Exactly 7 years ago yesterday Jeremy and I were up at 4:30 AM and driving the hour long drive to the hospital where our son was scheduled to be born via C-section.

Like I told Kendall yesterday...he was so tiny and so perfect and we are SO glad that he joined our family 7 years ago.  His Daddy was the one who picked out his name, and after some consideration, I agreed.  He was the kid that it took us the longest to decide on a name for and we only finalized his middle name on the way to the hospital.  That same name is the one that a boy on the bus was making fun of him for recently...saying that Kendall is a girl's name.  Which it is.  And we didn't know that when we named him.  But that's a whole other story. About how the ONE thing that I didn't want to do with my boys was pick a name that could possibly be a girl's name. And how Kendall was not even three weeks old when I first heard "Oh, my daughter's name is Kendall" or "I have a new niece named Kendall."  Seriously??  I guess I wasn't up to date on current names because I had only ever heard of Kendall as a boy's name, and a very rare one at that.  I told Kendall to tell that boy on the bus to just call him "Ken" and that should solve it.  That freaked Kendall out because he doesn't want to be "Ken" of "Ken and Barbie."  Oh, well.  We tried to pick a manly name.  We really did!

One of Kendall's birthday gifts was a punching bag and boxing gloves...and that probably is about all I need to say about him!

Kendall is a fireball.  He is very intense and feels things very strongly. He tends to use his physical force to express himself and finds it hard to express himself with words.  We are working on that.  He is full of energy and life. He also has a very sensitive side and will cry during movies and will empathize deeply with situations or people where he sees people hurting.  He is very generous. Just this week the kids brought home some folders because they are raising money for the American Heart Association through school.  Kendall chose to give $20 of his own money (mostly birthday money) to the cause.  I questioned him about his choice but he definitely wanted to give that much!

Kendall is a snuggler and a loving boy, but he is also wild and crazy. He has a short fuse but yet will work on something painstakingly when he sets his mind to it.  He is easy to please and quick to make decisions (what do you want for breakfast, which coloring page would you like, what treat do you want to pick out at the store) but also will sometimes get upset when I don't consult him or when I assume I know what he would like.  He is a little package of contradictions that keeps me guessing!!

He's been a challenge to discipline (still is) and he is my child who has most humbled me as a parent.  Which is good.  I wouldn't trade him for the world and I want to be sure he KNOWS that!

Anyway...we celebrated by inviting some of his friends over the Friday before his birthday.

We had a sledding party on our back hill and then they opened gifts, played all wild and crazy in our basement, and had supper and played some more.  It was kind of wild, but the kids got along really well and all in all, it went off without much trouble. For which I was thankful.

The theme I picked for his party was Penguins.  He wanted to be surprised, and Kendall is an animal lover, so I thought he would like this theme.  He is sometimes hard to impress though, and he seemed pleased, but didn't make a big deal of it either way.

THE SLEDDING:

Our kids and their friends are at such a fun age and it is so cool to see their different personalities, their senses of humor and the way they interact.  I love having our kids' friends come over!

The meal.  Pizza, grapes, Doritos and of course, the cake and ice cream.

I painstakingly made all of these little penguins out of fondant.  It took a long time and they still looked like they were made by a kindergartener.  Oh, well.  They were edible (if not sickeningly sweet) but a kid or two at the party ate a whole one right down.

THE GIFTS:

The kids all gathered round and wanted to play with everything all at once after the gifts were open! It was kind of crazy!

THE GROUP:

One cousin, 2 siblings, 5 friends and 1 birthday boy!   Good times!

Now that this is over, I can move on to the next thing...getting Valentines made for all three kids (or helping them make them)

Derrick is doing this project for his Valentines for school:

Kendall wants to do this:

And Nicole chose this one:

So yeah, we have some work to do!

In the meantime, Jeremy and I are going away for our anniversary and I am super excited. We are definitely overdue for some uninterrupted time together!  Add in a little retail therapy and I may just come back a new girl!

Jeremy and I will celebrate our 13th anniversary on February 13th.

Does that make it our Golden Anniversary?  Should be somehow be celebrating this as extra special?  I have no clue.  Either way...we are getting away for the weekend, which I am super excited about.

