Friday, April 20, 2012

Five On Friday

1. I don't know about y'all but I eat the same thing for breakfast every single day. It used to be two slices of Ezekiel bread but since last May (when I quit eating sugar and wheat) it's been a brown rice cake smeared with almond butter. If I get really crazy, I'll have a couple of eggs. Anyway, I'm kicking myself because I let myself run out of almond butter earlier this week and haven't remembered to grab some when I've been out and about. I'm tired of eggs (after two days), so this morning I ate a bowl of cereal--and I'm not a fan of cold cereal. Mental note: get thyself to the store for almond butter today.

2. All of my kids have the day off from school today. I'm usually pretty OCD about transferring dates from the school calendar to our family calendar but for some reason I didn't have this particular day noted. Imagine my delight when I realized that our week would be short and our weekend would be long! Happy, happy, happy!

3. After five years of faithfully hauling all of our recycling to the recycling center, I finally signed up for curbside recycling. I am giddy. Seriously. I put it off for a long time because I really thought I shouldn't have to pay to do something good for the environment (more like hey, you should be paying ME), but mainly because I'm very loyal to our disposal company and didn't want to switch to different one just for the recycling service. Our disposal company finally began a recycling program and now all is right in the world. I am so happy I can just haul a receptacle to my curb every two weeks instead of sorting, loading, and making a special trip downtown to drop it off!

4. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I volunteered to help with after-prom this weekend. Check in time is 11:30pm. I think someone caught me in a weak moment. Not really. I happily said yes. Prom is only for juniors and seniors so Will isn't going but they were trying to recruit help from the parents of freshmen/sophomores. I'm kinda excited about it, just really dreading the lack of sleep. I'm normally in bed by 9pm each night. I see myself taking a super long nap on Sunday afternoon.

5. I'm just gonna be honest and tell you guys that I'm not doing okay these days. I'm dealing with some really messy relational stuff. It's not marriage, thankfully, because John is my strongest ally. It's pretty much sapped my energy and my joy for the last week or so and I'm trying to pray/discern what I need to do next. The sad part is that this path has been all too familiar to me for the last year--different characters but similar situations.  I'm feeling pretty beat up and it's all too easy to start believing certain things (lies) that the I believe Satan continually throws my way. If you're a praying person, I would covet your prayers for peace, wisdom, and discernment. Happy Friday, y'all.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Popping in with some random schtuff

I only have a few minutes before I have to wake Abbey up and get her off to school but wanted to pop in and say post something on this neglected blog.

It's Monday. Sometimes I like Mondays, sometimes I don't. I'm choosing to embrace this particular Monday and hoping that it brings with it fresh start for the week ahead.

Our weekend was really nice. It was a good mix of busy and restful which is how I like to roll. We woke up on Sunday to several inches of snow and it continued off and on throughout the day. It's a good thing we haven't packed away our boots and coats because we needed them yesterday! Back to flip-flops tomorrow though--just the way I like it! And by the way, most of the snow has already melted. What's left will be gone today or tomorrow.

Sarah's big news from the weekend is that her sweet daddy bought her tickets to a One Direction concert in Denver in July 2013. Twenty-thirteen. I sure hope she still likes One Direction when the concert finally rolls around. For now though, she's thrilled. She is slightly obsessed with One Direction at the moment. John texted me while I was at Costco on Saturday and told me I would have the pleasure of accompanying her next summer. Woohoo! (I think!)(The last concert I went to was sooooo loud and I ended up leaving early.)

Will had a track meet on Saturday and afterwards he worked on making food packets to be sent to Haiti. He is required to earn five community service hours each semester so he knocked out about half of them on Saturday at a non-profit center in Co Springs. I love that our district makes community service a requirement for students. I think it's very important to get kids thinking beyond themselves and to encourage them to be civic-minded.

