Grateful Friday

Today I give thanks for...

The end of the week.  It didn't exactly go as planned.  I had high hopes for our staycation.  Looking back I can say that it was a difficult week filled with many weak moments and trials, but also a good one.  The kids kept plenty busy with friends, and I had the time off I needed to rest and recover.

Healing skin.  My rashy condition is clearing up.

I actually forced myself to tell my kids that there are only 2 1/2 weeks left until school starts.  I've been in serious denial right along with them.  Miss Bit received a call informing us that her school supplies were ready to be picked up.  She adamantly accused the caller of being her Dad.  Her trickster Dad playing a nasty prank on her.  How could it be that we would be really thinking about spirals and #2s!?  I get it.

And fall is in the air.  It's been dipping down to the 60s at night.  Mornings are cooler...crisper.  Football practice has replaced baseball.  I took Miss Bit on a back to school spree this week because although it doesn't seem possible, pants weather will return before we want it to.  I now admit that it's time to empty out T. Bone's backpack still overflowing with his locker contents from the last day of school to see what can be salvaged...what needs to be replaced.

I picked up T. Bone's registration materials the other day.  I've been putting it off not wanting to step foot in the school.  We know little of his schedule at this point except for the fact that he is in honors math again this year.

T. Bone was recruited by an area select baseball team.  Without a seconds hesitation, he affirmed that he would not be interested were it to interfere with the Mets.  He understands commitment and loyalty. These are character traits that will benefit him much more and far longer than always being on the winning team.

Epiphanies.  This week there was a mutiny on the Mets.  It came as a bit of a surprise, but after much discussion and reflection, Coach and I feel positively about the moving on of the assistant coach and his son.  Morale is just as important as performance. 

I finished listening to Gatsby this week and started The Other Boleyn Girl.  How did I never read this book?  I was hooked after the first chapter.

Last night I received such a wonderful compliment with regard to my girl.  Her friend's Mom gushed about what a kind person our Bit is and how she says the sweetest things.  She told me that Miss Bit has touched the family in a special way and they all love having her around.

Lots of crafts this week.  The kitchen table is covered in project after project.  Miss Bit and I designed Barbie dresses, mosaiced tiles, played with Pixos and grooved on her much coveted Orbeez.  I love projects.  I mean I love working on projects side by side with my best girl.   

   

Miss Bit my frog whisperer.

T. Bone our Tigger tamer.

Kitchen helpers even if they only want to lick the spoons and spatulas.

Eager explorers.

Miss Bit gave me a hair do after I put her hair in many tiny braids the other night.  I used to love brushing my Mom's hair in the evenings and she used to really enjoy it too.  Like mother like daughter like daughter.

T. Bone spent the day hanging out with his cousin and Miss Bit went to lunch and the museum with the sitter. Now he's at football and she's at her BFFs.

As soon as I hit publish, I'm closing my eyes and taking a nap.

Grateful Friday ala Jess

Grateful Friday

From a Friend’s Perspective

Today we give thanks for….

Sweet children for their kind hearts, joyful souls and ability to brighten a day.

Moms. Enough said.

Friends who come to our rescue, lend an ear or simply just GET IT.

Quality over quantity.

The unconditional love of furry friends.

Fine wine, good eats and meaningful conversation.

Confidence and self-assurance.

Laughter- sometimes it’s the best medicine.

Strong values and beliefs.

Faith.

(Thanks Jess.  I really needed this today, but then you knew that...you know me. I give thanks for you because you are just exactly the kind of friend who does Get It, you do care and I cannot fathom the hot mess I would be without your unwavering support and constant friendship.) 



A Little Salvation Story

I finally got a good stretch of sound, solid sleep last night for the first time since I acquired this mysterious rash almost a week ago.  I had my alarm set for 10:00,  but the phone started ringing at 9:00.  T. Bone and Miss Bit each received 3 phone calls from the same 2 friends in that hour, and I only managed to eke out 10 more minutes of sleep from the 60 before I finally gave up and got up.  Ready or not the day dawned.

