Another Day of Truth

Ok, I really want to skip today's topic, which is "Someone Who Made Your Life Hell or Treated You Like Sh**." Really, what's the point? I don't want to dwell on those people in my life who have hurt me - I just want to move on. I do learn from those tough experiences. I learn about the person I DON'T want to be and I also learn to quickly eliminate their negativity from my life.

On a more positive (?) note, Owen has his first crush. Last night he confessed to me that he "loves" Hannah. I met this girl briefly a couple weeks ago, but don't really remember much about her. I asked him what he loves about her and he told me she's very nice, that when he had to sit in the principal's office during recess she gave him a handkerchief. What for, I asked? "For the tears...that was REALLY nice." I agree!

I thought it would be so hard to see my boys start to have an interest in girls and I'm sure there will be times I struggle with it. But if a girl at school wipes Owen's tears when I can't, I'm all for it! Thank you to all the moms out there who have daughters and are raising them to be kind and to wipe my sons' tears. I, in turn, will try my best to raise sons who don't cause your daughters any tears. (Tall order, but I'll give it my best shot!)

2 More Days of Truth

I was too busy yesterday to blog, but still kicked myself at the end of the day for not doing it. Even with the extra hour we got going off DST I was still ONLY able to do 3 loads of laundry, including bedsheets and curtains, make the beds and re-hang the curtains, wash all the windows inside and out, clean the gutters, make a yummy dinner (homemade chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, veggies, from-scratch peanut butter cookies for dessert) and then clean the kitchen and sweep and mop the kitchen/dining room floor. Anyway, even if they give me an extra hour it's not enough, but I AM glad that extra hour came on a weekend when I was off work at least.





Day 6: One Thing You Hope You Never Have To Do





Any mother will say the thing they hope they never have to do is outlive their child and of course that's true for me to. But I'm a huge wimp and will also say I hope I never have to see any of my kids really sick. Even if they live through a bad sickness, I just don't know how I would be able to deal with them being in pain and not be able to help them. I also don't want to have to deal with anyone in the medical profession on that level, as I'm not a fan. (sorry if that offends anyone, I just don't trust doctors.)





Day 7: Someone Who Makes Your Life Worth Living





Again, as a mother the predictable answer here would be to say my kids and that's true. But how boring is that answer? So I'm going to look beyond that obvious statement and think about someone else who makes my life worth living: ME!





My mom and I talk about this all the time, how Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is within. I know that every day I have to choose and find my happiness, so I do. I'm not saying I don't have bad days (yesterday, actually, was a really bad one) but I try so hard to be a positive person and barrel through all the CRAP and just focus on the fun things along the way. My brother says you have to have the "hide of a rhino" to get through this life and that's probably true. But there are also so many wonderful people and things out there that make it worthwhile and all I have to do is look a little to find them.





But I will admit, having these four little guys helps a lot. They find fun in every day, too...

I have a whiteboard here over the computer in the kitchen and every week I put a quote on it. The quotes come from this little book, "Timeless Wisdom - A Treasury of Universal Truths." The quote this week is by that awesome poet lauriet, "Anonymous."

Cherish your yesterdays,

Dream your tomorrows,

But live your todays!

With that, I leave you to live MY today. It's going to be 60 and sunny and the Packers are playing tonight. Happy Sunday to all!

Day 5 of Truth: Something You Hope To Do In Your Life

This is actually pretty easy because there are a LOT of things I hope to do. But without question the number 1 thing is to eventually be a stay at home mom, or at least to work out of my home. Whenever I have a random weekday off, I can't WAIT to walk to the bus stop to pick them up at the end of their day. I find that 10 minute walk where they tell me about their day at school is the BEST part of any day for me. I'd also LOVE to be there to help them with their homework and fix them a yummy dinner.

For all those SAHM's out there, know how LUCKY you are. Yes, it's a hard job but it's soooo worthwhile and you'll never regret being able to spend that time with your kids when they're young.

I'm hatching a plan to hopefully be able to make this a reality for me fairly soon and in time to at least be there for William and Luke when they are babies. Wish me luck!

Day 4 of Truth: Something You Have to Forgive Someone For

This is a REAL bummer topic for me. I knew it was coming up and thinking about it last night was very depressing. I don't know that I'm very good at forgiveness, but over the years I've become an expert at burying my feelings of hurt and disappointment. Looking back at my life, there are many things I need to forgive people for but then I think there are probably a lot of things other people need to forgive ME for, so who am I to throw stones?

Therefore, I will gloss over the more serious issues I've had and instead tell you that I need to forgive my neighbor for letting her dog out to bark at 4:30am. For the past several weeks I've woken up to this barking dog at 5:30am and been very irritated by that, but this morning when it was 4:30am I was BEYOND angry. Then my blood pressure went up and I found it hard to get back to sleep even after she let the dog back in the house.

This is the same neighbor I had the conflict with last year regarding her daughter's lack of attention to detail when babysitting. Remember this post? Anyway, I'm trying to figure out if I should say something to her or just let it go. This particular dog is quite old and blind, so I don't think I'll have to put up with it THAT much longer. I'm generally a pacifist so I probably won't say anything. Anyway, I guess I need to forgive her for being so inconsiderate to ALL her neighbors, not just me.

30 Days of Truth: Something You Have To Forgive Yourself For

These topics are getting harder as the days go on and I'm not entirely sure starting this was a good idea, especially looking at Day #19 (stay tuned for that!)

I think the one thing I have to forgive myself for is not being able to spend enough time with my kids. My heart aches every day because I can't be there for them when they get off the school bus or to make dinner for them while they're doing their homework. I know being a stay at home mom would definitely have its ups and downs, but at least at the end of my life I would know I spent my time on earth doing something incredibly worthwhile. Being here at work, I don't feel that way at all. I already regret all the hours spent here, even if they do pay the bills.

30 Days of Truth

Ok, I'm starting a day late for November so I am going to do #1 and #2 today and then pick up with #3 tomorrow. Hopefully I can remember to post every day, but we'll see...

#1 - Something You Hate About Yourself
I don't normally use the word "hate" and have taught my boys not to use it either, but I guess if I could change one thing about myself it would be my competitive/jealous nature. I struggle with it a lot because I miss out on being happy for others when something goes well for them. I am very guilty of trying to "keep up with the Jones'" and that's led to a lot of heartache. I do try to remember that everyone has their own cross to bear and focus, instead, on the many blessings in my life.

#2 - Something You Love About Yourself
First of all, I absolutely love that I'm a mom. So many of my friends have struggled with infertility so I know I'm incredibly blessed to have four healthy boys.

I want to sneak in a 2nd thing I do love about myself: my teeth. They are so strong and straight and they certainly have served me well (perhaps a little too well, at times! ha ha!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We sure did have fun this year! The boys got to wear their costumes for a haunted walk through the woods on Saturday night and then again for trick-or-treating last night. As you can see, they were all zombies, except for Luke who wore Owen's old gorilla costume. Last year we spent Halloween in Michigan and none of the kids were that into the trick-or-treating, but this year they all loved it, especially William. He loved that he got to be something scary, just like his older brothers.

When we got home, Owen took off his Michael Jackson wig right away because it was itchy. William, who up until then had had to wear that silly little blanket as his "hair", was thrilled to take it from him. He immediately laid face down on the floor and did a scary "rising from the grave" routine while singing "Thriller." He slept in the wig and wore it at breakfast this morning, too. He's so funny and entertaining!

I'm trying to avoid the candy but we'll see how long that lasts. I really need to bring it into work, where I'm sure a pack of ravenous wolves (my co-workers) will devour it in no time flat!