Little things that make me happy...

...an adult with braces. It shows such a willingness to be patient to get what you want that I just admire it. Plus, there is something so incredibly funny about hearing a woman who has grandchildren say, "I can't wait 'til I get my stupid braces off."

...the garbage man. I have a special little dance for when I see the garbage truck and know he is headed for my street. And if I actually look out the window while my garbage is being dumped...oh, that does it. I must jump up and down like it's Christmas. I hope I never get over what a lovely thing it is to have someone come to your house and take away all your gross stuff.

...someone out running for exercise on the street. Double happy points if the weather is cold, triple happy points if there is snow on the ground. It just makes me so joyful to see someone out, working hard in unglamorous conditions, to do something good for themselves. When it's a woman, I have a nearly overwhelming desire to scream out my car window, "You GO, Girl!!" However, I stop myself because I cannot pull that exclamation off--for many reasons which we will not cover at this time. So I just think it. Happily.

...finding a parking space right in front. This is especially wonderful if it's a busy day at a store that is almost always crowded, and I have all my little ones with me. I have been known to decide that if I have the kids with me and I find a space right up front, that it is a sign from God that He loves me and wants me to have a good day.

...thank you notes. I am not one to be offended if I send something and don't get a thank you note. I know the age we live in and that sending those, for many, is a lost art. I also know that there are many times good intentions but no follow through. Maybe that's why getting a thank you note is SO lovely to me. I recently realized that I have not taught this art to my children, and have changed my ways. I am embarrassed to think of all the thank you's that haven't gotten said, and knowing the smile it puts on my face to get one makes me all the more determined to say it in writing a lot more often.

Take moment today, if you like, and think about the little things that make you happy!

Quote of the week...

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."

~Henry James

One down, Six to go...

I didn't cry when her name was read. I didn't cry when I saw her face on the ju

mbo screen, singing

.

I was SO proud of myself. I thought, see? I am not going to be one of THOSE moms who gets all weepy and teary and says things like "my baby!"

Then, I looked through the viewfinder and took this picture.

Always thought of these two as my "starter kids". They were my first girl and first boy, then there is a large spread between them and my "little ones." And so I snapped the picture, and then laughed as I couldn't control the tears. I think I may have even said, "My babies."

I am SO not as cool as I thought I was.

Quote of the Week...

"Each new day that dawns can be a new day for us to begin to change. We can change our environment. We can change our lives by substituting new habits for old. We can mold our character and future by purer thoughts and nobler actions."

--James E. Faust

Apparently I don't handle my stress well...

Yeah. There's a shocker.

We have been doing major home improvement projects, and getting the daughter graduated. [mission accomplished--pictures and more in an upcoming post]

We also had company, which I enjoy, although I always want to have everything "perfect". This required much in the way of cleaning and painting and preparing food and blah blah blah. All very important and earth shattering things, I assure you.

The house looked wonderful, the guests were fun, and the food was yummy and plentiful. We got through all the events with very little complications, and had a great time.

But something was lurking beneath the surface, waiting to strike.

Saturday afternoon, I started getting a little rash on my neck. Just kind of red and itchy. Didn't really even think too much about it until late in the evening when it started to spread a bit and get more itchy. Went to the store and got some cream to calm it down and went to bed. The next morning it was about the same. Didn't worry about it, went on with the day.

I woke up early the next morning with something all over my neck and part of my face WAY scarier than anything I have ever seen on Discovery Health Channel. Should they choose to approach me for a documentary, my working titles for it are: "Dermatology Nightmares: When Rashes Go Mutant." OR "Swelling, Oozing, and Blisters: The Triple Threat The Government Doesn't Want You To Know About."

After several trips to the ER and Urgent Care, which included something like 15 prescriptions and some really mean stinging shots to my rear... I am almost healed. It has gotten down to where I just look like I am recovering from a burn, and the pain involved is MUCH more manageable. After I finish the 15 prescriptions in a few weeks, hopefully it will be all gone.

The doctors tell me that this kind of thing usually manifests when the body and mind are under extreme stress and the immune system is worn down. It also has something to do with having the chicken pox virus in my spinal fluid, but I won't bore you with all the details. Suffice it to say, my mind stressed my body into a mother of a reaction.

It has been an interesting experience. I think I had kind of a revelation this week. I take things WAY too personally. I worry about things that are not only beyond my control, but silly and insignificant in the big scheme of things. I really try hard to make everything in my surroundings "perfect" because somehow I think it will distract others (or perhaps more truthfully, me) from the ways in which I feel I fall short as a person. I work far too hard at making things look the way I want them to rather than just enjoying and accepting things (including me) as they are. I am grateful that I didn't let these habits ruin all the fun of the events...but judging by my body's reaction, I just internalized it to be dealt with another day.

I've got some changing to do. I'm going to ask myself some tough questions and be willing to either work with or live with the answers. It's time to let go of certain things before I look back and realize that I really didn't embrace my life and live it with my whole heart.

Wish me luck.

Not to complain, but...

I want my house back! I am blessed with a husband who not only CAN do major home improvements, but actually LIKES to do major home improvements. He amazes me.

