Okay, I know I said I was letting this go...

...and I am, I swear! But I need to vent one last time about this whole Kelly/Grant/photographer thing. And then I'm putting it to bed, I promise!

Tonight I saw the pictures on Facebook. And they were okay. Decent. Some of them were quite good even. But not one of them was exceptional. There wasn't a single shot that showed great imagination or perspective, and a few of them were even pretty close versions of some I shot in the hospital. My point is, without implying that I'm anywhere close to the best there is (because that's certainly not true), I know I could have done just as good a job if not better. 

And that makes me feel a little bit better. But here's what makes me a little more irritated and hurt: I took a peek at the photographer's prices. Her fee for  what they had done is $200.00. Now that's not outrageous by any means. That included an hour of shooting and a CD of all the edited shots. That's actually a very reasonable price for on location photography. But this:

Let me say first that I firmly believe that in a family, you help people out just because you love them. Nick does mechanic work for both my family and his frequently at no charge (although my dad generally insists on giving him something). My mother-in-law cuts our hair and does my coloring and waxing at no charge. I act as tech support for her for all things computer. Nick's dad mows our yard when we're on vacation, and he stops by all the time to cut down a tree or fix a fence, or whatever needs fixing. I can't begin to list all the things my mom does for us. All of us have at one time or another hopped in the car late at night to jump start a stranded family member's car or bring them a gallon of gas. And I do photography for any of them, as often as they ask, and certainly at no charge. When I did Kelly's maternity session I drove a considerable distance, during a week when we really didn't have the extra gas money (which is kind of every week lately). I spent a lot of time taking pictures and several hours in editing, at the end of which I handed over my images to her free and clear. They never offered to pay me for any of this, nor did I expect them to. That's just what family does. 

But it hurts me a little that they happily handed $200 over to a complete stranger to do the same thing. Maybe that doesn't make sense, but it just seems like at a time when they know funds are pretty continually tight for us, they might consider choosing me to hire if they wanted to pay someone. Nick's dad is kind of bad about doing the same thing. He's had his truck towed to a shop and spent $600 to have them fix it when Nick was offering to not only drive 45 minutes to where he was stranded, but pick up the necessary part and fix it on the spot for just enough to cover the price of the part. It just feels like they would rather spend extra money than see us benefit from it, and I don't understand it. Nick works on $80,000 cars daily, and he's been in the business since he was 18, so it's not like he doesn't have the skill and knowledge to do it. I think it boils down to feeling like we're taken for granted and not respected.

Anyway, all done venting. I promise, no more about it.

Today of course was Halloween. Normally we go to church on Wednesdays, but I stayed home with the kids to take them trick or treating. Morgan went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and she looked great! When I got to go to the craft store for my birthday I picked up some blue gingham, and my mom whipped up a quick Dorothy dress. I found some red dress shoes at the thrift store yesterday for $2.99, and a bottle of glitter and some spray adhesive later, we had ruby slippers. :)

Daisy was supposed to be an "angel princess". I had a pair of angel wings I found at a yard sale last summer, and she had a fancy pink dress we got in a bag of clothes from Elizabeth, and a princess crown my mom got for her to wear at her birthday party. I got a 3 pack of princess wands at the Dollar Tree today, and we were all set. But when it came down to it, she insisted on wearing an Old Navy shirt with a pumpkin on it, jeans, and the crown, and going as "a pumpkin princess." Oh well.

Jack was a baby ninja, and I have to say he was the cutest ninja I've ever seen! The ninja costume was another thrift store find back in the summer, and I have to say I was pretty happy with our frugal Halloween! The kids had a blast trick or treating, got tons of candy, and wore themselves out. 

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Happy Halloween!

Resolutions

Yesterday was nice. Jack ended up pushing through tooth number five in the wee hours of the morning, so I was up pretty late, but I got to sleep in to a decent hour. We went to the craft fair/car show like we had planned. It was pretty small, but neat nonetheless, and it was good to just get out and do something. Afterwards we had lunch, then we did end up going to Grant and Kelly's house. 

It was okay. Nothing was said about the photographer or anything else, so I'm just going to put it behind me. It was sweet to hold little Logan though. :)

Ever since we had Jack (or really since we had Daisy) we've been really pressed for space. When we bought our house Morgan was 6 months old, and three bedrooms was more than enough. When Daisy came along we had to give up our den/family room and move everything in there into the living room. With Jack on board, Daisy had to move in with Morgan, so Jack could have her room, although, to be cringing-ly honest, it's still not been properly set up and is currently still home to a lot of Daisy's stuff, as well as some of my crafting and photography things.

Speaking of crafting and photography, since I became a stay at home mom and started doing both of those things to supplement our income, we've had to find room to store all of the things that go with all of that, which hasn't helped our space issue at all.

We've been praying for some time for a bigger home, but several months ago God really spoke to me about it. I realized that we can't really expect to be blessed with a bigger home if we aren't showing appreciation and taking care of the one He's already blessed us with. I really have been making an effort to get things in order, but honestly it's been hard to do by myself. Not that Nick doesn't sometimes help, but we just have too much of everything for the space that we have. And with 3 kids who all make messes and only one really big enough to help without making a bigger mess out of it, things get crazy pretty quickly.

This morning while we were getting ready for church, out of the blue Nick told me that God had spoken to him about it too, and that he really wanted to get things pared down and organized. When we got home Morgan helped some with the kitchen while I made lunch, and Nick cleaned the living room. After lunch we took a quick nap (a cherished Sunday tradition). Unfortunately we overslept, and it was time to leave for church by the time we woke up. Nick had just lay down on the couch to sleep, so he was already ready, but the rest of us were not, so he went ahead and went without us.

