Just some stuff about some things

I'm still suffering a pretty severe case of the writer's block so I thought I'd just make a list of some of my most recent observations, discoveries, and whatnot...

1. I was checking out at Target this week when I was asked for i.d. This puzzled me for two reasons... 1) I haven't been mistaken for under 21 in a real long time,  and 2) I was not buying alcohol or anything else I could think of that would in any way require me to present identification.  

Confused, I looked at the cashier sideways and said, "Why? What did I buy?" He then proceeded to lift the Triaminic cold/cough formula up and said, "Just tell me your date of birth".  

So yeah, I got semi-carded while purchasing some cold medicine for my 10 year old. The world is becoming a strange place to me.

2. Just before I went to Target, I was in Old Navy waiting in line (new cashier in training) to buy a pair of sweatpants I found on clearance for 11.94 when I heard one of the most annoying sounds known to my ears.

I looked up to see the culprit (a young-ish male) exiting the store in his jeans and flip flops though his should have been called flip slides because he was giving them that little half flip and then shuffling them across the floor with no flop to speak of....

flip-SLIIIDE...flip-SLIIIDE...flip-SLIIIDE. 

Ugh. They are called flip FLOPS for a reason. Please pick up your feet and flop them properly! 

3. I read an online article last week that I have not been able to stop thinking about, 6 Words You Should Say Today. Best.advice.ever. So simple yet somehow I never thought to do it. I have really taken these words to heart and encourage you to click on over and read it too.

4. Ever since I got my first iPhone last year I've had the morning alarm set on the  Marimba sound. Those of you who have an iPhone no doubt know this one well because I think 90 percent of iPhone users use it for their ringtone. 

I say this because every time I'm out in public, without fail, I hear this sound at least once and it always.makes.me.cringe. because it reminds me of my stinkin' alarm so rudely and LOUDLY waking me up at 6:15 a.m., five days a week. I start having flashback twitches because all I can think is HELLOOOO! WAKE UP!!!! IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP! WAKE UP NOW!!!

It has truly become one of the most annoying sounds imaginable to me (right up there with flip-SLIIIDE). So I finally got smart last night and changed it to the Harp sound. And it actually worked! I mean I won't go so far as to say I was happy about my alarm going off this morning but it was so much less disturbing to my sleep peace.

5. Neither of my boys have ever been big reading-for-pleasure kind of dudes, much to my book-loving chagrin, which is why I am always beyond thrilled when I see one of them take an interest in a book, any book. 

Dracen bought some books at his school book fair a couple of weeks ago and  read this one for over an hour last night! So if you have a 3rd-7th grade boy who is not that into reading, here ya go. Thank you, Jeffrey Brown.

6. I get more excited than I probably should about the return of t.v. this time of year. The best new show I've seen thus far is Blacklist with James Spader that aired Monday night at 10 pm on NBC. I've always found James Spader to have such an irresistible sort of mysterious creepiness about him that nobody else possesses. 

I mean creepy, mysterious and irresistible? In one person? Who can do that? Only James Spader. 

via

7. And lastly, just a few reasons why I love  the Pinterest so dang much. 

  Amen?

A-MEN.

Happy Thursday,

My Friend Grumpy Cat

I'm not exactly sure what's going on with me and this blog as of late. I really thought that once school started back, my posts would too. But not so much. Have I simply run out of things to say? That seems unlikely since my mind never stops. Seriously. NEVER. 

I think I've finally figured out why I'm always so exhausted when I wake up in the mornings (even when I get enough hours) because I got up in the middle of the night (to go to the bathroom) a couple of weeks ago and realized I was half awake from the non-stop laborious dreams I'd been right in the middle of. And the next day, after more thought, I remembered that wasn't the first time this had happened. 

So it is now my unprofessional opinion that the cause of my feeling-like-manure-warmed-over every single morning of my life is due to the fact that I work like an indentured servant all night long in my sleep. I'm going with it. And apparently that youngest boy of mine must have the same issue because oh.my.sweet.mercy. the mornings are taking a toll. I have never hated that 7:30 tardy bell more. WHY?! Why must an elementary school start at 7:30 A.M?!!!!

I've been feeling a little like Grumpy Cat all week. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this but yesterday afternoon, I got on Pinterest, typed Grumpy Cat in the search bar and laughed like I haven't laughed in I don't know when. It was me and Grumpy Cat. Party of two. Whooping it up. I love that cat like I loved Garfield back in the day.

I can't help it. He just cracks me up. 

He said it. Not me.

 (I only laughed)

I may or may not have felt this way a time or two lately.

Not that's funny right there. I don't care who you are.

