Forever Underdone

Thankful

2011-11-15T22:55:00.002-06:00

It seems that everyone is posting something about what they're thankful for this month. This post has nothing to do with that, and everything to do with the fact that I am thankful tonight for some things I'm always thankful for, and others for which I'm not normally thankful.

Tonight I designed our Christmas card. I wasn't doing those this year, but I got 15 free, so I thought I may as well. Shutterfly asked me to embed my card that I made on the blog, so here it is. You get to see it for free, too! :) I'm so thankful for my family. My husband makes my day almost every single time I see him. He's such a wonderful, calming man that has had my heart over 9 years. I'm thankful for my children. Hannah is so intense and intelligent. She's such an obedient girl that has such an honest heart. Seth is so sweet and gentle. He's such a little gentleman. He loves to love. Baby Boy is already tugging at my heart...quite literally. He seems to already love his brother and sister because every time they sit with me or near me and start talking, he starts kicking toward them. He knows them. What a blessed family we have. See on the sidebar?

Another thing I'm thankful for is that my aunt finally is at peace. She died tonight, about 45 minutes ago, and is finally, truly resting. So thankful for her salvation. So thankful that the family right now is able to sadly celebrate her existence, but also her departure. There's a sense of relief instead of a question of why. So, so sad that she's gone. She was a treasure, and will be so greatly missed. I'm thankful for her humor, for her love, for her witness, and for her Lundemo-ness. Thank you, God, that I knew her, and blessing us with her existence for the short time she had on the Earth.

Very different things to be thankful for, but all given by the same gracious, merciful God. What a wonderful God we get to serve.

It's a boy!

2011-10-19T13:58:00.000-05:00

Yea! We're excited. We have absolutely no boy names we're even considering. There are names I like, and I have been vetoed (apparently it works with one-sided vetoes, too) on several. I had someone tell me I looked small today. God bless her. No really. She has 5 kids, so she knows what it's like to move from the "is she pregnant or just eating too much cake?" phase into the phase where you look in the mirror and you feel like a small cow. It's not just that I'm getting bigger it's the lack of mobility and increase in pain factor that I'm not too fond of. Fortunately, if this boy is like Seth was, I'll still be able to paint my toes, shave my legs, and put on my pants (you're welcome) at the end of this pregnancy. He was all out front, and I had the sides where I could reach around and take care of those things. Yea!

So I posted earlier than I thought I would. I'm still not sure when I'll post again.

I think it's a soup kind of night. Mmm...soup.

Another thing, I have trouble reading a book when I'm being MADE to read a book. Now for school or something like that it was different, but for other reasons, not so much.

And another, it's in the 40's here, and I refuse to turn on the heat because it'll be almost 80 just next Tuesday! I have a small electric heater, that we usually have in our bathroom in the winter, in the living room, and it's helping take a bit of the edge off. Really that's all we need right now. I may have to break down and turn it on upstairs, so the kids don't become small icicles by morning. They'd be cute little icicles though. :) OK, the end. See you soon?

Remember me?

2011-10-15T16:51:00.002-05:00

Yeah, so it has been nearly a forever since I've posted. I get that. I have no motivation to do much of anything, and this includes cooking anything for my family to eat every night. I think I'm getting over that, seeing as how I cooked more last week than I have since my first few weeks of pregnancy. Also, I'm actually posting on my blog. I have something that has been nagging, so aside from all the great stuff that's happening right now, I'm still going to post about that too. I'll get to the great stuff at the end, kind of as a way to end happy.

Date night. It's supposed to be something that couples do, right? Well, we don't. We don't have the babysitter that we know well and trust enough to allow them to feed, keep and put down our kids for a night of fun out for Mommy and Daddy, but more so, we don't have the money. How do people have the money to do this stuff? I mean, Dusty doesn't make just beans working. He's not making a killing, but he's not doing horribly. We budget very tightly. We have enough money for all of our bills, food, and a few extras, but going out and spending $100 for one night isn't on that list. And people do this monthly, even weekly! How? A babysitter alone would be probably $30. That's almost THREE meals at Chick-fil-A!! I guess my priorities are different, but should they be? Shouldn't we take time out for us as a couple? Dusty and I have a great relationship and communication, so it's not like we're really lacking anything by not going out. Are these couples going out because they don't spend time together when they're at home? I say this tongue-in-cheek right now because Dusty has taken our kids to the store, and I get some time at home...although without this time to myself next week would be a lot harder for me. We took two hours the other day when my parents were visiting just to go and look for maternity clothes for me. It was heavenly, really, but those two hours have carried me a long way (and it has taken 3 weeks for our budget to recover from that extra $109 expenditure, I kid you not). Now, I know we have been eating out more than usual, due to me not cooking, but it's not like we're even dropping $20 when we go out to eat. Usually it's $10-15. It's the rare occasion when we spend over $25, so I know that extra money spent could be used for us to go on a date, but it's really not adding up to that much money. Anyway, I'm just not sure what is "right" here, or if there even is a right answer on whether or not we should blow our budget and go out, or if we even need to go out at all. It just feels like stigma that couples should do, and we're not following that stigma (what's new?). Whew. Got all that out there. Now for the good stuff.

We should find out on Tuesday what gender our baby is. It has been going crazy kicking the last couple of weeks. I really felt it the first time about 16 weeks when I pushed down on my stomach, and I got a reply kick. Dusty actually felt it at 17 weeks, which is the earliest he has ever felt one of our kids. I'm sure it's because it's our third child, and this is the third time my body has stretched out like this. It's probably getting pretty thin in there. The past couple of weeks I have really grown, and it's getting uncomfortable already. Lower back pain is not my friend. However, the baby has grown from 5 oz to about 10-11 oz in only 2ish weeks, so it's understandable that other stuff is adding to my growth. I'm looking forward to the ultrasound so we can see it, and make sure it's doing well. We really don't care what we're having, as long as it's a healthy baby. However, Hannah wants a girl and will name her Sylvester. Yes. That's right, Sylvester. Seth said he wants a baby brother, "but Mommy said we're not having two". He has resigned himself to letting Hannah get her way. I said recently that we don't know what it is, it could be either, it's just what God has chosen for us to have. Yesterday Hannah asked Seth, "Seth, if you have a baby brother, can I play with him too?" Guess she thought she'd only get to play with the baby if it were a girl. I wonder if she realized that she plays with a baby brother every single day. (Side note: she'll be 5 in exactly 2 months. Crazy talk.)

