It's Friday, I'm in love!

Isn't that how the song goes?

I thought this was hilarious:

"I think my new thing will be to try to be a real happy guy. I'll just walk around being real happy until some jerk says something stupid to me."
-Jack Handy (Deep Thoughts)

Heehee! I think I've probably actually done that. You know, thought, I'm going to change my attitude and be happy and take everything with a grain of salt and not be so sensitive, etc...and then someone acts rude and you're like, "You $#&(#! People are jerks!!"
Today is Friday!!!!! I'm looking forward to this weekend. I think it'll be fun. We're going to this cultural fair at the park where my mom will be (wo)manning a booth. She was like, "I found out I have to do arts and crafts! I thought I could just stand there with a display and hand out brochures!" It was so funny. I think she'll do fine though. She's a good people-person. Very friendly and warm.
We're also going to do a bit of Christmas shopping for the kiddos this weekend. It'll be a relief to get started (though I know its not even Halloween yet). Anyway, since I can't think of anything more interesting to say, I'll leave you with another quote:

"I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They've experienced pain and bought jewelry."
-Rita Rudner

Haha!

Blue skies, sunny day, and all is well

Here we've come round to Thursday again...these days and weeks feel like they've been flying by lately. More than usual, which is FAST. I've been keeping up with my exercise, on a positive note, but not so good with the eating. Well, I can't resist ALL sweets ALL the time. Unless a doctor orders me to, I can't. :( But the exercise has already had some beneficial benifits (ha). I can tell its not as hard to get through them as it was, I fall asleep somewhat easier (maybe cause I get up at 5:15 to do them, ugh) and I seem to be in a better mood. I've really got to try to eat healthier, though, so I can see some results in the waistline and places like that. Wish me luck!
Last night we went Walmart-crazy. Or, rather, crazy at Walmart. I won't tell you the amount of money we spent, because I'm ashamed. We needed groceries so badly and about a million other things, though, so it wasn't money thrown away on junk. I did get some non-necessities, but come on, sometimes you have to. I got some mini-pumpkins (or gourds) and some orange candles, which I plan on connecting to make a candle/candle holder (something also out of Good Housekeeping), I got some lovely yellow flowers to brighten up the outside, and a little scarecrow (and I mean little) for outside too. We went ahead and bought Seth his Halloween costume. He debated and debated...and debated on it, going from costume to costume for about 10-15 minutes. These are all he said he was going to get before he decided on one: Superman, a ghost, Batman, a king, Mr. Incredible, various ninjas, and the winner was: a phoenix ninja, complete with nunchucks! He tried it on when we got home and it was so, so cute. Lily just needs tights and ballet shoes to make her costume complete. So I'm very excited, as I always am, about taking them trick-or-treating. I've arranged to take off early, because if I don't, I'll only get to trick-or-treat with them for about half an hour. So, watch out for the muscley, vicious phoenix ninja and his nunchunks and the cute little ballerina who'll probably dancing down the street on Halloween!

Funny

This came from a book called Laughter is the Spice of Life. The title is "The Mom Test" by Anonymous. I put *'s by the ones that apply to me (or at least some version of them do)

"You know you're a mom when...

• You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal.*
• You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
• You hide in the bathroom to be alone. *
• Your child throws up, and you catch it.
• Someone else's kid throws up at a party, and you keep eating.
• You dream that frozen pizzas are on sale and wake up you're so happy.
• The material possession you want most in life is a minivan.*
• Your child insists that you read Once Upon a Potty out loud in the lobby of the doctor's office, or, better yet, in the lobby of Grand Central Station, and you do it.*
• You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it is the only one your child eats.*
• You cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons, while your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun. *
• You can't bear the thought of your son's first girlfriend.
• You can't bear the thought of his wife even more.
• You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into unusual shapes.
• You fast-forward through the scene when the hunter shoots Bambi's mother. *
• You use your own saliva to clean your child's face.*
• You obsess when your child clings to you on his first day of school, then obsess when he skips in without looking back on his second day.
• You read that the average five-year-old asks 437 questions a day and feel proud that your kid is above average.*
• You think at least once a day, I'm not cut out for this job, but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything in the world." *

"Will I see you in September?"

