FORTY

Well.  It's finally here.  The big 4-0!  I've dreaded it for a full year now.  Fought it for months and months.  Lost sleep over it and cursed it more times than you can imagine.  And suddenly...like it or not.  It was here.  And just as suddenly, I was okay with it!  I managed to relax into it and just be fine with it.  Accept it and all that comes along with it.  I actually feel better in my first week of 40 than I have felt for the bulk of 39!  And with all of this acceptance, comes a new photo.  Me!  At 40!  And so...without further ado...Happy Birthday to me!  The new face of 40!

40 year old me with Oscar and Cooper

Fall is in the Air

It's that time of year again.  The time I love.  It's FOOTBALL season!!!!  This year is especially exciting because it's my Ben's first year playing.  I'm loving going to his games.  I love the excitement of the parents.  And the thrill of seeing the team run out and take the field in those first moments each time.  I love their looks of concentration and celebrating the big and awesome plays.  Yes...Fall is in the air.  Not temperature wise.  Goodness knows we aren't there THAT way yet!  Last week's game was played with the thermometer reading 107 degrees.  Last night's game was practically chilly at 94 degrees.  Sigh.  Have I mentioned that I find the Texas heat and humidity to be slightly, ummm, oppressive?  Anyway...back to FALL!  My boy is on the team.  He wears red gloves.  And runs FAST!

That fast one there...in the gloves...he's MINE!

And he's aggressive on the field.  Fearless.  And when it's time to make a move, he makes it!  TACKLE is practically his middle name...

See Mr. Red Gloves taking blue boy out?!

Yes.  That's my boy.  Number 45.  Does a mom's heart good to see him come across the field like that looking so big and grown up!  

Go #45!!!!

Ahh, yes.  This one is mine!  

Isn't he so handsome?  I  just love a man in uniform!

Oh yes.  I'm so proud of this one.  So big.  So fast.  So NOT a baby anymore!  GO WOLVES!!!

"Truly Stunning"

