Fun Dates with the Girls.

After a fairly frustrating experience with my fabulous daughter, I realized she may be in need of some quality time with her mother.  We were very lucky to have a friend in our neighborhood who invited Elizabeth and Mitchell over for a playdate on Friday.  Now, an opportunity was open and ready for us to spend an afternoon together.  We had discussed what might be an exciting and fun "date."  Madeline's idea?  To go get an electric toothbrush.  Yes, it is true, my sweet Madeline has been desiring an electric toothbrush since she went to the dentists office a few weeks ago.  Of course, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to fulfill all her dreams and wishes.  We went on our date to Wal-Mart (my least favorite place to shop, but the cheapest).  We discovered her dream electric toothbrush, which was green, and had no princesses on it, she is big now, after all.    I pulled her over to the bike display, hoping she would become impressed with the bigger bikes, maybe she would really discover she wanted to become a professional biker after all.  Nope, she thought they were nice, but she was ready to go look for some jewelry.  We skipped our way over to the jewelry and she

 pleaded for a disney princess locket/choker necklace.  I am not in the habit of purchasing all the bountiful things my little ones ask for, but as I pondered on this decision, I realized I was prepared to spend much more to take her to a movie, so I guess a $5 necklace wouldn't be too crazy.

At this point, I was done.  Yes, whatever business we needed to accomplish at Walmart had to be finished, and quickly.  I have a very short attention span shopping, and I have an even shorter one at Wal-Mart.   Now  I am wondering, what I am supposed to do for the rest of our date.  I have realized I am a seriously boring mother, but I will prevail. 

 

I see Kohl's across the parking lot, and I realize they have some fun stuff there.  This could work.   So, we go across the parking lot and hop in the store.  What did we find there?  Makeup.  It is true, I forgot they had makeup there, we could try it on, smear it all over our faces, and really go crazy.  So, that is what we did.  We tried all the fragrances in lotion and perfume form.  We tried on lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadow, blush, powders, and mascara.  Truthfully, we had a fabulous time.  I finally realized that, yes, we are bonding, we are enjoying this day together. Madeline was feeling like a grownup and I was feeling like we were actually making some headway.  We had so much fun together, and I was glad that we took the opportunity to bond to one another.

Finally, came the dinner.  When I asked her where she wanted to go, she said "somewhere fancy, and quiet."  Seriously, she must be my daughter, but I can't afford to take her fancy and quiet.  So, we go to Chili's.  She ponders about maybe getting a salad, because she loves salads, but in the end, the little girl in her couldn't help herself.  She had to have macaroni and cheese, with fries on the side.  I got a salad.  Here's the best part, (or maybe the worst), after we started eating I realized that my chicken was raw, pink in the  middle, not fit for consumption.  Great, I had already eaten half the salad (but luckily not the chicken, since I only eat it because I know it is good for me).  So, I inform the waiter of the issue, and he looks horrified.  Poor guy, he could see his tip going out the window.  The manager was sent directly over, offered a replacement which, of course, I refused because now I was ready to never eat again.  But, offered to comp the entire order.  Yeah, so I just went out to eat, but didn't have to pay for a thing.  Happy day for me.  I know, I am slightly a freak, but I got two bonus'.  I didn't have to pay to eat, and I wasn't hungry after that.  Weightloss and money gain.  

We have had a better week this week, and I am attributing it to the fact that I spent some fun time with my Madeline.  Hopefully, as I continue to take some time alone with her, we can avoid the pitfalls that can often come to us.  I also dream that she will grow to know how special she is and that the frustrations that come so easy to her now, will in time be easier for her to control.  There is no guarantee that these moments will make an impression on her, but they made an impression on me.

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Good, Better, Best

I have been pondering lately about the things I would like to accomplish in my life.  It's a long list.  The thing I struggle with is whether it is wise to have these goals.  They are all "good" goals, but are they better and best?  I have watched friends and acquaintances accomplish wonderful things, I have been slightly jealous of them.  Not because of what they have accomplished, but because they have set a goal, and met it.  Because they have found a balance between what they want and what their responsibilities are to their children, family, God, and church.

I have really wanted to start my own business.  I want to do something creative.  My latest thought is to design quilt patterns and sell those, and make quilts to sell on the side.  For those of you who know me well, you know I love quilting. This is something that does enrich my life.  But, my big question is why do I have to be "successful" to make it worth something?  I have pondered long and hard about this.  It takes energy and time to make the patterns/quilts.  Then there is the marketing, promoting, etc.  Should I really be doing this?  Then I say, am I just chickening out?  Am I making up excuses so I don't have to risk?  Basically, what's the deal?  Should I spend my energy and time on something that might bring me extra money,  a sense of accomplishment, and maybe pride?  Those things are all "good", but are they better and best?  Who knows.  When I get down and deep I realize they are just good.  That I could spend my time doing better things...but I still long for worldly praise, extra comfort, etc.

