Is it wrong to be this excited?

Nathan is having his first all-nighter tonight, with Grammy and Pa-Pa (my parents). Paul and I are going to a semi-fancy banquet that his plant is having for their 20-year anniversary. We thought if Nathan stayed the night with them, we wouldn't have to worry about hurrying home and could enjoy ourselves a little more.
I am so excited about this! Is that bad?
I don't have to worry that when we get home, he'll be screaming, or that by the time the we finish visiting with the babysitter and they leave, any romantic mood that's been set would be lost.
And OF COURSE I have the mother of all zits on my chin. It's not as huge as it was, but it's definitely red and ugly (I have a picking problem). I had to steal makeup from my sister since my my makeup stash is only for eyes and lips.
But I get to wear my favorite black dress - I bought a new shrug/shawl to go with it since the dress is sleeveless. I'm going to put my hair up, and wear red lipstick, and maybe I'll even remember to put on perfume! I shall be one sexy mama!

(I'd feel a lot sexier if I didn't have to peel off the control top pantyhose in front of him when we get home, and have marks from the seams.... but that black dress ain't happening without them!)

Blast from the Past (VI)

(1996?)

I was so mature.

Blast from the Past (V)

No wonder Nathan's so adorable, with a Daddy that was this cute!

(4 years old, 1984)

Blast from the Past (IV)

(1998)

Yep, that's my handsome hubby giving me a flower - 5 years before we became a couple.
This is on our summer mission trip to Mexico. When we were in Mexico (Aldama - like 8 hours in from the border), the girls did the guys laundry BY HAND (think wash tubs and scrub boards). So to repay us, once we got back to Texas, they took us all out to dinner. Doug came and got us one at a time, and when we walked around the building, one of the guys surprised us and gave us each a flower. It so happened that Paul gave me mine.
We were destined.

Blast from the Past (III)

(2001)

I really don't know what to say about this one. But the look on Brooke's face just cracks me up!
It's at Worlds of Fun the summer or fall of 2001, before they got married. We had a girl's day since their guys are pansies and don't like roller coasters. (Paul and I weren't together yet.)
We have got to do that again. Except maybe no freaky monkey love this time, okay girls?

Blast from the Past (II)

For the next edition of Blast from the Past, we have this:

(1999)

The reason this one cracks me up is the fact that Jason is sitting in the Governor's chair. We come in and the Gov does his smug little meet-and-greet, then we're asked to take our places for the photo and Jason asks, "Can I sit in the chair?" The look of astonishment on Gov. Graves' face was priceless.

I don't know if you guys ever did the page thing, but I totally reccomend making YOUR kids do it. It's a great way to see the legislative government at work. All you have to do is write your Congressman or Senator.

Apparently I Cheated.

Since I complained about not being able to come up with 25 Random Things for two of my random things, and that's against the rules, here's two more:

• In winter, when sleeping, there is a certain "weight" of blanket-age I need on me in order to feel warm. It may be 68 degrees in the house, but if I don't have at least two extra blankets on the bed, I feel cold.
• I worked on a dairy for 5 years as a teenager. Lots of cow boobies.

Blast from the Past

I'm doing some major sorting/downsizing at our house. I realized that whenever we have a second child, we're going to need the second bedroom (aka "The Pit of Disasterness"). I have to sort through all the stuff (most of which could be thrown away or gotten rid of) and condense it down to fit in the closet that is all we have for an attic (that's already half full of stuff that has been gone through already).

I'm finding all sorts of great things that make me laugh. Most of it's from Paul's things, as I was rather ruthless on my belongings when I moved out when we got married. But I'm finding old school yearbooks, old photos, old letters, and just in general old "treasures".

For today's entry, we have this photo:

Can you tell who it is?

25 Random Things About Me

Carrie tagged me on Facebook to do this, but I figured some of my blog readers/non-Facebookers would enjoy it.
I'm not gonna tag anyone, because I'm not sure I know 25 people to tag. But if you think my list is interesting, consider yourself tagged. (Although I do tag Lurenda, because she SERIOUSLY needs to post a new blog!)
My 25 things, in no particular order:

