Grateful Friday

Today I am grateful for…

The ability to laugh at myself and not take life, or my hair too seriously (see previous post). Incidentally, I’m up to 5 yeas now, but also 3 nays.

Stellan is SVT free! His risky ablation was a success and his story is literally God’s work unfolding.

A house that would pass the white glove test. I spent the whole day Wednesday scouring and scrubbing and singing. I was blasting the music and working the day away.

My hubby should have perfect football weather for his trip with neighbors and friends to the Badger game tomorrow. He deserves some male bonding time.

Lists and calendars.

A pizza celebration tonight for hubby’s birthday.

Homemade, with love (and sometimes humor), happy birthday cards.

This week’s Thanksgiving feast 2 weeks before the holiday. I roasted a turkey, smashed some potatoes and steamed some squash. Jess joined us.

Making plans for the upcoming holidays…tickets to the Nutcracker, reserves for breakfast with the big guy, plans for the first ever River’s Edge round robin.

A new driveway.

My friends.

Carte Blanche aka Blank Cheque

Ta Da! This is THE textbook definition of carte blanche. This is what happens when you have a glass of wine before your evening hair appointment. This is what happens when you want a little change and you tell your trusted hair dresser, "whatever you think." This is what happens when you agree to his experienced, professional suggestion to "warm it up." This is what happens when he disappears into the back room for 15 minutes to "concoct" colors to transform your look in less than 2 hours and for only $150 ($50 more than you usually shell out). This is what happens when the glaze he applies to your whole head is called "strawberry" and it is pink. This is what happens when your hairdresser is a new dad to a 4 month old who has rendered him severely sleep deprived and not quite himself.

And now...I am not quite myself. I am a red head, or as my hubby keeps lovingly reminding me, an orange head. I'm not quite sure I ever aspired to be a carrot top, but that is my destiny until Monday when I can get some magic rinse that will restore my natural color...almost. With my luck...I'll end up with pink hair. Miss Bit would love that. Her favorite book right now is Pinkalicious and well, pink is my favorite color...just not for my hair, although it just may be better than orange.

I keep telling myself that it's only hair, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to come to work today. So far I have 3 yeas and 1 nay and 1 if you like it. Guess who is smart enough to leave it up to me?

Miss Bit came into my bathroom this morning and said, "MOM! Like how did you get RED hair?" I asked her if she liked it. She honestly replied, "It's wacky! But how did you get RED hair?!" I gave up Kevin...I had no choice. She responded, "Well, he sure wasn't too smart!" Then I dried it and took the flat iron to it and came down dressed in black fearful that any color in my clothing would get me mistaken for a clown today, and Miss Bit said, "MOM, YOU REALLY LOOK BEAUTIFUL! YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR HAIR LIKE THAT FOREVER! I REALLY REALLY MEAN IT!" (It must have been the lipstick I got talked into buying last night, or the new skirt.) T. Bone asked very concerned, "You aren't going to have to pay to have this fixed are you?" By the way, he's the nay.

Happy Birthday Love!

This very special man was born 42 years ago today so it is a day to be celebrated. This man is one in a million and I am so thankful that I met him 24 years ago.

42 reasons why I loooove the one I'm with...

1. He gets better looking every year...see above, and note that he was cute to begin with!

2. His glass is always half full.

3. He rarely says "I told you so," and almost always says, "I'm sorry" first.

4. Together we created our two beautiful children.

5. We share the same goals, dreams and aspirations for our family and our future.

6. He always makes me feel safe.

7. T. Bone and Miss Bit have great fun with their Daddy, but they also have great respect for him. He is a wonderful role model.

8. Family is important to him...his, mine, our's.

9. He never balks at the open door policy I have with family and friends.

10. He is forgiving and never holds grudges.

11. When we run together, he lets me set the pace, and he never complains that I'm slow.

12. He works hard to provide for our family, and after a full-time day on the job, he's a part-time student.

13. He is a great listener, and he always gives sound, thoughtful advice.

14. He almost always takes my side.

15. He is always putting others first. There isn't a selfish bone in his body (you do know there are 206 bones in the body...right?)

16. He kills spiders and centipedes for me.

17. He even watches reality t.v. with me, and almost always lets me pick the movie we watch despite my sketchy track record.

