Apparently, I need a wife.

Yesterday, as I was working on my weekly meal plan, I was perusing the calendar to see what we had going on each night and what type of meals we would need and I noticed that on yesterday's date, I had written "2-4". 

As in "2:00 PM - 4:00 PM".  But that's all I had written!  At this point it was about 5:30 PM so whatever it was we had missed.   I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what it was. The only thing I can think is that Sarah has a class at church NEXT Sunday but the time is from 1:30 - 3:30.  So why in the world I would put "2-4" on the calendar for yesterday is beyond me. 

Just further proof that I need a wife to help me around here!

I am bringing drinks to Peter's Halloween party at school this afternoon.  Look at the cute labels I made for them:

 

 

Okay, I guess I'm not kidding anyone.  I didn't make these, but I did find them on the internet, download them, print them off and tape them to the drinks.  Jeez - no wonder my calendar's all screwed up - I'm spending too much time on drink labels!

I love how they turned out and so did Peter!  He was very excited when I told them they were for his class party.  Sarah on the other hand was disappointed and told me that I must not love her because I'm not going to her class party.  Oh, the guilt!

Please visit Centsational Girl.  She actually is the one that created all of the cute Halloween drink labels.  She has labels for juice boxes, water bottles, juice bottles, 2 liter soda bottles.  She even has labels for wine and beer bottles!  They are in .PDF format so all you have to do is download and print! 

What's taking his mother so long anyway?

The little boy that takes guitar lessons before Peter was waiting in the lobby for his mom to pick him up.  She must have been running behind.  The boy, who I would say is probably 7, was watching out the window for his mom, but he was also looking at me and Sarah.  Sarah was doing her homework and I was bored.

I noticed the boy had his hair spiked up with hair gel and he was wearing a plaid shirt over the top of a printed t-shirt.  He had on mismatched sneakers and one of his socks was a multicolored striped sock that went all the way up to his knee and the other was a shorter sock with stars on it.

"Oh!  It must be crazy sock/crazy clothes/crazy hair day at your school today!"  I said trying to make conversation.  Because last year, we had all three of those days at our school so this didn't seem like a stretch,although I did think it was curious that they would be celebrating all of the craziness in one day.

"Nope," was his reply.

"Oh," I said laughing nervously.

Seriously, I know better than to try to talk to people out in public.  I always end up regretting it.  Sorry little kid, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings too bad.

7 Quick Takes

1

Sarah is constantly spotting people who are texting while driving. She will yell out, "Look that person is texting and driving! That's so dangerous!"  Meanwhile she has pulled something out of her backpack that she wants me to read/look at/sign/comment on while simultaneously handing her a pen/lip gloss/paper/snack from my purse.    

2

The cat is sitting on my lap as I am typing this passing gas. Stupid cat.

Peter's guitar teacher was in a motorcycle accident a couple of weeks ago.  He was going about 10mph, slowing down to make a turn, when someone hit him.  He fractured his knee.  

3

Both Sarah and Peter are convinced that the driver was texting while driving.  Perhaps she was just trying to hand her daughter a snack/pen/lip gloss/paper from her purse....

4

I saw this on Facebook last week.  Love it:

5

I was checking my statcounter yesterday and lately the majority of people coming to my blog have ended up here by googling "pirate birthday party", "treasure hunt clues" or "halloween party food ideas".  Yesterday though, someone ended up here by googling "lonely mom".  She stayed almost 8 minutes and read 5 posts.  Lonely Mom from Jacksonville, FL, you are welcome here anytime..  Feel free to leave me a comment.  I don't get too many of those and that makes me feel lonely sometimes too!

6

Quick question - When you are using google as a verb is it Googled with a capital G or googled with a lower case g? I used a lower case g in Quick Take #5 and it looks weird.  However, it also looks weird with a capital G also. 

7

Peter came home from school very excited about the school Science Fair.  He told me volcanoes were not allowed and that the entries had to be experiments.  He's very excited and wants to participate.  I was happy about that until I read over the information.

Before he can even get started, he has to fill out a form and he has to write a research plan that includes 1) research question or problem, 2) hypothesis, 3) materials and procedure, 4) sources of information.

Guess I better start scouring the internet for 3rd grade appropriate science projects....

