Girlfriends spell relief!

Ahhhhhh.


Time with the Lord & with my prayer/Bible study group felt soooooo good today! I have not been spending time with God lately & I'm feelin' it - as evidenced by my past week & yesterday's post.

(yeah, I'm a quick one I am.)

I knew this morning that even though we got up late, I needed to get my fanny to church & meet with my group. The sermon was great, as it always is, Pastor Dan is a wonderful Pastor but I could just feel God pushing me to get with the girls, share my heart with them & pray, pray, pray. I am so thankful to have this group of women. Gals I can laugh with, cry with & spill my guts to (in total confidence they will keep all my deep dark secrets) are worth more than their weight, I can tell ya.

I came home from church with a spring in my step, thanks to God & the knowledge that my gals will be uplifting me whenever God brings me to mind.

Unfortunately, my euphoria did not last long. Chris had me sit with him while he checked the grocery sales online & I was attacked with separation anxiety over my former task. As I'm sure you understand, his brain does not work the way mine does & as a result he was not doing it the 'right' way. I almost got a knot in my poor lil tummy watching the train wreck in progress...

Ok so it really wasn't that bad, he's doing fine, but there's a learning curve to finding the best deal & a lot of the household shopping savvy resides in my head, not his. I wanted to give him a list of what is typically better priced at which store but he prefers to figure it out himself. I understand because he'll understand it better that way but I did have to go into the other room for a minute so I could mutter about all my hours of work figuring this out for nothing...no drama here, nope none at all! (Where does my daughter get that trait? Hmmm...)

Things have been better with the kids today too. I expected to loose my mind during the sermon this morning - the kids are not very good at sitting through the whole thing & there's lots of whining & whispered fighting that gets significantly slightly louder as the time progresses. But I kept my cool & wasn't even very irritated with them. We played a bit when we got home & I had snuggle time with a couple of them so that was good as well.

One of my gal-pals gave me a good idea for a after school/work routine for us - reading (um doy) which is one of my favorite pastimes. Well, more accurately reading my books is one of my favorite pastimes - whenever I start reading one of their books I begin yawning within 2 pages, weather or not I actually like the book & I want to stop immediately. But I think I have discovered some books that will work well for us - I began reading Mrs. Pigglewiggle's farm to them recently & we all love it! Books like Ramona, Pippi Longstocking, Mrs. Pigglewiggle & the like I can get into. They have a story I actually enjoy & the kids are old enough now that it captures their attention too - bonus!! I'll let you know how it goes, although I want to read an installment this evening I think I'll wait until tomorrow & start the week out right.

Happy Monday y'all!!

Who?

I found this over on My Little Corner of the World, who got it from Diary of a Stay at Home Mom & I thought I'd join in the fun.

1. Who is your man? My fabulous hubby Chris that I love sooooooo much.
2. How long have you been together? We met almost 11 years ago & have been married for 10.
3. How long did you date before you got married? 5 months.
4. How old is your man? 33.
5. Who eats more? Usually Chris.
6. Who said "I love you" first? Chris.
7. Who is taller? Chris by 3 inches.
8. Who sings better? Me - he's not got a horrible voice or anything but sometimes he makes me wince cos he's so off key. (Sorry honey, I love you but it's true.)
9. Who is smarter? Useless knowledge - Chris. Practical common sense - me...but don't ask Chris what his opinion is :)
10. Whose temper is worse? Oh mine by far!
11. Who does the laundry? Mostly me.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Mostly me but I try hard to get him to do it.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me.
14. Who pays the bills? Right now Chris does it.
15. Who is better with the computer? Chris.
16. Who mows the lawn? Usually Chris but I do part of it sometimes.
17. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me but Chris is a fantastic cook when the mood strikes him.
18. Who drives when you are together? Me but only because he has to drive so far to work & he's sick of it.
19. Who pays when you go out? Whoever has their wallet handy.
20. Who is the most stubborn? That's pretty equal which makes for some dandy fights!
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We are equally bad at this, I'd say it's about 50/50.
22. Whose parents do you see most? Mine but only cos they live closer & they can visit us a lot. Chris' mom can't travel much & we can't afford to.
23. Who kissed who first? It was kinda mutual but he pulled the "do you want a neck rub?" move on me - totally knew where that was heading!
24. Who asked who out? He drove a very long way to take me out...one of these days I'm gonna blog about how we met.
25. Who proposed? He did.
26. Who is most sensitive? He is e.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y sensitive & I'm e.x.t.r.e.m.e.l.y sarcastic - not a great combo sometimes!
27. Who has the most friends? Me - definitely me.
28. Who has more siblings? Chris.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? Chris cos he's the head of the family...but I'm the neck that turns the head, woo-hoo!
30. How did you meet? On the internet.