While he was gone I went through our bathroom upstairs. I spent probably a couple of hours on it. It's about as small a room as you can get and still have a full bath, but I threw away a full garbage bag full of stuff (expired makeup, old skin care products, a broken wire shelf, etc.) and passed a few things on to Morgan. 

Anyway, it was good to get something done on the house, and I really do want to stay focused on it. We're hoping Kate, Will, Kit, and Maddox will get to come  in sometime around Thanksgiving, and I would love to be able to have them over.

Ranting

I know I've missed a couple of days this month. It's just been a busy few days. Nick was off today, and he got to go play golf for the first time in a few months, which he enjoyed SO MUCH! It always makes me happy when he gets to go play because he just has so few things he gets to do just for himself, and I know it really boosts his morale.

Speaking of morale, I've been struggling a little bit lately. It's kind of silly, and I'm really trying to get over it. It has to do with Grant and Kelly. There are a group of four couples at church that are really close: Robert and Faith, Kelly and Grant, Nick and me, and another couple I'll call Brandon and Melanie. Several weeks ago Kelly and Grant had a bonfire at their house and invited everyone but me and Nick. We only found out because Brandon, assuming we'd been invited, asked us if we were going to be there. When we said, "What bonfire?" he got really embarrassed and started backpedaling. It wasn't a huge big deal, but we did kind of wonder about it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago at the hospital. They had decided not to have anyone in the delivery room but Grant, which was fine of course (and it turned out she had a c-section anyway). I had offered to take some pictures of the labor and after delivery though, because Kelly (who was present for both Daisy's and Jack's births) had taken wonderful pictures for me that I really cherish. Grant said that would be great, but every time I offered to go in and take some while she was in labor and after the baby was born, he put me off. 

He did ask me to come back the next day though and take some newborn hospital shots. So back we went the next day, at their request. But when we got there they kind of acted like they were doing me a favor letting me take a few shots, and they were kind of rude and uncooperative about the whole thing. Usually Kelly is a wonderful model, because she does some photography herself and knows how to work with the camera. I did her maternity session a few weeks ago and they turned out pretty fabulous if I do say so myself. Anyway, I managed to get a few good shots, but it became obvious pretty quickly that they didn't want me to do any more.

When they came home from the hospital we texted and called at various times, checking up on them and asking if there was anything we could do for them, but giving them their space. We really wanted to visit and see our new nephew, but Kelly was really tired and stressed, so we told them to please let us know when they were ready to have visitors and we would wait till then. 

Anyway, I got her pictures edited and posted them to Facebook for her to see, and texted her to let her know they were there. She didn't respond, even to say thank you. 

Last Saturday, when Logan was 10 days old, we had our church picnic. Grant made a brief appearance, but left after less than an hour to go home and be with Kelly and Logan. Nick's parents had been spending a lot of time at their house (in fact, they stayed there overnight Logan's first 4 days home at Kelly's request), so I asked my mother-in-law how Logan was doing. She said he was fine and asked me if I was going to go to my parents' house to see him (the baby) later. "I didn't know they were going to be over there," I said, and once again, the response was backpedaling. I asked my mom if she would rather us not be there, and she basically said that Grant and Kelly didn't want anyone around the baby. Okay, that hurt a little, but this is their first baby, so they can be forgiven some new parent paranoia.

The next day I texted Kelly and asked if she needed anything. She said she would need to go shopping soon, so maybe I could come help her with that soon. The next day I checked in again and asked if she needed anything, and she said they had visitors planned for that day and the next, so maybe I could come help her out on Wednesday or Thursday. Well, Wednesday she had three different sets of people visit (apparently it was only very specific people they didn't want around the baby ie. US).

So anyway, I made arrangements with my mom to babysit my kids so I could go help her Thursday without her worrying about them being with me, and Nick made plans to join me there after he got off work. Wednesday was the first day Kelly had gotten on Facebook and seen the hospital pictures, and she barely acknowledged them, commenting on ONE out of 46 that she liked that particular shot. On one other shot where the baby was yawning she said that yawning was Grant's favorite thing that baby does, but she didn't say anything else. To be honest, they weren't my favorite newborn shoot I've ever done, but I think I did pretty darn good to pull 46 good shots out of the brief, uncooperative opportunity they gave me, and many, many other people who saw them commented and liked most of them. That night Grant was at church, and as we were leaving Nick said, "Hey, we'll see you tomorrow." Grant didn't know what he was talking about, so Nick said, "Tracy made arrangements with Kelly to come help her." Then Grant let it slip that Kelly had HIRED a photographer to come out and take family pictures Thursday. 

Okay. That hurt a lot. The fact is, it's totally their prerogative to have anyone they want to take family pictures. But coming on the heels of her non-reaction to the shots I took for free and at her request, it really felt like a criticism of something that was very much done out of love. And we had talked several times before he was born about me coming out and doing an at home family shoot for her. If she or Grant had just mentioned beforehand that they were going to have someone else come out to do them, it wouldn't have hit such a nerve, but as it happened it felt like she was trying to hide it. 