I have had one of the most interesting days of my life.  It's been 12 hours now since the "incident" around which this particular blog entry unfolds and I am still shaking my head in disbelief.  And surprise.  Let me just begin with painting a picture for you of my morning.  It started earlier than normal by a half an hour.  Not a big deal for some...but since my NORMAL alarm clock goes off roughly 30 to 45 minutes before my own internal clock (which goes of reasonably early), an added thirty minutes really IS a BIG DEAL.  The reason for the early rising?  Well?  I guess we can thank the orthodontist YESTERDAY for that one.  Max had an appointment to have his appliance rechecked and his mouth evaluated for progress as we are approaching his time for braces here soon and sooner.  While he was at the orthodontist, he missed an essay test for his history class.  WHICH he had to show up at school an hour ahead of time today to take.   Not a real big deal if the fates had smiled on me.  WHICH they did NOT.  Getting Max up to the high school involves going up Highway 26, which happens to be under MAJOR construction right now.  And at precisely the time that morning traffic starts kicking up a notch.  Not peak time...but busy just the same.  Max needed to be in one direction, Clara in another direction at the exact same time, and I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 15 minutes after that in a completely different direction still!  I'll just add in here that between construction and school zones, top speeeds this morning were a whopping 30 miles an hour.  Nice.  Had to cross through FOUR school zones before I hit the dentist.  AT 20 miles an hour.  Sigh.  To tell ya the truth, I was exhausted just thinking about the logistics of making it all happen....never mind actually doing it!  Would not be a big deal had Chris been in town.  He could have dropped Max off as he heads that way.  Would not have been a big deal if Clara were taking the bus this year.  She's not.  Would not have been a big deal if maybe I didn't have a dentist appointment (which only seems to fall ONE day out of every six months or so).  But I did.  And thus...it was a BIG DEAL!!!!!!  And therefore, I needed to be super organized (and pull out my magic supermom cape) and allow extra time in the morning to make sure everyone had their ducks in a row and were equally and properly prepared as myself.  So I hauled my very nearly (getting nearer by the hour now) forty year old self up out of bed, feeling more than a little tired and sleep compromised and headed to the bathroom.  Went through the normal routine.  Went potty.  Weighed myself naked on the scale AFTER my bladder was empty (because surely that counts for a couple of pounds, right?), did a happy dance because the scale did not make me cry today, evaluated my saggy bags under my eyes (sigh) and proceeded to get dressed and get a move on.  I pulled on my favorite sundress.  It's a simple black number. I love it because the cut of it is SO forgiving!!!!  It hides a MULTITUDE of sins!  And it's cotton and totally comfy and nice and cool since today was well over 100 degrees.  AGAIN.  But lets not go there.  It gets me fired up!  Anyway...back to my morning.  I wiggled into my favorite dress, did the best I could with my makeup, made a mental note that I might need one of those "life lifts" cosmetic procedures sooner than later, and then got my kiddos moving in the appropriate direction.  We made it out the door, rushed, but on time.  Both Max and Clara got to where they needed to be.  ON TIME!  Clara with just a whopping 30 seconds to spare (but who's counting?) and I skidded into my parking spot with 2 minutes left on the clock!  It was a successful morning.  I was scheduled at the dentist for a small filling and to have a crown seated.  I have had the annoying temporary on for three weeks now and was looking forward to ditching it for the real, more comfortable, more smooth, more BETTER real deal!  But as I slid into the chair, they told me they had some unfortunate news.  Apparently, yesterday, when the lab delivered all the crowns and other assorted dental accessories for patients, MINE was inadvertantly NOT delivered.  Stayed somehow in the van.  They were all over it first thing this morning.  Which, unfortunately was a bit too late, considering I was their 8:00 a.m. appointment.  However, they assured the office they were on the way with it and that it would be ready to pop into my little mouth within 30 minutes.  And since they had a filling to do anyway...would not be a problem.  Well, we proceeded with the filling.  It took a bit.  I am really hard to numb up for some reason.  A challenge, so to speak.  They generally numb me.  Then after a few minutes, numb me some more.  And then it's not unusual AT ALL (and today was NO different) for them to have to stop a few minutes into the procedure because I can feel everything they are doing and numb me some MORE.  I'm just special that way.  Anyway.  It can be quite a process and always seems to take longer thanks to the added waiting of having to renumb every few minutes.  An hour later, the filling was done.  And my crown had not arrived.  Grrrr.  The staff there was MOST unhappy.  And terribly apologetic.  And felt so bad.  Like terrible!  SO terrible that they discounted my crown $100 in way of apology.  What's not to love about that?!  So I was done.  For today.  I get to go back tomorrow.  I'm so special that way.  But anyway...on with the day.  So now I am done earlier than I expected (since now I'm not getting a crown seated) and realize I have time to get some gasoline before my next activity.  I pull into the gas station on the corner and hop out of the car to pump my gas.  As I am inserting the nozzle, a man comes around from the other side of the pump and starts talking to me.  An older man.  70's maybe?  Late 60's?  A grandfather (as he shared with me).  But alas I get ahead of myself.  This gentleman comes around the pump and starts telling me about how amazing this day is.  That first, there are clouds and a promise of rain and cooler temperatures in the air.  Then, he gets to be pumping gas next to ME.  And he proceeds to tell me that I am so beautiful.  "Truly stunning" to be exact.  And that he hoped my husband knows just how lucky he is (he'd BETTER).  He asked if he could give me a hug and I was just dumbfounded. I shrugged and said sure.  I was actually struggling a bit with the whole thing because 1) here's this total stranger flattering the heck out of me and wanting to hug on me and 2) I was just desperately trying not to drool on myself.  Which, was no small feat, considering I was numb all the way down into my chin!  He went on, just gushing and gushing over my beauty.  He told me we were meant to ENJOY life and not to just ENDURE it.  That if were enduring life, than Satan's hand was all in it.  But if we were enjoying it, then it meant angels were around us.  Lots of conversation passing there in the time it took to pump that tank of gas.   And I do mean LOTS (danged slow pump)!  When I was all done, he wanted to hug me.  Again.  Strange, I tell ya!  I've just never really been so forwardly hugged by total strangers in such a strange place.  So we said our goodbyes, had that one last hug, and then I wrangled my big ole "truly stunning" but ridiculously numb head back into car and went on my merry way.  My neighbor had quite the chuckle when I told her about it.  But then, who wouldn't?!  It's seriously the weirdest, funniest thing that has ever happened to me.  I know I will remember for many, many, MANY gas fill ups to come!  Maybe even forever!  And so...on that note...I am going to take my "truly stunning", but getting sleepy self off to bed.  My head is pretty big and I am still riding the waves of flattery from this morning's meeting with the stranger.  But as flattered as I am, the images from this morning's mirror are not so far from my memory and I am acutely aware that  I am in desperate need of BEAUTY sleep!  Or plastic surgery!  Regardless of what that fool at the gas station thinks!  Good night, friends!  Signed,
Truly Stunning in Texas    :)

