lately...

As you can see, I have yet to fix my issues with Photobucket.

  This is not their fault - all mine.  I just can't seem to find the time or make the time to sit down and get it done.

I need a bit of help from my sweetie, as we just got this computer up and running after a hard drive crash, a printer that died, and a modem blown out by storms.

I'm a bit leery of causing any damage, and that is just what I might do!

We are fully enjoying the last few days of summer here.

The kids start school in about two weeks so we have been trying

to get all those supplies shopped for and squeeze as many pool dates in as we can.

However, the storms keep thwarting us!

We made two attempts to get there today and finally decided to just make a trip to the fabric store instead.

I can't tell you of the utter joy and elation that came from my boys. :0)

Sweet girl is up to all things flipp-y and cart wheel-y.

{Are you watching the Olympics too?}

She will spend a bit of time on the computer checking out gymnastics moves

and then head out in the yard to perfect them.

I think she would be a great gymnast.

Completely flexible and coordinated,

but she doesn't need one more thing to fill her schedule.

{Neither does her mama!}

That big ole 14 year old boy has been running a lot lately,

all in preparation for cross country this fall.

Being as he has just about reached the 6' mark, 

you can imagine his stride.

He is a great runner and kicks my fanny every time we head out together.

Little Bit is finished with swim lessons where he earned the title of

MVP Butterflier.  

He can kick it in the poollike nobody's business.

This time of year his skin turns the loveliest shade of deep brown, just like his daddy's.

I can hardly keep my hands off of him!

The cowboy is keeping up with keeping up.

We celebrated 18 years of wedded bliss yesterday

with a yummy dinner on the patio of one of our favorite local italian restaurants.

It was so lovely to have uninterrupted conversation 

and reminisce on the past.

He gets more amazing with every passing year,

I'm one lucky girl.

As for me,

 I head in for eye surgery in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow.

Pray for me??

I am in desperate need of getting a humdinger of a cataract removed.

It has been there forever 

{thanks rheumatoid arthritis for 40+ years}

and has completely blocked the vision in my right eye.

I can see colors and some shapes,

 but absolutely no detail.

Lord willing, all will go smoothly.

My surgery will take longer than normal as there is much scar tissue to remove and work around

and according to the doc, it's a sticky mess in there.

Eesh!

I am so thrilled to be getting this taken care of and behind me.

It really has been too long.

If you wouldn't mind, I would love if you would send a prayer up for me!

Thanks!

When Nothing Goes Right

Yesterday was one of those days.

It all started well and good, but by 7:00 a.m. things were headed south at a rapid pace.

  My oldest plays up for our high school band and he had a concert last night, so that meant a before-school practice at 7:15 yesterday morning.  We were all headed to the high school when my sweet 13 year old announced, "Mom, I left my trombone at the Middle School."  {cue the record scratch} Hmmm... I thought to myself. So, we stopped by the Middle School to get said trombone and lo, and behold, the band room doors were locked tight and NO ONE, not one single person, had the key to open the door.

  Meanwhile, the clock is ticking and I was getting wound up because I hate to be late and unprepared and looking like we don't have our act together.  So we waited.  And waited.  Forty minutes we waited.  And I took advantage of our time in the car together to re-strategize my morning and figure out how I was going to get all the kids to where they need to be ON TIME!  And I also took the time to dive right into one of my famous lectures about how he's headed to high school next year and don't you think it would be best to plan more than 20 minutes ahead of yourself, and do you see how your lack of preparedness affect the whole lot of us??  And on and on.

I finally dropped him off, 45 minutes late, with an exchange of "I'm sorry" and a hug and I wanted to crawl back into bed and start this day over because I'm pretty certain that the whole series of events didn't seal my "Mother of the Year" nomination.  And I kicked myself, because how many times have I thought "how can I be mad that he is not as I want him to be, when I am not as I want me to be?"  And I vowed to meet him for lunch and love on him in his love language of burgers and ask for forgiveness.

