First of all he told me to dress nice for dinner and to pack an overnight bag. When he said dress nice for dinner...I didn't know exactly what "nice" meant. He said I didn't need to wear a dress, so this is what I came up with. If I had known what kind of place we were going for dinner I think I would have nixed the hat and the holey jeans...but oh well.
As we loaded into the car, he told me that he had arranged for my parents to keep the kids for us for the night. Then we headed off to our dinner destination--a fancy schmancy place that I had never even heard of in a real uppity part of town. We had reservations for 5:30 but ended up getting there at just a little after 5. It was by far the fanciest place we have EVER been and I didn't know quite how to act. Certain forks for certain foods....wine glasses....white linens....a menu that didn't even list the prices!!!!!!! When the waiter came out and told us the Chef's recommendations for the night...we both just ordered that. I got the sea bass with spinach and mashed potatoes and Matt got the T-bone with asparagus and mashed pototoes. We said no to soup or salad or dessert. So...you wanna know how much our bill was? $116.00!!!!!!! I think we both almost lost our dinner when we saw the bill. And what is WORSE???? We ended up leaving and going to another resturant to eat again because we didn't even get CLOSE to full from our $116 meal!! It was the kind of place where your entree is GORGEOUS and very intersting looking---but there is really only enough there to feed a hungry toddler. We went to one of our favorite Italian resturants afterwards and shared an order of Italian nachos and an Oreo Mountain for dessert! (YUM but SHAME SHAME on me!!) It cost a whopping $13 and was sooooooo good!! Ha Ha
SNOW!!!
It was fuuuuhhh-reeeeeeee-zeeeng! We went out to Panera Bread for a delicious breakfast consisting of a spinach bacon souflee, a cinnamon crunch bagel with honey walnut spread and a caffe mocha! DELISH! After breakfast we went back to the hotel and got showered and then spent the remainder of our time going from cell phone provider to cell phone provider looking at new phones and plans. Our contract with T-Mobile is up and we can't WAIT to switch providers. We didn't know when we signed up...but T-Mobile doesn't have good coverage in our little town so we have horrible receiption! Anyway, we looked them all over but decided to wait a couple of days to make a decision...and think it through. The phone I want is expensive as it has internet and navigation (which I desperately need (the navigation)) and we just wanted to make positive of what we want before we make a choice. Anyway, after that we picked up a movie (FlyWheel which we HIGHLY recommend) and came home, popped popcorn and watched. It was a great weekend and I am SO BLESSED to have such a wonderful man to share my life with! So, I'm in my bedroom this morning putting away laundry watching Joyce Meyer on T.V. Listening...but not really focused in on it completely. Until...I hear her say this:
Just because it says in the Bible "You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you", it doesn't mean you SHOULD do ALL things. Running around busy-busy-busy all the time is NOT what God meant. She said if you're using that scripture to justify having 3 jobs and being stressed out and never having any time for anything else...then you are wrong. If you can't say "no" to anyone ever (that's me!) and you say to yourself "God will give me the strength to do ALL things" then you're taking that out of context. God doesn't want us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. He will strengthen us and empower us to do the things that are necessary and that He has called us to do.
WOW! What a revelation for me! I am ALWAYS using that scripture to justify my chaotic, insanely fast-paced way of life, quoting " I can do all things, I can do all things, I can do all things". I am definitely looking forward to thinking about this more and seeing how I can apply this newfound revelation to my life! Just had to share with you all....
To the natural eye...my day today could have been interpreted as horrible.
5:28 am -awken to massive throw up covering every surface in my newly decorated Pottery Barn bathroom. Spend the next 1 1/2 hours scrubbing, washing, and wiping.
7:00 am - do 5 loads of laundry and a load of dishes.
9:00 am- take my car into the dealership to have a few little tune ups and find out that the bill is $1,400 instead of $600!
10:00 am - change into my work out clothes, get out DVD, insert into player to realize that our flatscreen plasma TV in the living room isn't working anymore! GRRRRR...
11:00 am -spend an HOUR looking EVERYwhere for the STUPID tv manual only to give up and have to work out in the 3 foot space between our king sized bed and our little 19 inch tv in our master bedroom.
