Not a whole lot to talk about...

Not much going on around here, but the usual. We went to Miami for the weekend. We celebrated our 2 niece's birthdays. They had a bubblegum themed party. A lot of work for their mom, there were 50+ kids there. It made me appreciate the fact that between school, church, & family, our 3 kids combined don't ave 50 friends. When I picked A & K up from school yesterday morning their teacher told me that they needed to ask me what an "S-word" is. My immediate thought..."oh no, they picked up a new four-letter word from Miami." I was relieved to learn that "S" is their letter of the week and they needed to come to school with a word that starts with the lestter S. Whew! That was a relief.
Other than that, nothing exciting around here. I cast on for a pair of baby socks for a friend's baby. I'm more than halfway through the first sock. The yarn is not quite sock weight (it's a little thicker) so he sock is a little bigger than I had hoped for it to be, but on the brighter side the baby is due in May when it's actually really too hot to wear socks anyway. So she'll have socks for the winter.
I went back to the root canal specialist today to have my root canal finished, but the tooth was stil too inflamed to complete the procedure. So he medicated and want to see me back in 2 more weeks. Fine by me. This tooth has been quite a challenge to live with for the past few days.
Well, I'm off to pick up the kids from school and do my housework. I've marinated some chicken earlier this morning, so we're having baked chicken with artichokes and sundried tomatoes for dinner. Doesn't that sound yummy?

Yowza!!!

Ouch! So, I had this root canal re-treatment on Tues. morning and this tooth is really giving me a hard time. I have a pretty good tolerance for most aches & pains, but this stinkin' hurts! My face became swollen the day after the procedure, and was a bit more swollen yesterday, so I'm taking a different kind of antibiotic today with the hope that my tooth will feel better. Most of the time it's alright unless I touch my teeth together, or chew on something, then...oh. my. word! I've never had tooth pain before. I can now relate to more of my dental patients. Anyway, we're off to Miami for the weekend with Dan's parents, to be with Dan's brother and his family. The kids are really excited to get to see their cousins!

Root Canals, Kids, & Touching the Face of God

I mentioned on Monday's post that my new boss hooked me up with a Root Canal specialist here in town. I have a tooth that had a root canal about 10 years ago. Well, last January the tooth felt funny, I took an X ray, and what do ya know? The root canal needs to be retreated. The cost? $1000. Yes, you read that right. So, what do I do? What every other dental patient seems to do...wait 'til it hurts, then I'll get it fixed. Well, I didn't go quite that far. The tooth didn't start hurting, I actually freaked myself out considering all the "effects" this little infected canal, IN MY HEAD, could cause me. So, I took another X ray and asked my new doc. what he thought. He got right on the phone to the specialist. So, I had a root canal yesterday. The price? NOT A PENNY! The specialist didn't charge me a single penny. Now I ask you, can any more blessings come out of this incredible job God has placed me in? God has perfect timing and the perfect plan every time!
Now, on another note...Adam is fascinated with the new president, "O-Rocco Bama." I thought it would be a good history-in-the-making lesson for the kids to watch the inauguration on TV yesterday, then Adam wanted Dan to turn American Idol off to watch the inauguration again at bedtime. Yeah, well, enough is enough I say.

Then when Dan was saying some bedtime prayers with Adam. Adam prayed that his dad's trees wouldn't die in the freeze. When he was finished praying he said, "OK, now come down here so I can touch you!" Well, at least he has the desire to touch the face of God. I guess I'm not doing such a poor job with my kids after all.

A Simple Woman's Daybook
A Simple Woman's Daybook for today...

Outside my window...It's a sunny, the sky is blue, the air is crisp.

I am thinking...today we may need to get out of the house...maybe I can convince the hubby to go letter boxing.

I am thankful for...Martin Luther King, Jr. (obviously for the civil rights movement, but also because today is a holiday that Dan gets off from work)

From the learning rooms...I've posted sentence strips in the twins' room labeling the bed, door, wall, etc...

