granted

First, there was #5 of this post.


Then, there was this post.


Guess some couldn't stand the suspense. I hadn't thought to ask permission initially to share what I'm about to tell you, so I had to leave you hanging while I sought out whether I was in the clear to divulge the secret.


Turns out, this part isn't a secret.

Lucky, huh?


I shall leave you in suspense no longer, my dear friends.

My best friend's baby who will be born in early December is.......









































another BOY! Woohoo!

that won't work...and a new baby

I'd originally set out to do a Wordless Wednesday post, then it dawned on me that Jon had taken the tower to the office. Something about needing the harddrive. And I don't have any pictures loaded to the laptop; I only have access to them from the desktop.

Oh well.


C told me this morning that his teacher has the same game that we have here. And she has the Clue Jr. books too. And she spent a lot of her own money for the things in her classroom. And her husband told her not to spend anymore, but she spent an additional $100 to repair the math books.


I said "Wow, she tells you guys everything, huh?"



I had dinner with my bf last night and her baby boy. He's almost 9 months old and so adorable. And as I mentioned in this post, I've known for only a couple of weeks that she's very pregnant with baby #2.

Now when she was pregnant with baby J last year, I could have possibly been the only one who didn't know that he was a boy. I'd simply asked her not to tell me, as I like that kind of surprise.

When we sat down to dinner last night, one of the first things I said was "So, did you find out the gender of this baby last week?" She said yes.

"And you're not gonna tell me?" She reminded me that I didn't want to know. Right. I like surprises.

I played with the baby the whole time we had dinner. When it was time for me to head home, she asked me to stay with J so she could run to the bathroom. No problem.

When she returned to the table, I said "Hey, I have a question. If I was to ask you if you'd tell me the new baby's gender, would you tell me, but keep the name a secret once you choose it?"

Obviously aliens had taken over my brain. Who am I?

She said "Sure"

I took a deep breath and said "Okay, tell me."

WHAT?? This is nuts! I don't really wanna know, do I?

When she said "It's a .....", I got so excited I started to cry.

I can't wait for the birth of the new baby!

monday musings...on a positive note

Why is it that weekends away from work go so quickly? At least Jon and I got to go for breakfast on Saturday morning; seemed forever since we'd been able to do that.


All the football teams we care about in this house posted wins over the weekend. That's exactly how it should be!

Worship was great yesterday, with the exception of my "technical difficulty". Seems that in our rush to get to church early for choir practice, I left my purse on the kitchen counter. That left me without my phone, without offering for Sunday School and most importantly, without my thumb drive containing the lyric powerpoint for worship. And we were over halfway to church when I said to Jon "Where's my purse?" Gah. I confessed my blunder to our music director who told me just to type in the selections not in the hymnal and that we'd just use the hymnal for the rest.


A copy of all my powerpoint files will find its way onto the desktop in the church office this next weekend. No crisis, but I was a bit nervous that on the very first weekend that I forgot the powerpoint in two years the district superintendent and his wife would be visiting. Yep. And Shawn Del didn't even fire me.


But on a positive note.....

Beth over at Laugh Until You Cry created this carnival that I thought was great; to start off the week with something positive! So here's my entry...

I'm working two 11a-8p shifts this week, but the upside is that I get time to myself in the morning once everyone else is out of the house...to watch the news, slowly enjoy my coffee or write (or read) blog posts. That almost makes up for being at work till almost bedtime for Caleb.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. I apologize for the lateness of this post, but I worked the opening shift this morning and got home at 5pm. Then I changed clothes and made dinner, checked homework and spent some time with Jon and I'm finally getting the chance to sit at the laptop.

2. I'm back to teaching the first through third grade Sunday School class. I really enjoyed the first time around; had some great students, most of whom are either in middle school now or right on the verge of middle school. I feel a bit differently this time around; there aren't as many children in my class and one of them is my own. It's more challenging to teach with my own boy in the room. But it's gonna work out fine.

3. Speaking of work, every customer with a problem came in to the store today. Our manager just handles one problem at a time. But my favorite moment of the day was the lady who came in and bought a pack of Newport Light cigarettes in a box. When I asked her if she wanted a bag, she said no, that her husband was out in the truck and he doesn't know she smokes, so she'd just put them in her purse. Instead of chuckling, which I wanted to do, I just smiled and said "okay". I'm not sure what she was thinking.

