Girlymama

Husband and I are going on a date. To see Pirates of the Caribbean. 🙂 I am soooo excited. Johnny Depp. Hee hee hee!

This will make up for my rather difficult day in which I tried to clean the house while my children tried to make it dirty. And I have somehow lost the phone. I keep calling it from my cell phone, paging it from the base…. no dice. Gone. I have turned the house upside down. If you find it, could you please send it back to me? Thanks! Or – I know! If you guess where I will eventually find it, then you will get a prize! Doesn’t that sound fun!?

As I am scrubbing the house clean this morning, the kids were playing nice and quietly in their rooms. (Yes, I know that should have been my first clue.) I was just finishing up the family room, having started with our room and worked my way down, when I hear this:

Big Sister: “Mommy, it is really, really messy.”
Me: “What’s messy?”
Big Sis: “Mommy and Daddy’s room is really really messy. Mess all over.”
Me: (as my soul fills with dread) “Show me.”
Big Sis: (leading the way, entering the room) “Look.”

They had emptied the entire garbage can on to the floor. And unwrapped everything, taken things apart so that things were as messy as they could have possibly been. Box of tissues – emptied. Toilet Paper torn into teeny-tiny pieces all over.  Our drawers in the bathroom – emptied. Some of our dresser drawers – emptied.

I believe this may be a sign from God telling me not to clean anymore.

This past week marked the 6th anniversary of my dad’s death. How are you supposed to mark a date like that? Technically, it was on Friday, so I taught VBS, cleaned up the house, took care of my kids, ran to the grocery store and crashed into bed at 8:30. Humm….. what are you supposed to do? Visit the grave? Look at pictures? Seriously. I’m wondering.

Six years later, I can look back on that day without tears (usually). The happy memories of my dad outweigh the grief of his passing. This took a lot of time, of course, but it happened. It is a tremendous comfort to know he is with his Savior in heaven. I mainly get down when I watch my father-in-law playing with my kids. My dad would have been an amazing grandpa and it breaks my heart that he never got to meet his grandchildren. I find myself wondering if he can see them, if he knows them. The Bible doesn’t address that, but I wonder. Now that Big Sister is getting older, she will be asking where Grandpa is. (We have pictures of him around the house and, when she asks, we say who he is.) So soon we’ll be explaining all of that to her.

My dad’s death was a tremendous test of my faith. How could God do this to my family? Why us? Why now? I remember acting strong for my mom and siblings.  Taking care of details and arrangements. Calling people to tell them the news.  Helping my mom think through plans for the family, cleaning her house and sitting with other grieving family members.  And I also remember sobbing alone in the shower.  I remember my little sister crawling into my bed because she couldn’t sleep alone. Watching my mother walk around like a zombie. Handing out tissues at the wake because I hate listening to people snort. Through all of that, I had to trust that God’s timing was perfect. I had to trust God to take care of my family, since I had just gotten married and moved out-of-state a month before. I had to trust God with my own broken heart. I’m not even sure that “heartbreaking” does justice to how truly devastating that experience was for me. There were days when I couldn’t even pray. It was too painful – my heart was crushed in a vice and no words could come out. I could only get out something like, ‘Dear God…’ and nothing else would come. I would end up curled in a ball, sobbing out my grief to the Lord. 

I’m not really a “cryer.”  But, singing this hymn in church on Sunday had me holding in my tears. I am continually overwhelmed by God’s grace in my life. I know that my dad’s death was not an accident or a punishment or whatever. I am not angry with God. I don’t understand why this had to happen, but I have peace about it. I know that the Lord is good. I know he is faithful. I know that he takes care of me and my family. And I know He will be faithfully keep his promises to the end of time.  

Jesus! What a help in sorrow! While the billows o’er me roll,
even when my heart is breaking, he, my comfort, helps my soul.
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end.

Jesus! I do now receive him, more than all in him I find;
he hath granted me forgiveness, I am his and he is mine.
Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving, he is with me to the end.
Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners! verses 3-5

We recently cut down a ton of trees around our house (see picture here). And now we have something we’ve never had…. sun!! Yay! The yard is looking great and it has really opened up our property.

However, we neglected to consider that we had all shade plants in the backyard, my containers were shade flowers and had planted “shade” grass. So with the 113 degree weather last week, our yard now looks like this:

Okay, not quite like that, but close. Think lots of brown and dirt. Some of our grass appears to have completely evaporated. Dang it. I officially kill all plants including grass. That’s bad. How have my children survived?