From the kitchen...well, since it's going to be a cool, no strike that, COLD week here in sunny Florida, I'm thinking we'll do some good ol' stick-to-yur-ribs kind of food this week. Probably some soups and stews. I'm going to try to get creative and look through some cookbooks BEFORE I go shopping...imagine that! A little planning ahead...with 3 kids? Yeah! That's probably not going to happen. I may have to swing it and allow the grocery store to inspire me.

I am wearing...Pink flannel jammies with sock monkeys and Christmas tree motif.

I am creating...eyelet baby socks for a little one expected to arrive in May.

I am going...to the Endodontist tomorrow for a consultation. I had a root canal done 10 years ago and it's been acting up for a year now. My new boss was nice enough to call the endodontist for me and he hooked me up.

I am reading...yeah, still waitin' for my local, po dunk library to send "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

I am hearing...Pole Position, a video game that was turned on by Adam, but nobody is playing. I just heard Dan open to door to the twins' room and say, "I'm gonna act like I didn't see this." Now I hear him saying, "hold out your hands, let me see what you have. I can't believe you guys are eating candy! You're all gonna get a spanking now!"

Around the house...will there ever be a Monday that I don't have to clean? I'm like a hamster in a cage, I just keep spinning on this stupid wheel! I do only have 1 load of laundry to do today...woo hoo!

One of my favorite things...a roaring fire in the fireplace on a cold winter's day.

A few plans for the rest of the week...school for the kids, work for me; WARM clothes.

A picture thought I'm sharing...

This is the microphone Adam built out of Tinker Toys. Notice Katie has her jeans on backwards. That's my Katie!
If you want to participate in the daybook, see Peggy here.

My Posse's on Broadway...WHAT?

This may crack you up...Dan has a pickup truck that is kinda red in color; specifically, it's the color of Chick-fil-A's Polynesian dipping sauce, so the kids call it the "polynesian truck." The other day we were going on a family outing and Sophie was flippin' out. She was insistent that we should NOT go in mommy's car, but in daddy's polynesian truck. Once I talked her down from the ledge, she was able to explain to me (in Sophie-lingo) that she wants to "wide in daddy's powynesian twuck and yisten to my posse's on bwoadway." OKAY...apparently Dan listens to Sir Mix A lot while drivin' around town in the polynesian truck. Not. So. Sure. About. This. I'm so uncool when it comes to music. The most they get to listen to in my car is Christian, Country, & the news... No wonder they always want to ride with daddy.

The Simple Woman's Daybook

For today...

Outside my window...it's grey and cool. My Tababuia tree is beginning to shed it's leaves, and bright pink flowers are blooming in their place.

I am thinking...I'm glad Goo Gone is really good at removing gum from car upholstery.

I am thankful for...the thoughtful hearts that Adam & Katie have. Dan took them to Home Depot yesterday and while they were there Adam asked his dad if they could "buy mommy a flower," and Katie said "let's get a red one. Mommy really likes red."

From the learning rooms...we missed church lat week and the kids kids missed the lesson about Joseph's coat of many colors. I'm going to try to do that lesson with them and make a little coat.

From the kitchen...tonight, chicken breast with artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and asparagus. Chicken quesadillas tomorrow. Maybe chili on Wednesday. Some sort of pork dish at some point this week. Publix has boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.99 this week.

I am wearing...jeans and a plum-striped Henley.

I am creating...maybe a little coat of many colors with the kids; I need to hem a pair of slacks; I'm still working on photo books on Snapfish - it takes some time, but not nearly as much time as it take to scrapbook.

I am going...to Walmart at some point this week. I have a new favorite cereal, Kashi U. It's very healthy and very tasty with a banana. The cereal is significantly cheaper at Walmart. Funny thing too, Sophie loves this uber-healthy cereal, but only if she's eating it from my bowl.

I am reading...a Weight Watcher's magazine given to me by a friend, and I'm waiting for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" to arrive in the mail.

I am hoping...we won't get a hard freeze this winter because our mango trees are LOADED with flowers. So much so that the branches are dragging the ground. There's nothing like a mango fresh from the tree! It's always a struggle to get through the winter though because they are a tropical fruit and we're not quite living in a tropical climate year-round.

