (but if I can hit recycling while James and the truck are home at lunch, that would rock!). The house is pretty clean, the laundry's pretty well done (not put away, but hey). I'm feeling very lucky right about now that I'm not out in the mess, stressed about getting back home in time to pick up the kids (James has a Parade meeting tonight). And I'm still babbling, right?

Yesterday Kayci went to work with me. It was such a great day, even though in a lot of ways it was NOT a great work day. To just be able to spend time with her, and not have to rush around (although we did visit several schools and take care of lots of little things)...for it to be just me and her, to have nothing more important to do than count slug bugs...it was a priceless day. She was so excited about her loose teeth (and kept wiggling, darn it!), she had to tell all of our teacher friends the good news. I love that kid!

We had to stop and go potty on the way in yesterday morning (okay, Kayci and her Daddy-camel bladder were fine...it was my pea-sized bladder, okay?), so we stopped at a Starbucks. Next door there was a cupcake bakery, and my girl was sooooooooo excited. Of course, they were already open. So we popped in, and she took a while to decide. The cupcakes were gorgeous, and I bought a red velvet one and a carrot cake one to bring home and share with James. Keep in mind, these cupcakes cost $3.25. Each. After lunch, Kayci remembered her cupcake and dug in. It smelled great and looked great, and I was jealous, I'll admit it. When she was finished, I asked her if it was good. She was like, ehh. I fought down the part of me that paid $3+ and asked her what she meant, didn't she like her special treat? And she knocked my socks off--she told me that it seems like whenever she gets a special treat, they always LOOK good but don't taste so good or just taste okay. She went on about that, but I was absolutely floored that she already gets it--that it's what's on the inside that counts. Maybe she can't say it in that many words, but she's GETTING IT. Now that's my girl!

This morning I heard this song on my short-lived (well, still hour and a half there and back) commute, and other than the baby blues--she's a brown-eyed girl--this made me think of Bitty. She's growing and changing so fast (see my family blog post today...trying not to dwell on it!), and I'm grateful that she still comes to me for comfort and guidance. I know that those days will end at some point and I'll become the enemy. But for now, I'm so grateful to have the power to heal and hold and make it all better...

In my arms--Plumb

Your baby blues
So full of wonder
Your Curly Que’s
Your contagious smile
And as I watch
You start to grow up
All I can do is hold you tight
Knowing

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Story books
Are full of fairy-tales
Of kings and queens
And the bluest skies
My heart is torn just in knowing
You’ll someday see
The truth for lies

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
Cause you are never all alone
Cause I will always
Always love you

Clouds will rage in
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

In my arms
In my arms

That's gonna leave a mark

Guess who saw 16 slug bugs on the way in this morning?

Kayci had a dentist appointment in Houston this morning, so she's hanging out at work with me today. It's fun to have my "cassistant" again!


-- Posted from my iPhone

Decisions, decisions...

-- Posted from my iPhone

Hot Date

12 years ago this weekend, on the 50 yard line during the SHSU Homecoming game, James proposed. It came as a huge shock to me...that wasn't in "the plan" for another couple of years. But there on the field, I made the best decision of my life--I said "yes.". After, of course, I stopped crying. :) Since that day, not much has gone according to "the plan.".
It took us a lot of years but we finally figured out the problem--we needed to find God's plan for our life together and follow THAT...not the arbitrary roadmap of milestones and accomplishments we'd laid out for ourselves. Life isn't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, but we are happy-and content-in a time and place where both are rare.

