I think I'm in love...

This is my new favorite Pampered Chef product. And I have A LOT of Pampered Chef products.

If you cook a lot of ground beef, you need one of these. Trust me.

And here I thought I was perfect.

I am a sarcastic person. And I have a low tolerance for people who aren't exactly like me. And I'm a little insecure. Combine these traits and sometimes my thoughts and words aren't as holy as I wish they would have been.

And sometimes God sends me a couple of Bible verses just when I need them.

And sometimes he sends me several of them over the course of a couple of days just to make sure I get the picture.

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. - Romans 14:10

Or this one:

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. - Matthew 7:2

Or this one:

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. - Hebrews 4:13

I think He is trying to tell me something...

It's hip to be a modified rectangle.

Today is Wednesday, which means I spent the morning volunteering at my son's school.

When I first started volunteering with the enrichment program, I was assisting the Spanish teacher.

She wasn't able to volunteer any more after Christmas so we decided to switch from Spanish to music. And I think this was a good move since I don't speak Spanish and the kids were over it.

They weren't able to find a music teacher for me to assist. Instead they found another mom who like me said she would assist but didn't want to take the lead.

So you've got two assistants with no one to assist which means we've been doing a lot of limbo and a lot of freeze dance. (Don't judge. I know the limbo and freeze dance aren't what you normally think of as music class but we do have music playing in the background.)

Today when we walked into the first class the kids immediately asked where the limbo stick was and they all groaned when I told them we were going to sing a song about shapes.

Each kid was given either a circle, a square, a triangle or a rectangle. We reviewed the shapes with them and then began the song.

The man singing the song instructs the kids with the circles to stand up or tells the kids with the rectangles to stand up and so on and then he tells certain shapes to sit down and then at the end of the song, he instructs the kids to switch shapes with a neighbor and then we do it all over again.

After doing this three times, the kids were completely over it and we played Simon Says. (And yes, I know. Simon Says isn't even remotely music. It's basically just a filler until time to move on to the next class.)

I believe these kindergartners love Simon Says almost as much as they love to limbo. I will probably be muttering, "Simon says hop on one foot" in my sleep tonight.

We worked our way through three classes and finally made it to the fourth and final class.

We handed out the shapes to all the kids and then started reviewing the shapes.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the circle.

"Circle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the triangle.

"Triangle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the rectangle.

"Rectangle," they all said in unison.

"What's this shape?" I asked as I held up the square.

There was a pause and then several kids said, "Modified rectangle."

MODIFIED RECTANGLE?!

I started to laugh thinking they were just being smart alecs and asked, "Modified rectangle?"

Their teacher happened to be passing through and said, "Yes. They (not sure who they is) want us to teach them that a square is a modified rectangle."

"Why?" I thought perhaps she was trying to be funny but then I realized she was serious.

"It will help them when they learn geometry because in geometry they refer to squares as modified rectangles."

"Geometry? When will they learn geometry?" I quizzed the teacher thinking perhaps they were going to learn geometry next year.

"In the tenth grade" she replied shaking her head.

The tenth grade?

I'm all for teaching kindergartners things they need to know to prepare them to succeed in the future, but kids grow up so fast these days. Can't we just let them call a square a square a little while longer?

Who needs a Dapper Dan?

Peter started Kindergarten in the fall. And when I bought his new sneakers, I specifically got lace-ups instead of Velcro closures. I did this with the knowledge that he was going to have to learn how to tie his shoes sooner or later and I figured he might as well have the appropriate shoes to learn on.

I learned how to tie my shoes on my beloved Dressy Bessy doll. Dressy Bessy is hard to find but they do still make her. They also still make Dapper Dan dolls for little boys but I knew Peter would balk at the idea of a doll .

Several weeks after Kindergarten started, Peter would occasionally mention that after Christmas they all needed to know how to tie their own shoes.

And after hearing this from him a couple of times, I decided we would teach him over Christmas vacation. And that was my plan.

However, I wasn't factoring into my plan that Peter would have new toys to play with so shoe-tying would not be a top priority for him and that we would be on vacation so shoe-tying would not be a top priority for me either.

Even so, we half-heartedly tried once over Christmas vacation to teach him but decided that we had better things to do and would attempt it again when we got home.