OK, so about that cooking for my family thing. I'm going to go start supper now, and hope they're back in time. Thanks for listening/reading, and I may or may not do this again in the near future.

Cosby

2011-07-21T14:46:00.000-05:00

I love the Cosby Show. It's on Netflix instant streaming, and I love it. :) It makes me happy. Although, I'm pretty sure in the pilot they started by calling Theo "Teddy" which is weird. Also, they said they only had 4 kids. Pretty sure they have 5 in the other shows. Sandra isn't around yet, I guess...although she was the first one. Whatever.

I went for a couple of days without nausea, but it has been here ever since the beginning of the week. I have an ultrasound on Tuesday, and I'm anxiously awaiting seeing the heart beating. It'll be good to know that it's still alive. I have so much swimming in my head to talk about, but it's just not coming out right now. That's one of the huge reasons why I haven't been blogging recently. :-/

I made cookies last night. Fail. My bread is working beautifully in my new oven elemented oven, but my cookies were awfully flat. They taste great, but they're horribly thin. I wonder if I creamed the butter and sugar too long. Ah well. At least my bread is good. :)

Big things are happening...

2011-07-14T21:49:00.000-05:00

Well, there's one big bit of news that some people know, and some people don't yet. We haven't announced it to the world (i.e. facebook, twitter) because of a previous experience. We're now 6 1/2 weeks pregnant. Last year I miscarried at 10 weeks, so we've been a little reserved in who we've told, but it has gotten out more and more, shocker, so I'll just go ahead and talk about it on here, and then announce it to the social networks when my first trimester is over. Thus far this has been my most difficult pregnancy yet. I'm already nauseated for the majority of the awake day, at least 10-12 hours, and I've already been sick. Having two kids while being pregnant is a challenge I did not expect. Having one very young kid while being pregnant was a challenge, but having two who are a bit older is definitely difficult. Seth loves to sit in my lap, but right now that's not a pleasant thing for me. He will sit in my lap for the whole day, if I would let him, but I want the boy to go and play some, so I lure him away with toys and a sister. :) I have to almost continually eat, or the nausea rears its ugly head, and knocks me for a loop. Today especially I have also been super tired. This also makes for an unpleasant time for my kids and me. I could really have used a break this morning. The kids were super needy, and I was super needy, and no one could meet anyone's needs. Praise the Lord, the kids went down for naps, and stayed down longer than usual. I know He completely answered that plea. After naps the day was glorious! Well, except for the minor mishap of trying to cook my bread, and having my oven element explode. Yeah, it was seeping the stuff that's supposed to be inside the element. It made the oven light up nicely for a second or two before I turned it off. Fortunately, Dusty found a replacement on Amazon, so we should get it some time next week. It'll be microwave and stove top dinners for us! :) That's not a big deal though. I turned on my oven yesterday for the first time since Saturday (or possibly before). It was so dreadfully hot outside I couldn't turn on the oven and stress out our poor air conditioner units anymore. :)

Dusty's garden is doing beautifully. If he can keep the squash bugs at bay, then things look great out there. He has brought in SOOO much squash already, and several huge zucchinis, some corn, green beans, eggplants, tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, banana peppers, and fresh herbs. He's such an amazing gardener. Right now he's canning the jalapenos. He ran out last year, and wanted them for months, so he's making sure he's got enough this year. His jalapenos are beautiful, and quite impressive, so I think he'll have plenty. I don't really do the hot pepper thing with putting up vegetables. I'll do the other things, but not hot peppers. I'm so glad I have a husband that can and will do these types of things.

Hannah got glasses. If you're on fb with me, you already know this. She said the other day, "Mommy, when I look through my glasses now, I don't see them anymore!" I'm really glad about this because just a few days ago she wasn't digging them, and it had only been two days since she'd had them. She also said that when she takes off her glasses she doesn't look like Hannah anymore. Only when she has her glasses on does she look like Hannah. I have to admit that I miss her unhindered face. I won't tell her that, but it will also take some getting used to for me to love her glasses. Right now they're just covering up her natural beauty. I'm wondering if less noticeable frames might be the key to that, but we won't find that out for another year, or however long it is before people get new frames for their glasses. I'm new at this. I'm so thankful we caught it early though. The doctor said she would most likely have developed a lazy eye because the problem is only in her right eye.

I'm really hoping we don't miscarry this baby. We actually sort of planned to have a baby right now, whereas before it has always come as a complete surprise. While this is a total surprise, we had a hunch. We go for an ultrasound in a week and a half, and we're praying to see that heartbeat. At that point with the last baby there would not have been a heartbeat, but I hadn't miscarried yet. The kids are super excited about this baby, as are we. I'll try and update as we find out anything.

Lots going on

2011-06-28T22:58:00.001-05:00

So I finally have gotten over hives...I think. My head still itches like they're on my scalp, but I've not taken any medicine since Thursday of last week. This was the longest running bout of hives I've had in years. We have our theory of why, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

Things have been pretty busy at our house recently. It seems like instead of slowing down and relaxing when summer hit, our schedules have been going full force, and everything that can go on is going on. We've had overnight visitors, we've visited, we've had many play dates for the kids, we've seen relatives and friends and had a lot of fun. My kids are hilarious, as usual. Just the other day we were eating lunch with our friend Shandy and Cheyenne. Cheyenne is 19 months, and was down in the floor after eating looking out the window with my kids. At one point Cheyenne laid down on the floor of the restaurant, apparently exhausted from our morning, and Hannah looked up and said, "Shandy, look at your CHILD!" The way she said it definitely doesn't come across through written word, but it was HYSTERICAL!!! Shandy laughed so hard at my adult 4 year old's statement. Today Seth said "amn't." I said something to him for him not to do something, and he said, "I am...ummm, I amn't." Cracked me up.

