This Week's "Mis"adventures...

This is not the first time I sat down to write this post...

Or the second...

Or the third...

The week has flown by, and it has been busy.

On Monday, I loaded the kids in the van and set off on an all day long Easter candy sale adventure. Unfortunately (or actually maybe it was fortunate), I didn't find a whole lot of what I was looking for, because a lot of retailers have gotten wise to people like me in recent years, and they begin discounting their Easter stuff the week before Easter.

After dragging the kids in and out and through some dozen or so stores, I decided to do something that no mom should ever do... alone. I took them to Chuck-E-Cheese. We ate some pizza (Which, by the way, I'm not real fond of Chuck-E-Cheese pizza. It kind of tastes like cardboard...), and played some games. My favorite part was that there is a new photo attraction. We spent lots of tokens on it and ended up with these:
Then I dragged the kids through several more stores, including Bath and Body Works, where they mopped the floors with their rear ends, because they were now too tired to walk...

Eventually, we got home.

As far as the candy goes, I am feeling a little bit like Frog and Toad. If you haven't read the story, you should. The candy is packed away in a box and all taped up, and I hope I can leave it there, because I would really hate to have to throw it outside for it to meet the same fate that Frog and Toad's cookies met...

On Tuesday, I did something that I have not done in almost 13 years...

I went to the movies...

You see, Caleb kind of has this thing for elephants, and after reading the review at plugged-in, I decided that "Horton Hears A Who" was worth a look...
Caleb and I left the house a little early, since we didn't know where the movie theater was. Upon arriving, we were pleasantly surprised to see signs advertising that it was free popcorn night! I got Caleb out and, of course, marched him up to the movie poster, where we took a picture. We then went up to the window and saw another sign that was not nearly so exciting... Tell me, why would any business... located in the United States... in the year 2008... be "unable" to accept debit or credit cards? Now, seriously, I should have a t-shirt that says, "wearer does not carry more than $10.00 cash"... because, really, I don't. After going through my wallet... and my purse... and my pockets... I was able to come up with $6.00. If you have been to the theater more recently than me, you know that wasn't enough to get us both in. So... I ran Caleb back through the parking lot, and all the while he's saying, "So, mommy, are we not going to see Horton now?" And I'm reassuring, "No, Caleb, we're going to see Horton. But we have to go home first and borrow some cash from Seth!" Seth is the only person in our family who ever has cash.

As we drove home, Caleb looked kind of worried, but I didn't really have time to think about it. Phil met me at the door with a twenty, and I ran back out to the car. Now Caleb really looked concerned. I announced, "I have the cash!" and Caleb just stared at me and said, "I don't see any cats!" No wonder the child was upset. He had no idea where we were going to get "cats" to pay for the movie... hehehe...

We got back to the theater, took a parking spot a bit further away than before, bought our tickets, got our free popcorn with extra butter, and settled in for 25 minutes of previews, during which time Caleb kept saying, "I don't think this is the Horton movie"... When the movie finally did begin, I am pretty sure Caleb never caught on that the part about the Whos was the same movie as the part about Horton. At any rate, he had a good time and kept saying, "That was fun... that was fun..." as we left.

I am pretty sure he will want to go back to, "the white building that looks like a church and has big TVs", so I hope something decent plays again in the next decade...
I was quite impressed by the movie, itself. There were a couple of jokes aimed at adults that I could have done without, but they were subtle enough that kids wouldn't really catch on. There was one slur against homeschooling early on that kind of ticked me off, but I'll get over it. And the musical number at the end... well... if you grew up in the 80s, you'll probably gag. There's the negative side...

On the other hand, there were a couple of times when I actually felt teary eyed (yes, at a Dr. Suess film) and said to myself, "this is phenomenal". There were several allusions to faith that would be fantastic conversation starters for older kids, and the main message from the original "Horton Hears A Who" remained in tact... "A person's a person, no matter how small". I also liked that they included the main idea from "Horton Hatches the Egg": "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, an elephant's faithful one-hundred percent!"