Have a great weekend, y'all!  For more Quick Takes, head to Conversion Diary.

So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!

I read the book of Haggai the other morning and before you get too impressed with me, it's only two chapters long.  But those two chapters sure do pack a lot of punch.

The Jews had been released from captivity in Babylon and sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.  They traveled there and started working on the temple right away.  However, like it does for us, life got in the way.

They quickly forgot what they had been called by God to do and started living their old sinful lives again.  They started working on building up their own houses and their own lives and forgot their purpose and 15 years passed.

God started speaking to Haggai and told him to give the people the following message:

"Is it time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled house, while this house remains in ruin?  Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but you have harvested little.  You eat but you never have enough.  You drink but you never have your fill.  You put on clothes, but are not warm.  You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."  (Haggai 1:3-6)


God was asking the people why they lived in nice houses when His house was still in ruins.  He reminded them that the harder they worked for themselves, the less they had because they were ignoring their relationship with Him.  They were ignoring what God had called them to do.  They were straying from Him, yet again.

God was reminding them that when we don't put Him first, we may be working harder, but we will have less. 

God's blessings were being withheld from the Jews because they had moved God down on their list of priorities.  God was no longer first in their lives and it was starting to show - they were working hard but never had enough, they were planting large fields but they weren't producing, they were eating and drinking but they never seemed to be full.

Isn't that how it is with us when we don't put God first?  The job, the housework, the kids, the homework, the sports, the recitals, the book club, the yard work?  It's easy to allow all of these things to move up on our list of priorities while we allow God to move down.  And all the while, we are working harder yet we never seem to have enough.

The people listened to Haggai's message and quickly got back to work.  Some of the older people were discouraged that the new temple wasn't going to be as grand as the one Solomon built, so Haggai encouraged them with these words from the Lord, "'Be strong"...declares the Lord,"and work.  For I am with you."

God helped the Jews get back to work on building the temple and he will help  us get back to work on what he has called us to do.  Joining a Bible study, sponsoring an impoverished child, working at a soup kitchen, getting up early to pray and study the Bible, tithing regularly at church, driving an elderly person to their doctor's appointments, teaching a Sunday School class, telling a friend at work about Jesus...

What is it that God is calling us to do that we aren't doing because we aren't putting God at the top of our list?

And the really cool thing? Once the Jews got to work, God immediately started to bless them.  As soon as they got the temple foundation laid, their crops started to bear fruit.  (Haggai 1:18-19) God didn't wait until the temple was finished to start blessing them and encouraging them.  As soon as they started being obedient, as soon as they put God first, as soon as they got to work, God was with them and he blessed them.  Just like he promised.

So what are we waiting for?  Let's get to work!


Just a note - I use the Life Application Study Bible.  It makes understanding what I am reading so much easier!

Life's a Beach - OIB Day Three

Here are shots of us on the beach our third and final day.  We had a great trip and after just a few days of being back to our normal schedule, I wish we were back there.

"Horrible" Mommy Moment

On Monday, Peter came right in from school, sat right down, opened up his backpack, pulled out his books and started to do his homework.

Without me telling him. 

There was no reminding, no nagging, no cajoling on my part and no bartering, no whining and no griping on his part.  He just came in and did it.

I was so happy, so proud.  45 minutes later, I gave a big sigh of relief.  Peter's homework was done for the night!

As I was waiting in the carpool line to pick the kids up on Tuesday, I wondered if the same thing would happen that afternoon.

I didn't have to wait much longer for my answer.

Peter got into the car and immediately started in.  "My teacher is making me redo my math homework from yesterday.  She said it was HORRIBLE!  I can't believe I have to redo that plus all of my other homework."

And so the 15 minute ride home went.  Lots of complaining, lots of griping and lots of unhappiness.

And the whole way home, I was beating myself up. 

In my excitement that Peter did all of his homework without any prompting from me, I FORGOT TO CHECK HIS MATH!

I usually glance over Peter's math to make sure he's done it all and I will randomly check several of them.   I don't typically check all of the problems because he usually has them all correct. 

But Monday's assignment was 8 word problems.  I normally check all of his word problems because he tends to get tripped up on some of them.

But on Monday, I forgot to check the homework.

He missed 4 out of 8 problems.  His teacher was right, that is horrible.

