Fashion Fiesta!

It's time, friends. It's Fashion Fiesta Day! I can't wait to see what some of us have in our closets.

After spending years disliking my own wardrobe, I asked for and received several gift cards to my favorite stores for Christmas (Stein Mart and Khol's if you didn't know.) My friend Cristel was good enough to go with me and help me spend my money. These are some of the things I bought that day...

This is what a typical work day would look like for me. Pants and a top. That's my uniform. For some reason I'm not much into dresses or skirts for work. I'm not sure why. May be a hold over from riding the train to downtown in my former life of corporate banking.

Below, I really love the geometrical designs and the pretty shiny fabric in these blouses. I am also loving tops with belts right now. They bring in the waitline a little and help define it. If you can't tell, I also love me a cute pair of heels... or two... or three. But who's counting? Right, girls?

And how could I make it through the cold months without my favorite 6 year old yoga pants and about 9 year old sweatshirt. Complete with holes and all. I even slipped them on Wednesday after BSF because it was just a tad chilly. One last wear before bidding them "Adieu" until the fall.

And remember the great deal I spoke of last week? The dress? This is it! Not bad, huh? Funny to think I spent more on the necklace.

It's hard to see the shape, so I'll describe a bit. It has a nice v-neck that doesn't plunge too far so that "the girls" (thanks Stacy and Clinton) stay nicely and modestly concealed. The round thing brings together a gathered area just under the bustline that helps define a waistline... something that many dresses right now are lacking as you've heard me rant about before. The skirt is a nice A-line that shows a shape, but isn't too tight. All-in-all, the perfect dress for me.

Weathering the Storms

Oh how I cannot stand Texas weather, especially in the spring. Virginia was so much nicer. It seemed to be more even keel, kind of laid back, like my husband. Texas weather is so explosive and unpredictable. A little like me I suppose. You never know what the weather in Texas is going to say.

It's spring time in Texas and the storms are here. I feel like I have to constantly keep one eye on the Weather Channel, weather.com, or my trusty radar channel. I love channel 96. All radar, all the time!

Last night was a doosey.

It was really loud very suddenly at about 3:15 am and it woke both of us up. Bright lightning that must have been very close by because the thunder was so incredibly loud and quick. We could hear the wind and it sounded very violent.

We turned on the radar for a little while (did I mention how much I love channel 96?), then it went to static so we turned it off as I was feeling okay that it wasn't going to be any more than just that... loud and windy.

Then I heard something.

I asked Mike and he heard it, too.

I went to the back door, and sure enough, it was the sirens. Mike went to put in his contacts and we stood outside the kids rooms for a while (with me in a panic) and watched out the front windows. Thankfully, and praise be to God that the sirens went off fairly quickly.

I turned back on the radar to see if it was on again and it was. Apparently something had developed just east of us that caused the sirens.

Anyways, the kids miraculously slept through it, until N had to go to the bathroom at 5-something. I was a little worked up and took a while to wind back down to go back to sleep, but I think I did get back to sleep.

A local school district is closed today because of power being out at several schools and the administration building. I saw lots of downed tree branches (big ones) and at least one large tree split between our house and the day-care.

I have such a fear of these storms. I don't know if it just comes from a lifetime of living with it and seeing the effects of them, or if it's something deeper. My heart is racing right now just thinking and typing about it.

And my biggest fear is just what happened last night. But that the sirens would be going before any thunder woke us up and I wouldn't be able to get to S & N in time. I just really get freaked out at the thought of a night-time tornado. I guess it's time to pull out that weather radio I got for Mother's Day last year (yes, I got a weather radio for Mother's Day... let's not dwell on it) and set it up beside my bed every night.

Any house we have lived in, I have immediately located our safe room. In this house, it is the bathroom between the kids' rooms. The tub/toilet are a separate interior room with no glass. I have it stocked with my weather radio, flashlights, snacks, and water in the cabinets. I have a plan (surprising? no? I didn't think so.) where we get them in the tub along with me and some blankets. Mike won't fit in it with us, so he is to lay down flat right beside it if it's serious. Ideally, the dogs will be in there with us and I know for sure Gus will be hiding behind the toilet - that's where he always is during thunderstorms. But as I think through my plan, I need to make provisions to have shoes close by. But I digress.

I've thought an awful lot about this, can you tell? It borders on being an obsession.

