offended

Yesterday I noticed my tire was a little low, so I took it in and they aired it up. I stupidly thought maybe if I got it blown up, it would stay. Yeah right. So I had to go back to the tire place today and get it checked out. While I was there yesterday I noticed they had Christian radio playing in the background. I usually don't notice that because I'm not so very up on all the cool stuff in Christian music and sadly, most of the time it sounds exactly the same as secular stuff. But yesterday I heard Chris Tomlin. It was soo good. I was silently worshipping God and silently humming along..because if I actually hummed out loud that would so blow my 'from the wall' status.. and well, that's just not gonna happen, people!

But anyway.. that got me to thinking. I wonder if they get complaints about it? I wonder if anybody gets offended. I know.. gasp!!! Heaven forbid.

I can't count how often I, as a Christian and somebody with some morals, gets 'offended'. How many times have I heard "do it to me one more time" at the grocery store or more embarrassingly, in an elevator??? Just look straight ahead and don't make any eye contact... breathe..breathe... Whew! Or maybe it's the lady I saw the other day.. the well endowed lady.. without a hint of support for 'the girls'. Or another lady that decided to cuss at the man behind the counter at the tire store because he told her she needed a new tire. Or the skimpy clothes at the mall.. or people trying to push their political or social agenda on me.. or.. or... it goes on and on.

We can get so offended. Something in us gets riled up. But what? Most of the time, something happens that strikes a chord against our own flesh nature. Or even our 'religiousness'. But it's still US that's offended.

So how often is God offended? How often do we take into account the things we do that grieve Him? Not the big stuff.. the everyday stuff. The stuff we tend to overlook unless someone else does it in our direction and we're offended. This brings me to something God has been having me contemplate lately.

it's over!

The weekend of the stupid whimpering crying baby is OVER. Finally. It was one long weekend. Within the realm of 'normal life' that is. But what a weekend it was.

Some funnies from the weekend: Boo is not a 'wake me up quick and get me to do something' kinda gal. The first time she woke up with the baby in the night, she couldn't figure out what was going on. Bless her heart.. she's not good at waking up fast. But that was short lived. She got better and better at being up in the night. And got faster at getting her bracelet magnet thing synced with the slot in baby's back and significantly reducing crying time. Yay.

Whimpering time was whole other ballgame. That thing sometimes whimpered off and on for 30 minutes while being rocked until it would finally let out that wonderful coo we were both waiting for. (Cooing signals the end of the 'session' and it can be placed back in it's carrier until 'next time'.) Oh brother.

Night before last wasn't without it's funny moments either. After a successful whimpering, crying, whimpering and then cooing session, she needed to make a potty break. So she did that and suddenly I heard this KA-THUD sound and she had run herself smack-dab into her own CLOSED bedroom door. Poor girl. Can you say D-I-S-O-R-I-E-N-T-E-D? I kinda had to say yoo-hoo...you're in here with me.. and 'the baby'. Daddyman slept single in a single bed for the weekend while the Boo and I camped out in the master. I had to laugh. I worried a little bit that she would wake Daddy up, but I shouldn't of worried. He didn't even hear the thud. He can sleep through anything. Don't you just hate that sometimes???

I helped out just a little bit around 4 something until 5 this morning. (sshhh.. don't tell anybody!) She needed the sleep!!! I just stayed up... figured by the time I feel asleep, the alarm would be going off. So I've been up a little while today. But I enjoyed the quiet. I went back to bed at some point and just watched her sleep. We do that when our kids are real little, but I haven't spent a lot of time just watching her sleep as she's gotten older. It was cute. On the one hand, she's growing and her legs are long and I can't get over that. But then again, she still likes to bring something to cuddle to bed and her arm was firmly wrapped around that. I guess at this age, she's quite a contradiction... beginning to grow up and still being a little girl. I almost wanted to cry watching her sleep, in full REM state, watching her chest rise and fall. Fully relaxed. It was sweet and beautiful.