That's a 50%!  That's an F!  That's failing.

So Peter redid those 4 problems and all of the rest of his homework. 

And I checked it all.

And I will check it all tonight. And tomorrow night.  And the next night. And the next night.  Because I don't need any more "horrible" Mommy moments. 

Life's a Beach - OIB Day Two

Here are some more pictures from our trip.  The shrimp boats were out every day and so were the fishermen.

Why doesn't Blogger recognize "quesadilla"? I'm not spelling it wrong, am I?

After a day of fun at the planetarium and the beach, we headed to dinner.  We went to a decent restaurant but one we won't be going back to.  This restaurant DID NOT HAVE A KIDS MENU!!!

What restaurant doesn't have a kids menu - especially at the beach?!

I quickly reviewed the menu and told the kids that they had a cheese quesadilla and wouldn't that be a great thing to split?  Sarah, who loves quesadillas, quickly said, "NO!  I don't want to SHARE anything!"

Peter, who typically could take or leave a quesadilla, said, "That sounds good to me."

Sarah, in a very whiny voice, said, "I don't want to shaaaaaaaaaaaaare!  I want my own dinner!"

To which I responded, "Well, there's no way you both are getting $10 menu items!  You are going to share  a quesadilla and that's that!"

To which Sarah responded by sulking until she started actually eating the quesadillas which she deemed, "delicious".

Here she is sulking...and the fact that I was taking pictures of her didn't help matters:

Here are a few other pictures from our evening...

Life's a Beach - OIB Day One

Here are a few shots from Day One at the beach. It was a little chilly on Friday  but not cold enough to keep my crazy family out of the water!

Well, you can't!

We are back from a wonderful long weekend at the beach.

The weather was fabulous (low 70's and sunny) and we played on the beach every day.  We even squeezed in a trip to the planetarium.  We had a great time but we always do.  There's just something about being at the beach that rejuvenates and refreshes you.

I'm trying to get things back in order around here so I can't be puttering on the computer all day but I did want to leave you with this little nugget.

You know how there are lots of things you end up saying as a mother that you never dreamed in a million years you would ever say?  Well this beauty tumbled out of my mouth this weekend:

"Well, you can't pee on someone and expect them to want to play with you!"

Leave it to Jillian!

Yesterday morning it was overcast and windy and had been raining all night but the rain had seemingly stopped and I was planning to do my run.  However, as soon as I stepped out of the door, it started to drizzle and basically rained on an off all day.  I don't mind it raining on me at the end of a run, but I am just not man enough to start my run in the rain. 

So I headed back inside and turned on the Exercise On Demand channel and I started Jillian Michaels'  6 Week Six Pack.  Only Jillian Michaels could do an ab workout that would cause my rear end to hurt the next day.  I am having trouble moving this morning but I think I've found my workout for cold, wet winter days. 

And yes, just like in the 30 Day Shred DVD she says "pain is just fear leaving the body". 

I prefer to think of pain as fat leaving the body.  And if that's the case, my tush should be looking lean in no time!  Not sure what's going to happen with the abs though.

A call unanswered? A deed undone?

After a morning run and a MOMS meeting (my former MOPS group turned Moms on a Mission), I headed to the kid's school to volunteer in the cafeteria so the teachers could eat lunch with each other or by themselves or wherever and with whomever as long as it wasn't with the class.

I loved seeing the kids in their element. I was sort of like a fly on the wall only I could be seen so I guess it wasn't really anything like that at all...except that's how I felt because after initial hugs, the kids didn't really care that I was there.

First lunch consists of Kindergarteners - 4th grade.  The 4th graders act as proctors for the younger grades.  They sit at the tables with the younger kids, help them open milk or anything else that needs to be opened and help them microwave anything that needs to be heated up.  Really, we moms didn't have to be there at all.  All was did was quiet the kids down for grace before the meal and grace after the meal.

The 4th grade proctors even helped clean up the tables and collect them trash and then all of the kids headed outside for 30 minutes of recess.  Seriously, I think they could have totally done it without us there.  It was a little loud in the cafeteria but there was no chaos, no anarchy, no trouble - just kids doing what they were supposed to do. 

