One Step Forward?

I know you've heard the phrase "one step forward and two steps back" before? Lately, I feel like a better description for me would be:

"Eleven steps backward and an occasional accidental half-stumble forward."

Is that a little depressing? I just cannot seem to get my act together. Is that even a real thing? A "together" act?

We had a wonderful (but entirely too short!) weekend. My mom and dad came up to see us. Well... to see the boy play football. I would post pictures, but my camera is missing. (one step back...) They had to leave on Saturday night, but we loved seeing them.

We received a notice that we have an "option" to move. Yep. Move. Again. (one step back...) Not to a new post, but to a new house. Nice thought. Until you weigh it all out. It's not on base. It's base housing, but it's 13 miles up the road. It's a nice new neighborhood and a bigger house, but it is still a MOVE. And all you have to do is read a few old posts to discover how much I love a move. (Note sarcasm.) Our neighborhood is being "re banded" to Jr. Enlisted Housing, and they want to move all the remaining officers to other neighborhoods. Does anyone want to make the decision for us?

And this one? Well, it is a little funny. Last night was "crazy hat night" at AWANAS. Guess which mom forgot? Guess which mom forgot even after another mom said, "Don't forget crazy hat night tonight!" Guess which kid remembered as we are driving into the church parking lot? So (one step back...), I drove back home to retrieve the boy's favorite crazy hat. My husband made the suggestion that the boy should wear his football helmet. For a brief moment of insanity, I considered it. (Seeing as how the helmet rides around in the back of the car so IT doesn't get forgotten. Again.) I know there are those who would say, "Let him learn a lesson!" "It is his responsibility to remember his own hat!" "You are a bad parent for going to get that hat!" And, I beat myself up wondering what others think about my parenting choices. (one step back...) It really isn't that far back to the house. As for the helmet? It is entirely too pinchy. His brain would have been too squeezed to remember his verses.

That is just a small sampling of what is rolling around in my head lately. I really should not complain. I know this. There are sooooo many people out there who have REAL struggles and difficult lives; but, not me. I am blessed. More so than I deserve. I AM grateful. And sorry for not seeing things in a different light. That should count as a step forward.

Clone Troopers Without a Care in the World

Does this crack anybody else up? Am I the only weirdo that finds this funny? (Note the fight in the back seat.)

Don't they know they're supposed to be fighting an epic cosmic battle? Nope. They spent most of the weekend cruising around my house and yard in their (?) Jeep. Arms in the air, bumping into everything and everyone, losing helmets and assorted body parts. At one point, they were dragging a droid behind them by a scrapbooking ribbon. Hmmm...

The football game was cancelled on Saturday (fake cry) because the other team didn't have enough available players (fake cry). We actually got to stay home. It was great. We did nothing in particular and nothing really productive. I loved it! And, apparently, so did the Clone Troopers.

The Prince and the Fan

Did ya' ever hear "The Princess and the Pea" fairytale? You know, where the princess can't sleep because there's a pea under her mattress? I am currently reminded of it because one son brought it home as a reading assignment last week. Now, to my fairytale.

