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!"

A New Site

Well, I am now a double blogger! Holly and I have started a Graceful Designs blog that lists all of our products and all of that. Our business is growing and it is so much fun! So, if you don't currently receive our emails, check us out at our new blog:
http://gracefilleddesigns.blogspot.com/

Hiding in the Bathroom

Well, it is only a little after 2 and I think I'm going to call it a day and go lock myself in the bathroom with my bubble bath and a good book! Gee, so much has happened today - where do I start?

-Today was the first day with my new haircut; I think we all know how awkward that is. Do they really like it or do they just know that they have to say something because of how drastic the change is?
-I was asked out on a date and propositioned by a furniture salesman with too many tatoos and more piercings than I have - and yes, I was wearing my wedding ring.
-I went to the dentist and will have to fork out oodles of money for a crown for a tooth that I broke while eating a harmless bag of low fat popcorn.
-I almost got ran off the road on the way to get Tyler by someone who was obviously not paying attention.
-I have been blessed out via email for some forms that I hadn't turned in yet that I actually did turn in a few days ago.

My husband will fuss at me if I don't also list some positive things about my day - thanks Dennis!

-I joined an online Bible Study this morning that I'm very excited about. I'm missing not doing the one at church, but just feel like for right now that I'm not supposed to do that.
-I went to work and also got paid today.
-I got to bake muffins last night and take some to Tyler and Kayla's teachers today - that was fun. Something so incredibly small means so much.
-I just got my socks blessed off by the entry of Angie Smith's husband Todd on their blog. See the link - "Bring the Rain" under my blog list. Do I still have a blog list since I changed my background and messed up all my settings?
-Graceful Designs is busier than we have been ??ever??
-My kids start Kids Choir tonight - yea!

There you go - the go and the bad! Hope everyboby is having a great day!

???

Okay, not sure what is going on with this background and if it is something bad, you'll have to forgive me for being ignorant. I just liked the purple and then I realized it had words on it. ??? Oh well.

So, we have been, once again, at a standstill with home improvements. I can't remember if I posted about the mess up with the cutting of the countertops. One countertop came out right but the rest of them were either not cut in an acceptable fashion or they weren't cut the right size. Lovely. So, I do have to say though that Lowes has been wonderful. They called today to let us know they would be in this week and that the managers were talking about how they were going to compensate us for having to wait so long. My hand shot up like that little annoying child who always sits in the front row and always knows the answers --- "ooohhhhh, me, me, me, pick me, you could give them to us for free!!!" Actually, I told Craig that they could just give us a new tape measure and I would be ecstatic. We had no idea that they were even thinking about cutting us a deal. So, more to come on that...

We had a rough afternoon today. Kayla's homework took her about an hour and a half. Not because it was difficult or because there was so much there, just because this is how things go sometimes. One spelling sheet and one page of math problems, and an hour and a half later there was gnashing of teeth and tears. Then she wanted to know why it was that she just couldn't come home from school and just relax after having worked so hard all day. I wanted to ask the same question for myself. Actually, I wanted to stomp my feet and have a tantrum, but I decided that was not mature. THEN, we started dinner. Now, let me tell ya'll what I cooked for dinner tonight. Seriously, I was so proud of myself because I have not been in a cooking mood lately, so tonight was pretty good for me. I cooked a pork roast with potatoes, steamed squash, and broccoli casserole. Craig was complimenting me on how good it was and I was thinking to myself, "hey, this is pretty good". Kayla asks if she can have more pork roast and I look at her plate to see that she still has quite a bit of bro. casserole left and some squash left. I am a firm believer that if you want seconds you have to finish all of your firsts. So I tell her to finish what's left on her plate first, to which she responds, "can I just be excused?". Sure, I say, but don't ask for a snack after school tomorrow. To which her face falls. I explain that if we don't eat our dinner, we don't eat snacks either. "Mom, please, I need to say something, it's just that you used to cook these really good meals..." It is at this point that my husband interrupts her to let her know that her conversation doesn't sound like it is going in a very good place. More tears and teeth gnashing.So there you have it. I used to cook pretty good and now my cooking stinks! I had to laugh! The night did get better after that and I actually think that I have done enough laundry and ironing today that we will be able to postpone naked day tomorrow. I know that is very disappointing to at least one of my blog readers - sorry bames!

Where Did My Babies Go?

Okay, so I am having a bit of drama over my children growing up. Eeeesh. I don't know why, but somewhere in the last month my children went from being babies to adults, or at least they think so!:) Tyler will start Kindergarten next year and then what will I do with myself. Next year will be Kayla's last year of elementary school. I think I would just like to freeze time right now and let my kids stay this age for the next several years. I took Kayla shopping tonight b/c she had lots of birthday money to spend. Oh my --- have ya'll seen what kind of clothes they have for 9 year old girls? They look just like the clothes that they have for 29 year old girls. What is the deal? I'm so thankful that Kayla is mostly a blue jeans and T-shirts kind of girl, but still... We finally settled on a new dress for church that was right at the minimum length requirement for Churchill girls. Then let's see, after that we entered Hannah Montana world. Can I tell you that I'm extremely sick of HM and Zack and Cody. Hello? What kind of parents raise their kids in a hotel? Don't even get me started on the Cheetah Girls. Last night was our first experience with them and it will be our last for a looonnnnnggggg time. If you let your kids watch CG please continue on - I'm not saying that your wrong, just saying that for us, they are a no. Okay, I'm getting off track. Anyway, we came home with, among other things, a Hannah Montana purse, a Hannah/Miley CD, and a Miley book, oh, and the Princess Diaries. I tried so hard to get her to buy the adventures of Tom and Jerry, but, no, Princess Diaries won out. Where did my baby go?

You know, I know that my kids are going to grow up and while that makes me horribly sad, I expect them to grow up and leave my little nest one day. My thing is - am I doing a good job? Am I leaving them with baggage and scars that will have to be dealt with later in life? Are they well rounded? Am I going to feel guilty for doing too much of this and not enough of that? I guess I just what to do the best that I can by them. I want them to walk away with happy memories of home. Oh, I know there are always hard times and they will have bad memories to, but I just want so much for them. Ugh, parenting is hard, there is no doubt about it. Oh,oh, I forgot to tell you the other thing about tonight - Kayla wanted to go to Starbucks!!!!!!! I offered her ice cream from Chick-Fil-A and she wanted Starbucks instead and you know what else? She drank the whole thing. Her drink of choice tonight was a tall vanilla creamer with a decaf shot of expresso. I'm going now - I think I'm going to cry!:)