Remember me?

Hi.

Remember me?

You do?? Oh, goodie. It's nice to not be forgotten, ya know?

I haven't forgotten about YOU. I just haven't had much to blog about. I could give you a myriad of excuses, but that's just what they'd be. Excuses.

I'm going to just leave you with this -- I OFTEN think of you. Well, more like I worry about what you're thinking of me and the lack of new blog posts. Sometimes something happens and I consider whether it's "blog-worthy". No matter what I decide, I tend to forget all about it when I'm next at the computer.

***************

Now, here's a glimpse at what we have coming up on the calendar of events:

Will's birthday is coming up this weekend. He's turning 6 on Saturday. WHO told my boy that it'd be ok to grow up on me?!?

Grace's Scout Troop is leading a craft at the historical society this Sunday. The HS will be open late on Sunday afternoon, so that people can check it out when they're milling about before and after the town tree lighting.

The following weekend we'll be celebrating Breanna's birthday.

And then Christmas will be here before we know it. Of course there'll be LOTS of Christmas preparations in the next couple of weeks.

Quite honestly, there are a few other things that we're supposed to do in between all of that. I just can't think of what they are, off the top of my head. Thank goodness I've got my trusty Google Calendar to keep me straight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Though Pilgrims are few and far between...
.......we had a lovely Thanksgiving today. Like last year, we stayed home to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. I made sourdough dinner rolls, herb-roasted sweet potatoes, stuffing with cranberries (normally I add raisins to my stuffing, but Amanda suggested I try craisins instead -- SO YUMMY!!!), mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and the turkey. Of course. ;)

Here is a picture of the dinner rolls, just before they were baked...

The turkey, just before it was done roasting...

Gordon grabbed the camera and took a picture of me in the kitchen...

And here is a picture of the dining room just before we started eating...

Later on this evening, we set up the Christmas Tree. Last week I had promised the kids that we could decorate the tree after we ate Thanksgiving dinner. The big girls finally got tired of waiting for Gordon or I to bring everything upstairs so they brought it all up themselves!

Here is a picture of Dianna placing the Christmas Nail on our tree...

And Grace placing the angel on top of the tree....I can't believe she's now tall enough to stretch and put the angel on top by herself!

A shot of Nora hanging an ornament...

...and Will hanging an ornament...

...and one last one of the kids putting the final touches on the tree.

Night-Night, Blankie

All of my children have had special blankies.

Grace had a few. She didn't ever care which blankie she had, as long as she had A blankie. This was ever so wonderful when it was time to wash one.

Dianna also had a few, but there was one she was more attached to than the rest. Still, she never really pitched a big fit if her favorite wasn't available. This was a good thing because she was a master fit pitcher when she set her mind to it.

William had two favorites. They were the same color. Actually, I think they were made from the same yarn. I would interchange them when it was laundry time. I don't think he ever noticed when I switched one for the other.

And then there was Nora's special Blankie. It's a one of a kind. Only one other blankie comes close enough to qualify as a suitable stand-in, but it must be a DIRE emergency -- like Mommy forgot Blankie in CT and we're in VT. I've had to be diligent about washing Blankie in a timely manner. I only grab it just as I'm ready to wash it and hand it right back as soon as the dryer beeps that the cycle is done.

Unfortunately for me, Nora's Blankie is showing wear. It has gotten snagged numerous times. I tried tying off the snags to prevent them from making bigger boo-boos on Blankie. In the last couple of months, Blankie has begun to unravel. Each time I wash Blankie, I send up a prayer that it'll survive the washing machine.

Today I washed Blankie again. Before you start to think that Blankie is now reduced to a tangle mass of yarn, it's not. Yet. It is probably only two or three washes from getting there.

So I told Nora that we need to find a special box to put Blankie in. We need to fold Blankie up, put it in the special box, and save Blankie forever there. And Nora will have to make do with one of the other blankies we have in the house.

So far she's ok with it. She's sad. She said she wants Blankie still, but when I explained that Blankie is going to fall completely apart, she said ok. Bedtime tonight will be the real test. I'm afraid she won't be as ok with it as she is right now. We'll see, right?

Weight Watchers update

It has now been two weeks since I returned to Weight Watchers. That Thursday evening, I weighed in 19.2 lbs over goal.

After I recommitted myself, I knew I'd do well. That first week, I worked hard. I knew I'd find a loss at the scale. I was right -- I was down 3.8 lbs when I went back in last week.

This past week wasn't so easy for me. I didn't plan well. I found myself making not-so-great decisions on the fly, especially over the weekend. I tried to salvage my week and made much better choices at the beginning of this week. Still, I was nervous about stepping on the scale last night.

I needn't have worried too much. I still lost! I lost an additional 1.4 lbs, as a matter of fact.

That makes for a total loss of 5.2 lbs! I love that I'm that much closer to goal. Only 14 lbs more to go!

High-Five

I have been participating in a Bible Study at my church. Well, I'll state that 'loosely'. I started in when the group first formed a few weeks ago. I attended the first two weeks. The next two weeks I missed.

But TODAY I was back.

