Time is tickin' away...tick tick tickin' away.

You will NOT believe what's happening??!!

I'm at home in the middle of the morning. Alone. It's quiet. I am only responsible for myself. And for the next hour I can choose to do what.ever.I.want.

What? You were hoping for something more exciting? Well around these parts, this is cause for celebration or, at least, another cup of coffee.

So I've been sitting here trying to decide what I should do with my time. I'm beginning to think that my time will come and go without me actually reaching a decision....but I'll have gotten to do it in peace and quiet!!


My options:

1) I could always work on my Read Through the Bible in a Year. Have I not mentioned I'm doing this? Hey, peeps, I'm reading through the Bible in a year....that's the goal anyway. At the beginning of the year several of my blogeeps were talking about this Read With Me challenge and I really felt led (or poked and prodded by the Holy Spirit...however you want to look at it.) to participate. My hubby is even doing it with me. I might be a wee bit behind, but I firmly believe in grace...and the grace days I get each month. And I won't lose a grade for not getting my homework done on time, so I'll just continue to enjoy the blessings I receive simply from just diving into the Word each day.

2) I could go pull meat out of the freezer in hopes that it's thawed by dinner time. And in so doing, avoid the frantic 4 o'clock dash from freezer to fridge to pantry back to fridge to pull out "leftovers" which consists of laying out all sorts of randomness (olives, cheese, spaghetti noodles, pumpkin puree...) and arranging it on plates in such a way that would indicate I actually planned this meal. Which reminds me...I meant to work on last week's menu plan...2 weeks ago. Darn.

3) Speaking of food...I could use this time to start entering our favorite recipes on my newly created recipe blog: Good Grub. It will be full of all kinds of good grub...someday. I know, how about I let you know when the Good Grub actually includes the grub, m'kay?

4) Yesterday I cleaned the infamous "corner" of my bedroom. I'm pretty pleased with myself and not the least bit upset that I had to point out to my husband that I accomplished this. Never mind that I asked if he noticed approximately 1/2 of a minute after he walked through the door.

Doesn't it look lovely? This is progress, people. I could have taken a before picture but didn't want to break the rose colored glasses you look at me through. Ahem.

I could use this time to take pictures so I can put these things that our family is done with on Craig's List and hopefully have them leave "The Corner" forever. But I think a better idea is to reward yesterday's hard work with some of these. What say you, Whimzie?:)

5) Perhaps my time would be better spent finally loading music onto Ruby. (Haven't decided on a name. Just trying different ones on for size. What do you think?) She's not an iPod, but she cost much less, is cute, and plays music well...which, after all, is her purpose.

6) I guess I could blog too. If I only had the time....


WOAH! Did you see that?! That was the time that just flew by. My house is no longer quiet and lunches must be made, but it was nice while it lasted. Thanks, Dad!

And there's always this afternoon while Emma's at school and Lincs is napping. Think I'll do #1 on my list....right after...

7) I could use my time to take a shower that lasts longer than 3.2 minutes.


...now wondering how many times I used the word "time" in this post....enough times to be annoying?

iLove

This is the post in which I vow this to be the last day I utter type the words vomit, diarrhea, mucus and phlegm. But don't hold me to it for very long.

Unless, of course, I'm asked a direct question. You know like: Hey, Cat, have you scaled Mt. Wannahockaloogie yet? Or: Dearest leader of the Whininites, hast thou parted the Phlegm Sea?? Then and only then will I allow myself to twitter, facebook, blog, text, speak about such dreaded words as these.

In one last ditch effort to get it all out of my system, I have a most important question. Why is there no iPhone app for this? You know like iMed or iDoc or iDiarrheaAllNightLong? Not that this technologically challenged family will ever hope to own an iPhone, but you know, just in case....

Oh and one more thing...vomit, hurl, upchuck, throw up, spew, blow chunks, heave, puke,diarrhea, squirts, runs, the trots, phlegm, mucus, snot (with or without the rocket), goo, gunk and sludge.

There. That should just about do it.

Now that some of you have vowed never to read my blog again, while others are continuing the list of synonyms in their heads, we'll move on to lighter and more lovely things.

