I can’t believe it
My son is finally, officially, potty-trained. It only took 4 years.
Say a prayer
My brother-in-law, Glen, is currently in Peru on a missions trip with his church. I hear he’s come down with some kind of virus. Please say a prayer that he will make a speedy recovery and that the missions trip will go very well.
Thanks!!!
An admission
I have something to admit. I have a little crush on a TV character.
This is really strange for me, because I don’t normally waste brain cells on crushes (either celebrity or ‘real-life’), but this one just snuck up on me.
Who is it, you might ask? Jim on The Office? Dr. House in House? Nope.
It’s Steve Burns. Doesn’t ring a bell? How about Blue’s Clues?
OK, for you readers who don’t have preschoolers (or kids who have been preschoolers within the last 10 years), Blue’s Clues is a TV show on Nickelodeon aimed at the toddler set. It stars animated animals and objects, and a few “real” humans. Steve Burns was the first human character starring on that show, and I think he remained on the show from 1996-2002.
Anyway, we have multiple Blues Clues videos with Steve in them. After seeing his smiling face on my TV for the 1,326,034th time, I got curious about who he was and Googled him. And wouldn’t you know it, now he’s a musician? And his band is actually, shockingly - good. You can see some of his band’s videos and other multimedia on this page.
Well, I can’t be the only one who’s had this “problem” – Yes, Dear even did a show on it.
I also found that Steve has his on Web site. I had to laugh at his FAQs - you can tell he’s really quirky but funny.
All right, enough of that. Don’t tell me you’ve never had any ’strange’ crushes. Oh, and Jay – I don’t think you have anything to worry about. 
New Church
We visited a new church Sunday and absolutely loved it. We had some kind of idea what to expect, because it’s a “sister” church of a church we used to attend in Austin. So, it was smaller, but we really liked it. The worship was fantastic and the message was right-on.
I haven’t really talked about my Christianity much here on this blog. Mostly because my feelings about God and religion and Christianity are pretty complex, and I’m still sorting them all out. I don’t mean I’m deciding whether God exists … I have been sorting out things I’ve been taught as I was raised in the pentecostal church, comparing those things with scripture and my own conscience and deciding whether I still “believe” that way. Most of what I’m referring to is a lot of stiff and legalistic “rules” I was taught, either in church or in my Christian school. I’m trying to think of a good example … like dancing, for instance? Now, common sense tells the average Christian that ’dirty dancing’ by unmarried members of the opposite sex is probably a bad idea. But many church-goers throw the baby out with the bathwater, forbidding dancing of any kind. And heaven forbid if you do dance, you’ll be branded a hussy or a heathen forever, and shunned from ‘polite’ Christian society. I’m being a little silly and exaggerating here, but do you understand what I mean? I don’t like the busy-body judgemental people in the church that think it’s their business to keep everyone else in line with their percieved “rules” for living a virtuous Christian life. Those people are what drives people away from church and makes them bitter towards Christians.
Another reason I’ve shied away from talking about God is that I don’t know the answers to some things like “why is there suffering?” and I’m afraid to open up my mouth and say a lot about my beliefs about God when I don’t want to open up a pandora’s box of questions that I can’t answer. But you know what? Not even pastors have the answers to everything. Nor do the atheists. But that’s still not a good reason to think that God doesn’t exist, just because we don’t have all the answers to everything, even as Christians.
But in spite of questions I don’t know the answer to, I still believe wholeheartedly in Christ, in His amazing power and His unparalleled love. I don’t want to beat anyone over the head with my Bible and tell them they need to “get saved.” At the same time, I don’t want to hide this beautiful, wonderful relationship from a world looking for something real, something meaningful, a reason to live for.
I think I’ve kept quiet about it long enough.
When you strip away all of the silly things surrounding Christian “religion” and get down to its central element, Christ, how many of us can say we have a relationship with Him? Or if we do, is it a close relationship, or merely an acquaintance? I’ll be honest; I get busy with life and let that relationship get put on the back burner sometimes. But then I get filled with worry and stress and a bad attitude. It’s only when I’m faithful to maintain that relationship by treating it like a friendship – talking to Him daily (through prayer) and reading his words (the Bible) – that I thrive.