And then I didn't think another thing about shoe tying until last week when I was volunteering at school and I noticed a little girl bending down to tie a little boy's unlaced shoe. I thought to myself, "Awww. Isn't that sweet. The kids are working together on getting the shoe tied instead of bothering the teacher."

And then two days later Peter came home from school, threw down his back pack in a huff and exclaimed, "Today was a horrible day!"

"What happened, honey?" I asked.

"Well, they didn't have fruit pops for lunch like the menu said, my shoe came untied in the morning and I had to leave it like that all day, Joey kept talking and wouldn't be quiet and I didn't earn any extra bananas." He crossed his arms and pouted and even tried to work up a few tears so I would know just how horrible the day had been.

"Why didn't you just ask your teacher to tie your shoe for you?" was the first thing out of my mouth. It seemed to me that would have been an easy fix and would have quickly made the horrible day a little less horrible.

"Because," he said in an exasperated tone, "it's after Christmas and the teachers aren't tying any more shoes."

"What? What do you mean the teachers won't tie your shoes?" Surely he was confused.

"You remember. After Christmas we had to know how to tie our shoes because they weren't going to tie them any more."

He did mention that they needed to know how to tie their shoes after Christmas. I will give him credit for that. But he failed to mention the most important part - that the teachers wouldn't tie them any longer and the shoes laces would just be left to drag on the ground posing a tripping hazard.

Could they not have sent a note home? Because it is a requirement at this elementary school that all students have a backpack. And contained in this backpack is an agenda (which I paid for!) where the teachers and/or students when they are older write homework assignments and there is a folder in the backpack (which I paid for!). One side of the folder is labeled "Keep At Home" and the other is labeled "Return To School".

So great pains have been taken to ensure ease of communication between parent and school. It's not like when I was a child. Back in the 70's, (at the exact same school that Peter attends now) if a teacher wanted to get a note home to the parents, it was PINNED to our shirts!

So notes go back and forth all the time. The school doesn't seem to have a problem reminding me that it's Chick-Fil-A Night or McDonald's Night but apparently it was too much trouble to let me know that as of January 5th, there would be no more shoe tying!

After I got over my extreme annoyance (at least I think I got over it), I decided that my child was not going to be the only child walking around with untied shoes.

So, I did what I do every time the kids need to be taught something. I told Dan that he needed to do it.

And that night, right after dinner, my dear sweet husband sat Peter down to teach him how to tie his own shoes.

I heard things like, "Make an X" and "Now make a loop, sort of like a bunny ear" and "I know it's hard, but nothing worth doing is easy".

And after two lessons, I am happy to report that Peter learned to tie his own shoes. He's slow, but he can do it.

And we didn't even need a Dapper Dan....just a Daddy Dan!

Miracle Monday

In January, I told you about Taylor.

She was the 10 year old who had been hit in the eye with a pellet from a soft pellet gun. She had severe corneal damage and bleeding behind the eye and had lost vision from this eye.

After remaining propped up for 5 days (sleeping that way as well) and wearing an eye patch she still could not see. It was determined that Taylor had a traumatic cataract.

After much prayer on the part of her mother and friends, a retinal specialist told them that Taylor would eventually be fine. She would need glasses and would need to have cataract surgery in a few years. And Taylor gradually began getting her vision back.

But now the doctors are saying that she can't wait for the cataract surgery. Currently, WITH glasses, her vision is only 20/200.

The doctors wanted to implant a special lens. The cost of the lens and surgery was going to be $5000. Taylor's mom, Michelle, does not have medical insurance and wasn't sure how she was going to pay for this.

Michelle and her friends began praying for another miracle and then she received a wonderful call.

The eye surgeon is going to donate his time. The lens maker is going to donate the lens and the Children's Volunteer Network is going to pay the surgery center. And after this surgery Taylor will have 20/20 vision again!

When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith will it be done to you"; and their sight was restored. Matthew 9:28-30

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. If you have a miracle you want to share, please go to this week's edition of Miracle Monday and post it there. Thanks!

I'll be back when the whining stops.

There was a lot of whining around here this afternoon.

A lot.

At the height of all the whining and complaining, Sarah decided she wanted to play Go Fish with me.

Sarah: (in a really annoying whiny voice) "Maaahhhmmmmmmeeeee. Will you play Go Fish with me? Pleeeeeaaaaasssseeeeeeeee."