12:37 pm - Get ready to take Grant to school at 12:20 pm at which time he informs me he has just pooped his pants. Wait on him to take a dump and end up being late to school. Have to go inside school and take him to his class whilst wearing the clothes I wore to church the day before, slept in and still have on!!
3 pm - Take Brooklyn to doctor to see why she exploded brownie remains all over the bathroom and find out nothing other than that she has "an angry stomach." Get prescription filled for anti-diarrheal and anti-nausea meds and are told to bring her back in the morning if she is not better for C-Diff testing (infection of the colon).
4:26 pm - Finally regain ability to eat (had lost all appetite after the vomit clean up) and go to local resturant for dinner. Order a bowl of salad and soup and leave feeling like "Whats for DINNER?" (not one of us got enough food to get full off of!)
5:30 pm - Put away laundry for about an hour, RE-make the kids bed, enjoy a little "afternoon delight" while the kids watch a movie in the other room, then do my Ab Ripper X video before I sit down with a bowl of banana pudding and watch a movie.
OH what a day! Thankfully, while overwhelmed, I kept my perspective and was able to smile about it all despite the circumstances! It just goes to show..it's not what happens to you..it's how you deal with what happens to you!
I made cupcakes for Grant's teachers birthday party last week. Here is one of him with his teacher, Mrs. Gilreath and also one of my cute Hawaain themed cupcakes.
This is my buddy (and Sunday School teacher) Lisa! It was her birthday on the 12th but we all (our Sunday School class) went to Dave & Busters for dinner (and a surprise cake!) on Sunday night. I had our bakery do this cake up especially for her because I know she loves black, red and white. It turned out really cute and tasted delicious!! Happy Birthday Lisa!! 
Lastly, my mom and I took the kids to a Children's Museum here in town on Wednesday. It really wasn't that great...but I got some cute pics. Here are a few. This first one is of Grant at the grocery store, shopping. He liked pushing his own cart around!
Here Brooklyn is being the "Chef".
Next we went to the County Jail. Grant was the police officer and Brooklyn was the convict. 
Now she's a very HAPPY convict! ha ha
Here is one of Grant when they were playing dress up on the stage. I caught him right after his had had fallen down onto his face. No smile..but still pretty darn cute, I think!
Lastly, they got to do some rock wall climbing! This was their favorite part!
After the museum, we went out for pizza. The cool guy at the pizzeria let Grant throw the dough up into the air a few times! 
Hey girlies!
Just wanted to pass along the goodness: Origins is having a deal today--you get a free tube of their lip tint ($11 value) with any order today and it is free shipping today (no minimum order).
I decided to order their "Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash" for $18.50 because my face is in major need of some good cleansing, moisturizing and replenishing and plus--you know me--I can't pass up a good deal! For $20 bucks I got a bottle of quality face wash, a full tube of lipstick and they're bringing it to my front door. It doesn't get much better than that!
If you're interested you can just go www.origins.com
Happy Shopping!
One of my other FAVORITE things they sell is the Sensory Therapy Peace of Mind On the Spot Relief. It is unbelievably amazing when you have a sore muscle or tight neck...it NEVER fails to take away the tension and soothe my aches! (and it's only like $11!!)
So...that ring I did a whole post about a few days ago...well, never mind. I took that ring back today. It's fallen off my finger several times over the past couple of days. I figure even though it was only $11.49, it's still worth nothing to me if I can't keep it on my finger. Grrr....