I am sooo glad this weekend is OVER. Now on to things like laundry and groceries... and a nap!

I'm a grandma

No.. not really. Unless you count our little computerized bundle of joy Boo has to take care of for the weekend. The hubs calls 'it' Plastic Robot Baby. It's real name is 'Baby Simulator'. We named it Lexi last night just for fun. But the fun wore off pretty fast.

Now it's just 'the baby'. As in "you need to get your stupid, screaming baby to be quiet". This is another one of those 'life lessons' from Home Ec I talked about yesterday. We have a life sized baby doll that comes complete with a diaper bag, a wardrobe and an infant carrier... all full sized and full weight.. to carry around all weekend. It cries periodically day AND night and she has to sync up a bracelet to a slot on it's back and rock it until it quits crying and starts coo-ing. And if she can't get to it right that second, it cries LONGER. And LOUDER. Oh yeah.. a fun weekend all around, folks!

We've already decided we aren't going anywhere this weekend.

Let's see...life lessons so far: (from both sides of the fence)

1. I'm too young to be a grandma.
2. I'm too old to be a new mommy. Although there are those that chose it, but I just don't think I could hack it at this point. (a non-issue for me at this point anyway!)
3. I don't fall asleep as fast after each 'cry' as easily as I did when I was younger.
4. Boo does. That's why moms are supposed to be younger.
5. But not that young.
6. I think Boo sees that babies can be a major pain.
7. She also sees what HER mom went through during the early months and appreciates it more.
8. Her 'cradling arm' is sore. The hubs and I had forgotten about that one.
9. She and I enjoyed looking at baby pictures of her and her brother and talking about that time in our lives. She listened more intently than ever.
10. Babies cry a lot. No duh, Sherlock!
11. Boo doesn't like dolls or things that move or make noise anymore now than she did when she was little. We all still have recurring nightmares of a time she received a 'Tiger Electronics' Mechanical 'toy'. (although for the record, this baby doesn't move at all. Just noises. That's plenty!)
12. Cats really are curious.

I'm sure there will be more things to add to this list as the weekend progresses. When's nap time???

stats and lessons

I've recently 'discovered' something else to be addicted to...besides Avon Care Deeply Lip Balm. Well.. maybe just at a different level. It's flightstats.com. Oh my gravy! I just love looking at where his plane is at any given moment. I sit there as it switches screens and gives me all sorts of useful info. How far he's traveled. How much further to go. What state he's flying over. Oh lookie.. he's over Nevada now! Clearly my life is jam packed with excitement everyday, isn't it?

Another funny thing... Boo is taking Home Ec this year. She was excited beyond herself at the thought as she'd never had that opportunity before and now it's a reality. She. loves. it. And she's learning valuable stuff too. So far they've made lemonade. And cookies. And cupcakes. But even more important are those "life lessons", as we'll call them. The stuff you can't learn from a book or from any recipe card. She came home the other day telling how she finally understands why I complain about my back when I do the dishes. Preach it sister! I love it!

The fun of Home Ec doesn't end there, though. There are at least a few more "life lessons" to come. So stay tuned. This weekend is going to be interesting!

an empty feeling

The past few days, I've felt like I was rattling around in an empty house. Like I wasn't sure what to do with myself. My hubby's out of town on business. He comes home tonight. This was an 'easy' trip. It was only two days. He's usually gone a whole week. Every time.

I just feel 'off' when he's gone. It feels odd to go to bed. It feels odd to cook a meal and only set out two plates. Even the cat kinda walks around hunting for what his missing. Boo lives for when the phone rings and 'it might be Daddy'. But more often than not I have to tell her he's still at work, or still asleep or 'still' something and he probably won't be calling at that time. Don't you just love time differences?

He comes home tonight. Jet lag and all. We'll be thrilled to have him home... of course. And I'll be exhausted, since I don't sleep 'right' when he's gone. And he'll be awake wanting to talk. Don't you just love jet lag?