However...(this is the totally whining part) I always get all jazzed up and excited and then about the 4th day into it, when there is dust on every surface in my house and we have eaten outside or on the floor for days and as I go room to room all I see is STUFF piled up in stacks that seem to grow by the hour...I start to forget that this was my bright idea. To have him install, and sand, and finish hardwood floors. The week before we have family and friends coming. For our daughter's graduation.

What was I thinking??

Seriously...

I was in the dentist's chair with headphones on, cranking Chorusline and Les Miz to keep my mind off of the fact that the dentist was stabbing me with a needle repeatedly and drilling into my teeth down to the gum line.

[See what I did there? I could have just said that he numbed me up and filled a cavity in one tooth and fit a permanent crown on another, but where's the fun in that?]

So, trying to keep my mind off of the moment, I got to thinking about how I get stuck on using certain words. Lately, my big "go to" word is seriously. I say it at least several dozen times a day. It's a good word, kind of all purpose. It can be exclamatory: "Seriously! That was the best book I've read in years!" or given as a warning: "Seriously?? If you don't stop bouncing that ball right by my head, bad things are going to happen." or just inserted into an average sentence: "I am seriously going to make dinner. Seriously. I am making it right now."

Apparently, I am serious about many things.

It's funny how I go through stages using expressions, and then they will just drop out of my vocabulary. I went through a long phase after my 5th child was born where everything made me say "and now my head is going to explode." One of my sisters commented that it seemed a fairly understandable reponse from a woman learning to be the mother of five. For a month or so, every one I found ignorant and/or obnoxious was a tool. And of course everything cool in the 80's to me was "sweet". That one still slips out from time to time, but you gotta love a classic.

One of the expressions I have used for years that seems like it is going to stick around is "The other day..." to begin a story. Since I was a teenager, I have used this opener regardless of when the story I am about to share actually happened. It could have been the other day, or it could have been several days ago...or months...or years. Nevertheless, I find myself involuntarily saying, "Oh, yeah, the other day..."

Who knows if this latest word will stay around or leave just as quickly as it came. In the meantime I'll just tell you that, seriously? I have to go and get some sleep or I will be really tired in the morning.

Seriously.

Quote of the week...

"Violence is not strength, and compassion is not weakness." --King Arthur

Quote of the week...

"The only thing better than singing is more singing."

--Ella Fitzgerald

Why is it...

...that when pretty much any song that was even relatively popular in the 80's comes on the radio, I can sing the lyrics with immediate clarity and startling accuracy, and yet it takes me 10 minutes to remember where I left my keys?

Memories...

A few years ago, when we started telling people that we were expecting our 7th child, somebody at the state patrol office anonymously left a condom in hubby's mailbox. Nice.

A few days later, my brother-in-law came through town. He is a doctor and gets all kinds of random promotional items from drug companies, and he brought a bunch to give out to the family.

So the next day, hubby left a little gift in all his buddies' mailboxes at the patrol office...big bright blue pens that said "VIAGRA".

irresponsible breeders: 1
anonymous dillholes: 0

Quote of the week...

"No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won’t make it worse."
--Jeffrey R. Holland

Quote of the week...

"The sad fact is that some people cannot be pleased. You can give some people a million dollars, and they’ll complain that the bills are wrinkled."

--Kathryn H. Kidd

Quote of the Week...

"I think marriage is the most mysterious covenant in the universe. I'm convinced that no two are alike. More than that, I'm convinced that no marriage is like it was just the day before."

--Anita Shreve, The Weight of Water

Rest in Peace...

I am so grateful to have known you and to have been your granddaughter-in-love. Thank you for your place in my husband and children's lives. You will be greatly missed.

Give Grandpa hugs and kisses for us.

Quote of the Week...

"Life is not so much about beginnings and endings as it is about going on and on and on. It is about muddling through the middle."

--Anna Quindlen

Quote of the Week...

"When I get a little money, I buy books...and then if there is any left over, I buy food and clothes."

--Desiderius Erasmus

Quote of the Week...

"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."

--Albert Einstein

I didn't need to know that...

I took my daughter to her first enrichment night (activity night at church for the adult women) last night. We were playing a game called "Love Your Neighbor".

It's where you all sit in a circle on chairs and one person is in the middle of the circle as "it" and she approaches people in their chairs and asks, "Do you love your neighbor?" The person asked the question may then answer "Yes, I love my neighbor" and then the people to her immediate right and left must rush to trade seats, while the person who is "it" tries to take one.

OR...the person asked the question may answer, "No, I don't love my neighbor, but I do love people who _____." (it could be, "have green eyes", or "have been to Hawaii") Then, the people who apply to the statement all have to get up and find a new chair. Whoever can't find a seat is then "it" and has to ask someone else if they love their neighbor.

So, one of the more adventurous ladies offered, "No, I don't love my neighbor, but I do love people who have gone skinnydipping."

Imagine my surprise when my lovely 18 year old daughter jumped up and rushed to find a new seat.

Good times.

To the gentleman I encountered on I-25 today...

I'm just going to pretend that you were rushing to the hospital, where your wife is in labor with your child--a child that you two have tried for years to conceive, and now the joyous moment of this child's birth has arrived.

Yup, that's what I am going to pretend.

Because, otherwise...you're just a gigantic tool.