…but I promise not to do more of these for awhile now. Since I just realized I am doing two memes in a row. But I got tagged by dcrMom after her very first tag and this is my very first tag, so here we are.

5 things in my freezer: ice cream, ice, waffles, ice cream and popsicles.
5 things in my closet: clothes, shoes, linens, sewing machine, lots and lots of laundry
5 things in my car: IPod, wet ones, strollers, barrettes/ponytail holders (Little Sister is always taking them out of her hair. grrrrrr), 82372 pounds of cracker crumbs
5 things in my purse: wallet, cell phone, chapstick, sunglasses, loads of mom crap (cracker crumbs, tissues, snacks, stickers, random toy pieces)
5 things in my wallet: drivers licence, library card, credit cards, my brand-new Sam’s Club card (5 gallon vat of olive oil, here I come!!), hopefully some cash (but usually not more than about $5)
5 people I tag are: Sister, other sister, future sister-in-law, aunt and…. brother.

Have fun. I’m going to bed. We went to Sesame Place today with the girlies. I’ll put up some pictures later, but now I must go collapse.

A friend asked these questions today. And since I am too tired to think of anything else to write, see why here, I’ll answer.

1. Why do you blog?
2. Where/when did you first hear about blogs?
3.How did you get started blogging?
4. What is your biggest challenge with blogging?
5. What is your biggest surprise with blogging?

1. I blog because I find it very theraputic to write about my crazy life. You don’t really talk to people about the insane things that happen in life. When someone asks, “How are the girls?” I answer, “Great! Blah blah growing up fast blah blah starting preschool blah blah.” I don’t usually say, “You wouldn’t believe what hapened yesterday. Little Sister took off her poopy diaper and it was all over her crib blah blah Lysol blah blah losing my mind blah blah.” For some reason, in the blogosphere, it’s okay to let it all hang out and not be the perfect wife and mother everyone thinks I am (snort).

2. I heard about blogs in the media. I remember asking my husband, “What the heck is a blog?” Then I found out that some of my friends had them. So I read them, thought it looked like fun and decided to give it a try.

3. I started a “family blog” to document what my kids were doing. And I was really tired of writing 1647164 e-mails every week to all our family members who ALL live far away. This way I could just write one letter and everyone could read it! It got really popular and then I decided I’d like to have my own blog. One that my grandmother wasn’t reading. So here we are.

4. My biggest challenge is………. finding time to sit and write. And being disciplined enough not to sit here all day reading blogs, writing entries, etc.

5. My biggest surprise by far is how many people read these things. My family blog is out-of-control with everyone from my grandmother to distant cousins to college buddies reading it daily. This one seems to get a lot of readers as well. I wish I knew who they all were. There is a map in the lower left corner of the page that shows “who’s reading” and there are huge bubbles over places where I don’t think I know anyone. Who is reading this? Come on…. comment on something so I know who you are!

P.S.
Upon writing this post I have discovered something really, really, really funny. The spell-checker on this blog program does not recognize the word “blog.” um… okay……. Has no one at wordpress notice this?

…have a rough job. After teaching at VBS for 3 hours every morning, I have great respect for moms who work. It is hard to get us all up, fed, dressed and on the road by 8:15am. Its hard to fit in everything else I have to do (cook, laundry) and still find time to play with the kids. My house is a wreck. We’ve been eating gourmet meals such as hot dogs and spagetti all week. I’m literally crashing into bed between 9 or 10. I’m still here, but I’m exhausted. We’re all completely and totally pooped. But we’re having fun, despite it being 113 degrees. Again.

I’m rediscovering how much I enjoy preschool. I used to work at a preschool and I loved it. It was so, so fun. I was at one time, long long ago before children, persuing a Masters in Education, specializing in Early Childhood Ed. Back when I had brain cells, I thought this age group was fascinating. I am really loving this! I’m spending my evenings making up crafts, using glue sticks and coloring.  How fun is that? I think I will volunteer to organize and teach the preschool program next year. I may regret this. Check back next year around this time 😉

Big Sister loves going to ‘school’ and looks forward to going every morning. Which she expresses by waking up at 6:15am and asking, “Is it time for school?” “No, go back to bed.” “How about now?” “No. Its 6:17. Go back to bed.” …. “How about now?” “AHHH! Just go watch Sesame Street, okay?” “Okay! Bye, Mom!” “gryhefrl.”

