Parenting

I think I hit my limit tonight.

You have probably gathered that my kids are named "The Prince" and "The Princess" out of a little bit of disgust on my part. I am thoroughly disgusted tonight. I can't even tell you why. I'm too embarrassed. But I will say, I need prayer, and lots of it.

Speaking of prayer: I pray a lot. All the time. I've fallen off the wagon as far as Bible reading and fellowship. I have felt isolated for a long time. Can't put my finger on the cause; I do know it's not God's fault. I went wrong somewhere, and now I have to make my way back. I'm so glad He's forgiving.

I know this sounds random.

If I don't write stuff down, it bounces around my head. I'm just remembering that I used to journal, and it helped to get my head straight. It's 1:00 a.m. I can't sleep for the stomach ache I have, caused by anxiety about my home life.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far. I'll be back to myself soon. Hopefully, an improved me, who actually feels like she's doing God's will. Yeah, that would be nice.

You know what got me on this bumming path today? A very young man (mid-20s) went swimming yesterday morning in a fitness pool. He died in that pool. No one yet knows why. This same man has a wife and two-year-old son. His wife is 7 months pregnant with a boy. She is so distraught that she is in the hospital with premature labor.

This young man returned from Iraq last August. He survived 18 months there as a helicopter pilot (medi-vac, I think). He was constantly shot at. We prayed for his safety all the time. And he survived.

I don't understand. I can't imagine. I'm so sad...and I've never met this family. I've met the young man's brother and his family. They are wonderful, God-loving people. Why?

My own problems pale in comparison. And yet, it drove home a sad truth; I'm not living up to my potential, and I'm not encouraging my kids to, either. I have work to do.

Indiana Jones

We saw it yesterday. I was not disappointed. It was totally unbelievable. It was silly as could be. Lots of humor. The audience laughed out loud a number of times, and cheered and clapped, too! The special effects were amazing (Industrial Lights & Magic strikes again), and I was happy to see Harrison Ford can still rock it. He's got some awesome biceps! I was completely entertained. I was driven to distraction, however, by imagining what the ride at Disneyland will be like! :-)

I was astonished that several people brought their very young (like under 5 yo) children. There were some pretty scary, loud parts that The Prince especially would never have tolerated at that age. The movie overall was pretty clean...didn't have to cover the kids' eyes even once.

See ya later!
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Home Sweet Home

Not that I'd know, lately. Man, I just want an entire day or two to decompress.

Work has picked up a lot. The money is good. However, I am therefore printing documents, taking calls from signing agencies, making calls to borrowers to confirm appointments, trying to help the kids with school work, trying to cook (Ha!), trying to keep up on laundry (hahahahaha), getting La Princess to her classes, trying with all my might to get a working budget (lololololololol). You know, just generally trying to do it all, and not doing anything well. *sigh* I'm tired.

So, I have not been here to blog. I get on the computer, and I check my many bookmarked blogs, but can't bring myself to post to my own blog. Sorry 'bout that.

I haven't worked on the weekends in awhile, but today I have two jobs. So, I'm out of here soon (at about 12), and won't back until 4:30 or 5. I'm glad we have a three-day weekend...I guess I will have my two days of rest!

I really, really, really want to see the Indiana Jones movie. I got some movie tickets by doing a grocery deal at my local grocery store (Pavilions). So, we get to see it for free!!!!

The kids and I saw the Narnia movie the first Friday it was out. Oh my, it was good. I like it better than the first one. The acting was much better, and it was more action-packed and violent. Sorry, I like some violence in my action movies. :-)

I hope everyone out there is well. I'll see ya soon!

Be blessed, and stay safe this weekend.

Mother's Day Tea

I was kinda feeling sorry for myself. Since we are trying not to spend money, I decided that instead of our usual decadent dinner or brunch out for Mother's Day, we would host a party here at our house. Therefore, Mother's Day will have nothing to do with my own motherhood, just my daughterhood, and daughter-in-law-hood. Yes, I know. B-O-O H-O-O.

However, my mom's dear friend, Lena, invited us out to her church to a Mother's Day Tea today. I figured it would be a nice time, but no big deal. Well, it turned out to be truly lovely.



It was a long drive out to Lena's church. So, we had to stop at Starbucks. Mom bought us our drinks, and we sat for a few minutes, before heading out again.












This was our table. Isn't it pretty? Each table had a hostess who had decorated it, including providing the china. They had a contest in three categories: Most Elegant, Most Original and Most Fun. Ours was in the Most Elegant category, but lost out to a table done in a French theme, with the Eiffel Tower as its centerpiece. We were robbed, I tell you. :-)









The men of the church were our servers. They kept our teapots full, and made sure everyone had all the cold water and pink lemonade they wanted. Mom and The Princess enjoyed their tea very much.










Ahem. And then, there's me. The Winner. Oh yes, I am. I won a gift basket with a beautiful bracelet, a stack of cards (they called it "card stock") and ***drum roll, please*** a $25 gift card to AMC Theaters! Oh yeah. Indiana Jones, here we come!

I really, really, really despise pictures of myself, but I had to gloat. What's that saying? Pride comes before a fall? I almost broke the camera. :-)







And here's Mom and her friend (and our hostess), Lena. Lena actually treated us to the day, which was so wonderful! My mom and Lena first met while working at Mervyn's years and years ago. They now meet (along with Lena's husband and my dad) once a month to have lunch together and shop. They actually look a little bit alike, too.




The guest speaker was a lady who founded a lovely place called "Moses House." Her talk was called "Every Mother's Heart." She quoted Sophia Loren (though when I looked it up, someone else said it), who said, "Making the decision to have a child -- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." Truer words were never spoken.

