I've Got Gas!!!

Okay, tacky I know but I just could NOT resist that title! Finally found gas today at WalMart for $3.68/gallon. Whew! My tank is full!

I have said goodbye to yesterday and today has been a much better day! I have finished my orders for Graceful Designs and Gert and I both were in a much better frame of mind today after she learned who was boss in the wee hours of the morning! Holly, I promise I only kicked her once! I have had my hair done, been to work, straightened up my house, cleaned myself up and I am now dressed and ready to go on a date with my husband. We are going to dinner and to see Fireproof and I am so excited. I have been waiting for about the last two weeks for this date night. Thank you to K who is coming to babysit tonight - Tyler was beside himself at nap time today when I tucked him and told him that K was coming to babysit. He was so excited which is probably why he didn't sleep!

So, life is good, and my only issue right now is that my shoes are too tight!!! But they are so darn cute that it is going to be well worth the pain of wearing them tonight! I mean, hello, they make my outfit. Vanity - eeesh!

Got Gas?

Okay, so let me just tell you in all honesty that this day has been a complete bust. It started out good - beautiful weather, doors and windows wide open, a mostly clean house. Yea, then I started up Gertrude, the embroidery machine, and well, things went down hill pretty quick from there. I will save you the gory details, but just know that it wasn't good. I tried very hard to maintain my patience with Tyler while in the midst of my impatience and frustration with Gert. I did pretty good I think - thank You Lord. Tyler played so good today - he made a fort in the living room and even though he did NOT take a nap he was really good!

I tried to get my mood rearranged (an attitude adjustment, if you will) because we had family fun night plans. We took the kids to dinner and then downtown to a free Christian concert. The group was not well known to me, but they were really good and the kids had a great time. We ran into a large group of friends that we didn't know were going so that was fun. So, we have this wonderful dinner of cholesterol and fat at Wendy's (I'm trying not to think about how far I will have to walk to get rid of that) and then we headed downtown. Well, I only had about a quarter of a tank of gas and we have several stations around town that have run out of gas, so we figured we would try to get some on the way downtown as we would be passing several gas stations. Now, it is bad enough that you have to worry if you are even going to be able to afford to fill up your tank without having to just worry IF you are going to be able to fill up your tank. So we come across a gas station that obviously has gas. Please someone ask me how I knew that they had gas. Could it be the lines and lines of cars trying to enter the gas station from every legal way and some illegal ways? So, we pull into the turn lane thinking that we could make a U-turn and go on another happy hunt for gas, because if we wait in line at this one we will miss the concert. So, we are waiting and waiting and... you get the picture. Nobody is turning because all of the people in the turn lane in front of us are waiting to get into the gas station. We watched one guy actually drive over median, yea, the big cement thing in the middle of the road, yep, right over it. I must confess, I called him an idiot! So, we are still waiting and the light turns red for about the 12th time and I watched as two or three cars flew through the intersection trying to beat the light; then I watched as one car t-boned another car as they were both trying to make it through the light at the same time going opposite directions. As if that weren't bad enough I then watched as somebody else tried to beat the light right after the accident happened. Tell me this -- where are people going in such a hurry? Okay, yes, I know I'm guilty of trying to beat the light occassionally too - where am I going in such a hurry??? Ugh! By this point I was about to stroke out; I was a nervous wreck on top of worrying about where in the heck we were going to get gas. I still don't have gas, hopefully some stations around town will get their tanks refilled tonight so that there will be gas in the morning. Ok, this is no joke, Craig went out to the shed after we got home to get the tanks that he uses for the lawn mower - there was about two gallons there, so he filled me up!!! What is happening to our world people??

So, to top all of that off, it is almost 1:00a.m. and guess what I am doing, besides blogging. Yeah, Gertrude is just singing away in my kitchen. Thankfully, I have very hard sleepers in my house and she doesn't seem to be affecting them getting their beauty sleep. Why am I embroidering at this hour you ask? Yea, I'm asking that too! Actually, I think Gert and I just had a score to settle after our afternoon together today. I think I just needed to prove to myself that I actually can do some things right! Plus that tomorrow is going to be a hectic day and I really have no desire to sit at the embroidery machine all day on Saturday and if I don't get it done on Saturday then it won't happen until Tuesday at the earliest with church on Sundays and Mondays being such hectic days. Add to that that I am supposed to have THREE trust signings at work next week and I'm not even ready for one of them. Not good, not good at all. So, I'm giving up sleep in hopes of maintaining my sanity. Holly offered to keep Gert for another week and what did I say??? I said, "oh no, not at all, it's my week, I can handle it." Do you know what? I am a stinkin' control freak. I know that about myself and I constantly have to work to squash it. Like when somebody has an idea that I think is stupid I just want to tell them "that's stupid, never gonna work", but, bless the Lord, He is working on me about taming my tongue and my prideful spirit. This is just another lesson learned.