4. I got my first full paycheck this week. And all but about a hundred dollars went to put new tires on the Honda the next morning. Easy come, easy go, I guess.

5. Come to find out this week, my best friend and her husband are expecting baby #2. The surprise comes in when I say that she just had an ultrasound this week that confirmed that the baby is already 25 weeks gestation instead of the 8-10 weeks the clinic staff thought. Baby J (#1) is gonna be a big brother before his first birthday! Crazy stuff, but I'm super pumped for another baby to get my fix!

6. Fall has arrived and I even made the first batch of potato soup this week. And had leftovers in my lunch at work this afternoon. I love fall; too bad I have to get a year older every time it comes around.

7. I had an irritating experience this week at a retail giant. And I won't be visiting that local establishment again. But that scored me some points with my boss, since that would potentially mean some more business for Walgreens. My discount on items is only an added bonus.

Have a great weekend!

labor day

* if you follow this blog via networked blogs on facebook, you'll need to click on 'view original post' to see this post complete with the pictures. thanks!*

It's sometimes hard to believe that fourteen years ago today, I had my own personal labor day and gave birth to the most perfect six pound, six ounce little man. From the minute I held him, I was in love and he has never ceased to be the best thing that ever happened to me when I was the ripe old age of 21 years and 344 days.

(two days old- just sprung from St Vincent Hospital)

I've enjoyed watching him grow. I loved watching 'Pooh's Grand Adventure- the search for Christopher Robin' again and again. And again.

(nearly three, with his favorite blanket)


I cried when I left him on his first day of Kindergarten. I was the only one. He'd been home with me almost every minute since that warm September Sunday when we sprung him from the hospital and I wasn't ready for his independence. But he was and his teacher loved him.

(how is he ready for school already?...two days short of six years old)

He's a great big brother who lives life with an interesting mix of protecting Caleb and teaching him all he needs to know and wishing that Caleb would just go away.

Aren't all sibling relationships like that?

I'm proud that he's our son. I'm pleased at the smart, responsible, caring young man he's become. I'm more than thrilled that he loves Jesus with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength.

Happy birthday, Matthew. You make us proud.

And God said "Let there be balance." *

God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day.

He inquired, "Where have you been?"

God smiled deeply and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made."

Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?"

"It's a planet," replied God, and I've put life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a place to test Balance."

"Balance?" inquired Michael, "I'm still confused."

God explained, pointing to different parts of Earth. "For example, northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over here I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. Balance in all things."

God continued pointing to different countries. "This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice."

The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land area and said, "What's that one?"

"That's Wisconsin , the most glorious place on earth. There are beautiful rivers and streams, lakes, forests, and hills. The people from Wisconsin are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent, and humorous, and they are going to travel the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, carriers of peace, and producers of good things. Champions shall come from here!"

Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then asked, "But what about balance, God? You said there would be balance."

God smiled, "I will create Minnesota, wait till you see the clowns I put there. They will field a football team to provide entertainment; they will wear purple and play in a domed stadium."

Michael inquisitively asked, "Why a domed stadium?"

God chuckled and said, "You see Michael,...even I don't want to watch them play football."

*thanks, Steph!

I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist....

if she weren't so cute....

maybe he'd stop making her wear his cap. Nah.

It's Monday, but on a positive note.....

What a weekend!

And I mean that. Parts were great, and parts weren't so great.

J took the boys and a friend of M's to the minor league baseball game Saturday evening. Even though the team lost, I think that a great time was had by all. A visit to BK before the game and then soda and cotton candy during the game were the highlights for the little brother, that's for sure.

Work on Saturday went well, with the exception of that I couldn't get to the customer who was trying to carry three gallon jugs of water before she dropped one and it spilled all over the floor in front of the photo counter. After I called for the manager and every drop was cleaned up, she apologized to me saying that she knew that she should have gotten a cart to carry her water. And I just reassured her that these things happen and that really, it's not a big deal. She did get a cart to carry her water out to her car though; a gallon jug always loses the fight with an asphalt lot.

Don't ask me how I know that.

And for the not-so-great part, let's just say that my 13yo son is heartbroken. Through no fault of his own, a relationship that he treasured looks to be over, at least that's what I understand, and he's not happy about it at all. And there are extenuating circumstances to this too. It's not pretty.

But on a positive note.....

Beth over at Laugh Until You Cry created this carnival that I thought was great; to start off the week with something positive! So here's my entry...

