My Oscar Soapbox

No, I did not watch the Academy Awards last night. No particular reason why. I mean, it would have been hours of my life wasted, when all I really care about is who won & what did they wear? I can do without hours on end of acceptance speeches.

But allow me to rant for a moment about Hollywood. Yes, I realize that I feed into the ridiculousness by signing up for Netflix & attending the movie theater. And I do think that Penelope Cruz looked stunning. But the amount of money that these people make to simply entertain us . . . ABSURD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It really tells you where America's priorities are when our doctors, firefighters, policemen, etc. (you know, the people who actually save lives) don't make even a fraction of what the Hollywood elite do! Craziness!!

One other thing utterly amazed me. And, frankly, I was impressed by my response to it. This morning, my husband caught some of the Oscar highlights on the news this morning. He informed me that someone (typical man . . . . no name) was wearing shoes that were worth $500,000 a piece!!!!! Only to be outdone by someone (again, no name) was wearing a diamond pendant that was so expensive that it couldn't even be given a dollar value!! Now the old me would have responded like so ~

"Lucky girl!
I wish I had that kind of money!
Imagine having designers, jewelers, & stylists at your beck & call!"

A newer version of me would have said ~

"Think of all the good that could be done in the world for $1,000,000!
Instead, the world has a pretty pair of shoes!"

But as of this morning I thought ~

"You know what?
My God, my Abba Father, my Dad made those diamonds.
He owns those diamonds.
He's just letting them use them for a while."

For Those Who Know Them . . .

This post is for all of you who know my children & can properly appreciate their antics.

I know that every parent thinks their own children are so cute & so funny (& that is as it should be). But mine are really hysterical.

Here are a few of the funny things they've been doing & saying lately:

~ Yesterday I asked Caleigh to hop into bed while I fed Peyton & put her to bed. From where I was sitting, I had a clear view of the large open space in Caleigh's room right next to her bed. As I was sitting there, something caused me to look up (call it Mother's Intuition), just in time to see Caleigh flip off of her bed & land on her back on floor. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt ~ just a bit stunned ~ she looked up at me as though confused by what had just transpired & said, "Mommy, I fell off the bed!"

~ During the aforementioned naptime, Caleigh was singing a bit too loudly. After waking her sister for the second time, I went upstairs to tell her to be quiet. What did I find when I got up there?? Caleigh . . . naked. I got her dressed & giggled my way back down the stairs. This morning when I went to get her out of bed, what did I find? Caleigh . . . naked . . . again! I hope this is no indication of her teenage years! ;)

~ The other day Daddy was watching the girls in the playroom ~ Daddy & Caleigh were working on a puzzle & Pey~Pey was in her walker. Caleigh was also snacking on some yogurt. For some reason, Daddy & Caleigh left the room (probably b/c Caleigh had to go potty . . . she's such a big girl), but they had left Pey~Pey & the yogurt behind. By the time they got back into the room, Pey~Pey had already seized the opportunity & the yogurt!!!! Hence the pictures.

~ For Christmas, Mimi bought Pey~Pey a cute, little beanbag tiger. There is a story behind it . . . Caleigh & Lauryn have both fallen in love with a beanbag elephant . . . Lauryn's is "Winkie" & Caleigh's is "Buddy." Peyton couldn't be left out of the loop, so Mimi bought Peyton "Lovey." It didn't take any coercion at all for Peyton to fall in love as well!! As soon as she sees Lovey, she nuzzles her face into him with gusto!!! Describing it just doesn't do it justice.

I'm sure there are many more things that are slipping my mind right now. Everyday they come up with some new way to infuriate & amuse me!!!

My Cutie Pie!!

Who can resist those eyes!?!

Date Night

So, last night was date night ~ a sort of belated Valentine's Day celebration. Now why is it that when I actually have the opportunity to go to the movies sans children, there are no good movies playing (yes, I know, "Breach" opened last night, but it wasn't playing at the theater near us)???

We dropped the girls off at MomMom & PopPop's & headed to the mall. And although we were childless, we couldn't help but stop into KayBee Toys ~ they were having a GREAT sale!!!!!