I meant to write more on this post, but I am completely exhausted, and can hardly keep my eyes open any longer. I think I'll have much more to write about soon. I'll keep you posted...

Hives

2011-06-16T21:57:00.000-05:00

Ugh...I've had hives for the last 3 1/2 days. Like mega hives. Like the type that the internet says shouldn't happen. I get hives on the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet, which the internet says shouldn't happen. I get hives with angioedema. The internet says that shouldn't happen too. Well, surprise! Tuesday morning I woke up and could hardly see my eyelids were so swollen. I also had hives all over my body. Yesterday I jumped out of bed to get Seth because he woke up before we were up, and I said, "OOH OHH OH OH!!" My wonderful husband said he'd get him for me. :) Thanks, Dusty. I had hives on the soles of my feet, which cause them to swell and HURT when pressure is put on them. Also, I couldn't make a fist with either hand. Shoot, I still can't put my wedding rings on. Today I've had more intense itching than I've had in a very long time. I am absolutely exhausted.

Now on a great note, it has been a very good week. Busy, but good. My kids have learned a lot of math, and on how to care for people that need help. They are such wonderful children. Poor Seth fell off his bike today and scraped his elbow, and I think jammed his left index finger. It's pretty swollen, and a little blue. He moved it a lot better this evening though than his did after his nap. He's such a good boy.

My girl is becoming more beautiful by the day. Her face is slimming into a little girl's face instead of a baby's face. She has such a sweet, genuine smile. They laugh together, and they crack up each other. Good week.

And now it's raining! Our garden desperately needs that. It's so amazing how much better the rain makes the plants grow than regular watering with sprinklers. Of course, it grows better, I mean that's how it was designed, it just still boggles my mind.

I'm sorry, faithful readers, that I have been so absent the past few weeks. I think I'm having difficulty, as I've said before, finding time to do this because I always feel it's taking away from something else. My husband is busy on his computer right now, too, or I wouldn't be blogging even now. However, I'm very tired, so I'm going to go to bed now. I will be back eventually. :)

Busier than a One Armed Paper Hanger

2011-06-09T20:59:00.001-05:00

I have six minutes in which to write this post. The last two weeks have been very busy, to say the least. My parents came for a visit on the Sunday night before Memorial Day. My dad, Dusty and I spent Memorial Day on a roof, and my dad and I continued that fun the next day. We just couldn't get enough. It was well over 95 both days, and it made for an experience. My shoes melted. The soles of my shoes shifted on the rest of my shoe. Now, I've had my shoes come unglued, but never have I had them unglue and then REglue crooked. Weird. It was HOT. My dad and I continued that fun on Wednesday afternoon finishing up a few things that needed fixing. Remember back in March when I called my dad feeble, or frail, or festering, or something like that? Yeah, not anymore. He's nearly back to normal, well, more than normal for most people, but nearly back to normal for himself. It was a long couple of days, but it was a joy to be roofing a house with my dad again. :) I've missed that. Is that even legal to say? "I've missed roofing a house." Seems against some kind of law. Aw, man, I've only got one minute left. It takes me a long time to formulate my thoughts for this thing. Probably why I haven't blogged in these two weeks. Anyway, that Tuesday I spent on the roof was Dusty's and my 8th anniversary. Time's up...I'll finish later. I'm back. Did you miss me? We didn't do anything, after I had been on the roof all day, for our anniversary. Fortunately, my parents stayed until Friday morning, and we were able to go out on Thursday night. We ate supper and got frozen yogurt. It was so nice to get out and be able to converse without children interrupting us.

This week we've had VBS. I'm leading the old 5 year old class. The first day we had 33 kids. THIRTY-THREE KIDS!!! Ridiculous. We have the biggest class in the entire preschool. It has been very interesting, and I don't know how much the kids are going to grasp, but I hope they get something from it. I have survived the last four days, and have only one left. I was unsure whether or not I'd make it to tomorrow after today's VBS day. It has been taxing. I'm exhausted, and I'm really looking forward to Monday, although, I'm not looking forward to feeling irritable at my kids all the time. I think I need to have some time to myself every day. I have more details about all of these things, but honestly, I'm so tired I can't write more. I'm sorry for being gone so long, and I can promise I won't post again until at least Monday. I'm really needing lots of time for my family and myself. :)

ALONE!

2011-05-24T22:59:00.001-05:00

I went out alone tonight! First time since April 29! I happened to run into a couple of friends and their just-under-two year old, who spent the entire shopping trip at Walgreens calling and looking for me, and when I said calling I really mean bellowing. But I wasn't responsible for him, and that made it better. I didn't have to corral him, or hush him, or make sure he wasn't eating the cart (which he was). I also went to the bank and Hobby Lobby all in one hour! It would've been a lot faster, had I not run into those friends and another friend at Walgreens. In any case, I felt like a human again upon my return and not some mutant anger-monger that hasn't been alone in public in almost a month. We'll see which one decides to show up tomorrow. Human vs Mutant Anger-Monger. This could be the start of something. Hm...Dusty should write that app.

On a side note, please pray that the severe storms dissipate tomorrow before they get to us in the evening. We're supposed to have a high likelihood of tornadoes, and honestly, I'm done with this season. I'm jumpy and anxious every time the wind blows. I'm beginning to have day-mares that my house will blow away with us in it. I mean, did you see the footage of the house that's now just a foundation? That would be what our house would look like. It's a slab foundation. We have no underground anywhere to go. We have my in-laws', but if it just happens on us, then there's no planning. Granted, I know about it 24 hours in advance, but I really don't want to have to drive all the way there and get no sleep, and have the kids get no sleep, and then just sit in there while nothing happens. Ugh. Convenience vs Safety. Is this really another app? Probably not. That would be lame.

