Frustration and Excitement!

First of all, let me say - I have no idea what the heck is going on with my blog background, but I am thoroughly frustrated! Help! I tried to change my background and when I did it was just showing the background with no words. It finally dawned on me that maybe my font color was too light and the words just weren't showing up. But, then, when I tried to change the color, that button on my dashboard was gone. So, for now, I am boring blue. Blah!

Okay, but on an exciting note - Craig and I have just joined Net Flix! WhooHoo! Now, ya'll know we are not movie people so this is going to be new for us. We only signed up for one movie at a time, but, ya'll, there are so many old classics out there that I can't wait to watch with my kids. I'm so excited! Just to tell you how out of the loop we are for movies - my kids have never seen "Camp Rock". Yes, it's true and, so, that is the first movie on our list - we're so excited!

Who Says There's No Free Lunch?

My husband will laugh at me for posting this, but I just can't help myself. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to find a good deal. It is one of my passions - seriously! So, yesterday, I came across this deal for a free sub at Quiznos. No purchase necessary, you must show photo ID, blah, blah, blah. I'm thinkin' to myself, "okay, I'll bite". So, I printed off three coupons. I had intentions of printing off 4, since we do have 4 people in our family, but the printer quit, and that's a whole 'nother story. Besides that, Tyler was happy with Kid Cuisine, ie...nothing of any nutritional value in this meal at all cuisine. So, off we went to do a little grocery shopping and then pick up subs and head home to eat them. Hello? There is no point in getting free subs if you are then going to spend $10-$12 on drinks and chips when you have drinks and chips at home. Craig was giving me a hard time about all this and telling me there was no way that they were going to let me use all three coupons and I knew he was probably right, but I'm so NOT too proud to try it. Ya'll I walked into Quiznos with my ID, his ID, and Kayla who doesn't have an ID. I walked back out with 3 - 5" sub sandwiches for FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I was stoked. So, if you want to try this, go to this site...www.millionsubs.com. One day I'm going to learn how to do one of those little linky things! So, there you go... there really is a free lunch (dinner) sometimes! One last thing, you do have to put in your email address, but, hopefully, like us, you have several junk emails to choose from. Go get 'em!

Snagging a Few Moments

It has been a hectic day and I'm getting ready to run out the door, but I thought I would snag a few moments to post! My brother is smiling right now! :)

Craig and I are heading out of town this week to a conference. We are going to be gone four days! Yikes! The conference is Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday, and we decided that since we had the kids taken care of, we would splurge and spend an extra night just for "us" time. So, we leave Thursday morning for Atlanta. My mom and Craig's mom are driving down together tomorrow to take care of the kids for us. The kids are so excited that they have both grandmas coming! So, today, I have been cleaning and doing laundry and finishing up Kayla's Science Fair Project. Her board is due in on Monday and since we won't be home until Sunday afternoon, we had to hurry and get it done! It looks great! I will try to post some pictures of her and her project! She did a fantastic job!

I'm so excited this week over this website that I found that hosts writing contests. I have done more writing in the last week than I have in the last year. I have entered several contests and have gotten some great feedback on the stuff I have submitted. It has been a ton of fun! I even have a fan! Somebody who signed up to get notified when I post something new. I was very excited about that! I'll keep ya'll posted!

Alright, my casserole is done and I am off for Bunko and some much needed girl time! Hope everyone has a good rest of the week - I doubt I'll get another post in before we leave!