1. I love to cook - LOVE it. But I can never come up with ideas, so we end up usually having the same 5 dishes... Burritos, Tater Tot Casserole, Chinese Hash, Butter Herb Noodles, and Hamburgers.
2. I love gardening. But I lack motivation to weed and water in the heat, so my plants usually die.
3. I am obsessed with plucking my eyebrows and chin hairs. Especially the chin hairs.
4. I am very confident of how I look, yet at the same time always dissatisfied about my weight.
5. I love my husband. And have loved him since I was 5.
6. Sometimes I randomly break out with a song or a sound effect (like a train sound). Because I'm random.
7. My piano needs tuned badly.
8. I swore off pop, but my boss brings me a Route 44 Vanilla Dr. Pepper every Monday morning, and I can't make myself tell her to stop.
9. We want lots of kids - 5 boys and 2 girls. (But more realistically, we'll probably stop at 4 kids - or at least assess the situation then.)
10. I hope our next baby is a boy. Because I think all little boys need a little brother to be best friends with. And then there will be at least two to protect the little sister.
11. I love the song "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly." I have every verse memorized and can't just sing one verse - I have to do all of them.... all 7.
12. I played violin for a CD recording. (Granted, I was part of a group of like 50, but it still sounds impressive to say that.)
13. I play (or kind of play) the piano, violin, guitar, mandolin, trombone, and harmonica.
14. I hate pacifiers for babies. They're okay for, you know, pacifying them, when they're upset or sleepy - but I absolutely hate it when they have to have one in their mouth all the time. Especially when they're 3 1/2.
15. I will never again have an indoor cat.
16. Even though I lead worship for church every week, I don't consider myself a particularly good piano player or singer - I know how to do it, so I do it for God's glory, and hope that people can look past me and get a glimpse of God through the music.
17. I will consider myself a good mother if my children grow up to love Jesus and have a personal relationship with him. Making sure they eat their vegetables and make their bed just isn't as important. (Even though I will try!)
18. I'm really struggling to find 25 things for this.
19. I think my husband is totally hot. Freckles and all.
20. I hate Hate HATE the sensation of biting a fork as you eat. Just thinking about it makes me shudder.
21. This is taking me longer than I thought and the Route 44 has taken effect, so I am uncomfortable.
22. I'm totally proud of my husband and the job he's doing as a supervisor at work. He was told by his senior that he's the best CE supervisor he's ever worked with in the 20 years he's been there.
23. I really appreciate the 12-hour shifts and weird schedule that Paul endures to provide for us, and that he does it without complaining.
24. I hate figuring taxes, but am too cheap to pay $40 (at least) to have someone else do it.
25. I think my parents did an awesome job of raising us kids to teach us how to work hard and be honest. They may feel like they didn't know what they were doing, but I think we all turned out good.

Amazingness.

Now, I'm not normally one to photograph my food, but let me show you the best burger I've had in a while.... Perhaps even ever.

Now what we've got here is a quarter pound of lean Eichenberger beef, topped with American cheese, fresh pickles*, sauteed onions (pretty much a whole one), thick-sliced locally raised bacon, and hickory barbeque sauce, on a gourmet bun spread with mayonnaise. (Paul made the "gourmet" buns out of frozen Subway dough we have - I'm not sure what he put in them - they were all different - but I do know they all had parmesan.) Served up with sauteed green beans on the side.

Halfway through, I was so amazed by its amazingness that I had to take another picture.

Hungry yet?

*"Fresh pickles" are an experiment I tried this year. Since all my homemade pickles lose their crunch during processing, I tried just putting fresh cukes in pickle juice and storing them in the fridge. They've been marinating there since September and are DELICIOUS - and much crisper then even a Vlassic.

A One Year Old, A Pickle Jar, and a Knife

As we made supper as a family last night, Nathan helped me set the table. I gave him a pickle out of the jar to chew on, then went back to cooking the hamburgers.
Not satisfied with one pickle, he went to get another. But used a knife instead.
When I turned around, there was pickle juice gushing all over the table, but I couldn't see from where.
Obviously, I wasn't fast enough with the camera to actually get the pickle juice gushing, but after we got it all cleaned up, I thought I'd take some to amuse you with.

No problem obvious?

Let me zoom in for you.....

Still not clear? Let's make it really obvious...

I don't know how, but he knocked a perfect oval out of the bottom of the jar. There were no shards or anything. So we ate the pickles we needed for supper. And found out that Nathan loves pickles..... Cheeseburger patty? No. Pickle? Yes.

I think I need a nickname for him that includes the word "Destruction" in it. Because that's what he's been an expert at lately.

Or do you think "Munchkinator" covers it?

Husband vs. The Frosting

Just so you know, ladies, when you tell your husband that the frosting will spread easier if you microwave it a little while, apparently they need specifications as to what a little while is.

Paul wanted to put some leftover frosting on a sponge cake, so I told him it was pretty hard from being in the fridge, he'd need to nuke it to get it to spread.

So he put it in for "only a minute."

In case anyone reading doesn't see a problem with his logic.... Frosting is made primarily of fat (butter). Anything that has this much fat only needs a tiny amount of microwaving to melt. ESPECIALLY if it's in a plastic container.

I love you anyways, dear.

