Happy Birthday Noah!!

Two years ago today, this little face came into our world!



And we could never have imagined loving him more!!



He's sweet and sassy and funny and smart and o-so-darn-adorable!

We can't make the birthday celebration this year because we're STILL waiting on our soldier to arrive. (That's another long story for another long day!)

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!! We love you and miss you!!

Ten On Tuesday

Woo hoo! I made it. Ten on Tuesday.



1. Fill in the blank. Sometimes I wish my life was more ______.
Hmmm... calm.

2. How do you cure the hiccups?
I can't. I've tried. And I get these GIGANTIC hiccups. Very loud and obnoxious. Not girly at all. Sneezes too. I was always jealous of those cute-sneezing girls in high school. You know the ones. They were short and curvy and sneezed like a mouse tooting. For some reason, all the boys loved that. And them. My sneezes and hiccups will rattle the windows. Not cute.

3. What are three of your favorite indulgences?
Starbucks
Pedicures in the summer ('cause I have heels to match my hiccups and sneezes and that's the only thing that makes them presentable)
People magazine.

4. Where is the most exotic place you would like to travel to? The most mundane?
Exotic? A rain forest or an African safari.
The most mundane? Anywhere with a beach, beach music, very few people, and good food. That might be exotic, too.

5. Does having your time planned out stress you or relax you?
Depends on who planned it out FOR me. I like planning my own time. Control relaxes me.

6. What are your favourite fabrics to wear?
Cotton. Are flip flops a fabric?

7. Do you sleep through the night?
No... if I drink coffee late or watch scary TV crime shows or if I think the boy is getting sick or if there's a criminal on the loose or if my cat is yowling like a freak or if I have something on my mind or if the next day is a "big day" for some reason. I guess I do sometimes, because I wake up and it's morning and not the middle of the night.

8. When you were younger, what did you think you would be doing at this age? How close is that to what you are doing?
I thought I would still be the same size I was then. Wrongo. I imagined myself as an interior designer or marine biologist. (Designing things for dolphins, I suppose.) I knew I wanted to be married and have kids. So, I AM married, but I stopped with one kid. I've been a teacher, a preacher's wife, and I am currently a chaplain's wife... not a marine biologist or a designer.

9. What has surprised you most about growing up?
How much better of a person the tough things make you. You hear that when you're younger, but you never really believe it.

10. Are you good at keeping secrets?
LOVE THIS QUESTION!!! I have a nickname... I am called "The Vault" by those who know me best. I am great at keeping secrets. (What people don't realize is that I usually forget whatever it is they wanted kept secret...)

My Version... 6 on Saturday

I missed Ten on Tuesday. Again. I had it all ready to post, and then Tuesday came and went. It was a great little series of questions... most of them about faith. But did I get it finished? Nope. Just one more thing that "didn't get done" this week.

So today, I made my own fun little list. I call it "6 on Saturday." (Cause that's all I could come up with.)


1. The snow/ice is gone. I can still see a tiny bit here and there on the rooftops. Now we are building an ark just to get to the boy's basketball game today.

2. My house is a wreck. I even took pictures with my phone and sent them to my friend who said she didn't believe my house was messy. I obviously have enough time to talk about the mess and take pictures of the mess... but not enough time to clean it up.

3. School being out on Monday and delayed on Tuesday caused my whole week to be wacky. At least that's what I'm blaming everything on.

4. If you are an overweight geriatric cat, and if you happen to live in my house, you will find things in the floor to use as a pillow. Someone appreciates the mess.



5. We are counting down the days until a soldier we know comes home for R&R.

6. The boy got his braces this week. The whole process flashed me back to 1985. Wax and wires and Oragel and headaches and bloody lips. Good times.

The happy "Before" picture...


Choosing his bracket colors (times sure have a-changed)...


The "After" picture...


I let him miss the rest of the school day, and we went out to lunch. Then we got ice cream. The one thing he could eat with no trouble. If you can't tell in the photo, he chose crimson and black bracket colors. For his beloved Alabama. If you're gonna be in pain and unable to eat, at least keep on showing the love for your team.