I even made a point to ask one of our office manager type people where our safe place was in our office last week when we were under a t-watch all day. She looked at me like I had 3 heads. My dear friend Cristel took care of me that day and was on-call to let me know if she heard any sirens.

I try to make fun of my neurosis about this. Because it really is a little comical.

But it really does scare the living day-lights out of me.

BTW - where does the phrase "scare the living day-lights out of (someone)" come from? That really makes no sense whatsoever if you think about it.

The Potty Training Chronicles (Part 6)

It's been a long time since our last installment of The Potty Training Chronicles. And today seemed like the perfect day to document our progress.

Most of it is going well. We think we've even made a little head-way in the #2 arena. We began recently having some negative consequences as well as positive rewards where this is concerned. We had several days in a row recently that he kept his underpants clean and went in the potty. He even prompted it himself at least once. And then you have days like today.

It is currently 2:40 pm and he has been asleep for I don't have any idea how long, standing up, with poop in his under pants.

Much to my surprise, we decided to leave him and let him sleep. Any thing we would try to do at this point would wake him up and we've got the law of gravity working for us in reference to his skin and the poop.

So now it just remains to be seen if he will wake up because he falls down, or if he will fall down because he wakes up.

But I Don't Speak Spanish....

I have several blogs that I read periodically and one of them is Big Mama. She does a thing called Fashion Fridays and her edition this week is going to be a special one. Join the Fiesta, girls. Click on the logo above to read about it.

Mullings

We are continuing our study of Matthew in BSF and last week we looked at chapters 22 – 23. Jesus is in Jerusalem the week before his crucifixion and the priests are asking some interesting questions. Leading questions that they were hoping would trap Him into saying something that would make enough people mad that they could get rid of him.

In lecture our teaching leader brought up something very interesting concerning this questioning by the priests that I never would have thought of. She even said that it was a new thought to her.

In the Old Testament (I don’t have a reference yet), when a lamb was brought as an offering, a sacrifice, the priest would inspect it to be sure that it was without blemish. Her suggestion was that possibly, this questioning by the priests in Matthew, was the same thing. Without them realizing it, they were showing The Lamb to be without fault; without blemish; the perfect sacrifice.

As I considered this, I thought about acceptable offerings and that took me back to Cain and Able. One brought his best, an acceptable offering that was pleasing to God. The other brought only some of the fruits, but not necessarily the best or first.

I, then began to relate all this to myself. My regular morning routine goes that I get up, put on some clothes, go into our kitchen table and read a chapter from the Bible, try to pray a little, then go exercise, shower and get ready for work.

For quite a while now, I have considered my getting up and reading a chapter from the Bible and praying an acceptable offering. But is it? Is God really pleased with my fuzzy head and highly distracted by yawning prayers? Yes I’m there and that’s important, but is that really all that matters? Would I have gotten to know my husband so well if all our conversations were like that? Am I bringing God my best - my first? Or is this just some of what I have? Is this really the best I can do?

So, internet, how can I wake myself up a little more in the mornings (without changing the order of my routine) to be more alert for my quiet time?

A Great Weekend

Well we had quite a weekend.

Friday night was the school auction and that was an experience. I had my eye on some tickets to a Beth Moore taping for the Life Today "Wednesdays with Beth" show. I scraped together money from a few friends and thought that I had a decent amount together. Boy was I wrong. I had to leave to get the kids home before the bidding started on my item, but Mike said he never had a chance. One of the celebrity types that was there was a former Texas Rangers pitcher and his wife had pretty much told him not to come home without the tickets. So, with his pockets being much deeper than ours, we did not get the tickets.

Sarah had a soccer game and a piano recital on Saturday in which she played the theme from Star Wars.

On Sunday, Mike took Nathan to the "Day Out with Thomas" event that was nearby. Mike had just told him he was going to see some trains. He was so excited when he realized that Thomas was there. He really enjoyed watching the model train set that was going and let you know when the Thomas was coming.

I LOVE me a good deal!

This morning I was contemplating what to wear to the school's auction tomorrow evening. It's going to be a little more formal this year than in the past since it is in it's 20th year and all. Big gala type celebration at a really nice hotel nearby.

So, I was thinking about what I might wear. I had 2 options in my closet... a short black dress, or a long one. I've worn the short one several times recently and the long one just seemed like it would be too formal with Mike not wearing a tux. So, I looked at Mike and said, "I need something new."