The study that we're doing utilizes a series of DVDs. I wish I could remember the name of the gal who is lecturing. She's dynamic and energetic, but that's not going to help either one of us remember her name. So I'm going to just move on with my blog post, mmmmkay?

During today's lesson, the lecturer -- BETH MOORE (I couldn't leave y'all hanging...I had to google it!) -- said a lot of things that really hit me. One of the things she said was, "we'll never make it to our milestones if we can't make it through our moments."

She then went on to point out how giving in to a little temptation here doesn't stop the temptation. It just makes it get bigger and harder to deny the next time. She joked that when you're at that last second before giving in to temptation, you could cut that temptation right down by giving a high five. Can you imagine being at the moment where you're ready to throttle a misbehaving child, and suddenly asking them for a high-five instead.

Pretty funny when you think of it that way.

But she's right. She isn't suggesting we really dole out high-fives in the face of temptations. Instead, she suggests we replace that high-five with a prayer to Jesus. Ask the Lord to help us.

I can't tell you how many times I've done just that. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just knew that I was *this close* to crossing a line that I couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't want to cross when disciplining my children. So I prayed that God would help me.

Now, I don't want all of you to worry that I'm going to start forcing religion on you. I'm not. It's just that today's bible study lesson, this part of it in particular, reminds me of a particularly trying moment of parenting I experienced.

It was my birthday, 2004. I had decided that, unlike previous years, I would NOT bake my own birthday cake that year. I took 4yo Grace and 2.5yo Dianna with me to the local grocery store. While there, Dianna threw the mother of all tantrums. I gave up my idea of picking up a few much-needed grocery items, but refused to give up on my plans for a store-bought cake.

I remember holding Dianna in a football-hold in the checkout line. Her head and arms were facing my front, her kicking legs out the back. She continued to tantrum like this all the way out to the car. She wouldn't even calm down long enough for me to buckle her into her carseat.

By this point, I was crying too. I struggled to buckle the carseat belts. I begged and pleaded with my toddler to stop. I told her that this wasn't ok, that she shouldn't be doing this today. Not on my birthday. Why would she do this to me on my birthday?

I remember the rage building inside of me. I could almost feel myself turning into a monster. I asked God to help me.

Almost right at this point, a woman appeared at my side. She tapped me on the shoulder, and very quietly asked me if she could give me a hug. I think I just about fell into her arms. As we hugged, she told me that she had seen what was going on, and that she wanted to assure me that even though today was a rough day, she KNEW that I was doing the best I can. She said, "I've been exactly where you are right now. I know it's hard, but you've got to keep on doing what you're doing. It WILL get better. You're a GOOD mom."

What had been a trickle of tears of frustration at Dianna's unwillingness to behave suddenly became a floodgate.

The next thing I knew, the woman was gone. I never got her name. I never saw which direction she left in. I never even got to thank her for her kindness.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. God placed that woman in my path that day. He knew that I was about to cross a line that I could never un-cross. He heard me asking for help. He sent me an angel.

That woman gave me encouragement, love, and enough time to regroup. I remember walking around the van and just sitting in the front driver's seat. I set my forehead on the steering wheel and cried and cried. I don't even know how long it was before I wiped my eyes, took a deep breath, and finally buckled Dianna in.

I tried to reach out and thank my angel afterwards. I wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. I hope she saw it. I know I will never forget her. I'll never stop being thankful that she was there in that moment when I was about to do something that I'd never be able to undo.

Fancy Schmancy

At dinner tonight, Gordon and I were drinking some wine. It was White Merlot. One of my all-time favorite wines. (Pinot Grigio is my other all-time favorite, in case you're curious!)

Nora asked if she could try some of "dat" and pointed to my wine glass. I told her no. She whined. I told her it's a drink for Mommies and Daddies only. She whined some more and started saying, "pleeeeease!" I told her that it's yucky and she wouldn't like it. Still, Nora wanted to try it.

Suddenly I had an "AHA" moment. I diverted her attention and made a compromise. I asked her if she wanted to drink her grape juice from a fancy glass of her own. Instantly her mood brightened. I got up, walked into the kitchen to grab a small wine glass, and heard William ask if he, too, could have a fancy glass.

Dinner was pretty smooth sailing after that.

I told the kids that we could ALL drink out of fancy glasses like that for Thanksgiving dinner next Thursday. They were all excited about that. Grace and Dianna asked if we could use the good china too. I'm not so sure about that yet. We'll see. I'm afraid it'll get dropped and chipped or broken. I'll cry if that happens -- it's the china that Dad bought for Mom many a moon ago.

Thanksgiving should be fun. Especially since we'll all be toasting our thanks with fancy schmancy glasses!

Nora-ism

The kids are still working on their Halloween stash. Little by little, they're whittling it down. Nora doesn't often think to ask for candy yet, but the moment she sees one of the bigger kids with candy, she wants some too.

Now that she's had the chance to taste more candies than she's ever had, Nora has a new favorite candy...."smartypants"....tee hee.....don't even TRY to tell her that they are just 'smarties' -- she'll tell you that you're WRONG!

