Wordless Wednesday...

;D

So sad, but so true...

My cousin and her family came in for a visit this weekend. Sunday as they headed home we decided to follow them as far as Jackson and have lunch together. We ate at Logan's. Thanks to coupons we enjoyed a steak meal on a bologna budget. ;) Yum, yum!!!

As we were leaving and getting everyone buckled here is the conversation:
Lawson grinning: "Mom, look! I took a peanut with me. --Can I crack it open now?"
Me: "No, Lawson. Where are you going to put the shell once it's opened?"
Lawson surveying the floorboard of the van: "Mom, this car is a wreck anyway. Can't I just put it on the floor like we do in the restaurant???"

Kudos, Lawson. You not only were 50% of the cause for the car being "a wreck" but you also managed to remind me of just how messy it was/is! Haha. What a stinker. I think if it hadn't been so cold I would have made him stay out there and clean it when we got home. ;)

BTW, he waited until we got home to open the peanut...and left it on the kitchen floor!!!! ;)

Don't judge me...

So what? I'm using Christmas postage stamps and it's already February. I like to think of it as an extended holiday. A way to make the pennies reach just a little further. A way to get my bill payments to their destination on time. Yep. Go me. I'm sooooo on top of things. :)

Is there a pill for this?

I need help! Like the help people on talk shows get! I've often watched episodes of Dr. Phil or Oprah on people with a "hoarding" obsession. I've never really thought of myself as one of those people--until I realized that different things can be "hoarded". Not just clutter in one's house. I've never had much of a problem with keeping "things" in my house. I do not typically become attached to clutter and therefore don't have a huge problem when it comes time to clean out.

About two weeks ago my email went kaput and I had rebuild my database. It took FOREVER! I had SO many emails. Emails that dated back to 2006!! Yes, 2006! Four-year-old emails! My inbox had over 6,000 messages. That didn't include messages in my sent folder, junk folder, or deleted folder! Total I had over 16,000 messages! I'd like to say that I just didn't realize that I had so many messages or that I didn't keep them intentionally, but that would not be true. I have a bad fear of needing one of those emails at a later date or needing to reference a specific incident, etc. so I keep them. But, I decided it was time to let go of some of those emails...finally. I figured that if I hadn't needed it in the last four years, I probably wouldn't need it tomorrow. So I began deleting. About an hour and a half (or more) worth of deleting (the picture above reflects the last leg of the deleting journey when I realized that it was worth documenting) :). It felt refreshing. I had an almost empty inbox with only 2 or 3 messages in it!

And the next day? I needed one of those deleted messages. Yep. I'm back to my old ways; back to hoarding email again. Somebody get Dr. Phil quick! :)

Long time, no write?

Well, once again, I'm a terrible blogger. Guess you're used to it by now though, right? ;)

We've been quite busy. I did make my trip to the Big Apple and back. It was AMAZING and no words I could type could ever do my feelings about the trip justice! NY is an awesome place. The food was great, the stores were great, the TREE was FABULOUS, and more importantly, the company was unforgettable! I won't blog about the entire trip; my friend Becky has done that and I see no need to "re-invent the wheel". So, I'll just direct you to her blog posts on the trip here. Please go and check these out. It gives a day by day of things we did. Well, some of them anyway. ;)

My amazing girlfriends and I infront of THE tree. :)

A week and a half after we returned, my bags were packed again and we were headed to STL to watch my brother become a doctor! What? A DOCTOR! So proud of him! He was beaming. We got to meet his new lady friend (very sweet) and her precious little boy. We had a great weekend, despite the cold.

Jordan (Dr. Jordan, that is) and Holly.

Mom and Dad were just a LITTLE proud of him, can you tell?

Of course, a week and a half after that and it was time for Christmas. Another year come and gone. Where does the time go?? The boys had an exceptional Christmas. We all got MUCH more than we deserved. Christmas this year was full of X-Box games, Super Heroes, Spy Gear, and the big gift this year: BUNK BEDS! Yes, all three of my boys are in the same room now. I love this. I think it makes them so close. I know the day will come when they'll be begging for their own room so I'm savoring these moments while they are all so thrilled to be in the same room with each other. Awesome.

Bunkbeds + organized room = happy boys AND mom! ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS sleepy heads!

We traveled to KY for New Years and watched the big ball drop in Time Square--the 2010 lit up with energy (what little we had left anyway) that we helped provide and store up while in NY. Neat! So now 2009 is a closed chapter in our book of Young.