I'm not sure that we have exactly "been fruitful and MULTIPLIED" because if you multiply 2 X anything except 1, you would get at least 4...and our union has only produced 3 children and unless God performs a miracle, that is probably going to be the end of our multiplying!

Now, if you know Jeremy and I, you would assume that our children would be little angels.  Right?

Turns out...they must have totally by-passed us and gotten some genes straight from the inborn evil human nature, because they have somehow ended up being less than perfect. 

I mean...they exhibit angelic behavior most of the time!

The only times I have trouble is when they are at home, or in the vehicle, or with me any other places.  So yeah, that narrows it right down.

I get SO tired of the bickering and fighting and the "he hit me" and "she kicked me" and "tell so and so to stop copying me" and the such like.

This is the stuff that drives me crazy. Because it isn't really definitively punishable, sometimes it is hard to determine who did what or who started what, and it isn't "serious" infractions, like lying or being disrespectful or disobedient, its just those things that I get tired of talking about and nagging about and not seeming to see any results.

Therefore...Mama fights back.

With whatever strategies she can come up with.

Here are three of my most recent ones.

We have been having a lot of trouble in the vehicle with the kids just "bugging" each other.  Getting in each other's space. Being annoying or being too rowdy.

I saw this idea, and when I told the kids about it, Derrick said "Where did you get that idea?" and then in the most distainful and sarcastic voice a 9-year old can muster up, he said "Pinterest??"

Hey, isn't that where all great ideas come from?

You let the kids decorate (or you can decorate) clothespins for each of them and you clip the clothespin on the visor of your vehicle.  Whichever kids ignores the warning to settle down or is mean to their sibling, gets their clothespin taken down.  This means they miss out on something the others get later that day (maybe a special treat or something) or they have to go to bed extra early or whatever punishment the Mom and Dad decide to give out.

It has been working really well, I have to say. I've only had to take clothespins down 2 times, I think.

Another idea...also from Pinterest. I TOLD you that is where all good ideas come from.

We have had some trouble with our kids and their table manners. To the point that when we have company I am almost red-faced at how lax we have been and how they chomp their food like they are in a timed race to see who can eat the fastest or how they reach across (even standing up if necessary) to get the food of their choice. Ugg. And I know it is our fault.

So, we have introduced the little pig to our kitchen table.  If a kid is caught displaying bad manners, (like Kendall last night, who put an extremely LARGE pile of spaghetti on to his fork and then just chomped away at the stuff dangling from the bottom of his fork instead of only putting on there what he could eat in one bite) the pig comes to sit by them.  If they still have the pig at the end of the meal (it can get passed on to another kid if someone else is caught displaying bad manners) then it will be their job to clean off the whole table.  Our kids are all old enough to do this by themselves, so whoever ends up with it (if anyone) gets that job for that day.

And then, the "Naughty Jar".  Or you could call it the "Poor Choices" jar if you don't want to refer to your misbehaving children as "naughty". 

I put a list of chores and other things on slips of paper and put them in the jar.

If any kid is being naughty, behaving inappropriately or whatever, they have to go and pick a paper out of the naughty jar.

Some of the things on my papers are:

Clean up your room for 10 minutes.

Organize the shoes and boots by the front door.

Run up and down the steps 10 times.

Clean up the toy room.

Take a bath or a shower.

Vacuum the living room.

Empty trash.

You get the idea.

I am LOVING this idea, because instead of me just "nagging" the kids or them arguing about who did what, even if there are two of them involved I just say "Ok, you both go get a slip out of the jar."

I see the benefits of this in three ways:

#1 - The chores they have to do make them feel good about themselves and get their mind off of their fight or whatever was going on.

#2 - Household chores get done that need to be done anyway.

#3 - It removes the child or children from the situtation without making them really feel isolated and they are busy with something profitable.

I am not positive this is quite working how it should though, because Nikki came and requested that she have a slip last night when she hadn't really done anything wrong.  It said to clean her room for 10 minutes and she spent a good 15 or 20 minutes cleaning it up and had a blast doing it. She even refolded and reorganized almost all of her clothing in her little bins in her room.   Hopefully that trend doesn't continue too long...it is supposed to be a punishment, not fun!

