Category: Tuesday Stuff

(I know this is late – yesterday was crazy nuts. More on that later).

I’m going to consciously work on highlighting the little moments I’m thankful for every Tuesday because it’s the little moments we forget but make such a huge impact on our lives, overall.

Here is one such moment:

Kevin took our old light fixture out (the wire hanging down behind him) and in the process is patching up other areas of our ceiling and making them blend in by painting over the repairs.

I’m soooooo thankful that my husband knows how to fix things around the house. Truly. He has saved us so much money by doing it himself. I pray that he passes this knowledge on to our sons so they can be handy men to their wives, too.

Thank you for all your hard work, honey. I adore you.

Emily at Chatting at the Sky hosts a weekly “noticing” party – giving us a chance to unwrap and share the little gifts that God gives to us on a daily basis.

I am not a morning person.

But I married a morning person.

I have been converted.

I now routinely rise before the sun has risen and before the birds begin their morning chirping.

I sit before my computer and with a groggy mind and groping fingers, I turn my computer on. As it boots up, I open the blinds in the office so that I may look out at the pitch blackness.

Waking up to darkness depresses me a bit.

Once the coffee has finished brewing, I pour myself a large mug full adding too much sugar and anticipating that first, scalding sip; the moment I truly start waking up.

I check email first, and then my blogs – there are usually no comments to approve. Instead of feeling disheartened by this, I am relieved. I do not enjoy playing moderator on any level.

At precisely 6:15 (or thereabouts), I prepare to wake the boys up. Taking a quick sip of my morning brew, I brace myself for the groans, grunts and dirty looks.

My teenagers don’t care for mornings, either.

I turn the light on in Jazz’s room. He stirs and burrows deeper into his covers.

I turn the light on in Dude’s room. He is completely oblivious to my presence. I pull his covers back and he frowns. It’s not until I turn his radio on and a blast of music rips the silence into shreds does he emit a low, grumpy growl of protest.

I return to my computer and continue my morning routine. I update and upload changes to the school websites before checking Cute Overload, (I smile), Picture of the Day, (I am inspired), my Facebook account, (I am overwhelmed), and finally Twitter, (I am curious).

I save Twitter for last because I’m usually on Twitter the longest.

Jazz has usually gotten up and is preparing his morning cereal by the time I reach Twitter.

Dude has usually fallen back asleep by the time I’ve caught up on my Twitter stream.

I get back up and loudly knock on Dude’s door to startle him back awake. His eyes open and he shoots me a dirty look.

I’m used to his dirty looks.

I sit back down at my computer when I hear Kevin stirring. He comes in, gives me a quick kiss and we ask each other how the other one slept.

“I tossed and turned all night,” is my answer.

“I woke up at 4:00 hungry,” is his answer.

It is the same every morning.

It’s now 6:45 and Jazz has finished breakfast, has gotten dressed and is making his bed.

Dude is still in bed.

I stand in Dude’s doorway, and continue to stand in Dude’s doorway, until he sits up, pulling the sheet over his head and huffing in irritation.

I leave him alone so he can fully wake up, confident that now that he’s sitting up, he will soon begin his morning routine.

I smile to myself as I listen to Kevin greet the boys as they make their way to the kitchen,

“Morning sunshine,” is how he greets them both.

They mumble what I assume to be a greeting in return.

I smile.

It’s an inside joke because neither boy is anywhere close to being sunny in the morning.

It’s 7:00 o’clock and I stretch. Rose and peach fingers of sun are just beginning to curl around the horizon and I sigh in contentment – sunny days make me happy.

I take one last, large swallow of coffee before hefting my mass out of my chair and beginning the long, and sometimes complicated process of packing the boys’ lunches for school.

I take pride in the lunches I pack for my boys. And apparently, they are quite popular with their friends, judging by the funny stories I hear on a daily basis about who has stolen what food item that day.

Beds are made. Teeth have been brushed. Hair has been combed. Backpacks have been packed.