....we've had more than one opportunity this last week to stress to M that it's really important that he make some decisions in life NOW and stick to them, because there can be lifelong consequences if you don't. And he seems to understand and be on board.

I wonder if it's too early to start with C.

seven quick takes Friday

1. Here we are again, Friday. Most people look forward to the weekend, I just look forward to which ever days of the week (usually three) I don't have to dress in navy and tan and go to "the pharmacy America trusts". But I'm loving my job, some cranky customers aside, AND I finally got paid this week, so that makes it even better!

2. As I'm sure you know, school starts Wednesday. C can't wait. And I can't wait! Teacher meet and greet is this afternoon. I'm so excited, yet a little sad, that my baby is in grade THREE. Where was I when this happened?

3. Speaking of my baby, my other one who's growing taller than me by the minute- he got to go to the Brewer game yesterday with his Poppa and Uncle and some of his cousins. It's always a great time, I hear, and yesterday was no exception. Except that the Brewers lost and M has never seen them pull off a win. But it's a win for Poppa, since he's a lifelong die-hard Dodger fan.

4. My mom's having her other hip replaced in October. She said that her doctor said that she could live with the pain or look at the surgery schedule, so she's taken his (at that time) next available opening. I won't travel to be with her during the first week of her recovery this time (sob!); she didn't want me to have to worry about taking time off work so she said that Dad has plenty of pto and he'll stay home and take care of her. I'm still gonna call and check on her every day. :-)

5. I'm headed next weekend for a quick trip to IL to visit some friends and I can't wait! I was lucky enough to get all of Labor Day weekend off (WOW!), so I'm gonna take advantage and go away alone for the day. I'll get to hug my friend (YAY!) and play with her adorable son (YAY!) and I'm super excited.

6. J got a new phone this week. He got the Droid, so he's been having fun installing apps and stuff. He's happy; I'm not. Why, you ask? His new toy came in lieu of a raise, and he hasn't had a raise in three years. Not cool. The phone won't buy the eighth grader new pants or shoes. Or feed the "always hungry" third grader. But whatever. Enjoy your phone, babe. (For the record, I know it's not his fault...it just ticks me off.)

7. And finally, would you believe that in just over a week I'll be the mother of a FOURTEEN year old?!? That's nuts. Even as I typed that, I don't believe it. I don't just live in denial, I enjoy every minute of it, thankyouverymuch.

Have a great weekend!

Check out more Quick takes at conversiondiary.com

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday- once bitten, twice shy...*

alternately titled: manicure bound!

*and if you know me at all, you're pretty amazed that it's been two weeks since I've bit my nails. Frankly, I'm amazed myself.

Monday Musings

*While logically I appreciate getting all my work hours (26.5 this week) in in a span of three days, I wasn't sure that my body was up to the challenge. Fortunately, things went well and I made it through and will happily go back to work on Wednesday.

**Don't get me wrong, I totally felt as though I deserved a reward for keeping this body on the move all weekend, so I chose two pints of ice cream from the freezer case as the final thing I did at the store last night. And then I came home and ate until my tongue was frozen and I could no longer taste the creamy deliciousness; which, for the record, was about half a pint. It awaits my return to the freezer this evening.

***Just so there's no confusion, I do sincerely hope that most of my work weeks no longer contain the 11-8 cosmetics shift Friday through Sunday. I felt as though my weekend was not my own.

****Jon was tremendously helpful over the weekend making sure that the house was maintained and the boys were still alive and fed. As a matter of fact, when I came through the back door last night, everyone was happily doing their own thing upstairs. That was a good sign that things went well.

*****And payday is Wednesday; woohoo!

******Soccer season practices start tonight. M has played every season but one since he went to Kindergarten. Check out how adorable his picture is!

He was quite cooperative when I said "Hey, can you go get me your kindergarten soccer pic? I wanna scan it in." But then when I started gushing about how adorable he was, he got all embarrassed. Teenagers!

in the dark

Somewhere around 5:30 this morning, I noticed that there was something wrong.


I was hearing intermittent squeeking and couldn't decide if the fan in the window was just set out to not allow me to sleep or if it could be a squirrel outside the window perched on the deck roof.


About ten minutes later, Jon was awake and went downstairs. When he came back up to the bedroom, he had his flashlight and looked behind the door.


Next thing I hear is "Oh, great...you're gonna want to get under the blankets."


Yep, that's right.


A bat. A nasty, disease-ridden bat.


Behind our bedroom door.