This one reminds me of that youngest boy 

(I won't mention any names)

Ok, I'm really not this crotchety. All the time. But tell me you didn't laugh (or at least crack a smile), just a little?

Hope you have a great weekend!

And may you not feel the need to open up a can of Grumpy Cat on somebody today.

But just in case...

Don't look at me. He said it.

Friday Favorites...Words of Wisdom

I think we've reached the point into the school year now where the newness has worn off and every day is a countdown to the weekend. The early mornings and the reeling in of the energy all day at school is already taking its toll and I know this because they have gone back to their daily attempts at coming up with new ways to drive me mad. 

Wednesday afternoon I took them to the mall because Devin claimed all his long pants no longer fit and we also have a wedding to attend this weekend. I finally realized, after about the third store, that he fully believed he was going to get away with wearing what he apparently considers a "fancy" t-shirt which is nothing more than a Ralph Lauren tee. 

For reasons I will never understand, he somehow assumed that little man-on-the-horse-playing-polo emblem was his ticket out of a collared shirt. He then proceeded to inform me that he does not wear collared shirts anymore. Period. So we had us a little Come-to-Jesus meeting in which I informed him that he could not be more mistaken because he will be, as sure as the sun sets in the west and rises in the east, be sporting a collared shirt to a wedding this very weekend if I have to tie him down and put it on him myself.  

He then picked out a shirt.With a collar. Which is good because I don't really know the first thing about hog-tying a person. Or a hog either, for that matter.

In other news, I discovered something in the way of snack foods this week that I think may very well change my life, or at least my love-hate relationship with potato chips and french onion dip. I started buying the veggie chips awhile back but this week while standing in the dairy section, mulling over the many yogurt selections, my eyes landed on a product I was unaware existed...French Onion Oikos GREEK YOGURT DIP for chips.

I could not get it in my buggy fast enough though I did have my doubts and suspicions about it tasting anything at all like real dip. Thank the Lord I was wrong because sweet mercy, this is too good to be true! It is delicious. Which is why I had to list it as my first favorite for this week...

All That and a Bag of Chips

25.calories.per.serving.

My Kind of Funny

Who hasn't felt this way a time or two?

  Painted Door

I've been thinking of painting the inside of

our front door for awhile. Love this color...so serene.

via Milk and Honey Home

Chevron Cable Cardigan

Anthropologie does it again.

Love this entire outfit. 

On the first cool day...

via Pinterest

Useless Parenting Question

When will I learn to stop asking this?

The last time was yesterday afternoon when I found

ink stains all over the white kitchen sink. I knew it had

Dracen written (no pun intended) all over it. He immediately

started rambling off his it-was-just-an-accident-I-have-no-idea-

how-it-happened excuse. Hairspray to the rescue!

 (Learned that trick five years ago, from his kindergarten teacher.)

 via Pinterest

Words of Wisdom Pillow Cover

I want this.

Etsy

A Good Read

I read a lot over the summer and keep saying

I'm going to do a post on all the books I read. This one

really stood out. I had already read Jeanette Walls' memoir,

 The Glass Castle, and other book, Half Broke Horses and loved them both.

This newest one, The Silver Star, did not disappoint.

Great Advice

Now if I can just figure out how to think

one step ahead of Dracen...

Let It Be

Because that pillow cover put the words in my head.

Happy Friday!

New Bathroom Coming Soon

A few weeks back we finally decided to get the ball rolling on our long overdue master bath remodel. It was really the only room in this house (when we bought it 3 and a half years ago) that made me cringe and still the only room I have done absolutely nothing to. For starters, no tub. And for a lover of baths like myself, that was a huge disappointment. 

The fiberglass box in the corner is the poorest excuse for a shower I have ever taken note of, what with its lovely brass trim on the rickety door and the what-I think-is-supposed-to-be-a-bench or a place to set your toiletries but is slanted in such a way that everything you put there just rolls right off. Usually on your toe. Or at least mine. 

The built-in light in the top of the shower stopped working shortly after we moved in and has not worked since (yes, we tried a new light bulb) and since the glass door is that frosted type of glass that doesn't let in much light, shaving one's leg while dodging all the bottles and soaps and razors and whatnot that have fallen to the floor is quite the challenge. It's just not right to dread the idea of taking a shower in your own house.

But the ball is finally on the roll now and while it has been a bit of a process working with the designer at Lowe's, having her and the contractor come out and then coming up with a layout for the challenging space, I think we are getting close to the start line. (We only recently made the discovery that Lowe's offers this service and the designer and contractor have both been wonderful so far. I will keep y'all posted.) 