Well, this is the ugly from today. The good news is is that after this sweatshirt comes off of the machine I am going to bed!

Still Here

I just looked and realized that I have not posted anything since Tuesday. Yikes! What has happened to me? I'm falling off of the blogging wagon!

Hhhmmm, what has been going on? I don't know that there has been anything exciting happening; it has mostly just been life as usual. The last two weeks without the embroidery machine have been sheer bliss and I have enjoyed every minute of it! I have had down time, I have taken naps, I have hung out with Tyler-man - it has been great. But, today, vacation is over and the machine comes back tonight. I already have orders waiting to be filled, BUT, this is a good thing. It has taken Holly and I awhile to get things going but it is finally happening. We seem to get a little bit busier every month and while it is never a "three days behind kind of busy" it is busy enough!

The kitchen project has once again been on hold while we waited for more tile to come in. Now my husband begins the research process of hanging tile. I have to remind myself not to get impatient with him. This is truly his gift and area of expertise. He reads and researches and tries different things until he knows exactly what he's doing and then when he does it, it is done right and looks great. Thank goodness he is like that. If it was up to me, we would just slap it up there and it would probably look terrible and be falling down in a week's time. I have no patience for that sort of thing. I'm one of those people who don't like to read the directions and I really don't care to research much of anything. Isn't it a good thing that Craig doesn't let me touch any tools or home improvement items of any kind? Our goal is to have the backsplash and the new closet done by Christmas - I can live with that! Honestly, he amazes me with the different skills that God has blessed him with and it is a blessing. He saves us a ton of money being able to do stuff like this himself!

Our weekend was quick, too quick, but it was nice. The weather here has been so awesome! Every morning when I go out to walk the first thing I do is thank God for the cooler temperatures! It feels like fall! Anyway, I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen. Craig and I are trying to develop some healthier eating habits and so I was in the kitchen playing with food. I love to play with food! Plus that I'm also trying out some new recipes with the holidays in mind. So Saturday night we had appetizers for dinner - they were yummy! I spent Saturday afternoon and one other day last week listing some ebay stuff for a friend and by "some" I mean ALOT!!! Yesterday afternoon I took myself shopping and just had a big 'ol time for myself! Got home in time to get ready to go back to church for AWANA. So it was a busy weekend, but a good kind of busy. You know what I mean, not the kind of busy where you look back and think "what did I do all day?", but the kind of busy where you get to the end of the day and you are tired and you know it is because you put in a good day's work and got lots done.

Well, we are all off to either school or work today, so I've got to get off of here so I can go and get all of us ready to go! Happy Monday people!

Funny Question

Tyler has been becoming increasingly curious about he happened to arrive in this world, and since he is only four we will save the fine tuning of this conversation for a much later date. For today, this is what he thinks?

"Mama, did I get born in your tummy?"

"Yep, you sure did."

"Did you actually eat me?"

There you go. For now my four year old thinks that I ate him like a watermelon seed and he blossomed and grew into the kid that he is today. I can live with that explanation for right now!

What are we going to do with Tyler?

Oh my. This boy is out of control. If he wasn't so stinkin' funny and cute! So, Craig was home early today and we were sitting in the living room visiting and I looked over at the end table by where he was sitting and noticed there was something sticking out of the end table drawer. We keep magazines in that drawer so I figured some of the pages got caught and were hanging out of the drawer. I might be a messy, but I cannot handle half closed drawers with stuff hanging out of them. So, Craig opens the drawer and guess what it is? Tyler's pajama shirt from this morning!!! He wanted to play a trick on us he said! His pajama bottoms were in the other end table drawer! What a nut! And then, I made him take them back and put them in his dirty clothes basket. When he came back out to the living room I asked if they were on the floor in his room or in his dirty clothes basket. "Um, let me go check". Code for "they're on the floor". So, a good mom knows her kids right? He comes back out again and I ask him if they are in his clothes basket. He goes back to check again and comes back out and says, laughing, "I ACCIDENTALLY threw them on my closet floor". Tell me why is it easier to throw them on the closet floor when the clothes basket is in the closet???

