New Things For a New Year

Hello 2009. You are almost here. In celebration of the new year, we have some resolutions that we are working on as a family. Let me list the things that we've all discussed. I plan on giving an accountability report throughout the year to let you know my progress. Hopefully, all things will be crossed off my list come the close of the new year.

1. I would like to lose 13 pounds. I admit that I'm up 4 pounds this month. Could it be all of the food that I have been consuming? Could it be mother nature at work? Certainly. I plan on not dieting, but rather adopting a different manner of eating.
2. We will eat better. During the last several months, my husband's choice of dinner and every other meal has been a Boca Burger and a bowl of rice. It has made it harder on me with K- and I began leaning on more convenience type foods. I will go back to shopping weekly so that I will be able to get our weekly lot of fresh vegetables and fruits. Not every meal will require meat, but we'll cover it with a protein of some sort. I will go back to my weekly dinner menu. That was an easier way to see. Hubs and I can look over and see what components of dinner that he can eat and he can compliment otherwise. We're not take out kind of people or even restaurant kind of people. Just good ole fashioned cooking and a crock pot please! We are also doing a sugar cleansing of the house. K- will choose healthier snacks if they are available to her. Not that we have tons of junk anyhow. She was doing great, then Halloween came. We haven't been able to pull her out of the sugars since then. Right now, she wants "'Whatever is the sugariest, Mommy." Um, yes baby. We'll break you of that.
3. We will keep a tidier house. We're not slobs. I do admit that I live a dump and run existence from M-W (when I work) and clean the house on Thursday. You see, we have all just planned on sticking together, keeping each other accountable so that we can work on the house together. I would love to not have to apologize for the "pile on the end of the table" everytime someone comes in.
4. I will unearth the studio and make work again. I ceased making my leaded glass photo frames a few years ago so that I could mother my daughter without liquoring her up with lead. She understands that the studio is not a place to be-- period. It is full of sheets upon sheets of glass. There are sharp things, hot things, chemical things, cleaner things and other things that aren't great for her. She now has the ability to work on things independently and that will allow me to be a true artist and get back into working again.
5. I will concentrate more on Mommy School with K-. She is doing well. We've been working on numbers and it just hasn't clicked yet. Like ABC's, she struggled but it just all came together in one fell swoop. I suspect that the same will happen with numbers. We're so close. K- likes to craft things and it helps her with gluing skills and cutting. She does well with her weekly book for school. They memorize it more, but she can still bring them out to me and "read" what it says. Even from the first week! The thought it that will turn to sight reading and I think that it is working!
6. I will be certain that we get that bedtime story in every night. We've been reading Amelia Bedelia. Hubs reads a Star Wars Clone Wars comic with her. We have shelves and shelves of books. Some nights I let time slip past and it gets late. I will stay on top of bedtime to be certain that our book gets in there.
7. I will begin devotional readings again. I admit that I typically do devotional readings in the winter, but am not as good in the summer. I've never been one to generally pick a book up and just read. I never found it entertaining. I do find the Women of Faith devotionals wonderful for me, though. Things are in bits and pieces. If I can't finish one whole chapter in a day, it's okay. I need to do that again.
8. That TV will be turned off even more. We aren't big TV watchers. Even still K- will ask, "Can I watch a short movie? Can I watch TV? Can I watch . . . ?" She will sit and watch the box if the box is on. If the box is off, she will find other things to do. She'll play in her play area in the basement for an hour or so straight just if there is music playing that she can sing along to. More music, less TV. Check.
9. We will do walking in the evenings again. We may need to cheat right now and use the treadmill. Hubs is great about exercise. We have a small trampoline in the house for K- and she'll bounce and bounce away. I'm the one bad about exercise. I've never been a fan. I've said before that I don't run unless I'm on fire and even then you aren't supposed to. I do find walking great exercise and entertaining, too. Hubs did hook up the "tiny TV" (AKA the portable DVD player) for us to use while on the treadmill. See, I have no excuse for exercise boring me to death.
10. It's not about me. Its not. It's something that all of us in our home struggle with. We're working on that in a collective manner. We're praying on that in a collective manner.

How about you? Any resolutions on your plate?