Miss Bit dressed, marched back upstairs to make her bed after an ultimatum and inhaled her breakfast before leaving to play at her friend's.  She's still there many hours later.  The babysitter arrived to cat sit since  I took T. Bone to a friend's on my way to work.    We weren't yet a mile from home before I pulled over and had him inspect the front right tire, which was making a strange sound upon rotation.  He reported that it looked fine.  I got out to inspect said tire myself when I dropped him off.  He was right.  The tire appeared intact despite the sound.  The sound that all the sudden stopped and then the tire popped, and  I could feel, hear and see (warning light) that something was not right so I pulled over.  After the week I've had, I shouldn't have been the least bit surprised.  Surprised about the bad luck or my inability to exhibit strength instead of weakness with another curve ball.

I laughed.  I cursed.  I cried, and then I called my friend first at work and then on her cell.  I wanted my Mom in the moment.  Truthfully, I've been having many of those moments these days.  C. came to my rescue.  She knew I really needed rescuing and she came through in a big way.  She's good like that...always.  So while we waited for AAA (thanks to her membership) to come change my tire, although she did offer to do it herself in her skirt and her stilettos, she sat shotgun while we commiserated and chatted.  I confessed to her that I really miss my Mom during times like these, but that the gift of a true good (and level headed) friend is the next best thing. And it is.  Believe me.  I know.

She saved my day, and by the end of it I know I'll be laughing about the mishap.  I'll also be thanking God for the wonderful friends I have who have my back.  Girls I can count on, and cry with until the tears give way to laughter.

I just know tomorrow is going to be a better day.  It must.

What If?

What If?

What if you knew
that everything was going to be okay,
that something was in motion
beyond your field of vision,
beyond even the periphery
of your knowing?

What if you knew
that everything you want,
everything you’ve been seeking,
trying to figure out, missing,
is right here, already whole
in your hands, in your life?

What if taking in what is
could satisfy your longing?
What if you could rest your frantic, racing, busy mind
and rest your neglected, tired body,
put your head down in someone’s lap
to have your hair stroked,
like a cat, or a child?

What if you didn’t need to understand
how it works,
but could enjoy the magic
of how love shows itself
in the most unexpected, simplest of gestures?

What if everything is just as it should be?
What if nothing had to be better,
bigger, different, or other?
What would you do then?
Who would you be? 

by Jena Strong

Welcome Home Hope and Chi

I didn't have high hopes for today.  I didn't have any hope for today if I am to be completely honest.  I decided the day's fate somewhere between 4:00 and 7:30 a.m. while I tried everything short of counting sheep to evoke sleep.  The steroids I'm on for this mysterious, unsightly, red, itchy rash that is covering a conservative 80 percent of my body make me wired and edgy.  Add to that combo the histamine blocker that makes me stop dead in my tracks sleepy and you have one confusing cocktail.  I went to bed so completely exhausted at 1:00 only to wake up at 4:00 raring to go, yet not at all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I refused to get up and I fought every urge to scratch my skin off, and then all the sudden I woke up and it was 10:30.  Let me tell you 6 1/2 hours felt like a gift.  It was Christmas in August as far as I was concerned, and the day that seemed so dead on arrival was busting at the seams with goodness.

I found the kids lounging in the family room watching a riveting episode of Say Yes to the Dress.  I'm not kidding...I cannot make this up.  During commercials, they would meet on the floor to resume their wrestling match.  That is what I found most entertaining.  I made a hearty brunch that met everyone's approval and we chatted about the day.  The conversation went something like this:

T. Bone: What are we going to do today.

Me:  Umm nothing.

T. Bone: Yesss!  Awesome!

Miss Bit:  Awwww.

T. Bone descended down to his boy cave to play video games...something he's done very little of this summer so I was very much more than ok with him wasting away a few hours wasting zombies.  First he suggested that we watch Meet the Fockers.  Last night we watched Meet the Parents while Miss Bit was away for a sleepover that turned into a sleepunder, which was all for the better.  T. Bone found much humor in Gaylord and Jinxy and definitely wanted more, but it's not exactly appropriate for a new 8 year old so I told him another time.  And for the record, brutal Nazi warfare is absolutely appropriate for an almost 12 year old...NOT.

Miss Bit's Awww quicky turned to an Awesome when she decided that hanging out with Mom would make for a good day.  I put on some tunes and we spent time crafting, singing, hanging out.  She decorated Barbie clothes and then we finally got going on our mosaic trivets.  They turned out really great if I have to say so myself.  It's a good thing too seeing as how I hacked up our kitchen counter top and through my favorite fancy dish towel while hammering the plates to pieces for the project.  Then my girl asked me something that was sweet music to my ears.  She asked if we could bake something so I turned her loose on my Pinterest Just Desserts page.  Of the 100 or so pins, she chose one that we didn't have an ingredient for so we went to the grocery store and also the craft store for another project, which is on tomorrow's agenda.