Thank you, Coffee Gal, for the idea I'm now going to steal and tweak for my own purposes!

iLove...

iLove... that my 2 year old baby still smells like a baby. You know, unless he doesn't smell like one. You know, as in...can't say the words, remember? Just refer back to my most recent complaints updates on Twitter or Facebook. And iLove that (because of the you-know-what) I've had more opportunities to cuddle with him lately.

iLove...that that same baby says things like, "Mama, kiss me on my leeps." and "Why hello, Apples, it's nice to see you again!" and does things like this...

iLove...to hear my precious Emma say things like "I'm sorry you're sad. Can I give you a hug?" to her big brother even if he's being Mr. Cranky Pants.

iLove...to see that same little girl dance and twirl on her tiptoes on the basketball court when she's supposed to be playing, well, basketball.

iLove...the silly, adorable grin on my 8 year old son's face when he tells us the latest joke he's heard or made up (even if they make no sense). His smile and laugh are contagious.

iLove...the church family we are apart of. For on the same day that I felt like throwing myself to floor and having a good old toddler temper tantrum over dealing with the you-know-what for so long, a friend brought us dinner, followed by dinners the next 2 nights from 2 other dear friends. We are blessed indeed.

iLove...that it's looking like my boyfriend and I (aka The Hubs) will be getting a much needed date night tonight. It's been tooooo long.

iLove...this...
...and I might have a freak-out-what-will-I-ever-do-I-left-the-house-without-it slight obsession with this double-walled-non-sweating-20oz-AWESOME reusable cup from Starbucks.

iLove...that we scored this for FREE off of Craig's List last night...
so the kids could get more practice for this...
iLove...that my oldest son in his prayers last night said, "Dear God, If it's your will, could You keep our new basketball hoop up and working. That would be great. Amen."

iLove...that I'm still thinking about dancin'.

I may not have gotten hairapy or friendapy or footapy or retailapy but reminding myself of the things iLove is always good therapy....

And that app cost me nothing!

Forward:

Forwarded emails. You know the ones.

I used to, but now never rarely forward forwarded emails. I'm sorry, but most days I don't even have time for the really important stuff like Twitter, Facebook, blogging, leisure book reading, napping dishes, laundry, bathroom cleaning, organizing, DISINFECTING, figuring out which end is up. Ahem.

And confession: I sometimes don't even read the forwarded emails I receive. (Please, no offense to the sender!) Unless they catch my attention as something that is personally just for me or will be really good, informative, important, encouraging, unique, or side-splitting funny (Please keep sending those!) they don't get my time.

This one that came to my inbox yesterday from sweet Danielle was one of the "few". It's one that had never come before. You know, unlike the ones or slight variations of the ones that you've received a total of 157 times. And since reading it I have NOT been able to get the imagery out of my head. Maybe it's because the word "dance" is used and I tend to like everything about that word. Whatever it may be, I'm "forwarding" it on to you all, my dear family and friends. I hope it encourages and spurs you on today.

"G U I D A N C E

When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.
I remember reading that doing God's will is a lot like dancing.
When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.
The movement doesn't flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.
When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
both bodies begin to flow with the music.
One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
or by pressing Lightly in one direction or another.
It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.
The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.
My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.
When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God, "u" and "i" dance."
God, you, and I dance.
As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.
Once again, I became willing to let God lead.
My prayer for you today is that God's blessings
and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.
May you abide in God, as God abides in you.
Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life.


I Hope You Dance Through 2010!"

Now you, too, can dance through your day to the sounds of Lee Ann Womack in your head.

And even if you think you don't have rhythm, I suspect that Jesus' has enough for the both of you.

Now dance away, dance away, dance away all!!!!

Oxymoron

Is it just me or is this an oxymoron???


And am I a moron for even thinking it? Don't answer that.

Christmas Preserved

Proof that my claim (from this post), of not even being sure which end is up most days, is true, comes from the fact that in that post there were pictures that did not belong. Beautiful? Yes. But that were taken on that particular trip? No. In my scatterbrained state I assumed that the pictures in my computer files that were right next to one another were related. We DO live near such beauty as this:

But these were, however, taken on an entirely different trip.

Aaaallrightythen.

Now, in my need to move on and blog about Christmas before it really IS Easter, I'm writing/uploading under the influence of cold medicine and 3 weeks of mucus and phlegm of which I've never seen the likes. So there are no guarantees as to what will be expelled (ahem) here and I can not be held responsible....or so I'm telling myself.

Since my words have seemed to fail me lately (or they've been drowning in a sea of mucus) and to save you all from undeserved mumbo jumbo and to preserve your retina from the crazy, random diatribe that might ensue...how 'bout I just go with a pictorial documentary of our Christmas season and celebrations, m'kay?

A picture really was worth a thousand words and probably was a lot less painful at this point for you AND me.

With these memories preserved (and essentially being caught up on my blogging) a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now if I can just get my lungs and head to feel lighter we'd be JAM UP AND JELLY TIGHT.

Until next time...

...when I most assuredly WON'T use the words mucus and phlegm....

...you're welcome.

You might be a Redneck if....

...you use a child's baton to reach the fast forward button of your VCR.

...you still "record" your shows on your old school VCR.

...there's no clock and no way to program and no remote for your VCR.

...you have a basket propping up the broken shelves that hold your VCR.

...you decide to take the picture during the worst commercial/preview possible just because you want to blog about your VCR.

