It has only been a million years since I blogged anything deep or thought-provoking, and today’s post won’t do anything for the average depth of post {re: shallow}, because what lies below is a compilation of random, completely disconnected snippets to give you a nutshell glimpse, albeit a substantial nutshell, of what’s been going on in our crazy little world over the past month.
So let’s catch up, shall we…
*This winter has been brutal in the health department. When our kids weren’t hacking up a lung or running a low-grade fever, they were going through tissues like Elizabeth Taylor goes through husbands.
Miss Bean attended her second Daddy Daughter dance with my daddy, her beloved papa, when the initial event got snowed out and was rescheduled for a night that her daddy couldn’t make it. So they got all dressed up and went twirling in the living room that night instead. I melted.
She is growing up quickly, my friends. Those horrible, little old ladies in the grocery stores weren’t lying to us after all. The time does fly {once they’re out of toddlerdom, that is. Until then…it literally creeeeeeeeps, people}.
* I totally bombed my attempt to read through the entire bible this year – yes, I know…already – by falling off the bandwagon somewhere in Leviticus. Pretty pathetic indeed. I’ve been failing at this endeavor for 16 years now. Good thing He loves me so much {in spite of my consistent bible ‘school’ drop-out status). I stumble my way through detailed sacrifice instructions, temple dimensions and bizarre lineages…only to find myself hankering for the New Testament, and for the God I feel is so different from the one presented in the first several books of the Old Testament. But I’m going to push through, because once I hit ‘Ruth’, I’m good to go!
* I have, on the other hand, successfully managed to stay away from refined sugar for the past 10+ weeks. Whoot whoot. Even in the face of buffet tables laden with cheesecake, brownies and cupcakes, I embraced the notion that it wasn’t that ‘I couldn’t indulge’…it was simply that I was ‘choosing not to’. I’m still shooting for an entire year without {refined} sugar, and intend to make a lifestyle out of it. I have, while navigating this new territory, discovered some fabulous natural sweeteners like date sugar, brown rice syrup and barley malt {which are all fabulous on oatmeal, by the way}, and am eager to try coconut sugar.
* I’ve been speaking more and more and am loving.every.single.minute of it. From speaking to moms about adding spice to their marriage, to talking to a small Catholic group about being receptive to change, I’ve come away each time with a louder declaration in my heart that “I was made for this!”. In May I’ll be speaking twice in Midland, both times alongside my sweet momma. This is totally new for us. While we’ve spoken at conferences together, we’ve always had our own sessions, so sharing the mic in a short 45 minute gap is going to be an adventure.
* It just so happens the very week I was flown to Texas to speak at a women’s conference at the end of last month {where I got to hang out with ridiculously fabulous gals for 5 days}, my hubby was flown to Arizona for drug training. In spite of my 3 hour layover in Phoenix and my giddy excitement over the possibility of having a hot date at the airport, my husband – who was a mere 15 miles away – couldn’t make it. He said something about methamphetamines, cocaine and jail.
I’ll write more about the conference as soon as I get my hands on some photos and video footage, but in the mean time, know this: my heart was filled, spilled & thrilled. I was spoiled rotten, made some dynamite connections, and got the teensiest tiniest glimmer of a tan in the Texan sun. I confirmed a lifelong hunch that black people really know how to worship. Like woah. And I was also nearly killed by an encounter of the bootcamp variety. My triceps have yet to recover.
While in San Antonio, I had the honor of meeting face-to-face a few clients that I have designed for over the past few years. One precious soul went to be with Jesus just one week later and I am endlessly grateful for the opportunity to have wrapped my arms around her and to have kissed her cheek while still graced with her presence on this earth.
* Speaking of design, I have been working my heine off in an attempt to catch up the projects that were laid aside during my trip, and the preparation leading up to it, and have realized anew just how blessed I am to be a ‘pajama professional’. These little lambs are indeed growing up fast, and I love being home with them.