So, now we're on to dinner. We have a rule at our house that you don't get more of anything until you finish EVERYTHING on your plate. If they don't eat everything, that's okay, but they can't get seconds of one thing until everything else is gone. So, Tyler asks for more corn casserole and Craig explains that he can't have anymore until the rest of his plate is clear. To which Tyler replies, "Well, I think we just need to start doing things my way and I want to scrape half of this into the trash and have more corn casserole." Talk about trying to keep a straight face!

Now, they are having wrestling/tickle time in the living room floor and Kayla has just informed Craig that she has been to "advanced training"! Tyler went and ripped his shirt off and is now "The Incredible Hulk". What's not to love about having kids?

New Movie

I hope that everyone will support this movie that will be out in 11 days. I have heard nothing but good things and am looking forward to going to see it on Sept. 26. Check out the video preview below...

Catching Up

Aaahhh, this past week has been great. We have had next to nothing going on and I have loved every minute of it. I have taken an afternoon nap several days this past week and I think I am beginning to feel caught up on my sleep! Last weekend was so insane that it took me several days to catch up. Our weekend was good. Craig worked late on Friday night and didn't get home until about 8:00 that night. Me and the kids took our yard sale stuff over to S.'s Mom's house in anticipation of our yard sale on Saturday. For two Saturdays in a row I was up before 6:00 a.m. Next Saturday I'm sleeping in! We did pretty good at the yard sale and I was happy with what we made. We moved a ton of junk! What was left went to Goodwill on the way home. But, let me tell ya'll something... it was stinkin' hot. And by "stinkin'", I mean it was so hot you were stinkin' by the time it was over with. I'm pretty sure that we all sweated out a good five pounds! Nasty! Saturday afternoon was spent on the couch with my husband watching football. There is nothing like this time of year when every Saturday you can just lay around for 3-4 hours and watch a good college football game. Our guys in blue didn't do so hot, but we are hoping they will rally for next week's game.

Yesterday was a good day of church and more laying around. I think we are getting lazy! I like it!

Today we are all back to our normal Monday stuff. Craig laughed at me last night for laying all of our lunches and even dinner stuff out on the counter, but if I don't get ready the night before it makes Monday a truly ugly day. So, lunches are packed, dinner is in the crock pot, I have had my walk and my quiet time and I am ready to face the day! Craig is getting off at 11:00 today for an eye exam and he gets the rest of the afternoon off. So, I have a short day at work today too as we are going to go and have lunch together.

I have to share some updates about the kids...

Kayla got a solo in her school play that is coming up next month. It is a very short solo, but she is so excited and we are so proud of her. She is changing and growing up so much. Some is good and some I could do without! She is a huge help to me around the house and with Tyler and she can be a very sweet big sister. She helped S and I on Friday night by keeping an eye on Tyler and R while we unloaded yard sale stuff. On the other hand, we are still struggling with school issues and I have suddenly become the stupidest person on earth. Oh, and to show me that I am the stupidest person on earth she has started rolling her eyes at me. I could do without all of that. I have a very bad habit of leaving my shoes under this cabinet that I have under my phone. I'm a messy, just ask my husband and he'll tell you. If you ask me I'm going to lie and say I'm not!:-) Anyway, yesterday I told her to take care of her shoes from under the cabinet, as it seems she likes this spot and thinks that since I do it she should too. I told her just b/c I do it doesn't mean she should(great parenting skills, huh - don't do as I do, do as I say! yea, I'm guilty). So, she responds to my request by saying, "Mama, the Bible says train up a child in the way they should go, you told me that". Ouch.