We also had to monitor recess but that was a breeze as well.  The kids spread out into their little cliques and started to play.  When we first started going to this school, my kids were disappointed that there was no playground equipment.  But honestly, no one seems to miss it at all.

I witnessed the following in the 30 minutes of recess: a football game, a soccer game, kids running laps around the track, groups of girls giggling and laughing, and kids picking up leaves and making a big pile and jumping in them.  I guess kids really don't need expensive playground equipment to have fun.

By now it was already after 1:00 and I didn't want to go all the way home just to turn around and go back to the school so I headed to Dunkin Donuts for a healthy lunch of coffee. DD has free Wi-Fi so I brought my old laptop with me.  It's been a while since it has actually been out of my house so I was excited to kill some time on the internet with my DD coffee.

I got my coffee, powered up (very slowly) my ancient laptop and connected to the free Wi-Fi.  Unfortunately after many many tries to get connected to the internet, it wasn't happening. I finished my coffee and got in my car and started doing my Bible study lessons for this week.  I did a whole week's worth so I guess this was a better use of my time than an hour and a half of surfing the web.

Before I powered down my computer, a woman came into Dunkin' Donuts and asked two older women if they could give her a ride to her car.  She said she ran out of gas and needed a ride a couple of miles up the road.  They said no so she approached the woman beside me.  She said no so the lady turned, made a pffffffft noise and walked out.

She never got to me.  But I am certain that I would have said no.  I was glad I didn't have to, but I know that's what I would have done.  I was prepared to offer her money for gas or even my cell phone to call a friend but I knew she wasn't getting into my car.

And I was o.k. with that.

Until I started doing my Bible study in the car a few minutes later.  The Bible Study is called Jonah: A Life Interrupted and is basically about doing things that God calls you to do even when you don't want to do them.  OUCH! 

So now I'm left pondering what God wanted me to do versus what I wanted to do.  I can come up with a long list of reasons why I didn't want her to get in my car but what if that's what God really wanted me to do and I didn't do it.

I would not be surprised if today I am swallowed up by a giant fish.

Even though I ran 4.9 miles this morning, I don't mention it, yet this post still manages to be incredibly boring, leaving the internet shaking it's head wondering how does she do it?

It's supposed to be 81 degrees here today (yay!) but it's forecasted to drop to 59 degrees on Thursday (boo!) which is the day we are heading to the beach for a long weekend.

But I'm not too focused on the weather because I would rather spend a cool day at the beach than a warm one at home.  Not that I don't love home, but at the beach I don't have to cook, do laundry, clean -  you get my drift.

Anyway, enough about the weather and the beach.  Let's move on to a more exciting topic.

Tomorrow is my first volunteer opportunity at the kid's new school.  We are supposed to volunteer for 15 hours of service at the school per year.   And this will be my first and only hour so far.  I discovered at the PTO meeting last week that several families have not only met, but have already exceeded their 15 hours.  I better do some volunteering quick before they kick the kids out!

I'm also helping out with one of the Halloween parties in a couple of weeks and I did sign up to volunteer at the Book Fair in November.

By the end of this week they will have a bulletin board up with random things that teachers need done.  The thought is that if you have an hour to kill you can come in, peruse the board and find something that needs to be done that you would like to do.  I'm really interested to see what kind of activities are posted.  I would much rather make copies than head up the school auction if you know what I mean. 

But the one thing I am staying away from is driving. The kids have quite a few field trips on the schedule and there is no bus.  This means parents have to volunteer to drive and chaperone the kids. I really do not want to do that. 

I am a horrible driver.  Plus I am really bad with directions.  The thought of having to take other people's children (other people that I don't even know yet!) to neighboring towns to visit museums and see plays gives me the willies!  Just not gonna do it...unless of course they are in dire straights and then I would do it and be a sweaty mess by the time we got back to the school - assuming we made it back!

Well, I've got sheets in the dryer and unfortunately, they aren't magically going to put themselves on the beds so I better get cracking!

7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

I am attending Mass with the kids this morning.  The second grade will be doing the readings this week so I will be going to hear Sarah.  She will be reading from Romans 4.  She has been working hard practicing this particular reading.  It has quite a few words in it that she is struggling with: justifies, congratulates, requiring, iniquities,imputes and guilt just to name a few.  Hopefully we have practiced enough so that she doesn't stumble over any of the words! 