Then it was off to Bath & Body Works (one of my favorite stores)!!! It seems that in the busyness of having kids, Jason & I are often not able to celebrate certain holidays on their exact calendar date ~ but I think we've stumbled onto something . . . everything for Valentine's Day was 50% off!!!! I got 2 cream body washes (Warm Vanilla Sugar & Black Raspberry Vanilla), Jasmine & Vanilla massage oil, Wild Honeysuckle body lotion, & my personal favorite ~ White Cherry Blossom body butter!!!!! We only spend just over $20!! We did so well, I think we're going to celebrate all holidays after the fact!

Then we headed over to Ross to do some clothes shopping. I am currently sporting a new long-sleeved, red t-shirt with a funky owl design on it . . . for the low, low price of $5.29!!

We went to TGIFriday's for dinner . . . which I love, but WAAAAAAY too much food! So I guess I'm having Bruschetta Chicken Parm & Crispy Green Bean Fries for lunch with some Oreo Chocolate Cake for dessert!!! I can hear the pound being added as I type!

Of course, no night out would be completely without coffee. So we found a little place in the mall & indulged in a grande Mocha Hazelnut Latte . . . yuuuuum!!!

But, forsooth, there is no such thing as a night JUST to ourselves, so we ended our evening with a trip to Walmart . . . the dog needed food!

C'est la vie!


{By the way, my prayer warriors, Caleigh's ear surgery is scheduled for March 1st, early in the morning.}

Ice, Snow, Teddybears, & Unexpected Blessings

Valentine's Day greeted us ~ as it did many of you ~ with ice & snow . . . lots & lots of ice & snow. Unexpected Blessing #1 was that the roads were far too treacherous for Jason to venture out, so he got to stay home with his girls all day . . . which quickly led to Unexpected Blessing #2: I got to sleep in until 9 am (this is major, considering that Jason teases me about having a love affair with our bed ~ I LOVE our bed ~ & I usually have to be up by 6 am)!!!!

The girls got stuffed animals for Valentine's Day. Yes, Caleigh's was a black & white teddybear . . . exactly what she asked for. For those of you who have been wondering, Jason's Valentines got him a Bible ~ a black, French Moroccan leather-bound, thin-line, NIV Bible with cross referencing. So, 4-6 years from now, when you see Jason preaching from the pulpit with black Bible in hand, you'll know where it came from. I was given a beautiful card filled with coupons ~ good for back rubs, housecleanings, & my favorite ~ "No Mami Aqui" nights!!!!!

After putting Pey-Pey down for her morning nap, Jason & I headed out to try to locate our cars. We quickly found out that although Caleigh loves snow, she does not love ice. So while we were shoveling & scraping, she was sitting in the van, cozy warm, watching Dora the Explorer on the DVD player.

Not long after our cars were uncovered, our neighbors were warned that if they didn't move their cars within the hour, they would be towed. So my Good Samaritan hubby headed out to shovel & scrape & push 2 more cars out of the snow. What a nice guy!!!

Unexpected Blessing #3 came when Jason sat down in the afternoon to do our taxes. Most of you know that doing our taxes is the 1st of the next set of steps for the Great Adventure. Step 1: Do taxes. Step 2: File FAFSA. Step 3: Put house up for sale. It turns out that our refund check is going to be TWICE as much as we were expecting!!!!!! We were so excited!!! Our realtor is going to walk through our house & give us a list of small home-improvements that we can do ourselves to increase the value of our house & that money will be a great help!!!

Post-Valentine's Day, the snow & ice are still here. I had to help Jason get his car unstuck so he could risk his neck driving to Harrisburg. Yeah, he didn't know 78 was going to be closed for 50 miles when he left.

Hope you all had a wonderful, love-filled day!!!

My Funny Valentine!

We just LOVE Valentine's Day. For all of you out there who are single, I get it. It's a stupid holiday ~ just another day for Hallmark & Kay Jewelers to capitalize on. But when you are married to your best friend & have 2 beautiful children who are the loves of your life . . . it's a GREAT holiday. In our house, we observe the traditional rules of gender; therefore, the 3 of us girls share Daddy as our Valentine & Daddy shops for his 3 special Valentines.