18. He waits until I'm in bed to watch his ultimate fighting shows.

19. We share mostly the same taste in music and both like to see live performances.

20. He never races to judgement. He is always fair and open minded.

21. He's the one that gets up with the kiddos in the middle of the night.

22. He likes to travel. Together we have experienced many places. We have plans and dreams to make our way to so many more.

23. He misses my Mom just like I do.

24. Sometimes...he reads my blog.

25. He's got spirit. He was Bucky Badger in college.

26. He likes to cook, and is the go-to grill guy in my family. He makes some mean salsa and ribs we all request numerous times a year.

27. He waits to put his fiery hot sauce and seasonings on his culinary creations until after I have served myself.

28. He is incredibly loyal to loved ones.

29. He is a great friend and still gets together with his group of friends from high school.

30. He hangs whatever I ask him to with only minimal grumbling.

31. He never says that I shop too much.

32. He usually cleans the toliets and the litter pans.

33. He always puts the toliet seat down!

34. He thinks (or at least he tells me) that I am the best baker.

35. He gets involved with the kids...scouts, coaching...you name it.

36. He is level headed and always calm in a crisis.

37. He is goal oriented and always striving for his PB!

38. My kids have his dreamy baby blues.

39. You should see him in his Levis.

40. We share the same political views...religious views and goals and morals too.

41. I know that when my kids are grown and on their own that I will be excited to have him all to myself.

42. This list was easy...truly only the tip of the iceberg.

I hope you have a great brithday weekend Love! I love you...Me

Choices

Now I wake me up to live,

I'll give life all I have to give.

If today I face a test,

I'll cope and pray and do my best.

With each breath and step I take,

Be with me LORD

For heaven's sake.

As I made my way downstairs this morning, the burn in my quads from running stairs at the Audubon yesterday made me cringe. Cringe again I sure did when I saw that my back yard was covered in frost. Miss Bit even thought it snowed. Neither one of these truths made me motivated to make my way to the Y. this morning for the single cardio class that is still a religious part of my weekly routine. I would have much preferred to make another cup of coffee and pass the day away reading and writing...not lesser options by any means...but my truth is that when I get my sweat on, I'm more prone to read and write more worthwhile material. I made a choice. One of many each and everyone of us makes everyday.

I thoroughly enjoyed my workout UNTIL the recovery(?) track that did not deliver relief as promised. It was all squats and lunges, and well, see the previous paragraph. My muscles were on fire, and I so badly wanted to get off my step and act like I had to go to the restroom. Instead, I played this little trick on myself that I keep up my sleeve for just such conflicts. I say, "Self...you are certainly strong enough to do 20 more lunges. What if your life depended on your ability to do 15 more lunges? What if the lives of the people you love depended on your doing 10 more lunges? Anybody can do 5 lunges wussy." It works, and before you know it you are done. Well, done with that leg anyway. It works even for my nemesis...tricep dips. I really had to dig deep today because there were two lunge/squat tracks. I made another choice...we all know - no pain, no gain. Hopefully, I can walk tomorrow.

It's mid morning as I write. The sun is out and the temperature has already creeped up to the mid 50's. I'm sitting here enjoying my second cup of coffee while I make choices for the rest of my day.

Alice the Mole

Lil Bit and I were sharing some girl talk in the locker room after her swimming lesson a little while ago. She was all ears as I filled her in on the animal encounters I had today during my Audubon adventure. I was telling her about the many moles, and I back tracked to give her a description thinking she had no idea what I was talking about. She stopped me mid stream of adjectives and reminded me that she knew what moles were. Dah! She sleeps with one every night...Alice. Alice kept my Mom company in her last days and now the little stuffed snuggly comforts Miss Bit every night...all night. Makes me wonder if it was mere coincidence that I was in the middle of mole mania today.

Good Day

I woke up at a little after 7:00 this morning and made a trip to the bano. Then I crawled back into the comfort of my bed thinking I might settle in for a little more slumber. I was resting for a few moments when I realized that I was ready to get up...I was rested...hear me Internet - I am saying that I had ENOUGH sleep, and so I got up. I knew then with absolute certainty that today was going to be a good day.

