Wordless Wednesday

Star Wars, which?

Scott is TOTALLY into Star Wars! He loves it. He incessantly asks to watch the movies.......much to Sara's dismay. Now here is the conundrum. Sara asks, Mommy is this the second movie? No, honey it's the 5th. Huh? I thought it was Episode II. It is. But you just said it was the 5th. That's right. ARRGGHHH!!!!

I feel like I'm stuck in a Laurel and Hardy routine!! Darn that George Lucas for creating the "prequel"!!!

That Can't Be My Child!!

My kids tried swim lessons last year. We’d only been to the pool once or twice before that so they didn’t have much experience with the water. Scott started out gung-ho but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized the water was over his head (bad experience getting in over his head at a pool party). Sara didn’t want anything to do with it but she grudgingly submitted, frowning and scowling the entire time. She’s a really strong swimmer but she refused to put her head in the water so they wouldn’t pass her. Of course the very next week, she put her head in!!

Now it’s almost a year later. With hockey all winter, we didn’t have time to get to the pool so we are basically starting all over. I took them to the indoor pool last weekend to try to re-acclimate them. Sara got in but really didn’t want to put her face in the water. Scott wouldn’t get off of the steps. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us again this year.

This holiday weekend, of course the pools all opened so we braved the crowds and went to the outdoor pool on Sunday. It turned out to be not so crowded but the daytime temps haven’t been that high so the pool was very…….VERY COLD!!! Scott again would get off the steps but Sara was amazing!!

We had gotten some diving sticks to help them get their heads in the water. Sara brought them all into the pool and Hubby worked with her. At first she just kept saying she couldn’t do it, but a friend from school came over who could swim and that seemed to help. She started putting her face in and coming right back up. Then she worked up to really going under and trying to reach the sticks. She just couldn’t seem to get to the bottom of the pool. She really wanted to do this and was frustrated that she couldn’t, so Hubby held her hand and pulled her down low enough to reach and she got one!!!!!! She was so proud of herself!!! She kept working on it and soon she was just holding onto him so she could pull herself down and she was picking up 2 or 3 sticks. By the time we left (and we were only there 2 hrs), she was going under and STAYING under long enough to pick up all EIGHT diving sticks!!!!!!

We were so amazed!! Hubby said when she started staying under for so long, he wasn’t even sure it was her!! She’s come soooo far from last year! We may be looking at the swim team soon!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have died in our nation's service. It was first called Decoration Day. After the Civil war in May 1866, many people in the North and South decorated graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. Decoration Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan and was first observed officially on May 30, 1868. In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day, and soldiers who had died in other wars were also honored.
In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday to be held on the last Monday in May.

America remains The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave because of the ultimate sacrifices our men and women in the armed forces make every single day. So while enjoying our long weekend, having BBQs with friends and hanging out at the pool, let's take the time to remember and honor those who gave their lives to keep us free.

What? or better yet....... WHO?

I am in a state of confusion. My brain is muddled. What do I want to be when I grow up? Maybe the better question is WHO do I want to be? When I was young, that question seemed simple—a singer or a lady truck driver (thank you ”BJ and the Bear”). Where did those dreams go? Well, I sang in church all through high school then I slowly faded out of it. I recently have sung Christmas concerts with the local Chorale but twenty years of neglect has really done a number on my voice. Where I once was a top 1st soprano, I now struggle to sing second and secretly consider converting to alto. As for the lady truck driver, I can’t even back up my minivan so I think an eighteen wheeler is totally out of the question.

Once out of college, I poured myself into the corporate world. My goal then was to be the VP of quality for a medical device or pharmaceutical company. I was young…..ambitious……stupid. A few years later, I got married and the long hours and travel I was doing wasn’t much fun anymore.

Then I had children and my whole world changed. At first, I just wanted to keep working to have that “grownup” contact and I still enjoyed what I did. Now, I just want to be home. I can’t keep up with the house and the Hubby and the children and the Piper dog. I sit at work thinking of all the things I could be doing if I was anywhere but there. Don’t get me wrong. I have a good job. I make a difference for people with what I do. I have a great boss…..which is VERY difficult to come by. I make good money. But still……..I’m not happy.