That song has been in my head this morning. It's one of those songs that are from the 60's or 70's that sound goofy, but its catchy nevertheless, and it gets stuck in your head. I make fun of my Mom for liking it, but I secretly kind of like it too! Guess the secret is out. :)
This weekend was good. I relaxed and read!! I love relaxing weekends! We had a picnic in the searing fall heat at the park on Saturday. I swear, I was sweating so much. So were the kids. Then we went to the lovely air-conditioned library. They've sort of redone their kid's section. They have mini armchairs and a little couch and beanbags on a rug with vivid pictures illustrating parts of the dewey decimal system! So nice! Kids love that stuff (big kids do too, obviously :) So Saturday was a nice day. We watched two movies about dogs, strangely enough, "The Shaggy Dog" and "My Dog Skip" both of which were good. Sunday was good too. We went to church, and I went to choir practice last night, which I thouroghly enjoyed. Something about singing just lifts my spirits. Especially when you sing to God and feel like you're worshipping him at the same time you are doing something you enjoy. It's so neat, I know it sounds kinda funny, maybe...but when I'm singing in choir practice, everything else seems to melt away, and I'm lost in the swirl of the music and I feel closer to God than I do any other time. Maybe that says something about what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. ??? I'm not sure. Anyhow, tonight we're going to open house at Seth's school. I'm excited to get a close-up look at what they've been doing this year.
Fall is here!! I put up my fall and Halloween decorations this weekend also. They are so cute! Lily is going to be a ballerina for Halloween and Seth is not sure what he wants to be yet. He'll probably end up being a superhero or Darth Vadar. Polar opposites! :)

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

I always feel like I'm on a quest with some new idea, I get excited about it and I research it (mainly through books and the internet) and I attempt to carry it out. Today is no different!! This is kind of embarrassing to admit and talk about, but with a total of about 2 people that read this, I don't think its going to be on the evening news or anything. So here it is. My counselor has talked me into the idea of Jessie and I "wooing" each other (oh, how I hate that word, it just sounds weird! but I like the idea of it)..so I told Jessie about it and didn't get much of a response (0f course) but I am going to (try to) swing this thing into action. It's nothing complicated, but it does require extra effort on both people's parts, just so the other can know that you care and think about them. The counselor said it would restore "intimacy"...not regarding sex or anything, just that bond. You know, you get so busy with jobs and kids and life in general that your relationship just gets overlooked at times...I think its a novel idea. I've been looking at this website called lovingyou.com, and it has some pretty neat ideas. One of my favorites: $20 date night! This sounds like SO much fun to me. You each get to be creative and have fun spending time together. The idea is, of course, to spend only $20 for the entire date (food, entertainment, etc.) and you alternate planning the dates. Here are some ideas I liked:
-going to the bookstore
-going to the park/playground
-eating off of dollar menus! or cooking at home
-going to a semi-expensive restaurant and only ordering dessert
-checking out a movie from the library (easy)
-a candlelight tailgate dinner
-a cookies and milk picnic outside with candlelight and music
-bowling
Anyway, you get the idea. I love it. The only problem for us is the kids. We may have to have mostly "in" dates, and save the "out" dates for like, once a month when we can plead with a family member to watch our heathens, er, I mean our sweet little angels. :)

Oh yeah. Its Thursday!

