some bad parking

I saw a post several days ago that reminded me of this story.. so of course, I had to run and take pictures so I could tell it. : )

We bought a van when Bub was a tiny baby. Well.... he was a baby. That boy was never tiny! : ) But anyhoo, we bought a van and it served us well through all the years of Bub's life and beyond. One of the fun things we did during what the doctors called our 'good time'... meaning we knew he wasn't going to make it, but he still felt great and acted like a regular ole kid... was go to an aquarium in a big city near us. And we came away from that day with more than memories.

We ran into a post in the parking lot while trying to park the van. And it left a nice little dent over one of the front tires. We never got it fixed. For one thing, during that time, a small cosmetic dent wasn't high on our list of priorities. And then later on, we just decided we didn't care, I guess. I say that, and yet I hate dents, dings and scratches. There's nothing like a brand new car that doesn't have any 'stories' to tell yet.

So I loved it when we bought our new van. It was the first time we had a car (it's a van, but I call it a car anyway) that had fenders the same color as the exterior. (in other words it wasn't silver or black) So I fell in serious like with my new fenders... so pretty.

One day about two weeks into my new van's life, we came home from a little errand and Boo was going to hop out and do something and hubby and I were going to wait for her in the van. In the garage. Well.. for some unknown reason, I decided in my sheer brilliance that we should put the garage door down. Well... the one little thing I didn't know was that he had not pulled the van into the garage quite enough for the door to close. But since the car was new, that fact didn't click with either one of us.

Until we heard the horrible SCRAPING sound. We both looked at each other wide eyed and then hopped out of the van to discover this...



...a big ole scratch down the back fender. We still had paper tags and look what had already happened. We used to pull up to this klassy little hole in the drywall of the garage.. and I think that's what happened that day. So I set out to make sure nothing like that happened again.

Now we know to pull up to the smiley face. At least we could still smile after a frustrating day. But ya know, I think that's one of the things we've taken away from some of our experiences... don't sweat the small stuff. Because just about everything is small stuff in light of some of the trials we've faced... and in light of eternity.

Hope you have a nice weekend. School is out and I think I'm going to take a little bloggy R&R for a few days. Hugs to ya!

my newest little obsession

Lookie... we have bunnies!!! I couldn't help myself... the other day I just had to go outside and try to take a picture of the bunnies in the yard. I was able to catch this one. He was skeert, though. See its little ears all flat like that. I stood really still and continued to watch him and he began to relax a little bit.

Before long, his ears perked up and he looked like he was getting more ok with me watching him... and taking his picture.
Sometimes I only see one bunny in the yard. But one day I counted three hopping around and looking adorable. We eat dinner facing the backyard and it's pretty common for one or more of us to jump up from the table and run to the window if 'the bunnies show up'. Look, a bunny!

Dang, we need to get a life, don't we?!

living at 211*

There are some things in life right now that are stressful. They aren't easy. They aren't simple to figure out or work through. And sometimes those things have me so upset I'm barely worth a lick to anybody.

I love it how God can say what He wants to say to me, even when the words themselves don't exactly match up. Sunday's sermon was one of those times! He was talking about anger. Most of the time my feelings are just limited to frustration. But every now and then something happens though, and I do get angry.

It was interesting. The pastor talked about being angry a lot growing up and one particular conversation his dad had with him and all he said was son, if you don't get a handle on this anger, it's going to destroy your life. In my opinion, those are some of the wisest words anyone could say to someone who struggles with anger.

I must be in control of how I respond to the things going on around me, or it is going to make my life very difficult. I realize this and yet set it aside when the heat isn't turned up at that moment. He talked about how the boiling point of water is 212* F. And how many people live at 211*. I realized that in many ways, I had been internalizing the issues going on around me, keeping my heart and mind at a steady 211, so that if there was the tiniest blip of struggle or confrontation on the radar, it sent me into boiling mode and it just made life difficult.

So God used those words to smack me 'tween the eyes on Sunday. Again.

And yet I know *I* can't do this. At all. Obviously. But He can! I am so glad He wants to recreate us and is continually make us into new creatures... something that doesn't resemble the old at all!

guilty as charged

I've been charged with eating at my desk! The nerve of my husband some people!

Said accuser also states that my keyboard sounds like maracas when shaken. I just don't know where he could get such a crazy idea!