It was really good for me and Caleb to have a date night. I like to do things with my kids one-on-one when I can, but it gets tricky sometimes. In April, I'm taking Seth and Grace to a live, musical rendition of "Flat Stanley". I can't wait to report on that...

Thursday was Phil's off day, and we were going to go grocery shopping, but none of us felt very well. Instead, we stayed home, took the day off of school (which we can afford to do, since we didn't schedule a "Spring break"), and watched Duck Tales.

The quote of the day, from Friday, came from myself. It was, "I don't homeschool him," said when Phil said he needed five volunteers, while holding up four fingers... We had a good FNF. Jay did an awesome job, although I'm now wondering if playing leap frog in the cold, night, air is such a great idea... I was severely tired at the end and literally counted down the seconds for the last minute...

Yesterday we had the much anticipated pizza eating contest at Cicis. I am proud to say that I didn't eat much. Phil... however... well, I'll let him tell you about it if he so chooses... I took lots of pictures, but I think Phil has my camera at the moment, and if I don't post this now, it might be another week!

And now, here I am today. I have almost completely lost my voice. I actually attempted to lead the call to worship and to participate in a drama at church today, even though I have little more than a whisper. My kids always like it when I lose my voice, because then I can't yell at them... hehehe... Funny, they are still yelling at me! :) Oh, wait... they're not yelling at me after all... They just always talk that loud...

I am hoping to get a nap in, this afternoon, before it's back to church...

Ah... life is good...

Lisa

A Fitting End...

Easter...

As hectic as this week has been, I never could have imagined how the stress level would rise...

Try this...

Slept in...

No show guitar player for unplugged worship...

Sugar buzzed kids (especially Grace)...

Two minute nap for Ian...

Nice dinner with friends (That was a highlight)...

Too many calories...

Crabby bedtime moments...

Unfinished school work...

Complete exhaustion...

Somebody remind me, what was this holiday supposed to be about again?

A couple of quick thank-yous, though, to Sarah, Jay, Brandi, Ben, Mojade, Phil, Ron & Linda... It was not a total loss, because prayer is effective, people who are willing to fill in are amazing, and friends are important (and I didn't have to cook)...

'night...

Lisa

"Egg"-stravaganza...

So, today I was thinking about how pastor's families should be labeled "at risk" during holy week...

Please, do not misunderstand...

I LOVE what we're doing! And, I LOVE what God's doing even more! I'm just feelin' a little tired this week...

By the time the weekend comes to a close, I'll be very glad that we do not attend a church that serves wine for communion. If we did, I'd be drunk. I LOVE communion. I'm just trying to get the point across that there have been a lot of services this week...

In addition, I decided that this would be a good year to take the kids to every community Easter event I could find... Well, it didn't really start out that way, but here's what happened... I wanted to take Ian to an Easter egg hunt. The one at church was only for ages 3 and up, so I decided to hit the community wide hunt at the park. It was scheduled for 10am. Since Ian stayed up until 5am, and the kids actually slept in, my feet did not hit the floor until a little after 9. I managed to drag the kids to the park (in the snow, and we'd already put away the winter coats) by 10:08. The egg hunt was already over. They were... uh... disappointed. Thankfully, Monica, Barb, and Keegan were there and told us about an Easter party that we could crash... at a nursing home... OK, so we didn't really "crash" it, but you know it sounds better that way... We went, sat on the Easter Bunny's lap (well, except for Caleb, because he has a thing about characters, and there were no waffles with which to hit the bunny...), picked Easter eggs, ate donuts, and actually won prizes (Caleb came home with a stuffed bunny, and Ian got bunny ears). Now the kids were not disappointed anymore, and we had a lot of fun.
A little before 1pm, Phil and Grace went to the firehouse and handled some technical issues. Phil left Grace there, since the party was getting ready to start, and came home to watch Ian, so that I could take Seth and Caleb. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I dropped the boys off and made a quick trip home and back... We had great fun at the party, minus the fact that Caleb picked up a lot of the "wrong" Easter eggs. I have never seen a 3 year old collect so many eggs in the midst of lots of bigger kids. He shared them with all of the kids who didn't find many...