 Then I stopped by Target to pick up a few things and I swear the cashier looked at me like, "AGAIN, you are here again??" because I was there the night before and the day before that.  She didn't help my mood.

I then went home, baked cupcakes for a teacher's birthday the next day and took the dog for a long walk to get his endless energy out and my work out in.  We were almost home when we stopped by the neighbor's house to see their not -so- small yellow lab pup.  The dogs love to play together and when she asked if Boone would like to come in the back yard and play with Body, I agreed.   Ten minutes later we were on our way home when I noticed Boone limping and bleeding.  We got home and took a look at his foot... sure enough, cut wide open and needing stitches!  So, not only had I messed up the morning with my son, now I had messed up the dog's foot and our budget by letting him play in a yard I hadn't checked out first.  We are assuming that he cut it on some edging or a rock.  Our neighbor's yard is rather 'organic' and I really should have looked before I said yes.

Now, instead of getting my laundry done, frosting cupcakes for the teacher, paying our bills and getting a post up, I was headed to the emergency vet.  Nice.

Turns out the vet was lovely{new office for us} and she was able to take Boone right away, but was concerned that he broke his foot as well because he was unable to put any weight on it.  She assured me that I could leave him there and they would take X-rays and suture him up and love on him in that voice that only a vet/vet tech can.  And all this could be done for the bargain price of $400.  Yes, $400.  Super.

I left him there, headed home to get something done with my day, like try to figure out where in the world the money would come from to pay the vet bill, when my sweet man offered to take me out to Taco Bell for lunch, because he is a big spender like that.  Yes ladies, he's all mine.   I protested because I had yet to really accomplish anything with my day, when I looked at my clock.  It was 2:00.  Way past my son's lunch time.  Great.  Then the phone rang and it was my bestie wondering where I was for our standing coffee date - which, of course, I had completely spaced out!!  UGH!!

I ended up postponing with her, lunching with my man, grabbing the kids, picking up the dog in his brand new plastic Cone of Shame and bandaged foot {the tech said,"he'll need to be quiet and restful for the next 10 days," to which I asked if they had medication for that.  She just looked at me.  I guess I'll have to medicate myself then}, to head home and get dinner on the table so we could get to the concert.  And the grill wouldn't start.  Oh, if I were a swearing woman I would have let forth a stream that would have caused a trucker to blush.  But, I'm not.  So I sat on the patio steps and just took a deep breath, turned my face to the sun, and gave thanks to God for this good day.

No matter how bad the day is, I remind myself it could be worse.   A whole lot worse.

I eventually got the grill going, the burgers were awesome, we actually got to eat outside {in March, none the less!} and we made it to the concert on time and watched one the greatest kids I know, play his trombone.  Because he had it.  Right there.  Not in the Middle School band room.  It was glorious.

And we returned home to iron pants for today, finish the laundry, tuck freshly showered kids into beds and put these very weary bones in a bed full of feathers.

I guess it wasn't such a bad day after all.

A Bit of Randomness

I love it when other bloggers let you in on some of their personal lives.

Maybe it is because it feels like I am not the only one who is struggling in any given area, maybe it is because when you see what we all struggle with, or are interested in, life feels more real.  Let's face it, when we choose what we put on our screens, we can make everything look perfect and wonderful.  Like a staged picture. 

Maybe it is because I am hopelessly nosy.  Yes, I think that's it.  I love to see what others love or struggle with or what inspires them.

So here goes... a few random things you don't know about me...

1.  Did you know I met my husband in a bar?  Yes, it's true.  And he hates it when I tell people that.  It is somewhat true.  We were in a bar.  We were there to celebrate a mutual friend's birthday.  I was a  friend with the wife of this couple and he was a friend of the husband of this couple and she invited her friends and his friends to a birthday party for her husband.  At a bar.  Clear as mud??  Well, this place was a country bar and he was out on the dance floor with a gal and I saw him and that was it.  THE END. {well, it was the end of my dating life, so to speak.}  I asked him to dance {yes, pushy female, I know} and after deliberating for a moment or two, he agreed.  He had to take a second and think because he was sitting at a table with all of his college guy buddies and wasn't necessarily looking to stop the conversation.  Nearly 20 years later, and knowing what an EXTREME socializer he is, it makes perfect sense.  Suffice it to say, one dance and we were hooked.  He blames it on the smell of my hair and that I was a good dancer.  I blame it on the Wranglers and his intoxicating smile and chiseled jaw.  Either way, this summer we will celebrate 18 years of wedded bliss.  There is no one I'd rather dance in the kitchen with or nudge to roll over because he is snoring.  We are a match made in heaven.  Or a country bar.