Two seconds later, I heard the "thump, thump" of his shoe making contact with the creature.


Then I could finally sleep.

sixteen or five

I've known my husband for sixteen years.

In that same amount of time, my co-worker, Aggie, has worked at four different stores. She tells me that she's not sure that she'll make it to seventeen.

I don't know whether to believe that or not.

Five years ago, Caleb was three. Matthew was in school all day and Caleb still took a nap every afternoon.

Five years from now, Matthew will be starting his freshman year in college.

How's that for a little perspective for ya this morning?

seven quick takes

1. Work is going well. Everybody's really nice and it's a small store, so we get regular customers whose names I get to learn. I'm not really looking forward to working all weekend next weekend, but hey, it's money, right?

2. I spent both of my scheduled shifts this week completing requirements for my new job. Such things as "this is how we provide excellent customer service" "everything you need to know about what to do if a robbery should occur on your shift" and so on. It was all done on the computer, complete with a narrator to complete my "beverage server/seller" class. I had to turn that feature off; I could read faster than she could talk anyway. Monday and Tuesday I actually get to interact with customers which I love. I hated being stuck back in that room.

3. Tomorrow is the annual Fireman's Parade. M is marching, of course; so we will attend. It's a pretty lengthy parade but fun for the kids. The best part of the parade this year is that afterward we're taking the boys to Grandma and Poppa's house to spend a couple of days. Peace and solitude and couple time; woohoo! Minus time spent at work, of course.

4. I didn't get her permission to tell you this, but I have to tell you anyway. You know how my Mom is a breast cancer survivor, right? Click here for the cliff notes on that. I talked to her this week and she casually mentions that she had to have a repeat mamogram. Because there was a "spot"....huh. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. But, thanks be to God, it's been determined by several professionals that the spot in NOT cancer; it must just be from reconstruction surgery she had this past January. whew. Talk about a scary few days. But once again, God is good!

5. No ants for a few days. And then suddenly, just one late last night. Ugh. Jon did say he only sprayed about three-quarters of the kitchen, so once he finishes it, we should be good to go. Or else we'll have to hire an exterminator. One or the other.

6. Our fifteenth anniversary is this October. Seems hardly likely, and yet, here we are. We only go away every five years and this would be the year. Normally you'd think we had plans in place already...nope. Guess Jon had a plan in his head for this year while we celebrated our tenth in '05 and he's a bit disappointed that the plan didn't pan out. But I'm not of the opinion that just because that didn't work out we shouldn't do anything! I suppose I'll just have to keep proding him. hee hee.

7. School starts two weeks from Wednesday. I can't wait, C can't wait, M would just really rather not ever go back to school. Of course, I'm sure that's due to the fact that he's been taking full advantage of sleeping very late the last few weeks. The six o'clock wake up on September first is going to be brutal. hee hee hee.

Check out more Quick takes at conversiondiary.com

red

Remember this post from a few weeks ago?

Well, here's the first of what our patience has afforded us.

And there are more to come!

dance

Originally published August 7, 2009


Today, August 7th, after thirteen years, our Grandparents are reunited on their anniversary.

And do you know what they're doing?

They're dancing.

I had forgotten how much they loved to dance until one of my Aunts mentioned it this week. In the last couple weeks of her life, Grandma mentioned that she would like to do several things that she had not had the chance to do in years; most frequently she mentioned dancing.

She had been bedridden due to stroke for seven years and I don't honestly think that she had been dancing since Grandpa passed away, but she remembered what it was like and that she loved it.

Mom told a story this weekend that Grandma had told her. She said that Grandma and Grandpa used to go to Lansing and dance whenever Bob Crosby and his band played Big Band music there. And they would dance the night away.

Every chance they got, they'd dance. And they were good at it too.

So today, on what is their 68th wedding anniversary, we miss them both tremendously, but we take comfort in knowing that they are celebrating together today.

Dancing.

stream of consciousness

C and I had a great time at our church's annual district assembly this week. The conventions were informative, the preaching anointed and the youth-led worship AH. MA. ZING. It's so great to be able to gather with friends from other churches and get reports about what God is doing.

C had a great time in that he got to make some new friends and he did quite a bit of swimming in the hotel pool. Props to the childcare coordinator and her team; nothing quite like dropping the boy off and not having to worry about keeping him entertained for the afternoon!

