somethings are just not meant to be done alone

i have used a duvet cover since high school, when i begged my parents to get me a futon.

Why is it that 16 years later, i still HATE and struggle so badly with putting it back onto my comforter after washing it?  inevitably i end up holding one corner up in the air with one hand so i don't lose it, and then try with the other hand and an opposite elbow, and sometimes even my teeth to get the other corner of the comforter into the far left corner of the duvet, and it never works out until at least the second or third (or fourth) attempt, at which point my other arm is tired and i start to feel like the biggest moron for not yet having a simple system for completing this task. 

two weeks ago i did this with michael, and it took us one try and about 2 minutes. sighh.....today, i was laughing out loud at myself as i thought the comforter was inside the duvet, but really it was underneath it and i had been blindly just moving fabric frantically all over the bed while still holding that first right corner up in the air.

it's the little things that make me appreciate my mate sometimes.

he changes the sheets for me, too.

quick, unedited words

i have not forgotten you.  remember my guilt.  it is with me and i can't go into the rest of the week without writing something.  but house is a wreck and the parents arrive tomorrow.  how can i possible dirty a home so quickly? 

i have had so many things to talk about.  about our trip to arkansas, our awesome families, and frank's continuous questions about God and the people in his children's Bible.  for instance, today at the zoo on the way to see the new lions, he said, "Did the people throw Daniel into the lion's den because they were jealous of his beautiful coat?" 

I wanted to tell you about the terrible customer service I received at Target yesterday, and how it made me lose my temper with my son.  I want to discuss the differences between frank and ford and make some sort of chart to display how wonderfully different they are.  I want also to talk about the new realization i had today that I do not know how to be sad, but only angry and how my poor husband has to put up with my anger each time we go to our designated work areas because, really I am sad, but I don't know how to express that emotion. 

I want especially to discuss all the drinking of the surprise Asbach Uralts chocolates that have come into my possession since my birthday.  you generous souls know who you are.  If any of the rest of you come to my house, i might just share with you - but you better hurry, because just like with the cinnamon rolls, they will be gone very soon.

finally, i just want to say that i am so excited for spring.  i absolutely loathe houston in the summer, and usually at this time of year i am mourning our beautiful winter's departure, but this year i am just so excited to see the azaleas bloom and the trees bud and the grass turn green again.  i have forfeited much housekeeping, and therefore sleep this evening, in an effort to help the boys take in the warm weather before we welcome the onslaught mosquitoes that will ruin my mood anytime i am outdoors in the next few months. 

travel pictures will follow soon.  in the meantime, let me just show you something new for me:

i have never liked painting my nails - and could count on one hand the number of times i have left nailpolish on my fingers for more than a day...until this past week.  Spurred on by the lastest issue of Lucky magazine (the subscription i receive now that Domino went out of business) i went in search of lavendar nailpolish.  and I discovered "Lavendar Cloud" by Sally Hansen.  I am a little in love with it.  makes me feel modern and strangely enough, not quite as pale.

at least i did feel pretty, until at the zoo today, when frank was kneeling on the ground and looked at my legs and said, "I can see your veins...and your ants, just like daddy has on his face."

update

as suggested by my faithful friends, i returned the chocolates.  I was advised to seek a "foodie" in the candy area and ask for a sample to ensure that the other boxes were not duds.  I did so, and after i bit off the top of the bunny ears and saw the little toddy of brandy inside, i felt a bit embarrassed boozing it up in the middle of the store with my kids.  But that didn't stop me, and again, I started to giggle because they have much more booze inside those bunnies than i had recalled.  but they are tasty little critters.

and now they are gone.

Asbach Uralt

once, when i worked at the nursing home, the Austrian wife of one of our residents gave me a big box of chocolates filled with brandy.  At first, I found them a little strong.  Then, I discovered how I was delighted by the way the brandy was both liquid and formed a crystallized crunch on the inside  of the chocolates.  I was hooked.  One day, i was sitting at my desk making phone calls, while eating my chocolates one after another.  Towards the end of the conversation, I found myself giggling about things that weren't funny...and then it dawned on me...the chocolates had made me tipsy...at the nursing home, while on the phone giving social worky counsel to an elderly person.

Over the course of a few weeks I finished my box of chocolates as well as two of my co-workers' boxes of chocolates.  I have been in search of them for years.  Last year, at Easter, I saw them at Central Market in the form of brandy filled bunnies.  I was excited, but my budget consciousness kept me from purchasing them...

This year, while i still need to be budget conscious, i gave into temptation and said - what the heck, bring on the booze candy.  it is birthday week, afterall.

so i bought it, i opened it....I ate two bunnies, and all the brandy had leaked out of the little bunnies and they were empty and dry inside.

what should I do?  do i keep eating them, while feeling sad because they are not all they were created to be, or do i return them and request new bunnies?  plus, aren't all the bunny boxes going to have dried up brandy?  they probably are from last year, anyway.  who else is rushing to buy a box of chocolate like this?  You certainly are not putting them in your kids' Easter baskets.

