Blissfully Unaware of the Chaos the Surrounds Me

Um, Yeah . . .

anyone want to run away with me? I am beyond ready to move my family to some island where we run a bicycle rental shop. Or wait . . . bicycles can be complicated. Let's go with beach umbrellas and floating islands. Maybe a kayak or two for the busy season. Seriously. If I had my family and some way to connect with my friends? (I think they'd come and visit. Especially if we offered them a discount on cabanas and kayaks.) I'd be good. I could home-school. Raise chickens and hopefully trade tourist rentals for some bread? John could be the village doctor? Yep . . . bring it!

Today was actually a lovely day. Halle had a playdate with her bestie. They got along beautifully. They had a sack race, an egg hunt, a snack lunch, played in the sandbox, swam in the hot tub . . . and Lord knows what else! 

But work-wise? Ugh. That's all I can say. (But really . . . major UGH!)

Moving on . . . 

We had a great Easter. We made it to church, which was grand. Fabulous sermon. Good music. It was crazy-crowded. My theory is this: we have a traditional sanctuary and a movie theatre that is used for the alternative service. On Easter, in particular (and Christmas, too); people tend to desire and crave the more traditional environment. Giving folks an option? Is not going to work. Your traditional services are going to be packed. Your alternative (movie theatre) services are not going to be packed. If you want to fit more people in, just take away the traditional option. Make people fit into 2-3 services at the movie theatre. Period. The end. No options.

After church, we had a traditional Beadle family blow-out. (Why do we tend to fight on holidays and vacations?)

Then some of us went and egg-hunted with some of our amazing friends.

Once home, I worked in the yard. John joined me. (AKA, reconciliation.) I seeded a bunch of wildflowers and planted a small tree and a small bush. And some ground cover. John mowed and trimmed and blowed. (Nothing dirty here . . .  this was real yard work . . . no euphemisms!)

Going back even farther, we had a delightful Saturday. I yard-saled (shocker!) and scored a picnic basket and some new tights for Halle. (A local kids' store went out of business and they were trying to sell off more stock via their neighborhood yard sale. I was slightly irritated when I got home and realized that I actualy paid about 75% of retail value, not 75% OFF. Irritating!) I cleaned up the house and then headed out to my Mom's to BBQ and egg hunt. Once we returned, John and I left again to celebrate one of my very bestest friend's birthdays. Monk's (and the company) was delightful!

Even before Saturday? Friday was a good day too! I got a lot done. I finished our 2011 photobook (only four month into 2012). I took some senior portraits for a lovely young lady. And we enjoyed some long-awaited time and some delicious Tong Fong Low with good friends around our fire pit. 

It's all (mostly) good. He is risen, indeed.

Now to get through this week. That has been a bit of a common theme for me of late, hasn't it? Getting through. Surviving. Waiting on the calendar to move past a certain date or event.

I will, however, say that regardless of the crap? (And there is a bit of it?) I am embracing the moments that come every day. Thankfully. The snuggles with my girl, the banter with my boy and yes, the connection with my husband. Good days or not. 

Now let's hurry and get to, say . . . June 15th. It'll be easier by then.

Right?

Good Friday . . .

Yesterday was exactly what I expected it to be. An unpleasant morning. The evening, however, was everything I needed it to be. A good time with two of my closest friends. With wine. And possibly, a shot of Patron. A yummy salad. Cuddled up on the back porch, under the white lights. The evening definitely overcame the morning. It was made better by the fact that I was actually still awake when my hubby came home from work. Time with my besties and then time with my husband? All in the same day? Whoohoooo!

Anyway, I am off work today. And I made the decision to close our office on Monday. My assistant and I both needed that day with our families. So be it. A four-day weekend it is!

As for today, it is Good Friday. 

 

The Skit Guys share it much better than I could ever hope to. (This video, by the way, is very appropriate for a tween. It's a very teachable and touching thing to share with your older children, if they are at that point.)

And yes, I have a Good Friday post that mentions tequila. This might be a personal best (low) for me. Our Shannon? I'll post pics for you tomorrow. Love ya, though!

Valentine's Day . . .

was a bit over-the-top around here. I'm not quite certain why we all went a little crazy, but it was sweet. If just a bit ridiculous!

John was very sweet and hacked into my Pinterest boards and bought me a custom fingerprint necklace. Very sweet and touching! My gifts to him were all over the board. Books, wine and towels. Weird combo, yes? Dylan got his Mythbuster's bobbleheads that he's been wanting ever since we say them live last month. And candy, of course. Sister got a purse and all sorts of jewelry, including two very sweet necklaces from her brother. And candy, lest she be left out of the sugar-overload.