I’m a real person. I fall. I fail. I stub my toe and curse. In the past, I’ve tried drinking away my problems, and trying to fill the spiritual void with many things – shopping, men, you name it. But the further I travel on this journey called life, the more I yearn for a closer relationship with my creator. It’s the only thing in the world that truly gives me peace and happiness.
If you have any comments or questions, please email me. If you want to know more about Christ and some of what I’m saying makes sense, I would suggest reading these two books: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and A Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren.
Fall Festival
We went to a fall carnival last night, complete with kiddie games (you play, you get candy) and a hayride. The day couldn’t have been more beautiful, but the hayride turned out to be pretty frightening for Gabriel. I didn’t realize what the hayride entailed (think haunted house). I kept whispering reassurances in Gabriel’s ear through the whole thing, telling him it was just pretend and that these were just people in costumes. I said, “you know how you’re dressed as Charlie Brown? Well, these people are just dressed up, too.”
To which he replied, “Charlie Brown scared!”
Light show
My kids got these fun necklaces with embedded blinking rope lights at the carnival we went to last night. They’re having a blast with them. Read the rest of this entry »
Zoo
This is from our zoo trip last Saturday.
Week 1, down
Well, I’m happy to say I have one full week of leaf-turning under my belt, and I’m happy to say that things are going pretty well so far. The major changes that I’ve made so far are sticking to a better schedule, getting the kids in a night-time routine again, keeping on top of the housework (mostly) and last but certainly not least – homeschooling the kids.
I’ve decided to start the homeschooling out really slowly – we only spend 30 minutes to 1 hour each weekday, the length of time depending on whether they’re getting sick of whatever we’re doing. I’ve decided to spend 1 week on each letter of the alphabet, and this week we’re on “B.” We’ve been naming words that start with “B,” coloring pictures of “B” words, tracing capital and lowercase Bs and singing songs about the letter, as well. They both know that B says “buh” and that B starts balloon, bird, bed, boy, ball, baby and bear…. but the letter tracing’s not going too well. It’s no big deal… they’re still so young. I’ll probably try to re-focus on handwriting in another year, when he’s 5 and she’s 3 1/2. I’m just mainly concerned with letter recognition and phonemic awareness (knowing what sounds the letters make), so we can get them on the road to reading. I was reading at the age of 4, but since Gabriel’s somewhat behind developmentally, it will probably be a while yet before he’s reading. I’ll be thrilled if he’s reading by 6.
Anyway, we are talking about some basic mathematic concepts, colors, shapes, opposites and some other things … but my main focus right now is the alphabet.
Not that this is news for those of you who care …
Radiohead recently released a new album , inrainbows, that you can download for free. I’ve listed to it twice and so far I really like it, although I can’t really explore its intricacies with screaming children running through the room. I’ll have to listen to it again tonight to get the full effect.
Little miss shorty
We recently purchased some light switch extenders from One Step Ahead, only to find out that Mikaela STILL can’t reach. Yep, even with these things hanging down from the light switches, she’s still too short.
I guess my next purchase will be stilts.
Four-year-old speak
What he says: “Mama, Mikaela not sharing.”
What he means: “I want that toy and she’s not giving it to me.”
Fun at the zoo
Jay and I took the kids to the zoo today. It was actually a lot of fun for all of us. The kids are getting to the age where they actually appreciate stuff like that.
According to Mikaela, we saw winos (rhinos), eh-fants, buffawo and jaffes (giraffes).
I personally enjoyed the meerkats (spelling?) and the black bear that came inches away from us (on the other side of the glass, thankfully!)
We traveled about 50 miles to the zoo … I just wish there was one closer, I’d go a lot more often.
Not her idea of fun
Mikaela and I were walking into Wal-mart tonight when she said, “Mama, you wanna go somewhere?”
“We are somewhere, Mikaela.”
She paused and said, “Wanna go somewhere else?”
Jello Pops
I did a double-take recently in the store when I saw “Jello” on a box in the popsicle section. Alas, it wasn’t my much-missed (and to my knowledge, no longer made) Jello Gelatin Pops, it was only Jello Pudding Pops. Not that Jello Pudding Pops are bad by any stretch, but Jello Gelatin Pops are one of my favorite things, ever.