Anyway, just thought I would share these things.  I find mothering to be so hard sometimes and I always like when other people share practical ideas of how to deal with certain behaviours.

Because like they say:

(Where do you think I found this??  Pinterest. Of course!)

Recent events in the Miller household:

Nicole got her hair cut:

After a couple of months of "Mom...I want my hair short", I decided she was really serious and would be OK with short hair long-term and we made the appointment.

She loved the "pampering" of being at the salon and getting her hair cut.

And I loved the way it turned out!!  Although we do have quite the "fights" about whether she will actually wear something IN her hair, i.e. headband, flower, clips, etc.  She pretty much wants to just let it hang, in which case she looks a little bit like an uncared for vagabond.

We attended our first wrestling match:

We enrolled Kendall is a wrestling class for the months of January and February. I have known for a while that he would probably be really good at it. He is agile and quick and strong for his size.

We have been attending practices on Wednesday afternoon in the high school upper gym.

Kendall is in the yellow shirt and the blue and yellow shorts.

Practice is pretty low key. But the wrestling match was a whole different story.  It was quite a learning experience and was chaotic, loud and crazy.  And we kinda loved it.

Kendall did awesome and took home a 2nd place prize.

What we were really most proud of is that he was a super good sport, did his best, didn't get frustrated and showed true sportsmanship. Something he does not always do!

Jeremy made me a new hanger for my (many) necklaces:

If you may recall, my necklaces were on my bedroom wall, hung up on a series of nails.

Here's the problem. I keep buying necklaces and the nails were full and necklaces would fall off when I tried to get other necklaces.  Plus, I could hardly see what all I had.  And, sometimes when they would fall down, they would slither behind the dresser and cause swearing and extra angst.

So...I enlisted the help of my handsome AND handy husband to make something new for me. He obliged, because that's just the kind of man he is. Even though he probably has thoughts and questions about "exactly how many necklaces does a woman need"?

He ended up making this little shelf with hangers for me.

Way more space. Way more organized.  The happiness it brought me was probably not in porportion to the item, but I could not WAIT for him to get it finished and get it hung up.

It is working wonderfully and solved all of my current necklace problems!

And that is my random post for the day!

Happy Thursday, ya'll!

This post is a shout out to some of the best friends I have ever had.  And...they live in my community. 

(I have so many great friends in other places and most of my best friends have, historically, lived far away. Which is very sad.  The phone is great and I value those friendships immensely and I value the input of those friendships in my life. That said, I think we all agree that there is something about great friends who also live near you!)

Why do I call them my "Wednesday Girls?"  Because every.single.Wednesday we get together from about noon to 3 or 4 PM and just chill. Most of the kiddos are in school, so conversation is fairly uninterrupted. If the kids try to barge in, we tell them to go play!

In the summertime, we get together at a park or the beach and while all of our kids are there, it is still so.much.fun.

These are real girls. They aren't afraid of honesty and being themselves.  They are comfortable. And they are so fun!

I thank God every day (maybe not literally, but I should) for bringing these friendships into my life.

From left to right...

Kalli -- Mother of 4.  Just turned 30 but looks about 22.  Fashionable and always dressed to the T.  Organized and efficient and loves being a stay at home Mom. 

Karlee -- (Sister to Kalli)  Did I ever tell you the story of how Karlee and I got to be friends?  It is a little Awk-Ward! But...that said, I so much feel like God was in it, for it is through her that I met the rest of this group of girls and got involved in the "Element" Ministry (Wade and Karlee are in the process of doing a church plant in our town and their vision was so strikingly similar to conversations Jeremy and I had been having that I cannot explain it other than...GOD!)   

Anyway, how I got to be friends with Karlee.  I kinda stalked her.  I had met her different times, thought she was super cool. Kinda wanted to be her friend.  How to go about that?  Well, how about find her on Facebook and send her a message saying "Would you want to be my friend?"  (In a few more words than that and trying not to sound stalker-ish.)  She was crazy enough to meet up with me and we really hit it off. I swear, that is the ONLY time I have ever done that and although I am a little embarrassed, I am not embarrassed about how it all turned out!

Karlee is laid-back and down-to-earth. She is most happy when wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and just hanging out.  She is a true friend and is a happy and faith-filled person.  She avoids drama, she is funny, she's a mother of a son and a daughter and she inspires me to teach my kids to know God in a real way. Well, she just plain inspires me in general.