Which means Friday is tomorrow! Yipee! And it also means (as a friend so graciously pointed out) that the season premiere of The Office comes on tonight! I love that show. It is so, so funny. We get to see what happens with the Jim/Pam romance. Finally, a progression!
I'm embarking on a weight loss quest. Here is my plan, it is a simple plan, but it is mine:
-Try to eat healthier -drink water, no sodas, way less sugar (in the form of candy and so on)
-Exercise EVERY day - at least 30 minutes. It is SO hard to get out of bed in the morning to do it though!
-Do these strength exercises 3 times a week. I got them out of Good Housekeeping. They look easy on paper...wait till you try them. They are simple, but after about 3 repititions they start to get quite a bit harder. I can feel every muscle I worked last night! Which is a good thing. :)
Its not perfect, by any means..I've still been eating some sweets and drinking Kool-Aid, but at least its a start, right? Its a heck of a lot more than what I've been doing.
On a darker note...I felt like I was being plunged into the throes of depression last night. I don't know why. I cried and felt hopeless and so I just went to sleep. I felt a little better when Jessie got into bed and snuggled with me. I feel 100 times better today! What is WITH emotions and moods? They just strike out at you when you least expect it, and then as quickly as they come, they're gone. I'll never understand it.
To end on a lighter note, I took Lily to get her haircut yesterday. Just a trim, but she looks so cute when her bangs are trimmed! She noticed that the hairstylist had a can of Pringles when we walked in and of course, said, "I want some chips!" so the lady said, "You can have some when we're done", which I thought was nice. When they were done, she told Lily to reach in and get some and Lily pulled out half the can of chips!! A huge stack! I was like, "Lily, you shouldn't have taken so many!" but the lady said it was fine. It was funny. Then we were walking around Walmart and I asked Lily for one (they were barbecue) and they were so good that I bought a can!

Babies!

:) I just recieved a message from a friend, Erica, who's pregnant, and she informed me that they moved her due date up to this Saturday!! I'm so excited, even though I won't get to see the baby, because they live far, far away, much too far for me to travel. I'm excited for her though, this will be her first girl and I know she will love having a girl. I really wish I could see the baby, (especially now in my baby craze), but I'll have to be content with pictures of her!! My cousin is having a baby in about a month, she's having a boy!!! So I'm all atwitter (ha) at the thought of all of these wonderful babies being born soon!

I helped a little girl on the swings the other day, while at the park with my kids, and her name was Emma. That furthers my belief that I'm supposed to have a girl named Emma!

Ruby Tuesday

I was doing a little reading this morning, reading a book written by two Christian men on depression. Its so interesting. It's good to know that I don't have to feel guilty for feeling the way I do. The way they put it, being on antidepressent medication is just a physical need that some of us have. They explained that God made our physical bodies with certain needs, like when we are hungry we drink, when we're hungry we must eat, and sometimes its just "in us" (depression), and we need help from medication. I didn't put that well at all, but you get my drift. Having faith and praying, is, of course, very important, but God gave us the sense to know when we need outside help. He gave doctors and pyschologists their skills for a reason. Its so strange, but you get comfortable in these feelings and then when someone tries to jolt you out of them (a counselor, for instance) it feels alien, almost. It seems uncomfortable and different. I can't really explain it. You know you want to feel differently, but you don't know how, and you're almost scared to try, scared to step out of your comfort zone. I was also relieved to read in this book that asking someone to "snap out of it" (depression) is absurd. They describe it as a disease, something that can't be helped, and it can't really. I mean, there are things you can do to improve your life, like exercise, sleeping better, and eating healthier, but when you are depressed, you usually don't have the motivation to carry those things out! I've spent so much time trying to figure out the reason for my feelings. But like they said, sometimes its just "in you". The great thing is that there is always hope, though. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Some of us just need a little push (or a shove, rather), in the right direction.

Monday, Monday

It's Monday again! Already! And it was brought to my attention this morning that October comes in 2 weeks! WHERE IS THE TIME GOING??? It's really starting to freak me out a little.
I had choir practice last night, and we've been working on our Christmas cantata, so this song has been in my head all day:
"He was Wonderful! Counselor! da-da-da-da-da-da (can't remember those words)
Emmanuel! Prince of Peace! Born this night in Beth-le-hem!"

I love it! I love practicing those songs! That's when I feel closest to where I'm supposed to be, do you know what I mean? I really love it. I'm an alto, and I can't read music, so I have to try to "pick up" my part from my fellow altos. But last night, we were singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" and I COULD NOT get the "Gloria" part, you know, the part that drags out and is really beautiful? So they had to play it on the piano for me, I felt just a little dumb, not being able to read it, b/c the alto that sits right next to me pointed it out in the music, and there is was, plain as day! You hold it out, then go down 3 notes, then hold it out again and go down 3 again. Beautiful. Maybe I'll get it next time.