The next day, I talked to my mom to nail down the details of how long and starting at what time she would watch the kids for me, then texted Kelly to let her know I could come out and help her kid-free. She said that it probably would be better if I came next Tuesday instead because she didn't have anyone planning to visit that day and she was sure she would need some help. I told her that I had arranged babysitting for the day (yesterday, which was the day she picked) and didn't know if my mom could watch the kids next Tuesday. Then I told her that Grant had mentioned that the photographer would be coming out, so if she'd rather Nick and I just not visit that would be fine. 

I spent a lot of time carefully wording my next text, because I didn't want to sound petty, but I really felt like the photographer was the elephant in the room, and if I didn't say something, I was going to have a hard time getting past it. So I told her that I'm always looking for feedback and advice on my work, and would really appreciate her input on what motivated them to go with a different family photographer. She didn't answer for a while (because the photographer was there by then), but when she did she said she really hoped it hadn't hurt my feelings (ha!) and that they just wanted to see what it was like to have someone (a professional, in other words, which clearly, she does not consider me to be) come out and do a shoot. She said I could still come and take some pictures too. I'm afraid this didn't do much to help me get past it, although I'm trying.

Today when Nick came home from golf (with Robert), he said that Robert had talked to Grant about the situation last night and fussed at him a little bit. He basically told him that it was basic courtesy and decency to let me know beforehand that they were going to pay someone to do what I had offered (and they had asked me) to do for free, and that he didn't blame me for having hurt feelings about it. The fact is, Grant is big on considering himself another one of my parents' kids and a brother to me, Robert, and James, which we are pleased for him to do and consider him to be ourselves, but he tends to be kind of selfish and thoughtless when it comes to the type of consideration you extend to family. I should say that I never mentioned any of this to Robert, but Nick said the hurt on my face when Grant let it slip at church about the photographer was pretty plain to see. 

Anyway, Grant apparently felt pretty guilty, because he called Nick twice to invite us out tomorrow to watch the football game and visit. He first left a voice mail, then called Nick to make sure he got it. I guess now that the rest of the country has visited they feel like Logan has built up enough of an immune system to handle our germs. We will probably go, although not as early as they want us to come. We had already made plans to go to a combination craft fair/car show (could there be a more perfect event!?!) tomorrow, so we'll stop by after that. I don't want to be mad at them, but I also don't feel inclined to drop everything to run see them at this point. And I certainly don't plan on bringing my camera. 

Anyway, this wasn't a very good gratitude post, and very boring I'm sure to most of you, but I needed to vent, and this is my blog, so ppphhhhhllllllbbbt! :P

We interrupt this months gratitude posting...

...for a meme! I'm kind of a sucker for these things. Like PK, I love reading everyone's answers, so I decided to steal it from her. :)

The rules are: You can only answer yes or no, and you are not allowed to explain your answers! Play along on your own blog if you'd like!

Taken a picture naked? Yes
Made money illegally? No
Had a one night stand? No
Been in a fist fight? No
Slept with your best friend? Yes
Had sex in a public place? Yes
Ditched work to have sex? No
Slept with a member of the same sex? No
Seen someone die? No
Ran from the police? No
Woke up somewhere and not remember how you got there? No
Worn your partners unmentionables? No
Fallen asleep at work? Yes
Used toys in the bedroom? Yes
Ran a red light? Yes
Been fired? No
Been in a car accident? Yes
Pole danced or done a striptease? Yes
Loved someone you shouldn't? Yes
Sang karaoke? Yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
Laughed so hard you peed your pants? Yes
Caught someone having sex? No
Kissed a perfect stranger? Yes
Shaved your partner? Yes
Given your private parts a nickname? Yes
Ever gone in public without underwear? Yes
Had sex on a roof top? No
Played chicken? No
Mooned/flashed someone? Yes
Do you sleep naked? No
Blacked out from drinking? No
Felt like killing someone? Yes
Had sex more than 5 times in one day? No
Been with someone because they were in a band? No
Taken 10 shots of liquor in a day? No
Shot a gun? Yes
Gone outside naked? Yes

Today I'm grateful for...

Bonnie!

Thank you, Bonnie, for all that you do for our community! You've helped so many blogs get up and running, and your Sunday Brunches have been such a wonderful resource for open and varied discussion about a subject dear to our hearts. I'm happy to be able to help celebrate you today!

Sunny days and shopping

I know I missed posting yesterday - I went to bed early for once. It was a wonderful day! Our church picnic started with breakfast near the lake at 8:00AM. This is a favorite spot of our family, and we very much enjoyed spending time with all the people there. The picnic continued through lunch and ended around 2:30. 

After the picnic we went to the mall to get Nick and Daisy both some new pants. Daisy has gone through a growth spurt, and Nick has lost enough weight to make wearing his old ones a risky prospect. :) We got her a pair of jeans, and him a couple of pairs of jeans and a pair of khakis. We also stopped at Gymboree so I could spend a gift card I'd had for a while. I got Jack a winter coat and this ridiculously adorable hat:

I was pretty exhausted by the time we finally got home, so I was thrilled when Morgan offered to make dinner. It was just hot dogs, but I didn't have to move off the couch, so that was fine with me! 

I went to bed before 10:00, which is pretty much unheard of for me. I did wake up around 3 AM and had a hard time getting back to sleep. But I used the opportunity to load the dishwasher and do a little reading, and I was back snoozing away before too long.

Today was church, which was very nice, and I got my birthday gift from my in-laws. They got me some supplies I needed for my embroidery machine. Then we had lunch with Robert, Faith, and another couple we're all friends with, then home again. On the way home I stopped and picked up a couple of free 8x10 photos I got free with a coupon at Walgreens. I had them print up a couple of shots of Grant, Kelly, and Logan, one for each grandmother. We had church again tonight, then some fellowship time with coffee and cake afterwards. Now I'm back home, and to be honest, I'm ready to hit the sack again!