She is also very beautiful. And I told her that recently.  (Also, awk-WARD!  Apparently, I am getting awk-ward down to a fine art!)  Ha, ha.

Liz is the one of the group that I have met most recently but I already love her!  She "says it like it is", which I love, and she is a super caring and helpful and involved sort of friend.  She is generous and has a heart of gold.  And she, like me, loves to diffuse too serious of conversation with humor.  Also...she is quite funny! She's super organized and kind of "Type A" but that's cool.  She's got 3 kids, just like me.

And then there is Morgan.  Morgan is a kindred spirit in that she is also very analytical (LOVE that!!) and loves to totally "kill a subject", which I adore.  She is a very cute dresser (is that a word?) and has a wonderful sense of style that is all her own but she always rocks it out!  Morgan is funny and smart and passionate and quirky.  I love being around her!  Morgan is a Mom to a daughter and two sons and is a great Mother to them.

I am so excited to be "doing life" with this wonderful group of women.  Friends are such a treasure and I feel so blessed and fortunate to have these friends in my life. 

I am feeling kind of bummed because today Nikki is running a low-grade fever (don't know what's up...she's not really sick, but she's not totally well either) so I will be staying at home instead of getting together with my "Wednesday Girls."  Who are also, by the way, my Thursday night girls and my weekend girls (as time allows!)

Love you girls!  Happy Wednesday!

My sister Debbie was 12 days past her due date when she finally called me yesterday morning and said that, yes, THIS call was "the one" I had been waiting for.  The baby had finally been born.

It was a second girl for Debbie and Ben and they named her Jenna Shayne.  (Cute, cute name, if you ask me!)

After I got done drilling her with my 20 questions, I got off the phone and went to get ready for church. While I was in the shower, it occurred to me that I needed to get a gift for Debbie. Why this had not struck me earlier, I really don't know?  Other than that she didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl and maybe in my subconscious mind I was waiting for the opportunity to buy a gender appropriate gift.

I remembered this picture I had seen on Pinterest.

A "snowman" diaper cake. I thought I could totally turn this into a girl-cake instead, but when I went to look it up and find instructions, I discovered that this was a cake that you could purchase and get shipped to you...not a tutorial on how to make your own.  Dang!

But I was not easily deterred because if you know me, once I get an idea that I really like into my head, I will do my best to figure out a way to make it happen.

I scoured the internet for other diaper cakes and after some indecision, I ended up settling on this tutorial.

It seemed easy enough (for someone like me) and I thought it looked really cute.

So, I gathered up my instructions so I would know what to buy, took along my little shopping companion (Nikki) and headed for The Wal-Mart! 

I had to do some improvising since, for one thing, Wal-Mart does not sell any wide ribbon. The only place in town that I knew of to get it was closed.  Also, of all things, Wal-Mart was out of!! their package of assorted rubber bands.  Really??  I happened to think of it that girls' hair bands could maybe work just as well and would be more useful afterwards as well, so I purchased some of those.

I got the big package of pampers, a bunch of random gifts, and all my other supplies and headed home. I had NO idea if/how this thing was going to turn out, but I was hopeful.

The kids all had such a great time helping me tie up the pampers, figure out where to put everything on the "cake" and all of that. I think it took us less than an hour to assemble.

Yes, I look at it with a critical eye and think of several things I would do differently next time, but all in all, I was super happy with it.

And so was Debbie...when I delivered it to her house later that night when we went to see the baby.

And now...the real star of the show:

Baby Jenna.

And her exhausted but happy parents!

She was amazingly big...weighing in at 9 lbs., 7 oz., and measuring 22 1/2 inches long.  I am not sure I have ever seen this big of a baby.  She seemed about the size that my babies would have been at 2 or 3 weeks old. I guess that's what an extra 12 days in utero will do to you!

Debbie and Ben had been up all night with labor and all of that (Jenna was born at 5:40 AM) and they are allowed to look tired!

Nikki with her cousin Jenna.

She is pretty pleased to be holding the baby.

Derrick held Jenna for a while and even got her to go to sleep.  Of course, I got a turn to hold her too.