Family Fun Night Gone Terribly Wrong

Oh, the bliss of a weekend with nothing to do! Yesterday was a gloomy day and it rained off and on. Kayla had a basketball game in the morning and we decided that in the afternoon we would go to the movies. I had checked the schedule for the cheap movie online. I'm not into paying $30 for all of us to go to the movies and since we don't go to the movies very often we usually haven't seen anything that is showing at the dollar movie. Actually, did you know that the dollar movie is now the two dollar movie - yea, inflation and all that! So, we were off to see Madagascar 2 at 4:25. We get there and Craig drops us off since it is looking pretty packed. I get up to the window and ask for four tickets to Madagascar to which the man replies with the total and I had him my debit card. Did you know that they don't take debit cards at the two dollar theatre? So, now I'm waiting for Craig hoping that he has cash and he does, but when the man looks again there is no movie listing for Madagascar at the time we wanted to go. So, our choices are: 1)Wait 45 minutes to see "Bolt" or 2)See Marley and Me at 4:25. I knew M&M was about a couple that buys a dog and it had this cute picture of this dog on the advertising screen and so I thought "how bad can it be?". It was PG and that gave me a moment of pause. We have been letting Kayla see a few PG movies if I can get on movie reviewer and see that it is okay. Call me a compromiser if you want, but it is stinkin' hard to find a movie for your kids to watch that has NOTHING questionable in it. So, off we go to Marley and Me. We lasted about 20 or 30 minutes and then we left. We totally wasted $8. You know what the sad thing was though? People were packed in there with their children of all ages - did they get up and leave??? NO! I'm trying really hard not to be judgmental here, but, seriously, now I know why there are 4th grade boys at my child's school calling my daughter smokin' hot and talking about dating! It is because they watch this kind of crap. Oh, it makes me so mad - can you tell. I'm standing proudly on my soapbox right now! Okay, so I know that you are dying to know why we left right? At that point, I had heard three bad words and the couple in the movie had decided that they were doing great taking care of this horrible dog, so why not try for a baby. Yes, they went down that road in the movie and, yes, we left just as they were getting ready to "try". I mean, come on, people! I do have one thing to say though - they were married - which is at least a small step up in the right direction.

So, we left the movie, came home, had dinner, and played two rousing games of Candy Land. Now, I know why more times than not, our family nights include only games and no movies!

In Honor of Valentine's Day

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I would just say that I love my husband dearly! After 12 1/2 years of marriage I can truly say I am more in love now than I was then. It is a blessing to be married to my best friend. I love you Craig!

The Proven Hypothesis

Well, folks, you have heard it hear first. The aluminum baking sheet apparently holds the most heat and, therefore, burns cookies. Or maybe, it was because it was a cheap and flimsy pan, but, for purposes of the Science Fair project we are going with the fact that aluminum holds the most heat! Lara, I was so proud of my PC stone - it just bakes beautiful cookies - there is no other way around it. Of course, I knew that before the project, but still, I fell in love all over again! :)

Kayla worked like a dog last night on this thing. She typed and typed and typed some more and has just done so well with this. She is interviewing our church hostess this afternoon to get her views and opinions on baking cookies - that should be fun! After that, she just has a few more things to type and then the written part will be done and we will just have to make her display board and we have another week and a half for that. This is, without a doubt, the most involved project we have ever done. She has had to do a research paper, a data book, an abstract(???), a timeline, and the list goes on. But she is doing a bang up job and if she doesn't get an A, I will have to fork the judges' yards or something!

In other news, my brother has been building us a Graceful Designs website. I hope to be able to share the link with you all very soon. He has done an amazing job. You will be able to buy directly from the site if you have a paypal account and we will be able to ship anywhere. Just the fact that we will have a web store and be out there for anyone and everyone to find is very cool and very overwhelming all at the same time. Hopefully, this will take our business to a new level. Thanks Brain, um, Brian!

Incredible

It is Monday morning and I have 20 minutes before I have to leave to take Tyler to school and me to work and my house is straightened up, laundry is going, dishes are in the dishwasher. Wow, this is incredible. There was no fighting, yelling(ok, I yelled once in the car because Tyler was being difficult :( ) - it was overall a smooth morning. This doesn't always happen in our house. I'm not a morning person - at all. No, really, not at all. I'm thanking God that this morning went smooth and the day is off to a good, productive start.