But all of this makes me think of the ones for whom 'Daddy' isn't coming home. Maybe he's in the military. Maybe he hasn't been in the picture for a long time. Maybe he died. What about those? The empty bed won't be warm again. There won't be hugs and kisses and maybe presents (that's only happened once... can you say 'long layover' and 'bored Daddy'? I knew you could!) tonight.

The other day, Boo was at a church event and hubby and I had some time to ourselves and we were fresh from coloring chili peppers, so we had thoughts of Bub running through our minds. So I asked if he'd like to go to the cemetery. He said sure. We've only been together a couple of times. We always walk around. (we're weird LOL) We stumbled upon a grave that we think might belong to a friend of ours. He died unexpectedly. I think of his wife daily. Just makes me sad for her and her kids. He's not coming home tonight. No happy reunion. This feeling I've had for a few days is other people's normal. Just makes me sad.

hair plus 8

There are so many things running through my head this morning. And guess what... not a bit of it's important! LOL

One thing... I'm sitting here with my hair wrapped up in one of those Turbie Twist things. Yes, I actually have one. But I didn't get it over TV. I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Don't get one if you have long hair. The 'towel' is so thin you can see through it. A bit of a rip off, I would say. But since I gave up on the 'growing it out thing' and cut my hair short recently, it works fine. But here's the thing... I'm sitting here with my hair wrapped up because... I don't like the fuss of getting ready in the morning. Isn't that weird? It's the hair part that gets me. I can't even believe I used to have long hair since I've never liked messing with it. Do you like fussing with your hair in the mornings?

And the other thing.. I like to watch Jon & Kate plus 8. I would not dare post anything about this if my blog were searchable because I think it would cause me to have to shut it down... there are some militant people on both sides of the fence as far as this show goes. Just call me Switzerland! At one time I would've said "I love this show". I really do want to like them. I get bummed when I miss it. I tape it. It can be fun to watch. But Kate needs to watch her mouth. She can be very cutting and rude. Especially to Jon. Also I wish they would be as hard on the big girls as they seem to be on the little ones. Madi's got a mouth on her and she never gets corrected. I know we don't see everything and they do some clever editing etc. Buuut.... she seems to never get reprimanded or corrected and enjoys spouting off snotty little remarks and seems to soak up 'the camera' in the process. Heads up.. that ain't cute. Neither are Kate's snotty remarks... to Jon.. about Jon.. about GUM.. about other people. It's sad. I like this show. And I laugh at things. And then I wonder.. what did I just laugh at and why??? I guess it's just not funny to me anymore.

Wow... I got some hard hitting stuff today.. don't I???

chili peppers

We ate at Chili's over the weekend and they just started their annual Create a Pepper campaign. It creates awareness of childhood cancer and raises funds for St. Jude Children's Hospital. We have colored peppers every year for Bub. This year is no exception. As we walked into the entry way, I saw them hanging on the windows. It took my breathe away a little bit. It always does. Here we are. Another year later. Coloring a pepper. Again.

Daddyman drew Bub's favorite things. Two kitties. (he slept with two Beanie Baby kitties he named Kitty and Meow Meow... ooo, the creativity of a two year old!) Blue from Blue's Clues. Bob and Larry from Veggie Tales. And some other little things.

I wrote a very short version of his story on mine. I used a pen.

We always want to make our peppers personal.. as in.. YES, this disease really strike families that look just like us... the patrons you see every day. It happens more than you think. I think that's why we put our hearts on those little peppers every year. A tiny way to raise awareness.

We both joked about wanting to bring in our own drawing pencils next time. Their crayons aren't the best. LOL

We handed them to our waiter. And then waited. For the inevitable. Something always happens.

This time, it was the manager who came and talked to us for a minute. It was very sweet of her to come and find us. We enjoyed our little chat with her. We will probably color another pepper before the campaign is over.

Draw one yourself. It's for a good cause!