Confessions of a Bridgestone Arena Widow...

For those of you who don't know.... Chris is working a lot .... like, I am not sure if the kids will remember him come Christmas. I won't specify how much because I am trying not to think about it... but here are my confessions at the halfway point:

1. the sparse-ness of these closets makes my heart happy. Some kind of order in a chaotic week, I guess. (thanks mom for the help)

2. My children ate lunchables for dinner in their carseats while driving home from Walmart last night

3. I almost knocked a woman's head off in Walmart last night because she told me that she "couldn't BEEELIEVE" that I would bring the kids to Walmart without their coats and asked did I not know that it was "FREEEZZZING" outside. (thankfully I chose to be the bigger person and totally ignore the comment, otherwise she may have left the store sans a cranium.)

4. We've eaten Quinoa in various forms twice so far this week

5. I've allowed the kids to watch almost one full length movie per day (and I'm not even ashamed to admit it)

6. Harper has been sick for over a week and I finally took her to the walk-in clinic today... OOPS we left with an ear infection, upper respiratory infection and possibly a virus. Awesome

7. The kids have had O.N.E bath this week... yes, I said it... one.

8. We've eaten Chick-fil-a once

9. We've driven around to look at Christmas lights (aka kill time before bed) every single night this week

10. I don' think my kids have had more than one cup of liquid and one cup of milk each day... and I didn't realize it until the doctor today asked me if Harper had been peeing less....

11. Cleaning and organizing has been kind of therapeutic

12. I have forgotten almost everything I said that I would do this week

13. I really am not sure if today is Saturday or Sunday

14. At this moment, the small kids table is sitting on a tablecloth in front of the TV, and the kids are eating.... you guessed it... Quinoa... while watching a movie... (don't judge)

15. I am not sure that all their teeth have gotten brushed every night...

16. I did 4 loads of laundry today and gave away almost half of the clothes I folded simply because they would mess up our newly organized and cleaned out closets, and I have decided that 'stuff' is gross.

17. I am so thankful for family who has helped and friends who have hung out with us this week even though we probably smell rank by now!!

18. I don't remember how many showers I have had... but I'm thinking it's about 2

19. I know there's more... but I really can't remember them!!!

Lord, give me patience...

This one may be cute (even with the Justin Beber hair) but she sure is a handful. Today she yelled at the top of her lungs at me: "NOOOOOO LISTEN, NOOOOOO OBEY!" all while stomping her chubby little feet.
Needless to say, she got a swift spanking... but LORD, give me patience with this one. WOW.

Actually Lord, I need patience with BOTH.... This is going to be a hard 2 weeks! Please pray for us if you think about it... Mama's on her own for the next 13 days and I am trying not to get discouraged... I need an extra measure of patience and love for sure.... and maybe a Cosmo or something?

Doors and Windows

I feel bad about directing yall over to my other blog sometimes... my idea is to keep up both... but this time of year, I think it's too much! So, here's a link to post on my other blog of some things that have been going on recently!
Check it out!

and see where you can buy this gorgeous print!

Oh my goodness... make my day, my week and my whole holiday season!!! I am featured in the HGTV.com gift guide!!! WHAT??? I can't believe it. This is nothing but a blessing from the LORD... I mean, really...How exciting is that??? Here's the link if you want to check it out!!!

Thank you to NALA Photography for taking this amazing picture! Check her out too!

Forget fear of failure...

I posted on my other blog... I am being a blog slacker... SORRY!

here's the link:

http://lovelynestdesigns.com/2010/11/22/forget-fear-of-failure/

I swear I am going to keep up both blogs!!!

LOVE....

If you are friends with me on facebook, by now you already know what Chris did for me this weekend. Apparently he'd been planning a trip to Chicago since this summer! He left no detail out.... my name was even printed on the menu at the uber fancy restaurant where we dined for my birthday dinner.

Everything about the trip was amazing, but one thing in particular spoke more to me of Chris' love and care than anything else...

You all know that I love shopping, but not in the traditional sense... I love THRIFT shopping. I love the thrill of the hunt and the musty smell as you walk in the door evokes pure excitement. I love digging through people's discards to find the diamond in the rough, and even better is the feeling when you find the perfect thing that you didn't even know you were looking for! I don't know, if you aren't a thrift-er, you probably won't understand...but I love it. It's in my blood.

Chris knows this, but doesn't necessarily share the same passion. OK, maybe that's an understatement... let me say it like this...if he never had to step one foot into a thrift store in his entire life, he'd be happy. But he did... AND he walked TEN miles with me so I could do it. As we were walking and walking and asking for directions, and walking, my heart was so full I couldn't explain it. I felt LOVED. Don't get me wrong, he makes me feel loved all the time, but for some reason, I was at a loss for words in trying to tell him how much this meant to me. I hope he got it.