A Great Day

This will be a quick one, because I have to get to bed. Today was very nice. I went and paid some bills, then stopped by the shelter again (still no Pancho). Than Nick let me meet him at work to switch cars. He took the kids home and let me have some time to myself to spend my birthday gift cards!

I hit Tuesday Morning first. I didn't have a gift card there, but I noticed a couple of weeks ago in their ad that they had One Direction books for $4.99. If you don't know who One Direction is, clearly you're not an 11 year old girl. Morgan is just slightly obsessed with them right now, and when I saw the ad I knew I had to try to get her one for Christmas. They had plenty left, although someone had shelved them in the wrong place, so it took some searching to find them.

During the search I came across a display of Tweezerman beauty tools, including these awesome tweezers. If you follow that link you'll notice that they retail for $22 a pair. Now I LOVE a good pair of tweezers, but I just can't bring myself to pay $22 for a pair. And even Tuesday Morning's discount price of $11.99 was pretty steep for me. That's why I was ecstatic to see that for some unknown reason they had priced 4 random pairs at $3.99! For less than $4 each I've knocked out 3 Christmas gifts for girlfriends with a pair left for me! Yay!

Next I went to Joann's, my favorite store in the world next to Hobby Lobby. They were having this crazy moonlight madness sale with lots of coupons, and I got tons of stuff and still had about $5 left on my gift card!

My next stop was at Babies R Us, not part of my birthday gift, but I had some left on a gift card there. I got Jack an awesome warm snuggly outfit to wear to our church picnic tomorrow, as well as the most adorable little driving cap. :)

After Babies R Us I went next door to Michaels to spend my other gift card. I only had about a half hour before closing by then, but I got almost everything I went after. And a 20% off coupon left me with almost $10 left on the gift card!

On the way home I stopped and got some Krispy Kreme donuts, then popped in at the gas station and picked up pumpkin spice cappuccino for Nick and frozen cokes for the girls and me.

After I got home James stopped by and brought me my birthday gift, which was a tie dye kit - something I've always wanted to try!

Anyway, that was longer than I meant for it to be, so I'm off to bed. Good night, all!

Today was better...

It wasn't crazy fabulous, but it was good. Morgan is out for Fall Break today and tomorrow. (I don't remember getting a fall break in school, other than for Thanksgiving, but she'll be off for that too.) She let me sleep in, which was really nice, because Jack has apparently completely flip-flopped his days and nights.

For dinner I fixed breakfast burritos, which were very tasty. Not as good as the ones Nick makes, but good nonetheless. Nick didn't come home with a birthday gift for me because he was worn out after work and figured he'd take me out to get it after dinner. 

As it turned out, Morgan wanted to spend the night with my parents, but they needed us to take her up there. They didn't, however, want the two youngest to visit because they are right in the middle of having new kitchen cabinets installed and construction stuff is everywhere. So anyway, Nick took her to their house and stopped for my birthday gift afterwards. We really don't have money for extras right now, but he splurged and got me a couple of different craft store gift cards using a credit card. I know that's not the ideal method of paying for it, but it meant a lot to me that he did it, and it meant a lot to him to have an option to get me something. He also brought me another frozen coke, a small thing, but something that is almost as romantic to me as flowers. :)

The kids and I also did the Ivory soap cloud experiment a couple of times, and it turned out just as promised! Afterwards Daisy had a VERY soapy bath, but at least she got clean. :)

Sadly still no Pancho, and still no birthday spanking, but maybe we can remedy one or the other tomorrow.

35

Today was my birthday. To be honest, it didn't start out that great. Historically it tends not to, although I usually have a great day the day after. Jack took an out of the ordinary nap late yesterday evening, woke up around midnight, and was up and very active until almost 6:00 this morning. Of course Daisy got up with Morgan at 7:00 and came up to snuggle and wish me happy birthday, very sweet of course, but I was barely conscious. Fortunately Jack was well asleep by then, so after getting Daisy some breakfast, I was able to get her settled in bed with Jack and me watching TV, and I was able to doze off and on for a few hours between random, half asleep conversations with her.

Now before anyone votes me worst mother of the year, she was perfectly safe and happy watching educational preschool programs right beside me, and I was very easily woken if she needed me. I also had the bedroom door locked so there was no danger of her wandering the house, and it was very easy to unlock from the outside in case of an emergency.

Anyway, that was my morning and part of my afternoon. After I got up I did some laundry and worked some on the house. Morgan got a little pissed at me because I wouldn't let her invite all her friends in to throw me an impromptu birthday party. But frankly I felt like crap from lack of sleep, and I didn't feel like spending my birthday entertaining a bunch of 11 year old girls, although the way I worded it was that I just wasn't feeling up to having company right then.

We attend Wednesday night praise services at our church, so I got us all ready and out the door, and we were actually on time for once. Church was good, my mom and dad gave me a card with $50, and after the service Nick took me out to dinner with the kids. Robert and Faith joined us. One blessing was that I had a great coupon that let the kids eat free, so even though we got dessert (yay chocolate molten cake!), it was about $15 cheaper than we could usually eat there.