Once upon a time, there was a somewhat tired lady. She had been at Bible study. At lunch with new friends (yeah! ... will post more on this later). At home playing laundry lady. Helping with 3rd grade homework that she has to really concentrate on. Driving to football practice. Driving home to retrieve forgotten football helmet. Driving back to football practice. Killing random ants that continue to invade her home in search of crumbs and cat food (cause there's none of that stuff around here). She had put a boy in the shower, washed her wrinkly old face, and gone to bed. Late into the night... around 2 am... there came a tap-tap-tapping on her arm. Is it a dream? No. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. As she JERKS awake, she sees the source of the tapping. It's her son. Standing by her side of the bed. Staring at her.
She asks, "What's wrong? Are you OK?"
He replies, "I can't go back to sleep." At this point, she wants to scream, "So you thought you'd wake up someone who is having no trouble sleeping!!" But, being the kind mother she is (in her own mind), she takes the boy back to his room.
She asks, "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" (Because now that she's awake, she does.)
She asks, "Did you have a bad dream?"
She asks, "Why are your PJ's off?" (Because now she realizes that the child is half-naked. Half.)
The boy crawls back into bed and asks if she will lie down with him until he falls asleep again. The now deliriously tired lady lies down with her son... NOT out of her great compassion; it's too far back to her own bed. Now, the very awake son begins to talk. And talk. And talk. About why he thinks he cannot fall asleep again. ("Because you are talking," she tells him.) The very awake son then begins to flop all around. Flop. Flop. Flop. After an hour (I looked), the son makes a declaration.
"I can't sleep because my fan isn't pointing on me."
The brain-dead mother gets up, points the fan on the boy, and drags back to the bed to find that the boy is asleep. In the time it took for her to get up and adjust the fan, he fell asleep.
The semi-conscious mother plods back to her own room, takes a detour to the potty, and finds that a small black cat has taken over her spot in the bed. The End.

Just a Little Preview

I couldn't resist posting a quick pic of the cutest Center that the town of Fayetteville has ever seen. Or maybe the state of NC. Or maybe the whole world. I'll post more exciting football pictures after this weekend. After we return from the farthest reaches of the universe... you know, where the game is played. Oh, and my apologies to all of the mommas with cute football players out there... I just happen to be a fan of this one.

A Little Change for Fall (And a Minor Panic Attack)

Yeah!! The blog looks a little different. That's because I am a computer dummy and I almost lost it. The blog, that is. For those of you computer wizards out there... don't judge. I just wanted to make a few fun, random changes. That's all. Well, something went really haywire, and I couldn't get ANYTHING to show up on my blog site. Nothin', people. I was bent out of shape. After lunch, I went to my favorite little coffee joint, and I up-sized my latte to a grande in hopes of boosting my brainpower. After HOURS on this danged machine, I finally found a solution, and.... Here it is!! The old stuff is back and the new stuff is working. I suppose I owe a little "shout out" to Starbucks.

Monday Again?

Is it really here again? Didn't we just do Monday? Is it me or does it come WAY too fast? Where did the weekend go? I'll tell you where it went...

The boy has been playing football. Tackle football, Lord help me. When we finally got all our sports physicals and applications finished, the ONLY league still open was one in town. A league that TRAVELS. Yes, you read that right. Travels. To other places. Not here. Far away places. Entirely too far for a nice Saturday Pee Wee Football game. Ridiculous. Am I being too obvious about my feelings? I will take a pause and answer the questions that some of you are asking in your minds.

"Why on earth would you sign up a 9 year-old for a team that travels?"
"Isn't he spoiled enough?"
"Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Have you seen the price of gas??"

And to the questions, I respond...

I had NO IDEA we traveled. I had paid my money, met the coach, bought the cleats, attended the first practice, and BAM! "By the way, parents, our game tomorrow morning is 1 1/2 hours away."

So, we travel. And the boy loves playing tackle football. And I WILL NOT sign up for anymore teams or events until I ask if there is traveling involved.

By the way, I am fully aware of the insane price of gas these days. I've been buying lots of it lately.

Let's Go Kill Some Birds

Can you tell we are back in the Southeast? Is the ring of gunshots loud enough in your ear? Have you seen enough fishing pictures yet? How about some dead bird pictures to brighten your day!

My apologies to the anti-gun, anti-hunting, anti-dead animal readers out there. I'm sorry to say... this is what some boys do. This is what some big boys do, too. At least in this part of the world and in this family. Elijah LOVED his first "dove shoot." Some of the guys even refer to opening day as "Christmas Day." How twisted is that? Me? I went to the outlets with my mom... far away from the sound of gunshots. We had a little "Christmas Day" of our own!! Except what I spent that day is still FAR less than what Dan and the boy spent at Academy Sports getting ready for the dove-a-thon. The way I see it, they owe me.