On to Tyler. He is a story all his own. He keeps us laughing all day long because he is stinkin' funny! Of course some of the stuff that he says is not so funny and I wonder where he comes up with this stuff. Like yesterday morning, he was in rare form. Craig went in to wake him up for church. Let me stop right here and tell you, when Tyler's eyes open he is 100% awake. Rarely does he wake up in a bad mood. He is not one of those kids that you have to shake and holler at to get up. So Craig wakes him up and says, "do you want some breakfast". To which Tyler replies, "Yea, totally"! I think he has been watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure reruns when we're not looking! So, then, we are all getting ready for church and he comes in with his "hiking" boots on and wants me to tie them. I said, "wow, Tyler, did you get these on all by yourself". "yea, I just pulled this thing(the tongue)and it came right on. I'm not an idiot". Yes, and I quote - "I'm not an idiot". Don't know where that came from. We have a lot of talks that begin with "that is not a nice word".

My kids are so fun, but growing up way too fast!

On a kitchen update, we had to order more tile. It should be here on Friday and when Craig picks it up he will also be gettin grout, sealer, and glue and the next project will begin. I'm so ready to be rid of my pink walls!

Happy Monday everyone!

"Blah",.... said Toad.

We are all about some Frog and Toad stories at my house right now. Well, there is this one story where Frog is trying desperately to wake Toad up because spring has arrived. Toad has no interest in getting up and responds with, "Blah, wake me up at half past May.". I'm smiling as I write that because the story just cracks me up, but if you have never read Frog and Toad then you think I have lost my mind and that's okay. That is how my day is today, blah, wake me up at half past May! In a good way. It is overcast and dreary and we have been in our PJ's all day! It has been wonderful! I did manage to get a shower, did no makeup, didn't fix my hair, and put on grungy clothes. This is bliss people!!!! No place to go, no people to see! I should tell you though that these are the days when 5 or 6 people will stop by uninvited and unannounced. It happens every time I have a day like this. I'm pretty sure that my neighbors think that I look like this all the time and that my house is always a mess. Oh, well --- come back at half past May!!! Sorry, I am cracking myself up every time I type that! Eventually today (right before Craig gets home) I will muster up the gumption to get the dishes put into the dishwasher, to make the bed, and maybe even finish the laundry and do some ironing. But for right now I'm going to go and pop some popcorn and curl up on the couch with a book! I hope that all of you get to experience a "blah" day very soon!

We are Those People

So, Shannon and I have a joke about being "those people". You know who "those people" are. We've all seen them and most likely if you haven't been them already, you will be them soon. You know, the lady in WalMart who is hollering at her child to not touch everything or to sit down in the cart. Or maybe the people that you see in the Mexican restaurant whose child is licking the cheese dip bowl and there is enough food UNDER said child's chair to feed starving children in Africa for at least six months. Or maybe it's the "I can't believe that they let their children watch that little whiney Caillou cartoon". I am that person! I'm the one who used to say, "yea, that ain't gonna be me". Hahaha, boy, have I been rudely awakened. I have walked through WalMart with a screaming child yelling, "Mama, why did you pinch me, that hurt!". I have let my children watch Caillou - what is up with that kid? I'm sorry - he honestly makes my insides cringe every time I hear him talk. I have scolded my children for licking the cheese dip bowl. Well, now I have experienced yet another episode of "I am that person". For a long time I have heard mothers of boys, and, yes, even some wives, talk about pottying issues. Issues as in, like, the pee pee does NOT make it IN the toilet, but AROUND the toilet. Are you that person??? I never used to be that person, but as I went in to clean the kids bathroom today, it has dawned on me that I am now that person! What is it about little boys not being able to hit the toilet bowl? So, this week, Tyler will learn the ins and outs of using antibacterial cleaning wipes!

Sigh

That is a sigh of relief that this weekend is coming to an end! It has been a good weekend, but so busy! We packed it full of very fun and productive stuff, including a date night, and a birthday party for both kids on the same day at the same time, lunch with friends, and a great church service. I filled up my gas tank on Friday morning and by yesterday afternoon I had just under a half of a tank left. Insane!

Friday was Craig's birthday and we got to go out and celebrate via a Sunday School class Couple's Night Out and a local seafood restaurant. They even sang to him. He is such a good sport! We left there and got to go and get coffee and just talk for a little bit. Saturday morning me and S. got up and went yard sale-ing. I was on a hunt for stuff to resell on ebay. I found some books - we'll see how they do. If they don't sell, I will resell them in the yard sale that S. and I are having this coming Saturday! The rest of the day after that was a blur!

On the agenda for today is work or school for everyone. I have four shipments of product coming in this afternoon for Graceful Designs, and Gertrude gets to go home to Holly tonight! Put that with normal Monday stuff like dishes and laundry that don't get done on Sunday and it will make for a busy day!