Me: "Sarah! Please stop. All of your whining is sending me over the edge!"

Silence

Sarah: (looking up at me with big round eyes) "Are you ever coming back?"

Silence

Me: Oh, all right. Just go get the cards!

I'm sure they aren't reading this, but just in case...

Not that the executives at FOX or American Idol care, but I have written down a few steps they could take to improve their faltering ratings and to make the show less uncomfortable for me to watch.

So if the powers that be happen to be reading this, you can implement these changes and thank me with free Diet Coke and tickets to the finale in May after your ratings improve. Just once in my life I would love to be able to scream, "I'm going to Hollywood!" while waving around a golden ticket but my voice is horrible and I'm slightly over the age limit for contestants so free tickets will be the only way I'll ever get there.

Here are my list of changes: (And if you happen to read Musings of a Housewife, I listed these in her comments section after I read her recap of last night's show.)

#1. - Eliminate Paula as a judge. Kara is a wonderful judge so, in addition to being a little crazy, Paula is now redundant.

#2. - Eliminate the Red Room and the conversations they have there. And wow! How painful was it to have the parents in the room? Especially after all the horrible performances last night. Someone, please make it stop!

#3 - Make the show shorter. I love me some American Idol but last night's show was at least 30 minutes too long. Shortening the show could be accomplished by eliminating the Red Room and by making the judges comment time shorter. Now that there are 4 judges they should all speak less or at least just skip over Paula.

#4 - Eliminate the catty comments between Ryan and Simon. I hate it when they are bickering. It makes me very uncomfortable and it isn't funny at all.

#5 - Provide a little more assistance to the contestants when they are picking out their songs. Horrible, horrible song choices (like last night) make for a horrible, horrible show.

Whew! I feel better now that I got that off my chest. And even if they don't read this and don't make these changes, I still love American Idol and look forward to watching it every week.

And can I just say that Danny Gokey sure can sing. He was my favorite going into Hollywood Week and after last night, he is still at the top of my list!

PS - Did anyone else think Ted Danson looked very freakish with his silver hair and black glasses? I guess he stopped dying his hair. And why were he and Doogie Hauser sitting together? Are they promoting a movie or a new TV show? Why were they even there at all? Usually they save the "stars" in the audience for the final 3 weeks or so. I guess I'm not the only one who loves me some American Idol.

Miracle Monday

Happy Miracle Monday!

Many of you may be familiar with Amy over at Signs, Miracles and Wonders.

Amy's son Spencer was born in December of 1999. Minutes after he was born, Amy knew something was wrong because he wasn't crying.

He was taken to the NICU where the doctors stabilized his breathing but early the next morning a nurse observed him having what she thought was a seizure. He was medicated for the seizure but then went into cardiac arrest.

Amy and her husband were then told that Spencer's little body was shutting down. They brought the baby in for Amy to hold for the first and last time.

They began praying for Spencer and calls were made to family and church members to inform them that Spencer had died.

The nurses already had the death certificate ready and were just waiting for the last heart beat so that they could call the official time of death.

However, when the family heard Spencer was near death, the family began to call friends to ask for prayer. Most people were praying for Amy and Greg,

But one lady named LouAnn had been praying for God to show her a miracle for several months. So when she got the call that Spencer had died, she began to pray John 14:11 -14.

"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

LouAnn was not surprised at all when she got the call that Spencer was alive. Even the doctors said that they had experienced a miracle that day!

After two weeks of testing in the NICU, Spencer went home where he progressed normally with physical therapy.

Three years later, Spencer was diagnosed with Epilepsy and has suffered many seizures and many trips to the hospital. And Amy has become an Epilepsy Advocate Speaker.

She wrote yesterday that Spencer has not had a seizure since January 14th - almost 5 weeks! Please keep Spencer and the rest of their family in your prayers.

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday button in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

Bird Feeder – We Made It, Showcase Saturday

I was in charge of the craft at Sarah’s Valentine’s Day party at preschool this past Thursday.

I wanted a craft that did not need glue or paint so I scoured the internet until I found a cool bird feeder at Ordinary Life Magic.

All you need is stale popcorn, bits of dried fruit, florist wire and some thread.

Since it was a Valentine’s party, I shaped the florist wire into a heart and had the kids sting the popcorn and dried fruit on it.

