Good morning Captain

"Good morning Captain, won't you come on out and play. Wake up the sunshine and share this brand new day"...Captain Kangaroo was definitely part of my younger Janice routines every morning. Also the reason we all avoided green jeans, no one wanted to be called Mr. Green Jeans!! This song was running through my head this morning, so I strolled down memory lane-AKA, youtube-and discovered exactly the right song.

People younger than me...you will probably never have even heard of Captain Kangaroo-I am so sorry. Think Mister Rogers, only cooler with fewer wardrobe changes. (I loved Mister Rogers too, but you could not admit to watching that show at school.)

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the sunshine.

Move Over Vinegar...

I have a new love in my life. Don't move too far though vinegar-I still love you and your sidekick, baking soda. My new love is ebay. Ebay, you make me swoon. Ebay, you make me money to buy curriculum. Ebay, you are helping me thin out my crazy ridiculous obsessive curriculum collection.

Even as I sort through things no longer use, I'm still thinking-what a great curriculum, I should totally do this. Now I have to follow that with-Yes, Janice, it is good curriculum-but will you actually USE it? Then I tell myself, no I will not because we have next year stuffed to the gills with activities we are going to do and there is no room. Then I post it on the auction block and Erik and I get all giddy when people buy it. Sometimes we make money and then we are really giddy. Silly giddy. Giddy-up!! (We still love you Kramer, we know it was the crack talking when you got all crazy!)

I am trying to post about 4 things a day and I love the results. I highly recommend it. Ebay is the new black.

The Love of Christ

Tonight I experienced two someones showing me, all of us-Mom, Pete, Erik & all three of my girls-the love of Christ. We were helping Mom host her pastor and his wife for a thank you dinner. They have done so very much for my mom!! We have joked that Brother Dobbs is like our other dad because Mom did not have single surgery that he wasn't there with us, praying and waiting. As soon as we got the all clear, he would be on his way. He was just like another one of the family. It was very touching.

So the meal was on and they arrived to us putting the finishing touches on supper and then we enjoyed a very nice meal together. I was working on getting things all cleaned up when I noticed they were in the other room playing UNO with my kids. Just them and the girls playing UNO. They were loving on my kids and treating them like family and my heart melted. Then I joined them for a round of Apples to Apples. They were so loving and we laughed so much. They loved all of us with the love of Christ despite the fact that we were very loud and Lilly was very very excited and often very clingy/being Lilly. My girls will forever remember them fondly for how loving and accepting they were to them. Unfortunately, these days most grown-ups really don't have time or the desire to engage children. (Often, I am in this group as well, I am ashamed to admit that!) Some people we know sit back and tsk tsk and tell stories of how wonderful and quiet their own children were at that age and judge my parenting-at least that is what it feels like. They sort of demand that the children be sent off to play...SOMEWHERE ELSE. It was refreshing to all hang out and laugh together. It was refreshing to be accepted-flaws and all(We got lots of them!)-and not feel judged. Then I walked them to their vehicle when it was time to go and he opened the door for his wife. Wow. I didn't know anyone still did that. It was such an easy habit that she waited for it.

Now, I must point out that we definitely have people in our church who treat us and our children this very same way. They bless my very soul and my children love to spend time with them. However, it is a small number of people. Of course, there could be tons of people in our church who would be just like that and we are just so anti-social these days we have missed them. We are not invited to alot of things and we don't invite alot of people over much either.

Maybe that is what is wrong with kids today-not enough grown-ups are interacting with them, being patient with them. I always say the trouble with kids is that they turn into grown-ups and remember how they were treated. Often this makes them want to be far far away from church buildings (and their parents for that matter!). Jesus always made special efforts to be with children and people who did not fit the mold. I need to work on being more like that. He did not condemn, but he inspired people everywhere he came across them. I need to be more like that too!

It was a wonderful night and despite spending a hundred hours on my feet to make it all happen, I really enjoyed myself. My mom almost smiled and looked pleasant a few times too. ( ;

Life in the Fast Lane
(Sure to make me lose my mind!)

I spent my blog time reading and not writing. Most of what is milling about in my brain would cause a ruckus if I put it to "paper" anyway. My time lately is either spent doing 1200 things in a day OR wandering aimlessly and accomplishing nothing-shellshocked and dazed. Today, I read a book, took a nap and then read blogs after the church festivities. Sure, nothing was accomplished but it was nice minus the kid bickering which eventually halted. (We were all a bit edgy after the weather forced our church to move the picnic outing we were supposed to have to the indoors! We had freezing rain today-UGH!)

Tomorrow, I am helping my mother host her preacher for supper so I will be gone most of the day. He is a really nice man and his wife has sent my mom no fewer than 20 cards. They have been a real blessing to her (and us).

Looks like another week full 'o fun as I spy the week's activities. Yahoo, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. It will be fun, for the most part, I just get a little overwhelmed thinking about all that is crammed into my weeks lately. I'm spoiled to the slow lane, what can I say?

PS-I have lost five pounds!!!! I can tell it too, my bra is getting looser!

Yucky Day!!

I not only did not get things done today, but I also did not have a "fun and enjoyable" day with the kiddos either. I did get a few things done for mom and make it to a birthday party, so I guess that is something, right?

Off to do some very light housecleaning so at least I wake up to a semi-clean house tomorrow.

I hate days that are spastic and non-productive.

Gorgeous Day

The weather lately has been absolutely spectacular and we have been loving every minute of it. In between errands and odd jobs here and there. My kids have been earning money doing things nearly every where they go-mostly picking up sticks. Grandparents love to give their grandkids money. Especially after watching their grandkids run around and work hard. Things have come a long way since I got a quarter from my Grandma for getting her mail, sweeping and washing up her dishes.