Last night, as I was tucking Caleigh into bed, I told her that today was going to be a very busy day -- we were going shopping for Daddy's Valentine's Day gift. Being a typical 2-year-old (aka "It's All About Me"), she wanted to know where her gift was. I informed her that she was Daddy's Valentine, so if she wanted something special, she had to tell Daddy.

So . . . on this fine, brisk February morning, the girls & I ventured out in search of Daddy's Valentine's Day gift. We had great success; & truly, I wish I could tell you what we got for Jason, but he is a regular reader of this blog & I would hate to give away the surprise.

While we were in this particular store, Caleigh was so enthralled with all the things to look at (that, of course, was after we visited the potty ~ really, what is the fascination with public potties??). I wrote this off as a unexpected blessing, for it allowed me some time to carefully choose a gift. Little did I know, she was carefully filing away information in that "steel trap" of hers.

When we got home, she insisted that she needed to call Daddy & refused to tell me why. I happen to think it's adorable that she likes to talk to her Daddy throughout the day (usually to tell him that she had to sit on the naughty step, her panties are still dry, Pey-Pey's crying, or other some such toddler news), so I indulged her & just whispered a prayer that she was not going to give away Daddy's Valentine's Day surprise. After Daddy got on the phone & she was sure that she had his undivided attention, Caleigh said, "Daddy? I want a teddybear for Valentine's Day. A black & white teddybear."

While I had been consumed with picking the perfect gift for our Valentine, Caleigh had been perusing the store & carefully choosing exactly what she wanted so she could tell her Daddy the right thing.

Does life get better than this????

Reality Check

It's official . . . I am a spiritual wimp! "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Well, my iron was sharpened by my husband last night. It's a long, involved story, but well worth the lesson, so read on . . .

Jason's job involves a lot of traveling in the company car. Yesterday, he stopped by Jiffy Lube to have his oil changed. Now, most waiting rooms I've been in have their TV set to CNN (or some other continuous news program), but this particular one was set to the History Channel. And the program of choice for Jason's viewing pleasure was all about torture . . . & as we all know, torture was & still is (in some countries) a favorite way for many rulers to try to silence the message of Christianity. So, last night, on the way home from church, he educated me about the different forms of torture. He told me about the Iron Maiden ~ a person-shaped casket, made of iron, & lined with spikes. But what was so notable (& horrible) about the Iron Maiden was that all of the spikes were strategically placed so as to inflict the most pain without actually killing the person trapped inside (such as spikes through the eyeballs, etc.). Then I learned about the bronze bull that a person would be placed in & as the bull was heated by a fire underneath, the person inside would be cooked alive. There would be an opening in the mouth of the bull because the screams coming from inside would give the illusion that the bull was bellowing. Jason also informed me that during the Spanish Inquisition, it was very popular for religious "criminals" to have to watch someone else being tortured, knowing that they themselves would be next. And this is how the rest of our conversation went:

Me ~ No, what would be worse would be one of us having to watch the other be tortured.

Jason ~ No, what would be worse would be like those Christians in the old days . . . if the parent didn't recant, their child would be tortured.


And then my heart just fell into the pit of my stomach. Here I am, whining & complaining that I'm giving up my house . . . all for the cause of Christ. Gee, how noble of me. I'm giving up my house . . . not because my family is being run out of town for claiming the name of Christ, but because He has something else, something better, in mind for us. I'm giving up 4 walls, 1 roof, warm nights, & fond memories for 4 different walls, 1 different roof, the same warm nights, & more fond memories. My children are loved & safe, & will continue to eat healthy, play hard, & be tucked in between their flannel sheets with the snowmen on them at the end of a long, fabulously fun day . . . with no thought about pain, torture, or death.

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."