Edited to add: Join in the resolution carnival at 5 Minutes for Mom at http://www.5minutesformom.com/5289/new-years-2009-carnival/

Tales from the Trenches: I Still Have a Damaged Couch in My House

Remember this?That would be my damaged couch. The same one that we paid good money for. The same one that I've waited 12 years for. It was delivered on December 5. I let the delivery man know of the damage. We noted it on the paperwork. When he walked out of the door, I called the store. The store answered the phone using my name. They scheduled service to come out. Service comes out on December 19 and informs me that they will order up a new piece to replace. "Um, no." The tech said, "Ma'am, I'm just a tech." I've been nothing but kind and patient. However, I did not pay the money that I paid for this very beautiful couch to have it be a repaired couch. I paid the money that I paid to have a new couch. So, I called the store when the tech left. They told me to call the service manager, so I did that on the afternoon of December 19. On December 22, the service manager's assistant called me at work on the work phone to tell me that Shelly the service manager will be calling me on December 23. Okay. To date, I have not heard from Shelly. So, I call again yesterday morning and leave a message that I hadn't heard anything, we're coming up to having had this damaged couch in our home for almost a month and I certainly don't want them thinking that I'm good with keeping a damaged couch. Shelby, the sales manager assistant, calls and apologizes for Shelly not calling but now she is on vacation until Friday. She suggested that I call the store. "But Shelby, the store told me to call you." So I called the store and spoke to the gentleman who originally sold us the couch. Apparently, our sales person had been talking with the owner about our couch this weekend. He has now taken down my e-mail address and is e-mailing me their updates as they have them.

UGH!

Edited to add:

I just sent the following e-mail to the furniture company. I've not heard from them. If I haven't heard from them by Monday, I'll be contacting the owner myself.

Hi Craig,

It is Friday, January 2, 2009 at 5:15 PM. I've heard nothing. As of Monday, January 5, I will have had this damaged couch in my home for 1 month. Please help me to get this flipped with a new couch of the same style and color. If you would like to pass this e-mail on to the owner, I would much appreciate it.

My in-law's are livid. I am in disbelief myself. I kind of feel like the ball has been dropped. A big ball in the form of a damaged couch in the middle of my livingroom. I have been kind. I have been understanding. However, I do admit that my kindness and understanding are running a hair thin. (Yes, I realize that it isn't your fault.)

Please help me to resolve this situation in a more timely manner. I feel like my other avenue has been exhausted. (AKA the service manager has still failed to contact me, even though she was to contact me well over a week ago.)

Thank you!

Amy

I'll keep you posted on the updates. I'm sure that you are waiting to hear the outcome of my couch. (Insert sarcasm here.)

Guess where we went today!

We'll give you a hint:

Can you guess?

While yes, we went to A Christmas Story House! The house is in the Tremont area of Cleveland and since we live south, we decided to make the trip up.

See, I can be incredibly cheesy. How are you supposed to act while in front of the leg lamp?
Don't forget to drink your Ovaltine!

Seriously, we had a great time. We toured the house, climbed in the cabinet under the sink (yes, K- and I did at different times), K- played in the backyard with Hubs and we even went to the museum. The museum, located across the street (it's the white corner house on the movie just across the street from the actual house that the Parker's lived in), had some actual movie props. While there, we met the head elf (Patty Johnson-Lafontaine) and one of the guys who carried in the FRAGILE box. (You had to say FRA-Ge-Lay, didn't you?) The head elf was very cool. She explained to K- that while she wasn't nice in the movie that she is really nice in person. She had a pretty fun conversation with K- about Curious George, too. (K- brought her stuffed Curious George with her.) Jim, the delivery guy, was pushing this puppy like he was one of the main characters. We watched the movie when we got home and found out that good ole Jim had only been on the screen for 30 seconds or less and HAD NO SPEAKING PART. All we could do was to laugh. Boy, he was way pushing the 10.00 autograph and 10.00 Untold Story of A Christmas Story DVD. No, we didn't purchase either one.

But hey! You can visit, too! Allow me to give you the link so that you can have the low down of info for yourself. I think that you would have a grand time! We did!

Come on in, Bossman Dan. Please have dinner!

I have survived it. My husband reports that not only did I survive it, but apparently everyone walked away well fed.

His boss came to dinner.

