If I haven't lost my mind already, then I probably will this week

I'm lonely.

Well, I just put that right out there, didn't I?

School started and people got busy and suddenly I have literally gone weeks without a face-to-face real conversation with someone.

Oh, I've been to Bible Study and church and cheer practice and talked to people, but an honest-to-goodness conversation?

Weeks.

So I decided that on Tuesday I'll load up my crew and drive 8 hours to visit my friend Joy, whose husband is also deployed.

Or so I thought.

I don't know quite how I did it, but the brain cells? They are failing me.

It doesn't take 8 hours to drive from Mississippi to North Carolina.

It takes 14.

And I'm still going to attempt it.

And I mean attempt, because I'm a practical person and I know that I may make it to Alabama or Georgia, stay in a hotel for the night, and turn around and head home the very next day.

But if I make it, we'll have seven kids and zero husbands, and the refreshment of as much time as I want with a Christian sister who has known me since before my husband and I started dating.

And that is definitely worth the effort.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days, then I'm probably in North Carolina.

Hopefully with all three of my kids in tow, and still in possession of my sanity.

And if anyone knows where the Starbucks are located along the way? Share!

I have a feeling I'll need the caffeine!

WW- Get on the bus

Back up, back up, back up

If your computer has ever completely crashed and you lost everything (and I have TWICE) then you know the importance of backing up! 5 minutes for mom is giving away three portable hard drives, the perfect thing to back up all your pictures and files. Head on over and check it out!

Note to self- part three

Next time the kids have a razzberry contest in the backseat of the van?

Make sure they've finished their chocolate ice cream first.

A soul-deep need

Bloggers everywhere seem to be talking about it lately, and I have been feeling an aching void inside that needed filling up.

Boomama, Bigmama and LilyLakeMom have caused to me to face the emptiness inside.

I needed to go to Target.

So today we all piled in the van and drove over an hour and across state lines to shop at Target.

But we stopped at Panera Bread for a snack on the way in.

I'm dieting, so I had french onion soup and avoided the croutons on top.

But I may have finished Luke's cinnamon crunch bagel.

And Chloe's cobblestone muffin.

But those don't count since I didn't actually order them.

Really.

We had a great time at Target and many absolutely necessary things were bought. Like Method eucalyptus mint cleaner and vanilla apple air freshener. And clips for Audrey's hair. And wild blueberry honey.

Obviously, things we couldn't live without and desperately needed to cross state lines for.

Before starting the long drive home, we stopped at the Starbucks counter. I got a pumpkin cream cheese muffin because I am dieting. You need veggies and everyone knows that dairy makes you skinny. It's in all those commercials.

I might have "forgotten" to ask for nonfat milk in the cinnamon dolce latte that I needed to keep me awake for the long ride home. But since we've already established that milk makes you skinny, I'm sure it was fine.

But I have no comment on the coconut macaroons that jumped into my cart.

Really.

They did.

I have Biblical evidence that these things happen. Exodus 32:22-24. The golden calf just jumps right out of the fire. Aaron had nothing to do with it.

Just as I had nothing to do with those macaroons.

Except for eating one or two five.

But it's ok.

Milk makes you skinny.

And I had a really big latte.

So, as you can see, a very satisfying trip to Target.

And I am feeling replete complete once more.

Uh-oh, what did they do?

Words to strike fear in the heart of any homeowner:


Mommy, we've been painting the walls black!


Thank God they were just pretending.


And that they were using feather dusters for paint brushes.


I don't think my walls have been so clean since I had to vacuum them!

WW- New Skill

Really not a baby anymore

Today I had the startling revelation that Chloe is really not a baby anymore.

Now I know that at almost 5 years old, this should have occurred to me by now.

But today I received a visual reminder.

She rolled her eyes at me.

I guess in some corner of me, there was this hope that if we homeschooled, we'd be able to skip past that attitude stuff altogether.

Yeah.

Not so much.

Which is silly really, since I have heard somewhere (like, oh, The Bible) that we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But at least later we were able to return to joy in innocent things like apple boats. Apple slices with mini-marshmallow men, pretzel stick oars, and almond butter glue (so much yummier than peanut butter).

I'm sure one day they'll be way too babyish to get excited over.

But for today she's still young enough.

Monk and Neagle Tomorrow!

You may remember that I won a Monk and Neagle cd back in July.

And it is amazing.

And you can buy it tomorrow.

Just in case you've somehow missed hearing them, you can still hear a preview here.

Beautiful You is still my favorite song, although What Soldiers Do runs a pretty close second. And makes me think of my husband and get all teary.

Who has yet to hear Monk and Neagle, now that I think about it.

I'm supposed to mail him his guitar (ok, maybe I was supposed to have mailed it like two months ago, but c'mon! It's a really big box and he's not here to watch the kids while I go and mail really big boxes!) so maybe I should include my copy for him.

Don't forget!

At least he's honest

Luke: Mommy, I need to go potty.
Me: Really? Or do you just want candy?
Luke: I just want candy.

sigh

Over the hump

Three months.

We are half-way through deployment today, and getting ready to go to the big Over-The-Hump party.

I can't believe it's been three months.

A lifetime and a blink of the eye at the same time.

Chloe has learned to read.

Audrey has learned to sit up, crawl, wave and says several words. She doesn't look anything like the baby you left.

Luke puts his own shoes on, buckles himself into his carseat and says, "No! I not a baby!" when I call him that.