As far as gifts, I got the $50 from my parents, a bottle of lotion from Nick's grandmother a couple of weeks ago, and the Hobby Lobby gift card from Kate last week. Morgan also gave me a collage she had made from pictures she cut out of magazines. I do think my in-laws and possibly James and Grant got me something, although I've not seen any of them. And Nick will bring me home a birthday gift tomorrow. He did buy me a frozen coke on the way home from church. :)

At church a lady who just loves Daisy and Jack brought Daisy a stuffed unicorn (that she immediately fell in love with) for her birthday and Jack a stuffed monkey toy to attach to the car seat handle just because.

Another neat thing was that my aunt and cousin visited my parents today and gave them several large boxes and bags of baby clothes and craft supplies for me. Some of it I'll pass on, but there were some very cool things in there, including lots of elastic (something I use a lot of) and tons of vintage trim and lace. As far as the baby clothes, my cousin's son and Jack are a season apart birth-wise, but because Jack is so small for his age (at almost 10 months, he's still in 0-3 months onesies and 3-6 months in almost everything else), most of it will still work. There were a lot of 12 month/12-18 month items that will fit him next summer, fall, and winter.

I did ask for a birthday spanking, but we got home from dinner pretty late, so maybe tomorrow. Either way, I'm loved and blessed.

Little blessings

Happy Birthday to my brother James! (Not that he'll be reading here).

Today I looked at our bank account and realized that a draft I wasn't expecting had come out, overdrawing us a little. It wasn't fraudulent, just something I didn't realize was coming out yesterday. The blessing was that the bank didn't charge us an overdraft fee (not sure why, but I'll take it), and we had enough cash on hand to put in and prevent anything else from overdrawing it.

I went by the shelter again today to look for Pancho (still missing), and he wasn't there, which likely means he's still around here somewhere with a girlfriend. Please do be in prayer though. He's the best dog we've ever had, and I'd really hate to lose him.

I was able to get a bunch of clothes put away and the living room cleaned by the time Nick got home, despite a middle of the day trip across town to get the bank deposit and visit the shelter, so that was nice.

Anyway, I'm off to take a stroll around the neighborhood and call for Pancho. Have a great night!

Bruises and blessings

Ah, well, I'm sitting on a very tender bottom right now. The kids all went down at a reasonable hour, so at one point Nick gave me a look and pointed upstairs. I considered playing dumb, but that seemed to be a pretty futile path, so I trudged upstairs to await my fate.

When he came upstairs he looked sternly at the 2 baskets of unfolded clothes sitting on top of our toy chest. I was hoping this might inspire him to reach for his belt instead, but he just moved the baskets and opened the lid to choose a paddle. I'd not been paddled in months, so I couldn't think of any of them that wouldn't be awful. I was surprised though when he pulled out the novelty paddle I bought in Jekyll Island. It looked sturdier to me than I remembered. He told me to turn over, so I got up and bent over the side of the bed.

He took hold of the waistband of my jeans and started spanking me. It hurt - a lot! But I managed to stay still, and after 30 swats he stopped. I thought he was done, but he pulled down my jeans and panties. "Please don't, please don't, please don't," I whispered. "You're getting 10 of these - if you hold still. If you move you'll get more." Now, it'd been a while since I'd been spanked at all, months since I'd been paddled, and oh, a year and a half since I'd last gotten spanked on my bare bottom. Can I just say that I can't remember anything hurting worse than those 10 swats? I did managed to hold still though.

I don't have to worry about that paddle anymore though. It turns out that last swat cracked it.

After the spanking was over he lectured me a bit, then took my pants and panties the rest of the way off and proceeded to have his way with me, as he put it. :) Afterwards I rolled over onto my stomach. He smacked my bottom with his hand and said, "It's been a while since I've seen that." "What?" "You've got a blister." Sure enough, I'm bruised and blistered, all thanks, I'm sure, to those last few with my pants down. Anyway, I'm glad that it's done, and even more glad that he followed through with it, as awful as it was to get. I know I needed something to get me in gear, and I want to to better with things.

In keeping with the somewhat theme of the month, I do have some blessings to report:

Morgan has been part of a months-long feud between herself and one of the neighbor girls (ironically enough the one Nick and I like the best). Anyway, for whatever fickle pre-teen reason, the feud ended today, and they're best friends again.

Nick got into some poison ivy the other day, and it's driving him nuts. Today he called me from work ready to claw his face off and asked me to see what we could do to get him some prescription strength medicine for it. He does have insurance, but all doctor's visits are paid out of pocket until the (very high) deductible is met. Fortunately my cousin is a nurse practitioner, and she was able to call in a prescription for him without him needing a doctor's visit, and it cost us all of $3.28

James' birthday is tomorrow, and I never know what to buy him. Nick watched the kids for me though so that I could go to our local used book store and trade in some old books for store credit. Fortunately I was able to not only find a couple of books that I know he'll enjoy, but I also found several for my dad for his birthday in December and Christmas.

Have a great night!

Church, family, and missing puppy

Today was another lovely day at church. After the service we enjoyed a great lunch with family and friends at a favorite sushi place.

From there we stopped by the animal shelter. Sadly our much loved dog Pancho has been missing for a couple of days, and we were seeing if perhaps animal control had picked him up. He wasn't there, which was actually somewhat of a relief, because getting him back would have involved some expense if he had been. Honestly, he's done this a couple of times before, and both times there was a girlfriend involved, so I'm pretty sure he's off getting his doggy groove on somewhere. That said, we would really appreciate your prayers that he comes home soon. Morgan especially is worried sick.