At 7:25 a.m., it’s time to leave.

The boys pile into the car, I kiss Kevin goodbye and we take off, the car gradually warming degree by degree until we arrive at the school, toasty and comfortable.

We carefully navigate the busy high school parking lot until we reach the yellow trimmed doors to the school.

“Have a good day,” I say. “I’ll see you later.”

The boys mumble “Bye” nearly in unison and pile out. I watch them momentarily as they merge with other students and head toward the building.

My children are no longer boys, they are young men, and without fail, my heart skips a beat.

My time with them is running out.

I assimilate myself back into the morning traffic and head home to begin my day.

Though every morning is nearly the same, I do not feel bored with the routine. I treasure every mundane moment I have with my guys.

Emily at Chatting at the Sky hosts a weekly “noticing” party – giving us a chance to unwrap and share the little gifts that God gives to us on a daily basis.

I’m trying to talk my mother into having Christmas at our house this year.

She’s being stubborn.

I’m offering to do this, because my mom works like a dog and deserves to be able to take it easy, relax and ENJOY the holidays for a change.

I have the perfect plan – Dude and I will drive over the 24th and pick up the gifts and her AWESOME stockings (she fills them each year with tons of useful / fun things and everyone always looks forward to them every year), and the food so then on Christmas day, all mom and dad have to do is get in their car and come over.

No mess. No stress.

I’m thinking this is a good idea. And now that I’ve put it out on the Internet, MOM, you sort of HAVE to do it.

How do you make someone you love slow down and enjoy the holidays and NOT be the hostess for a change?

Kevin compares pot roast and cooked carrots to candy.

Who even does that?!

Such an odd man. It’s a good thing I LIKE odd or we’d be in a pickle.

We have a winter storm coming through tonight (and thank God we’re on the tip of this storm because I hear it’s been dumping A FOOT OF SNOW on some folks! EEK!) and OMG, my head.

I can always tell when the weather is about to change, my sinuses go nuts and I’m like this all day:

But seriously, go away headache. Or I’ll start whimpering like Robert Gibbs when he’s forced to explain the actions of our idiot government..

OH … PWNED!

I witnessed two accidents yesterday. One was while I was waiting for the boys, the other was while Dude and I were out getting the pot roast that we ate tonight.

I was sitting there, waiting for the boys after school, when I noticed this red car, full of kids and none of them wearing their seat belts, drive erratically through the parking lot that I was waiting in. They do this every day. They parallel park on the road and then use the parking lot to turn around. And like every other student driver, they are goofing off and showing off for their peers.

They were trying to turn left. But there were several cars parked alongside the street, so it was hard to see what was coming in both directions.

They pulled out and though the car coming tried to swerve and miss them, the red car, instead of braking, sped up as if to try and make it and they crashed. Head on. Car parts went everywhere and though I don’t think anyone was hurt, I can’t be sure because like I said, none of the kids (and this includes the kid that they hit) were wearing seat belts.

Dude and I ran across the second accident shortly after it happened. It was another T-bone accident right in the middle of a busy intersection and it looked bad.

Oh, I forgot, the kids and I ran across another accident the day before yesterday. We didn’t see it happen, but it must have happened shortly before we got there because there wasn’t a cop car to be seen and smoke was pouring out the guy’s motor.

What do you want to bet that other than the kid accident, the others were on their cell phones when it happened?

Hang up and drive, people.

Did you hear that Global Warming is a hoax? Is anyone surprised by this information? I’m not.

And did you also hear that the EPA has deemed C02 harmful to humans? And does anyone else find this colossal news, that was released shortly before the climate summit in Copenhagen, incredibly stupid?

The media is a bird feeder, we are the birds and we are gorging ourselves on what they want to feed us.

Seriously. It’s time to wake up.

You must, must, MUST, do this. Your children’s eyes will bug out and they will love you forever.

Click on the picture below and follow directions.

You’re welcome.

You have to admit, this guy’s Christmas decoration is hilarious:

But yeah, after more than one person tried to use the ladder to rescue “the man” and other countless cars drove off the road looking at “the man” in horror, the owner had to take it down.

And yes, these are the kinds of things going through my mind at the moment.

What can I say, I’m a deep thinker.

(Winter Wonderland by Tony Bennett)

Kevin said the coolest thing to Dude over the weekend …

For those just catching up, we all went up to St. Louis this past weekend to watch Jazz’s band perform in the Band of America competition. After the preliminaries were over (our kids didn’t make finals *sad face*), me, Kevin and Dude went to Steak ‘N Shake to have some dinner.

I really enjoy having dinner one-on-one with the boys. We learn so much about them! Their personalities really open up and we see a side of them we don’t see very often. It’s really …. awesome (I was going to say, strange, but strange sounds so negative).

While we were eating, Kevin asked Dude to tell us about his Japanese presentation. He’s taking Japanese II this semester, if you didn’t know that. And he’s really enjoying it. He has a certain fascination with the Japanese culture. We (actually Kevin), tried to persuade Dude that Spanish would probably the most logical choice as far as languages go because HELLO! In case you haven’t heard? Spanish will soon be America’s primary language.

Anyway, Dude took Spanish in 8th grade and HATED it. As a result, he flunked the class. However, not so with his Japanese classes. Since he’s interested in them, he’s done really well in them.

So, this test. He stayed up quite late the night before working on it. When it comes right down to it, Dude has a deep desire to do well in school. I think it’s mainly because he sees how well Jazz does in band and he feels like his schoolwork is an area he can shine in. And he does. He’s a pretty good student. We haven’t really had to worry about Dude’s grades too much at this point.

Actually wait, Kevin didn’t ask him how he did on his presentation, Dude freely offered the information. I remember thinking, “Wow! Where did that come from and can we have more of it, please?”

He straightened in his seat, looked us square in the eye and said, “Mom, dad, I got an A on my Japanese presentation.”

*blinkblink* We were ecstatic! Part of that presentation was oral, so Kevin asked him to speak a little Japanese to us. Dude blushed a bit, but he did and he was great! He acted very proud of himself, as he should! Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn!

We showered him with praise and he looked very pleased. It really warmed my heart because it was a really good parenting moment. Our whole table glowed with warmth and happiness – I’m sure our auras were spectacular. (If I believed in that sort of thing, which I don’t, but it’s fun to imagine).

Dude has gotten so much more relaxed about school. And I’m sure it’s because I’ve gotten so much more relaxed about school. I don’t hover anymore. I don’t breathe down his neck anymore and though we still have rules and he’s still expected to obey those rules, we’ve adjusted the rules a bit given his age and responsibility level.

I know he’s feeling more mature and responsible because today, after school? He told me that he failed his math test. I was shocked because he got a B on his last test. When I (calmly) asked him what happened, he told me that there was a section he wasn’t sure about and that was the section that did him in.

And a large portion of the rest of the class, too.

But his teacher is allowing the students to re-take one test per quarter and this is the test he plans on taking again. I will drop him off at 7:30 in the morning so he can take it before school. He’s volunteering to do this. I’m not making him, nor did I “suggest” he do this. It’s all him. This is especially impressive because Wednesdays are late day – which means the boys don’t have to report to class until 8:35 as opposed to 7:50. So he’s sacrificing his late morning to do the responsible thing.

I’m pretty sure my heart is close to bursting for this kid. 😀

Oh, one more thing about the Steak ‘N Shake dinner – Kevin told Dude, when Dude said he was too embarrassed to say something in Japanese:

“Dude, don’t you understand that you’re the most important thing to us? We’re VERY interested in everything you do. So come on, say something in Japanese.”

I wish you guys could have seen Dude’s face light up. That was exactly what he needed to hear and I think its doubly cool that Kevin said it and not me. Kevin is the best dad, he really is. He’s never afraid to tell the boys he loves them and he always puts them ahead of his own needs/wants.