Tomorrow I am hoping to spy a few yard sales on the way out to my mom's. That will be just the thing to make my little wage earners very happy. One more day of beautiful weather before the snow flies-or at least is predicted to fly. We plan on "seizing the day"!

Just A Mom...con't...

I met a man. Not just any man, but a man who melted my feminist heart with a smile(Those dimples still make me swoon!). A man who made me want to marry him, cook for him and have his babies. A man with a HARLEY.

So all of my lofty aspirations for making loads of money fell by the wayside as I planned a life with the man I would marry. I was more than happy to "quit school". It was a good thing too, someone kept me so distracted I could not even think straight. We met in August, got engaged on Christmas Eve, and married in May. As we planned our future together, we agreed that I should be a stay-at-home mom when we had children. In fact, not long after we were married, I quit my job to "practice" being a stay-at-home mom. My house has never been cleaner and supper was never more prompt. However, I hated it. I decided to go back to work at a floor covering store so we could get new floors at cost. It was fun and I planned to stay on there for a while when I became "in a family way".

After the birth of Erika, I never even gave another thought to finishing school or having any type of career. I was the happiest I had ever been. Becoming a mom fulfilled me in a way I had only dreamed of. Erik and I were so bonded and just crazy about our little family. Then 3 short months later we found out our family would be adding one more. This began our tumultuous years-we survived them by the skin of our teeth and emerged even more in love and committed to our little family. A few years later, in an attempt to downsize our lifestyle(and more importantly, our debt) we moved to a smaller house in the country(sort of), the house we live in now. We were so content and snug in our new home. So content, in fact, we immediately became preggers again. And then there were three. And then there was a tubal ligation. And once that decision was made and the steps of permanent birth control taken, our love life became so extraordinarily marvelous...TMI, TMI.

When Lilly was 2 years old, I became a Pampered Chef consultant. That sort of awakened an urge in me that had been dormant. The urge to do something with my brain to make money. It was a fun 4 years. Then the busyness of life won out over the urge to have a career. So where does that leave me today? It would be nice to do something to contribute to our family income, but my hubby is a good provider and it really isn't necessary. It would cover some extras-but it also would probably just make us want even more. So I am, just a mom. And, for the most part, loving every minute of it. I still like to think about what I will be "when I grow up" but I really like being a kid again through mine. I am content. Law school will still be there when my kids are grown.

Just A Mom

Okay, lately it seems all of my inspiration comes from AMI. We do have a fair amount in common. She posted on the fact that her daughter thinks she "gave it all up" to be a stay-at-home mom. Of course, that is a paraphrase, but you get the idea. So this has me thinking too. My daughters will be the age of hers soon and I would not be surprised if they say/believe something similar.

I was a good student all through school. I'm not bragging here-OKAY, yes I am(Don't you hate when people say, "I'm not bragging...and it is very clear that they are?)-but I made good grades, my teachers liked me, I worked about 24 hours a week at a part-time job, belonged to almost every club in the school-officer in 2 of them, was active in my church youth group and had alot of friends. I was SUCCESSFUL at school. I loved it. I LOVED it. I lived and breathed to do academics and anything relating to them. I wrote for the school paper before I even took the class. And then, after being pumped up for 12 years(no mandatory kindergarten in my day) about how awesome I was, how I was going places, winning scholarships, it happened. I graduated.

I was as lost as an easter egg. I did not come from a wealthy or really even middle class home(not poor enough for financial aid though!). I planned to go to a four year college and I even registered at one with a partial scholarship. The reality though was that I was community college bound. That was OK, it was probably for the best. You see, my ego had been pumped up to about 50 times what it should have been. I looked around at all the normal working folk and felt much pity for them. Saddled to a po-dunk town and a family. This was absolutely not the plan for one so smart as I. I had big plans. I did not have any clue what I would be when I grew up, but I would be making lots and lots of money.

So, I did a little research, found out nurses make good money but nurse anesthetists make even better money and I followed a nursing path that eventually would lead to almost 6 figures. I moved out into an apartment and got myself qualified for financial aid and went to school to be a nurse. For 2 years. I studied something I hated, cared for old people in nursing homes, women getting ready to have babies, women who had already had babies, cared for very young children who howled and cried when I came into their rooms and I WAS MISERABLE. And EMBARRASSED. You see, I had so sold myself(and family and friends) on this NURSE thing, that I wasn't sure how to go about fixing it. The day I inserted a catheter into a hysterectomy patient, I KNEW. IT was over. I no more wanted to be a nurse than the man in the moon.(Ironically, my nursing instructor gave me a long lecture in the hall about how she was finally seeing real potential in me as a nurse. HA!) I was chasing a paycheck and nursing is a little bit more of a calling-especially when you are 20. So I did what any sensible 20 year old does in a crisis. I slacked off on studying, partied alot, got a bad-for-me boyfriend and allowed my grades to slip down to just below what you had to have to stay in the program. So, no one could say I quit. That was very important to me-that I didn't quit.

With nursing behind me, I begin to lay out a new path. I moved back home, got a "real" job with benefits and a future, took a personality test to see what I should pursue in college and settled on communications. I loved my new course work. I started writing for the college paper. I was a DJ for one hour three times a week for the college radio (ALL Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix because I was cool!!) and took a class of college drama because I wanted to. I totally ACED a public speaking course and was best friends with my writing teacher. It was great. I was stoked at the possibility of this leading to a career somewhere down the road. I even took some summer classes and had my fall classes selected when my life took a totally unexpected turn that I could not have anticipated...