Now, in all fairness, Hubs has known his boss for years. When Hubs and I were first married, Hubs was doing an internship with the National Park. After his internship, the National Park picked him up seasonally. For our first few years of marriage, he bounced every six months between park districts. (Literally just down the road from each other.) Dan, Hubs' boss, was one of his co-workers back in the NPS days. Having Dan over for dinner was going to be a casual type of affair, but I still had tons of work ahead of me.

Hubs decided to make good on his promise to finish painting our hallway. We had started it a over a year ago and all painting halted. It was too cold, Hubs doesn't like the smell of paint . . . You know when something goes unfinished for so long that you don't even see it anymore? Well, we had hit that point. I told him that if he wanted his boss to come for dinner, the hallway needed to be dealt with.

Add Christmas into that equation, as well. Oh, and a birthday for a 5 year old. And a mama who worked far too much and was up far too late working on Christmas things. That spells into a giant neon sign-- OUR HOUSE WAS A WRECK! I reclaimed it, though. It was all with the help of sugar and caffeine. That conversation I had with God last night helped, too.

I decided to work from the back of the house to the front. I made my turkey tenderloin in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots. I had frozen rolls out rising. Hubs requested homemade cornbread stuffing (sorry BooMama), so I had that to make later on. His boss is a single guy. I refused to serve him the rotisserie chicken that Hubs suggested. Dan doesn't get home cooked meals and I was going to make him one if it killed me! Our room needed reclaimed from the piles of clean laundry that needed put away, the sweaters that needed hung and the furniture and pictures that needed to go back out to the hallway. K-'s room was cleaned this AM, but tidied about 4 more times as the day went on. As I moved through the house, I got hot and realized that on December 27 at 3 PM it was 62 degrees F outside. I turned the heat off and opened the windows and doors and turned the ceiling fans on. I like to get fresh air piped into the house when I can, so this gave me a great wintertime opportunity. (I didn't end up closing the windows until after 8!) I busted a move and got through the whole house. K- stayed downstairs in her play area for most of the day playing with her Polly Pockets, Legos and Play Doh. She did go out to the front step to play with her chalk.

At 5:30 PM, they arrived. I was just finishing wiping some surfaces in the kitchen. K- went to entertain as I continued cooking.

In the end, Hubs told me that it was the best meal that I ever made. He also told me that he has no idea how I got everything done that I did. He was convinced that I had to have a closet somewhere that was overflowing with crap. I admit having made one dump bag, but that I'll go back to tomorrow. Most of that is Christmas stuff that I had no time to put away.

Dan ended up staying until 10 PM. But I did it. I survived the test of the boss coming for dinner. I survived it, but I'm exhausted. Pardon me, as my pillow is calling me.

Our 1008 Square Feet Overfloweth

But first really, why do we bother giving the gift?

The box is certainly sufficient. At least in this case, the box for the luxury Barbie Bus with Hot Tub is sufficient enough for a fairly decent sized 5 year old to fit in. Should I add that Hubs turned it top side down and she was fully in it? Mum and Dad-in-law were having a heart attack over it. "She'll hurt her head!" Oh gee-- we've done much worse goofing with her. They don't recall that time that her turtle neck was so stuck that I was able to pick her up suspended from the turtle stuck on her head. Later that night, I went to wash her hair and found a completely purple ear. Her ear got stuck and I turned it a deep purple! UGH! But, that's not what I'm really here about.

We've had a lovely day. We got up early, read the Christmas story then opened gifts here. After that boatload was dispensed of, we loaded up and went to my in-law's for Christmas breakfast. We sat down, ate a lovely meal and enjoyed each other. We opened gifts and talked to my sister-in-law (she lives in Chicago but they are celebrating Christmas at their lake house about an hour north of Milwaukee.) Hubs and I drove separate, because I needed to go fetch my brother. My brother's car is still broken and he is just having a hard time getting it properly repaired. Add to that his bipolar bit and it can get a bit interesting. He, his family and I shuttled off to my family's house while Hubs and K- arrived a bit later. (Hubs was attempting to install my in-law's new printer.) We were able to hang there, open gifts together and eat-- again. I've eaten enough for a week! It was good to see my brother kicked back and relaxed. My mom wasn't feeling so well and was kind of ouchy. She apologized later. It's all good.

It was great for all of us to get together!