Nine

My baby girl is nine now.  And since school is back in session, it was time to snap some pictures!  Because you KNOW I can't do the standard issue school mug shot that comes home from school pictures each year.  So glad I did.  I realize that we are going to blink and this one is going to be all grown up on us!
Prepare yourself...she's awfully pretty in some of these.  Stinkin' cute in the others!  Love this girly!

And there you have it.  Our sweet girl at nine!

The Joy of Breathing!

Ahhh.  It is a BEAUTIFUL day here in Texas!  Or, in other words, it's a nice COOL day in Texas.  AT least this morning it is!  It's simply FANTASTIC outside!  Downright brisk and refreshing!  Makes you just want to throw open the windows (which I did) and head outdoors to soak it all in (which I am about to do)!  It's a treat for the senses to be sure!  To feel that cool air wrapping itself around you...the cool freshness a delight on the skin.  The smell of fresh cut grass in the air (because cooler air is VERY inspirational for yardwork!) and the undeniable delight of taking a huge gulp of it into your lungs and just relishing the joy that comes with being able to take a full breath and not feel as if you are suffocating under the heat and humidity.  Ahhh....it's like having a new lease on life!  And not a MOMENT TOO SOON ALREADY!!!!!!!!  Good grief!  Talk about God's timing not being OUR timing!  He definitely has different ideas of exactly how much heat is too much heat and just how long it should go on.  Texas has had it's own personal preview of Hell the last couple of months with all the endless heat and drought.  I tell ya....it's enough to send to your knees in repentance for sure!  May this summer in Texas be as close as I ever come to the fiery pits of hell!

In other news...today is my Ben's first scrimmage for football.  He is CRAZY excited.  I'm not going to watch because it's not a game...just kind of a first practice between some players other than themselves.  NEXT week is his first real game and I WILL be there for that!  Can't WAIT actually!  I'm going to have to remember to stay respectable and not get too excited with yelling and cheering.  I tend to embarrass my kids that way when I watch football.  I just LOVE watching a good game when a team I am passionate about is playing.  The Cross Timbers Wolves are my new favorite team!

On Thursday this week, Clara's brownie troop will be coming over and we will have a "bridging" ceremony as they are no longer brownies, but Juniors!  There will be snacking and playing, a brief ceremony and then some pool time! Should be a lovely day and the weather should be tolerable too, though we are climbing back up TOWARDS 100 degrees as we go later into the week.  Not supposed to hit it...but 99 is close enough, if you ask me!

What else?  Oh...I lost ANOTHER pound on my Fit for Life 21 day challenge.  It's about time!  I've had a week being stalled out and I was getting pretty frustrated.  This newest pound brings my total to 7 pounds.  Still another week to go on the challenge and then I start cooking for myself again.  I will be glad to have that privilege back again.  To cook for myself and to choose my own meals.  I tell ya what...I will NOT be eating too much chicken or salmon. That's for sure!   I am overloaded with those two entrees!  Enough already!  So just 5 more days to go!  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now!

I guess that's about all for now!  Got to get outside and enjoy this beautiful day!  Hope YOURS is just as cool and wonderful!