After that, we took a "field trip" to Kroger... We never did find Robert, Amber, Shelley, and Avalyn in the store... Were you guys hiding from us? hehehe... We did find George and Ruth, who were returning some... uh... interesting party supplies... It was kind of like an Easter egg hunt all over again, but we were hunting for people this time...

Then a quick stop at K-mart (does it ever end), and back home where Phil had cleaned up the house... a lot... because I haven't been able to convince God to extend my day by two or three hours, and Ian took a nice nap...

We had a LATE dinner of shells and cheese and chocolate chip muffins. We had to buy cheese powder in bulk, because Wal-Mart doesn't sell it anymore, so I laughed when I came through the door and found 27 cans of cheese powder sitting on the kitchen table... I think that Phil was hinting that he'd been shells and cheese deprived in recent weeks...

We also discovered that Ian cannot eat gobs of chocolate without getting sick... He sure gets mad if you stop feeding it to him, though...

Finally, the kids are in bed.

I still have a children's church service to plan. I hate to admit that at this time of night, but it's true. Thankfully, I have an amazing group of teenage/young adult people who are going to help me lead some "unplugged" worship tomorrow morning. My "bright spot", this week, was practicing with them, because there is something therapeutic for me about music, even though I sound like a dying cat half the time lately...

And there's that little issue of school... Hope I can get it done tomorrow, because more important things have my attention tonight...

And then there's that little issue of hardly seeing my husband for the past week... and there's really nothing more important than that... But he's more forgiving than any of the other commitments, so I guess I'll try to schedule him in next Wednesday...

Lisa

Happy Spring...

... Finally!!!

Well, on this first day of Spring, I can't say it's amazingly warm. Actually, there's still frost... ugh... But we must be getting closer to nice weather... I hope...

It's time for some home improvement... ahhh...

I am just about jumping out of my skin over the excitement of painting! Ask me if I still feel that way after a couple of rooms... See, here's the deal... For the past several years, we have been living in rentals with all white/cream colored walls. I am so sick of boring rooms! Our new house has plenty of color already, but I want it to be my colors... For example, the pepto pink living room walls have got to go... quickly... I am looking forward to painting multiple tones of purple in Grace's room, clouds and airplanes in the boys' bedroom, and dark blues and reds to go with the sports theme in Seth's playroom. This is probably going to take me all Spring... and maybe Summer... and perhaps Fall...

I am also getting ready to undertake a huge outdoor project. I'm putting in a fence... well, if I can ever manage to reach anyone at the office that's supposed to be able to tell me about permits and such... Then I plan to put up a new trampoline with an enclosure (am garage-saleing the one that came with the house, after finding that it cannot be enclosed)... and maybe a big play fort/swingset if I can "swing" it... yeah, pathetic pun intended... After that, I'd like to plant a garden, but I don't know anything about gardening, so I may have to wait until next year if I can't find anyone to help me...

All of these "plans" kind of hit me the other day, and I realized that I am never going to be satisfied with what I have...

Just a few months ago, I was crying (tears of joy), because we were going to be able to buy a house at all. We ended up with the closest thing to my dream house that I ever could have imagined, without building, and now I have to "improve"...

I don't really feel badly about wanting to do all of this. Maybe I should, but I don't. What I do feel badly about is that I know when I've completed it, there will just be something else I want.

Lisa

Potty Training Techniques...

... For the Truly Desperate

So, on Thursday Caleb offered me this quote of the day, "I am never pooping or peeing in my pants anymore!" Actually, he kind of sang it...

Cue the Hallelujah chorus...

Oh, how I love Caleb. His amazing adorableness has carried him far to this point... So far that I actually laugh when he does things that I probably would have killed my oldest two over... But I did explain to him, yesterday, that his looks will only take him so far... hehehe...