Dr. Pepper

2011-05-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

I have had an interesting relationship with this soda. Now, you need to know this before we start, we are no longer soda drinkers. We drink strictly water, unless we're at someone's house that serves a different drink. We'll occasionally drink milk, too, but for the last few years it has been basically water.

I have always hated Dr. Pepper. It tastes like cough medicine. My sister-in-law would have Dr. Pepper for every meal, if she could get enough nutrition from it. Not with her meal, FOR her meal. I had a DP one day, on a whim and realized I did not have the hatred for it any longer. I actually enjoyed it. I had it on another occasion, and another. Then last week I had it at MOPs. Then I had another one last week I had bought (oh yeah, we buy and keep sodas because we know that a lot of our friends and family drink it, so we keep it on hand, in case someone visiting wants one). I drank the whole can in about 3 minutes. Then we went to my in-laws' on Sunday, and I had more. I could feel it becoming a habit. Dusty's aunt gave us a 2-liter she had brought that was extra. I drank 2 during lunch yesterday, and I just had another glass. Yep. Pretty sure I'm feeling an addiction coming on. I wanted to drink more last night at 8, but I didn't want the caffeine (or calories). Weird. Tastes change.

Ahhhh...

Want to know what I made tonight?

2011-05-21T22:35:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow we're having a birthday party for Dusty's grandfather. He has been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph nodes now. I'm not sure what all the details are, but I know he's going to have chemo. His birthday is Tuesday, and she said that it's most likely his last birthday, and they want to have a party for him. He's now incapable of swallowing anything with any texture, so we're making foods that are pretty mushy. I have the job of the cake and I'm making sweet potato casserole. I also wanted to make something more interesting, so here's the answer to the Title question. I'm making maple and bacon cupcakes. Here's the recipe, for the most part, of what I use. French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes with Maple Frosting. I made 12 normal size ones, and 9 minis. I'm hoping they like them. I don't really care though because my kids and husband LOVE them. I'm exhausted today, but I wanted you to know what I made tonight. Here's a picture.

Cute isn't it?

Discipline

2011-05-18T13:58:00.000-05:00

Not only is it one of the hardest words ever for me to type, it's also one of the hardest things ever with which to be consistent. Recently I've had the privilege of noticing my kids notice other kids' bad behavior. With one situation my kids were literally sitting there staring with their mouths open at the disobedient child. Seth looked at me with amazement, and question like, "Mommy, WHY are you not DOING something?!?" Later on I had to explain that it's the responsibility of the mommy and daddy to discipline their own children, which is why I didn't say anything to that child, nor should they. My children are not perfect. My children do disobey, but they know when they do there are repercussions that will happen EVERY time. This is the key to having good children. There's nothing that says that my children will not rebel when they get older. After they're out from under my roof, I have little control over that, except through prayer, but while they're young, you better believe I keep tabs on them. They know when they do something to disrespect someone or something, then they will get in trouble. My children could be just as disobedient and raucous as other kids. They've just been taught that is not how to act. I love my children. They are marvelous miracles.

I love my husband, I may as well note. :) He is the reason that I'm able to be as consistent with our kids as I am. He is my support, and my encourager. He is such a wonderful man.

OK. The end.

Monday

2011-05-16T15:41:00.000-05:00

I love weekends. I love the time I get to spend with my kids during the week, but I love weekends. I get to spend so much time with my husband, and I love that. My children are my life right now, but my husband is my life forever. My children will leave and start their own families, but my husband is here for better or worse til death do us part.

I made chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes for MOPs today. It was a potluck thing we were doing, and I made these because of a request another MOPs mom made of me. She had them once, and really wanted me to make them again. I really didn't want to make them yesterday, but I did. The moms loved them. I'm pretty sure no one will make them because they're pretty labor intensive, but we were supposed to bring the recipe, so I did.

Here's something I don't like. Gnats. Nope. Don't care at all for them. Now, in normal every day life they don't matter at all to me, but when they get in my house, I do not like them. Not at all.

Tricia stopped by the other day. I love when Tricia stops by. If you read Tricia's blog, you'll read an anecdote about how I know her so well. I'd just like to point out how nice it is to have a friend like that. A friend that I can predict what's REALLY going to happen even when they're not even sure that's what was going to happen. Love that.

Dusty got a clock from his grandmother's house when we were going through things, and it's a digital clock with the date that spins around and around. Hannah read the date on the clock the day that Dusty plugged it in, and ever since then she has recited the date. Today we were dropping off some Mary Kay at a clinic where I have some customers, and a nurse came by asking another nurse what day it was. Hannah said, "May 16th" as she was walking. Neither woman heard her, but I thought it was hilarious because here's this adult that actually understands the concept of dates within a month, and here's a four year old that barely can grasp what it means (although she has already remarked that tomorrow is May 17th), and she knows the date. She's such a smartie. Now Hannah wants to write a letter on my computer, so I will now hand it over to her. :)

Another week older and deeper in debt

2011-05-15T15:01:00.000-05:00

OK, so maybe not the deeper in debt part, but I am another week older.

One of our best friends is moving to Nashville from Jackson. It happens to be Dusty's cousin, but the cousin's wife and I are great friends, and I will miss her and their daughter a lot. It's still a little bit up in the air, but they're 95% sure they'll go.

Dusty has been contacted by a company that wants to talk to him about a job too, but it has been 4 years since Dusty submitted his resume to them. It seems pretty random that they'd contact him now. They haven't been able to really get in touch with each other, in order to be able to relay important information, and I'm figuring it's not really going to work out, but it's just nice for him to be recognized.

I've been a reading fool recently. I'm really tired, and don't want to do a whole lot. I'm wondering if I need to get out and exercise, and get my energy level back up, or maybe I'm just drinking too much coffee and my body is revolting from the amounts of caffeine.