And she read this scripture: Jer 29:11 (NIV) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

And so, I am feeling guilty for having a little pity party this week. I can honestly say, I've had my Mother's Day now. I'll be cooking tomorrow, but my brother is bringing some of the side dishes, so I really have no reason to feel put-upon. It's all good. And God is really, really good to bless me despite myself.

To all you mom's, have a blessed, beautiful, wonderful, joyful day!

Tagged by Elisa

Since she insists I am suffering from writer's block, here goes: :-)

Here are the rules if you decide to play along:
1) Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4) Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I had a blankie when I was little. It was trimmed with pink satin. I loved to suck on the satin (along with my thumb) as I went to sleep. My mom tried to get me to give up the blankie over and over. I wasn't going for it. One day, she was taking some trash out to the trash can and saw my blankie inside! However, a little while later, it was gone. Yup, I took it out. I did eventually give it up. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.

2. My mom was an Avon lady at one time. They used to actually go door to door in their assigned neighborhood. Years after she had quit, we decided to clean out the cabinet in the bathroom that held all the Avon stuff she had accumulated. We started giggling, then laughing, then gasping for breath when we saw all the cheesy little perfume bottles, etc. Mom peed her pants. Oh.yes.she.did. Which almost made me pee my pants, but it didn't. I had better bladder control than she did.

3. I have a younger brother. We didn't get along real well as kids. We are still very, very different. I am pleased as pie that my kids get along, and really love each other. I hardly ever have to apply cold packs after their fights.

4. Although I have the smallest feet, and am the shortest in my house, I come in second for weight. At least I think so.

5. My parents were always the oldest amongst my friends parents. I am the oldest of two. My father was 37 when I was born; my mom was 32. That was OLD back then. Nowadays, people do that all the time.

6. Ack, this is getting harder. Hmmm....okay. Despite being an extrovert, I really, really, really like alone time. I dream about going on a cruise all by myself. Isn't that awful?

7. I don't know if I've mentioned this one before: I always wanted to have at least three kids. I babysat all the time (and absolutely loved it) from the time I was 13. I bought my first car with babysitting money, for Pete's sake. I married someone who only ever wanted two, unfortunately. I dream (yes, I'm dreaming again) of doing the foster-to-adopt thing. Of course, my dreams rarely line up with my husband's, so....

Okay, that's seven. Thanks, Elisa!

I tag the following: Daja, Trish, Tigerlilly, Renna, Mel, Andrea, Nola.

I'm thinkin' they're all gonna kill me, but HA!!! only one of them knows where I live, and I can take her (I think). :-)

I am pitiful

I've finally figured out why I don't blog more. It's because I LOVE to read other people's blogs more! Also, I hate how long it takes to upload pictures to my blog. I wish it were a lot quicker, so I could just load 'em and go.

So, just as an update, we are not moving to Texas. Yes, I'm heartbroken. Movin' on.

Pictures, pictures, pictures:


This is The Princess and "D." "D" has the voice of an angel, and we found out at the showcase that her brother does, too! He sang a Michael Buble song (I Feel Good), and oh my. So amazing. Both "D" and her bro are in our homeschool coop.

I don't know why The Princess has to do this "look." She's a weirdo.









There's the Princess in the finale. All the kids who take voice sang "Seasons of Love," from "Rent."
















The tall kid with dark hair, almost in the middle of the picture, is "D's" brother. The one with the voice of an angel (like his sister). :-)

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The Princess began taking ballet as a little girl of about 3 or 4. The classes were held through our local Parks & Rec. When she was about 7, she was blessed to attend classes with a lady who lived just a few streets north of ours, and had converted her garage into a studio. She was a former prima ballerina, and The Princess learned a lot about classical music, and the proper names for the positions and ballet moves.

When "Miss Judy" moved away, she didn't want to take ballet anymore. Until now. She just started taking ballet a few months ago at the dance studio she's been attending for over a year. I was beyond thrilled when she got to perform at the showcase.

Sorry about the quality of these pics. I did an auto adjust in Adobe, because they were really, really dark. Someday, I'll upgrade to PhotoShop. The Princess thinks that first pic is weird looking, but I kinda like the affect.






























And that's one of her best friends with the long, blonde hair.



















Here are her two best buds. She calls them "Twiggy" (the blonde) and "My Mandie" (the brunette). They all have silly names for each other.

By observation over the years, I've found that threes usually don't work. I mean, if my kids have a friend over, and then another one comes along, usually one person is left out, or there is arguing amongst all three. Not with these three. They love dance and theater, and they support each other, and pray for and with each other. Maybe that's the key. They were all in a "showcase" with their dance studio a week or so ago, and this is how they were acting afterwards. It was pretty cute.

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You may remember this tall beauty from the sleepover. I call her "Punk." These two LOVE the mall. More particularly, they love to try on dressy dresses. I dropped them off a few days ago









They tried on over 20 dresses. In fact, they decided to do a page in our homeschool yearbook entitled "27 Dresses."

We think Punk looks like a mannequin in this picture. :-)


















This black and white number was The Princess' favorite. I think this is one of my favorites on the Punk, too. I can't believe my daughter and her friends look like this. I mean, they're gorgeous!






















They took this picture just 'cuz it looked cool. I like the affect.


They really should have used the flash, since a lot of the pics are a little fuzzy, but The Princess said the pictures were coming out better if they took them in the mirrors, and the flash made a big bright spot on the picture. Oh, well.




And what, you may ask, has The Prince been up to? Look if you dare.
















He wanted to get the lizard close to the camera, but I kept saying "Noooooo, just keep it there and I'll use the zoom!" I cannot believe The Prince can actually catch these little guys, but I've watched him, so there is undeniable proof.

Okay, so I shoulda warned you to get your favorite beverage again. Oops.