After we got home Nick and I took a quick nap with Jack, then we all headed back to church. Nick has been running the sound booth for the church for a couple of months now. One of the ministries at our church is that they provide for free as many CD and/or DVD copies of each service as you request. There are a number of members who pass them out to friends/family members/shut-ins. With the revival just ended there were a ton of requests to get caught up on, so after the service I helped him get them all packaged and separated.

From there he went home and the kids and I went to Wal-Mart for toilet paper, shave gel, etc.

Nick had planned on spanking me tonight, but Jack was a live wire and Morgan was having problems getting to sleep for worrying about the dog. So it's been put off for another day at least, but he does very much mean to get to it.

It's just over 10 weeks till Christmas, so I'm ratcheting up my gift making planning. My main concern is Will, Kate's husband. I always find him hardest to  get for just because he has everything already, and he's so far out of our league financially that I feel like most things I can come up with that I can make or afford would be kind of cheesy or pointless. Last year I got him some coasters, and I made him some etched glass steins with mustaches on them. But his very favorite gift was a bucket full of candy bars, so I plan on repeating that this year. He has a huge sweet tooth, so I'm going to make some peanut brittle too, but beyond that I'm not terribly sure. I'm toying with the idea of making matching father/son bow ties for him and Maddox, but I'm not sure how he feels about bow ties, or matching your kid for that matter. I do plan on making a bow tie and matching bow tie onesie for Grant and Logan, who got to come home from the hospital yesterday, by the way.

Anyway, that was today, blessings and just life in general.

Have a great night!

Restful Saturday

Today was a restful day for a very nice change. For once, no one came upstairs to wake me up to take them to school because she missed the bus, or climbed into bed with me to ask "Is it time for the sun to be up?"

Nick went out to my parents' house this morning to work on my dad's truck for him, and he brought the girls back home with him this afternoon. Jack did wake up early, but when I put him in bed with me he snuggled down and went back to sleep.

After Nick and the girls got home Nick mowed the yard while Morgan played with the neighbor girl and I took Daisy and Jack to the store with me to pick up a couple of things we forgot last night, like hamburger buns and cheese slices. When I got back I fixed pork burgers (a new experience for us, but I think we'll probably have them again some time) and mac n cheese, always a favorite with my two littlest ones.

Jack pushed through tooth number 4 today. He's growing so fast!

After we ate, Nick put in The Avengers. I had a little bit of a headache, so I lay down on the couch, and before I knew it I was asleep. Sleeping in and a nap in one day! And it wasn't even my birthday!

Have a great night!

Busy Friday

Today was a busy day, but it was nice. Nick was off, so we ran some errands. To start with, Morgan missed the bus this morning - grrrr!. But the good news was that since Nick was home I didn't have to drag Daisy and Jack out with us when I had to drive her in. 

She was supposed to have 2 boxes of sugar cubes for a school project today. She mentioned this Tuesday, and I went to Wal-Mart to find her some. Unfortunately they were sold out, and with Logan's birth the next day, I didn't give it another thought until she brought it up at 11:30 last night. This was frustrating, but we'd all been distracted, so I told Nick I would try to go find some, then promptly forgot about it. I got Jack to sleep and was getting ready to turn in myself a couple of hours later when I remembered. I REALLY didn't want to go out then, but I also didn't want her to fail the project, so I dragged myself to the car. Unfortunately 2 stores and a phone call to a third later it became apparent that pretty much every place nearby was sold out.

Anyway, when I drove her in this morning I stopped at a store that was closed when I went out last night, and we found one lone box. I bought it for her, which apparently saved the day.

When I got home Nick had to leave to go get his hair cut, then he had some scrap metal to take off. He made about $170.00 from the scrap metal, which was a HUGE blessing. When he got back from the scrap yard he took all the trash off to the dump, then he, Jack, Daisy, and I went for lunch.

We had Mexican, which was awesome, right up until Daisy got a chip caught in her throat. In the process of us trying to dislodge it, she threw up right on my shirt and jeans. So. Gross. But she could've seriously choked, and she didn't, and Nick generously gave me his shirt (he was wearing a t-shirt underneath), so it was definitely not as bad as it could have been.

After lunch we went home to meet Morgan coming home from school (and so I could change!), then headed to the hospital to see the new baby and take some hospital pictures.

From there we went to church for the last night of revival, where my parents unexpectedly offered to take both girls home overnight. Normally I'd jump all over a night alone, but he'd been fussing at me about my car off and on all day and had made a point of telling me I was still on the hook for a spanking, so it made me understandably nervous to have the house basically to ourselves. But both girls were super excited about it, so I let them go.

After church, Nick agreed to do some much needed grocery shopping with me. By the time we got home and I got something for him to eat and got all the groceries put away, he was mostly asleep on the couch (which is where he is right now). So anyway, it seems I got a pass for the night. I'm off to try to wake him up enough to get him up the stairs and into bed. 

Day 11

Today was nice. I got to spend a little bit of time editing photos, and I found at least one really gorgeous shot each of Morgan, Daisy, and Jack.

Daisy seems to be showing interest in her potty seat on her own, although we've only had one successful "landing" to date.

Revival continued at our church, and I was especially blessed by the service this evening.

After the service we stopped by the hospital to see Kelly, Grant, and Logan, which was very sweet.

As an added bonus, an old friend from high school gave birth there also yesterday, so I got to stop by and see her and hold her precious, tiny baby girl.