OH, man. I just remembered I have to make some cupcakes, so I'll cut this short and go do that for tomorrow.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:56:00.001-05:00

We wound up getting ready really fast this morning, and we were able to make it to the 8:00 service (at 8:10). Pretty good considering it takes us 25 minutes to get to church, and Seth didn't get out of bed until 7:20. I didn't even get up until 7. We took the kids to worship with us. Hannah sang her heart out. She was reading the words and singing them loudly. It was probably close to the most precious thing I've ever seen. I had brought coloring books for them to do while the sermon happened, and in the middle of the sermon Hannah had to go to the bathroom. We were coming back in, and I stood at the back closing the door quietly. I turned around to go and follow Hannah into the back row, where we were sitting, I saw she had walked down 3 or 4 rows to sit down. The people around there knew where we were sitting, apparently, and were trying to direct her to the correct row. I whispered for her, and she came back to our row. There was a guy in a wheelchair at the end of our row. Somewhere between leaving our row, and using the bathroom, she forgot where we were sitting. Not embarrassing at all. :) We went to Sunday school, then did the nursery. Oh my word. We had children barely three. I am so grateful for the behavior of my children. Wow.

My husband took me to a restaurant with little waiting after church, so we got a great lunch out. Again, my children acted perfectly! I am such a thankful mommy!! They sat and ate, and weren't loud. They didn't even seem inconvenienced by sitting there and eating. It was a great lunch (and dessert :) ).

We ate leftovers for supper, and the kids went down on time tonight. It was a great day. I wish we could do it all over again tomorrow. Of course, I'm a mommy, so I get to do this every day.

Good Day/Bad Day

2011-05-07T21:13:00.001-05:00

I'll start with the bad day first. I just realized that on Tuesday I accepted the responsibility of Dusty and me watching a room of 2 year olds in the nursery tomorrow, not realizing that tomorrow is Mother's Day. I'm so ticked off that they didn't care to mention that to me on the phone, and that I was dumb enough not to realize it. So now, happy mother's day to me, HERE watch some MORE kids that you don't even KNOW! I'm so irritated. I am so terribly not happy about this. I don't get to hear the Mother's Day sermon. I don't get to be peaceful for Mother's Day for 2-1/2 hours without kids. I'm so angry. It's totally clouding my whole day, which was good.

I'm going to start talking about my good part of the day, and hopefully that will make me less angry. OK, typing that sentence didn't work. I just had to pause for a minute to express my anger out loud, yet again. We went to my in-laws today to have a mother's day day for my mother-in-law because tomorrow I really wanted to just stay at home after church and have it be MY mother's day. The kids had a pretty good time, but their primary toys were out of commission, so that put a temporary damper on their play. They did have fun playing inside though. (Nope...not helping yet.) Hannah didn't take a nap and was EXHAUSTED. She fell no less than three times this afternoon, and was just having a rough time. We were on our way home, and we passed by the Strawberry Festival, which has a carnival. I mentioned going to Dusty, and he said he was fine with it, so we asked the kids, and they were VERY excited. It wound up we only had $9 cash, so Dusty had to go across town to the bank and get a little more money, so they kids could actually ride two rides each. They both rode the carousel, Hannah rode a mini-roller coaster, and Seth rode a train type ride that just went around in a circle, but he liked it. Hannah LOVED hers. We got a bit of fair food, which was good and artery clogging. The kids had a great time. First experiences with a port-a-potty. Seth went in with Dusty to use the urinal, and he was standing up to go. Now, we usually have him sit down at home because it's just less messy, so he's not accustomed to going standing up, but this was not the first time he has ever done this. It was, the first time in a port-a-potty though. Different world altogether. Dusty was waiting for him to go, and asked why he wasn't going. Seth said, "Daddy, my potty went away." They came out and Dusty informed me he hadn't gone. I asked him why, and he said, "Mommy, my potty got stuck." Huh. I know what you mean. Looks like we have a bladder shy little guy. :) Yeah, ok, so that part cheered me up a bit, but only because it removed the blaring focus from the inevitable irritation.

OK, I just looked at facebook. My perspective has been changed, and my "poor me" outlook has dimmed. I have a friend whose dad was diagnosed with ALS. He is going downhill VERY fast. She is going to lose her dad probably within a year. Her grandmother just had a stroke. Her husband will be having brain surgery in the next six months. Her baby boy, they just found out, has autism. She is continually saying that God is good in all situations, and I am not sure I would have the same mantra. I know He is, and I would remember that, but I'm not sure how much I'd believe it. I mean, if I get this much in an uproar over keeping the nursery on what is just another Sunday that has a name? Wow. Pretty petty. I'll go tomorrow and serve with gladness. There is some mother out there that needs to be in the service more than I do; someone like my friend.

My husband is asleep on the couch next to me. Perhaps we'll turn in early tonight. I have pictures on my phone from tonight, but those will wait for another day. Thanks for letting me "talk" through my emotions.

Oh, Come ON!

2011-05-06T15:18:00.000-05:00

We found out today that Dusty's grandfather has throat cancer. We know no other details except he'll have diagnostic tests and will receive treatment in Memphis. He'll be 75 in a couple of weeks. I don't know if it's our age and people are getting older, but it just seems like it's one thing after another. My aunt, my dad, Dusty's mom's skin cancer treatment, Dusty's grandmother, Dusty's aunt, Dusty's grandfather, and my grandma falling last year, and now having knee replacement. While my family's side is serious, it's curable and things will wrap themselves up and be well. Dusty's family has had two deaths, and one very serious bout of cancer.

In spite of all this, I feel so thankful for my family and Dusty's family. I'm so grateful for the love of my little family. We've had a great day today. Dusty took today off to get stuff done. He hasn't done a lot outside yet, but he got some things picked up in Jackson that he's needed to do, and the kids and I did some in Jackson separately from him. The weather is gorgeous. We're about to go outside and play because both kids have just awakened. Dusty is tilling up some more ground for more garden space. The kids and I can maybe go on a bike ride around our little circle. They love that. Seth has trouble multitasking. He can't pedal, steer and look ahead of him all at the same time. He can pedal, but I have to steer for him. He can steer, but I have to push the bike and constantly remind him to look forward. It's hilarious. To me AND him. Yesterday, every time I'd say, "Seth, steer. Seth, look forward. Seth, you're going in the middle of the road. Seth, you're going off the side of the road." he'd crack up. It was amusing for all.

