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purplecrayons96
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Name: Elizabeth
Gender: Female
Interests: My husband interests me... My God occupies my thoughts... and my kids keep me running and smiling... and yes, sometimes pulling my hair out, but it always grows back. I love scrapbooking and reading books upon books.
Expertise: making my husband roll his eyes and shake his head, and always smiling.
Occupation: Mother
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Member Since:
1/19/2006
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| Okay, I just typed a whole huge whiney rant and then I deleted the whole thing. Just know that I am really frustrated right now. It is so difficult when you feel yourself being pulled 20 different ways by family, kids, friends that need you, ministry commitments, chores, work, you take your pick and everyone wants a piece of me lately. I reached a breaking point last night in one of the relationships... I am frustrated and angry and just want to scream. My family has to come first and a lazy Saturday at home when we have not had that in a month and likely won't get it for another month just has to be taken when the opportunity presents itself. I can not sacrifice the long-term peace of my family for a short-term bit of fun for me. My time will come in a few years but right now I do not always get the Me Time that I would like be that alone or with my friends/family minus the kids. So... I am off to take my kid to the grocery store now so that I can have some connecting time with her and then she and I are going to cook dinner together like I promised her. Talk to you later.
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| I am just in a very happy place right now. We have been watching God work in ways that are amazing. Watching Him at work in the lives of others is so powerful that it shoves the money worries and stuff aside for me. Maybe that is what I have needed lately but I feel so refreshed and so in love with my God from this past week that it just makes me want to... I don't know... well, giggle actually! I am giddy and I love that feeling!
I did something new last week, I made up a grocery list for almost two weeks worth of groceries. I organized my list into different departments at the grocery store so it was organized and then Aaron the kids and I spent 2 hours and $200 at the store stocking up. In addition to that I printed out the daily menu with what we were going to have and posted it on the refrigerator. I have never enjoyed the part of cooking that includes coming up with what we are going to eat but it was definitely getting to be a problem where we were going to the store every day or two. We were wasting more money that way. The list on the fridge solves so many problems. I know what I need to start early in the day, the kids don't ask me what is for dinner anymore and try to change my mind on what we are having. In fact they come and tell me what we are having for dinner and the one day I differentiated from it I got in trouble with them. (We were supposed to have Jello but I didn't make it early enough in the day!) It also helps that I can see what we are having two weeks out and what we had two weeks before so we are not repeating the same meals as much.
Another thing with this we are doing is that first off I am working on trying a brand new reicpe every 2-4 weeks. Something we have never done and that will be a stretch for me. I know the kids will at first not eat as much on those nights but I have talked with them about how we eat a lot of what they like so every once in a while they can eat what Daddy and I like. I just make sure to serve a fruit AND a vegetable, AND a starch with it so that they have something that will fill them up if they don't like what is out there. It worked this week with Green Chile Pork Roast and we will see if it works next time when Honey Chicken Stir Fry is on the list. They should eat the meat well with that one and also the rice and egg rolls we will have with it.
The last thing that we are doing different is that Abby will be making at least one meal a month with this. She will get to choose the entire meal, main dish, sides, dessert and her and I will spend the day working on making it together. I am excited for her to start learning some cooking skills and meal-planning skills. I told her we will do it for a few months and then I will buy her one of those write-in cookbooks and we can start filling in her favorite recipes into it so that she will have them when she get's married. When I was telling her about it she seemed like she might enjoy it but then that afternoon while I was taking a nap she came up to my room, woke me up, and told me, "Mom! I know what I want to make for my first meal! I know you are asleep so I will wait til you're awake and then I will tell you but I wanted you to know I know what I want!" She was so excited it was cute, even worth being woken up for.
I am working hard on staying on task in the house and making sure things are kept up. It is not an easy task and I get exhausted by the end of the night from the sheer physicalness involved but I am so very grateful for how much easier it is then it was just 5 years ago. The kids are helping out so much more and that is a blessing to me now. There is a big difference with 3 of them being out of the house for much of the day too. On Monday mornings I realize how much a family of 6 can produce when we have all been home all weekend.