I got to bring home a souvenir of sorts from Madison too. Seems that I have come down with quite a deal of a head cold. And my throat feels as though there's a Brillo pad stick in it too. Good times. I'm hoping that with some diligence in taking medication and fluids for the next few days that I am good as new very soon. It's not the worst cold I've ever had but just the same I'd like to be rid of it.

I started my new job today. It went well. Everybody is very nice and extremely helpful in offering advice as I navigate my way through the process. Fortunately, I've worked a cash register before, so that's the easy part. It's nice to be back in the "working" world again.

Remind me of that last sentence the next time that I report that I'm completely overwhelmed if you would, please.

Seems as though we have quite a major ant problem as of late. And not tiny red ants either; nope, the big, black ones that can carry away a small pet if it sets its mind to it. Ick. Jon is bringing home traps tonight. We had some spray, but it says right on the can "hazardous to humans and domestic animals" so I don't want to use it around the kitten. Or on my kitchen counter, frankly. Hopefully the traps will do the job.

With that, you're caught up. And I'm off to veg in front of the tv until my next dose of medication.

Toodles.

let it go

It's no secret that I'm a control freak. Put me in charge and it needs to go the way I say, in the time I say...blah, blah.

But the good news about me is that if somebody else is in charge of something and I'm just taking part in the fun, I'm all good in letting myself go with the flow.

The director of music at our local church giggles when I say "Whatever you want, boss!"

And I mean it. Who wants to upset her anyway?

Alas, my flexibility is not really what we're talking about here. It'd be a really short post anyway and not really worth anyones time, believe me.

Things are about to change around here; don't worry, it's all good. Or at least it will be.

I got a new part-time job; and after being home full time for the last year and a half, I'm gonna be out of the house making money twenty to twenty-five hours a week.

I'm pretty excited because who am I kidding, I really haven't wanted to be home so much in recent months...but finding work near our home proved to be more challenging than I was ready for, actually.

I got lucky in that the manager of my new job felt nostalgic when he saw on my application that both he and I used to work for the same company. Not at the same time, mind you, but whatever.

See? All good.

Here in lies my problem. My very gracious husband has made it clear that he'll see to it that whatever he and the boys need to do to pick up some of the slack while I get used to my new work schedule, they'll do.

But I have to let them. AHEM.

See my problem? If you know me at all, you do.

So who cares if Jon turns the towels wrong side out as he folds them? At least they're folded. Right now, I care. And last week, I couldn't stop myself from making a comment about how he had done it backwards.

Don't worry, I hated myself for it. And you know what else? In my repentance, I put them away just like they were. And then left them that way. That's pretty big, for me.

It's not just towels, either, as I'm sure you figured. Will the dishes get clean enough if I'm not the one to load the dishwasher....I left veggies for supper every night and no one has eaten a single veggie all week....there is cat hair everywhere, can you not see that?.....

The thing is, I've realized that I can't pick apart my help and still expect to get help. Call it maturity or desperation or whatever...I'm gonna have to channel my mother and just be gracious and grateful for the help. That ultimately means that I'm just gonna have to go with the flow around here too.

God help me.

the rain came down...

We've had so much rain since the boys and I made it home from Michigan that the mosquitoes have quadrupled, in size and number.


Normally, this is the time of year where people around here are complaining about how brown their lawns are and wouldn't it be nice if it just rained so purposeful watering wasn't necessary.

Not this year.

With most of this rain comes the event of some sort of severe weather. Last Tuesday, it was tornado warnings about an hour into band camp at the middle school. Last night it was reported that there was quarter-sized hail falling; we drove into the storm from sunny skies and back out of the storm into sunny skies.


All we saw was quarter-sized raindrops, in case you wondered.

But it rained like crazy again over night. And I know this because I had another one of those nights where I was dead-tired by nine-thirty, so I went to sleep; only to find myself wide awake around quarter after two.


Thank goodness we have DirecTV. Otherwise I'd have to read a book or something.


Fast forward to around ten till seven this morning, Jon kisses me goodbye and walks out the front door. I don't hear him open his car door right away, so I wait...and see that he gets a 6 pack of Coke bottles out of the back of the van.

But then all I hear is "HOLY COW!"

He comes back inside and says "Guess we don't need Eric after all...you gotta see this."

When we talked about taking this tree down on our own, it needed to miss the clothesline post...

and it better miss the wishing well that my Grandpa built for me, or heads were gonna ROLL.

Guess it worked out okay. And we have more firewood to boot. Jon'll just have to uncover the firepit there somewhere. Lucky him.