We left some space at each end of the wire so I could twist the heart to close it. Then I tied string through it so that we could hang it on a branch.

I will say that the heart shape proved to be a bit much for the hopped-up on sugar 4 year olds. A small circle would have been more manageable for them. (Perhaps we should have done the craft before the cupcakes!)

I think they turned out really cute and the birds are enjoying their treat!

Sarah working on the bird feeder at school.

Sarah’s best friend Sydney.

And I popped way to much popcorn so later on that day I had Jennifer’s girls, Caity and Cheyenne, make some too.

For more great craft ideas, head over to Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.

And you thought there were nine reindeer.

Even though it is February and 72 degrees outside right now (thank the Lord for warm fronts or hot air masses or whatever it was that caused this mild week we have had!), Sarah has been singing Christmas songs.

Specifically she has been singing Silent Night thanks to a Silent Night book she received from her preschool teachers as a Christmas gift.

For the last couple of weeks, one of her favorite things to do is sit on the couch and belt out Silent Night at the top of her lungs.

And even though I love her with all my heart and soul, I can say with certainty that if she were to ever try out for American Idol, we would see her in one of the early episodes and she would be screaming, "I don't care what those stupid judges say! I can sing! This isn't the last you are going to see of me America."

If this does happen, I just hope she will have enough decorum not to shout profanities at the camera as she is walking away.

So even though Sarah appears to be suffering from an early case of tone deafness, she loves to sing. Loves it.

And I guess all this February singing of Silent Night has put her in quite the Christmas mood because today as she and I were working on a little craft project at the kitchen table, she began singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

As we were hot gluing, I chuckled when I realized that she didn't have the words quite right.

"Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names."

And if you think I corrected her, you are wrong. I'll just wait until her Daddy gets home tomorrow night.

Tiny hand prints.

We have a set of French doors that lead into our office. When we moved into our house two years ago, these doors were beautiful. The panes of glass were sparkling clean and the trim paint was a crisp white.

When we moved into our house two years ago, the kids were early preschoolers. Peter was 4 and Sarah was 2 and a half.

Peter still needed help wiping his bottom, still rode a bike with training wheels and still wanted me to sing him a song every night before bed.

Sarah still used a pacifier, still carried Elephant Blankie and Little Blankie around with her and still wanted me to sing her a song every night before bed.

Now the paint on those French doors is dinged up from being slammed too hard and scuffed from Hot Wheels and dump trucks being crashed into them.  And the pristine glass panes are now smudged with remnants of tiny hand prints and streaked with Glass Plus.

It used to be part of my weekly cleaning ritual. I would spray and rub and shine the panes trying to remove those tiny hand prints.

And I would silently lament my dirty house. The toys. The smudges. The dirt. Those tiny hand prints.

But two years have passed now. Passed too quickly, I have recently realized. And now I let those hand prints linger on the glass panes. I’m not as anxious to clean them off now. Because the hand prints aren’t so tiny anymore.

And all too soon, I know they will vanish.

***************************************

This post inspired by a quote from Dorothy Evslin and the realization that I now smile wistfully at the growing hand prints on the panes.

It will be gone before you
know it. The fingerprints on the
wall appear higher and higher.
Then suddenly they disappear.

******************************************

Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs.*

After dinner last week, Peter asked for a piece of toffee.

It was my third attempt at making toffee and it still didn’t turn out right but the kids still wanted to eat it. I think I need a new candy thermometer. (At least that’s what I’m going to blame it on.)

Sarah helped me make the toffee and had eaten plenty of it throughout the afternoon.

I told Peter he could have a piece but not to flaunt it in front of Sarah because I wasn’t going to let her have any more.

So he agreed and took a piece of the toffee. I continued cleaning up the dinner dishes and less than 30 seconds later I turned around to see Peter standing in front of Sarah waving the toffee around.

I rushed over to him, pulled him aside, got up to his face and whispered, “What are you doing? I thought I told you not to tell Sarah.”

After I calmed Sarah down and explained why she couldn’t have any more toffee, it was time for bath so we all four marched up stairs.

Dan and Peter went in one direction and Sarah and I went in the other.

I assumed all was well and good until I went into Peter’s room to kiss him goodnight.

I was shocked when I received the back treatment! I tried to kiss Peter good night but he gave a huff, rolled over in bed and all I could see was his back.