Anyway, that is kind of what I have been focused on this week, I am excited about the changes and that they seem to be sticking for now. Talk to you all later, have a great week!
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| Man, it is cold here... I don't know what I was thinking but I guess I had not really paid much attention to the forecast as far as temperatures for today, instead being focused on the chance of snow that will surely not amount to anything more then a half an inch even though I am desperate for a good 6-8 inch snowstorm. I know, you probably think I am crazy but what is the point of bitter cold if you don't have the snow to accompany it?? I miss the snow we got when I was little and right around the time Aaron and I were married we had some good snowstorms in there too. It seems we are in a lull again... sigh... anyway, all this to say I had not paid any attention to the temperatures and had I done that I would have parked the van in the garage last night. It is a good van, we have owned it almost 8 years and it is reliable and sturdy. It seems to love our children and takes well the abuse they put it through. It reminds me of a good dog in all honesty. Don't ask because I could not explain it even if I wanted to, but it does. Anyway I guess my old van is starting to show it's age because when I started it this morning outside in the 11 degree morning it started up fine but could not keep it up. It sputtered and shook and dimmed it's lights the whole way to school, it died as we backed out of the driveway, at the stop sign before school, and as we were pulling into the school parking lot. Thank goodness all the places it petered out were good stopping places but still.... I felt sorry for the old guy. I think I have learned my lesson, it needs a warm bed at night now... no more bitter nights at the top of the driveway. It did worry the kids though, especially the first time it happened. Calvin goes, "Mom, what does this mean?" and Abby in a very dramatic voice responds, "We're late Calvin, it means we are going to be LATE! That's what it means!" When I called Aaron and told him of this conversation he was laughing so hard at work that he made me laugh too. It's just so funny because a lot of times she will say something and it will sound just like him, most of the time actually and I really enjoy pointing that fact out to him... well... this one was all me. I hate being late and that is just the response I would have had too. Oh they are too funny! Have no fear though, once the engine warmed up it quit it's sputtering and was just fine the rest of the way home. It is now resting comfortably in the garage until we have to make our way out again in a few hours. Yahoo!
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| My brain has been so busy lately, just too many thoughts running into each other that if you stood in the middle of it it would be something akin to the scene in Toy Story 2 where all the toys are running down the street with orange cones over them and all of a sudden they all stop and cars all around them crash into them making a big circular wreck but they are safe in the middle. See, you would eventually be safe in my brain but it would be a lot of noise and confusion and probably not a place you would want to visit again. There has just too much to think about lately.
Last week I got an e-mail asking for some samples of my writing for some curriculum writing. I decided to try my hand at it and was making progress, however I needed to redo some things and send it back in later. I told her I would send it in by Monday morning in order to give myself a deadline... forgetting that the children were off of school on Monday. We also had a crazy weekend this weekend with some friends of ours... I got a phone call on Friday afternoon that just turned my stomach upside-down and we have been trying to help them through this crisis so all that to say that none of my work got done. Not a great start and not something I am proud of. I am waiting for the opportunity to be able to put the kids to bed in an hour and devote the rest of the evening to it... probably into tomorrow even! :) But, I am excited and I have an idea about where I want to go with it so that is a plus. AND who knows how much this experience will help in some ideas that me and a few others have on something we want to see brought to life. Isn't it amazing when you can watch the beginning of God working and how the excitement of the potential is just invigorating??