I Feel Sorry For the Pioneers

For the past 36 hours, we've been snowed/iced in. It wasn't a huge storm, and we didn't get the amount of ice we were supposed to get. But, the roads are dangerous, and even the governor told us to stay home. The best part? Our power didn't go out. (Thank You, Lord.) But in my warm and well-lit house, I gained a new appreciation for Laura Ingalls and her folks.

I have eaten more trash/comfort food/empty calories than I care to think about. Whatever weight loss goals I had before Dan comes home just went flying out the ice-covered window.
The pioneer people ate good healthy homemade stuff. (Which I COULD make, but chose not to.) Like Ma's cornbread and soup. No little powdered doughnuts or chips and salsa on the prairie.

I think I watched 7 consecutive hours of TLC's "What Not to Wear." I really do want Stacy and Clinton to take me shopping, but they can leave that vile 360 degree mirror at home, please.
The pioneers? They had those long calico dresses... even in the summer. And those puffy bonnet things they slept in? What was that about? Oh, and no cute TV personalities to tell them their calico dress wasn't flattering. Or in style. Or making them look as good as they could. Or what the new colors for Spring would be. Poor pioneers.

I have played Chess, Battleship, and some ridiculous Jump on a Colored Pod thingy game. (Think "Simon" from 1975... but for the floor.)
Now here is where the pioneer people and I came close to being alike. Except I think their games all involved sticks and an occasional pig bladder. I'll play Battleship until my eye twitches if it means I don't have to entertain myself with a pig bladder.

So on this nice, long, stuck at home weekend... I have been GRATEFUL for modern technology. The TV has been on, the video games have been playing, and the DVD got a workout, too. Thank You, again, Lord for electricity and heat and Wii.


And when we got bored, we ventured out into the arctic wilderness for a while yesterday...

Don't let those sweet snow-pink cheeks fool you. He spent 98 percent of his time outside bent over... scooping up icy snow to throw at me.


See?


Told you.


Now here's a real pioneer (redneck?) moment. That IS a cardboard box.


It hasn't been too bad. We have laughed and snuggled and read good books... and (for the most part) enjoyed being cooped up.

So, like us, the "Little House" people had each other. They just had to make do without all the wonderful modern conveniences we enjoy today.

Except for ONE thing. Nerf Guns. The pioneer Mamas didn't get pelted with little spongy bullets from every corner of their "Little" house.

If I get hit one more time... there's gonna be a Nerf Gun bonfire. If the power does go out, we'll be set. Just look for the warm glow of burning plastic in my backyard.

Galileo Didn't have Google

Conversation with the boy:

him: "Hey! I was thinking while I was jumping on the trampoline!"

me: "Yes..." (wondering how anyone can think rational thoughts while their brain flops about inside their skull)

him: "All this stuff in school about circumference made me wonder... What is the circumference of Earth?"

me: (while dreaming of that Harvard scholarship) "Wow! Great thought! How will you figure that out?"

him: "I'll just Google it."

You go, Galileo.

Ten on Tuesday

After missing out the last few weeks... it's good to get back to Ten on Tuesday and its random fun-ness.

I wish someone would tell me where the time goes. Don't I sound more like a granny every minute? I feel like one, too.

1. What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Hmm... surviving almost 2 deployments. The first was 16 months... this second one is almost over!
I am also proud of my little (not so little) boy. He's a great kid. I birthed his gigantic baby self, and I raise him (with some help from his dad)... so I consider him partially my accomplishment.

2. How much did you weigh when you were born?
Um... I think my mom said almost 6 pounds. I was a runt. My husband, on the other hand, was a fatty. That explains the boy.

3. What is your favorite perfume?
At Christmas, my husband sent word to my mom... who called in the help of my sis-in-law... who bought me my newest favorite. It's "Love and Luck" by Ed Hardy.