True, you can make your own, but it’s just not the same.
Scary
After a number of deaths and a warning from the FDA, the manufacturers of cough and cold medicine for infants are pulling their products off the market. One of the products is one I have in my medicine cabinet and have used on both kids – Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant Plus Cough.
The FDA is pushing for a warning against “decongestant use in children under 2, and antihistamines in those younger than 6.”
I should have bought stock in Breathe Right® strips.
Small-town blues
I am generally a city-girl, although I do love visiting the country. Now that I’m living here (in the country), there are definitely some pros and cons. The biggest con being that a round-trip to the nearest Wal-mart, Target or HEB (grocery store) is about 25 miles.
So today, I found a local supermarket. It was pretty small, and as soon as I walked through the front door, I was taken back to my childhood in Birmingham, AL – where my mother used to take me grocery shopping at the Food Giant in Roebuck. It was always dingy-looking, and half the overhead lights were burnt out. And it smelled like penicillin.
Anyway, this old grocery store might be a good place to stop for a gallon of milk or a forgotten dinner ingredient, but I’m definitely not buying anything out of their meat case. Yuk.
It’s that time again …
For the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalogue!
Why do I care, you may ask?
Hey, I may have a Wal-mart budget, but I have taste. And besides, it’s fun to look at the fantasy gifts (pages 94-107). My favorite is the interactive media wall straight out of Minority Report.
Let’s get real
CNN reports that a Maine middle school is starting to make birth-control pills accessible to middle-schoolers after a recent rash of pregnancies.
I can just hear the Christian community clucking their collective tongue. Now don’t get me wrong, I am 100% Christian, but I also know the harsh fact that 95% of Americans have premarital sex. So instead of sticking our heads in the sand, I think we should make birth control more readily available.
“But won’t that send the message that we’re approving of them having premarital sex?”
I don’t know the answer to that. Maybe. But the way I see it, making birth control available is a far lesser ‘evil’ than having these girls get pregnant, then sneaking off to get abortions.
I really don’t know how to handle this issue with my kids. Of course I don’t want them to have premarital sex … good grief, what parent would? But I also know about raging teenage hormones and the fact that the best of intentions can slip away in a moment of passion. And as a child of very strict parents, I know that nothing short of keeping a child in a cage can prevent a kid from sneaking around and doing what they want.
Thank God we don’t have to have this conversation with our kids for years to come.
Fall, finally
Down here in good ol’ Texas, our daily highs have still been, for the most part, in the 90s. But we’re supposed to be getting a cold front this weekend, and the highs Monday are in the 70s. Woo hoo!
Mikaela has been saying her feet are cold, so I got her a pair of bunny slippers yesterday. She’s been hopping around in them all day, saying “super ‘Kayla!”
Good old Brit-Brit
I can’t help but feel sorry for Britney Spears, even though her problems seem to be self-inflicted. I think she has a major case of post-partum depression. And I’m sure the partying doesn’t help.
In any case, I can’t stand seeing the media rip somone to shreds. They can be so cruel. She is a human being, for God’s sake.
Support the Rabid
We haven’t had cable in about 6 months now, and I don’t miss it at all, since I don’t watch much TV. But I have fallen head-over-heels for a sitcom recently – The Office on NBC. I know, it’s not new, but I’ve watched DVDs of all the old episodes, so I’m caught up. I haven’t loved a show this much since Seinfeld.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
We’re entering my favorite time of the year – from the first nip of fall to Christmas Day, I can’t help but be cheery. Our leaves aren’t changing yet, but it’s starting to get cool at night. I’m burning wonderful apple, vanilla, and pumpkin-scented candles, and it’s really helping to set the “fall” mood.
For some reason, I never think about fall/winter wardrobes until it starts to get a little chilly in mid-to-late October (hey, this is Texas, where I wore flip-flops until December last year). So, yesterday, I took inventory and realized that Mikaela had almost nothing to wear when the weather gets chilly. Two thrift stores and one Wal-mart trip later, she’s all set. I did really well at the local thrift stores – one of my favorite finds is an adorable pair of brown Gymboree pants for $1.99. Between her and Gabriel, I think I spent less than $200 for all the season’s clothes. And I’m not buying a bunch of faded, stained crap … I’m buying name-brand, cute stuff. I guess I could have done better, but the PJ’s and jeans were more expensive than I had planned for. I went in a consignment shop yesterday and they had their used – USED! – Levi’s 2T jeans on for $12. Call me cheap, but that’s ridiculous. I finally found some jeans at Goodwill that was more what I was wanting to pay.