I am hearing...Sophie chattering non-stop, can't quite understand what she's saying. That's kinda like my relationship with the Lord I've learned. I have to stop what I'm doing, focus, and Listen in order to hear. Imagine that!

Around the house...just some clutter to put away, floors to sweep, laundry to do. Typical Monday-Sunday stuff.

One of my favorite things...remember last week I said one of my favorite things is a clean-smelling car? Well, I cleaned my car. Nothing on the floors. All snack-food-remnants removed from under and in-between the car seats. little air freshener, and...the car is clean. For today anyway.

A few plans for the rest of the week...nothing exciting here until Saturday. We're going to a friend's house for a turkey dinner. This will be the 4th turkey dinner we've had since September.

Here is a picture thought I'm sharing...

Katie went to a little tea party on Saturday. It was so sweet to see just six little girls together doing "girlie stuff."

Hi, My Name Is Sue. I'm a Recovering...

You name it, I'm jaded in almost every way. I have to admit that before I had kids, 3 kids in 22 months that is, I was obsessed with making sure my house was SPOTLESS before anyone came over (not obsessed with having it spotless at all times, just when someone other than Dan & I would see it). Well, my kids have cured me of that little obsession. I'm officially recovered. Now all I care about is that my hair has been brushed and I'm not in the PJ's. I'm still quite ashamed to let someone see that I'm not the perfect housekeeper, but it is what it is!
We had friends over for dinner last night and it's so nice to have friends in my life who are so loving and "real." I can put down my guard, focus on the friendship, & know that they'll still love me even though there are dishes in the sink and I haven't swept the floor. No explanations necessary. That's very liberating. My day will come when my babies are all grown up, living independently of me, possibly far away from me; I'll have a clean house then. I'm trying to live every day remembering that that day will come before I'm ready, so as long as I can cuddle my little ones in my lap, let the dishes stay dirty.

It's Official!

Christmas has officially been packed away. I couldn't procrastinate the inevitable any longer. I spent probably 2 hours last night "unloading" the tree. I had a serious case of the "dizzies" after taking 10 or more strands of lights off the tree. I think I need to get the big lights so we use less. Anyway, I'm glad that needle-shedding tree is outta my house! Although, Sophie enjoyed picking up the needles. She called them "seeds" and she even planted some outside. It was cute.

I must have been out of my mind when I went shopping the day after Christmas. I bought all these decorations for the outside of our house. I struggle with post-Christmas "packin' up" as it it and now I added more to be put away. Uhhggg!

On another note, I was listening to my new boss talk about his cleaning lady the other day. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone come in twice a month and scrub the floors and the bathrooms. Wouldn't it be nice to come home, after being out one day, to lemony-freshness? I came home the other day to the smell of kitchen trash that I forgot to take out that morning. Just sayin'...

A Story of a Girl...

A few weeks ago I mentioned that you should swing back by here for a story involving Katie, a dead mouse, and an almost-empty water bottle. Well, here's how the story goes. The first day I worked at my new office here in town, my mom babysat for me. When I got home from work my mom gave me a "heads up" about a dead mouse she found in the garage. She kicked the mouse out of the garage onto the driveway (don't ask me why she didn't kick it out of site into the bushes, I guess she wanted me to see the good that she had done by at least removing it from the garage). She showed me where it was when she was leaving (don't ask me why I didn't kick it out of site into the bushes, I guess I'm my mother's daughter). After waving goodbye to my mom, I left the twins to ride their bikes on the driveway (for those of you who don't know where I live, don't be so quick to snatch my mom badge, we are in a very rural area - so it's relatively safe for the kids to play alone just outside the garage), I went in to start cooking dinner, got a phone call from a friend, talked on the phone much longer than I should have, and was interrupted by Katie who very proudly walked into my kitchen with a plastic water bottle that I saw had about three inches of water in it. What I didn't see until she, again very proudly, said "look mommy!" and shoved the bottle toward my face. Oh. My. Word! The dead mouse was now in the water bottle. "Who put that in there?!" I exclaimed. "I did." Said Katie, again, full of pride. Now, quite horrified, I ask, "Katie, how did you get that in there?!" Katie says, "just with my fingers." Uhh, duhhhhh. I'm dumbfounded. I have no words. I snatched the water bottle from her, told her to go wash her hands with hot water and to do it twice. Did I throw the bottle in the trash? No! I just had to show Dan this half-empty water bottle with a dead mouse floating in it. I have to admit, looking back at this, there are three generations of females here who all made poor choices regarding this one little dead mouse, but Katie's choice, oh. my. This chick is quite the bug collector, and "toucher" of all things gross. She's not disgusted by anything.