Once Mighty, Now Fallen

We've been doing more "property improvements"....
Have you noticed that my definition of improvements always involves removing things? Like the cedar trees, the fountain, and the fence?
Well, we've been at it again.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

At first glance, the "Before" picture actually looks better, because of the insanely green spring we had last year. And now our yard looks all stumpy. (Note to self: Nag the husband into doing something about that.)

But due to the wind storm we had the end of December, the huge cedar tree in our front yard had to come down. I knew it was getting old and had a hollow spot in it, but about two weeks after the wind storm, I walked out to the mailbox and as I walked under it, I was like, "Why is that creaking and popping so much?"

So I looked up, and there were about three cracks running up and down the tree, and the whole crown was twisting side to side in the breeze. Being that it is a 40 foot tree, and it is rooted only 15 feet from our house, I went inside and immideately made an appointment to get it cut down.

Once the guy came and cut it down, we found out that pretty much the whole trunk was hollow. It wouldn't have lasted another wind storm.

Bad thing is: no shade. Our front yard looks huge now with all of those trees gone, but this end of our house is going to be hot come summer. We were going to wait until some trees were established before we cut that big cedar down, but oh well. Better no shade than a damaged house.

Any reccomendations for a fast growing shade tree? I'm thinking a sugar maple.

16 Months:16 Teeth

Nathan's last two teeth broke through this weekend. Now he's got a full set from the front to back. I know he's going to get more molars, but he doesn't have that gap between front and back anymore.
So question for experienced mommies: Do perfectly straight infant teeth mean they'll have straight adult teeth?
Both Paul and I have/had crooked teeth, so it would be nice to not have to wonder whether we should put braces on our kid. I'm not of the camp that thinks they're always necessary, but if my child is going to be self-conscious and not smile because they think their teeth are ugly, then I want to do what I can to help them.
In other news:
I can't believe it's time to start thinking about the garden..... The seed catalogs are piling up. Since our bastard cat (and that is literal, even though I use the term because I hate him) peed on all of my leftover seeds last summer, I have to start from scratch. Which is kind of nice to try something new, but that means I have to pick the variety that sounds the best out of a whole page of options - for every thing we're planting!
I am determined to do better in the garden this year. I really have no excuse - the first year we were here, I was working 40-50 hours a week; the second year, I was working two jobs and pregnant; last year, I had a clingy baby who would let me out of his sight or grasp. This year, I have a fearless one-year-old who would like nothing better then to be able to run around outside for a couple hours each day while I water and weed.
Plus, I have a new resolution to spend less time online. I will do my morning coffee and internet browsing, but after that it's on to household tasks - no internet 'til Nathan's in bed. Yesterday I balanced the checkbook (which took me FOREVER because of some weird things our bank had done transferring money), exercised, read several chapters in a book I got from the library, took a nap (sort of), ran a couple loads of laundry, and got the four "main rooms" of the house cleaned. Oh, and made supper (sweet and sour pork).
Today's goal: fold all that blasted laundry (before the b* cat pees on it) and clean the bathroom. I sort the laundry for washing in the bathroom, so until all the piles of clothes are gone, I don't touch the bathroom. And add to that, whenever I take one of the boys (when babysitting) in to change a diaper or go potty, the other two follow. So there's bath toys and various items pulled from drawers laying all over the place. I'm waiting for the day a bath toy goes through the washer and dryer.
Well, the boys should be getting here soon, so I should get myself presentable and put away all toys that get fought over - which is.... oh, most of them.

Global Warming?

Apparently there's a cold snap.
A snap that's so cold everyone's having trouble with their pipes freezing. I just looked at my site meter, and of the last 100 views, only 5 weren't from people who had found it by Google-ing help for frozen pipes. From Ohio to Massachusetts to Georgia, and every state in between, it must be cold.
Hope my post helped.

Ho Hum

I should be cleaning.
But I don't want to be.
I'm half done with the dining room.
That's excuse for a break.
But now I feel guilty for taking a break.
So I will press on and get it done.
Then I will start on supper.
Because there's always something.

Note to Self:

You can no longer leave the salt and pepper shakers out on the table. Your one-year-old thinks it's amusing to climb up on the table and sprinkle them underfoot in manner of a tap dancer or sprinkle them atop his freshly-laundered clothes as if the laundry basket were one giant cooking pot.

You'd think after, oh, the fortieth time of this happening, you'd remember such things and wouldn't have to write a note to self.

It's Winter.