4. How many siblings do you have?
One! I have a younger (by 5 years) brother. We get along great, and he married the bestest girl in the world. So now I have a sister, too! My husband is an only child, so there are no brother-in-laws or sister-in-laws from that side!

5. How many children would you like to have? (Or how many do you have?)
One! (Do you see a pattern developing here?) We always thought we'd have more, and I always imagined I'd have a houseful. Until I HAD the one. He's like a houseful rolled into one. We often talk about adoption... who knows?


6. What’s the best class you took in college?
Here comes the geek. I loved all my art classes, American Literature, and the "Teaching Reading" class for Education.


7. What was your favorite game to play when you were a child?
Boggle.


8. What character on Friends are you most like?
I am a mix of Monica and Phoebe. Organized and a bit OCDC, yet often air-headed and bizarre.


9. Are you a phone person? (ie: Do you like talking on the phone?)
Nope. I would rather text or email.


10. What was the best vacation you ever took?
Hmm... That's a tough one. Definitely Disney (as a child and on my honeymoon). A trip to the coast when we lived in CA. And the GIANT trees in Yosemite... unbelievable.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, and Very Bad... And The Sequel That Should Have Been Written

Did you ever read that book?

"The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" was a 70's classic. Now my grey hair is showing...

Have you ever had one of those days when you just wanted a giant "REWIND" button? One of those days when even getting back into bed probably wouldn't go well?

Well... we had ourselves one of those days this week.

But right smack dab in the middle of my complaining, I got myself a reality check. As my hip, cool, and happenin' child would say, I got "served." (Where does he GET this stuff?)

It went something like this...

I...

1. overslept

2. had an early morning shouting match with a 10 year old

3. ran late to drop off pouty 10 year old at school

4. realized that feeling like I had my act together was NOT gonna happen

5. received a phone call from school (from pouty 10 year old)... telling me he'd left his ENTIRE binder on the kitchen table

6. pulled into garage, jumped out of car, grabbed binder, and took it back to school

7. ran late to meet my friend to go to Bible study

8. picked up an even pout-ier 10 year old who informed me that his day had "stunk"

9. came home to a pile of dirt from the plant that the cat turned over

10. met a hermit crab on the stairs... apparently making his break because the cat had turned his cage over too

11. had a long talk with the cat

12. made dinner, cleaned up dinner, checked homework, and got the pouty 10 year old ready for bed EARLY...

13. watched a very disappointing American Idol... even the auditions weren't funny

14. realized that the back of the remote control for the bedroom TV is missing

15. got up out of my warm bed to re-check the locks on the doors downstairs (because there happens to be a nice little criminal invading homes in our area)

Now... it really wasn't that bad of a day. And in light of the tragedy in Haiti and the daily realities of war... none of my petty things are worth even mentioning.

You see... Somewhere in the middle of the day, I found out that a very dear friend of ours was involved in a combat situation. A situation where someone was killed. A situation where several others who were there will never be the same. A situation that our friend will probably replay over and over in his mind and in his dreams. A situation that could have ended his life. A situation that just as easily could have been my husband. Or my neighbor's husband. Or my other friends' husbands.

It was a "wake-up-and-stop-feeling-sorry-for-yourself" moment. I have to confess...

I don't like those moments. At all. I especially didn't like that one.

I know that the "wake-up" moments aren't always that dramatic. Sometimes they're small, and sometimes they're even funny.

I'm starting to believe that the real (honest) drama in life keeps us grounded... so we don't focus on the little petty and insignificant things that we love to focus on.

And the little small things that we think are gonna drive us crazy actually keep our minds off (for a moment) the really big things... the reality of life and it's frailty. Because if that were all we thought about... Let's just say that the small things keep us sane.

In know, I know. It's all about balance.

Finding the right place in your mind where you can be thoughtful and grateful and aware of the precious gift we all have been given.

And then deal with the little stinky things that happen on a day-to-day basis.

The sequel to that book should have been called:

"The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day And The Lesson I Learned From It"

Do you really think anyone would have read it? Checked it out from the dusty school library?

It's one of those sequels you have to write on your own, I think.