Now we are home. I'm taking a break from assembling Polly Pocket habitats and the Barbie luxury bus, which I'm certain has more square footage than my humble home.

Speaking of, it looks like a toy store blew up in here. I'll be making my annual trek to Target tomorrow to retrieve clear lidded containers. We must, must, must bundle these parts up into proper creature homes!

A very Merry Christmas to everyone!

Hello 2:30 AM. You came to me so quickly.

I had lots to do. I wanted to make last night the big push so that I could be calm, collected and FOCUSED on the meaning of CHRISTmas. Oh, that is a thought. I've realized that more than anything this year, I've been running around in circles and leaving tornadoes in my wake. I baked cookies, but they aren't my typical lot that I put together. I've wrapped gifts, but not always capable of just thinking or praying for the recipient. I've attended things, but with my heart and mind in other places.

Oh, I have a list of change for next year.

First, the annual Christmas cookie box will be changed to the theme of quality, not quantity. I'll pick a few sure-fire hits and bake those in mass. Doing three different cookies well, rather than a bunch to pull numbers is a more preferable way.

I need to go back to wrapping in October. I do this as a good hunk of my job for 2 months during the holiday season. I don't so much mind doing it at work, but I get home and fall flat like a cookie with conked out baking soda. (Yes I had that problem this year, too.)

I will be less rushed. I will purposely SCHEDULE family time in, instead of it happening on accident. We need to do this during the holiday season to make certain that we are all cruising along at a lovely speed with the love thing. I get scattered, K- gets scattered, Hubs gets really moody and we bicker. We don't normally, but stress will do that. I resolve to solve that problem.

I will take in everything that I do. I will take in the time that I'm involved in. I will stress less. I will plan more. My family will be happier.

In the meantime, the last day of Christmas retail awaits. I pray that we're all able to sit down and truly concentrate on the reason of why we celebrate Christmas anyhow. Santa is a cool guy, but Jesus is cooler. Take notice of your "Away in a Manger" (as K- calls it) and really look. Are you there? Are you adoring Him?

Merry Christmas, my friends.

Happy Home Day, Baby Girl!

It was 5 years ago that you came into our lives. There aren't enough words to tell you how much we love you.

Recently, we dealt with the great humidifier flood in your bedroom. When that happened, we had to pull half of your room apart. That left me to wade through your library of books. I found one that I thought that I would share with everyone in honor of your day. Sadly, I don't know who gave it to us for you. I would thank them again!

A Blessing From Above
By Patti Henderson
Golden Books

Once upon a time there lived a mother kangaroo who had an empty pouch.

Every night before she went to sleep, she prayed that some day her pouch would be filled with a baby to love and hold and care for.

One day, Momma-Roo decided to go for a walk.

During her walk, she saw a pair of butterflies fluttering about in a field of flowers.

She later came upon a mother duck leading her ducklings to a pond.

Next she spied a mama and papa squirrel gathering acorns for their family.

She was looking forward to the day she could share all of these wonderful sights and activities with a baby of her own.

Momma-Roo was getting tired. She decided to rest underneath the branches of a beautiful willow tree.

When she looked up she saw a bluebird nest stuffed full of baby bluebird eggs.

One by one, the eggs began to hatch open. The baby bluebirds stretched their wings and cried for food. The nest was getting very crowded.

Just as the last and littlest bluebird cracked open his shell and stepped into this world . . .

. . . one of his brothers stretched his wings. Before the littlest one knew what was happening, he was bumped from the nest and falling . . .

down,

down,

down,

. . . straight into Momma-Roo's pouch!

The baby bluebird peeked out from the pouch and gazed up at Momma-Roo.

"Hello Mommy," he chirped.

The mother bluebird looked down and saw her littlest one.

She knew her nest was not big enough for all her chicks. It made her happy to see her baby bluebird in such a warm, cuddly place.

"Hello, Little One," said Momma-Roo.

Then she hugged her blessing from above.

"At last! My very own baby!" she cried joyfully. "I will cherish you forever!"

On their way back home, Momma-Roo and Little One frolicked through the field of flowers.

They stopped for a sip of water at the pond.

They shared grass and berries together. They were so happy!

Now, every night before they fall asleep, Momma-Roo and Little One thank God for all their blessings . . . but especially for each other.

In love he destined us for adoption to himself . . . Ephesians 1:5