How my day started

I turned off the 645am alarm and went back to sleep. Typical. Later, I became vaguely aware that there was someone in my bed, even though the hubs had left for work at 5am. Opening one eye, I saw the now 13-year-old J lying next to me reading.
"Why are you here?"
"Because you have a Tempurpedic* and it molds to my body. It's comfortable!"
"Hmm."
I'm thinking, "Whatever, at least he's quiet." Then I hear screams of delight. From outside. *sigh* They know they are NOT supposed to be outside if I am still in bed! So I send J outside to find the other children. Moments later three dripping wet, muddy, swimsuit-clad children arrive at my bedside.
"What do you want Mommy?" Smiling, while dirtying the carpet in a rental.
I'm sure you can imagine the rest of that conversation. And the consequences for breaking two rules. I made them all shower and get dressed. Later in the afternoon, I let them go back outside to play. I heard noises at the front door & opened it to find them playing in the mud beside the front door, yet again. My mouth opened & then I just shut the door.


*This was a fantastic deal at over 60% of retail price by buying a floor model at the clearance center! Our old mattress was 12 years old & had molded to our bodies in a totally different way! ;)

Crazy Conversations

The craziest convo at my house in ages!!!
K: Mommy! E says when we move out of the house you and daddy are going to be divorced!
Me: (to E) You don't even know what that word means.
E: Yes I do!
Me: No you don't. And we're not going to be divorced, we're going to party like rock stars when you move out!
K & E: What?
K: Can you really marry your brother or sister? Because Elliott wants to marry me.
Me: NO! Not ever!
K: See? You have to find your own woman!
E: But I want to!
K: No, you have to find your own woman!
E: I need to find a plain woman like mommy.
Me: What? Get out!

Look Alikes?

My husband thinks that Curtis Granderson, center fielder for the New York Yankees and Dule Hill who portrays Burton "Gus" Guster on Psych look alike. I think he's crazy. What do you think?

 

Curtis Granderson

Dule Hill

Tuesday's True Confession: Feeling Inadequate

I heart looking at other blogs, but sometimes I'm left feeling somewhat inadequate. Okay, a LOT inadequate. For instance, one blog writer did a recap of everything she accomplished last year. It involved a television appearance, a magazine spread, and being able to quit her full-time day job because of the success of her blog. Umm, okay. How am I supposed to compete with that?

I love my little blog. I really do. But I start reading other people's blogs and thinking, "Ooh, I want to do that" or "I can blog about 401k's and hedge funds even though I've never dealt with either!" You get the point. I'm all over the map because I don't have a clear goal for MY blog. In the beginning, the goal was very clear: A place to put all of the kids pictures and updates so the grandparents & other relatives will stop bugging me to mail them photos even though I take digital pictures & rarely print them. Then I realized that none of the relatives actually reads my blog, and I discovered that I enjoyed writing about other things than just the kids. (Sorry kiddos). However, like everything else in my life, I tend to be a scattered, unfocused, and unable to complete tasks I begin. So it's really a miracle that this blog still exists. 

Lately, the posts have been (obviously) random & sporadic. I feel like I'm just throwing stuff on here for the sake of posting. I need to find a focus and a purpose for my blog.

Has anybody else ever struggled with this? How do you overcome it? How did YOU decide what to blog about? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!

I know I haven't been very faithful in keeping up with my blog this last year. I can't promise that this year will be any better, unfortunately. I still enjoy blogging very much, but find it hard to maintain. Many things have changed this past year & I'm finding it difficult to find a good balance as many things are still up in the air. Hopefully, things will begin to fall into place and I can return to the things I take pleasure in. Please keep checking back often as you never know when I might surprise you with a post!

May this new year bring joy, happiness & peace!

Fiction Addiction Fix

I recently found out that a co-worker of mine writes historical Christian romance novels in her spare time! Kathy is unpublished as of yet, but while she's waiting, she and a friend have a blog dedicated to book reviews and giveaways. Sometimes I don't know what to read so I'm sure this will be a great source of inspiration. If you too could use a little inspiration (or just want to win a FREE book), hop on over to

Make your own banner at MyBannerMaker.com!

Their banner is so sparkly! :)

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Girl in the Gatehouse

Photo Source: Amazon

I never used to read romance novels because I thought they were all trashy. Lately however, I seem to be reading a ton of them, and not one is trashy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Guess you just have to know where to look, right?

The Girl in the Gatehouse by Julie Klassen is a lovely Jane Austen-esque novel written in easy to understand English about a young woman who has many secrets, and a man trying to prove he has increased his social standing. Brought together by happenstance, they are intrigued with one another, and find that nothing is as it seems. Lessons in loyalty and not judging without all the facts abound in this charming story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Romance & all. :)

I received this book in exchange for my review from Bethany House. All opinions are 100% mine!