Little Sis is liking school as well. She is particurally fond of having her Mommy be the teacher (“That’s my Mama. Not your Mama.” she will helpfully point out to the other kids) and doing arts and crafts. Today we used glue sticks and Lil’ Sis is now extremely sticky. But every hair on her head is in place, due to heavy glue application. (note to self: most 18-month to two-year-olds have never used glue sticks and will put them on their hands, on the table, on their clothes, in their mouths, on their hair, on their faces, etc) 

Humm… so we should probably take baths before the ice cream social tonight. (nother note to self: don’t tell a three-year-old that we are going to an ice cream party tonight as you are trying to put them down for a nap. the three-year-old will be too excited to sleep and will keep calling you into their room to tell you what flavor they want to get and to remind you they want sprinkles.)

Okay – I need to go figure out a craft for 1-2 year olds to do that has to do with God making animals. That does not involve glue sticks in any way, shape or form.

(my little brother is thinking, “You’re just figuring this out now?!”)

Anyway, I just got a new vacuum. Or more accurately, my mother-in-law got a new vacuum and she gave me her old one. Besides that fact that I honestly like to clean, this is particularly exciting because my old vacuumed sucked. (Well, it sucked dirt up, but it also sucked in general.) 

When I was a young blushing bride, I registered for a vacuum. Having never owned a vacuum except for the little dorm-room sized one that my neighbors broke while trying to vacuum up a broken beer bottle, I had no idea what to look for. All I knew was that vacuums vacuumed up dirt and there were two types, upright and canisters. Since we were moving into a teeny-tiny apartment, I registered for an upright thinking it would save space.

The vacuum that we got was good. (My mother-in-law actually got us a nicer one than we registered for. Maybe I should refer to her as the Vacuum Fairy.)  It did suck up dirt pretty well. And it had lots of little attachments for the crazy cleaning I am fond of. But it was 1) extremely heavy and 2) extremely loud. The loud got to me more, since after a good round of vacuuming, I would realize my ears were ringing. (really!)  We also bought a house in October that is a split-level, which means I have 4 carpeted staircases to vacuum. It is very hard to vacuum staircases with an upright – even with a few good attachments.  So, after using my vacuum on a recent visit and watching me attempt to vacuum out my minivan with the upright, my mother-in-law Vacuum Fairy told me she was buying me a vacuum for my birthday. And, being the cleaning dork that I am, I was very excited about this.

Well, my birthday came early when she decided to buy a new vacuum for herself and gave me her old one.  I have totally vacuumed my entire house at least 4 times since I got it last Monday. And my car once. I just love it! It is so light that you can carry the canister in your hand while you are vacuuming. And it has a sporty little attachment so I can vacuum hardwood floors, stairs, carpet, under things without changing the attachment. So my cleaning time is so much shorter. And it is soooo quiet! I can vacuum while the kids are sleeping or even when they are watching tv in the same room without them crying they can’t hear. Husband said, “Do you really need  vacuums?” um, YES! While I adore my new vac, it sadly does not leave those little ‘vacuum’ lines in the carpet that I am unnaturally fond of. So I will be keeping the ol’ clunker around for awhile yet. But this newer model has stolen the spotlight. It is truly wonderful. It has changed my life. *tear* I’m going to go give my new vacuum a hug.

I worked in the nursery at VBS today – had 5 toddlers and 4 babies. I was giving some cuddles to a very sad baby when Little Sister realized what was happening. Her mama was holding… another baby! Wait! That’s not right! So she bursts into tears, holds up her arms to me, crying, “Mama! Mommeeee! My Mommmeeee!” She looked so incredibly pathetic that another mom put down her newborn baby to pick up Grace and comfort her.  Little Sis stopped crying immediately, snuggled in and let her read her a story.

Wait! So its not just me? Any mom will do, as long as she gives you her full attention? Whatever, kid! See how much sympathy you get tomorrow!

P.S.
I realized when I was unpacking the car when we arrived home (while dripping buckets of sweat after being outside a whole 2 minutes) that we forgot Little Sister’s baby at the church. Woah-boy. This could be a rough afternoon.

… into a puddle of my own sweat! (Great visual, eh?)

It is so stinking hot here. And, the best part is, its going to be hotter tomorrow! Yay! Bring on the central air!!

Speaking of central air, I just got my electric bill for the month of July. Dang. That’s all I have to say about that. Dang. And we keep if fairly high, in an effort to save money. And, as much as my mom tried to convince me that this bill really wasn’t that bad, in comparison. In comparison to what? The electric bill of Japan? Seriously, this is definitely the highest electric bill I have ever seen. Ever. Makes me really look forward to my oil bill in the winter….

Are we sure that global warming is a myth? Because I am really starting not to think so.