Archives for October 2006

D went out of town Thursday.

It is now Monday night.

OH SWEET GOODNESS WHEN ARE THE REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVING?

I should mention that The Child has been delightful. He has been sweet and affectionate and cooperative, and aside from his occasional tendency to want to bounce some form of action figure off of my face or my behind, we’ve done really well considering we have been together non-stop and by that I mean All The Time including sleeping because I am all about making up as few beds as possible right now.

I did have a bit of a stressed out Mama moment yesterday when Alex and I were riding around during our open house because he was talking all the time with nary a moment of silence because why, why would anyone want silence when there’s so much talking to be done about the trees and the Arby’s and the “Sunday Morning Songs” and how red means stop and yellow means slow down and green means go but what does orange mean, Mama? And what does white mean? And can we go left now? What about straight? Where’s that way go? Does that way go to Jason’s?

But all things considered, we’ve weathered our Time Without Daddy pretty well.

But this house stuff? The open house yesterday and now a caravan of agents who are coming tomorrow?

Wearing. me. out.

I know that it’s just all part of selling a house. I get that. And I’m beyond grateful to even have the possibility of moving to a place that’ll be more convenient for our family.

But I’m just a little tired. Just a wee bit tired.

Also, I think that if my rugs and carpet could talk, they would say something along the lines of, “PLEASE, OH PLEASE – FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, QUIT VACUUMING!”

So I’m about to go outside and sweep the porch and the deck one more time so that the neighborhood children can look out of their bedroom windows and say, “Mama! Daddy! The crazy lady is moving plants in the dark again!” Then I’m going to sprawl out on the couch, cover up with a comfy blanket, and watch “The Bachelor.”

Oh! And I haven’t even told y’all about how I took the TV out of the kitchen so the countertops would be totally uncluttered, and now every single time I walk in there all I can think is that THE SILENCE, IT IS DEAFENING because why, why is there no Food Network playing in the kitchen, why?

Which makes me fairly certain that the reason why Alex talks all the time is because I have in fact encouraged it. That I am some sort of Anti-Silence Stealth Bomb that stops quiet dead in its tracks.

Anyway.

My OCD and I will be back to visit you tomorrow!

I can’t imagine how lucky you must feel.

And now, an announcement:

Consumers can write into Reynolds Fun Shapes and explain why their bake sale needs “shaping up” for a chance to win a FunShapes “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kit. Reynolds will be giving away sixty of these kits each week for six weeks starting September 22, 2006. Each kit includes a variety of FunShapes samples, a CD-rom with tips, recipes and signage for hosting a successful bake sale, a FunShapes tablecloth and a FunShapes calculator for quick tallies of customers’ bills. In addition, the “Shape Up Your Bake Sale” kits will include a disposable camera and entry information for an exclusive photo contest, with a chance to win a $500 donation to their organization from Reynolds FunShapes Baking Cups.

I believe y’all are what marketing people would call the “target demographic” for Reynolds products, and since they’ve very nicely offered to send me a FunShapes kit free of charge, I thought I’d share this info with you.

:-)

Happy Baking!

I bought Alex a costume today at Target when we were killing time during the Open House, and he put it on as soon as we got home.

Since the moment he changed clothes, he will only answer to “Mr. Incredible” or “Dash.”

You can see that even Mr. Incredible needs his trusty V-Tech computer, because I think we all know that V-Tech computers are the computing tool of choice for superheroes.

Well, at least for superheroes who are three.

Alex – er, I mean – Mr. Incredible wanted to put on the costume again when he got out of the tub tonight, but I think there’s some rule in the Official Guide to Motherhood about how children need to sleep in fabric that actually, you know, breathes.

I feel pretty confident about what his outfit of choice is going to be tomorrow, though.

And don’t worry – I will not be donning a similarly-styled garment because 1) I care about the psychological well-being of others and 2) I can’t justify putting my c-section stomach flap in 100% nylon unless there’s some form of control-top panel involved. And even then it’s really iffy.

Also, this is my 500th post.

I haven’t even been blogging a year.

I feel this indicates some form of sickness.

1 Open House this afternoon
+
1 out-of-town husband
+
1 three year old who has decided that he’s Larry Boy
________________________________________________________

1 frazzled mama (who is hastily arranging Stunt Pillows and Artfully Askew coverlets, wishing there were some form of holster for Windex because I can’t seem to keep Little Fingerprints off of the doors and coffee table and mirrors)

More later!

D is out of town this weekend, and initially I wasn’t going to say anything about it, but then I figured that between our ear-piercing alarm system, my mad kah-rah-tay skillz, and my superhuman ability to shoot pools of fire from my eyes, well, we’ll be fine.