I have more to post but I have to go. I started this last night and am just getting it finished this morning and it's about time for us to leave for school/work. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Be safe today!

Is There Something in the Air?

I'm beginning to think something is in the air. I have been sooo tired the past two days and wondering what is going on. Then Tyler wakes up sick this morning and then Craig came home from work today and looked like he was going to fall over. I'm beginning to think that he and I are trying to fight off whatever Tyler has. I kept him home today since he was running a low grade fever when he woke up. We really do try to keep our germs to ourselves! So we have had a restful, unscheduled day at home and I can't say that I'm sorry!

However, now I find that I am bored. That doesn't ever really happen to me. Boredom is not usually a problem. But tonight I'm bored! Not because I don't have anything to do, but the stuff that I do have to do is not stuff that I feel like doing - did you catch all of that? I'm leaving in a little while for a girl's night out with a sweet friend - yea! I'm looking forward to laughing and talking and just having some much needed girl time.

I guess that's all I got for now people. I'm fresh out of news!

Churchill Happenings

Well, once again, I find that it has been several days since I have posted. Life is so busy right now that I find that when I do have the time to post, I don't have the energy. That is just where we are right now. So, what has been going on in the Churchill home ---

First of all, I must say that my countertops are installed! Yea! We are still fighting with Lowes over what they are going to do to help compensate for the mess that they made out of these. Even when Craig was installing them on Monday he realized that they had messed up another cut, plus left about a 6" stripe of black sharpie on my counter where they had overmarked where they needed to cut. Hopefully Craig will be able to find something that will remove that without messing up the finish on them. He was able to fix the cut that they made, but he did take pictures down to Lowes. We have really tried not to be ugly about this, but when you pay for something like this, you want it to be done right. So, the next project is the backsplash and Craig and I are both a little nervous about that. All of his calculations flew out the window when the countertop came in and it is a slightly different size than what we had before. Oh well, we will figure it out!

We are trying to get settled back into our school routine and I think we are doing okay. We are having some struggles with Kayla and out of respect for her I am not going to go into detail for the whole world to read. Just know that we would covet your prayers. For some reason fourth grade is a whole new world for her as well as for us and we are struggling to settle in.

Graceful Designs has been busy and that has been consuming a great deal of my time. I'm trying to find balance there. It would be easier to walk away from if we had a store front, but we don't, so I am continually finding myself trying to keep things done up or make sure that orders are picked up, etc. I told somebody no for the first time this past weekend and that was hard. She was supposed to come and pick up an order on Saturday morning, she called at about 6:00 or 7:00 Saturday night and wanted to come and get it and I told her "no". Ouch!There has to be a shut off time at some point and I guess I reached that point. I'm still having a great deal of fun with the whole thing, but I am also always ready for Holly to take the machine away at the end of my two weeks!

On another note, do you know that it is the beginning of September??? When I went out to walk this morning it was 65 degrees!!! I love 65 degrees! I have been on a muffin kick and every time I bake muffins it makes me want to get my fall decorations down and go on a pumpkin hunt! I just love it. This is my absolute favorite time of year. I think even more so than spring. In the spring I know that it is not going to last long and that summer is coming, but in the fall, I know it is just going to get cooler and that the holidays are fast approaching. I have even bought a few Christmas presents over the last few weeks! Love it!

On a Tyler note, I have been on an ebay search for Frog and Toad books. And if you are wondering what Frog and Toad books are, shame on you. Stop what you are doing right now and run to your nearest book store to buy one. I think that we now have all of them. Tyler loves them. They are just funny. Reminds me of my mother's Mustard stories. I have read countless Frog and Toad stories over the last few weeks and Tyler just cannot get enough of them! I'm waiting for him to wake up this morning to see how he feels. He was kind of pitiful yesterday; he was all congested and said his throat hurt. We'll see. If he is better, he's off to school today; if not, I will enjoy an unscheduled day at home!

We had two couples from church over on Sunday night to have snacks and play games and we had a great time. Learned a new game called "Car". It was a lot of fun! This coming Friday is my sweet hubby's birthday and we are scheduled to go on a couple's night out with our Sunday School class. I'm looking forward to that! More details about the birthday to come later in the week! All I want to say is "Happy Two Days Before Your Birthday Babe!"