I told him I loved him and I left the room.

Then about 20 minutes later Sarah yelled for me to come into her room. She said there was a mean sign on her door.

Apparently Peter had written and posted the following note on her door right after he gave me the back treatment.

I removed the offensive sign and told Sarah not to worry because Peter was mad at me, not her.

It was a classic case of transference. Clearly the toffee incident had more of an impact on Peter’s delicate psyche than I realized. (After discussing it with him the next day, he told me I had hurt his feelings when I whispered at him. I guess it was probably more of a hiss than a whisper and I think it scared him. But I apologized and all was well again.)

When I saw the sign, I wasn’t offended or upset, I was excited. The handwriting on this sign was the clearest and neatest I’ve seen from him yet. And look! No misspelled words!

I was actually proud of my little kindergartener!

Several days later on Sunday morning, right before church, Sarah asked for a snack. She had already finished breakfast and another snack so I told her “no”.

She huffed around and then I went upstairs to finish getting dressed.

Dan asked what all the huffing was about and I told him I had denied Sarah a snack but she was fine with it.

Or so I thought.

After I dressed, I went into her room to grab a pair of tights and found this sign on her door.

But I wasn’t offended or upset. (Well, only a little.)

Because look! She actually wrote something other than her name all by herself!

But all is well here again because later on that afternoon, they both made these for me…(The top note is from Sarah. The bottom note is from Peter.)

They still love me and I have always loved them.

*From Signs written and recorded by The Five Man Electric Band. Also recorded by Tesla - my favorite version.

Miracle Monday - KEEP BELIEVING in miracles.

It's Miracle Monday again so let's get to it!

I know I've written a lot about Brian and Angie but I just can't help myself.

I have often wondered what I would do if I were faced with a situation like theirs.

Would I get mad at God or would I turn to him for help?

Would I push friends and family away or would I look to them for support?

Would I get depressed or would I look for the joy in life?

Would I retreat and hide or would I share it all with the world?

Brian and Angie are doing all the things I hope I would do.

They have put their faith in God but at the same time they are taking help from friends and family.

They are finding joy in simple things like family time, ice hockey games, handstands, new babies and toothless grins.

And through Angie's blog Keep Believing, they are allowing us to see it all - the good days and the hard days.

And through it all, they are still seeing and appreciating the tiny every day miracles of life.

I am asking you today to continue to pray for Brian and Angie and their boys. And if you felt led to do so, please contribute to the fund that has been set up to help support them. (Please see my sidebar on the left).

I am praying for everything that Angie has listed on her sidebar:

For the most beautiful end of days that anyone could possibly experience
For our peace - for Brian's acceptance
For our financial future
For Gavin and Grant - to not fear, to feel normal, to feel at ease and peace. For me to be able to make that happen for them
Renewed emphasis in our spiritual/prayer life

But I am also praying for complete healing for Brian because I believe in miracles and I know that

...nothing is impossible with God. - Luke 1:37

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday graphic in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.

It's just my mean and crazy mother.

Sarah was out of the bathtub but her hair was still wet. I called for her to come to the bathroom so we could dry it. A chore we both hate.

I had to call her several times before she finally came and when she got to the bathroom I noticed she had her little pink cell phone attached to her ear and she was having a conversation.

I told her to hop up on the counter so I could start brushing the tangles from her hair.

And then I heard the following from her pretend conversation.

"Oh it's nothing. It's just my mean and crazy mother. Just ignore her."

And then she giggled and looked at me to see what I would say.

But what could I say? She's right.

I am mean and crazy.

Just ask her father.

We Made It, Showcase Saturday

I'm joining in on the fun over at Ramblings of a Crazy Woman's We Made It, Showcase Saturday.




This week Sarah and I made a cute little butterfly. I got this idea from Janie at Mommy Has a Blog. Janie participated in Jennifer's Showcase Saturday last weekend.

When I saw this craft, I knew it would be perfect for Sarah because Sarah loves butterflies. But seriously, what four year old doesn't?

But I also knew it would be perfect for me. I don't like messy crafts and this one didn't require any paint and minimal glue so clean up was quick and easy.

Even if you don't have a craft to post this week, head over and check out all the cool crafts the other moms have posted. You might even get a little inspiration for a craft you can do with your little ones.