This week is the dreaded Science Fair week. Have I expressed to you before how much I detest science fair projects? Ugh! This year Kayla and I have decided that we are going to do a baking project. It called, "Cookies! Can you blame you burnt ones on the cookie sheet". Fun, right? We'll see. I have three different baking sheets that we will test to see which ones cook the cookies the best. Really, as far as Science Fair projects go, this is the easiest. You want to know what threw me though? The teacher sent home this packet of papers explaining in detail all that must be done. This paper must have been taken from a 12th grade science project. Seriously, she has to do an abstract, a research log, etc. etc. Should be fun. I'll let you know.

Happy Monday everyone!

Complete Stupidity

Okay, so have you ever done anything that you just really wanted to kick yourself over? Yea, I know you have! Well, I did that. I had this friend that several months ago told me about this movie she had seen and how good it was. Craig and I just do not do movies that often. We watch a lot of sports at our house and we rarely go out to the movies or even rent movies. Well, a couple of weekends ago we decided that we were going to get a movie. So, I thought to myself, "self, you should get that movie that so&so told you about". So, that is what self did. I came home ready to spend the evening watching a movie with my hubby. Well, guess what? I rented the blu-ray version. Will somebody please explain to me what the heck that even means and why it won't play on my DVD player. Better yet, will someone please tell the movie rental places that they should clearly mark these things in big, huge, neon letters, with a little side note that says, "HEY, these don't play in just any DVD player". So, we totally threw $5+ bucks down the drain on that one. Craig thought I should take it back to the store and calmly explain to them what I did. Um, no - I'm not going to admit to the whole world that I'm a moron, even if I am the "Take Back Queen". So, last weekend, we tried again. I rented the same movie and made sure I did not get the blu-ray version. It took us almost the whole rental week to even find an evening to watch it and when we finally did get sat down to watch it, guess what? We had already seen it. Apparently months ago when my friend first told me about it, I had rented it. Basically, it cost us about $15 to see that movie. Ridiculous! We are so joining Netflix.

By the way, just in case you are wondering what the movie was, it was "Dan in Real Life" and it was a good, mostly clean movie. And I paid $15 to see it.

Attention Blog Heads!!!

Okay, so after a long chat with my brother last night, I have been properly chastised and apparently owe all of my blog heads an apology. Seriously, I had no idea that I had a following, but my brother is a follower of Churchill Commons and has been extremely disappointed in my lack of updating and is apparently going to delete my blog from his favorites if I don't begin to do a better job. My husband echoes these same feelings. Wow! I feel so loved and needed. Brian, I could be on Facebook right now, but, NO, I'm updating my blog for you because my heart can't stand the thought of no longer being on your favorites list! :)

He also encouraged me to tell the real story of why I haven't been blogging much; I will give you the short version. The past few months have been difficult to say the least. I have not felt this kind of attack from Satan to this extreme in a long time. Basically, I am struggling with every area of life it seems, and it has beaten me down. That's the cold, hard truth people. I told you -- I'm not Super Woman, I have problems, issues, and struggles and sometimes they get the best of me. So, that is where I have been, but I don't plan to stay there any longer. You know, you can always look around and find somebody who is much worse off than you are. Right now, I have a friend who is struggling with her son and the school system, another friend who's husband is in the hospital, a friend with cancer, and the list goes on and on. Perspective doesn't necessarily make your problems go away, but it sure helps you to view them in a different light. I have a sweet friend that is so optimistic about everything - I just love her! I was fussing about the kids the other day and she basically said be thankful that you have them and that they are normal - that's perspective!

So, that's the simple version. The point is though, is that I'm going to do better, for my brother. Yesterday was his birthday, after all - the least I can do is give him an updated version of my blog to read. I have half a notion to add the "Happy Birthday" music to my blog so that when he opens this up at work later with his volume up it will blast him right out of his chair - he told me that was his favorite song!:) Okay, okay, I've messed with you enough Brian!

On my agenda for today - a new hair do. Ya'll know how I feel about new hair right? I hate it, but I'm so looking forward to getting some body put back into it. After that, it is the great world of grocery shopping. I'm becoming a famous shopper you guys! Seriously, our neighbor told me last night that I could make money teaching people to shop like I do. I think it was a compliment. What can I say, grocery shopping and shopping of any kind is my hobby. I love, love, love to see how much money I can save!