Speaking of shopping, I’m done with my Christmas shopping already and I couldn’t be more proud about that! I usually wait until late in the season, but I wanted to get it out of the way this year. Glad to have that behind me.
Back on the topic of fall – anyone got any good “fall-ish” recipes to share? I’ll post them here on my blog.
Recent observations
- My garbage disposal eats more fruit and vegetables than my children do.
- Want to win the Iraq war? Feed a bunch of two- and three-year-olds cake and ice cream and turn them loose. Then again, there’s probably something in the Geneva Convention about that.
- To a preschooler, the fun of a given activity is directly proportional to the “wrongness” of that activity.
- Whoever said that to get children to quiet down, you need to talk more quietly yourself is nuts. The more quietly I talk, the louder my children yell. I think they think I’ve had a sudden onset of deafness.
- No matter how much you sanitize your children’s hands, they’re going to find a way to get germs in their mouth anyway. Yesterday I sanitized the kids’ hands after every store we went in, only to find Mikaela leaning over and putting her mouth on a shopping cart handle.
- Preschoolers feel the need to announce all bodily functions to anyone in earshot.
Melanie 2.0
Sorry for the lack of posting. We’ve had a crazy last month with lots of company (including my parents, who stayed for a week), Gabriel’s 4th birthday, bad plumbing in the new house, and a long delay in getting internet hooked up. It’s been a good busy, though (well, I could’ve done without the bad plumbing).
We are feeling a lot more settled in, but we still have things that we want to do, like paint the kids’ rooms. We wanted to paint the kids rooms before we even moved in, but with a week-long delay in closing on the house, we wound up not doing it (we’d already reserved a U-haul).
All in all, the house is great. It has a lot more elbow room than our last place (about 300 sq. ft. more) and a view in the back that I never get tired of looking at. True, we’re over 40 miles from where Jay drives to work every day, but so far, I think it’s worth it.
Speaking of Jay’s commute, he got a Nissan Altima last week, so now we have two cars again! Not surprisingly, It gets twice the miles per gallon as the minivan. It’s silver with a black leather interior. It’s cute but I can’t imagine that anyone over 5′6″ could drive it. I’m only 5′4″ and my head almost hits the ceiling. It’s been a very long 6 months since our Ford bit the dust, and I’m very glad to have the van back to myself.
Re: the title of this post, I am trying to turn over a new leaf in lots of areas of my life. I wanted this move to be a fresh start, and now that we’re starting to get settled in, I am starting on my leaf-turning. My main things are time management and sticking to a good schedule…. I always start these things out but slack off after a couple of weeks. I think we’d all be a lot more sane if I could just stick with it.
I’m also going to try to be a lot more … well, Suzy homemaker. Cooking and ironing and homeschooling the kids and such. I am excited about the homeschooling, but I can’t say I’m really excited about the rest. But I know if that’s my “job” I need to do it. Don’t get all women’s lib on me now, it’s only fair for me to “work” at home if my husband is working, bringing home the bacon. And it’s not like I haven’t been doing some of the housework, but I’m trying to start treating it more like a job.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Internet!
So, we finally have internet hooked up out here. The satellite guy came out yesterday and set it up. I feel like I’ve been in a black hole for a month. I never realized how much I rely on the internet on a daily – no, more like hourly – basis. It’s where I do my work, where I read my devotions, it’s my dictionary, my phone book, my encyclopedia, my newspaper, my weather forecaster, my atlas, my medical reference book, my cookbook, my way to keep up with friends… not to mention my diary!
Anyway, I’ve missed it. And you.
Still not up
Well, I just found out today that the sattelite internet guy can’t come out to do an install until 10/10. I tried to bribe him with a tank of gas, to no avail. I am getting really antsy, since I have freelance work rolling in and no internet to work on!
So … hopefully, I’ll be back and blogging on the 10th. See you then!