He got a very concerned, worried look on his face. And then he lit up. An "ah, hah" moment. "But when in the world will you have time to shop?" he asked.

Oh that poor, poor, misinformed man. There is ALWAYS time to shop. Right girls?

"I've got all my lunch hour today. And plenty of time after work," I responded quickly. He looked worried again.

So, I head out at lunch time over to Macy's at the mall nearby. I was on the phone with this poor man as I drove up and found a parking spot right in front of the door. "It was meant to be," I said, matter of factly.

"Sure," he responded, a little unsure.

I'll spare you the details of the shopping experience because, quite frankly, it wasn't all that exciting. However, the outcome is the exciting part.

I got me a dress for tomorrow night for $12.74. Yes, that's right. $12.74. Regular price: $94. So, I got me a necklace and another dress as well. All for less than $85. WOOHOO!

"You see," I emailed him when I got back to my office, "it was meant to be!"

I LOVE A GREAT DEAL!

Are you?

I was sitting in our kitchen at work today working on my BSF lesson as a co-worker came in and began staring at the microwave. I turned around and she was trying to figure out how to make it cook at ½ power. After pushing several different combinations of buttons, it worked.

It made me think of that show, “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?”

My question… Are you smarter than the microwave?

This situation reminded me of something I encountered last week that really struck me as funny.

In my haste to get out the door one morning last week, I asked Mike if I could dip into his Pop-Tart stash that he keeps in his car for his 45 minute commute to work. Being the “oh so loving and giving” husband that he is, he said it was fine. So, I grabbed a package of cherry Pop-Tarts as I flew out the door.

How long has it been since you had Pop-Tarts? Well, that’s too long.

I flew into the office and sat down at my desk, with said Pop-Tarts sitting idly by, not knowing even if we had a toaster for me to heat them, or if I was just going to have to eat the "raw" straight out of the package. Much to my delight, I did find such a toaster in our kitchen. And much to my dismay, I found that the toaster had a specific "Pop-Tarts" setting on it... labeled with the Pop-Tart logo and everything.

Are you smarter than the toaster?

Why on earth did the makers of this particular toaster think that their consumers were so brain-dead that they could not figure out how to cook Pop-Tarts? Well, I followed suit and used the Pop-Tart setting. And they were, well, perfect.

I find myself wondering why I am so concerned about being smarter or better than other people, or things. Do I think that I am smarter than, oh, say, the Bible? Truth be told, yeah, I probably do sometimes. But as I see from this example, if I just put my life on the setting that God tells me to through His holy and perfect Word, things well be, well, perfect. Not necessarily easy or the way I want them, but in God’s eyes, perfect.

Miracle Monday

My miracle this Monday for "A Mom's Life's Miracle Monday" (http://beth-amomslife.blogspot.com/) happened this past August. It was a hot, hot, Texas summer day...

Nathan and I went to Costco and got back out to the car. Being what felt like 1000 degrees outside, I got him in the car out of the sun, turned it on and closed the door. I went back around to the back to load up my groceries and it was locked. All the doors were locked… with my baby inside. I froze. I called Mike and could hardly even get the words out I was so panicked. Then the Lord provided an Angel (in my opinion) in the form of a young mother with two young children who went inside and got help for me.

After the police showed up and began to assure me that he would be okay since the car was running and the air was on, I started to calm down a little. Then, it became comical as the fire department and EMS showed up with axe in hand ready to smash in a window. I couldn’t tell if I was laughing or crying at that point. They were so funny as Nathan was playing peek-a-boo with them through the window. They asked him if he could reach the black nob to unlock the door. And as any good 2 year old would say, his answer was, “No.” They even tried offering him money – which is funny since the only currency Nathan deals in so far is M&M’s.

The wrecker finally showed up and got the car open, the EMS checked him out and I immediately took him out of the cool car into the hot sun just to hold him.

So my miracle came in the form of a woman with two small children, who I am convinced was an angel sent by God because as I was pulling out of my parking space, she and her two little ones emerged from the store with no cart or groceries in hand, just in time for me to thank her.

Ding-Dong...

As promised, here is some video of my munchkins...

I apologize for Nathan's attire, but we "produced" this video this morning before BSF.

And here's Sarah doing her song and motions for y'all

And I thought this was a better picture of Sarah's make-up:

Before:

After: