Hangin' out all day with a good friend...

So today I skipped my walk so I could get stuff done around the house this morning before my friend Diane came over. Pat always jokes that he can tell when Diane is coming over because our bathrooms get cleaned. A slight exaggeration, but nevertheless, somewhat true.

Needless to say, Diane and I sat and had coffee and visited, then we went shopping, out to lunch, did more shopping, then we came back here and I cut and colored her hair. Then we sat and had more coffee and discussed the food for the bridal shower, and finally about 8 pm she left. It was a fun day of hangin' out with a good friend. Sometimes you just need a day like that.

True Confessions

My favorite time of the day is the morning. I love waking up on Saturday mornings before anyone else is ready to get out of bed, put a pot of coffee on, and turn on the Food Network. Yes, I'm coming clean here, people...I am a "Foodie".

I'm not gonna lie...My mom got me hooked. My mom, the woman that used to never even watch television...confessing to me that she loves to watch the Food Network. My curiosity was piqued...I had to sneak a look to see what the attraction was. From that moment on, I was hooked. Now you must understand, it's not like I've even raced to my computer to get a recipe off the foodnetwork.com. I simply love feeling like I've just eaten the most delectable Paula Deen fat laden meal without the calories. Come on people! Deep fried breaded macaroni and cheese???? Pulease! But watching dear syrupy sweet Paula taking a huge bite of it seriously made my mouth water. And I don't even LIKE macaroni and cheese! The feeling was sheer heaven.

...And while I'm on a roll... Let me also come clean with another obsession I have: eBay! I don't even have my own eBay account for Pete's sake! (I go on Jordanne's)... I find myself watching and searching for things that I really don't need. Now keep in mind, I'm not buying a ton of things on eBay... although I have on occasion...I just love looking at things people put on there and find out the values people place on random things. It fascinates me.

Which brings me to another topic. Things that fascinate me are often things I like to collect. Several years ago I would have considered myself as a person who did not "collect things". I don't exactly know how or when I crossed over, but now it seems I have several "collections" of odd things.

For instance, clocks. My grandfather was a lover of clocks. I discovered this on my own years after his death. We were looking for something up in his attic and I stumbled upon a trunk full of old alarm clocks and kitchen clocks. A collection was born. The old shapes and cracked faces told so many silent stories about my grandpa. The fact that he saved them all in an old trunk told me that they held some sort of significance to him...and that alone was why I just had to have them...to share his love of clocks tied me to him, this man whom I spent countless hours with as a young girl.

As of late, I seem to have an obsession with small glass pitchers. I found a heavy depression glass pitcher at a garage sale last summer (for .50!) and a collection was born. A few weeks later, I found two more different ones; one was a federal glass star pitcher, and the other was a bit more modern shaped pitcher I have no information on. This fall I found another star pitcher in the Salvation Army up north, and just yesterday I bought 3 more off eBay. Okay...what do I need 6 star pitchers for, you ask? I simply don't know. But I love 'em. And I don't even know where I am going to put them. But I had to have them.

And now that makes me worry a bit because I've been watching this show on Hoarders on TLC or the Discovery channel (other tv obsessions of mine). Anyways...I think I have an aunt who may suffer from that hoarding thing and I'm hoping it's not a gene that is inherited. I know I've got a long way to go, but if hers started off as a simple clock collection or an obsession with glass pitchers, stop the train, I wanna get off. NOW.

Okay, I've rambled on through Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals and I need to go take a shower now.

Gosh, I'm full.

What I've been up to lately...

Huffing in the garage...

making jewelry for shower prizes...

baking a towel cake...

wrapping silverware...

wrapping candy bars...

These are words of advice for the soon-to-be- married couple. I'm going to spraypaint some tree branches and hang these from it.

Well, we officially have less than one month before the shower. Gettin' the show on the road...thankfully I kept awesome notes from Jordanne's shower less than a year ago. So far so good. I really do feel like I'm on track right now...

...Except that the rest of my house is suffering. I've still got Christmas ornaments to put away!

Gotta get back to business... Having the times of their lives and I'm not going to miss a minute of it by stressing out. I took on the same attitude for Jordanne's wedding too. These are truly times to cherish. You can never get lost minutes back...

That's some fine reading, Mrs. Peale!

I have been reading an interesting book again lately...something I read many years ago. It's called the Adventure of Being a Wife. A book that Ruth Vincent Peale dedicated to her husband, Norman.

Now in this day and age... this book has all but disappeared off the library shelves. A book published in 1971...when I was a mere child of 8 years old. The notion of marriage being an "adventure"...a wife dedicating her life career to her husband during an era of women's liberation? How absurd!

Mrs. Peale held the opinion that,

..." marriage was the greatest career a woman could have...a woman might have other stimulating and important jobs, but none was so difficult and demanding , so exciting and potentially rewarding as the job of living with a man, studying him, supporting him, liberating his strengths, compensating for his weaknesses, making his whole mechanism soar and sing the way it was designed to do."

