It is what it is...

I think winter finally decided to show up around here.  In late April.  Not cool, Jack Frost.  Not cool at all.  I've spent the last two days shivering and feeling a little like death warmed over because something (probably the obnoxiously cold wind...ya think?) has really stirred up the pollen and kicked my allergies into overdrive.  


When my allergies get crazy, they tend to make my mind a little foggy which is why I found it impossible to compose a post yesterday but I did manage to make it to the gym in order to have my butt kicked by Pilates and then to our local Food Lion to buy food for our survival. They are remodeling it and finally bringing it into the twenty first century.  


They actually had some veggie Smart Dogs in the produce department that I nuked and fed the boys on whole wheat buns for supper since the spinach lasagna I planned to make was clearly not going to happen seeing as how all I wanted to do was crash head first into the couch cushions.  Devin took one bite and said, "I can't even tell the difference."  Score!  


In other news, I am reading yet another parenting book on my Kindle (which I am still feeling the love for, by the way).  This one is about how to set limits with your strong-willed child.  I haven't gotten very far into it yet but the author started out describing the differences in his strong-willed child and his compliant child and I am now one hundred percent convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the good Lord did not give me one of those.  

No siree. Nothing but strong-willed children all the way for me.  And while I have no doubts that strength and determination will serve them well in life someday, it sure doesn't make it any easier to parent them today, bless my heart.  Awhile back I adopted the slogan, It is what it is, but I am still convinced there has to be an easier way of dealing with that which it is which is why I keep reading every promising article and book I can get my hands on about the matter. 


The two of them actually got into a little argument the night before last about the possibility of things. All things.  Dracen walked into the living room and said, "Devin said that some things are impossible but that's not true, is it?  Because ALL things are possible with God, aren't they?"  


Oh boy! While this did make my heart smile, I was in no kind of mental state to get into that discussion.  I think Charlie stepped in and offered up some wise and philosophical words that Dracen seemed content with since he went on about his business and we didn't hear anything further about it.  Devin never even stepped away from or missed a beat on the XBox in order to weigh in.  


Speaking of the XBox, it generates quite a bit of heat in his room.  There have been times I've walked in there when they were playing it and felt like I'd just stepped into a sauna.  So Devin, who is just about as hot-natured as they come, talked Charlie into taking him to Wal-Mart and buying him one of those old school fans yesterday evening.  


Talk about a blast from the past.  I didn't even know they still made them like that.  


When we went to bed last night we heard the sound of its blades whirring as we walked past his room since he was sleeping with it  blowing on him.  Charlie said he used to sleep with one like that and while I did not have one at home (I had an a/c window unit in my room), I do remember playing with one at my babysitter, Mrs. White's house.  We used to tuck the sheet around it so that it blew it up into a bubble that we'd sit under, like those parachute things we used to play with in p.e. class in elementary school. 


It's just a matter of time before they discover that trick or how it  makes your voice sound just like Darth Vader if you talk up close into it.   I just hope Dracen doesn't get some crazy idea to prove his point about all things being possible by attempting something like using it to propel his paper airplanes out the upstairs window...