While the kids ate their breakfast, I threw together the ingredients for a little lentil soup (actually, there is little that is little about this soup...it is really very hearty), which some of us will have for dinner. Ahem! The rest of us will eat delicious soup out of a can. I was out the door soon after the bus pulled away and in route to the Audubon for a hike on this lovely fall morning. There were no school buses in the parking lot so I gratefully resigned myself to enjoy the solitude of the sanctuary. The Grassland Loop was a muddy mess, which explains why I had it to myself except for a lone buck and many moles. It was seriously mole mania today on the trails. As I finished the loop, I heard many small voices only to realize that they had arrived...school children in mass, that is to say. I spent the rest of my time avoiding the chattering children in an attempt to preserve the peace. I finished my hike just in time to pick up my T. Bone from school for some pizza therapy before his orthodontist appointment.

Me and my growing boy headed to the mall for our lunch date at his favorite pizza place...Rocky's. I am always in the mood for a Garden of Eatin' slice so it was a win win. He ordered up a Superslice and ate me under the table. Nerves, I tell ya'. We had a little more time to kill before his appointment so we walked around the mall for awhile. We stopped to browse in a boutique I love and I saw a skirt I have been coveting since my birthday (months...that is). They had one left, and it was my size. Concidence? T. Bone convinced me to buy it, but he didn't have to work very hard. I welcomed a little retail therapy.

T. Bone's expander is in place and he isn't in pain, but he sure sounds funny. Apparently, for no charge, said expander comes with a lisp. I ended up at the library after I took him back to school. I settled in with a stack of magazines for a little lost time.

Today's a good day...and here's the thing...it's not even over yet. There's nothing at all to suggest that tomorrow won't be, cannot be...a good day too.

All in a Weekend...

So far as weekends go…I’m all good with the last couple days. They really were THE perfect balance between down time and fun time, work and play, time to myself and time with others.
Thanks to birthday parties and play dates myself and the hubby were able to ease into the weekend. Friday evening we watched not one, but two movies filled with profanity, violence and nudity. I swear I was blushing...I'm so out of practice thanks to Disney and Pixar. We also ate pizza topped with all things green, red and grown in the ground.

Saturday we had to hit the ground running and we didn't much mind given that it was a balmy 70 degree day. T. Bone had back-to-back football games. Miss Bit made friends on the play ground while the hubby and I watched our star quarterback try his darnedest to save the games for his team, to no avail. He was down in the dumps and just plain tired until it was time to head out to celebrate Grandma's birthday and play yet more football with THE cousins who were in town for the occasion. He played so much football that he could barely walk the next day...he had the gait of an 80 year old man.

I stole a couple hours all by myself to go for a long walk on the beautiful day. I was cruising along when I spied a little black Miata with an IRL sticker on the bumper. It made me smile remembering how much my Mom loved her Miata...how much she loved her Irish heritage...how little she liked bumper stickers!

I caught up with the family in time for dinner...pasta that my mil made for her very own birthday celebration. I felt bad for only bringing the salad. She even bought her own cake. I guess them's the breaks when you are the mother of four boys! But I resolve to be a better daughter-in-law next year. She does so much for so many and deserves to be spoiled on her birthday.

Sunday was another very beautiful, very full day. We left the house by 8:30 for church and didn't return home until late in the afternoon. In between, the kids had Sunday school while the adults had Starbucks. I enjoyed my first egg nog latte of the season despite the fact in felt more like July than November. We convened for a leisurely lunch at a local brew pub, and then hubby went home to do a nasty combination of homework and yard work while T. Bone, Lil Bit and I met some friends for Junie B. Jones, A Little Monkey Business, at the children's theater. T. Bone was more embarrassed than chivalrous to be in the company of five women/girls and in the audience of a play about a punky kindergartner who also happens to be a G-I-R-L! He found kinship with Grandpa Miller, and I really must divulge that I did spy with my little eye a smile on his face more than once during the production. Miss Bit loved the show, and was only mildly disappointed that there were no real, live monkeys on stage as promised by the title of the show proving that she is very much on the same level as the title character, and just where she should be!

It was early to bed for the whole family, but hubby and I managed to scare ourselves just before lights out by watching Para*normal Activity in the comfort of our own family room (don't ask), thus ending the weekend the very same way it began. It's a good thing we were soooooo tired that even the thought of evil demons haunting our house couldn't keep us from sleeping.