Which brings me to the hot date tonight. Almost exactly a year ago, we addressed an area of our lives that was out of control and causing a lot of stress...our finances. Once again, we were trying so hard to take care of everything in our way, in our time, that we were making a bigger mess of things. So we went through Financial Peace University and got really honest with ourselves about money. It's been a quick year since then...we set a deadline to be debt-free by James' 35th birthday, which is coming up a lot faster than the debt is going down, unfortunately. We're still working our plan, and part of that plan is to take in as many extra jobs as we can (without overextending ourselves or making ourselves miserable, of course). So we're at a Bluegrass Festival tonight where James is filming. It's the first time in too long that we've gone on a date...time flies these days!...so we're just enjoying some grown-up time together. He doesn't know it yet, but he's SO taking me for coffee after this. I'd really like a beer, but I'm still exhausted from last night and that would end our date real fast. :)

Thanks for a great time, Boy. Then and now, and always. How blessed am I?

- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

It's 2 AM...

...and yes, i know where my children are. they're asleep at my feet, here in the living room. this night started off great--dinner with new friends, then home in time for fairly early bed times for the kiddos. the boy and i sat down on the couch to catch up on grey's anatomy, and it wasn't long before we heard sirens. then we saw the lights. before long, our street was full of police cars. i wish i was exaggerating, but i'm not. i don't know what happened, but i do know that it was a domestic violence situation. and i'm ashamed to say, we've long suspected something wasn't right but we've opted to keep our distance from the family. and there are kids. kids right across the street from us...from me...living with this. i pray the kids weren't in the house tonight, but i don't know. earlier this week i was called in to consult on a student who is most likely a victim of abuse...a student i've known and loved for years. again, it is a situation where i suspected mild neglect (and parental ignorance, quite frankly) but to see the situation and where it is now is just heartbreaking because the child is a completely different person. would anything be different in that child's life if i, or someone like me, had been there every day to watch for changes? maybe, maybe not. it tears me up to see the child like this, to even think about what i think has happened. and now this, right across the street...i keep thinking of the "child called it" book series--how he was abused and nobody helped him. at the time, i remember thinking, how could the adults NOT see it? these kids across the street--is there anything i could have done differently? should have done differently? their lives are forever changed because of what happened there tonight...i just pray that they weren't there to SEE it. the little we saw from here was bad enough. what if, instead of keeping our distance, we'd reached out to the kids and family? would anything have changed? would it, as we feared, have put our kids at risk? that's why we haven't opened our doors to those kids, which goes against our nature--we didn't want to invite their family into our lives or our home. it was a horrible feeling tonight when we realized that our kids were sleeping in a room right across the street from a person wielding a gun...that's why they're in the living room, on the floor. we'll just tell kayci in the morning that we wanted to have a family sleepover--she thinks the police cars were on our street because of a wreck, since she woke up as james carried her out of her room. i can't sleep. i guess i could get up and work, but then i think, if i start working i'll never get to sleep tonight. those poor kids...that poor broken family. it's not the first time we've seen police cars at their house, but tonight i'm wondering what's left of their family and what will happen to those children. God bless them, and heal them. and God forgive me, for seeing and suspecting but not being willing to help.

happy girl

it's friday, it's fall...and i'm a happy girl. sure, my house is a little messier than i'd like and i have a full day of work to do...but as i'm sitting here working i'm also very aware of the fact that i'm just HAPPY today and it's a good day.

so there.

seriously, hope you're having a happy friday, too. i'm wearing my favorite oxford shirt today--if james could meet me for some soup at lunch my day would be better than perfect, but alas, i'll have to settle for just pretty dang awesome. it's rough, what can i say?

Blog Action Day

So, I just saw James' post about Blog Action Day. Here's my action for the day, and it's also something my favorite boy shared--the 100 mile diet. Check it out!

So they're out of leopard...

...after reconsidering, I went with something more subtle.

Or not.

the first of many, I'm sure

...as I was hanging up clothes, I came across Noble's brand new, worn only once oxford shirt. (That's a Donald Duck fruit snack he must have been saving for later.)

Dreary Day...