2.  Because of the aforementioned Wranglers, smile, and jaw that could cut diamonds, we have an 8th grader.  We got an email last week asking all parents of 8th graders to send in two pictures of their kiddo for graduation this spring.  He'll be heading to high school next fall.  High school.  He is all long legs and sweet boy and next week he'll be driving and getting married because that's how life goes... waaaaay too fast!  I guess so long as he meets his future bride in a country bar, they'll be fine.  But I won't.  Oh how I love that boy and I'm just not so sure I'll ever be able to cut those apron strings and bind him to another female other than myself.

3.  I love to watch my daughter play basketball.  In a big way.  I know nothing about the game.  Can't pick out a screen, a pick, double dribbling, or discern a foul.  I just know that when she scores, she loves to hear her mom on the sidelines shout, "That's my girl!"  And I love that during her game last night she accidentally plowed over another girl on the opposing team, tossed the ball to a teammate {mid-play none the less}, and helped pick this other gal off the floor.  That's my girl.

4.  I consider Friday to be my day off.  The weekends are just as busy as the weekdays so I take Friday to be at leisure.  I have lunch with a friend or my cowboy.  I head out to a favorite store or two and peruse the latest and greatest.  Or I curl up with a good book and a cup of tea and take a nap.  No cleaning, no organizing just a day to be.  Or craft or bake or whatever I want to do.

5.  I spent most of January cleaning and purging and today Goodwill is coming to take an entire front porch of needless, purpose - less stuff out of my life!  I love that feeling!!

6.  There is no better chocolate than Dove milk chocolate.

7.  I love all things paper.  And ribbon.  Here's proof:

 

These were taken last summer on our vacation to Steamboat.  Most folks would bring home a t-shirt or some other handy souvenir.  Not me.  They have the best drug store around and their array of wrapping paper and coordinating ribbon leaves me speechless.  That may be due to my love language of gift giving.  It also may be due to the happy feeling I get when I give a wonderfully packaged surprise.  Either way, it's a sickness.  But a pretty sickness, none the less.

8.  I love to eat chocolate cake in a bowl with milk.  Why waste a cup for the milk if you can throw them both in a bowl?  Todd thinks it's disturbing.  He can blame my dad for that one.

9.  I can't drink a glass of milk without an ice cube in it.  Warm milk is unappealing {to say the least} and one ice cube keeps it nice and cold.  There is no one to blame for that one!

10.  I like doing laundry.  Good thing, because there is a never ending cycle of dirty things in this house.  I love the smell of bleach and putting my kids in clean clothes or putting fresh sheets on the bed.  I take the opportunity to pray over each kid as I fold.  Random, I know!

11.  I bought a new pair of jeans at Target the other day.  The brand is Denizen and Lord, are they comfy.  Does it mean that I've officially hit middle age when I buy my stretchy jeans at Target??  I believe so.  All I know is that when I bend over, they stay put.  I'm not a thong wearing girl, but if I were, I would be tired of that thing showing itself over the top of my jeans.  So inappropriate!!  But trust me on this one ladies, these are cute.  They are trouser - like and have a bit of bling on the back pockets.  Oh, so cute.  And you won't spend your day hiking them back in place.  Or showing your thong.  And if you are a thong wearing girl, could I ask you a favor?   Please refrain from bending over in front of me and my boys in the line at Target.  They don't need or want to see your thong or likely coordinating tattoo on your lowest back.  That just leads to a conversation that is uncomfortable for everyone!! :0)

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Kim