Sweatin' it Out in Texas

Good grief it's HOT in the state of Texas.  I like being warm.  Handle heat just about better than anyone I know.  MUCH prefer it to freezing to death (which starts somewhere just under 70 degrees for me).  But THIS is ridiculous!!!!!!  Welcome to day 63 of consecutive days with temps over 100 degrees.  Grrrrr.  It's miserable here.  And sticky.  And gross.  And hard to breathe with all this stinkin' humidity.  I am MISSING living in the desert more than you can imagine these days.  Chris and I were talking and found it funny how even the desert wasn't as grueseomely hot as it is here and had nowhere NEAR the humidity.  I'm getting NOTHING done in my yard or around the house.  I have to wait until 8:30 every night to go out and try to pull a few weeds.  Then I have to pull FAST because I only have a few minutes of daylight left.  So many things are just being left undone out there because it's just SOOOOOO hot!!!!!!!  Unfortunately, things are nearly as hot INSIDE as well right now.  The A/C unit that cools the upstairs has, at last, done it's swan song and was pronounced dead late last week.  The other two units are doubly taxed now trying to pick up some of the slack. It's 95 degrees upstairs.  The A/C unit that cools the master bedroom and that end of the house has been straining and is having to be babied along while we sweat this out.  It's frozen over a couple of times with the increased work load.  Sending my bedroom up to a nice 85 degrees.   We've been sleeping all over the downstairs, with kids on couches and floors and guest beds.  They ordered us a new A/C unit and it should be here today or tomorrow.  Hopefully it can be installed as soon as it reaches the technician's hands?!  I thought summer was miserable BEFORE the A/C went out...but I have now had my perspective shifted.  The lack of A/C inside is greatly influencing some things in the house as well.  For example, I am in NO hurry whatsoever to go upstairs and put the kid's laundry away.  Nor have I had the heart to send them up into the extreme heat to do it.  So my laundry room is piling up.  There are blankets and pillows and all manner of other things all over my family room all day.  It looks like a bomb went off downstairs.  Night time gets tricky because I am used to being up past all my children and able to move around the kitchen and make noise without disturbing anyone.  But with all my crew passed out right there in the family room, that is difficult.  This week has certainly been an interesting journey and I have developed a new thanks and grattitude for the miracle of air conditioning and will never take that blessing for granted again!

What else?  My diet is coming right along.  It's been one week and I am down about 5 pounds right now.  Today is the first day of week 2.  Here's to motivation and staying the course!  And pants that might fit one day again!  And being able to breathe again in your fat pants!  Woo hoo!  It's the little things in life, right?

On another note, I gave Max his first driving lesson this weekend.  I thought if he had a chance to get behind the wheel and take it for a spin, it might be motivational for him and he MIGHT pay more attention to his grades and get focused.  Probably not.  But it was worth a shot.  So I bravely stepped up to the plate and proceeded to do with Max, what my own father did with me when it was time to teach ME how to drive.  I took him over to the local cemetary.  I know that might sound strange, but it's where I learned and in my old age, I realize the wisdom in this choice of venue for lessons.  Especially the early ones.  The cemetary has nice little roads all through it.  With corners to practice turning and intersections to practice stopping at.  There is little to no traffic (unless there is a funeral going on) and ours has some hills, etc.  And, like my Dad always reminded me...you can't hurt anyone over there.  They are all already dead!  And so, we went for our first little driving session.  It went quite well, and a few jerky stops and starts later he was getting the hang of it.  Hopefully it was enough to motivate the week before us?  I don't plan to throw out too many of those bones though.  My nerves cannot take it!  I'm made to drive...not ride quietly alongside.  It was a true test of my nerves and will.  I can handle the little stuff...like cemetary 101...but I plan to let the driving school handle all the rest!!!!

That's about all the news here in the great state of Texas today.  Kids are off to school and I am off to the dry cleaner and the library!  I know, exciting stuff.  Don't be jealous of my glamorous life!  Have a great day!