Munch. Munch. Nibble. Nibble. Crunch.

What's that?

That's the sound of me enjoying some lettuce wraps from P.F. Chang's which is exactly what I'll be doing tonight.

(squeals with delight)

Dan and I are going on a date tonight! And all because both kids are sleeping over at Jennifer's house tonight.

Jennifer is my neighbor, my BFF and my blogging buddy.

Her son Colton (Who just so happens to be Peter's BFF - and I know this because a couple of days ago when they were playing at our house, Peter said to Colton, "Do you know who my BFF is?" And Colton said, "Yes! Me!" O.k. Peter didn't use the term "BFF" but he did say "best friend". ) is celebrating his 6th birthday and he is having 3 friends over for a sleepover.

And Jennifer, being the BFF that she is, was kind enough to invite Sarah to join in the sleepover so that her two girls would have someone to play with and so that Dan and I could go out.

Because the kids are sleeping over at Jennifer's house Dan and I can use a gift certificate that we have for P.F. Chang's.

And the kids would have to be sleeping over for us to use this gift certificate because the nearest P.F. Chang's is 35 miles away!

Apparently we live in the middle of nowhere.

And speaking of Jennifer, she is hosting a new feature on her blog.

She has a great craft blog (don't let the name of her blog fool you- she's not crazy) where she shows you step by step all the crafts she's been making with her kids.

And these are real crafts. These aren't Martha Stewart crafts. Not that I've got anything against Martha but when you are doing crafts with your kids, you want your kids to actually be able to do them.

And now on Saturdays she wants to see what you have been making with your kids. It can be something you've made from her site or it can be any other craft you've done with your kids.

All you have to do is write a post on your blog about what you did and link to her "We Made It, Showcase Saturday". (I think she's going to open it up on Fridays and leave Mr. Linky up all weekend.)

Enjoy your weekend, y'all! Is it dinnertime yet?

I told you that she probably wouldn’t last long.

 

And I was right.

Meet my newer green purse.

It’s the same lovely color as my old (and I use that term loosely since I only had it a few weeks) purse.  But it is so much more functional.

The straps on the other bag were a little shorter and made it hard for me to reach into my bag without taking it completely off of my shoulder.

And it had that flap at the top so I had to open that every time I wanted to grab something from my purse.

And those cute little pockets with the cute little buckles were not functional at all.

So I did what any sane person would do.

I gave it to the first person that said they loved the purse and then went out and bought a new one for myself.

Cathy, please ignore all the negative things I just said about the purse. 

It’s a great purse. Really. It is.

Short and sweet but it was just what they needed.

Last Friday afternoon, Aunt Cathy arrived for a surprise visit. 

When she came through the back door, Peter just stood there and looked confused and surprised. 

Sarah came running out of the playroom and then just stood there and looked confused and surprise.

After we explained the surprise and told them she would be spending the night it didn't take long for the excitement to kick in.

And it didn't hurt that Aunt Cathy brought a replacement purple and white puppy and various other goodies with her.

Here we are playing Dominos after dinner.

Does anyone else think Aunt Cathy and Sarah look just alike? 

Cathy was here less than 24 hours but we had a great time.

And whining has been at an all time low since her visit.

Hey, Cathy.  What are you doing this weekend?

WFMW. Forget the sugar. We use applesauce.

Peter has to take Claritin every morning to keep his nose from running right off his poor little face.

When the doctor first prescribed them he asked if Peter had any trouble taking pills.

Any medication I had given him up until that point had been liquid. So not knowing how well he would be able to swallow the pills, his doctor prescribed dissolvable Redi-tabs.

These things worked great but were very expensive. So when we were out of the dissolvable tablets Peter asked for "real pills...the kind you swallow" so I happily purchased the much cheaper generic Claritin in pill form.

Our first attempt didn't go very well. The pill just sat on Peter's tongue. He tried gulping and swallowing but it just sat there. I kept yelling, "Swallow! Swallow! Pretend it's food!" But he was not able to get that little pill to go down.

So I got a big spoonful of applesauce and plunked the pill on top of it.

Then Peter ate the spoonful of applesauce and the pill went right down with the applesauce.

We used the applesauce trick for several days until Peter was ready to try again. Now he is able to swallow the pill with just milk.

Peter's nose isn't runny and my wallet isn't empty. Applesauce and Claritin. It Works For Us!