I have been thinking a lot about a lot of things lately... like the inauguration... this whole thing is annoying me. I mean, no, I don't agree with all he stands for, but do I agree with all that President Bush stands for either? No, he passed some huge things while in office that I am hugely against in education and in personal freedom's. I like a lot of things he did but there are some things that I am adamantly against too. All that to say that no one who is in office is going to lead our country and do things exactly like I want them to. Same for you, same for your neighbor, etc. etc. I don't know how he is going to lead, there are things I want preserved and there are things that I DO hope he changes but the fact of the matter is that God has placed this man as head over our country. God chose who our leader is, He knows who would win and more then that He knows the WHY. I guess it bother's me that there is a disrespect of the office of the President that I see out there... on both sides... for many years. We still need to respect the position of the President and acknowledge that he is the leader God has brought forth for us at this time. So, enough of that soap box.
My other thing is that we had our annual congregational meeting on Sunday. Now I admit I have not been in on the sermons lately because I have been with the kids so I preface this with the fact that I know our Pastor has touched on this some lately but I don't know to what extent. Yes Scott, I need to listen to the sermons on-line. :) But basically one of the things that our church is gearing up and working toward this year is evangelism and growing the church. Not necessarily OUR church although believe me I would like to see that happen, but THE church, Christ's church in the world. Pastor has challenged us to be forming personal relationships in order to cultivate this. I am all for it, I completely agree that the number one way to reach others is through personal relationships and being there for people when they need help. We have been in the trenches with that this weekend and I know others that have been cultivating these relationships for a few years too. It is a time process one that we can't rush...
I wonder though, as a church as a whole, not just the church I darken the doors of but like I said earlier, Christ's church... are we willing to do what it takes to bring these people in and be there for them? There is going to be messiness in our churches when we reach into the mess to pull people out. We are going to be sharing pews and Sunday School classes with people who are going to stretch our comfort zone. Are we going to cringe and squirm when the woman next to us falls asleep in SS and is literally snoring? Are we going to move an extra seat over because this man that came in with a friend smells heavily like smoke? Are we going to tell them what they did wrong when they take the step and open up to us about the broken marriage ending in divorce? Or are we going sit there in class listening and participating in our lesson like nothing was different from every other week and then shake the sleepy participant's hand, look her in the eye with a genuine smile and tell her we are glad she came? Are we going to push our chair closer to the man who smells like cigarettes and share our Bible with him so he is not lost without having one? Would we even be willing to give up our Bible to someone who doesn't have one and tell them it's all good, I was ready for a new one anyway? Would you? Would you give the Bible away that you bring with you to church on Sunday to a stranger? When our friend opens up about the divorce they went through are we going to put our arm around them as they tell their story and tell them that it doesn't matter what mistakes they made that Christ covers them all... that Christ can forget them? Can we forget these sins as Christ has? That is what I wonder... in the book I read a while back by Angela Hunt one of the characters says repeatedly, "Why are we surprised when sinner's sin?" Are we willing to share our pew, our fellowship time, our coffee, our Sunday School class, our children with their children? Are we willing to go there? Are we going to be the hands and feet of Christ? Relationships are an awesome way to start but we have to be able to bring them in on Sunday morning with the knowledge that Christ accepts them as they are and where they are and we need to be able to do so too. I know that will be a struggle at times for me and I have no doubt others around me will struggle with the same things but Christ is bigger then us as individuals and he can work through our faults as long as we are working on them with him.
Anyway, that is the bulk of what has been on my mind lately I guess. I did not mean to get so soap-boxy but hey sometimes the soap box just beckons and what can we do aside from answer? :) I am going to try to get my work done now, I just had to break up a bully session among my four kids in the middle of writing this so they are all headed to bed early now as a result. Some things I am not willing to put up with. Especially when I have been home with them all day and Daddy came home, had dinner and left for a board meeting. Only 45 minutes with Daddy in one day can wear a woman down to a near breaking point! I think the best medicine is bed for everyone so that no one gets their head bit off! :)
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| So each line will start with a new letter of the alphabet, maybe I have been working with pre-schooler's too long but I needed something to get my brain thinking today, let's see if it makes any sense? Ready? Let's go!
Aaron and I started the Financial Peace University class on Sunday Night
Budget making is our homework for this week, we have not done it yet... 5 days still to go though!