I feel like these things always happens when i try to buy things for myself.  I think that from now on, i will wait for someone else to get me booze candy.  It just works out better that way.

how time flies

as usual, i have guilty feelings when I take too long to write a new post.

me and my guilt.  we are tight.

anyway.
I have been trying to think of all that has gone on in the past few weeks to write about.  It is all too much.  The days are flying by so quickly I can't keep up with them really.
I am EXTREMELY grateful for all of the wonderful friends in my life who have made this time go quickly.  Nearly every night we have had a friend or two over for dinner and visiting or LOST/movie watching.  It has been great.  We have eaten well, and enjoyed new company at our table.  I sincerely don't know how I would be if it weren't for these awesome folks.  

but the downside, for you, is that i run out of time to type and reflect, at least in a bloggy sort of manner, that is.

speaking of reflection,
I asked God a few weeks back for help with waking up early in the mornings so that I could have time to read the Bible and pray before the boys wake up.  Well, He does answer prayer.  I have been going to bed so late at night, but each morning, i find myself awake between 5:30 and 6:30am.  Does this mean that I actually respond, by getting out of bed to read the Bible and pray?  sometimes.  I suppose that my next prayer should be for the desire and discipline to actually get out of bed once I am awake in the mornings.

One new thing that I am excited about is a Bible reading plan that my friend, Jane, helped me find.  You can see some of the options she sent me, here.  It takes you through the entire Bible in a year if you stick with the plan.  Each day has you reading from 4 different areas of the Bible and I love it.  There is no other way that i will ever just sit and read Ezra and books like the minor prophets without it, which is a shame because those books are so good.
Frankly, I am at a place in my life where i can accept that I am just a guide kind of gal.  I need assignments to keep me on task.  The plan I chose even has little boxes you can check off once you have read the assigned books for the day.  This greatly pleases both my soul and my school-loving nature at the same time.

I have also felt a little swamped by all the books that i am reading.

Do any of the rest of you have these kinds of issues?  too many books to read, plus keeping up with LOST and 24 AND needing to finish nursing CEUs and the taxes.  I am sure that I will never catch up....and then returns the guilt.  Hello, friend.

on a final note:

Last week, we attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  Rodeo is really one of my favorite times of year.  not that i want to go everyday...i just like knowing that it is going on every night and that I could go see some cowboys atop briefly tortured animals if i wanted to.  Here is a photo from the daytime activities:

I couldn't believe they would allow frank to feed the lambs. 

Focusing on my strengths

I am continuing to work through my thoughts on fun/beneficial activities that I enjoy with my sons.  (I looked at that last post that I wrote at midnight one evening, and thought how sad it sounded, as if I only enjoy three activities with the boys.)  So here are more.  I am making these lists for myself, mostly, as a reminder for those times when I don't know how to fill and hour or so of time in the day.  I am attempting to be more intentional in our playtimes this week, and to see if this improves everyone's overall behavior (myself included).

Things I enjoy:
looking at maps, and geography stuff
building things with leggos and blocks
comparing and sorting rocks and marbles/ collections
making bad music with our pitiful instruments
coloring books and activitiy books
reading
dressing up
walking outside and looking at stuff
bike riding
talking
cuddling
jumping jacks and races

Things that I don't enjoy:
army men/ pirates/ firemen
smashing cars
sand
sitting with blank paper and crayons
glue
pretend eating of pretend food

 

Here is an example of an activity that I despised.  Valentine's cards.  

I had intended on making many of them, for many of you (aunt betsy, aunt kelly, aunt stephanie, aunt shannon, michelle, etc.) but only 4 cards were completed.  The rest of you did not receive any because it was miserable for me, and i ended up yelling at frank at one point, which resulted in him pouting and sucking his thumb at the table, which I felt ruined the whole "cards made with love" feel of the project. 

Forts

 

 there can never be enough forts when you are young.  Toys that are old become new again in a dark fort.  Flashlights make everything magical.  Pillows and blankets make it cozy for looking at books.  As a mother of boys, there are many things that i do not enjoy doing with my boys.  For instance, super heroes and pirates; I am just not into playing these things.  I will say "argh!" and "ahoy thar mattie!," but I am only pretending to have fun.  

However, I don't have to pretend to have fun in a fort.  I like building them and I like being inside them.  The other day, during Ford's nap, Frank and I watched half of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original version) on the laptop from inside the fort.  I wanted to show him a boy who has the same hair as him, and the room full of edible plants with a chocolate river.

 

Something I have noticed about a few dads that I know...they do what they enjoy with their kids, and the kids love doing those activities with their dads.  This blows my mind.  They aren't attempting to do activities that are beneficial or healthy and productive, they just do things that they enjoy and they do it with their kids.  I want to embrace more of this in my parenting.  Enjoying it.  Because if mama is relaxed and happy...everybody is more relaxed and happy.  

Now i just have to determine what it is that I enjoy doing with my kids.  

Well, at least I have forts...and bubbles...and hiking...any other suggestions?