Please visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works For Me Wednesday.

Why I'll be eating dinner at McDonald's tonight.

Last Tuesday a note came home in Peter's agenda. It said "Don't Forget! Thursday night is Chick-Fil-A Night!"

That's nice, I thought to myself.

I asked Peter about his day and all he could tell me was that the Chick-Fil-A cow had been in the cafeteria at lunch shaking hands and giving out high fives.

That's nice, I thought to myself.

"So can we go?" Peter asked.

"Go where?" I asked.

"To Chick-fil-A night. Can we? Can we?" Peter begged.

"I don't think so, honey," was my reply and I didn't think another thing about Chick-fil-A night. Until Wednesday.

Because on Wednesday after school, Peter mentioned Chick-fil-A night again. And I dismissed it just as I had done the day before.

But on Thursday when he got off the bus, I knew I was in trouble. Big trouble.

Because he had a large Chick-fil-A sticker on his shirt reminding us that tonight was Chick-fil-A night.

The first words out of his mouth when he got off the bus were, "Are we going to Chick-fil-A tonight for dinner. Because tonight is Chick-fil-A night."

When I told him no, he immediately started to cry. When we got home from the bus stop he curled up on the floor in front of the fire place in the fetal position and continued to cry.

I let him cry for a few minutes assuming it was just another tantrum but when he continued to cry I realized he was really upset.

When I consoled him he told me I hurt his feelings by saying we couldn't go to Chick-fil-A and then he wanted to know why we couldn't go.

So I apologized for hurting his feelings (It seems whenever I tell Peter he can't do something I'm "hurting his feelings".) and then I listed all the reasons we couldn't go.

"It's hard to go to Chick-fil-A on a school night honey. It's almost 20 minutes a way. I never know what time Daddy is going to get home from work. I've already bought the food that we are going to have for dinner. (It was leftovers actually but I didn't think that was the right moment to tell him we were having leftovers for dinner.) We just went to Chick-fil-A last weekend. It's a school night so you have to have a bath before bed and it's just hard to do this sort of thing on a school night."

He calmed down and then I told him I didn't realize it was so important to him that we go to Chick-fil-A. Meanwhile, in my head, I am cursing the school for hyping this up so much to the kids.

And then I told him that the next time there was a fundraiser night we would go. Because I was thinking to myself surely it will be a couple more months before there is another fundraiser night at a restaurant. And surely he would forget about it by then.

I'm so sly, I thought, as Peter bounded up from the floor and went happily on with his after school business.

And then, the very next day, the first thing out of Peter's mouth when he got off the bus was, "Mom, we are having another fundraiser night on Tuesday. This time it's at McDonald's! Can we go? You promised we would go!"

Looks like I'm not so sly after all because tonight we'll be eating dinner at McDonald's.

And just in case you are wondering how many times I can type Chick-fil-A in one post, the answer is 13. 14 if you count the fact that I just typed it again while writing this post script.

Miracle Monday

It's Miracle Monday and I'm dragging this morning so I'm going to be brief.

For the last two weeks, Tracy Berta at Thirsty For Him, has shared two wonderful miracles in the life of her mother.

When her mother, Shirley, was 6 years old, she contracted polio. She literally woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't move.

Normally in 1943 either you died from polio or you were left using crutches for the rest of your life.

At the hospital Shirley was put into an iron lung. When she was in the iron lung, she prayed.

After they sent her home, she prayed.

For at least a year she was paralyzed but she continued to pray and her family continued to pray as well.

When the nurses came to fit her for leg braces, they found little Shirley walking!

And in Tracy's words, "It was a miracle!"

Please read all of Tracy's miracle here. And there was another miracle in Shirley's life that you can read about here.

Now I'm headed off to get another cup of coffee to see if I can shake the cobwebs from my head this morning!

Do you have a miracle or an answered prayer you want to share?

It's easy to participate in Miracle Monday. Just post a miracle or an answered prayer on your blog and link it back here using Mr. Linky below.

Please mention "A Mom's Life" and my URL in your post. And if you want, you can use the Miracle Monday graphic in your post as well.

This edition of Miracle Monday is now closed. Please come back next Monday if you would like to link to a miracle on your blog. If you are looking for other miracles, please check our Miracle Monday archives located on the right sidebar.