Here is the current (and soon to be Before) state. 

 (Why yes, that is a fully-clothed boy in my shower. I hear he goes by the name of Dracen.)

And here is what I'm hoping to achieve with the After...

There will be, above all else, the claw foot soaking tub I have dreamed of owning all my life. Dracen was thoroughly disappointed when I informed him that it will not have the swanky jets he was dreaming of.

The entire room will be taken down to the studs and the fiberglass shower will (Hallejuah!) be no more. In its place will be a tiled shower with a niche and a clear glass door so I will no longer feel the need to ask the Lord for forgiveness for all the bad words I strung together while showering.

The floor tiles we picked out are a white and gray marble similar to what is in this niche, the shower tiles will be mostly white with a mosaic accent and a few scattered tiles in a soft aqua shade and, due to the shape/size of the room and the fact that the door to my walk-in closet is located on one of the walls, we will do away with the long double vanity and do two smaller ones on separate walls.

Here are just a few of the Inspiration photos from my Bathrooms Board on Pinterest...

To be continued...

*Linking up with MamaKat today...5.) Choose a room in your home you’d like to remodel, create a Pinterest inspiration board for it and share your ideas with us!

That's going to hurt tomorrow

So I finally got back in the gym yesterday and today, after taking the entire summer (and then some) off. While I did manage to get in some exercise and yoga at home, it was not even close to what I get in the classes at the gym because I tend to work myself at about 25 percent. 

At home I'm too easily distracted by such things as Pinterest and the Saga of the Candy that must be Crushed. (Why I had to go and jump on that bandwagon is beyond me but I.am.on.it. good.) Plus, I have these three little four-legged face lickers who all come prepared to pounce because  Hell-O it is PLAYTIME! (Why else would mama be down here on the floor?)

Yesterday was Pilates class and I felt the soreness beginning to set in before I ever got all the way out of the bed this morning but definitely not the worst I've ever felt and I never really mind that kind of pain anyway because I think of it as a sort of accomplished pain. (A pain with a purpose) As opposed to the stumping-of-the-pinkie-toe-while-getting-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-to-go-pee kind of pain, ya know?

And I knew today was yoga which meant I'd get to stretch all that muscle soreness right on out. Yoga has always been kind to me and I eased right back in... 

Ahh,Yoga. Where have you been all my summer? I have missed you so...Down Dog, Child's Pose, Brave Warrior,Tree Pose...I love them all. Well, almost. Sometimes she likes to throw in one of those give-it-a-try-just-for-fun kind of poses that chews up my pride and spits it out because I cannot, for the love of all that is holy and pure, get my body to do it. (Especially when my body hasn't been to yoga class for three and a half months)

Like the one she threw at us today...the one I have never (try as hard as I might) been able to do...the dreaded Bakasana aka Crow Pose. 

It's supposed to look like this.

Looks easy enough, right?

Usually I give it two or three tries, realize it's most likely not going to happen in this lifetime, laugh it off and move on. But today? Today something came over me and I pulled a Little Blue Engine with the whole I-think-I-can attitude. And for a (very brief) moment there I got into the position. I'm talking like two whole seconds I held it. 

So then I convinced myself I could hold it for at least three...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

But this?

Never happened.

This did.

FACE PLANT!

My little blue engine lied.

Sick Days and Doggie Acupuncture

We're almost through the second week back to school and I already overslept...just slid that arrow right over on the iPhone alarm instead of tapping snooze, rolled back over and kept on sleeping. Luckily, Charlie did not leave super early this morning and woke me up at twenty 'til seven. 

Dracen (true to form) was completely unfazed by this whole oversleeping nonsense and had to be dang near dragged out of the bed as usual. Devin, who got in the car yesterday afternoon and immediately informed me he was sick, just shook his head and gave me that "no way-no how'" look when I woke him to see if he could make it this morning. 

All summer long, no sickness. School starts back and BAM, it starts back up. I think this is definitely the earliest back in that either (much less both) of them has gotten sick. I'm sincerely hoping this is not indicative of how this entire school year is going to go. 

The pharmacy up the street already has their FLU SHOTS HERE sign out and I'm thinking that may not be a bad idea this year though it would likely take a posse of four large adults to hold Dracen down. He may be wiry but he's strong. And mean. When he got his immunizations before starting kindergarten, the doctor and nurse had to open the exam room door to recruit backup. I so wish I was kidding. There were three of us holding him (at barely 5 years old) down while the other gave the shots. 

I admit, however, that I may not have been the most help seeing as how I got hit with a bad case of the nervous laughs. Not much embarrasses me more than a bad nervous laughter fit because it always happens at the most inopportune time, not to mention the fact that his brother was sitting in the corner pointing and laughing like a hyena. 

