I Dare To Wear

Mama Belle is hosting a little fashion challenge over at her place. She is daring us to wear that one thing that takes us out of our comfort zone. Well, I'm always up for a fashion challenge. Fashion challenge is my middle name. In fact, I was such an over achiever that I went a day early. (Either that or I'm breaking the rules.)


I went for it. I wore my new high waisted skirt to church. It was scary but I did it and I came out alive. High waisted skirts are all over Hollywood but they haven't quite made it to the rural Midwest yet. Well actually, they have been around here for a long time but they go by another name. High waisted skirts are closely related to the "mom jean". I guess that would technically make it a "mom skirt".

Mom jeans and mullets. I'm trying to bring it all back.

I'm Thankful That I'm Royalty

Yes, it's official. I have a crown.

After a bit of a delay, I finally got a real, white, pretty, eye tooth. Or as I like to call it, my iTooth. It ended up being quite the experience. The first appointment was a slam dunk. Everything went well and she put a temporary on and sent me on my way with instructions to carry toothpaste in my pocket in case it came off. Very reassuring. The second appointment didn't go so well. The tooth came back from the lab and she wasn't happy with how it looked, with the shape of it. I laid there in the chair as she put it in place and I watched her and the assistant exchange a curious but knowing look. I knew right away something was wrong. She didn't end up using it because, in her words, "it looked like a snaggletooth." Snaggletooth is not the look I am going for here. So she put the temporary back on and told the lab they needed to try again.

I cried. Because I'm mature like that. But I waited until I got home to cry, crying at the dentist's office is reserved for novocaine needles but even then it's just silent tears that escape the corners of your eyes against your will. So I had two more weeks with a temporary. Then on Monday I went in for my coronation. No novocaine was needed. She popped that baby in and did a little tweaking. Mostly painless. She did mess with my gums a lot and after doing so she made the most interesting comment. "Your tissues are going to be upset." All I could picture was being chased down by an angry box of Kleenex.

So number one on my Thankful list this year is a very superficial, very cosmetic, "I'm thankful for my smile." Since I was 14 years old I've dealt with an iTooth that didn't fit with the rest of my teeth. Now it finally does.

I have all of the typical things to be Thankful for. All the things I take for granted on regular old days. God forgive me for being so dismissive of huge blessings in my life.

My kids haven't gotten the thankfulness memo yet. Not ten minutes into Thanksgiving Eve and they were at each other's throats. There is no school today and it is very, very clear that they are not at all thankful for each other's presence. Or for the selection of cereal. Or for one t.v. to be shared by all. Looks like a crash course in Thankfulness is on the agenda for the day. Thankfulness boot camp.

It will involve cleaning for sure.

We Put Ketchup On Our Ketchup

Ketchup runs through our veins, not blood. It's genetic. I submit exhibit A. My Dad. Ketchuping his eggs while wearing the very appropriate shirt I bought him for Father's Day.

Nate's condiment of choice is Cookies Bar "B" "Q" sauce. No other barbecue sauce counts. Pity the wife who tries to buy a different brand.

So if a little is a good thing, then more must be awesome.

There is no such thing as "too much condiment".


.

Shattered Expectations

Nate really had his heart set on trying the new Gourmet Mushroom Swissburger from a certain fast food chain.




False advertising?

I Hope This Doesn't Mean She Has Been Feeding Him Worms

This morning, an ever chipper and enthusiastic Gemma told me, with many exclamation marks, that: "Mom! Mom! I like Toby! and Lizzy! (grandma's dog) and Randall! and all our pets!"

Two things:

1. Randall the salamander is our only pet...that I am aware of.
   
2. Toby is her little brother.
   

But whatever.

Quick, Before Someone Puts Something Down

For Posterity's Sake

It's no secret that I tend to be a little...cluttery. Every flat surface in this house is fair game and everyone, myself included, puts things down where it is most convenient, not where the item necessarily belongs. Yesterday something came over me, I'm not sure what, but I got on a roll and tackled my kitchen counter. You know that I don't mean I literally tackled it don't you? That would be an interesting battle. And an unevenly matched battle, me being inferior.

Let me just give you a cross sampling of the various things I found on the kitchen counter. Keep that in mind, this was the kitchen counter.

• A VHS tape
• A tree!! Similar to the ones they give the kids at school on arbor day.
• A flashlight
• 16 Magnetix balls
• hydrocortisone cream, Desitin, and three tubes of carmex
• tattoo sleeves
• all the hardware for a wardrobe that still isn't assembled

Do I need to keep going? Because I can. For a long, long time.