What is the answer?  I guess I already know, but I am mourning the loss of "possibility."  Or, of course, I could say...."Maybe later."    I have already started making some patterns, maybe I could just do this a little at a time, and by the time I am 70 I will be ready.  ha ha ha ha.  I just hope whatever I do decide to do (or not do) will be "best," and not just "good."

I'm It.

I have been tagged by my fun friend Kim Watson (who used to live here in sunny, AZ).  Now I need to share 7 quirky things about myself.  Let's hope I can limit it to just 7.  

1.  I am a slight clean freak.  Now, when I say this you must know, I am far from perfectly clean.  But, I do have a hard time going to bed with my Kitchen dirty.  I do like to have everything picked up and I love having clean surfaces.  That said, my cupboards and drawers are far from perfect.  I think this is the result of wanting the surface clean.  I often pick a couple drawers to be a mess, and just throw everything into those drawers to "hide" all the stuff we all hate dealing with.

          

         

 2.  I am turned on by fabric.  Not just any fabric, good quilting fabric.  I love it when the fabric feels like butter, so smooth and perfect.  This is not fabric you can find at JoAnn's or other large chains, this is the stuff in the little quilting shops, oh and it is beautiful.  My favorite fabric manufacturer is Moda.  Of course, there are others with beautiful fabrics, but Moda is so consistently perfect.  hmmmm, I could go on and on.

3.  I must admit I enjoy running.  My husband defines this as definitely quirky.  He thinks I am absolutely crazy because I rarely take a day off.   I just love the feeling that come from running.

I feel all clean and alive.  It is great!  

4.  I really don't like meat.  I just don't crave it, but I still eat it.  Okay, here comes the quirky part.  With all that,  I love In N' Out burgers.  I don't know how,  but I do love them.  We've been lucky, we got one just a couples miles from our house this last fall.  We've only been there 2 or 3 times, but it is nice to know it is close by.

5.  Well, I said I don't like meat.  Here comes the second quirky thing.  I don't like to touch meat while I am preparing meals for my family.  So, how do I do it?  Buy bags of frozen meat, and simply shake into a cooking dish.  Yes, this limits our choices of dinners, but I have found wonderful ways to go around touching meat.  It's funny, but it works out for my family so they actually get meat with their meals.

6.  I have a very sarcastic humor, which is lost on a lot of people.  Sometimes I am amazed at this, because it seems so very obvious to me.   Apparently, not everyone was brought up with sarcastic comments all the time.  I know I shouldn't be sarcastic, but to me it is like telling me, I really shouldn't be short.  I may agree about that, but I don't know how to go about changing it.

7. I don't love camping.  The reason is the quirky thing.   I hate to get all the "junk" out, and then have to put it all away.  Isn't it just easier to stay home?  There is so much work involved in camping, and then you have to come home and clean for a week.  That is not my idea of vacation.  My perfect idea of vacation is to stay at home, and not answer the phone, and pretend we are not here.  I still get a toilet and shower, I still get nice dinners, clean kids.....and at the end of it I don't have to disinfect, and scrub down everything.

Okay, now it's my turn.  Tag your it: Melissa, Summer, Kim P., Suzette, Angie, Brittney, Christine

The rules are:  

1. Link to the that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog. 

2.  Share 7 random and or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

This one's for you.

This is my sweet family.   But, I really want to talk about my hubby.  As I was driving home from preschool today I was thinking about how lucky I am.  I have this fantastic man who takes such good care of me, and my little ones, and asks little in return.  I am amazed at his goodness.  I think to many he seems like a "tough guy," but to me he is all goodness and light.  All he requires of me is for me to treat myself kindly.  He never nags me, or wants me to do things better, he just loves me (and most of the time would like me to sit down and relax with him).  He works so hard at his work, but he always puts family first.  He does all he can for his calling, and keeps his priorities straight.  He is so gentle with me, and wants to make sure I am doing well.  If I start to obsess about all the things I should be doing better, he calms me down, and just loves me.  I hope all our children find a spouse as good for them, as he has been for me.  There's so much more I could expound on to demonstrate his vast goodness, but I fear that would result in a seriously long tribute to this wonderful man.  So, here's to you, my favorite man, may you always know that you are one of a kind.