So if you think about it, please pray for Dusty's granddaddy, Jerry Castellaw. He's in for a big change and a lot of tests.

Faithful blog readers

2011-05-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting. I'm very aware of this. I've been trying to cut back on the amount of time I spend on the computer because I feel like it's taking away from the real life aspect of my life. I feel like I do this instead of taking time for me in the afternoon, spending time with the kids, or spending time with Dusty. So if I don't post as often for a while, it's because I'm busy most times when I would have normally been able to post.

We've been doing school with Hannah, and she did 20 pages yesterday, and she wanted to call Grandma and Grandpa and tell them about it. We called Grandpa, since Grandma was busy, and she told him she had done 20 pages in school. Seth said he wanted to talk to Grandpa. He said, "Grandpa I did eleventwelve pages!" Grandpa was undeniably impressed with both of them. A little confused at the exact amount of pages Seth had done, but impressed nonetheless.

We started reading the 5th book in the Little House series. Hannah finished the 4th book, with a little coaxing at the end. She had about 60 pages left, and she read it two naps in a row. She had 16 pages left, and I asked her to go ahead and finish it, so we could take it back to the library that day. She didn't really want to, but she did because she wanted to finish it. When she finished it, she jumped up and down on the couch. :) She was ecstatic. We got the 5th book that day, and when we got home she said she didn't want to read that one; she wanted me to read it. So I'm reading it. I really like reading those books, and even more so when I'm reading to them, so it's a win-win. :) In the reading of the 5th book yesterday, Jack died. Jack was their dog. She wrote it in a way that was a little obscure to younger readers as to what had just happened. She said, "Pa had spoken to Jack, but he didn't stir. All that was left of Jack was the stiff, cold body..." That's not a direct quote, but it's a close enough quote, so I don't have to get out of bed and go upstairs to have a direct quote. Hannah completely missed the subtext of those sentences, so when I said it was sad that Jack had died, she said, "Jack DIED?!? WHY?!?!?" I explained that Jack was old (exactly what I had just read in the book), but she still had more questions. She wanted to know if he would be in "our" heaven. Dusty answered affirmatively, that God had created all creatures, and that he thinks there will be animals in heaven (but not certain ones, right, Dad?). She said when she goes to heaven she wants to pet and play with Jack, too, just like Laura did. Dusty said she might not want to call for him by name because there are probably a lot of dogs named Jack in heaven, and they'd all come running to her. She said, "Oh, yes. There are 109 Jack dogs in heaven." 109? Where in the world did that come from? (That last phrase, what or where in the world, has been said by my daughter, in an appropriate way, a few times recently. It cracks me up.)

A member of our family had a birthday recently, and we called to sing. Hannah asked how old she was, and I said 38. She said, "Whoa. Her head is almost to touch the ceiling." I told her no, at some point people stop growing, but still have birthdays. Seth said, "Is it going to touch the car ceiling?" Nope. Hannah asked, "When will she be 39?" I said, "On this day, next year." She said, "Soooo.....Tuesday?" Ah, the inability of a child to understand time. Love that.

We were supposed to have a Bible study tonight. No one came. Dusty didn't send out a reminder email, but we did announce it in Sunday school that we'd have it. No one came. It wouldn't have been as frustrating had someone not told me about an hour before everyone was to arrive that at least one of the people in the couple would be coming. Forty minutes after it should have started, I texted. No response. Twenty minutes later, I texted again. They were actually coming to pick up something of ours to borrow, but she responded telling me they weren't going to borrow it after all, so they weren't coming. Um, thanks for letting us know.

I think I'll choose to focus on the cuteness of my kids instead of the unreliability of certain adults. And now, I'll go to bed. We've been going to bed WAY too late recently, and I'm completely drained. Hopefully, I will post again soon. Thanks for sticking around to read this, those of you who are still reading.

Safe

2011-04-28T21:49:00.000-05:00

I'm so thankful for safety. We have a house, minus a shingle or two, and beds, and most importantly, each other.

I'm making cupcakes tomorrow for my neighbor. I'm excited to get paid for another baking thing!

I'm not sure what I would do without a DVR. We were just watching a show, and I wasn't sure what had just happened, so I rewound it and reviewed it. We're watching the last episode of The Office with Steve Carell. It's so weird when I get invested in a show, and start loving the characters. So weird.

I almost didn't get home tomorrow from my in-laws' house where we spent the night because they have a storm shelter. There was some high water on the way home, and I was kind of worried that I wouldn't be able to make it through. I did, thankfully, after following someone else. I wasn't about to go through first. Call me chicken, but the guy in front of me had to drive over a log. I was praying we could make it through, and that God would take care of everything. Maybe God doesn't take care of all of those types of things, but I believe if He does, then I'd like to give credit where credit is due, and I'll give him the credit even if He doesn't. He deserves more than I give him already. Anyway, the log moved out of the way. I drove straight through it. I'm so thankful God provides.

I know this was a string of random thoughts, but that's what I've got tonight.

Storms

2011-04-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

Storms and more storms. We have had a lot of storms recently. We've been in the closet twice in the last week. Both times we've had to pull them out of bed. Frustrating, but a great adventure. :)

Our Easter weekend was great. Dusty was off on Friday, and we were able to run a couple of errands as a family. Saturday we stayed at home most of the day, and we relaxed a lot. The kids had an Easter egg hunt that morning. They had a more fun time playing on the playground than they did hunting eggs. :) Yesterday we went to Dusty's parents' house, and the kids played outside all day. Unfortunately, we didn't reapply the sunscreen, so Hannah has a slight sunburn on her shoulders and just under her left eye. I must not have put sunscreen as close to her eye as I thought. I just didn't want to get it in her eye. Also, she had it on one of her crown. I can't believe I didn't make her wear a hat. Seth didn't get any burn at all. His skin tone is so much darker. Poor little light skinned girl.