While I was in her room, I saw who was probably my very favorite nurse during my 16 days in the hospital with Jack. She remembered me, and I sent her to Kelly's room to see Jack. When I was there yesterday, I also took him by the nurses station and then down to the NICU to see a couple of the nurses he had when he was born. They remembered him and were thrilled to see him. :)

I also got to spend a few minutes texting a friend I met via my blog, and it looks like we might get to meet in person in a few months.

There's still been no spanking, although we have been busy. Nick's off tomorrow, but we have a number of errands to run, so I'm not really expecting it to happen then, or necessarily even at all at this point.

On a random note, tonight I took Daisy to the bathroom at the hospital to change her diaper. I reached down to pick her up, and she jumped up at the same moment, driving her head into my right cheekbone. It was painful enough that I just stood there with my face in my hands trying to slow breathe through the pain for a minute. Daisy said, "It's okay, Mommy! I'm your best friend!" which, I'm not going to lie, made it feel a little better. :) Anyway, I'm sporting a nice bruise on my cheek, so I'm anticipating a few "Who punched you in the face?" queries. Ah, motherhood.

Baby Blessings

A big blessing today!

Kelly and Grant welcomed little Logan this evening. Things didn't go quite as planned - Kelly's labor wasn't progressing, and she had to have a cesarean - but everything went very well, and they now have a healthy 8lb 9oz, 21 3/4 inch baby boy with the famous family dimples.

Day 9

Today was overall pretty good. 

First of all I got my birthday gift in the mail from Kate - a $50 gift card to Hobby Lobby! This was especially awesome to me not only because it's one of my very favorite stores, but also because it was something I couldn't use to pay bills. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for a birthday gift that helps with the budget too. But a good portion of the time, any money I get for my birthday ends up going to help pay the bills (not complaining - Nick's had the same thing happen to him too), and any gift cards I get end up getting saved to use as/toward Christmas gifts for other people. It was amazingly wonderful to get to go and do some guilt free craft shopping just for me!

I took Daisy to the doctor today. About a month ago she had strep throat, and she seemed to have a lingering cough from it, so I wanted to have her checked  out. Everything was just fine, and the cough seems to be just from some mild allergies.

We had another great church service tonight.

My mom gave me $20 just to help out tonight. It helps us more than she knows, because as of right now that's the entirety of our money until next Friday. That said, I KNOW God is going to provide for us this week and next.

I got the bank to agree to order us some free checks on our new account since the old one got hacked.

In just a few hours Kelly and Grant will be heading to the hospital to welcome little Logan to the family!

Day 8

Today's blessings include:

A wonderful revival service at church tonight.

Being able to get the kitchen and living room swept and mopped and the couches vacuumed out. (That might not sound like much, but try it with a three year old and a very mobile baby sometime.)

Morgan did NOT miss the school bus this morning, something that happened a couple of time last week.

Caramel Apple Sugar Babies. These are seasonal, only available around Halloween, and I wait for them all year!

A trip to Wal-Mart by myself. All I bought was deodorant for me and Nick, 2 pieces of poster board for Morgan, and rice crackers for Jack, but it was nice to get out of the house alone for a little bit.

A couple of lovely um, encounters with my sexy husband yesterday morning and last night.

On the generally silent DD front, I think I'm going to get spanked. Nick told me a couple of days ago that we were going to have a talk about the house and the car (which I keep cleaning out, I swear! I have no idea where all the stuff in it keeps coming from!) I asked him last night if he meant we were actually going to talk about it, and I got a very emphatic NO. That said, we do have revival at church all week, which means by the time we get home we're scrambling to get dinner made and eaten/homework done/clothes laid out, and it's later than usual by the time the kids are in bed. I won't say I'm expecting him to forget, but I will say that I won't be completely surprised if he does. Either way, I'm trying to get the housework done, and I do appreciate him calling me on it.

Sweet Sunday

Today I was blessed by:

Two wonderful Homecoming services today at church.

A fabulous Homecoming dinner.

Supper out with my family and church folks this evening.

Daisy looking super adorable in her outfit I made her for her birthday.

A lovely Sunday afternoon nap with Nick and Daisy while Morgan watched Jack.

A quick post

This is going to be a quick one, because I need to get to bed, but today I'm thankful for:

Already owning a baby gate since Jack is officially on the move!

Getting some of Jack's room cleaned out and some outgrown clothes boxed up to be passed on.

Nick getting to leave work early today.

Nick bringing home Jet's pizza!

Getting to take a nap with Nick, something that very rarely happens, except on the occasional Sunday.

Good night!

Happy Birthday, Daisy!

Oh my goodness, what precious things to be grateful for today!

Three years ago we were blessed with a baby girl we were told we would never have. Today she is a beautiful, smart, articulate little girl, and a world class big and little sister!

We had a small family gathering for her birthday, and she got SO MUCH awesome stuff!

She loved all the stuff I made her.

My cousin's little boy loved his fort kit.

Nick's paycheck went into the new account instead of the old (wrong) one.

I have a lovely bed in which to go and lay down this sleepy head!

Good night all!

Day 4

Today I'm thankful for:

This adorable set of clothes Kate sent Daisy today for her birthday. I love all of it, and she definitely needed a winter coat! The hair bow is one I had in my shop. When I saw how well it matched, I just had to pull it out and make it a birthday gift!

 

That everything that we did successfully cleared our old bank account without the bank accidentally returning anything.

Morgan was worried because she didn't have anything for Daisy for her birthday. We still have the ladder we borrowed from my dad, so I used it to get in the attic and find a few of Morgan's old dolls and other toys. She was really excited to pick some things out to give her sister!