I’m working on a home business that could really explode for me and eventually be my own boss…..but even with the prospect of leaving my daily 9-5 behind and working for, well, ME, I still lack motivation to achieve this.

Maybe it’s a midlife crisis hitting just a tad early. Maybe it’s a dash of depression sneaking in here. Maybe I’ve just not found my sweet spot in life.

So WHO do I want to be?

--a really good Mama who has the time and energy to spend with her children, and has the patience to help them work through their developmental phases which are wreaking havoc in our home.

--a really good Wife who has the time to keep the house kept up, who doesn’t harbor bitter resentment against her Hubby for what he does………or doesn’t do, who can forgive and forget.

--a really good Woman who takes the time to indulge in the things she enjoys like writing and photography and growing her business.

Now, how do I do this?

Wordless Wednesday

Marriage Monday--The Crazy Way We Met

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Today I am participating in Marriage Mondays at Chrysalis. Thanks to Kim at The Bitter Ball for cluing me into this one.

The topic for this month is The Crazy Way We Met. To tell the story, I have to go back in time to even before Hubby and I met. I grew up in the mountains of Tennessee and then moved to the northern suburbs of Chicago with I got out of college. My brother knew Hubby from church. They were both interested in the same woman (another church member) and were at that time mortal enemies. It turned out, she wasn’t interested in either of them but that’s another story. So then they became friends. He started hanging out at my parents’ house and I think they “adopted” him.

The summer of 1992, I went home to visit for July 4th. Mom said that Hubby might come over because she had been talking about me and he wanted to meet me. MOM!!!!!! Ok, whatever. On Saturday, he came and helped my Dad mow the lawn and Mom invited him to have dinner with us. No biggie.

On Sunday, we sat together at church and then went hiking with a friend of mine. We had a lot of fun together. My friend said, “I think he likes you”. On the way home, he asked me to go to see a movie with him, Patriot Games. “Sure” I said. I think he almost fainted. So it went through out the week. I think we saw each other at least every other day.

Saturday came and was July 4th. Mom was having a cookout for the youth group so we all helped with that and then we went to see the fireworks. Something about those fireworks. I think they were magical. After the fireworks, we sat and talked for a long time. He leaned over and gently kissed me. I said, “you know, long distance relationships don’t work out”. And I kissed him back.

Spring 1993 came and we were engaged. Winter of 1994 came and we were married. So 16 years later, I must admit I was wrong. J

Jose is no longer my friend

I didn’t tell you about my weekend, did I? It was something else! We had Scott’s b-day party Sat at The Little Gym. Awesome place! They are so good with the children and they get to run around like crazy!!! He had a Transformer cake and got tons of Transformer toys, surprisingly, none of which he already had. He was in Transformer Heaven!!

Then some of our close friends came back to our house for the “afterparty”. We had pizza and beer. THEN we ladies asked “Jim” to mix us some margaritas. Now, we knew better but no one else would do it so it was up to him. And apparently, we told him they weren’t very strong so he apparently bumped it up a notch………..or ten!!!!!!!!!!!! I was very happy and really silly. It was fun. Until………………

About 10:30 everyone left except for one of the girls who was sleeping over with Sara. About 10:35, I sat in the recliner to watch the girls play checkers. About 10:40, I felt the need……….urgent, desperate need……….to run to the bathroom. That pretty much ends the night. I got soooo sick!! Then I collapsed on the bed and didn’t get up until morning. Oh and my friend barely made it home before worshiping the porcelain god!

Don’t worry, hubby was taking care of the children. I think I remember him coming in about midnight and laughing at me. Then I woke several times with a jack hammer working in my head but the room was spinning so fast I couldn’t find the floor to get some Excedrin. And when do you think the kids got up? 6:45am!! Uggghhh!! I’ll save you the rest of the gory details but let’s just say I didn’t fully recover until late Sunday night. Yes, I learned my lesson…………….never let “Jim” mix the drinks!!!! LOL!!! So I think it will be quite some time before I dance with Jose again!