We hung out, ate yummy nachos for dinner and had ridiculous ice cream sundaes for dessert. It was exactly where we wanted to be!

And now, we are headed out to go see THE FRESH BEAT BAND!  Whooooooohooooooo. Pictures and a report on that big fun tomorrow. Get your rockstar jacket on . . . everybody sing along . . . 

Off the Cloud . . .

the magical iCloud, that is. So finally, here is my super-duper late culmination of missed Friday Phone Dumps:

And frankly, it's so late and so long gone? I can't even summarize it other than to say, this is a random smattering of the last three weeks of our lives. Pre-Christmas, Christmas, New Years, Lots of Other Stuff and . . . Amen! Here's to catching up and actually uploading photos on Photo Dump Friday!

Ignoring the Obvious . . .

I am now the parent of a teenager. It is seemingly impossible, so I am chosing to ignore that my baby boy is now much more man than child. At least ignore it for a moment or two (or blog post or two more)!

We rung in the New Year with friends, fun and ease:

and tequilla, sparkling cider, Prosecco, silly string, Just Dance 3 and the hot tub. (Just covering our bases!)

I even manged to pull together some (slightly better than what I threw out there the other day) goals/statements/reflections/jibberash/assorted bits of life:

31 December 2011

Name: Amy

Age: 37 (I actually had to figure that out!)

Favorite Color: Chartreuse

Favorite Meal: the Nick’s Grill at 5^th Street

Favorite Activity: Hanging with my Family

Favorite Book: The Help

Favorite TV Show: Parenthood

Three Most Played Songs on my iPod: I See the Light (Tangled Soundtrack), Hosanna (Bob Singleton Kids) and Great Big God (Little Angels) . . . all are obviously Halle’s. My actually Top 3 are Marry Me (Train), I Will Follow (Chris Tomlin) and Fairest Lord Jesus (Ross Parsley) which show up as numbers 5, 11 and 13, with more of Halle’s songs in between. Yes, I’m a Mom.

Greatest Lesson Learned in 2011: A lot of people willing to make small gestures individually can make a very large impact together

Hardest Thing of 2011: Time Management, Calendars and Schedules, Oh My!

Favorite Memory of 2011: Our trip to Hawaii . . . super-relaxing, nothing crazy, but lots of downtime, beautiful weather, good food, great company . . . sand, sunshine, warm water and my family . . . there’s nothing better!

What I Loved Most About 2011: Learning to live in the moments as they came, whether I expected them or not. Being more at peace with the present instead of focusing on what’s to come. Really feeling like I have come into my own and liking who I am, although I certainly still have faults to work on!

In 2012 I Want to Learn: Calligraphy and Guitar

In 2012 I Want to Get Better at: Being more active and making healthier choices

In 2012 I Want to Do More: Camping and Hiking

My Biggest Goal for 2012 is: To go deeper in relationships, in conversations and with my intentions.

Happy New Year!

How lucky am I to have this man to kiss at midnight? Blessed, am I, indeed! even if we are covered in silly string.

The Day After . . .

there are piles of toys. Piles of stuff. Piles of treats. Most of the piles of recycling have been dealt with. Thankfully.

But frankly? I've been too tired to be bothered by the piles. Which would normally drive me bananas! I'm not sure whether it was just that I did a little too much over the last week, or what, but this post-op girl is down for the count! I have my post-op appointment tomorrow morning, so I should know for certain, but I have a feeling that it's just all catching up with me.

Yesterday was good. Different, but good. We had my immediate family over. We opened gifts. I made breakfast. We drank Baileys or mimosas. We watched TV.

And that was it for me. I fell asleep. I barely dragged myself up to watch the Packers game and that was 5:15 pm! 

No Christmas dinner. No visiting family. No gifts at my Mom's. No church. No family picture. No getting dressed. (Seriously.) It was weird. But given the circumstances of the last couple of weeks? It was probably exactly what we needed to do.

Plus, we enjoyed playing games on and watching our new, crazy-big screen TV. Merry Christmas to us and hello, 21st century, all in one! 

We are super-blessed and spoiled. And still a little (very) tired. Hope your Christmas was as sweet as ours.

Merry, Merry . . .

Today in the town of David

a Savior has been born to you;

he is the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:11-12.

Wish List . . .

I have been told that I am hard to buy gifts for. I disagree. It's not rocket science!

Behold . . . a list of things I would love to receive as a gift:

Eddie Bauer Traveling Vine Sherpa Hoodie ($39)

Born ($198)

14k gold endless hoop earrings ($64)

 

Custom Return Address Stamp

Custom Silhouette Necklace- Portrait of Your Children ($30)

A $20 donation to the Adventure Project. I love that charity. Mark my words, someday, I will go and do something for them. Something with my own two hands. Something more than writing a measly check.