The joy I've gotten out of Daisy's adorably specific birthday requests. "What do you want for your birthday?" has been consistently answered with "A strawberry cake with yellow icing! And candles! And balloons! And presents!" She's talked all night about the strawberry cake with yellow icing she's getting tomorrow. :)

In August we were invited to my cousin's little boy's birthday party. He's 8 weeks older than Daisy, and this particular cousin has done so much for me and my family. Sadly we were all sick at the time, so we had to forgo the party. She's bringing her little boy to Daisy's small family get together tomorrow, and I made him a deluxe fort kit for his (very late) birthday gift. I'm glad to get to see them, and I'm glad to get his present done!

Kelly was due today, but still no Logan. I'm pleased to report though that she at least has an induction scheduled, so if she doesn't go into labor before then, we'll welcome her and Grant's first son next Wednesday.

Off to bed!

Day 3

Today's blessings include:

Jack got his third tooth today. :)

Nick got an unexpected package in the mail today from his uncle. It was a big shoebox full of golf balls and tees! His uncle is an avid golfer and had a bunch of extras he wasn't going to use (so he said). Nick loves to play golf, so this was a really neat surprise!

I got a bunch of baby doll diapers made last night, so that finishes up all of Daisy's birthday gifts.

Elizabeth and her husband and kids came to church tonight. They've only recently started attending, and it blesses me every time they come.

Robert gave Nick some shoe laces tonight at church. That may seem really silly, but the laces on Nick's black dress shoes were falling apart, and I'd been having a ridiculously hard time finding a pair that weren't big flat ones made for tennis shoes.

We got our new debit cards today. I pay a lot of our bills online or over the phone using mine, and I was concerned they wouldn't get here before pay day.

Have a great night!

Graituesday

Today I am thankful for:

My parents came by earlier and dropped off some much needed milk as well as a few other treats for the kids.

I got to take a short nap this evening - a rare treat for me!

The precious slobbery baby kisses Jack planted all over my face (and arms, and knee, etc).

That Morgan didn't have any homework tonight, always a relief.

That I got to hang out with Nick and watch one of our favorite shows together.

That I still have my parents. A dear girl I went to school with has had to make the heart wrenching decision to have the hospice turn off the machines on her dad tomorrow morning.

Finding some really neat ideas for handmade Christmas gifts.

My bed!

Too blessed to be depressed

A couple of years ago I started the month of November out focusing on being grateful for the many, many blessings in my life. I tried to post every day (and mostly succeeded), taking the time to put down the things I was thankful for that day. That exercise was a blessing in itself to me, because it did a quick job of turning my attitude around at a time when I was struggling with some things. I think it's past time to try it again.

Today I'm thankful for:

God's hand on our bank account. A few days ago I pulled up our account and noticed a check with a weird check number for $29.95. I knew we hadn't done anything for that amount, so I looked into it a little further. It turned out to be fraudulent, which meant we had to close the account and open a new one, something we REALLY didn't want to do. We've had this account for over a dozen years. I had my debit card number memorized, we had plenty of checks, Nick's direct deposit goes in there, and everything from my Itunes to my Paypal to my car insurance is connected to it. Not only that, but we were going to be down to $25 once all the legitimate stuff cleared not counting this fraudulent charge! Wait, I promise I'm getting to the gratitude part! First of all, we caught it before anything bigger was taken. Second of all, the bank is going to credit us the 29.95. Third, they opened us a new account quickly, so it definitely could have been worse.

Yesterday Nick's aunt, cousin, and great aunt, all of whom we rarely get to see, visited our church. The reason was a sad one - his great aunt's brother-in-law passed away and they wanted to gather as a family after church for lunch. But it was still wonderful to see them. Also, we didn't have any money to go have lunch with them, but my precious parents, anticipating the need, handed Nick $50 at church so that we could join them after all.

We were out of both diapers and formula today, and God provided a way for us to get both. Plus He gave me a great deal on the diapers!

Jack, who will be nine months tomorrow, is officially crawling.

Nick was off today. Normally he works Mondays, but he worked Saturday for a coworker, so I got to enjoy being with him today!

I had a coupon today for a free molten chocolate cake at Chili's, one of my favorite desserts of all time. Nick and I had some errands to run while Morgan was in school, so we stopped and got it with Daisy and Jack. He gave Jack a taste of it, and it was the cutest thing ever! He got this huge smile, then his eyes rolled back in his head like he was just in heaven, and he started giggling out loud. Best food reaction ever! :)

Nick helped me fold a lot of the laundry today.

Our ceiling fan in the living room is really high up. Like we need a ladder to change the bulbs. Two of the four bulbs had been burned out for a couple of weeks, and it was driving me nuts! (I hate a dim room!). Tonight my dad let us borrow his ladder so Nick could change the bulbs. Finally, light!

This laundry detergent. Everybody I've ever met who tried to make their own laundry detergent said that even if it worked for a couple of weeks, pretty soon their clothes just weren't getting clean. I tried this one because A. it was dry, not liquid, which I thought might make a difference, and B. the women who run http://www.howdoesshe.com/ are geniuses. I've been using it for MONTHS now, and it works even better than the most expensive brands I've tried, even on Nick's dirty mechanic's clothes. In fact, I gave some to my mom, who is super picky about laundry, and after trying it, she made a big batch for herself!

I got to get my hair colored last week. My mother-in-law does it for me for free at her shop, and I felt 10 years younger getting all that gray out!

 

I'm also thankful that Jack is finally asleep so I can go take a shower!

 

Have a great week!