The weather is yucky again today. I wouldn't mind the gray and the fog and the rain if it weren't so freakin' HOT and yuck outside. But it's a great day, nonetheless. Not looking forward to commuting if the weather is like this tomorrow but SO looking forward to visiting classrooms and delivering the latest activities I've put together. I'm loving actually being hands-on with curriculum stuff this year and can't wait to see how it all pulls together. I wish I had more hours in the day to get stuff done, but what can you do? Well, never mind--I know what I could do--I could get up earlier and stay up later and spend probably a little less time with my boy in the evenings. Although this morning he did proposition me--he suggested that we exercise together after the kids go down. I'm all for it...I am eating better and less and all that, but I definitely need to add some MOVING to my routine. :) So that's good.

Right now I'm babbling because I'm at a point where I need to switch work activities. Guess I ought to go do that.

Um, okay, I'm going.

And thanks to my MOPS friends who met for coffee and Christmas box shopping this morning--it was AWESOME to spend some time with y'all! :)

and what did YOU accomplish today?

if, like me, your kids were home from school today...then my wish is that, also like me, you accomplished NOTHING. that's right. i hope your floors are crumb-y and your sink is full of dishes, that your hamper runneth over and you have no idea what's for dinner because you didn't make it to the store. and if you didn't have a parent-teacher conference, then i hope you're still in yesterday's PJs.

ahhh. feels pretty good, doesn't it?

now, i'm not saying i'll be rejoicing in this mess tomorrow when it's time to get back to the real world and get some work done...but for today, it feels nice to have accomplished. absolutely. nothing.

O, Target Fairy...

...if you're not too busy today, could you please send these my way?

And thank you.

Recycled crayons!

I love recycling crayons! One of my favorite preschool themes is "rainbows" because we get to make rainbow-layer crayons and grate crayons to make rainbows in a bottle. A few years ago, I got my hands on a silicone muffin tin with heart shapes, so I made a TON of heart-shaped crayons, and had lots of fun experimenting with swirls, rainbows, etc.

Silicone pans, though, are pricey, and really, make crayons that are beautiful but too big to be really useful. So I'm branching out--to ice cube trays. Now, don't be fooled (like my friend R)--they look like silicone, but they're NOT and will melt in the oven. So, you have to melt thd crayons and pour them into the molds...which, time-wise, has me yearning for the ease of silicone. I know, I know...

So, here are the pumpkins. This tray came from Dollar Tree, if you're shopping. I used old crayons I had on hand from a display last year, but it's time to find some teachers who will stockpile them for me. If you've never done this before, it takes at least 4 crayons to make 1 recycled crayon--and that's with a small mold.

I started by soaking the crayons. Otherwise, it's a big pain to peel the wrappers.



Next, we peeled the wrappers off and sorted them into color piles.




Then, because I didn't have any tin cans in thd recycle bin, I used a Pyrex measuring cup to melt the crayons in the oven. Give or take, it took about 12-14 minutes on 350.

I poured the melted wax into the tray molds, let it harden for a while, then popped out my new pumpkin crayons.




If you're counting, I only got 27 out of this batch. Well, 24 really since I experimented with wax temperature on a few of them (fail!).



-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Wild about my wardrobe...

I may be in a fashion rut. It's a comfortable rut, but a rut nonetheless. It started with a great pair of flip flops last fall...leopard print. I found myself wearing LOTS of brown and black and khaki--usually some combination of the three and/or denim--so I could wear the flip flops. I even got a second pair when they went on sale, that's how much I love those shoes. Then spring came, and I fell in love with my giraffe print flip flops. You got it--so then I wore a lot more brown and sometimes brown and white together. And then I found these awesome zebra flats...so I started wearing more black, sometimes black and white or black and gray. And so on and so on...until this summer it seemed that I alternated between my brown maxidress and my black one. So now it's time to put the dresses away and find a new "uniform." Yesterday I dressed for work (didn't actually leave home, but that's another story!) in a knit dress and leggings and put on my new leopard flats. I felt so cute! and was soooo comfortable. I joked with James that I just might make THAT my new uniform, would he notice if I wore a different version if it everyday? He looked at me very seriously and said, "you already do." Huh? He explained, "everything you own now is black or brown." Hmm...by golly, he's right. And guess who's been stocking up on brown, black and white at Old Navy this fall? Yup, that'd be me. And guess who's got a great pair of cheetah flats in addition to those leopards? Again, that'd be me. Hmm. Well, I can always mix it up with one of my (ahem) three orange cardis. Or maybe my silver flats...