Happy Trails people! Go have a good Friday!

The Highs and Lows of Real Life

Well, here I am again. My blogging experience has taken a nose dive - I just don't seem to be into it lately, but this morning I need to get some feelings out and this seems to be the best way to do it. Maybe God will even grant me the ability to find a little humor in it; then again, maybe it just really is incredibly depressing!

So, we are in the highs and lows of parenting right now. I have one child who absolutely adores me and wants to marry me and another who seems to be unable to stand the ground that I walk on. I'll let you figure out who's who! Seriously, why didn't somebody warn me how hard parenting was going to be before I had kids. Actually, I think that Craig and I have been blessed with two wonderful kids and have not had too many issues in these first 10 years or so. Okay, I had one really hard year with Kayla when she was three. Sometimes I still have nightmares about that year. Oh, and then there was the whole three and a half year potty training stint with Tyler. But, both of those things ended pretty well - Kayla is still alive and well with little or no side effects from her year of being three and, yes, Tyler is fully potty trained - thank You Jesus - I do NOT take those things lightly.

However, we are now entering the stage of ATTITUDE. By attitude, I mean, occasional eye rolling, yelling, tears, lots of tears, pouting, scowling, hair flinging, body stomping, etc. Again, Thank YOU Jesus that we have a very normal nine year old. Now if I could just find a way to deal with normal. Do ya'll have any idea how hard it is to have one kid who is in probably the cutest stage of life and then another kid who is entering the pre-pub years??? I mean, basically, you feel like you are playing favorites all the time and it is so not like that. Let me give you the run down on my morning and maybe you will understand. I wake Kayla up at 7:20 so she will be ready for us to leave at 8:05. Her lunch and snacks for the day are packed and waiting and ready on the counter. Her clothes are laid out on her dresser; oh yeah, they're actually not, because she "didn't hear me tell her that". By the time she gets dressed and out to the kitchen it is about 7:35, not too bad, and I am heading to the shower. Ya'll, I took a shower, put my makeup on, and was getting ready to blow dry my hair and she was STILL eating breakfast!!! I calmy explain to her that we are leaving in 8 minutes. "Okay, mom". Eight minutes later I walk out to the kitchen and say, "let's go", to which she responds, "what? what do you mean let's go?". Yea, I'm so NOT kidding. Calmly, I reply, "let's go, let's get in the van, it's time to leave". Please enter attitude here. Let's suffice it to say that things went down here quickly from here. Praise God, I did manage to maintain a calm exterior while boiling over on the interior. The ride to school ended with her kissing Tyler and almost completely ignoring me as she got out of the van at school; I think I got a mumbled "bye", to which I calmly and even cheerfully responded, "bye sweetie, have a great day, really enjoyed that hug, I love you". This is where the difference in the ages of my kids come up. On the way to school Tyler wants to know when he will have a spiritual birthday to which I respond that he has to have Jesus in his heart to have a spiritual birthday to which he basically replied that he and Jesus had already covered all of this in an earlier conversation! Then from there he proceeds to tell me that he loves that story about Daniel and the giant and how Daniel killed the giant with a slingshot and a stone. I let him know that that is David, David and the Giant, and that the giant's name was Goliath. To which Tyler responds, "that's a tiny name for a really, really big guy". How do you find the balance between these ages of attitude and tiny names for really, really big guys? I'm praying that God will help me to find a way to enjoy my daughter at the age that she is at and He does give those times. She talks to me about what is going on at school even if somedays it is because I have pulled and dragged it out of her. I can see why some parents begin to lose their kids at this age - it is a frustrating stage. BUT, we will continue to press on, and with God's help we will get through this stage and maybe even someday she will like me. This is the point where I am reminded again that I am not here to be my children's friends, but I am here to shepherd them and guide them and train them. Ugh!

Thank you for tuning in to "Real Life with the Churchill's" this morning. Happy Monday people!