It took me over four hours to clean that much counter space. FOUR HOURS PEOPLE! That is just not right. Notice I didn't post a picture of the before. It was just to shocking, too horrific. I'm really hoping that now that it is cleared off, it will last for more than just a couple hours or even a couple days. This must be apalling to those of you who manage to keep you counters this organzized all of the time. I have these two things to say to you:

1. You must be an alien.
2. You don't live with my family.

It's not me. I swear. I am not the cuplrit here. I have nothing to do with it. If I had no children or husband, my house would be eternally spotless and all counters sparkling at all times.

I'm gonna just keep telling myself that.

Breathing. It's A Good Thing To Be Able To Do Well

Whew!

What day is it? Wednesday?

I have spent the last four days at the hospital with Noelle. Bronchitis gone bad, really bad. She had been fighting a cough for few weeks. On Sunday morning she was struggling to get a deep breath at all, her breathing was rapid and shallow so I took her in to the ER. I didn't expect that they would keep her there until today. We are home now and she is doing much better.

Bless her sweet, sweet heart.

What Not To Wear Would Say No.

(Disclaimer: this post is not for men. Or for the faint of heart. I'm just warning you.)

It has turned cold. Suddenly.

Earlier this week I ran in capris but for this morning's run I pulled out all of the cold weather clothes. The temperature was right at freezing, 32 degrees, so I wore running tights, a long sleeved shirt, a vest, a hat, and gloves. The tights are something new for me. In the past we have gone inside to the treadmill at the first sign of cold weather but this year we are tough. This year Kelsey and I have decided to stay out as long as possible until there is ice on the ground ready to slip us up or the threat of frostbite. Thus the tights. And they live up to their name. They are tiiiiight. But we run in the morning, in the dark and no one is ever around to be traumatized by my tights.

This morning we ran 8 miles. It was beautiful out on the trail. We were pretty much the only ones out there, the snow was falling softly and all was silent except for our constant stream of conversation. The trees have all shed their leaves now and the fields were dusted with a sprinkling of white powder. Serene.

We finished up at our cars and stood and stretched for a bit. It was still fairly early but light out. We parted ways and I jumped in my car and started it up, trying to get warm. I pulled out of the parking lot and was about to make a right to head home when I remembered that I needed a few things at the grocery store. I went left instead. I was feeling pretty good about how much I was going to accomplish before 9 am, a good run, getting the fridge stocked back up, yay! I grabbed my purse off of the passenger seat and headed in to the store. It was as I came up to the door that I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection and abruptly remembered. I was wearing tights. Tight tights.

It was too late, I was past the point of no return. I have never been so self conscience while grocery shopping in my whole life. I was aware of every step I took and where every other customer was in relation to my backside. I strategically maneuvered my way to the broccoli, to the Mayo, to the pasta. I spent as little time as possible at the meat counter, feeling very aware of the rump roast staring at me from the other side of the glass. It seemed that there were a lot more teenage boys working this Saturday morning shift than usual. As I bent over into the freezer case and reached for a bag of mixed veggies, I closed my eyes and sent up a prayer beseeching God to strike all shoppers in aisle six with temporary blindness for just a few seconds. I paid quickly and me and my panty lines exited the store as fast as humanly possible. It was the fastest grocery shopping I have ever done.

A sprint.

Records were broken.

I am a much humbler person than I was just hours ago.

I Surprised Her Real Good

For a couple weeks Nate and I were keeping a secret, we had plane tickets to the East side of the country. We had hopes of surprising Nate's sister Ann and her husband Eric. They moved out there last year and had resigned themselves to the fact that it was just too far away for us to drag the whole crew out for a visit. Driving would take us weeks at the pace we travel, with bathroom breaks every five miles. Can you imagine how angry the people behind us in the security line at the airport would be if we flew out there with the whole crew? Taking off four hundred pairs of shoes and jamming up the x-ray machine with all of our carry-ons? What a nightmare.

But what if somehow, someway, just Nate and I could sneak away for a couple days? They would never see that one coming. My parents were more than willing to take the kids so that we could complete this mission of secrecy. Nate's parents were in on the plan, they were out there visiting Ann and Eric themselves and quickly came up with a great story that would allow them to sneak away and pick us up at the airport.

Saturday morning, the plan commenced. We boarded a plane and began our kidless journey. We were both giddy with anticipation, and also with copious amounts of Starbucks purchased along the way. Send me on any kind of a trip and I will order a venti caramel macchiato at every Starbucks I see. Nate's parents picked us up right on time and the four of us giggled practically all the way back to the house. About a block away they dropped us off and they went ahead without us. We waited a few minutes and then walked right up the sidewalk and rang the door bell. Here is what took place next.

It was awesome.

(Her perspective of the whole thing is here.)