Kevin and I had our meeting with the orthodontist (Dr. B) yesterday.

We talked, at length, about Jazz’s teeth as well as examined numerous pictures and an actual mold of his mouth. Jazz has several teeth that are twisted, meaning the fronts of his teeth are sideways instead of facing the front, like they’re supposed to. He also has some teeth that are not positioned correctly because his permanent teeth came in in FRONT of his baby teeth before the baby teeth came out.

In addition, his top and bottom teeth stick way out (think primate – that’s a terrible way to put it, but it’s an apt description), so those need to be pushed in and aligned as well.

Dr. B wants to extract his first bicuspids (top and bottom) in order to make some wiggle room to straighten out his teeth. He explained, at length, why he felt this was necessary. Though I understand where Dr. B is coming from, Kevin and I really feel like pulling those teeth are not necessary. Though Jazz does have some crowding, he still needs to lose two baby bicuspids and when those permanent bicuspids grow in, they will be smaller than the babys thereby allowing a little more room, but not much.

Also, Kevin wonders how much Jazz’s jaw will grow as he matures. He’s assuming that it will grow, right along with Jazz, so again, we just don’t feel like pulling those teeth are a viable option at this time.

So, we’re vetoing that route. Dr. B is cool with that and we’ll proceed with those teeth and see how it looks in about 18 months.

We looked at other patients who had their first bicuspids removed and quite honestly? Their profiles looked a little sunken in to us and we don’t want to mess with Jazz’s profile too much – he is who he is.

Besides, if Dr. B could manipulate Dude’s mouth without pulling teeth (and that kid had MAJOR crowding), then I’m quite confident he can do the same for Jazz who has a lot more room than Dude did!

I take Jazz back to get some more molds made October 28th – he’s get his spacers then. And on November 4th, I will take Jazz out of school and he’ll get his braces put on.

We’ve already discussed and have made arrangements with his band teacher for him not to return to school that day. I’m quite certain he will not feel like going back to school after getting them put on.

Jazz is not happy about this – at all. In fact, he wrote on his Facebook status:

Alright, I have grim news… November 4th is going to be a life changing day for me. November 4th is when I get my braces. So expect me to not smile after November 4th…

That sort of broke my heart, but honestly folks, Kevin and I talked at length about this, and we talked to Dr. B about this and he really does need help straightening his teeth out. He’s scheduled to have them on anywhere from 30 to 36 months depending on how easy his teeth are to manipulate. This, in essence, means he’ll have them on the rest of his high school years.

Yes, not happy at all. 😦

But you know, we’re thinking ahead here. Who wants to kiss a mouth full of bad teeth?

I’m just sayin’.

We’ve decided not to go to the Greater St. Louis Marching Band Festival this weekend.

Jazz brought the schedule home and oh my gosh, the kids won’t get home until 2:30 in the morning!!!

ACK!!

There is no way I want to drive home at three in the morning, stressed and worried we won’t make it back into town before Jazz does. No way. I get sleepy driving up in broad daylight, I KNOW I won’t stay awake driving in the dead of night.

I suggested to Jazz that we could just pick him up after the competition, spend the night in a hotel and drive back home on Sunday, but he really wants to ride the bus with his buddies and honestly, I can’t deny the kid this small enjoyment – he’s earned it.

So, we’re not going. BUT, I ordered a DVD in advance so at least we’ll get to watch how they did as well as their competitors in the comfort of our home and munching on popcorn. 🙂

I HOPE the kids do better this week. It would be so cool if they could end the season with a few more trophies (remember they won 4th at Valhalla).

They have one more competition in Columbia Missouri next weekend and I’m pretty sure we won’t be going to that one, either. One, it’s nearly four hours away and two, the route up there is not NEARLY as nice as driving straight down I-44. But we’ll see. We haven’t gotten the schedule for that one yet, so … we’ll see.