Jeremy politely declined.  Because he never wants to hold the baby.  Why? I really don't understand, even though he tried to explain to me that there are always SO many people wanting to hold the baby, why should he?  Deep down, I think he is nervous that he will drop it or else he feels kind of less-than-macho holding someone else's newborn.  I'm not sure. I'm still in the process of physco-analyzing him on this issue! (And others, but we won't go there right now! )

And then there is my recently-returned-from-his-month-long-roadtrip brother Joe with Sherra. (Debbie and Ben's other daughter.) 

I didn't get any pictures of the whole family together because Sherra was still gone with her aunt when we first got there and took the pictures of the baby and Debbie and Ben.

Another picture of cute little Sherra.

I am super excited for my sister and her gift of two little girlies...born almost exactly 2 years ago. (One has a birthday of January 29th and one of January 31st.)  I suggested they try for a summer baby next time! Ha, ha.

I guess that is all for today.  I cleaned off my camera today (and my cell phone) and realized I have about 3 other posts to do, but we'll just stop with this one for today.

Happy Monday to you all!

I have about 3 different posts swirling around in my head, so I am hoping I can narrow it down to one.

That might make things easier for all involved.

Ok. There.  Now I got out a sticky note, scribbled down my other 2 post ideas and my brain feels uncluttered enough to write about the one at hand.

Did you need all of that info?  ^^  No.  But guess what? I like to over-share.  Its my M.O.

I was chatting on the phone yesterday with a friend and we were talking about how we hate when our kids need us when we are trying to get some "me time."  And yet, isn't that what Mothering is pretty much all about?

Kids needing us when we are trying to get something else done.

Or when we are on the phone.  Or when we are trying to read.  Or...you fill in the blank.

I told my friend that nothing brings this out more for me than bedtime.  Once I have said prayers, listened to the last few urgent thoughts of the day that they need to get out, and tucked children into their beds and am walking away, they better.not.call. "Moooommmmyyyy." 

Because I am SO off duty.

In my mind, I'm already sitting on the couch, drinking my glass of wine, talking with my husband and I have no one to be responsible for other than myself.

Probably at least 50% of the time when someone yells "MOM!" after I have already tucked them in, they get this very snarky and angry sounding "What??" from me. I can't really communicate it in writing, other than to say that it is a very irritated sounding response.  Like, "I just got done tucking you in.  What more could you want from me? I have nothing left to give!!"

Not that I am proud of this response.  But it takes ALL the self control that I possess plus a bunch handed down from heaven for me to respond sweetly with a "Yes, dear.  What is it?" at a moment like that.  So maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm kind of proud of the 50% of the time that I DO respond sweetly.

But...as I was thinking about all of this again this morning, I remembered something.

About 4 years ago my Dad and I went out on a little date.  I think that this may have been one of the only Father/Daughter dates I have ever been on with my Dad since I am married.

I know that it was about 4 years ago because I remember that I was pregnant with Nicole.

I remember feeling awkward.  About being pregnant and going on a date with my Dad.

I don't know if I can explain it, but something about me being an adult woman (and a pregnant one at that) and just sitting there in McDonald's chatting with my Dad about random stuff made me feel weird.

My Dad and I have always been close. I've been alone with him many times.  I've had many conversations one-on-one with him.  And they are not awkward. 

I think I wondered how he looks at me?  Like, when he looks across that table at his 29 year old little girl, all grown up, what does he see?  To me, I'm still his little girl. I should still be about 10 years old. 

Something about that date brought out the awkwardness of "How do we relate now that we are both adults?" in a way that I hadn't really experienced before.

Anyway, other than that, the thing I remember about that date is this:

I asked my Dad a question. 

"Was it hard to let us kids grow up?  How did you handle that?"

And I remember what he said "The hardest part of you kids getting older and growing up was when you weren't all in the house anymore at bedtime.  There is just something about tucking ALL of your kids into bed at night and knowing they are all there and are all safe.  Its hard to get used to the idea that one of them is not there at bedtime."

I felt choked up.  I had never thought about that in particular being a hard thing for a parent.  It always seemed like my parents navigated the independence process pretty well with us kids. And I think they did.

But probably part of what made it seem that way is they didn't tell us everything they were feeling about us growing up and going out on our own.

