Friday, February 01, 2008

A long and rambling post...

Can I just say that I am very tired of the wind. It has been howling here for days. And it's terribly annoying at night. I guess I notice it more at night because the house is quiet, but sustained wind speeds of 40mph, with gusts up to 66mph, make it hard for me to sleep.

I don't normally have a hard time sleeping. There are rare exceptions, such as when John is out of town (like he was last week), but last fall I discovered Tylenol PM, and now I don't even really mind it when he tells me that he has to be gone for a few days. BUT the wind. Oh my goodness, this wind is killin' me. When it gusts, it makes an annoying whistling sound and rattles our screens and shutters so hard I think they're going to blow off, and makes it almost impossible for me to sleep. I'm so ready for a good night's sleep, and if the wind is howling tonight, I think I'm going to have to take my last 2 gelcaps...and find a pair of earplugs. And okay, I'll stop whining now.

As you can imagine, wind like that makes it feel colder outside than it really is. Yesterday, it was sunny and warmed up to almost 30 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel more like 10. When I went to pick Abbey up from kindergarten, I pulled my toboggan on, partly because it was cold, but mainly because I hadn't showered yet and my hat covers a multitude of hair woes. I was driving to get her and kept trying to pull my hat down over my ears, but it kept creeping back up leaving my ears exposed. I could not figure out how my well-loved toboggan shrank overnight, and finally positioned my sunglasses on the outside of my hat to keep it in place. A few minutes later when I was opening the van door for Abbey, I caught a glance of my reflection in the window. I looked like the cat in the hat with a foot-long toboggan on my head. I pulled it off to find my gloves, a pair of the kids' gloves, and one of Abbey's hats stuffed inside it. Who knew? No wonder I couldn't pull it over my ears! It was quite comical if I do say so myself, and I had a good laugh. I learned a long time ago that being able to laugh at yourself is a very good thing.

I was supposed to hike this morning with my friends, but we all decided to skip today because of the crazy wind. We hiked on Monday and nearly blew away, and this was a more wide-open and exposed trail, so I'm hoping that we can go on Monday. There's a chance of snow, so we'll see. I hiked through some pretty deep snow last week and I'd liken it to running on the beach. It took effort to trudge through that stuff!

See...I told you this was long and rambling.

Actually, I probably would have had to opt out of a hike anyway, because Sarah is home with me today. She coughed throughout the night and she's working on a cold and looks kinda run down to me. I let her stay home (she wanted to) so she could rest. Truthfully, I like it when someone is home with me, so I'm a sucker when my kids tell me they don't feel well. "Sure sweetie, why don't you stay home with mom today?" I'm hoping we can watch Little Women together later!

On the way home from Denver the other day, Abbey and I stopped at the Gap outlet. I think I've mentioned a time or two that I don't like to shop, but I always, always find fabulous stuff at that store for Will and he was desperately in need of some long-sleeved tees. I ran in quickly and found what I needed right off the bat. I found 4 shirts for him (4.99 each-score!) and since Abbey was with me, she wanted to look at the girl stuff. They had Valentine's t-shirts for 4.99 too, so I let her pick one out, and I picked one for Sarah. Sarah is quite the opposite of her sister and doesn't like anything pink or purple. So, I chose green. They both wore their shirts to school yesterday, and Sarah came into the kitchen before we left and told me (sheepishly) that she wished her shirt was like Abbey's. I reminded her that she didn't like pink and she said, "Well, Abbey's isn't pink, mom, it's actually blush". I learn something new every day. She finally decided she liked the green. Here's a photo...in green and pink respectively.



Tomorrow I am going to get away for my personal spiritual retreat. I still have no idea where I'm going to go. I've been trying to pray about it, and I have some ideas, but nothing is firm yet. For some reason this has not been an easy thing to plan, and I'm tempted to just give up on making it work this weekend, but I really believe that you have to "fight" for the things that bring you life. John and I talked about it before he left for work and he told me he woke up feeling like I really should go, so I'm going. Tomorrow. Somewhere. And I'm praying that it will be all that I need it to be and more.

And now, I must go and tend to the girl. And start some laundry. And shower. And make some phone calls. And you get the picture.