T. Bone geared up for football practice and Coach and I went for a much needed walk.  I have been couped up in the house since Saturday night save for a doctor's appointment and I needed the fresh air and the endorphins.  Miss Bit and I made the cookie bars she requested and then she left me to clean up the mess while she took a vase of flowers to our neighbor and then went to play with her BFF.  For the record, I was way fine with that too.  She was not fine with the fact that I turned the frosting pink.  She thinks the white tastes better, and my girl...she's right.  Hopefully, Coach's coworkers have less discerning palettes since the pretty in pink bars are trayed up for him to take tomorrow morning.

I tucked the kids in a little while ago.  Coach and cats too.  We're making a concerted effort to ease bedtime back to normal in these last weeks of vacation.  Believe me when I say that it's just as hard for me to realize that these loosey goosey days of summer freedom are going to come to an end all to soon.  T. Bone asked me to write a word on his back.  I traced Gaylord Focker cuz' I'm appropriate like that.  He chuckled and asked for another.  He got Love You.  He said with a smile in his voice, You too.  And yes, I realize that's 4 words.  She was all sweet fading smiles too.  Miss Bit said the same thing she says every night as we part, Say a prayer for me.  I said one for you.  And I will, I do.

And all this mundane minutia (much of which I've spared you mind you)...it's the big littles.  The small stuff that adds up to plentiful joy.  It's a truth I live by...attention to the extraordinary ordinary, but as we all know sometimes it's harder to live our truths than others.  I'm happy to report that today, slightly sleep deprived and still itchy, was just not one of those days.  Today I felt the chi...I felt the love...I felt my groove.  They've been missing the past couple days so I was more than ready to welcome them back.

The house is quiet.  I feel the peace of a good day and a little time to myself.  I'm not the least bit sleepy and that's good.  I figure if I can make it until 2:00, I'll sleep until 5:00.  There's something less lonely about waking up at 5:00 when the birds are already chirping as opposed to 4:00 when it's so eerily quiet and it dawns on you that you really are up before the birds.

On My Mind Monday

I must be praying again.  Proving once again, without meaning to, that there's no stopping the mind's grab for salvation, o ye of little faith, o all of us on the go who hardly know what we believe in anymore.  Most of the time I'm so removed from belief I confuse it with having an option.  As if God were a candidate who may or may not get the vote of my focus group.  Then this other thing lunges from its corner, not fear, but the stunning activity born of fear.  How keen the terrified mind is.  Its cry is prayer.

Patricia Hampl

Virgin Time 

I've been praying more than usual.  Something about the month of August bringing on strange symptoms once again is enough to incite fear in me and have me issuing pleas...making promises.  It makes me think...I pray often, but more so when I am feeling scared.  I suppose it's only natural when life feels out of control to exist more fully in faith.  I know what I believe in despite the fact that I could always offer more praise.

I'm very much looking forward to the mass we will attend Sunday.  We'll join hundreds of others in prayer as a part of our city's Irish heritage festival.  It is a very powerful thing to pray together with so many other believers.  Like give you the chills and fight back the tears kind of power.  I think it's the closest I'll come to a pilgrimage and just what I need right now.

2 day pass

we got a jump start on the weekend friday.

there was a picnic lunch followed by a hike along the river, through the woods, across a field and around a couple ponds.

the kids caught a few frogs and took turns holding a really smelly snake.

as you can see, i took lots of photos.

you're welcome.

then saturday we took a little road trip to celebrate the 80th birthday of a family matriarch.

there were toasts and tours.

we traveled to the erstwhile family homestead and farm, and then to the cemetery in town where many generations are peacefully buried.

it was a beautiful august day and quite a good time for all ages.

we arrived home just in time to turn in for the night.
sunday morning t. bone and miss bit were up and ready.

the kids both had plans today.

miss bit is off swimming with family.

t. bone is go carting with friends.

i'm nursing an itchy rash, which may or may not be chicken pox.

i'm not at all happy about it, but better me than them.