wordless wednesday

root beer

nathan: root beer makes my eyes tickle because of all the fuzz inside.

speaking of root beer, we were out to dinner recently and the kids’ meals came with a cup of ice cream as a dessert at the end. now, i’m not complaining about the ‘free’ ice cream cup, but it is a bit lame in terms of restaurant desserts. we’re not talking scooped ice cream in a cup, we’re talking a plastic cup filled with half vanilla, half chocolate, with a paper pull-off lid cup of ice cream.


so to jazz it up a bit, i had the [brilliant] idea to ask the waiter to refill the boys’ lemonade [free refills] with root beer. we scooped our ice cream cups into our root beers and voila! root beer floats!

why didn’t i think of this before??

the kids loved it.

we could put the lids on their cups and leave if we wanted [dessert-to-go].

and, we didn’t have to pay extra for a special dessert.

win-win-win.

next time, we might try a coke float or an orange float….yum!

this is why...

Yesterday we had a 68 degree day.

Next week, the forecast is calling for 72 degree days.

No snow for us this year, I guess.

Want to know why?

Because I was actually prepared with a pair of brand new snow boots in the right size for Evan!

Yeah...pretty sure that's why!!

procrastination...what's that?

so apparently next week is known in some circles as "National Procrastination Week."

the blog where i read this went on to say that procrastination is due to lack of organization. i beg to differ. in fact, i would argue that procrastination is not a result of disorganization, but a lack of knowing where to begin. the ol' looming deadline is usually what prompts me to do my best thinking, my most fluent writing, and get my creative juices flowing. some of my most creative ideas and my most prolific writing has come to me at the eleventh hour. and i'm okay with that.

however, i do believe that procrastination and laziness could be distant cousins.

i will admit that i have procrastinated about things i just don't feel like doing:

exercising...
eating right...
cleaning the bathroom...
finishing that project...
going through the overwhelming stack of papers on the desk in the kitchen...
blogging...

in these cases, i would venture to say that sometimes putting off the task at hand is due to lack of motivation laziness.

and then i typically get frustrated that i am not accomplishing what i wish to accomplish.

i have decided that the only person who can do anything to change this pattern of self-defeating behavior is me.

so, instead of procrastinating, i've started exercising. yeah, i only jogged/walked a little over a mile twice last week, but that's more than i did the week before, which was nothing! last night, i sat and journaled on a stack of scrapbooking pages that i'd been piling up for a while. oh, and look, i am actually blogging!

i like to say that i put the "pro" in procrastinate.
and that's okay sometimes.

as for "National Procrastination Week?"
all i have to say is at least i didn't procrastinate writing this blogpost! ha!

take that, procrastination!

random thought thursday

it has been 15 weeks and 6 days since my last blog post...
welcome back to me!

***********************************

i have absolutely no good reason that i've left my bloggity
blog hanging for so long. i should have one, right?
like i went on a three month hawaii vacation or
spent the time reading or scrapbooking...
not so much.

***********************************

i cannot believe it's 2012.
i cannot believe it's been 20 years
since i graduated from high school!

***********************************

i am addicted to words with friends
and bejeweled blitz on my iPad.
have you ever played bejeweled blitz?
totally pointless game but i have managed to
waste a heck of a lot of time playing it...

***********************************

my Christmas decorations really need to come down.

***********************************

i was attempting to undertake Ella publishing blog's
12 by 12 photo challenge. guess how many photos i took
on january 12th?

3.

not such a great start, but i guess it's not too late to catch up...

***********************************

whew! That wasn't so bad getting back into blogging!
kind of like exercising for the first time in years-might be sore
tomorrow, but it will be a good sore :)

when i grow up...

Nathan: When I grow up, I want to be a police guy.

Us: Why?

Nathan: Because I will have a gun and can shoot deer.

Us: Nathan, you don't have to be a policeman to be a hunter.

Nathan: But I can handcuff the deer, too.

Um...okay...good point.

stressful september

life has been crazy.

not only has this past month been the typical
"back-to-school"
"back-to-routine"
"back-to-soccer-filled-saturdays"
stuff,
it has also been one filled with
uncertainty,
lists,
rain,
job-filled stress,
lists,
flooding,
meetings,
lists,
emotion,
and did i mention, lists?

my kids' first day of school was delayed
a day due to heavy rain and flooding
and my year began with a 2 hour delay.
i love my job, i really do.
but with recent cut-backs in my district,
the number of reading specialists in my building
was cut from 2 to 1 1/2.

that probably doesn't sound like a big difference,
but when you're the 1 of the 1 1/2, it is.
because the 1/2 is primarily being utilized as a teacher
and is not a team player.
therefore, the job that was previously done
by 2 has fallen on my shoulders.

i don't think anyone realizes how annoying
it is to keep track of 400 kids' reading placements
and the ever-changing lists that it takes to keep track.

however, that's not what's really important.

what's important is that my mom
just came home yesterday from a 10 day hospital stay.
she's amazing and i love her.

for those of you that don't know,
my mom was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago
with stage 4 metastatic colon cancer. 
basically, that means when she was diagnosed,
she already had tumors in her colon, liver, and lung.
she shouldn't be here.

she is a miracle. 
she has not had any traditional treatment.
no chemo.
no radiation.
no surgery.

so 2 1/2 years have gone by without many issues.
yes, there have been good days and bad days as
far as how she feels, but this past 10 days was really
the first "blip" on the radar screen of her cancer journey.

she really does have cancer.
it really is there and growing (slowly).
and it's not going away.

she had to have a colostomy,
which to some people might be devastating
or embarassing
or horrifying.

but my mom has maintained a positive attitude
and solid trust in the Lord.
she has been a beacon of light
to each and every nurse and doctor
she's come into contact with, often making them
laugh or smile.

it has been an emotional roller-coaster watching
my parents face this head-on.

it puts things in perspective and
those lists somehow don't seem so important.
life is precious.
hug the ones you love
and hold them tight.

i love you, mom.
higher than the sky.
thank you for the example you set even in the face of cancer.