--- 2 ---

I went to Mass last Friday as well because Peter had a speaking part.  He did a great job reading everything but he was too far from the microphone so I struggled to hear everything he was saying.

--- 3 ---

Sarah has a map project that is due today.  She had to make a relief map out of food items and then draw a regular map from it with a legend, title, scale, compass rose, etc.  She had a little more fun with this project than Peter had with is...probably because she got to eat a lot of the leftovers!  She did however get very upset with me towards the end of the project.  They could include a scale on the map for extra credit but I'm not sure if they discussed map scales in class because she didn't seem to know what I was talking about.  And because she didn't understand me, she proceeded to yell and scream at ME for about 10 minutes.  She does this frequently when she doesn't understand something I am trying to tell her.  And it usually takes a 10 minute tantrum to get it worked out of her system.  But other than those 10 minutes of extremely childish behavior, she did a great job on this project.

--- 4 ---

Here are her two maps.  Please note that the mountains are Rice Krispie treats, the red river is a fruit roll up, the grass lands are green coconut, the beach is brown sugar and the ocean is blue frosting.  I'm sure there will be much more creative maps from the other kids, but that's about all this non-crafty mother has in her. 

--- 5 ---

Our younger female cat always wants to play with our older grumpy male cat.  However, he doesn't want to play or have anything to do with her.  So in an attempt to engage the male cat, the female usually ends up trying to paw at, lick, pounce him.  This always ends up in a very large cat fight.

Hmmmm....I can see a parallel between my cats and my children....

--- 6 ---

We have absolutely nothing planned this weekend and absolutely nothing that has to be done. Those are my favorite kinds of weekends!

--- 7 ---

Here is Sarah trying to do a flip in the air.  She said she can do one on a trampoline and is going to put that on her list for Santa.  I told her Santa and Daddy would have to have a talk and it doesn't look promising.  Not after the fiasco with the first trampoline!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Soup. I just can't get enough of it!

I created another fabulous soup recipe on Tuesday night.  Because apparently, soup isn't just for Monday night anymore, it's also for Tuesday night.

Dan and I had to go to a PTO meeting on Tuesday night and since I never know what time he's going to be home from work, I decided it would be another good soup night.

We love this recipe so much that I decided to turn it into a soup.  And it turned out to be really delicious, if I do say so myself.

Beth's Italian Chicken and Chickpea Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cans (12.5 oz) cooked chicken
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons dried rosemary
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 2  teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 teaspoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (use less if you don't like spicy food)
•  1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed 
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions 

1. Combine everything except garbonzo beans into crock pot.  Cook on low for 4 hours. 
2. 30 minutes prior to serving, pour garbanzo beans into crock pot.  
3. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

For more slow cooker recipes, visit Sandra at Diary of a SAHM.

How many times is she going to write that word?

While we were at the zoo on Saturday, a boy crossed in front of my path.  He was probably 10 or 11.  It's hard for me to say because once a child passes the infant stage, I loose all ability to judge their age. 

My mouth dropped open when I read the back of his shirt and I had to snap a picture of it:

This looks like something a college kid would pick up on Spring Break at Myrtle Beach not something a 10-year-old kid would be sporting around the zoo so my curiosity was sparked.

As soon as we got home, I did what I do every time I have a burning question and the need to find some information quickly, I went to the library.  No, that's what I would have done in 1979. 

Instead, I Googled "I ate a Turd at Cooter's".  People, please do not Google that phrase.  You will not be happy with the results.  Trust me.

I checked the picture one more time before giving up on my search for more information about this shirt, when I realized that the T in "Turd" was capitalized and it had a dash in it. 

So I changed my search to "T-urd" and "Cooter" and found out that Cooter's is a restaurant in - yep - Myrtle Beach and according to their menu, this is what a Turd is:

Atomic Buffalo Turds - Delicious jalapenos or banana peppers stuffed with cocktail weenies and cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.

I don't know about you, but I actually wouldn't mind trying one of these!

Have any of you been to Cooter's at Myrtle Beach?  If so, did you eat the Turds?  Did you buy the shirt?  Inquiring minds want to know.

...off to Google "Atomic Buffalo Turd" recipes...