I made some more stuff this weekend though. I made cake truffles for the first time. I used a (are you sitting down) boxed cake mix. I KNOW! It was suggested by most every blog I found with the recipe. That way the cake-to-icing ratio would be right. I did make my own icing though. I used a funfetti mix, which I love, but apparently not when it's all smushed together and mixed with icing. It was all brown then. Anyway, here's the link, Cake Balls by Bakerella, I used to tell me how to make it, only I used funfetti, and my own icing. Also, I used melted milk chocolate to cover some of them, and then Wilton candy melts to cover the rest. I'm not the biggest fan of these, but they seemed to be enjoyed.

In other news, Dusty and I started playing a video game on the Wii a few days ago, and we're obsessed once again. It's fun. :)

Whoa

2011-04-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

I just paid $72 for gas. Granted, I had barely any gas left in my tank, but I just paid $72 for gas, and that was with $.10 off per gallon, PLUS it was less at this gas station than anywhere else. Not fun.

I'm ready for my kids to get back to being healthy again. And by kids, I mean, Seth. Hannah hasn't gotten the last two things that Seth has gotten. I'm exhausted, so I'm hoping I don't get it. Seth has been waking up at night coughing, so the nights have been pretty broken. We'll make it though. He's finally getting better.

Saturday during naps Dusty and I made lavender soap. We've made soap before, but this time we're using essential oils. We got the oils in the mail on Friday, and were able to make soap on Saturday. :) It smells fabulous. We'll be able to use it in the middle of May. We had also gotten peppermint oil to try, and we actually made that yesterday morning. We had to stay home from church because Seth had fever on Saturday, so we let them kids play a Wii game, and Dusty and I made peppermint soap. Now we have 80 ounces of soap curing, and we're happy about that. :)

It looks like I'm going to have another person to make cakes for, in the near future. My neighbor saw the picture of my cake that I made last week, and she asked me to make one for her son, who turns 21 on the 30th. I gave her a couple of cupcakes I had recently made to test. One was the chocolate chip cookie dough cupcake I posted the recipe for last week, and one was the chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream that I posted about last week, too. She loved the cookie dough one. She said her son's favorite dessert is cookie dough, so these cupcakes would be perfect. She's going to get back to me about how many dozen she wants. I thought the price I quoted her was a bit high, but I just looked online last night to find the price of a "cupcakery" in Jackson. They're new and have specialized cupcakes too. I decided to ask $15 a dozen for these. The place in Jackson charges THIRTY DOLLARS a dozen! Ridiculously expensive! I'd LOVE to get that much for a dozen cupcakes! I'm just pleased with $15! Anyway, I'm excited about the prospect of getting a profit for baking. :)

Did I tell you about Hannah reading On the Banks of Plum Creek? She's on page 207.

She hasn't read any of it today. I think she's taking a bit of a break. She didn't even want to read it at nap time. She wanted to read Curious George. That's fine. I understand wanting to read different stuff. :) Plus...she's 4. Amazing girl.

WOO!!

2011-04-15T13:47:00.001-05:00

I got paid today for the cake! And here's the recipe link for one of the cakes I made. I didn't do all the other stuff, obviously, that this recipe calls for, but the basic cake recipe is the one I used. Chocolate Caramel Coconut Cupcakes...or, what I call, the recipe I used for the Chocolate Cake. I made 2-6 inch cakes, a dozen cupcakes and two mini-bundt cakes with this recipe. It's extremely moist and delicious. The cakes take about 25-30 minutes to cook, but the mini bundts and the cupcakes only take 15. The tops do not look like they're done, but they don't stick to your finger when you touch them. Love. This. Recipe. If you make the actual cupcakes from the recipe, don't use all the half and half it calls for. They're some of the best cupcakes I've ever made. I use the buttercream recipe from Wilton.

Buttercream Icing Recipe
1 c. shortening
2-3 T water (depends on the stiffness of icing desired)
3/4 t clear vanilla
1/4 t clear butter flavor
dash of salt
1 lb (about 4 c.) powdered sugar

Mix shortening and liquids until fully blended. Add powdered sugar gradually and mix thoroughly every time. Mix on medium high until light and fluffy. If it's too stiff, add another teaspoon of water until consistency is desired.

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night. We didn't go to bed early since Dusty had been working outside for a long time unloading the dirt. I didn't make it outside before he came in last night. Then at 2:20 the weather radio alarm went off telling us there was a tornado watch. Then at 4 something the thunder started, and it woke me up. I looked at the kids, and noticed Seth was on his stomach all curled up, so I figured he was cold. Also, he'd had a fever last night, and his medicine had probably worn off, so I was pretty sure he was cold. I saw Hannah moving significantly after one big clap of thunder, so I went up to give her Mr. Bear, which is the gigantic bear whose legs cover her ears. :) I put Mr. Bear on her bed, and she sweetly said, "Thank you, Mommy" and then a big clap happened, so I went to cover up Seth, and came back and laid down with her for a few minutes while the thunder ended. She was very happy. :) I tried to go back to sleep, and it took me about an hour. Then one hour after that at 6:10, the weather radio went off again. This time it was a tornado warning for Madison County. It was south Madison, so it's almost an entire county away from us. I slept until the actual sleeping alarm went off...three times.