Quotes and Tickling

Today is passing by...slowly. Here's a quote on one of our calendars that I like..

"I am an old man and have known a great many troubles,

but most of them have never happened."
-Mark Twain

Funny, but true! Most of the stuff we (I'm talking about myself here) worry ourselves sick about never even comes to pass! Anyway...I'm already thinking about doing some Christmas shopping for the kids. I'm probably not the only one. I was thinking of doing the layaway thing this weekend. Question is, how do we get the stuff without them seeing it? I guess we'll have to split up and one of us take them elsewhere in the store. We've done that before. Lily is all Princess-crazy. But they DON'T need any more TOYS!! They have too many as it is. So I'm thinking, clothes, I want to get Seth a desk, I want to get Lily a trunk for all her dress up clothes (one that she can keep for a long time) but what else? That's probably enough. (Ha!) My mom got Lily a Cabbage Patch doll (on sale!!) which she's going to go wild over. I'm glad she still likes to play with dolls, cause if not for that, I'd think she was a teenager! She gets so mad at me sometimes that she blocks her door with her doll stroller and crib so that I can't come in! And sometimes she'll say things like, "Hellooo?" Geez. I'm not supposed to have to deal with that attitude yet, am I? Truthfully, though, she's not half as bad as I've seen some teenagers act. She has her beautifully sweet moments too. Like at night when I tickle her after putting her in bed, her laughter and the smile on her face is so sweet and wonderful to see. Seth too. They both just bask in the glow of attention and a good tickling fest. :)

Had a good day yesterday. Lily and I stayed home, cleaned a bit, played games, ate and when Seth got home we all went outside and I chased them around on a bike. It was funny! Kids loved to be chased around the yard. :)
Something disturbing this morning though...there was an article in the paper about a lady in the town I work in, who I've met a few times, a lady who has always seemed extrememely nice and *normal* - she stabbed her husband repeatedly with a set of kitchen knives! Her picture was in the paper, she's got a huge black eye from where he was trying to fight her off. His condition is stable, she's in jail. They're in their 60's! Such a horrible event. WHY do these things happen? How can a person that seems so normal and nice and decent have it in them to commit such a horrible act? There was no history of domestic violence, according to the paper. It just freaks me out, of all the people that we meet each day, interact with, trust, how many of them have that rage and capability for violence lurking just beneath the surface? Luckily, most of the people that you meet are good people, I tell myself that and want to believe it anyway. But things like that that hit so close to home are scary and unsettling. We all have "demons", so to speak, to deal with, but most of us don't actually let them get the better of us, not in that way. I just can't comprehend it, I guess. Last night, this man knocked on our door and I thought he was drunk but Jessie just said he was upset. He was looking for a woman and had the wrong house, but wanted to use the phone. He informed us that this woman had a baby that might he his and he HAD to find out, that he didn't "want to do no baby wrong". He said he had two other kids that he'd dropped off at his mother's (or their mother's?) and he had to call his grandma and find out where this woman's house was. I was kind of scared b/c Jessie left the room to go find the phone and the door was wide open, with me there in my pajamas and this man (who I thought was drunk) was standing there, talking, looking in at me. We found the phone, he called his grandma and thanked us and left. Its just crazy...a person I didn't trust turned out to be legitamite and a person who I thought was so "nice and normal" turned out to be capable of a horrific act. At least we can take comfort in the fact that we can trust God. It IS comforting to know that there are some absolutes in this chaotic world.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head..

Today is a very rainy day. A nice change, but it really makes you want to go home and go back to bed. I love being lulled to sleep by the rain. In fact, I'm sleepy just thinking about it. I'll try not to fall asleep while writing....
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I just plan to stay home with Lily and read and - well, I have to clean the bathroom at some point tomorrow, that won't be fun, but it will be nice to have a clean bathroom afterwards. I think my neice is spending the night with us tonight. That always makes for an interesting evening, an evening of boisterous antics and loud voices (hers and my kids). I've promised Seth a game of Chutes and Ladders or Candyland after work tonight, so I have that to look forward to (ha). I noticed while playing Candyland with them last night that they are very sore losers, so we had a nice chat about how to be a good winner and loser, and that there is no need to cry when you have to move your piece back to the Candy Cane forest.

