We Get It Already....

I suffer from a rare malady called perfect friends and family. While most don't think this would be a bad thing--and really it isn't, I'm just jealous--it is terrible when you are not perfect.

Here's what I mean...a perfect Mommy-friend of mine potty-trained her kid in 4 hours and he's not had a single accident. While I'm very happy for her, does she have to rub it in?!? I've been through the worst two YEARS of my life getting Lydia potty-trained, and she still needs frequent reminders and has lots of accidents. Another Mommy I know has a 3-year-old who recites poetry. Another has a 4-year-old Olympic athlete in the making. And on and on and on... I especially loathe the gloating cards of perfection people send out once a year, er, I mean Christmas mailers.

I get it...I'm glad for all of you, but I'm happy that my kids are gleefully average--it's perfect for me. My kids have tantrums. My kids have accidents. My kids misbehave at times (well, near constantly might be a better description.) But my kids are also wonderfully sweet, and even if they aren't junior overachievers, they are wonderful to me.

Homemade Antibiotics (no, not really!!)

My kids have been sick for the last week or so. It started with RSV (a nasty, nasty virus) then they got secondary infections (pneumonia and ear infections.) After shelling out big bucks for their respective antibiotics, they quickly began to get better. Soon I realized that in the week they had been sick I'd allowed the refrigerator to get a bit gross. It was time for me to dive in and clean it out.

What I discovered amazed me. Old takeout, old leftovers, fruits and veggies purchased but unused due to the illnesses. I loaded a trash bag full. I went back to the fridge to make sure I had gotten everything when something caught my eye. Some bell peppers that looked intact and ok at first glance, but under more careful scrutiny, I discovered that there was mold growing on the stems.

Then it hit me: antibiotics are pretty much just mold, I wondered if I could capitalise on the mold on the bell peppers. Quickly, my mind wandered to all of the untold ills I could cure from my refrigerator mold. And just as quickly, someone shrieked, someone cried and my fantasy ended. That and I knew that I couldn't really use the mold for good. But wouldn't it be cool if I could?!?

Divine Intervention

Sometimes it's good to know that God's "got my back."

While driving home from my mother's house today (in a foot or so of snow) our van got stuck going up a hill. Really stuck. Our rear tires were on the precipice of a ditch. Our front tires were stuck on ice-covered snow. Stuck in the ice and snow with two very tired little girls and a fussy baby.

We were beginning to feel a bit of panic when something made me look up. Just up the hill on the main road was a gorgeous sight: flashing orange lights. I hollered to Jeremy--who was valiantly trying to shove twigs under our tires--to run and see if it was a tow truck. Those of you who know Jeremy would have been amazed. The man practically floated over the snow and ice with such speed and grace I never imagined he possessed.

It was an older man driving a wrecker truck. He was lost. Jeremy explained our situation and for $25 and directions to where he needed to go, he extricated us from our perilous perch and pulled us up to the safety of the plowed main road.

Amazingly, during all of this fracas and the subsequent drive home, all three children nodded off. Their little faces so sweet and happy with the memories of snow, family, and Christmas fun.

By the time we got home, I couldn't help but marvel at our experience. A friend has since told me that tow trucks usually charge $100-$200 to do what he did. And I couldn't help but to thank God for helping us--being a woman, my mind had played through every possible dire outcome. How lucky we were that after mere minutes of being stuck, we were rescued.

In reflection, I can't help but ponder: were we made stuck to help the lost driver or was he made lost to help us? Or was it just a coincidence? It definitely felt like divine intervention to me.

A YEAR!?!?!?

How could I have allowed a year to go by without writing here? Well, I did say I was hapless...

So, in the year since I've written here, I've found out I was pregnant (gasp--I already have a 3 and 2 year old!!) then I got the BRILLIANT idea to sell our house and move (although we didn't do it in that order) then I had said baby, then I had no sleep for three months. And here we are at November again.

That's all I can muster in my exhaustion...I'll write more soon. Maybe in only a few months this time....

Still Laughing

Every now and then something comes along that just makes me laugh and laugh. This was it for me today. I know I shouldn't torture my hubby this way, but I just couldn't stop myself. Ha!! (click play button below to see video)

Cozy Prison

I know...I haven't written at all lately. I live in a cozy prison, where my children are my captors and my husband is my warden. I don't even get time off for good behavior. Well, not often. So, lately I've been totally uninspired by the walls of my prison. It's been cold and rainy and financial woes keep us close to home (I had to give up my gym membership--sob!!!)

Yet, in the midst of my complaining. I feel I should be thankful. At least I have a house (prison though it may be.) I have my children (though they are my captors.) And the list goes on...my husband is thankfully employed. We are all in reasonably good health. We live in country where I can jokingly call my life a cozy prison! God bless us all...

Good Things

Whenever something's got me down, I try to find the good things. Take, for instance, this week: I've had a rotten sinus-throat-ears cold complete with fever and chills. Couple that with a hubby whose work schedule has him out of the house 50-60 hours a week, and oy...you can see why I'd been feeling a bit down. But today I discovered the highlights--the good things--about having a cold. One, I don't smell the poopy diapers!! Yippee--if Lydia hadn't told me that Evelyn had a poopy earlier, I wouldn't have known! Let me just tell you--a break from smelling the poopy is wonderful! Two, I don't smell the cat food! Not as nice as the diapers, but right up there! I can't stand the smell of cat food--to the point that I usually make hubby feed the cat. There isn't a fishy-icky cat food smell whiff around. Three, my ears are so clogged I haven't heard hubby snore all week! I've actually gotten some sleep!
So there you have it: the three good things to come out of a rotten cold. : )