Potty training Caleb has been the ultimate test of the human ability to exhibit patience under extremely frustrating circumstances. Sometimes Caleb is far too smart for my own good. He actually informed me that he would get potty trained when he turned four! FOUR??? Who would have thought...

At any rate, I have offered him half the Earth... and the moon... over the past few months, if he will just get potty trained...

He is very, very close (just some accidents at night now)... Here's what finally worked...

A combination of stickers AND M & Ms every time he goes potty... More when he poops...

The promise of Murdoch the "Take Along" engine when he doesn't have an accident for seven whole days...

And, yes, please see the pictures below of "Underwear Man"...

When all else fails, just let your child wear their underwear however they want...

Ah... I also promised him Buzz Lightyear underwear, but I can't find any in his size (4T)! Please... If anyone reading this sees any, let me know...

Lisa

Stepping Back...

... To Evaluate

Wow. I did a little bit of "begging" to get people to come vote in my poll this time around, and I think I'm a bit shocked by the results...

The people I have known the longest (primarily family) are visiting my blog... Not the shocking part...

Friends that I have known for over a decade are visiting my blog... Not the shocking part...

People I have known for only a short time, and who I am now in contact with on a weekly basis, are visiting my blog... now that they know it exists... Still, not the shocking part...

NO ONE who has known me between one and ten years is visiting my blog! (Or at the very least, they're not taking my polls...) Insert flashing lights here...

This has caused me to stop and think (yeah, in the words of Dora...) about the past ten years of my life. Have they really had absolutely no impact at all, outside the walls of my own home? I sure didn't think this was the case. I mean, I do still have contact with a lot of people that I've met over the past ten years...

Maybe it's just been the inconsistency of it all...

Or maybe I'm just over-thinking this...

Or maybe I'm not...

Any thoughts?

Lisa

Tribute to Grandparents, Part 4

Grandpa Ernie… The grandfather I never knew…

By the time I was born, Grandpa Ernie had already lived his life here on Earth and left many years before. I've always wished I had the chance to know him, but I suppose I'll just have to wait…

I don't really know a whole lot about him. I haven't heard many stories, and I have precious few pictures or other clues to help me understand the man he was…

Over the years, I have found a few things that Nana saved. One of those things was a very small gift box that he had addressed:

To: I

From: E

For some reason, I found that to be extremely endearing, and I have picked up the habit of using just my first initial to sign my name to many things…

I have often wondered what kind of grandfather Grandpa Ernie would have been. I hope he would have been the kind of grandfather that my own dad is to my kids. I hope he would have loved me a lot, and I hope he would have pulled coins out of my ears…

L.

Tribute to Grandparents, Part 3

My Nana was incredible. Her life spoke volumes as to what it is to live with kindness and class. Her death was quick and unexpected, and over a decade later, I still find myself not believing that she is gone. I have actually been a little irritated with her on more than one occasion for missing a big family event, because sometimes I still do not comprehend that she can't be there…

Nana was beautiful, even at 80. I can only remember her hair being messy one time. I'm not even exaggerating. It was in 1986. We took a family trip to Cedar Point and talked her into riding the newest ride, Thunder Canyon. Nana was drenched by every waterfall. She got off the ride laughing, and we were all laughing, too, because her hair was completely flat, and she was dripping…

Nana created fun. She would take me and my cousins on rides in the wheelbarrow and never failed to make Owl calls out the window to us when we were playing outside, no doubt laughing, when we looked around for the bird. She colored Easter eggs with us every year (even though Julie and I were mean and gave Amy all the broken ones), and she made Christmas cookies with us every year (even though we created some terrible concoctions that actually broke the filling out of one of her teeth).

Nana lived with me for the first seven years of my life in a little apartment that was attached to the back of our house. Whenever I would run through the den to visit, my dad would say, "Now don't ask Nan for anything!" So, I would burst through her door, climb up on one of the stools at her counter, and in my very sweetest voice I would say, "Nana, you make the best scrambled eggs… or milkshakes…" Nan would, of course, whip something right up, and she always told my dad that I didn't ask…

As I got older, Nana would take me shopping at Dancers for a new school outfit, each fall. When we couldn't decide which one to buy, she just bought everything. Nana always came up with very special Christmas gifts that were just what I wanted. She took me to get my hair cut. And she always brought plenty of lemon filled donuts when she came to visit. I wish I'd spent more time with her then, because I know she had much to teach that I never learned...