Back to School

Well, it's that time of year again.  The first day of school has come!  And gone. As in, we survived!  Yesterday was the first day back for our kiddos.  I was worried about how it would all go.  Max was still doing homework at 10:30 p..m. the night before (my little procrastinator).  Clara was lamenting about what a bummer it was that NONE of her friends was going to be in her class.  And Ben was uptight  because he did not have every single thing he needed for football practice, WHICH hadn't even started yet.  But everyone was up, bright and early, eyes all sparkly (or maybe just really watery from constantly yawning because it's been forever since they have seen the 6 a.m. hour?  And everyone was out the door right on time and successfully delivered to their appropriate school campuses.  Once the kids were all situated, that left me with some MUCH welcome quiet!  I made a Goodwill run and emptied all the bags of clothes from the back of my car, stopped at the gym and worked out for about an hour and a half, came home for a quick snack, showered, tackled 4 loads of laundry, scrubbed my bathroom top to bottom, steamed the floors, vacuumed the downstairs, did the dishes, grabbed some lunch, pulled some weeds, then took off to start picking up kids.  I will have NO children on buses in the afternoon this year.  I decided to pull Clara off the bus with the two nasty little girls down the street. I just want to run over them every time I see them out in the street.  NASTY little ones they are.  I made that decision last year...and it works fine for us.  Ben will be doing football practice and will be staying at school until 4:30 each day.  This is not a problem at all, as Max's school bell schedule has changed (due to budget cuts) and his swim practice will now run a half hour AFTER school, leaving him finished at ....4:30!!!!!  What's even better about this is that Max actually has swim practice in the parking lot of Ben's school!  The fates have at least smiled at me on this one!  SOOOOOO...I'll be picking the boys up between 4:30 and posssibly 4:45 for Ben as he cleans up, then whisking them home, lickety split, only to immediately leave with Clara in order to get her to her Jui Jitsu practice.  Leave her, shoot home to pick up Max, who has now had just a few quick minutes to have a snack and change clothes, take Max to Jui Jitsu, pick up Clara and bring her home, and pray Chris can grab Max on his way home from the office at 7 o'clock!  Whew!  From 2:45 on, life is going to be some kind of crazy around these parts!  I'm tired and overwhelmed just thinking about it.  Which is why I have to switch back into Nike mode and you know...Just Do It.  Less thinking...more doing!  But yesterday...we didn't even attempty Jui Jitsu practice or anything else.  I knew everyone would be tired and that there would be a couple of things that would need to be taken care of and so I thought a low key afternoon would be best.  However...there would be NONE of that.  Apparently football practice started right then, the first day of school, no here's what you should know as a parent, no "Head's up, we're starting", no notice at all.  And in order to practice, you have to have had your sports physical.  WHICH of course, we didn't have yet.  Grrrr.  And so.  I made a call to the pediatrician who informed us that they couldn't have one in their office until after August 30th due to insurance policy....which is completely too late for both boys.  So we loaded back into the car, 15 minutes after we got home and headed to urgent care up the street where THEY performed their physicals for them.  Both boys...DONE!  Got back home around 5:15, where I had exactly 25 minutes until I had to get BACK in the car and go back to Ben's school for a meeting about football.  Sigh.  By the time I got back home at 7 0'clock last night, I was ready to drop.  I had some dinner, finished some laundry, baked some cookies for the kid's lunches (NOT because I'm domestic, but only because we didn't have anything else I could throw in there), and was tucked deep in my bed by 10 p.m.  I slept like the dead and rose bright and early, ready to start this new and wonderful day!  I have to admit the alarm seemed to go off a bit early and I found myself praying for just 5 more minutes.  The excitement of the first day had definitely worn off...it's drudgery from this point on!  But alas...up at at em....be the Nike and all...Just Do It!

Speaking of DOING...I have lots to do today.  Ben needs a mouthguard and a water JUG for practice.  It's still 106 degrees here at 4 p.m. when my boy is out on that football field and he NEEDS some serious liquids.   He also needs two MORE spiral notebooks.  Notebooks that failed to be mentioned on the student supply list.  Clara needs 4 book covers and a pack of dividers.  Book covers and dividers which ALSO happened NOT to be on the school supply list.   GRrrrrrrr.  This kind of stuff just makes me CRAZY!!!!!!!  In addition, my printer is nearly out of ink, my pool is turning green and needs some shock, and my puppies are nearly out of treats.  So I have some shopping to take care of today.  No rest for the weary, right.  And in my spare time, I need to do a deep clean on the rooms upstairs...blinds, baseboards, corners, etc.  Well...alright now.  Looks like a full program then today!  Best be getting to it!