Do you?

sh-sh-sh

This is our favorite commercial right now!



So... when you really want somebody to zip their lip, just say "sh, sh, sh... shut it!"

At least that's what it sounds like to us. : )

How many of us wives and moms have given that look at one time or another? And you can't forget the cute little quirky smile at the end either!

the sporty look doesn't work for me

Today was day two of my Sports Active 'thing'. And no, this blog isn't going to turn into a play by play of every little thing about this.

But I do have some observations.

My legs are in terrible shape. And since doing day two a couple of hours ago, it's getting harder and harder to move around the house. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy!

And another thing.. ahem.. I wouldn't mind the running parts so much, if I were an A instead of a C, if you get my drift. I noticed while doing some of the movements yesterday, that at times 'the girls' seemed to have their own ideas, and at my age, that's not too comfortable.

So I went out in search of a sports bra some sporty under things. It did not go very well. And I hope places like Walmart and Target (yes, I wanted to try the cheap places first) don't have hidden cameras to watch folks change, to make sure they're not gonna put on ten things and try to walk out of the store, or something.

Because if they did, whoever watched me yesterday got an eye full. I hope I certainly hope it's a she isn't scarred for life by what she saw. Because here's the deal, there should be one rule for sports bras SB's... they should buckle in the back. The two I tried on did not. I repeat... did NOT buckle in the back. So I had to put it on over my head. That part wasn't so bad. Not great and certainly not a pretty sight, but not bad.

Taking it off. Well, that's another story. I got it up and 'over' part of the way. But then I ran into problems. It's like the thing shrank. It seemed a little small and I struggled and wondered if I was going to be able to get the thing over my head. Let me just say.. not a pretty picture!!! I had images of myself either wearing it out around my neck and casually telling the lady at check out that I'd just like to wear it out and leaning over to scan the tag for her... or calling in the jaws of life from fitting room three to come and cut me out of it!

But finally.. and I do mean finally, I was able to free myself from the crazy thing. And in case you're wondering... no, I did not buy either one of them!

I told my husband about my little adventure and I think he wishes he could have been there to see it. So he could laugh. But he did offer up an alternative. Why don't you just use an Ace Bandage?

The funny thing is... I had the same thought while driving out of the Walmart parking lot.

getting active

I'm not an overly active kinda girl. In the past, I went through a period of getting in shape. Really in shape. I was very lean and very strong... for a girl, that is.

And then life happened. Or something like that. Actually Bub got sick. And everything else in life came to a screeching halt. I did a little bit for myself during that time, but not much. There were times when he was sick that I could go for walks. So my legs stayed toned part of the time. And I also used to run the stairs to the fourth floor to his hospital room, rather than take the elevator. (I still can't believe I used to do that!)

I can't even hustle up one flight of stairs now!

I did Wii Fit for a while. I liked it. But there were things about it that bothered me. For one, I almost never got my heart rate up enough to be of any cardio benefit. And secondly, it was heavy on balance... and one of my legs is stronger than the other, and I was having a hard time overcoming that. And then there's the boredom factor... and the 'this thing takes forever to move from one movement to the other' factor. And the lack of resistance!

Enter the EA Sports Active for Wii! It came out yesterday and I was one of those crazy people standing outside Best Buy waiting for it to open. I only got the setup part done yesterday.... telling it my age and weight and making my little person and all that.

Today I got to start it! There are endless options for creating your own workout...including resistance! I was pretty impressed! And no unlocking (like the Wii Fit)! But there was also the option for a 30 day challenge thing. Everything is programmed in for 30 days of workouts and I got to pick the intensity from easy to medium to hard.

I picked easy. And I'm glad I did. Dern. Kicked my hiney.

And I actually got winded and sweaty! Both of which are good things if you're trying to workout. Also... I could do this in the privacy of my own home and didn't have to subject myself to young, fit bods at some workout place. And that kept me from feeling like a doofus doing weird things I don't normally do, too! Hello.. squats!

Well, today is/was the first day. 29 more to go in this little challenge! Hopefully I can stick with it. I have a terrible habit of coming out of the gate strong, and then getting really sloppy with this sort of commitment.

So, I'm hoping I can stay active and challenged for the 30 days and have a little something to show for it!