Thursday, November 23, 2006

I'm Thankful For...

Thanksgiving is almost over, and the last 48 hours have been quite an adventure. We made it to Houston safely although we had to make a few extra stops for our kids who weren't feeling well. When we arrived, Caelyn took a speedy turn downhill and visited the bathroom a dozen times in the first two hours. Noreen unearthed some anti-diarrheal medicine, but I noticed that it had expired in 1997 so I opted to send Kevin to Walgreens. Caelyn later perked up, but then she got a fever and her other symptoms continued. Now David's sick with a pretty high fever, too. The poor guy took three naps today. Kendra's hanging in there but says her tummy hurts. Tonight's Thanksgiving Feast? Each of the kids ate a roll and part of a banana. I know the kids wish they were in their own beds, and I really wish we were at home, too. But we're not, and it's probably just as well that we stay until Saturday so David has time to recover before hitting the road again.

Despite our less-than-stellar holiday, I am thankful for so many things. The short list:

1. I am thankful for my husband, who puts up with me and loves me and challenges me and laughs at/with me. Every day for the last dozen years, Kevin has never failed to tell me that he loves me, even when I'm not acting very lovable. Kevin is faithful, loving, selfless, and a great dad.
2. I am thankful for each of my children. I love Kendra's literal view of the world and her growing heart for God. I love Caelyn's ability to always see the bright side of things. I love David's sweet spirit and his play hard/sleep hard tendencies. I love how God is training me in righteousness through my children.
3. I am thankful for my friends. God has truly blessed me with a great group of women with whom I can share, pray, cry, laugh, and be myself. I love all my friends dearly and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.
4. I am thankful that I'm able to stay home and be a mom. Housekeeping with a joyful heart is a struggle for me, but I am truly thankful that I can focus the majority of my energies on home and family. I'm thankful that I'm always available when my kids are sick, that I have the freedom to attend Tuesday morning Bible studies, and that I'm the one who picks up my kids from school every day.
5. That said, I'm also thankful for my parttime jobs. I need to learn how to manage my time better, but I'm thankful for my curriculum writing job and for my eternally patient boss. I'm thankful for my fun mystery shopping jobs and for the free food and stuff that they provide for our family. I'm thankful for the unexpected editing job my sister provided for me recently.

This is the short list, of course, because I'm thankful for so many other things, people, circumstances, etc. God is good and He has blessed me richly! Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Props to Kevin


My sweet husband appears to be growing up. Today he managed to sell our 11-year-old Mazda and buy a 2006 Nissan Altima without 1) losing his temper; 2) haggling unnecessarily with the salesman; and 3) making the car dealership people angry, too. Not that he was throwing money away, because he made sure he got a good deal. But when he bought the Mazda 11 years ago, he spent EIGHT hours at the dealership trying to eke out the last possible penny. Today's adventure was over in just a few hours. (And as an added bonus, David got a balloon. And Kevin got the spoiler.) The dealership still did the whole cheesy "let me take this figure to my manager" trick, but Kevin withstood all the tactics. I'll miss the little Mazda 626 -- Kevin bought it just before we got married and it was my first new car. Godspeed, 626, you served us well.

And on a completely different note, we are supposed to leave for Houston in the morning for Thanksgiving with the grandparents, but 66.67 percent of our children are sick. David is on the mend, we think, but Caelyn is a weepy mess with a sore throat, throbbing head, and continually runny nose. At least it's not an urpy sickness this time. I'm not sure Kevin's mom has forgiven us for bringing and sharing the horrible stomach virus last summer. I know her carpet never fully recovered.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Look Like Dirt = Run Into People You Know

This is my last week of weight training with my friends Kathleen and Amy (Kathleen's the personal trainer/torture expert; Amy's the other willing participant in this quest for muscle mass). Kathleen was particularly demanding today, but in a nice way. At any rate, I left her house a little sweaty, probably a little smelly, and with a bad case of gym hair.

So I drove to the HEB on Blanco and 1604 because it's not my regular store and I figured I could shop anonymously. Wrong. I immediately ran into Diana Lowe, one of the pastors' wives from church. Five minutes later I'm at the deli counter waiting for my mesquite smoked turkey when I recognize the woman standing beside me. It's JoAnn MacPherson, one of my former students from when I taught high school journalism. She's married and a full-fledged grown-up, so now I feel sweaty, smelly, unattractive, and OLD. Still, it was fun to see her.

I go home and spend the next couple hours frantically cooking dinner for Kathleen, Amy, and my family. Making minestrone while wearing a white shirt was not a brilliant idea, so I got noticeably splattered with beef broth and tomatoes. Now I'm sweaty, smelly, unattractive, OLD and a slob, so what happens after school? I run into one of my impeccably groomed friends when I take the kids to Shipley's.

It's almost 7:30 at night and I still haven't showered. And really, what's the point now? Kevin's a little stuffy so he won't notice if I'm not too rosy, and I can sleep in my dirty clothes and save the clean jammies for another night. And bad hair at night? Who cares?

But I can guarantee that tomorrow I'll look (and smell) good and I won't run into anybody I know. Vanity's funny that way.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Coming Up To Breathe

The last two months have been hectic, crazy, over-worked, etc. Thankfully, I've finished a big editing job and I'm taking a few weeks off from curriculum writing, which means I'm enjoying a few hours of freedom each day. Time to clean the house, tackle some serious clutter, deal with a mountain of laundry, cook a decent meal, hit the gym, sew an Indian costume for Caelyn for Thanksgiving Feast... OK, maybe I don't have that much free time after all. But I don't feel like I'm in a constant state of stress right now, and that's a great feeling.

So here's what I got to do this weekend. I sat in my car from 6-10 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights counting the number of customers who entered a particular store. Seriously, I got paid to sit in my car and make a tally. It was glorious! Eight hours of magazine reading, Bible study, logic puzzles, and spontaneous praise singing. Eight hours without a single person demanding a single thing from me. Eight hours of peace with a side of quiet. I didn't even turn on my radio because I wanted to enjoy the silence. My backside got a little sore, but it was well worth it.

And now I have an Indian costume to sew.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Apparently I Don't Exist

I always knew I was unique, but this is ridiculous! Thanks to Megan for the laugh.


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