The Waters & The Flames

It was a tough phone call. And although the conversation was filled with well wishes, future plans, & courteous laughter, it was still a tough phone call. I spoke with our realtor yesterday. He very wisely advised me that he thinks it's too early to put our house on the market ~ if it were for sale now, someone would snatch it up & want to close on it in April or May . . . Good News!!!! But still a tough phone call . . . allow me to explain. Even though I was thrilled that this seasoned professional thinks that selling our home will be a snap, it pushed me one step closer to the reality of selling our home.

On a cold day (like yesterday) when our widows are leaking arctic air like a sieve & I have to write out the astronomical check for the oil company, I think to myself, "Praise the Lord, this is our last winter in this drafty old house." But then at night, I tuck my girls into their beds in bedrooms tailor-made for them & I hate to imagine anyone painting over Caleigh's flower garden or Peyton's polka dots.

Our pastor often uses the term "spiritual schizophrenia" ~ knowing what you should do & not doing it or knowing what you shouldn't do & doing it anyway. And sometimes that's how I feel ~ I remember when we started house-hunting, Jason & I dreamed of a house with a fireplace & a bay window. And, lo & behold, when we walked into this house for the very first time, there was a fireplace & a bay window! But then I remind myself that the 4 walls that hold my family are not as important as the family being held.

Today's devotional passage:

Fear not, for I have redeemed
you;
I have summoned you by name;
you are Mine.
When you pass through the
waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the
rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you
ablaze.
For I am the LORD, our God,
the Holy One of Israel, your
Savior.

Since you are precious and
honored in My sight,
and because I love you,
I will give men in exchange for you,
and people in exchange for your
life.
Do not be afraid, for I am with
you.

Crisis in the Bathroom!

So, I'm in the bathroom, picking clothes up off the floor, when my hand bumps the basket that holds the girls' bath stuff, & I hear something clatter to the floor. And I think to myself, "Did I just lose an earring? Because surely that would be the only thing that would clatter in such a manner, right?!?" I turn on the light & much to my horror & dismay, there on the floor is the diamond from my engagement ring, complete with prongs still attached!! So then I looked at my hand . . . the ring itself was still there. I wasn't aware that chlorine erodes platinum (or so they said at the jeweler's) -- the crown of my ring had snapped right off!!!!

Now the hubby & I, being true examples of "men are from Mars, women are from Venus," had 2 very different reactions to the incident. I immediately cried out, "OH, NO!!!!!!!!!" and the tears began to roll. He, however, very calmly walked into the bathroom, assessed the situation, & said, "Well, praise the Lord, you didn't lose the diamond." And although my practical side could see that he had a very good point -- at least it happened at home & not when I was out & about running errands -- my sentimental side was crying out, "But it's my ENGAGEMENT RING!!!! (sob) I LOVE this ring!!! (sob, sob) You PROPOSED to me with this ring!!! (sob, sob, sob)"

The good news is that we took the ring to the jeweler's last night & left thinking that it would cost at least $100 to have repaired. When they called me today, they decided to only charge $50. And it will be ready to be picked up on . . . Valentine's Day.



****Potty Training Update: Caleigh is doing a FANTASTIC job. We haven't had more than 1 accident per day all week. And most days, she doesn't have any accidents at all!!! Of course, the incentive that MomMom is going to buy her more outfits for her Snap & Style doll doesn't hurt!!

Great Adventure Praise

What a wonderful surprise! I went to the mailbox today & there was a letter from PBU . . . I breathed a quick prayer, "Please, Lord, let this be something good." And it was!!!

Most of you know that Jason attended Automotive Training Center for 18 months & graduated with highest honors & a specialized degree. However, ATC did not become an accredited institution until after Jason graduated. So we knew that going to PBU would pretty much be starting from scratch.

And then I read the letter . . . they assessed Jason's transcripts & not only does he not need to take "Freshman Seminar" (not too big of a deal, since it is not a class for credit), but he also does not need to take a professional elective (3 credits) during his 7th semester!!!!! It may not seem like much, but that's roughly $1296 that we do NOT have to pay!!! And it's 3 credit hours that Jason does not have to devote to study & away from the family!!!


Yea, God!!