One more thing. I haven't forgotten your questions I still need to answer! I'm working on it...promise!

Enjoy your weekend.

18 comments:

Gretchen said...

Hi Meredith!

I love long and rambling brain lint type of posts.

Boy do I remember the wind. I used to think of all the dustbowl wives in the 1930s when we'd have yet another day of wind. Hang in there. It wreaks havoc on those contact lenses. I remember having dust in my eyelashes, even. ;)

I will pray that you find peace and respite and closeness with God on your retreat. Our pastor was talking to us last week about fighting for our joy. I think you are absolutely right in prioritizing this and fighting for it.

I'm the same way about keeping kids at home; in fact, my 9 year old teenage daughter "should" have stayed home a second day this week because of her cold, but I *sigh* trusted her to know her own body. It worked out fine, but I think she needed her momma. That's my story and I"m sticking to it. It has nothing at all to do with my wanting her home. right... :)

Blessings on your day and weekend.

xxxooogretchen

Unknown said...

It's so funny how much we are alike! I also enjoy having my kiddos at home! And wind make me crazy too!

Thank you for your encouragement this morning! It made me smile.

I will pray for your retreat this weekend too! So important!

kellie

Regular, with half and half and raw sugar said...

The had story had me laughing out loud.

And your girls are so cute!!!!

Susan said...

Funny about the hat (s). I hope the wind is better. We had a huge wind storm here too. However, we have hurrican shades on our windows, so that helps. Coming from CO, I know how those windy nights are. Oh, the Gap outlet. What a wonderful place:) I hope you find a good place for a retreat. One of my favorites was Praise Mountain.

Jenn said...

The hat story gave me a chuckle!

I hope Sarah and you were able to fit in Little Women. Which version do you watch. I always watched the June Allison version with my grandma and cousins. But I also love the Winona one as well.

Enjoy your time away tomorrow with God!

Joanne : The Simple Wife said...

Hmm...where to go tomorrow? Glen Eyrie would top my list! It's weird, isn't it, that a day for retreat is something you want and yet something that is hard to make happen. All of the sudden there's a huge list to do and it seems like it's just not worth it. But it is. So GO and enjoy and rest. You know, there's also a place out in the Black Forest--a big house that's kind of a retreat center too. I'll have to see if I can remember the name...

Had to laugh about your poor hat!

Joanne

Leah Belle said...

Hope your spiritual retreat is a blessing from God!

Angie @ Flibbertigibberish said...

Ohhhhh the wind. Grrr. I can't stand it. It makes it way colder than necessary, it's noisy, it's destructive, kind of scary, and don't even get me started on bad hair days.

Thank goodness for hats. Even if they are stuffed with other goodies. :)

Have a great day tomorrow!

Marc and Charity said...

I would love to hear more about this spiritual retreat...how often you go, how long- is it all day or overnight or just a few hours? And how old were your kids when you started this?

Diane@Diane's Place said...

That Sarah apple sure didn't fall far from the John tree. ;o)

Just be open to the Spirit's leading; He'll guide where you should go and what you should do for your retreat.

Have a blessed weekend, Mer.

Love and hugs,

Diane

elaine@bloginmyeye said...

That hat story was TOOO funny (and totally something that would happen to me). I pray that you will have a precious time with the Lord tomorrow. Blessings, -e.

His Girl said...

Wow, I think taking a retreat to sunny SoCal to visit bloggy friends would be very spiritual!

kidding! actually, i LOVE this idea...gets me thinking! hope you find the perfect place and that you just curl up in His lap and fall deeper in love!

His Girl said...

ps- just tagged you for a meme over at my place!

Anonymous said...
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Julie said...

I hear you on the winds. When the hurricanes hit the shores in the south and the winds work their way up the wind is so strong it howls through the house. It always seems louder at night, doesn't it? On those nights I lie in bed, not sleeping, but praying that the roof will stay on and the trees will stay rooted in the gound.

We had some strong winds here the other day....I kept asking David if the tall pine trees were going to crash down on the house. They are so tall and skinny and you just wonder sometimes. It ended up the power was knocked out from 8:30PM to 2:30AM but no trees fell on the house. Thank God!

I am glad you are getting away for a spiritual retreat day for yourself.

Love,
Julie

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