Today

News about me and mine...
I still want a baby. I keep seeing these adorable little moppets (haha) and I want another one of my own! I think.
Seth has learned his phone number, address, birthday (almost), lunch number and bus number. And he can spell "yellow".
I've found a cute new way to do Lily's hair.
Jessie always wants to play Monopoly. Why?? One game lasts about 7 hours!!!
I like to stencil on my walls. I stenciled these adorable purple and green dragonflies on either side of my bathroom mirror. I'm going to get some letter stencils next and put Seth and Lily's names on their doors.

Nine Inch Nails

Today and yesterday, to family and friends, I have been bragging. Haha, that sentence was almost completely backwards! And no one can make me change it! No professor with a red pen can touch this blog! Muah-ah-ah-ah! Ok, I've veered off subject (already). What I've been bragging about is a fingernail. Sounds dumb, huh? As a chronic nail-biter, this fingernail is very important to me. It is nice and white and rounded and perfect. Of course, the rest of my nails look like crap, but the one nice one is like an oasis in a desert, a symbol of peace in this chaotic, crazy world!! Ok, I'm overdoing it. I'm happy now that I have hope for nail-ful hands. Maybe if I grow them one at a time, my life of jagged, yucky nails will be forgotten one day. I'll conquer a lifelong bad habit and have beautiful hands!!! I'll be unstoppable! Except, I don't think I'll be able to type very well with long nails. Once when I put on some fake nails, I couldn't do ANYTHING!! So I'll have to keep them semi-short. But with nail clippers!

Just thoughts - nothing more

I thought about something weird on the way home yesterday. Yesterday, someone asked me, "Your name is Andrea, right?" and it was kind of weird, because I started thinking about how my name is not used very much. I have "other" names. Of course, I'm "Mama" to my kids, I'm "baby" to my husband (that's what I usually call him too) and to the rest of my family, I'm "Gigi". My neice bestowed that name on me when she was just a wee one, and couldn't say "Andrea". She actually said, "Gi-gi-uh" and then her younger sister shortened it to "Gigi" and so it was. Said neices are now 14 and 15, so it's stuck for many years now. In fact, this morning, my older neice said "Bye Gigi" when I left for work, and its so natural, I don't even notice it. Its funny, though, to hear grown men call me by that name. My sister's fiance says it, my brother says it, guys I used to date said it...funny. But the point of all this jabber is that I really don't hear my real name said too much anymore. At work, occasionally, if my co-workers are trying to get my attention, or if a doctor's office or someone "official" calls me on the phone...but other than that, not too much. Weird. But I like it this way.

Baby, baby, I'm taken with the notion!

That was Amy Grant, by the way. So..baby names. One of my favorite subjects. I'm just brimming with ideas!! The latest one I've come up with, for a girl, is Emma Katherine. Its so..pretty, feminine, and classic sounding. I also like Ella, but unfortunately, my husband does not. I like Rose for a middle name, Jordan for a boy or a girl, oh...and I've also thought of Carolyn as an alternate middle name for Emma, b/c it's my grandmother-in-law's name. Emma Carolyn. What do you think of that? I feel like I sound crazy, but I can't help myself!! I LOVE the name Juliet, but unfortunately, it rhymes with our last name!!!! :( So that won't do. That would be as bad as "Julia Gulia" from the Wedding Singer. Ha! The one name (about the only name) that my husband and I agree on is Lydia. It sounds musical, whimsical, romantic...but it sounds too much like Lily to me. He likes Claudia. I like it, but not enough to use it. And I don't have very many boy names! I don't know why I'm so inclined to think that I would have a girl! Let me think, though...boy names. I've already mentioned Jordan (but actually I like it more for a girl). I like names like Isaac, Evan, Jonah...but I can't get much past that. If I'd actually had to name Seth, I think his name would've been totally different. Or maybe I would still be trying to think of a name for him!