It's looking A LOT like Christmas and I haven't even blogged about Thanksgiving.

Hi.

I'll wait while you pick yourself up off the floor.

I AM alive. Just some days I don't know which end is up. I'm not saying today is any different, but I figured I should try and get Thanksgiving blogged about before the New Year came around.

(Is it just me or does the first blog post following a long break require all kinds of painful thinking, rethinking, writing, rewriting, and then a final oh-well-ing??)

Along with not really having time to blog, I haven't felt much like blogging either. GASP. Shocker, I know. I have, however, wanted to catch up on all the blogs that I like to read, but again with the time. I know you are all just waiting in anticipation for a comment from me. Ok, wait. Let me find my favorite pen so I can give myself a Realty Check. I recognize that is most likely not the case, but reading all y'all's (my grammatical abilities astound even me) blogs makes me feel like I just sat down with you over a cup of coffee (drowned in creamer, please) and a carmelita (or whatever else all you domestic divas have been cooking up) and caught up with your lives.

And since I know there are a handful of friends and family out there who want to get caught up on mine, I give you a post with insane amounts of photos (and parenthesis), a few mindless comments here and there, and whatever amounts of creativity (or not) I can pull out of whatever end happens to be up today (ok, that kind of sounded bad).

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

Betcha didn't know what Thanksgiving is about.

Well, besides thanks giving, that is.

It's about getting there....

9.5 hours of getting there...

But, boy, is it worth the drive...

It's about playing hard...

...sweet cheeks...

...and love.

It's about the devotion before the big meal, focusing on all Christ has done for us. Now that's something to be thankful for.

It's about LOTS of people...but not just any people...family.

It's about the big brother blaming it on the little brother....

...even though everyone knows it was Billy who ate the first bite of Uncle Joe's pie and tried to hide it. Which is really funny when it happens at Thanksgiving, but which I find not so funny when it happens at home...can you say OCD? Yes, I am. Self diagnosed, of course.

It's about sisters...

...and sisters who are friends...

It's about "life giving" amounts of food... ???????????

...and always about the men cleaning up afterward...

...and us watching!!!

It's about "angry faces"...?

...and " 'sup dude?"s.

It's about being plum tuckered out at the end of the day or the middle of the day or the beginning of the day...but all in the name of love fun.

Phew! Oh, I'm not done. Just thought you might need to stretch your legs or take a bathroom break or refill your eggnog.

I'll wait....

Round 2.

Thanksgiving is about....

the traditional Christmas tree farm trip...

...and Tias and Uncles...

...and sisters...

...and brothers....

...and Nanas and sons...

...and Nanas with candy...

...and more candy...:)

Oh yeah, and it's about the hunt for the Christmas tree...

...but also the rides...

...and the rides...

...and the rides...

...and the rides...

...and the rides...

...and the rides.

It's about love...


...and cute kids.

And it's about the lessons from Knuckle Joe about the art of choosing the right tree and how to properly cut it down...

...and about the victory!

That's what our Thanksgiving was about.

Now...

Why I'm leaving you with a most heinous picture of myself I'll never know. Except that the irony of some random chick in a small town, at a Denny's/Shari's/IHOP like restaurant, wearing the exact.same. clearanced Old Navy (which is about an hour away from this town) sweater as I am, made me laugh so hard that I just had to take a picture "with" her.


If you are one of the proud and the few that made it through this entire post you are cool.beans.

Phew, I am exhausted from all the uploading and waiting...and uploading and waiting....now if all those blood, sweat and tears could just burn off all those Thanksgiving calories.

I'm going to go rest up now in hopes that it's not Easter before I blog about anything Christmas related.

(Couldn't stand the thought of leaving a bad taste in your mouth with that last picture, so here you go.)

TTFN

25 Days of Free Music!

Probably not the post you were expecting after my long absence due to our Thanksgiving trip, but I couldn't not share the wealth!!

When I can snatch a free moment away from paying bills, decorating the house, doing the laundry and dishes, and the other usual routine I'll share the wealth of pictures and stories from our Vaca, but until then check out this deal!

Amazon.com is offering 25 days of free music this month. Go back everyday for a new free MP3 download! I was super excited to see today's song...Casting Crowns "Joy To The World". Download - complete.

Go here to get yours!

And now you can't say I never gave ya anything.;)

It's been six years...

Yes, count them. 1,2,3,4,5,6 years since the last time we had "Family Pictures" taken. We finally decided it was time I realized that "just 10 more pounds" wasn't gonna happen and who better to do it than a sweet friend from church who is starting up her photography business. She's pretty great and talented, don't ya think?:) Go to Kivett Photography to see more of her work and if you live in our neck of the woods or will be visiting, she comes highly recommended by us!!














