Saturday, February 18, 2012

Medicine cabinets and turning 40

Decluttering continues


One area crossed off the declutter list (DL) last weekend was our medicine cabinet.  This is one of THE smallest cabinets in our house and it had it's own spot on our DL.  Our medicine cabinet was pretty ugly!  It's a small cabinet in our kitchen (next to the stove).  It had morphed and grown into taking space in the cabinet above the stove as well.  Now with 6 kids I could easily argue that we should have lots of items in this cabinet.  But truly, we are just a Tylenol and Advil family (well, maybe mom likes something a little stronger now and then--more on that below in the 'I'm 40, now what?' section).  The winner of the oldest item that was thrown away was a container of Vicks Vaporub that expired in June 1998!  That means that little bottle has moved with us EVERY time we have moved!  Ridiculous!  We had 2 grocery bags full of trash from this small cabinet clean out.

This is the done pic.  I forgot to take a before pic.  But seriously, how much crap could we shove in this small cabinet?  A lot!

40?

Okay, so I turned 40 last week.  Bleh.
I had some wonderful lunches, suppers and Girl's Nights Out too!  I am so blessed to have these people in my life!   
I got some awesome gifts from my family and friends.  
I know these two pics are sideways (I cannot for the life of me get them to flip--ARGH!), but I wanted to show you part of the AWESOME scrapbook my mom and Brynna did for me.  The top pic shows me as a baby and the bottom pic is a funny page they called 'name that baby'.  It's my kids (Brian's too) and you have to figure out which baby is which. I struggled with it!  I guess our kids all look a little bit alike!





You are probably wondering why I would think a ceiling fan was a good gift for my 40th birthday.  Well, we have had said ceiling fan for over 2 years and it was finally installed on my 40th birthday!  I was thrilled! (seriously, I was!)

And this tree picture (I actually got 2) is now hanging in our rec room!  I had told Brian I wanted these a while back at Kohl's (I love trees) and he remembered and got them for me!  I thought he was getting me a blender! (I would have liked that too!)

But I have entered a new decade. Now what?  Well, I already know that aches and pains are more prevalent.  I have been battling a bum shoulder for almost 2 years.  I suppose lugging babies around for the last 17 years will take a toll on a gal's body.  :)   This is where the medicine cabinet comes in!  Mom is allowed to take something a little stronger on bad shoulder days!  Gray hair has been my friend for about 8 years.  I don't think I am ready to let it grow out and have a totally gray head yet.  So for now, Nice N' Easy will remain my friend.  And I wish I had the body of me at 20 back.  I'm not really a vain person, but I would love for my boobs to be back where they started!

I wish I could say 40 years has brought me some great words of wisdom.  Mostly I can just say that laughter is a must.  Tears still happen. Life can be hard. But perspective is most important.  You can determine how your days will be spent.  Will you choose to see the blessings?  I try to each day.  I have a wonderful husband who supports my decision to be at home with our babies.  I have an awesome mom that adores her grandchildren and is intentional about spending quality time with them.  I am able to school my kids at home and choose the religion I want.  I have wonderful friends (old and new).  

What are your blessings?  
Life is short.  
Take the time to count them.


Sunday, February 12, 2012

Don't Piss Me Off....when playing Canasta!

Ella and I were playing a mean game of Canasta yesterday afternoon.  She was not winning a particular hand and looked at me with a very straight face and said 'Are you trying to piss me off?'  It took my mom brain a few seconds to process what she had said and then I asked for clarification to make sure that I had heard her correctly.  And she ever so politely repeated what she said the first time, and then asked what was wrong with saying that.   Insert huge laugh from mom.  So I know laughing was not the appropriate response.  But I could not help it.  Brian was laying on the floor next to us and he looked up and told her that it's not the worst thing she could say, but the word choice was not the best and to not say it again.  Why does he always have to have the 'right' parental response.  Insert mommy sigh.  Probably because he works with adults all day long and can have adult conversations.  I am with the kiddos all day and sometimes just need the comic relief!  I am glad that I have my kids to supply it!



This little sweet pea turned 9 months old on Friday! 
She melts her mama's heart everyday.


More blogging this week on the decluttering efforts.  Got 2 more areas done and off our list!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Laminators and Omelettes

I have a new best friend!  It's The Laminater...



Tonight I used it to laminate several copies of the book of James for my women's Bible study group.  Yes, I laminated 10 copies of the whole book of James.  We are going to try and memorize this as part of our current Bible study.  Pray for us please!

Who knows what else I will find to laminate!  :)

In other exciting news...
Our kids LOVE omelettes!  They especially love their dad's omelettes.  He let's them special order the toppings they want on them.  They often are begging for seconds before everyone has even received their first one!

Here is Carly demonstrating the cheesiness factor of her favorite cheese omelette.  Yes, the cheese is stretching that far!  This girl loves cheese!


Here is my omelette.  I prefer the cheese and onion omelette with extra onions!  Yes, I love onions!  Does anyone have a  breath mint?


Graysen loves omelettes as well, but on this particular morning he was more intrigued about dipping his toast in his apple juice.  Don't ask!


I will leave you on this fine morning (it is 12:17 am) with a heart-warming pic.  My mom is staying with us for a few days.  She loves cuddling with her grandbabies!

(grandma and baby Nora)

Have a great week!