We found 3 stores, and one of the coolest vintage shops I've ever been to, I bought some great things... but that wasn't the highlight for me... it was the fact that he went with me. So, in total that day, we walked about 13 miles... dude, we walked a half marathon... I am still sore from walking that in flat boots with no support, and I think Chris pulled a hammy... but that's LOVE... He didn't complain, he even acted like he liked walking that far... which may have been true because we walked through some really cool parts of town, and we burned a bajillion calories, but he went with me and I felt so loved.

The whole trip was amazing, we hung out with friends, ate good food, talked a lot and rested... but for some reason, my heart was bursting at the seams on our 10 mile walk.

Ann Burton loved her son's heart, his thoughtfulness and tenderness. I was thinking about her while we walked...and I know that if she caught a glimpse of this from heaven, her heart was swelling with pride and love too.

On peeing in a cup and princess costumes.

You can probably tell by the title of this post, I am about to get on my horse about something. Well, yes you are right, I am.

Let me start off with a simple question: Why in the H-E -double hockey sticks does the darn pediatrician require children out of diapers to pee in a cup??? I don't want some medical mumbo-jumbo about how they need to test for proteins, infections, etc... I. DON'T. CARE. Thank you very much. If my child had an infection, I, as the super mother that I am would be able to tell immediately, and at that point would bow in defeat and take my child in to pee in a cup. But until then... I don't think so.

Do you realize what a complete and utter disgusting debacle this turns out to be for the parent??? If not, let me give you a little run down. (Now, I am sure this only applies to parent's of girls...but, read on)....

Let's stop and pause for a second here and consider the location: Bathroom in a children's clinic. GROSS. Everyone and their mother (literally) RUNS there to puke or crap when they have the flu, which they are coming into the doctor's office to cure....

Kids, especially boys are not neat when they pee, and there are probably millions upon millions of disgusting pee particles from the sick and non sick alike floating uncontrollably around.... AND keep in mind that I also had a one year old in there with me, who is touching everything, and rolling on the floor.

Anyways, they give you these little OB wipes and you are supposed to wipe your child from front to back, twice...with a new wipe each time. THEN, is the child supposed to hold their own pee cup..... ???? I DON' THINK SO....in turn, that means I have to hold the cup!!!
Picture this....(Oh yes I am...)

A one year old laying prostrate on the bathroom floor, crawling around, licking the sink and yelling rhythmically because she likes the echo.

A 4 year old on the potty, trying to concentrate to pee, griping the seat of the germ infested toilet with all of her ever loving might.

Then there's ME holding a cup under the 4 year old...hand obviously in the toilet, 2 inches from the toilet water, trying to guess where the pee will actually land all the while not remembering that my long sleeve is DOWN and in the line of fire. Can we just mention that for girls, pee just kind of flies out willy nilly... no aim and splashes a lot. N.A.S.T.Y. But the only good thing about the situation is that at this particular moment, Harper is quiet and we are about to get this mother over with... UNTIL...

....in the middle of the silent concentration, Harper decides to get up off of the floor and run full speed ahead INTO the bowl of the sink. She almost knocks her head completely off, and the screaming ensues (remember the echo)... and therefore sounds like a chorus of 10 children shreaking at the top of their lungs. I am still holding the cup, eyes closed, tense as a tight rope waiting for the inevitable, ignoring Harper because, what can I do, really... if I miss the pee...we are screwed.

NO Pee. The concentration is all thrown off now, and there's no way in H-E-double hockey sticks that she is going now. I am halfway hoping that they will feel sorry for me and tell me not to worry about it. Not so much.

We go back to the examination room and wait. The nurse gives her cup after cup of water....and asks us to try again. LOVELY. Repeat above scene, almost exactly, and no pee. Finally I ask them if we can just have the shots and at least get that over with.

Good.... now I am holding Grace down with all my might, while she screams, kicks the nurse and thrashes around uncontrollably. (I am not exaggerating...) We finally get 6 shots in her... 3 in each leg, the nurse promptly runs out and opens the sticker drawer and tells us we can get our own stickers before we go. Done and Done. We sprint out of the building before they realize that the pee cup is sitting empty on the counter. HA. No pee on me today, thank you very much.

Oh, and I bet you are wondering what the heck the princess costumes have to do with the situation... the girls were wearing them. Yes, out of the house, in the doctor's office. For the record, this is the first time in their entire lives that I have let them wear them in public. I know, I am in therapy about it...