And by the way, I'm totally wearing a brown button-down over a white tank and, of course, the giraffe flip flops. With my old favorite jeans with a blown knee...maybe I'll change 'em before the parade tonight, maybe I won't. :)

Ribbon Jar

So I ran out of wooden clothespins, but here's what I've got so far. I think I'll store this on top of our armoire...that way it's fun AND functional. A little thing, but it makes me HAPPY! :)

Really?!

It started at 2:45 AM...the crying and screaming. I tried to block it out, thinking he'd give up and go back to sleep. But, alas, it was not to be. So that's why i've been up since 3. The picture, you ask? Noble crawled off the couch and escaped to the office to play for a few minutes. He came back carrying a Buzz Lightyear toy...so I fired up the appleTV and turned on Toy Story, in hopes of *maybe* getting a little more sleep. Hmm. How's that working out, you ask? Well, I'm still hopeful. Oh, hey, look-time to get up! So, rethinking the 5 AM commute today...


-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Apples!

-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Fun Friday!

Today I did something wholly and completely selfish--I took the morning off and went to Round Top/Warrenton with some girlfriends. I took money with me, but I expected to blow through it so I took the check card as well...thinking I might need to call James and do some bartering if I found something I didn't think I/we could live without. But you know what I found? Something in me has changed this past year of living on a budget. Sure, I saw several cute shirts and dresses I would have liked, and I found a Wolverine kitchen that I really wanted...but I wasn't even TEMPTED to buy them. And my only regret? Not grabbing the awesome $26 scarf dress...dang it. But I digress.

I spent $7 total (well, plus $ for parking and of course, my sweet tea slush). I bought a couple of bangles for my Bitty (pink and green, of course!) and for myself, I bought this AWESOME jar. For what, you ask, do I need one more jar? For this...can't wait!

James picked me up and we had a great lunch outside at Must Be Heaven, then did a bit of shopping. It was an unexpected treat, and a great date in the middle of an already great day.

What an awesome day so far! It will get even better later--we're going shopping for our pumpkins and squash (porch & table decorations) and we might even put together our scarecrow. And Melissa might come visit--yahoo! Or we might go to dinner with the Bogans. Whatever happens, it's already been a great day. I'm a happy girl!

Ya gotta have friiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeenddddddddddds...

So, today at MOPS we talked about friendships. B.B. (before Brenham), in my other life, I had tons of friends, and we were always busy. Some of those friendships from before have lasted and deepened since we've moved and changed, some of them have become good memories, and some of them are still the way they've always been. :) And then there are my newer friends, mostly Mommy friends (right?), some with nothing more in common than just the fact that we live here in Brenham. And then there are my MOPS friends, old and new, and my friends from church (both churches we've attended here) and from Kayci's schools and...you get the idea. I've got friends. Good friends and great friends, everyday friends and when we can friends. Old friends, new friends, work friends, play friends. Friends...where would I be without them? Thanks, my friends, for all you add to this wonderful life I'm living. And I hope you fall into this category, or have friends who do: the very best friends are the ones who, when I look at them, I see who I want to be. :) If you're one of those for me, thank you. (I had a great conversation with one of YOU today about parenting...the tears in your eyes broke my heart a bit, and I hope you'll give one of MY favorite Moms some grace. You ROCK--you just can't see it!)

Now rest up, girls...it's Round Top time and I'm ready for a sweet tea slushee. And perhaps a little Fair on the Square on Saturday...one for me, one for the kids. It's only fair, right? :)