My friend Merritt is actually coming for a visit tonight with her little girl Molly – they’re on their way to Atlanta to see Merritt’s new nephew – and in celebration of the fact that Merritt and I have done some of our finest junk food eating together, I made a little trip to the store. I even bought CHEESE IN A BAG which should let you know that I am THROWING DOWN the junk food gauntlet.

OH YES MA’AM.

You’ll notice that I went with diet Dr. Pepper instead of diet Coke, because while diet Coke is my Drink Of Choice, diet Dr. Pepper is the drink I reserve for special occasions. Being with old friends is always a special occasion, so NOTHING BUT THE BEST for Merritt Leigh tonight.

You’ll also notice that there is one token healthy food in the whole pile – and they’re not “just” carrots, mind you, they’re organic carrots, which means that we’ll have a much more pure and wholesome vessel for delivering large quantities of Ranch dressing into our mouths. I contemplated buying some celery, too, but that just reeked of healthy.

When I was unloading the groceries I thought that if our friend Liz was going to be here, she would eat two bites of the fried chicken tenders that are in the big bucket you see to the right, and then she would say that she always feels gross when she eats fried stuff and she’d throw on her running shoes and go for a quick jog around the neighborhood before dark. And she would also eat the carrots without dipping them in Ranch dressing AND FIND THEM TO BE TASTY.

But I’d totally own her with the brownies. I really wish she was going to be here to have some.

So if you’ll excuse me, while I have the luxury of this –

– I’d better be getting that sausage in a skillet so that I can combine it with some Processed Cheese Food and Rotel tomatoes. I also need to make Ranch dressing with the WHOLE MILK and REAL MAYONNAISE that I bought, and oh my sweet goodness I think an artery may have closed off just from typing this paragraph.

As a public service, Merritt and I will get up-to-speed on the whole Vince and Jen break-up (do you SEE all the magazines?) and fill y’all in later because WE LIVE TO SERVE OTHERS, y’all. We live to serve.

Happy weekend, everybody.

So, over the summer, I got a little out of control with the whole blogging thing. I got a little obsessive. A little consumed. I was all about the posting, the commenting, the Site Meter checking, the commiserating, the relationship building – the whole deal.

But over the last couple of months I’ve felt like I needed to step back a little. Part of the reason for that is because of a “gentle nudge” from the Holy Spirit that was really more like being hit with a two by four. Another part of the reason is because my husband told me back in July that there were times when he wanted to throw the computer out of the window.

Both of those things sort of got my attention.

So gradually, over the last month, I’ve become a little less active in the blogosphere. I don’t read blogs quite as often (I still read all the ones I subscribe to, but I don’t check Bloglines every single hour). I don’t comment as much. And I’ve been posting less, too.

I’ve been surprised by how difficult cutting back on the interweb time has been for me. It’s felt a little bit like a diet, only it’s a diet where you lose absolutely no weight and still can’t fit into your old clothes.

In other words: all the deprivation with none of the benefits! Would you like to sign up?

In truth, though, I have to admit that it really has been a good thing. I may not be as connected to the internet as I was a couple of months ago, but I’m much more connected to my family. This past weekend, when it was just D and me at home, I probably spent thirty minutes total on the computer. THIRTY MINUTES! And I didn’t twitch or anything!

This morning I decided I’d better make my way through the piled-up email in my inbox, and I found myself answering emails that were two weeks old. Normally I answer emails within, say, two minutes, but I’ve let myself be a little lax lately. Honestly, I can’t think of anyone who emails me who would mind, especially knowing that instead of answering emails within 120 seconds, I’ve been sitting on the front porch with Alex, or going out to dinner with my husband, or talking on the phone with my sister, or getting some work done, or listening to the new Chris Tomlin CD (it’s EXCELLENT, by the way, as is the Selah Duets CD), or singing in the choir at church. I still love getting emails just like I still love blogging – but I’ve had to slow down the pace a bit. I think that’s understandable.

I guess I’ve just been dealing with what so many of us face: trying to find a balance, trying to keep blogging as a part of my life without letting it take over my life. I mean, if left to my own devices, what I’d WANT to do is to stay on the computer all day long, reading and blogging and commenting to my heart’s content. But it isn’t what I NEED to do – not when I have family and church and friends and work that also deserve my care and attention.

I guess it’s sort of like fried chicken…just because I love it WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING (ahem) doesn’t mean that I need to eat it three meals a day, seven days a week. I could, mind you – but I don’t need to. Sometimes too much of a good thing is just too much.

And so it goes with blogging.

Because here’s the bottom line, at least with me: I don’t want to be so busy writing about my life that I forget to live it.

Feel free to hold me accountable.