Today is my designated domestic day. I have big plans to clean and organize, and work on a couple of small projects I've been putting off. I have high hopes for what I want to accomplish today, so I bid you farewell and hope your Monday is off to a great start!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Impromptu date night

It was a long, hard week around the Lifeat7000Feet casa and we were all grateful when Friday afternoon rolled around. I was thrilled when John told me not to worry about dinner--that we'd go out. We don't eat out a lot but if I had to pick a night when I most welcome the break from cooking, it's Friday.

When John got home from work and it came time to decide where to go, none of our children wanted to leave the house. That's probably because two of the three had already changed into their pjs. They definitely inherited our homebody genes. Eventually they decided they'd like food food from various places with drive-thru windows which is not what John or I had in mind at all, so I suggested we make a run for the border by way of the golden arches, drive back home and drop the sustenance off for the starving children in our home, and then he and I go and dine somewhere alone. Win-win! We've entered a season in which our children are old enough to be left at home alone when we need to sneak away for dinner or meetings or errands, and let me tell you it's a beautiful season!

We ended up at a local mexican place where we had uninterrupted conversation over chips and salsa and enchiladas. I love time alone with my husband and it was the perfect end to a really long and hard week. When the check came, we laughed so stinkin' hard because the type on the receipt was so small that NEITHER of us could read it. John was holding it about two feet away from his face and squinting and I was laughing so that I was crying...which made it even harder when he handed it to me to decipher. I'd left my bi-focals at home, dang-it, but I sure hope we read that amount right and left our server enough tip!

I decided last night that we are growing old. Old enough to have kids who can babysit themselves. Old enough for us to both need bi-focals. And old enough to come home from dinner and need a pre-bedtime nap.

Happy Saturday, y'all!

Monday, April 02, 2012

Happy Sigh of Relief

Remember when I went for my mammogram last week? Yeah, well, I got a call a couple of days later right as we were leaving for Denver that my doctor had reviewed the images and ordered additional views. Sigh. I reluctantly scheduled another mammogram and ultrasound and tried not to think about it too much. Impossible. I wasn't too worried until I realized that the request was for additional images on the right breast--the opposite one with the lump that I had biopsied last year. My appointment was this morning. I'm happy to report that after my tests today, the area of concern turned out to be a simple cyst. BIG HAPPY SIGH OF RELIEF. I'm sad to report that the radiologist, the ultrasound tech, and the mammography tech each told me to expect this kind of scrutiny each year. I guess I need to be thankful that they do a thorough job, even if it does cause me some mental angst.

Big exhale. 

Moving on.

Today was a rude awakening for all of us after a week of being "off the clock". Everyone got up on time this morning but I'm not sure anyone was cheerful about it, including me. It didn't help that temps were in the 70s/80s all last week and weekend and today is c-c-c-cold, dreary, and windy. I traded my shorts, tank top, and flip flops for jeans, my down vest, UGGs, and my winter coat! How rude of mother nature to jolt us out of our lovely spring pattern. It's soooooo dry here and we need moisture badly, but I sure wish that the weather system heading our way would bring rain instead of the frozen stuff. Wishful thinking I'm afraid.

Our spring break was wonderful. We went to the movies (I really liked Mirror Mirror), shopped, ate out, hiked, had a couple of sleepovers, grilled out several times, visited with friends, and John and I even went on a date one night. I loved having a week to do a whole lot of nothing. Traveling is nice, but it's not as restful as staying home in my book.

(Photos for the grandparents)
We picked up Abbey's new glasses last Friday. The sides are a fun pink-blue-purple pattern which is precisely why she chose them. John and I think she looks so grown up in them and Abbey thinks they make her look smart. She's pretty smart as it is so I don't know about that...
Oh, I most certainly DID make everyone hike with me last Friday and surprisingly they had a good time. I wanted to say "I told you so" but I zipped it instead. I've learned that it's best not to say that too often.
And yes, I have three children but one of them is a 15-year-old boy who does NOT like to have his picture taken. :)

This week is back to business with schedules and track meets and homework (loved our break from that) and carpool. Eight more weeks of school until summer break and I am definitely counting down! Spring break gave me a really bad case of summer fever. Hope everyone's week is off to a great start.