So we got our act together enough to get them taken. Now I just need to make some decisions. Which prints, which size.... And any one who knows me well, will know that this will not be a simple, quick, or easy task.

Let's just hope it doesn't take me 6 years.

Which ones were your favorites??

Cause I just might steal your answers.

BOGO

It's BOGO time!!!

Since I'm all about frugality and saving money these days, I'm giving you 2 for the price of 1. 2 blog posts for the time it takes to read 1! Always lookin' out for my dear blog readers. Yes, I am.

But along with that comes a warning: This will be a doozy of a loooong blog post.

Run if you must. But if you must, do so quietly so my little bloggy ego won't be crushed.

For those of you putting on your full armor and braving the battle....I give you...

...and...


I know, technically, it's not the 10th (Sorry Mer.)....or Tuesday (You know...GladiTuesday. Sorry Gretchen) .

But, technically, it's my blog. And technically I always seem to be running a little behind. And technically my day crashed and burned yesterday before I could finish this and I just didn't have the energy to get my hiney off the couch (and I wasn't about to turn off The Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance.).

So technically I guess you could say this is my 10 on the 11th and my GladiWednesday. Which technically doesn't have the same ring to it. But technically it probably doesn't really matter. Technically I should probably stop using the word technically in this post, because technically it's starting to sound weird and unwordy-like, and I've technically used it in places where technically shouldn't be used.....

Technically moving right along...


10 Things I Should Have Blogged About Months Ago But Can't Get My Act Together Enough To Get It Done...That Just So Happen To Be Things That Make Me Glad

And....we're off....

1~ My buddy turned 8. 2 months ago.

There was good and new friends. Pizza. Make-Your-Own ice cream sundaes. Silly games. Lightsabers and swords (of course). 1st ever sleepover. And I survived it all. So glad about that. Speechlessly glad that God see fit to put this rough and tumble, enough like me to challenge me, loving, sensitive, silly, giggly, handsome boy in our lives 8 years ago....

2~ Many, many moons Saturdays ago we spent the day with our good friends, the Blairs. Just that there makes me glad. Glad because we've been friends with them for almost 11 years. Glad because we've been through life's highest of highs and lowest of lows with them and our friendship has remained. Faithful friends.

The day itself made us all kinds of glad too. The parents got together and schemed. We blew up several balloons, wrote on little slips of paper different things that we would do that day, put them in the balloons, and let the kids take turns popping them to see what would happen next. It was good fun! And the kids were thrilled when we actually ate ice cream before lunch.:)

3~ So thankful for baby sleep bums. So glad that, while he'll always technically :) be my baby, for now he really is the baby. And I will take all the "baby" I can get.

4~ Another school year. Another field trip. Another pumpkin patch. Another chance to get special mama-daddy-daughter time.

How about them apples? (Yes, apples from Oregon, Amber. Not that we're known for them, though.;))

5~ I had the privilege of watching my sweet friend Summer's baby girl for a day. Can you say sugary sweetness?

I'll let the picture finish speaking of my gladness over that one.

6~ Lincoln had his first trip to the dentist. I tried not to project my dislike for this necessary evil onto him, especially since he was happy as a clam to be there. Weird kid.

7~ I finally have the recipe for the Sweet & Spicy Mac and Cheese from one of my favorite restaurants. 4 cups of heavy whipping cream. ...What are you waiting for?

Do you even need to ask if I'm glad about that????

8~ This fall season brought us our induction into flag football. It was....interesting. But also a ton of fun. After a season of learning the sport, the concepts, and the art of paying attention (why do I feel like this will be the never ending lesson?), Will topped it off with scoring 3 touchdowns and pulling more flags on defense than he's ever pulled in the last 2 games.

But, really, any game where they got to slip 'n slide in the mud was a success to them. I on the other hand did NOT appreciate the one game that sent me home looking like a drenched poodle, left my car smelling like that drenched poodle, and caused me to have to clean out my purse just so it could air dry. Thankfully that was a one hit wonder.


(That's him with the ball!)


9~That same boy that would willingly roll around in mud (Actually, it kind of sounds like fun...and I may have done it once in college.), has a love for his baby blanket still. And this makes me sad glad. I just made that up.

Glad...because that blanket used to be MY blanket as a child and I love that he loves it.

Sad...because that blanket used to be MY blanket as a child and I may have some issues with this....

I may have even threatened to take it away if any more holes appear or get bigger. I may have. I may have also shed a few tears over it's state and wondered if a more craftier person than I could rescue it. I may have to come to terms with the fact that it's no longer mine. May. Yes, I realize that I may need professional help. But I'd rather not talk about it...

There. All caught up.

Whatever will I blog about now???

OK, so technically I didn't have "10" but technically...well, I think we've already covered that....