Walls are painted and pictures are hung in the first house we've owned.

How in the world have we done it? How have we managed without you for three months?

Three more.

A lifetime.

Hopefully a blink of the eye.

Navy Life

Navy life as a 23-year-old with no children: Flying off to Mazatlan for the weekend because the ship is docking for a few days. Greeting your husband at the dock wearing beautiful, flowing skirt, him in his crisp, white uniform, reminiscent of Top Gun.

Navy life as an almost-30-year-old with three kids: Getting all the kids into the car at night in the rain by yourself to go to the store to buy a plunger because you either don't have one or you still haven't unpacked it after four months. Getting home and realizing that you have no idea how to plunge a toilet.

I'm livin' the dream, people.

Livin' the dream.

Virtual Me

So I've lost a total of about 15 pounds since my husband left.

Well, the total is probably more like 25 if you count all the weight I've re-gained and then re-lost.

Several times.

But I am at a new low, at least since way before I got pregnant with Audrey, and since I am yet again awake and trying to cough up a lung at a horrible hour (is there any good hour to expel a major organ?), I thought I'd update you all on my weight loss.

So, anyway, me in June is on the left, and me currently is on the right. It looks so dramatic on screen, but I actually haven't even gone down a size yet!



You know what it is? The website automatically distributes the weight over your whole boday, but I am here to tell you that that is NOT how it works.

It would be nice if I lost from my stomach.

I, however, lost from my forearms.

I have very svelte wrists.

My fingers are positively thin, and my wedding ring spins circles on my finger again.

My stomach still looks pregnant.

And that is just not fair.

The power of prayer

Dear Kate,

You prayed for me the other day, and I wanted you to know what a difference it made.

I don't know what you prayed- just that I popped into your mind and so you took the time to pray for me, instead of writing it off as a passing thought.

We've all been fighting colds here, and I've been functioning on very little sleep. By the weekend my patience was shot. Saturday night I yelled at my kids louder than I ever have before and actually had to leave the room and give myself a time-out to recover.

Sunday wasn't shaping up to be much better.

But then, it was.

Sunday evening we played. And laughed.

And as bedtime crept closer, I didn't eye the clock and rush them to their rooms so that I could get a break.

Instead we rolled on the floor and laughed and wrestled and read books and sang songs.

And I enjoyed my children for the first time in days.

So thank you, for taking the time to pray for someone you've never met before.

It made all the difference.

Tackle It Tuesday- Laundry Room

I don't have a before picture of my laundry room- My dad helped me with it when he was here visiting, and he got started without me. But before, it had white walls and one wire shelf above the washer and dryer. We painted and installed a new cabinet system. The board that you see under the cabinet will be a corkboard for messages and stuff. I have a roll of cork to cover it with, but me and scissors and straight lines aren't a happenin' trio, so I am waiting until I find my quilting supplies to cut the cork.

At some point, I'll put some cute baskets up on top of the cabinets, and some sort of key holder and maybe mail sorter on the right-hand wall, but that is a tackle for another day!

Visit 5 Minutes for Mom to see what others are tackling!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If you look at my time stamp and wonder why I am awake at roughly O'dark thirty, I will tell you.

Involuntarily.

I went o bed hours and hours ago. For the first time in weeks-possibly months-the kids actually fell asleep at a decent hour and I got in bed early.

And then I started coughing.

And then I tried to forcefully expel a lung from my body.

I've had a cold for about 2 weeks now, and apparently my body has decided that it would rather function with only one lung than continue to exist in this phlegmy state.

And so here I am am, awake. So why not blog? My coughing won't bother you.

In the last several weeks, a few of you have been kind enough to pass some bloggy awards my way! I'm still catching up reading posts from my break, but I wanted to say thank you to:

First, Megan at SortaCrunchy bestowed upon me the "Bloggin' Princess" award. Head on over and tell her congratulations, because she also recently had a sweet baby girl!

Next, Dana at Principled Discovery has passed to me the the "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award.

Finally, both Val at Purple Valley and Michelle at Raising Little Women have gifted me with the "Nice Matters" award.

So I haven't coughed up a lung. Three or four pounds of phlegm and the lining of my throat are gone, though.

Hope you weren't eating or enjoying your morning coffee or anything.

'Night all.

Today

So my break is over and here is some of the excitement of our day today...

(baby crying)
ME: Luke, did you hurt Audrey?
LUKE: Yeah.
ME: Was it on purpose or by accident?
LUKE: By my elephant.

If that doesn't scream "on purpose" I don't know what does!

*****

We went to the bookstore after dinner, where Chloe and Luke were scared silly by a girl in a Curious George costume, but Audrey was utterly entranced.

Would you believe I walked right past their cafe with nary a snack or coffee cup in my hands?

Really.

We went out the door carrying our books (you didn't think we'd escape without purchasing anything, now did you?) and noticed some smoke coming from the trash can.

Suddenly Luke yelled, "FIRE!"

And there was. The trash can was on fire.

And everyone sitting at the little cafe tables outside looked over and commented on it.

They ooh'ed and aah'ed and laughed.

And sat there.

Apparently it is more work to take your coffee cup back inside to alert the staff to their impending crispyness, than it is to do the same with three children, because I was the only one to go back inside and tell anyone about the blaze.

Good thing I resisted the pull of the coffee and snacks, eh?