Later that evening when I showed Dan, it pretty much just reinforced his long-time hypothesis that Katie was deprived of oxygen at birth. She does do some very strange things, but I think she's just very artistic. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

A Simple Woman's Daybook for today...January 5, 2008

Outside my window...it's foggy and the sun is just barely beginning to color the sky.

I am thinking...I'm glad the holidays have passed & life is back to normal.

I am thankful for...the clean state that my house is in right now. I wonder how log it will stay this way?

From the learning rooms...A & K are back to school today...YIPPEE!

From the kitchen...maybe a week of soups and stews.

I am wearing...jeans and an ice-blue cable knit sweater.

I am creating...a Snap Fish photo book of the twins' firs year - yeah, I'm a little behind. The digital camera makes it so easy to slack because you don't have to have film developed to see the pictures. I also knit a little baby hat, for a friend, this weekend

I am going...grocery shopping this morning, to work on Wed. & Thurs.

I am reading...Saveur Magazine's annual "100" It's a foodie mag. and this edition lists (with great & interesting detail) their favorite 100 foods of the past year. It's a very interesting magazine, few ads, & something interesting about local food, but also foods indigenous to other countries on EVERY page. It's literally a magazine I read cover-to-cover.

I am hoping...to get my pantry organized today.

I am hearing...Franklin and the clink of buttons in the dryer. Sophie is watching Franklin and I'm doing laundry.
Around the house...Christmas decorations are still everywhere. We went to Boca Raton to spend the weekend with Dan's cousin and Christmas did not get put away. Another reason I'm a "Bah Humbug" - I hate putting the decorations away (mainly because I'm lazy).

One of my favorite things...a car interior tat is clean, and fresh-smelling. This usually lasts for 2 days.

A few plans for the rest of the week...maybe I'll bake cupcakes with the kids. Although, not before we officially say "Khodafez" (goodbye in Farsi) to Christmas.

Here is a picture thought I'm sharing...

SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL

So long 2008!

2008 was a pretty trying year for me and I'm glad to wish it farewell. I've learned some very valuable lessons this year. I've also let go of some of my selfishness. My attitude toward my loved-ones has changed to allow for me to accept our differences and not feel the need to make excuses for those differences. I've learned that unhealthy relationships are not always worth holding onto and sometimes it's necessary to let go. I've learned that change can be good; Very. Good. I've learned that my significance is in Christ, and it does not matter what the World thinks of me. All that matters is that I am precious to Him. "Yes I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above [me], nothing below [me], nor anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate [me] from from the love of GOD that is in Christ Jesus [my] Lord." Romans 8:38-39
I've learned that life is fragile and fleeting. Someone who is here today may not live to see tomorrow. In that, I am learning to not take people, especially loved-ones, for granted. It is my desire to spend more time with the ones I love, and the ones who love me, in 2009. To let go of what's behind. To press toward the goal. To lean into "circumstances" rather than run the other way. To pray more. To do more. To live more. May God bless you far beyond what your heart and hand can hold in this New Year!

Crunchless Abs, a New Year's Resolution

So, I've decided to bite the bullet his year and work on the post-baby abdominal muscles. I've ordered the Crunchless Abs video so I'll have a virtual personal trainer. Not sure if the chick on the video will be able to motivate me like a real life trainer would, but I'm gonna give it a try. I'm also gonna dust off the treadmill, plug it in, and get my butt on it a few times a week. This gave me an excuse to buy a new pair of running shoes. I've decided that this is going to be a year of health; I want to feel those endorphins. It will be interesting to see how the kids fit into my plan. I suspect there will be some funny photo ops...