We had a very busy morning today, and I really could've used some more sleep, but thankfully God blessed my schedule and my strength, and we made it through it all. I took the cake, and it looked great when she got it! Then she picked up the box and held it with ONE arm! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!? AAAAHHHH!!! I don't care. I'm paid. It's photographed, and documented, so I'm good. :) I just hope it tastes good. I know the chocolate layer will, but the white layer is a little sketchy. I'm not a big scratch white cake fan. Oh well. Not my cake. I took Seth to the doctor today, too, because of his cough. I was getting worried because he had a fever, and it didn't seem to be getting any better. Actually, last night he coughed a lot more than any other night with the cough. The doctor said that he thinks it's probably the end of croup that has been caused by a virus that just didn't give fever. He said that he probably didn't need steroids, but gave me a prescription to use if he gets worse tonight or tomorrow. I love our pediatrician. He allows me to use my discretion on treating our children with medicine, sometimes, because he knows that I pay attention and have common sense. :) I'm just glad that he doesn't have bronchitis or pneumonia or anything that bad.

So that was a lot of talk! Now I'm going to rest. :)

OH, also, we've been reading The Little House books. I've read the first two to the kids, and we're in the middle of Farmer Boy (which, by the way, is WAY less interesting and way more boring than the others). I got the fourth book, On the Banks of Plum Creek, from the library on Wednesday, and Hannah picked it up yesterday and looked through it. Today she picked it up and started to read it. She has read around 50 pages of it this morning. How funny would it be if Hannah read her first novel at age 4. Hilarious, I tell you. Hilarious.

Cake

2011-04-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

I made a cake today. Well, really I made two layers yesterday, and two today, and then decorated it today. It took me all blessed day. My poor kids have been neglected. Also, Seth's sick AGAIN. This time he has some kind of chest congestion, almost croup, nasty just now developing a fever even though the cough has been here 2 days already, thing. I'm going to post a picture of the cake, and then I'm going to not move my hands anymore. My hands are tired. I did the entire cake in buttercream, and all the decorations are buttercream as well. Most people would do these out of fondant. I didn't. Fondant doesn't taste good. I'm hoping that the cake doesn't sag because I forgot to put in supports. I remembered it after I had completely smoothed...oh my word, it is taking me so many tries to get the words typed right...and the green squiggly lines piped and smoothed. I decided, with the consultation of a couple of people, that it would be best left alone. If I tried to take the top layer off, it could easily result in disaster and a LOT more work. This way, there's just a hope it doesn't collapse or sink. If it does, then I'll have a disaster and a lot more work, but it will more than likely not happen. I'm going for better odds this time.

What do you think about the cupcake? It was a spur of the moment decision, and I thought it would be cute, and I think it is. When you layer a cake, you're supposed to have 4 inches between sizes of pans, so this is a 10 inch, 6 inch, and then the cupcake would be 2 inches. :) I think it's cute. This cake is for a teenager, and it's custom made for them from a picture they sent me. They wanted nothing pink, so they asked for green and black. Oh my word, my anecdotal abilities are GONE! I started this stuff at 7:15 this morning, and stopped for about 45 minutes when I had someone come by around lunch, and then started back and worked until 5:40 tonight. I don't think I'm being paid NEARLY enough to cover my time. Maybe if I did this more often, it would be worth it because I'd get faster. Knowing me, I wouldn't get much faster because I'm too much of a perfectionist.

And now I'm going to help my husband finish unloading the mulch from the back of his truck because it's going to rain again tomorrow, and we don't want to have his truck hanging halfway out of the garage during this storm like the last one. :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

2011-04-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

I was inspired to make these by a cupcake making friend, who commented on my last post. (By the way, Lindsay, I saw that recipe, but had made these before. Next time, I will definitely be using that new recipe.) This will be a super short post because I have to go make some cakes for my actual paid cake, also I have to pick up my house because we're having our Bible study here tonight. No pressure. Don't have anything to do. Also, I have a piano lesson at 3:30. Here's the link for the recipe I used for my chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes. I like the idea of having mushy cookie dough in the center, with none of it cooked, and that's why I chose this recipe. It makes for more work, but I love the payoff.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
You may notice that this is the same blog from which I got the strawberry cupcake recipe. It's true. This woman has some GREAT recipes. Browse her site. You may find something delicious that you've never tried before. Happened to me! OK, now I'm going to cook.

My Ugly Strawberry Cupcakes

2011-04-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

So I made these strawberry cupcakes, like I did a few weeks ago and they turned out BEAUTIFULLY. This time, not so much. I'm not sure what happened differently, but I hope it doesn't happen next time. Here's the link to those cupcakes, HOWEVER, I did not use the icing recipe here. I made up my own recipe instead. I didn't want to spend the time doing the Swiss Meringue Icing for either time because I was running short both times I've made these. OK, really, here's the link: Strawberry Cupcakes. I made my regular buttercream icing recipe, except I substituted pureed strawberries for the water. Here's my recipe:
Strawberry Icing
1 cup shortening
3 T strawberry puree
3/4 t vanilla
1/2 t butter flavor
sprinkle of salt
1 lb (about 4 cups) powdered sugar

Puree strawberries in food processor until they were liquid. Mix shortening with puree, vanilla, butter flavor, and salt until well blended. Start slowly, and turn up speed to medium for 2-3 minutes. Mix in powdered sugar slowly, about a cup at a time until well blended with each cup. Mix on medium-high until nice and fluffy. If it has stiff peaks and seems too spiky, you can add milk or water, by the teaspoon, and mix in between additions until completely incorporated and the texture is achieved.

I did a 1M swirl on the cupcakes, which takes a LOT of icing, so I made a double recipe.

I went to Hobby Lobby today. Wilton stuff is 30% off this week, and I could DEFINITELY spend too much money there! I need to check my supply and see what I need, and go back and get some stuff just so I can get it cheaper. I need to get a few things just so I can have them if I need to make another cake...like I have to this week!! I have a person who wants me to make a cake for them! A two layer, white on one, chocolate on the other, cake, and I'm going to get paid for it! WOOOO!!!! Dusty's sister works with someone that needs one for Friday, and apparently I'm way cheaper than a bakery she talked to, so I got it! WOOOOO!!! I'll let you know how it goes.

Tune in tomorrow for a recipe link to my husband's favorite kind of cupcakes.