After checking practically every department store in this town for a fake diamond ring--I'm confident in saying there aren't any to be found in a size 6 or smaller. Apparently sz. 7 is the standard size and that's what you're stuck with unless you wanna pay the big bucks. So, I stopped by a jewlery store today and asked about a simulated diamoned I've been hearing about. It's called Moissanite. The lady told me the 4 carat round is $39.99 and the 2 carat would probably be about $29.99 and then it's like $165.00 to have it set in 14k white gold. JACKPOT!!! She was going to check on it and call me Monday. So, I tell Matt about it and I am so excited because these are GORGEOUS stones and for only about $200 I can have a 2 carat "diamond" ring in 14k gold!!! YIPPEE!! (now imagine the sound of a car coming to SCREECHING halt) because that is what just happened to my little fairytale I had going on in my head. I came home and googled "Moissanite" and a website popped up with lots of beautiful rings. The problem was...the were WAYYYY more than what I had been priced. Hummm....that's weird, I thought. Then it dawned on me (lightbulb moment) when she said the 4 carat was $39.99 she meant $3,999.00!!!!!! OH! MY! GOSH! No WONDER she was so happy to be helping me! She thought I was considering buying a four thousand dollar ring!! I feel like SUCH an idiot!! At least now when she calls me with the grand total for the 2 carat princess cut in 14k white gold, I won't be shocked that its close to $3000 and not the $175-$200 that I was expecting!!
SHUCKS!!!! I'm SO disappointed now... :o(
It was one of those moments. An "I wish this was just a bad dream" moment. I got up early this morning, did my work for the dr. office and then cleaned house all morning long (dishes, laundry, vaccum, dust, mop). Suddenly I realized it was time to take Grant to school already! AUGH! Quickly I ran him through the shower like a car-wash and then out he went to get dressed and hurry off to the car to leave. As ALWAYS, the dogs were standing at the back door waiting to go with us, so I shuffled them into the car as quickly as possible and off we went.
When I pulled into the drop-off line I was relieved to see I wasn't the only mom running late...there were still a couple of cars there dropping kids off. I hustled Grant out of his booster seat and handed him his back pack to put on. He opened the van door to get out and in the blink of an eye...OUT WENT KINLEY!!!!!! Like a 4 pound speeding bullet, she catapulted out of the van and took off like a Pitbull was chasing her or something. Meanwhile I'm yelling at Grant in my sternest voice "GET HER!!!" It was at about that time that Grant's teacher (who was standing in line with the entire rest of the pre-K class, looks at me through the passenger van window and says "is that your dog?" I nodded yes but stayed put in my seat. You see....I was only wearing a short little nightie and my slippers. That's IT. No way on EARTH could I get out of the car and chase down my dog exposing all my goodies to 50 four and five year olds and their teachers!!! Even if I could keep myself covered...the wind was blowing like crazy and I knew something would fly up or out eventually. So there I sat--in my seat--wishing I could melt away into the velvety fabric--while the elderly teacher is chasing MY dog around the schoolyard. Embarrasing doesn't even come close. Finally she caught her (Kinley) and brought her over to me in the van where I explained why I hadn't gotten out and chased after my OWN dog. The look on her face when she saw me there in my jammies at 12:30 pm dropping my son off for school felt like a slap on the hand. I'm sure to anyone--it looked like I had just woken up (even though I had been up since 6:30 am and had been super-dooper busy!)
As I drove away I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. All I knew at that moment was--this is gonna make one heck of a blog story! ha ha ha
Do you guys believe that dreams have meanings? Do you think it is mere coincidence when you have the same dream several nights in a row? Do you think that you are in control of your dreams? Do you think food or activity affects dreams?
I have been having a reoccuring theme in my dreams for about a week now. It's not good. I wake up every day in a sour mood and it literally takes me like an hour to shake off the "memories" of what just happened. I'm totally frustrated by it and I want it to STOP! But how can I possibly change what my mind does while I'm asleep? I've tried changing up what I do before I go to bed....meaning one night I watched TV, one night I read my Bible, and last night I read Joyce Meyer's "The Battlefield of the Mind" book before falling asleep. It doesn't seem to matter. All of a sudden this morning, I am reflecting on the whole thing and starting to get paranoid that this "theme" in my dreams is possibly a warning sign that something could be going on along these lines in real life....!!??? Probably not, but maybe it does mean something. I don't know...
What do you guys think?
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Yah. But wouldn't that be SO COOL?
Why hasn't anyone invented something yet that is safe, healthy and that will turn you tan FOREVER? We have laser eye surgery, laser hair removal, laser skin correction....can't we get laser lifetime tans or something? I mean, I'm no rocket scientist or anything...but certainly this would be a sure ticket into millionaireville...