I’m thinking I won’t go to the book sale this year.

*SIGH*

I WANT to, oh dear Lord do I want to. And I started to get into my car to go today, but then my eyes landed on the two tubs STUFFED full of books I haven’t read yet (from previous book sales) and I have a bookcase full of books I haven’t read and do I really NEED more books?

No.

But I might go to the sale tomorrow anyway. hehe

It’s a sickness, apparently.

Kevin spent last night crawling around in the attic. He put in recessed lighting in our kitchen and it looks really good. He also wants to put in some lights under our cabinets because it’s really dark under there, too.

We’ve been watching a ton of home design shows and getting ideas. All of these re-designs include recess lighting and they just look fabulous. So, Kevin took the bull by the horns and put in our lights. It already makes the kitchen look ten times better.

Or maybe that’s just because we CAN see the kitchen now. 🙂

We’re slowly, but surely, working on remodeling the kitchen. Kevin is going to resurface the cabinets (WAY cheaper than replacing them), possibly resurface the countertops (though we’ll see about that), new appliances and of course, fresh paint and new tile. We’d like to have all of this done by next Thanksgiving, when it’s our turn to host Thanksgiving dinner again. We use Thanksgiving dinners as our milestone because it motivates us to get stuff done and gives us a deadline to work toward.

I’m very lucky to be married to such a handy man. 🙂

Heads or Tails is hosted by Barb a.k.a. Skittles. Thanks Barb!

This week’s prompt: Tails – Brave

______________________________

What does it mean to be brave?

Good question – what’s your answer?

Because I honestly don’t know and I have no clue if it applies to me.

Brave is a verb. And by being a verb, it implies action. As in, to face or endure with courage.

Well, face or endure … what?

Emergencies? Life situations? Big decisions? Beliefs?

All of the above?

Whenever I think of the word brave, I think of our military men and women who put their lives on the line in order to protect our country. I think of our emergency personnel who risk life-threatening situations in order to save us … from ourselves.

I think of our teachers who are brave enough to teach our unruly youth. I think of doctors and nurses who work to improve our way of life. I think of our blue-collar workers who aren’t afraid to step in and take care of the unsavory aspects of our lives.

I think of the brave artists who put their creative work out there for all to enjoy, or criticize.

And then … there’s me.

I am not brave. I am none of these heroic people I have just mentioned. I have never saved someone’s life. I have never done anything life changing. I have never been willing to put myself into an uncomfortable situation simply because it was a job that needed to be done.

I don’t even have the courage to send my creative work out into the publishing world.

I am actually a coward.

But perhaps I’m concentrating too much on the big picture. Perhaps being brave is about more than changing lives but rather, enduring the little, everyday challenges of life.

And if we can agree that living our lives to the best of our ability is a form of bravery, then perhaps there is hope for me yet.

I have braved several events in my life:

• Falling out of my car at the age of 19 and living with a two-inch scar on my forehead for all the world to see and question.
• Praying for my oldest son when he arrived eight weeks early, with no explanation and no warning.
• Losing my youngest son in Sears when he was three years old for 20 minutes and fearing that I would never see him again.
• Enduring the humiliation of being locked out of my own house and having to humble myself in front of strangers.
• Fighting for a marriage that I was all too willing to end because I wasn’t brave enough to face my own mistakes.
• Maintaining a brave face and stiff upper lip for my two small sons when a young girl plowed into us and totaled my van. (husband was out of town and we hitched a ride home with one of my co-workers).
• Trudging over and through numerous hurdles in order to earn a college degree.
• Facing my own mortality when we were flying home and the airplane’s landing gear malfunctioned.
• Crushing a Hercules beetle in my house (click if you dare) and keeping it from the boys so they wouldn’t freak out.
• Braving criticism and hostility by posting my religious beliefs on this blog.

All of these things seem so … unimportant and insignificant when compared to events that others have braved in their lifetimes.

But that’s okay, I’m grateful that my bravery has never truly been put to the test.