I'm still kickin', y'all, which is probably apparent from the commenting on other blogs. :-) As for those who guessed at how I looked different...yes, it's the hair color. I saw come pics of me with the dark hair (which kept getting darker every time I dyed it), and just wasn't feelin' it anymore. So, I got blonde highlights, and I'll be heading back to blonde a bit at a time.

Since I've been gone, I've been to Texas for a week, and brought back a kid with me for ten days. The kid is now back in TX, and tonight is opening night for "Seussical," a musical based on the Dr. Seuss books...and The Princess is not only in the production, but has four costumes, and six total changes. As Pioneer Woman would say "lawsie mercy."

I've become obsessed with scrapbooking. Three-and-a-half days of uninterrupted cropping, and now I can't stop thinking about the pictures and the layouts and the cost (!!!!) of it all. I'm going to an eight hour crop tomorrow, where I will hopefully get more than one page completed. It takes me FOREVER to get my creative juices flowing, but since I've been thinking about it so much, I'm pretty sure I will do well.

I'll be back soon with my Texas pictures, and kid pictures, and Seussical pictures and tea pictures (again!). Because you know that's how I roll.

Have a blessed day!

I'm still here!

Last week, on Thursday evening, I was invited by my mom to see "A Chorus Line" at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. I had seen it when I was 19 with my friend, Sabine (she bought tickets for my birthday). Although the dancing was amazing, the acting was a bit disappointing. However, my mom took me to a French restaurant beforehand, which was awesome! Our little town has a lot of good restaurants, and this is the newest.

Then, on Friday, we went to a huge water park with some of our homeschool friends. The park wasn't crowded at all, which is great for me. I really don't like crowds. We went on several rides and just had a wonderful, relaxing day.




There's the Prince posing with the water park sign.












Then, on Sunday, The Gearhead, the kids and I decided to go to the beach. The kids and I love the beach, but the Gearhead hardly ever goes with us. We spent a few hours in the afternoon listening to the waves hit the sand, and watching countless sailboats on the water. Ah, heaven.






























I hope the Princess's legs don't blind you with their whiteness....

















That's the Prince out there in the waves. He was the only one brave enough to go in the water. It's really COLD!!! He doesn't mind getting sandy, as you can see.

So, hey, do you notice anything different about me? Leave me a comment, and tell me what you think. Do not say it looks like I've gained 15 pounds. It may be true, but that's not what I want you to notice. :-)

Thank you for your kind comments last time. I'm doing better, though I really need to make some changes in our lifestyle here. That's hard to do.

I'm happy to report that the widow of the man who passed away last week is doing well with her pregnancy. She was still having some contractions, but they were under control. I have friends who went to the funeral and said she gave an amazing speech, and even had everyone laughing and crying. Continued prayers for this family are greatly appreciated.

Have a blessed, beautiful, joyful day!

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!
.

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). :-)