And of course, anything handmade by my cchildren. Anything at all :) Or photos of my children. Or go big and put those photos on a canvas . . . I may swoon! Or money towards a dishwasher. Or replacing the tile entry way. Or Barnes & Noble gift cards that I can use to buy Nook Books. Or Amazon gift cards to rent movies with. Or any number of other simple, random and sometimes useful items. Including a potato masher. 

See, that wasn't that hard? Something for every budget! I swear that I am not that difficult!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming . . . 

December Confessional . . .

I really should be Catholic, if for no other reason than I seem to need to confess my wrongdoings and shortcomings.

For example, for the second year running, I have failed to do our advent calendar. It's been in Halle's room for weeks, housing countless Polly Pockets. (Some serious occupancy violations going on there!) And this year? Just to top my previous years' failings? We haven't even lit our advent wreath or candles. Not once! (And that, honestly, is my favorite Christmas tradition.)

And, just now, because I tried to type this post while multi-tasking? I managed to burn yet another bagel in the toaster oven. Maybe it's time for me to go back to a pop-up conventional toaster. One that will eject before I can burn food to a crisp!

Halle's dinner tonight? A monkey bar (a Z-bar), yogurt and cheese crackers. And water. So sue me.

I didn't pull it together in time to do teacher gifts for Halle's amazing preschool teachers and staff. Lame-o. Aiming on New Year's gifts for that group!

I haven't gotten out of my pajamas all day.

I swore at my Mac because iCloud wasn't working like I thought it should. Probably because I didn't install it on that system. It was syncing between my other devices, but not my main one. Because I didn't tell it to.

I have a stack of photo ornaments sitting next to my computer. They have been there for three weeks. And I still haven't printed out any photos to put into them.

I put some Kahlua into my Chai latte before we went out to see the Christmas Lights last night. And then washed down my 800 mgs of ibuprofen with it.

I took some people off my card list this year. And even though some of them sent us cards, I'm not feeling compelled to reciprocate. If you are toxic in my life or on the fringes of it? (Or if you are mean to un-named members of my family or friends?) I'm not sending you a card. Sorry.

I told John that I was taking a nap earlier. But I was actually laying in bed finishing up my Christmas shopping on Amazon. Whoops.

I have wrapped one present. One.

I didn't do my 2011 Photobook yet. The MyPublisher 60% code ends tonight. I'm banking on the idea that there will be another hefty discount around the New Year. It's too hard for me to sit at my desk, and since I'm an iCloud idiot, I can't pull my photos from my laptop. Which was my plan. So no photobooks on Christmas Day. 

I was going to track how much money we've spent on all of our RACK stuff and put it into our Christmas budget. I haven't tracked a red cent! And I'm still giving. Must slow down. (But it's so fun!)

I encouraged Dylan to doorbell-ditch a friend last night. Later I realized that he was wearing his basketball sweatshirt. With his last name in reflective letters on the back.

I have gotten so used to missing church and listening to the sermons online? That I am tempted to go to church for the music portion only and then go get a Chai latte and listen to the sermon later. On my couch.

I have forgotten to pay the orthodontist for the last three months. I'm so embarrassed that I think I'll send Dylan into his appointment with a check while I stay in the car.

In addition to having not done a darn thing with our advent calendar (other than allow Halle to use it to house her Polly Pockets)? I had completely forgotten that I had ordered another (adorable!) advent calendar from Terrain. The UPS guy just delivered it. Double-lame Advent calendar fail!  

I was committed to making a different Christmas craft with Halle every day this week. But she really loves one of the crafts. So we've made them three days in a row!

And to round up the confessional, I'm posting my Friday Phone Dump. Today. On Monday! Whoot, whoot!

Random Acts of Kindness . . .

Day 1 . . . 

So this is our deal this December. We are, as a family, committed to doing one Random Act of Kindness every day until Christmas.

Today, I did something that I very, very rarely do.

I gave cash to someone standing at an intersection, holding a sign, asking for money.

I've always been a big believer in giving money to programs designed to help the homeless, rather than to the homeless themselves.

But today, while I was listening to Christmas music (!!), nearing the end of my commute, I rolled up to the red light as I exited the freeway. And there he was. Inches away from my car window. And I had the cash to give. (How blessed am I?) So I gave it.

And you know what? That man might have walked straight over to the gas station on the corner and bought a 40 oz for breakfast. 

But I am OK with that. It's not for me to judge. It's not for me to decide. 

I asked God for opportunities to present themselves to me this month. 

This was an opportunity.

I also felt led to start a Facebook group to encourage local Acts of Kindness. That has already - in the last 24+ hours - been a huge blessing to me. What an encouragement.

What an opportunity.