When challenged by a young woman saying modern marriage is a fraud and a mockery, Mrs. Peale responded,

"I consider myself one of the most fortunate women alive. Why? Because I am totally married to a man in every sense of the word: physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. I need him and depend on him completely. He completely needs and depends on me. We're not two lonely, competing individuals. We're one integrated, mutually responsive, mutually supportive organism...It's the greatest of all adventures, but you'll never know it...if you maintain the attitudes and the code of conduct you've adopted."

The young woman responded, "Why can't a man-woman relationship be just as meaningful outside of marriage as in it?"

..." because it doesn't have the key ingredients. It doesn't have the commitment. It doesn't have the permanence. It can never achieve the depth that comes from total sharing, from working together toward common goals year after year, from knowing tht you're playing the game for keeps. Do you think my husband and I have acheived the relationship we have just by thinking happy thoughts or by waving a wand? Don't be absurd! We fought for this relationship! We hammered it out on the anvil of joy and sorrow, of pain and problems-yes, at time of discouragement and disagreement...we never thought of marriage as a trap...we thought of it as a privelege."

Wow. that's some pretty heavy stuff, Mrs. Peale.

I wonder how many women these days look upon marriage as an "adventure"?


I'm just sayin'...

So from this day forward, we are starting an adventure... Thank you for the incredible insight, Ruth!

WOO HOO! It Zipped!

Well I was on a roll working around the house and Jennifer called and asked me to run out to the bridal store so she could pick up the bridesmaid's dresses. Harrumph. I had great plans to get things accomplished.

ANYWAYS...She's been working hard at losing a few pounds before the "big day" and wanted to see if her wedding dress would zip. You see, when the dress came in, it wouldn't zip. Now it's not that Jen is a fatty boombalatty by any stretch. The dress just fit her so perfectly that when it came in they neglected to remind her that a zillion bodies had previously tried that dress on and it had been stretched out a bit.

Well it's not that they can't let it out a bit...she just wanted to put it on and have it zip before alterations...it's a little mind game we girls play.

It was a great feeling for her...so we went out to celebrate with margs and fajitas. Now I'm going to have to start playing that little mind game so I can lose a few pounds before the big day.

I can't believe it's coming so fast. 3 months
and 5 days! Oh boy.

Ah, how I love Mondays!

Something random about me:

I LOVE MONDAYS!

I really have to laugh though...my mother-in-law used to wear a raggedy old cleaning shirt that said "I HATE MONDAYS!" across the chest. I never quite understood why a mother of ten children would hate Mondays. I love them! Mondays give me the same feeling as the New Year brings...or the beginning of a school year. It's a fresh start- a clean slate...a new chance to make it right. Kids go back to school, husband goes back to work...it's just me and the dog left HOME ALONE. I love it.

And let's face it...after the crazy week we had around here last week...I'm all about getting a new chance to make it right.

Jen's car is in the shop so she took my car to work this morning. She dropped me off at Center Courts where I meet my walking partner. I got my 50 minute power walk in and got dropped off at home. Sometimes the days when I'm STUCK at home without a car are my most productive. I'm hoping that today is one of those days.

You see, I love the idea of being one of those 50's housewives with the amenities of 2010. Gotta go start the laundry...yep, I'm puttin' on the apron now as we speak.

ta ta for now.

Week in review

Phew. Glad that's over. Man I would do anything to rewind time and start my week over. It was a baaaad parenting week...and it started out so good.

Last Saturday was so much fun, shopping with Jennifer, picking up stuff for the shower, putting together favors, writing out envelopes, embossing, etc. Pat and Jacob moved all of Jen's stuff out of the photography studio. It was so sad after all the hard work we did to make that place sparkle and shine... but closing the chapter, means starting another one...and I'm so excited to see what lies ahead for her. It's an exciting, yet scary time in her life.

But just as you can be happy for one child, you are at the same time feeling the pain of another child. The older your children get, the bigger the problems...teenagers getting bad grades, young men being challenged, college students struggling with grades, money, relationships, and finding direction for their lives. It's so difficult to see them hurting and struggling to make their way in life. As a parent, we want to fix the boo-boos... prevent them from making mistakes...

The rollercoaster effect is multiplied by the amount of children you have in your family... and mine has been multiplied by five...unfortunately this week happened to be exceptionally challenging. I often wonder what people without God in their lives do to get through these challenging times. I can't imagine my life without my faith in God...it's so comforting to know that we can leave it all in God's lap...to allow HIM to work out the details and know that HE is in CONTROL.

With all that being said...I sit here this Saturday afternoon, wishing for another fun Saturday like last week. Rewinding the past week really isn't an option... but hopefully we can move forward knowing that God is in control.