2009 wasn't the greatest; we had our fair share of struggles, sickness, etc. But 2009 wasn't the worst, either. Far from it. In the ups and downs I've often found myself on the roller coaster as well. I get tired and discouraged. Some days I felt everything was a mess. Well, not everything--only the things that don't matter so much. My house was a wreck or my car was filthy or we were really low on money that month, etc., etc., etc. This year Brandon took several hard hits at work with a pretty significant pay cut and then a couple months later yet another pay cut. Then holiday pay was taken away and now, most recently, vacation time has been taken away. Still, he has a job and we can feed our kids. We just have to look a little harder to find the blessings in it all but they ARE there. But the things that really DO matter flourished in 2009. Our kids are healthy and happy, our marriage is healthy and happy and our church life is good. Always ways to improve upon but I can't imagine a time when that cannot be said.

I really have no resolutions for 2010. I see no need in setting goals that I may or may not be able to achieve only to make me feel like a failure next year. However, I do have daily goals and just overall ways I'd like to improve. I'd like to be a better wife. More understanding, more compassionate, slower to become angry or irritated. I'd like to be a better mom. More patient, more soft spoken, more attentive. I'd like to be better at budgeting our finances. We've been very blessed that we've always had what we needed and more. We still do. We just need to be better and staying within our NEW, lesser budget. I'd like to read/study my Bible more. I want to become a better person from the inside out. I see no better place to start.

I hope that 2010 is the best year yet for all of you. God's blessings to you and yours. :)

Adventure

Well, if you are reading this hopefully I've made it safely to the Big Apple by now. As I'm writing this it is actually Tuesday night. I'm packed for my trip and I think most everything is in order. But I'm so keyed up right now I can't sleep. And what do you do when you can't sleep? Blog of course.

I don't do things like this. I hardly ever go anywhere without my husband and kids. I hate leaving them behind. However, they will not be going with me on this trip. And I'm terrified. I don't feel like I'm "grown up" enough to be doing this on my own.

I hate being paralyzed by fear, yet that's almost what I am right now. I don't like to fly. Not at all. Oh, sure, I know it beats driving for countless hours and statistically it is much safer than riding in a car and so on and so on. It doesn't make me less scared. But I'm going anyway. I'm going to suck it up and be a big girl. I'm not going to let paralyzing fear stand in the way of a trip of a lifetime. I'm leaving knowing that I've kissed my boys, squeezed them tight and assured them of how much I love them. I'm leaving my husband with warm fuzzy thoughts of a wonderfully simple and satisfying life I have with him. Everyone knows how much I love them and how much I will miss them. Truthfully, something could just as easily happen to me or Brandon or one of my boys here as it could if I'm somewhere else. So, I'm not letting my fear paralyze me. I'm going to fulfill a lifelong dream! Since I was a little girl I've always wanted to stand in front of that gigantic Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and feel like a Whoville person because of it's sheer size! I get to make that dream a reality in just two days.

I get to be a grown up. I get to take my purse that will be full of grown up things and no baby/kid things. There will be no diapers in my purse (for the first time in around 6 years!) There will be no toys or crumbled up Goldfish snacks at the bottom. I won't have to dig for 10 minutes to find my wallet or chap stick. I'm going to wear big ear rings since I won't have to fear them being ripped from my ear lobes. I'm going to wear lipstick since I won't have to worry about it rubbing off on my boys' faces from kissing them. I'm going to eat my meal while it's still hot and not cut up anyone's food before eating my own. (Sorry girls! If you wanted you food cut up, you're out of luck! Ha.) Yep, I'm gonna be a grown up.

I'm going to be a grown up--who's missing those things she's getting away from. A grown up who will be more than ready to go back to her everyday average life when this adventure is over. Ready to kiss those sweet faces, take off the ear rings and fill the purse back up with Goldfish. :) Ready to see my husband's smiling face and feel his arms hug me tight. (At least I hope he's still smiling when I get back after being left with three boys for three days!)

I'm excited. But still scared.

Conversation

Below is the conversation on the way home tonight:

Jagger: Why does Rhett get to stay in the kitchen while Lawson does homework and I don't?

Me: Because Rhett is a baby and he won't try to distract Lawson.

Jagger: I wish I was a baby again!

Me: Why? Then you wouldn't get to go on security rounds with Grandaddy. Rhett doesn't get to do that because he's a baby.

Jagger: You know what I need? I need a machine and you can push the button to change me from a big boy to a baby when I tell you to.

Lawson: No, you need a mad scientist for that!

Jagger: Can't I just have a good scientist?

Weird conversations, I know. But hey, that's my life. And I love every one of these moments!