* I signed up for the Color Run. I am both thrilled and terrified. I prefer to not run unless something is chasing me, but when you throw in a bunch of colored powder and friends, it’s a game changer. Pray for my ankles. They don’t like me. It would seem that along with giving up sugar at the beginning of the year, I gave up working out. Unintentionally. I’m hoping Spring re-inspires me to move faster than a sloth.
* After several years of courting Blogger, I am flirting with WordPress. While blogging looks very different for me than it did a few years ago {when I was spending far too much time, energy & emotion trying to keep up with what writing a good blog was ‘supposed’ to look like}, I’m still excited about what this change in platform will mean as far as streamlining my passions.
* With the craziness of life over the past month, I have been freshly thankful for having my parents living on the same property as us. They have been a tremendous source of consistency and security to our kidlets in the midst of our comings and goings and the thought of them one day leaving makes me so very sad. Even though it means I’ll gain a formal office & craft space, and most likely a workout room, it also means we shall eat eggs and toast 5 nights of the week. I have discovered that when life gets busy, and my hubby is working (which is most nights), the idea of cooking for the littles and myself, and occasionally my parents, seems little more than a necessary evil. Go ahead, gasp. Ya’ll thought I loved cooking. And I sort of do. But I dream of the day when my hubby will be on the same schedule as the rest of non-nocturnal humanity so we can cook together {because everybody know that all good things start in the kitchen}.
* We finally finished Bean’s loft bed this past week. We built it for her when she turned 5, last July, and were so over the project by the time it was assembled that we decided we needed a breather before we took on sanding and painting it. A seven month breather. This big project is completed and we’re thrilled with how it turned out! When Bug turns 5, however, he is not – and I repeat NOT – getting a loft bed for his birthday.
With the loft wrapped up, plans are moving forward for the construction of a king bed frame for our bedroom. Our mattress has been on the floor since we moved from a queen to a king last year. And after that…the chicken coop! I have discovered during this last construction project that I’m a lazy DIYer. Sad, but true. I have decided that if I can’t spray paint it, I don’t want to do it. This could be, in part, due to the fact that my eyes are partially burned out of my skull every time I walk down my hallway because of the heinous shade of yellow I spontaneously decided to slap on the walls last month. I physically ache to change the color, but the idea of painting it again makes me want to eat glass. So the burning shall continue until some kind soul decides to paint it for me.
* This past weekend we said a different kind of farewell to another amazing woman. One of my best friends is moving, with her hubby and 3 little girls, to south Asia for 2+ years. She has been a solid rock and a sweet balm to my momma heart since meeting her almost 5 years ago and it hasn’t quite hit me that she’s gone. I’m beyond thankful for modern technology which will enable us to stay connected, but I’m also painfully aware of the fact that 2 years is a long, long time when separated from someone who feels as close to your heart as your lungs. Our trio is temporarily down to two. But God has been so faithful to surround me with incredible women who influence my life and bless my heart on a near-daily basis, so I shall survive!
* As the Spring bug continues to nip at my toes, and the promise of warmer weather teases me senseless, the dreaming and planning of our summer excursions has begun. There shall be much camping! My hubs and I also celebrate our 10th anniversary this Fall so we’re trying to wrangle finances and dates to make it all happen. I’m holding to the fact that he owes me a cruise for surviving police academy 4 years ago, and its fast gaining interest.
* Our funky Bug got his frenulum snipped yesterday. Despite being a rockstar in the nursing department as a baby, he was distinctly tongue-tied and it has become more evident as his speech has developed. And is still unintelligible to most. The doctor was right, it has taken me longer to recover than him. That was a lot of blood for such a thin membrane, and I felt positively nauseas as I daubed his mouth for the 5 minutes after the snip. Much to his delight, even more ridiculous faces can be pulled with his newfound tongue freedom. Ice cream was a no-brainer in celebration.
And that, my friends, is all I can think of. Do your eyeballs still work?
Over and out.