Yes, the kid had climbed up there all by himself without me knowing it! And...he was perfectly happy just sitting there and did not want to get down-no matter how "Dangerous that is!!!!!" What a little stinker!
This is definitely NOT how it looks here today. We are getting ready for some 80's weather this week! YAH BAY-BEE!! But I uploaded some old pics from my mom's camera onto my computer today and this one was on there. I thought it was cute enough to post--even if it is from 2 months ago! This is Brooklyn pulling Grant on the sled in her new go kart (that she got for her birthday!) We all had SO MUCH FUN with this! 
It's Wednesday-hump day. I'm feeling extraordinarly bored today. Not bored in the sense that I don't have anything to do...I haven't had that feeling in YEARS. But bored in the sense that this every day routine is totally boring me. I do almost the exact same thing every. single. day. I would list it all out for you...but then I'd bore you all too and you'd probably stop reading this...so I just won't. Matt keeps saying it's "time for a vacation" and it's true...we usually do take our vacations around this time every year. Our anniversary is March 28th and I can't remember a time that we didn't do at least SOMETHING that week or weekend. But-this year is different. For one, that date is right around the corner and it would be really last minute to try to plan anything now. And secondly....I am so focused on getting out of debt and getting a savings built up that I can't imagine spending (or wasting) any money right now on hotels/food/entertainment/extras. Matt has been on board with me and this whole "getting out of debt thing" all along...until this past week or so when he made the comment "you know, getting out of debt is great and all but what good is it if you can't ever have any fun and enjoy life."
My thought at the beginning of this year was "if we can just stick it out for one full year--not spending any extra--then we can probably be close to if not totally out of debt by this time next year." And...we are well on our way. So far we've already paid off 3 big debts and are whittling away at the others with every penny we have.
But now I'm thinking "are we going to be able to do this? Are we going to be able to go a whole year without getting out of here for a while? Are we going to go stir-crazy and drive each other nuts if we don't get a break from the daily routine? Is Matt going to go bezerk at his job if he doesn't get some time off?"
AUGH!
I've always considered it an asset that I am such an all-or-nothin' kind of girl. When I do something, I really DO it. I give it 100%. So for me to concede and "allow" us to spend a thousand on a vacation...just feels like I've given up. Like I'm saying "to heck with it". I don't want to stop the track we're on...but I also don't want to be so SERIOUS that I can't have ANY fun either.
What do you all say?
Of all the many "hats" that I wear--here is one you don't get to see very often--my "teacher hat." Our church photographer came through a couple of weeks ago and took some shots of me teaching the 4-year-old class to use in the slideshow at our volunteer banquet. He e-mailed me the pics so I thought I'd share one with you since it happened to have me AND Grant in it! This is one of the ways I give to the Lord and have really found a piece of me that has been "closed" for a long time. I always wanted to be a teacher all during my childhood and even into adulthood. When I went to college, I knew for sure I was going into Elementary Education....but....I fell in love and quit after just 1 year...so no teaching degree for me. Being a teacher at church is the best of both worlds because I get to not only teach them...but teach them the Word of God! Plus, I've discovered that I probably wouldn't have made a very great teacher after all. I do a good job in my class at church...but now I can't IMAGINE doing that every day for 8 hours a day! I'm exhausted after just a few hours at church!! As the song goes...some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers!
And of course, here is my little man. This was taken at the batting cages a couple of weeks ago (shortly after we cut all his long hair off!) He wraps me tighter around his little finger every day. I'm telling you---between him and his daddy---I am totally whipped. He is playing T-ball this spring and I can't wait to see how he wow's everybody with his skillz. The kid has got mad-baseball hitting skillz. He rarely misses a hit, no matter how lousy the pitch (or pitcher ie. his mommy). There will be lots more baseall pics to come as the season gets started! And for the record...who do you think HE looks like? Again, we hear both sides...some say he looks like me (the dark hair) others say he looks just like his daddy. He may get his dark hair from me but he definitely has his daddy's body structure---tall, lean and thin. (NO FAIR! :o)
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