So I don't have anything to write about.
We're "nestled in" for the winter.... I try not to leave the house unless I have a specific reason (i.e. house cleaning, band practice, etc.); even though gas is less than half what it was about a year ago, I still want to cut corners and scrimp where I can. Like yesterday: I really wanted to go into town - I have several non-pressing errands that need done, but nothing that HAD to be done on a Monday. So we're leaving early for band practice tonight to do it all then.
We are enjoying Nathan so much these days. (Not that we ever did NOT enjoy him!) He is running all over the house, and he has the funniest little run - it's like he runs by bouncing on his feet and ankles..... I'll try to video it so you can laugh, to.
Apparently we've reached the age of repeating things he hears..... Guess I need to step it up on the "Words I'm Trying to Get Rid Of". Last night when we were playing he said "Whatcha doing?"(just like I say it), "Where'd it go?" and "I don't know." All as clear as day - but I'm not sure he realized what he was saying, because he didn't repeat them. (I'm sure had I said "crap" that he'd have been saying it all the rest of the night, then.)
Have I mentioned I hate whining? With a passion.
Right now the 3-year-old I babysit is whining because he didn't get to watch "train movie". Paul and I have decided that when we let Nathan watch TV, he has to sit and watch it, and when it's over, we turn it off. If he starts ignoring it in the middle of it, we turn it of. We don't want the TV to always be on in the background while they're playing or not paying attention. (Which is what the two I babysit are used to.)
Dallas asked to watch his movie, and so I told him to go sit down, and he told me no. I explained our "rule" two or three times, and when he kept refusing to sit down, I put in the Old McDonald baby movie that Nathan kept handing me. Which brought on a major whining fit, complete with hiding behind the couch. Yesterday the whining fit was over the fact that he didn't like the cup I gave him his requested drink of water in. I listened to it for 10 minutes before I put him in our bedroom so I didn't have to listen to him anymore.
Please tell me not all children go through this! I'm not sure I can handle it!

About that Bailout....

The more I think about that $700 BILLION bailout our government so carelessly handed out - once again, do government officials not have to pay taxes? Is that why they so freely spend MY MONEY on these idiotic pursuits? - the more it hacks me off.
Instead of giving money to the executives at the top, why didn't they give it to those of us at the bottom - which is where they say the problem started anyways, because people couldn't pay their loans!
Imagine how much more sense it would make to give out that money in the form of a "grant" - Okay, show us ptoof you have a home mortgage, and we'll cut a check straight to Countrywide (or whoever carries your loan) to help you out. That helps the big mortgage corporations, because they're getting their money, and it helps us by freeing us up to spend money on things OTHER than house payments, thus stimulating our economy. End of "economic crisis."
Seriously. If this mommy - who doesn't have a college degree or any financial expertise other than managing our family checkbook - can figure that out, surely one of the HOW MANY people in Congress could have thought of it!

I'm a Pansy.

And this was like the 5th time I'd shot it......

My family has a new tradition when we get together: going to shoot! Whereas I'm a big supporter of firearms in general, it's been years since I've shot anything other than our single-shot rifle. I'm pretty sure I was about 12 last time I shot a shotgun.

After about 6 shots with this gun (a 12-guage), I went in and got "the ladies gun" - a bolt-action .410, which has shells only the size of my pinkie, thus less kick-back. It's harder to hit a target with the smaller shells, but I figured I wasn't going to be hitting anything anyways, so it might as well hurt me less with each shot.

Spiritual Warfare

A girl I went to camp with a couple summers ago emailed me yesterday to ask for help getting back on track. I decided to pray about it before I replied.
As I was cleaning the bathroom this morning, I remembered that I needed to reply to her so I immediately went to do that. I didn't want her to have to wait for some answers/help.
As I went out the bathroom door, Nathan pinched his fingers in the hinges and started screaming. I got him calmed down, so I went to the computer. As soon as I started typing, he started screaming again. So I changed his diaper in case it was poopy (I can't smell with this cold). It wasn't, but he still screamed, so I gave him milk. He quieted down and sat on the couch for a few minutes before he started back up.
I knew I needed to get it sent, so I went ahead and kept typing even though he was screaming or pulling on me the entire time.
I was happy with how it read, so I pushed send.
I kid you not - as soon as it was sent, Nathan stopped screaming and became his normal happy self.
I hate to think that Satan would use my precious one-year-old for his purposes (which would be to keep me from helping this girl get back to Christ). But I know he does. I'm not saying Satan is inhabiting Nathan. I just know that he can use anything to distract us from fulfilling Christ's will - whether it would be a child screaming during an important message, the car breaking down, traffic being bad.... If it can keep us from meeting someone or being somewhere where we might witness (or be witnessed to), Satan is going to do what he can. I think he even uses things like the car breaking down or the loss of a job or health to frustrate us and to make us question God.
So I'm assuming that what I wrote was what God wanted this girl to hear. Please pray for her, and pray for me as I help lead her.