Nana loved to travel. Even though I don't even have a passport; I love to travel, too. One of these days (probably when the kids are grown up), I would love to visit some of the exotic places she's been. I have a hula skirt that she brought home from Hawaii, and I have a picture of her with a kangaroo. Not everyone can say that about their grandma! Even though I couldn't join her on her adventures, Nana taught me to hear the ocean in a seashell.

When I got hurt, Nana would comfort me by reminding me that it was a long way from my heart. And I know that a part of her still lives with me there.

I miss Nana. She was always there for me, even when no one else was. She cheered me on in everything I did. I often wish she could be there for my kids, too. And I always wish she was with me at Christmastime when I'm rolling out more cookie dough than I want to be…

But she's still traveling. I'll be looking for her quickly when I reach eternity, because I know she'll have a hug to offer, and then she'll show me all the most exciting places. Until then, I'll keep collecting seashells… breaking Easter eggs… and trying to exhibit just one ounce of class, so that I'll be a little bit like her…

Lisa

Weigh In, March 2008

For those of you who are following it, my tribute to grandparents will continue tomorrow. It is too important a subject to share with things like "weigh-ins"...

Well... February basically sucked.

I have quite a few good excuses... Here's the list:

Super bowl party... Trip to OH (and Stevie B's)... Valentine's Day... Phil's B-day... Sick for two whole weeks, in which I rediscovered a love for fast food... Trip to MI...

But excuses aren't really worth a whole lot...

In the end, I didn't lose a thing... and I didn't gain a thing... The scale this morning registered exactly the same as it did a month ago (and it's not broken). It's completely unacceptable, but it could have been worse...

I did manage to do 24 sit-ups at some point in February (yes, all at the same time)... I probably couldn't do that many tonight, but I'm not gonna try, because I really don't want to report whatever number I could accomplish... I was up to exercising 40 min./day, 6 days a week, before I got sick. Then I just stopped altogether. The exercise resumes tomorrow morning.

My goals for March are 10 more pounds (yeah... sounds familiar... like the ten pounds I was supposed to lose last month), 30 sit-ups (still pathetic), and getting back up to that 40 min./6 days a week exercise level. I am pretty sure I'm motivated, because if I have to report another month like this one I'll be highly embarrassed...

Another note...

I am on the verge of failing several of my classes, because I just couldn't get anything done this week. I am going to beg for mercy, but I am also going to re-evaluate. I want a degree, but I'm wondering, more and more, if it's worth it. I am also second guessing my major... yes, again... and that whole process has become more embarrassing than the weight loss disaster.

I'm out.

Lisa

Tribute to Grandparents, Part 2

Below is a re-post (with minor editing) of something I wrote about my Mammaw a couple of years ago:

More than half a lifetime ago, Mammaw went to live with Jesus on this date... and I still miss her...

I wish...

That she'd taught me how to sew...

That she'd met Phil...

That she'd seen her four beautiful great-grandchildren...

I wish...

That I had that bandana and T-shirt...

That I'd paid better attention when she was "whipping" potatoes...

That I'd gotten her nose, instead of her hair...

That I'd said, "I love you" one more time... Because I could have...

I'm glad that so much of her personality is in me... even the parts that other people don't understand... because deep down, those are some of the best parts...

On nights like this, I could use a hug... or a trip to K-Mart... or some fried chicken... or a game of chinese checkers... and the list goes on and on, because the memories are good...

I hope she'd be proud of the person I've become... and the person I'm becoming...

And I know she would, because she always seemed to see past my many faults anyway...

I doubt I'll ever...

Shell beans again...

Sweep the street in front of my house...

But I'm glad she did...

Lisa