I'm going through an interesting time in my life. I've always known that I wanted children, and I do have two beautiful, wonderful children, a boy and a girl, one of each! And they are the absolute light of my life. But the funny thing is, I didn't "plan" them (funny being the operative word). With Seth, he's not mine biologically, but he is in every other possible way. Lily is mine biologically, but I didn't specifically plan to have her at the time I did. Make no mistake, though, I wouldn't change any of it for anything. I am deeply in awe of how blessed I've been. But now...I WANT ANOTHER ONE!! I want another baby!! I want to buy crib bedding and search on ebay for "just one more roll" of border and I want to go by the baby section in Wal-mart and find a sleeper that I just have to have. But more than that, I want to feel that sweet soft skin next to my cheek, I want to rub my hand lightly over the soft peach-fuzz hair, I want to watch an angel sleeping in a bassinet beside my bed, I want that FEELING again. The feelings that mothers know - absolute, unconditional love for someone so small, someone so new, yet someone that you cannot imagine life without. I know, I know, I know. The baby years go by SO fast, believe me, I KNOW. They have already zoomed by with my two babies. And I know that the teenage years are less than magical and I know that potty training is no fun at all. I know that I will be tired and I will cry and pray and cry and get no sleep and cry and yell at my husband and all that stuff. But I can also see that Lily will want to help pick out his or her outfits, and Seth will be proud of him or her, and I will smile and I will feel that FEELING again. And I know he or she will grow up, but I'll never forget the FEELING and whenever times get tough and I think I can't handle another kid, I'll look at him or her and I'll remember the way I felt, just like I do with Seth and Lily. It may not be in the next year or in the next 3 years, who knows when it will be? Only God knows, (I wish he'd let me in on it, but I suspect He'll tell me when the time comes :)

good times, good times

I had a wonderful weekend! It was just so...I don't know, refreshing and great. We did go putt-putt golfing on Friday (or as my daughter says, "puff-puff golf) and we had a lot of fun. Lily did a lot of cheating though; she would drag the ball around with the club and eventually just grab the ball and drop in it the hole, all the while insisting, "I'm not cheating!" Saturday was a relaxing day; we stayed home most of the day, but alas, the grocery shopping was not going to do itself, so we had to venture out to Walmart. On Sunday, we went to church, then went to my father-in-law's for lunch and swimming (although the swimming pool was SO cold that only the kids were brave enough to get in it). I learned that I've all but forgotten how to throw a frisbee, so Jessie and I played horseshoes instead. I did a little better on that, but I got closer to ringing people's feet than I did the actual pole. Monday we all went out to the river and barbecued with my sister and mom and family. My neice brought a friend, that, while we were eating, started throwing up and could not stop! That put an end to my lunch and pretty much everyone else's. The kids had a really good time swimming and playing on the playground, and it was just so peaceful sitting and watching the water. I don't know what it was about this weekend, but I thanked God for every day of it. It sort of gave me a soul replenishing, which I sorely needed. Ahh, I love holidays.

Yay! I got it set up. I even logged out and logged back in. Unfortunately, there will probably not be any deep thoughts revealed today. I'm looking forward to revealing some though! I'm at work and it'll be quitting time soon. I made this blog b/c I'm so sick of myspace (which is unfortunately addicting) and all the junkity junk that you see on there. This will just be my page, with my thoughts and ramblings. Fun! Its kind of a like a diary, only more confusing. I'm looking forward to getting off work tonight; I'll get to spend some time with the kiddos and Jessie. We're going to play putt-putt golf! It really is fun, and its so neat looking when its lit up at night. One game takes about 5 hours though, with the kids (well, that's a bit of an overexaggeration). But they love it and we all have a good time. Labor Day weekend couldn't have come at a better time. We all need a little time off, to just relax and let loose. I plan to read, sleep, and eat. Sounds productive, doesn't it? I suppose I'll try to clean the house a bit too. (Hmph) I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.