Definitely one of my most cringe-worthy memories still today.

I thought Dracen himself was about to experience his own nervous laughter fit at the vet's office Tuesday afternoon while Charlene (Li'l Bit) was getting her acupuncture treatment. I had taken her for her first one last week after dropping Dracen off at Popaw's and picking up Devin from school but this week I had both boys with me. 

And yes, I am referring to Charlene, my dog, the Dachshund. She got acupuncture. Twice. Go ahead and laugh. I probably would have too at one time but she's been experiencing some back pain, as the little long dogs sometimes do, and acupuncture is supposed to be a great relief from it. 

The closest vet who does it is a 45 minute drive from my house but y'all know how I love my little dogs, right? Only the best will do.

I so wish I had taken a picture last week, the first time she got it because she was on the table shaking like a leaf, as she always does at the vet, but almost immediately after the vet started putting the tiny needles in, she stopped shaking, laid her little head down and fought sleep for the next 15 minutes while they were in.

This week she put less needles in and hooked them up to little electrodes and we were in a room with windows with tree-views this time (which means the possibility of squirrels nearby) so she didn't get quite as relaxed but still, she stopped shaking. 

I was this close to asking her to put a couple in my neck for the 45 minute drive home, in semi-heavy traffic, with Dracen carrying on from the backseat that he was going to starve to death before we got to the Cookout drive-thru and Devin beside me, yelling at him to SHUT UP while swatting at him over the back of his seat.

Oh well, maybe next time...
  

AFTER

I'm a believer.

It Turns Out Well

"How old are these kids? Mom, did you sign me up for t-ball?!" Dracen was absolutely mortified when we showed up at his first fall baseball practice yesterday at 5:30 and quickly realized that we were somehow not at the right place at the right time. I assured him that I had signed him up for the nine and ten year old league but the coach (who is coaching two teams) must have given me the wrong time because I wrote it down. I.wrote.it.down. On the calendar.

When the coach showed up he confirmed that we were indeed there at the wrong time and that his practice was after the t-ball practice, at 6:30. "Well, he just told me the wrong time is all. I know he did because I wrote it down! It's on the calendar." 

We headed back home since the field is only 5 minutes away and I went straight to the calendar to prove I was right make the necessary changes since I had been told 5:30 on Mondays and Thursdays and 2:00 on Saturdays. I grabbed my pen and scribbled out the time and then...Ohhh...Oops...My bad. I had just scribbled out a 6:30 that was written in my very own handwriting. 6:30 on Mondays, 5:30 on Thursdays. Right there it was. 

And before I even walked away from the calendar, Dracen was already on the phone dialing Popaw to inform him that I had taken him to t-ball practice. T-Ball! He was so mortified he had to vent to the popaw. 

I'm guessing he felt a little like I did when I was informed (just before my senior year of high school) that I still needed a FRESHMAN class (required in NC but not GA, where I had moved from) in order to graduate because oops, we forgot to tell you about it until now. Talk about being mortified. I still have nightmares about that. 

Okay, not really. But I have (obviously) not forgotten about it after all these...how many years? I had to count. It will be twenty five next year. TWENTY FIVE YEARS since I graduated high school! 

Some days it feels every bit of that but most days I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

Time...

I'm finding that it has this sort of sneaky way of speeding up on us, the older we get. 

It hit me (out of the blue) awhile back that on September 2nd of this year (yesterday) it would be 9 years, 8 months and 1 week since Darin died. 9 years, 8 months and 1 week is exactly how long he was in my life. 

I hesitated to write that because I never want to sound like I am dwelling or looking back over my shoulder and living in the past because I've always been proud of the way I was able to embrace the art of moving forward...of living in the present...of keeping my mind and my heart open...to live again...to love again...to accept the grace and the gifts God has been so good to bless me with over the years.

But I felt that I should...as a reminder to love and appreciate the ones we are given to love, because this life on earth? Is oh so very unpredictable and temporary. 

I know this but still I was reminded (yet again) when I heard the news that a friend of Devin's just lost his dad over the weekend. My heart breaks and aches for him and his family, just as it does each and every time I hear that kind of news because I know...I know all too well the painful depths of the journey that lies before them now.  

But I like to think of those of us who have gone before them as positive reminders. I want them to know that while that road will be rough, it will also be paved with so many little unexpected moments of happy surprises and realizations that not only does life go on...

It goes on good.

{Kinda like going back at the right time (6:30 on Mondays) for the right practice and not having to hit off a tee after all.}