I think that is part of good parenting.  To be honest, but not to put your issues and struggles on to your children, who are just getting their wings and learning to fly.  Don't make them feel guilty for something that is a natural part of life and is really the parent's battle to fight.

So I insert this conversation with my Dad into my impatience when my kids call for me after I have tucked them in at night, and I know, once again, that sometimes I am just such a selfish person.

Even when Nikki throws a fit because "I wanted Mommy to tuck me in, not Daddy" or when Kendall calls me back to his room to tell me something random or Derrick asks me "Can I get a drink of water?" or Nikki and I have a battle over "getting yet another drink" (as happened last night)...I should be grateful.  Really!

They are all there. They are all safe and healthy.  I have the PRIVILEGE of tucking all of my kids into bed. We are warm and we are clothed and we are fed.

In a few short years, I will look back and wish for those nights.  Time flies and soon I'll be the one in my fifties saying "I just wish for those days when all the kids were home and tucked into their cozy beds each night."  I'll be the one navigating the waters of my children's independence.  Maybe I won't even do as well as my parents did.

So what should a few extra minutes after I SO want to be "off duty" matter to me in the scope of things?

I just have to keep reminding myself:

Perspective, Audrey.  Perspective!

So yes, sometimes I do that metaphorically.

Dig through the trash.  In my brain.  Trying to sort things out.

This time, I mean it QUITE literally.

Did you ever think about how the trash is kind of a record of your life in the past few days?

At least if you are like me and pretty much everything that you throw away goes into the one, big kitchen trash can.  That ends up getting emptied every two or three days.

You might also wonder WHY I was digging through the trash on an early Thursday morning before work.

Well, I'll have to take you back to Wednesday night.

I was lying in bed...thinking random thoughts.

My brain can sometimes travel from one subject to another at lightning speed. One thing reminds me of another and next thing I know I am miles from the place where I started, unsure of even how I got there.

For some reason, I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Ohio. (I can't take you back any further than that, because I don't know how I got to that point. So sorry.)

Thinking about the Ohio trip made me think about how I want to make sure to take along podcasts to listen to on my I-phone.  And then I was thinking about how cool it is that I have this little device so that I can listen to my songs and podcasts through the speakers of my (not so cool) mini van.

All of a sudden, I felt a flash of panic.

You know...that Monday afternoon when I came home and brought my little device inside so that I could replace the batteries in it?

You know...how I haven't seen that little device lying anywhere around the house since I brought it in? And neither could I picture having taken it back to the van or replacing said batteries?

You know...how I threw that one grocery store bag in the trash and it felt a tad too heavy but I thought it was just the empty soup container, etc. that I had in there?

Oh.dear!! Did I throw away my little device?

Did I empty the trash between Monday afternoon and Wednesday night? 

It's almost full right now. I remember that. So I think Monday afternoon's trash might still be there. WAY in the bottom.

It is night time and I do not feel like getting up and going through my totally disgusting garbage.

But...I do not want to forget to check this out in the morning. I do not want to have to purchase another device for listening to my music in my van.

So...I do what any smart person would do.

I throw something (my glasses in this case) up on the dresser so that in the morning I will see the glasses there and say to myself "Why the heck are your glasses laying on the dresser?" and then I will remember to look through the trash. (Seems like a pretty easy hop, skip and jump from one to the other, right? Because that's what I always do. See my glasses and then start digging through my trash. Why?  Don't you?)

So, that is how Thursday morning found me digging through the trash, bit by bit. Hoping against hope that my hypothesis was correct.

I dug through Wednesday mornings coffee grounds.  Through Wednesday's discarded papers and junk mail. I plowed my way through the box from the TV dinner I had for supper on Tuesday, marking the days as I went.

I found the bag of 1/2 rotten grapes that I had thrown away on Wednesday morning and the leftover scraps from the family's meal on Tuesday night. These sorts of things are particularly gross when you are pawing through trash.

I dug and I dug and finally, right near the bottom...the grocery store bag I was looking for.  I pulled it out and yup, still felt kind of heavy.

I peeked inside. And sure enough. There it was.

Hey, I didn't say ANYTHING about sex or romance, OK?

Whatever made your mind go there?

Clean it up, girlfriend!