Not feeling particularly nice

I'm not feeling particularly nice right now. You know how 'they' say if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? Yeah. I'm not saying anything.

I realize this is entirely vague.

I bet at least a couple of you are scratching your heads, wondering WTH I'm talking about. Or at least wondering WTH I'm even bothering to type out this vague nonsense. The answer is simple. I feel like screaming from the mountain tops what is going on, but I realize it'll accomplish nothing. I'll end up starting a long drawn out war, one that will having me dredging up all sorts of partially-buried hard feelings. There will never be a good resolution to the problem(s). I'll be left feeling defeated and questioning my own self-worth. Not worth it.

So I'm going to be vague. And I'm going to ask that you pray I can quack like a duck and let it roll off my back. And I'm going to apply another coat of mascara, put a smile on my face, and carry on. You know, fake it till I make it.

Sad Nora

Today is Election Day.

I took Nora with me while I did my civic duty.

Our town does a paper ballot. The ballots remind me of multiple choice tests from school. There are even specific instructions to be sure you color the oval completely.

When we got to the polling center, I checked in and was given my paper ballot. I took the ballot and headed to the tables they had set up with privacy screens. That way, Nora and I could sit down while I colored in the ovals for each of my choices.

Nora said that she wanted to do the coloring part. I told her that she couldn't. She began to cry. I tried to explain that she needed to be 18yo and a registered voter to be able to color in a ballot. She cried even harder. I promised her that I'd take her to get registered to vote as soon as she turned 18.

As we walked back to our car in the parking lot, Nora was still whimpering. We saw a small group of men talking by a truck near the exit. They asked if she was crying because she couldn't vote. When I responded that that was EXACTLY why she was crying, they all bust out laughing. They had been joking!

Time for pampering

Taking time for yourself doesn't have to be a lot. Even pampering yourself can be a short, inexpensive thing. Just because you aren't physically going in to a spa doesn't mean you aren't pampering yourself.

I have gotten into the habit of painting my nails every week. I remember an old boss of mine used to do this very thing. At the time I was a young 20-something. Unmarried, no kids. I couldn't fathom sitting at home every Sunday evening and just painting my nails.

NOW I can.

It all started about 8 weeks ago. I decided I was going to paint my nails while Gordon watched the race on TV. The following Sunday, after looking at my chipped polish, I decided to do it again. I've kind of fallen into this routine.

This past Sunday was the first Sunday that I HAVEN'T painted my nails. It felt weird to me. All day yesterday, I kept looking at my hands and thinking how horrid my polish looked. I wished I'd made the time to do my nails on Sunday.

So, after I got home from walking Nora to school this morning, I sat down and painted my nails. I am now sporting Ink a Dink a Pink, which is a bright pink color from Nicole by OPI. All is right in my world again. ;)

Weight Watchers, here I come!

After much thought and internal debate, I decided to return to Weight Watchers. I started last night before I could talk myself out of it. I had such mixed emotions about returning. On the one hand, it felt good to be taking charge of myself and doing what needed to be done. On the other hand, I was feeling embarrassed and almost ashamed. I've gained 15lbs since I last stepped on a WW scale back in March.

I know I can lose the weight on my own, but the mental struggle is so much easier to deal with when I'm getting my weekly 'check up from the neck up'. That's what Mom calls it & it's SO true. Participating in the weekly WW meetings is sort of like hitting 'reset'. It gives me a boost of motivation. It reminds me that I'm not in this journey alone.

I'm still going to keep my goal at losing 15lbs by the New Year. That should put me right around my goal weight. What an awesome start to the New Year -- celebrating myself by being back at my goal weight!

It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday. Today is my twin's birthday. Today is Gordon's birthday.

November 2nd is a GREAT day to be born. Just sayin'. ;)

Party Planning

Have I ever told you that I hate planning parties?

Yes, Mom. I know that "hate" is a very strong word. I feel very strongly about this.

I love parties, don't get me wrong. I like hosting them. I don't even mind all the cooking, cleaning, and other prep required when one hosts a party.

What is left to hate about planning parties, you ask?

I hate planning the menu. Truly. I worry about what people will like and/or want. I worry about having enough. I worry about having too much. (Truth be told, I aim to have too much -- I'd rather deal with lots of leftovers than hungry guests!)

With tomorrow being both mine and Gordon's birthday, I've been planning a party for this coming Saturday. I created the invites and ordered them through Walmart.com's photo section almost a month ago. It wasn't until after I'd already mailed out the invites that I started to worry about food. I got a call from an invitee asking if I'd be serving dinner foods -- the party starts at 6:30pm, at the tail end of dinner time.

My worry and obsession began instantly!

In my mind, I've been thinking I'd make a hot pasta dish, a tossed salad, a deli meat platter, and dinner rolls. Now, I am thinking I'm going to toss that idea out the window. I'm going to make finger sandwiches, pinwheels, a veggie platter, have chips and dips, and a cracker/pepperoni/cheese plate. Hopefully it'll be enough. Hopefully we won't have starving guests.

What do you think? What do you expect when you receive an invite to an evening party?