Come together and agree is what we are working on, no fighting allowed, that is what Dave Ramsey said.
Dave Ramsey said we will have plenty to argue over down the road so not to let this be one that we argue about!
Entertainment is a budgeted category... we have not used an entertainment category in ages!
Four kids, that is our entertainment! They are entertaining that is for sure!
God has really blessed us this last month and a half.
His blessings were abundant during December and we are better off at the end of December then we were at the end of November. That is uncommon I think!
I am grateful for his hand on our finances lately even if the plan that I want to form is not forming in reality.
Jello was our dessert last night at dinner. I love hearing kids "slurp" Jello... it's is the epitome of childhood eating sounds.
Kitchen clean-up was done by Aaron last night while I cut Max's hair and gave him a bath.
Lo and behold the TV was not turned on at all last night between dinner and bedtime for the kids!
Memoir 44 is a new game Aaron has and he sat down to play with Calvin and Gid while I played Blokus with Max and Abs.
Now we know that Memoir 44 takes close to an hour to set up and re-familiarize the rules with.
One move each is all they got to do last night.
Pictures were taken to document the board before it had to be put back away since it was bedtime.
Quitting the game did not go over well with the boy's... they desperately wanted to play with their Daddy.
Realizing how quickly this time in their lives goes by, it was hard for Aaron to make them quit too!
Someone else got the library assistant's job that I applied for last week. I think I was too late.
Trust in God... Trust in God... Trust in God... those words are easy to say but hard to swallow when it was something you really wanted.
Under most circumstances I would have let it roll off my back but with thinking in budget terms this week I cried myself to sleep for a nap after finding out.
Very sweetly my husband sent me an e-card and sent me out for "me time" while he put the kids to bed.
What does "me time" entail? A Fudge Brownie Waffle-Bowl Sundae with Strawberries added and a trip to the grocery store with no tag-alongs.
X-rays are getting expensive (what do you expect here??)
You are almost to the end of this
Zany post, aren't you glad?!?!
There, that is a picture of my day yesterday in a fun way. Today is better, bitter cold and I don't want to leave from under my covers but for a much different reason then yesterday. Today it's because that is the warmest place in the house and it just is comfy. Yesterday it was because I didn't want to face the world. I told Aaron, I need one pouty day and some chocolate and then I will be fine tomorrow. That medicine proved to be true. He was tender and sweet to me. He is patient with my tantrums when they come few and far between unlike earlier in our marriage when I still had some growing up to do. I learned quickly that they do not get the attention I desired with them they just closed him off and he ignored them. Now most of the time I just hang on him and tell him I need attention and warn him if I don't get it I am going to start to whine. The whole time I am saying this I am usually whining... which makes him grin and I get my attention which I want and I quit whining which is what he wants. Sometimes though I just want to sit in the living room and not think about anything all by myself. That is difficult though because as we all know, women's brain's don't NOT think about anything... Men somehow can do that. While I would never want the responsibility of a man there are some things I do envy a bit about them. #1 the ability to not think about something and just have a blank slate... wow! #2 the ability to sleep through a crying baby... how? How do they sleep through wimpering let alone all out red-faced balled up screaming? #3 the ability to look at the bottom line un-emotionally... some things are just harder for me to give up for the sake of saving a little money like Christmas presents or birthday presents for to take to a birthday party the kids have been invited to. #4 I admit it freely, the ability to pee standing up. I tried this when I was 7... I realized then that boy's and girl's are not equal. Things get messy when we try to make boy's and girl's equal at all things, the Lysol bottle is witness to this fact. Celebrate and embrace our differences while using those to be the people God created us to be. All that said, just once, I would like to pee outside on a tree without the difficulty of being a girl that surrounds that. #5 the ability to take things apart and put them back together the same way. Maybe not all guys can do this but a LOT of them can. I always have left-over pieces but boy, I have fun talking to the people around me while taking it apart!
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