I decided to do that "Creative Writing Prompt" thing for today.

The first number I drew gave me this instruction "Write for 5 minutes about the phrase 'Anger suffers as grief withdraws."

I actually thought about this for a really long time. I have decided that in my interpretation, this phrase means that when something bad happens, or someone close to us dies, or we start to realize that a dream we had within us is never going to find its way to fruition, we go through phases of emotion.

One of these is grief and another one of these is anger.

It is hard to feel grief and anger at the same time. Especially towards a certain person, whether dead or alive. Therefore, as the feelings of grief start to subside, they are often replaced with anger.  Sometimes something doesn't hurt so bad if you can be angry about it instead. 

I considered writing a lot more and decided that I know nothing about grief, compared to a lot of people, and that I will probably say the wrong thing and end up wishing I would have never tried to explain myself, so totally going against my grain, I drew a 2nd random number.

This one, I can do:

The assignment was to write about 12 things you can do when there is no power. (electricity)

Funny, because a couple of my girlfriends and I were just talking about this and how very, very dependent we are on electricity.

When the power goes off, we are all like "Oh, I could do this" and then "Oops. Can't. No electric" and then "Oh, well, I'll just do this other thing" only to again be reminded  "Nope. Can't.  No electric."

And then the horribleness of not being able to flush the toilet (well, maybe you can once, but that's about it) and not being able to get water from the faucet and not being able to use the computer or the TV or the vacuum or the oven.

We all decided that we would have NOT made good pioneer women.

My Mom, however, would have totally rocked it out as a pioneer.  She is still practically one, just with the modern conveniences thrown in there for her to work around. How far this apple has fallen from the tree!

So...

12 things you CAN do without power:

#1 - Read. That is the awesome thing about books.  You just hold them and read them. Simple-dimple.

#2 - Light a candle. (You may need this to do #1)

#3 - Sit around and play "20 questions" (This is what a friend of mine did when they were babysitting our kids and the electricity went out for a few hours. I thought it was quite creative.)

#4 - Go outside.  You should get your butt off that couch anyway. Even if it is night-time, there is a good chance the moon would provide enough of light to hang out there at least a little while. Or, you can grab a flashlight and take it with you.

#5 - In complete darkness, play "Truth or Dare".  That way no one can see your face.

#6 - Sit in a circle, hold hands, and sing "Kumbya"

#7 - Get out a calculator and play that game where you try to spell stuff using numbers on the calculator screen.

#8 - Talk with those in your household. Really talk. No distractions. Talk about dreams and plans and ideas and longings.  And then really listen. See what you can learn.

#9 - Technically, you could still play games on your I-phone. But I almost feel like putting that idea on here is doing discredit to the whole "no power" thing and the vibe that is supposed to give.

#10 - Eat. In fact, clean out your fridge while you are at it. Have a smorgasboard.  You never know how long the power will be off and you wouldn't want anything to spoil. (That isn't already spoiled inside of the fridge...if yours is at all like mine.)

#11 - Play Hide and Seek in the dark. Fun for the whole family!

#12 - Put all of the kids to bed early.  Then refer to the first sentence of this post.

This morning I was in my office doing bookwork and I stumbled across this yellow post-it note from at least a half year ago.

On it, I had started keeping a list of phrases I heard mis-quoted. I guess just because it cracks me up.

There are all of these tried and true sayings that everyone uses. You know, those ones your Mom was always saying to you.

For instance:

Better late than never.

A bird in the hand is better than 2 in the bush.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words.

You get the idea, right?

Well, I started keeping a list of people who I heard mis-quoting these phrases and planned to do a funny post on it sometime.

I must have forgotten about it after a while, because my list only has 5 things on it, but I thought I would share them anyway...before I throw this little note away.

"It keeps you on your heels" -- Sarah Palin (on her reality show)

"I cry at the drop of a dime" -- My friend Edy

"I gotta get my hand around it" -- My boss at work (he meant, I need to wrap my HEAD around it)

"around the board" -- My husband (he meant, "around the block")

"They painted themselves into another box" -- Nascar announcer

(Its a corner, dude. You paint yourself into a corner.)

Anyway, that's my Saturday morning brilliance.

you are welcome!

I feel so techy!