More 'news' & the weekend

Read about a new baggy pants law in Chicago here.
And a drunken practical joke gone up in flames here.
And a couple of dumb crooks getting rudely awakened here.

The Chicago law needs to go nationwide. Although not as prevalent as it used to be, I hate that style. To all those young men out there who wear their pants around their ankles...I get a very strong desire to pants you when I see you. Of course, my style back in HS was to wear holey jeans...extremely holey jeans! My mom was always trying to throw them out & I was always saving them. I had one pair that had no butt anymore, just the seam. I wore boxer shorts under them & they were my favorite jeans (& probably the favorite of all the guys, I had a pretty hot bod back in the day.) I can't believe my mom let me out of the house!

~~

This weekend was a roller coaster ride full of fighting and fun. Chris & I started arguing almost the minute he got home. Stupid arguments all of them, but passionately stated by both parties. I swear, sometimes I get the picture of a couple of rams fighting when we do this. Just run full tilt & slam into each other, over & over again. We are both so stubborn & very good at miscommunicating. Often we agree on the end result of something but argue about the process. Or if I say something & he takes it the wrong way or vice versa, which happens all the time with us. We can go many rounds with that one. I think he needs to pay more attention to what I said & understand me better & he thinks I need to say it better & think of his reaction more, bla bla bla to infinity.
I lost my mind & totally freaked out as I've done before. Having him gone all week is just very hard on me & I can't do it for long. This was only for 2 weeks but that's all it took. I just feel like everybody wants a piece of me until there is nothing left. All week it's the kids, on the weekend it's Chris & I don't get any time for myself.
I tend to do things a little different while he's gone, just to get through the week & that is hard on him. Having ADD, he needs routine & when I change things he feels left out & gets frustrated. Plus he looks like the bad guy when he gets things back to normal. My changes usually involve letting the kids do stuff they don't normally get to or whatever.
So that was Friday.
On Saturday we argued a bit more in the morning & then went to see The Dark Night This was a big thing, neither of us can remember the last time we got to see a movie in the theatre. And holy cow is it spendy!! The movie was awesome, just as we expected. I was more in the mood for Wall-e after all the hubbub from Friday but we were late for it & The Dark Night worked out better. Heath Ledger's joker was amazing. So creepily funny, the perfect psychopath. I'm just glad I'm not afraid of clowns or anything, that would put you over the edge for sure! For those who have seen it (there are no spoilers here for those who haven't) my favorite moment with the Joker was when he walked out of the hospital & had to click the remote...too funny & that outfit was hilarious! My favorite part of the whole movie was the convict on the boat, that was simply awesome - you know what I'm talking about.
It was a bit sad to watch though, knowing about Heath's death. I can see why he was taking anti anxiety & sleeping medications, becoming that character would be hard to take emotionally. I wonder what his daughter will think of it when she gets older. Will she be proud of his amazing performance or might she resent the film for being part of the reason he died? Only time will tell but obviously I hope it's the former.
After we got home we played with the kids & argued, ate dinner and argued some more.
Sunday we went to church (argued beforehand,) came home & cleaned the house. Chris made up a plan for cleaning that involved all of us & it worked great. I cleaned off the surfaces & dusted, Sam picked up toys, Adah picked up papers & trash, Eli put books away & Chris supervised & did the floors. We went room by room & got most of the house cleaned. I think we are going to make this a regular weekend event. We actually had fun...imagine that!
So overall the weekend was not horrible & not fabulous, just good & bad in it's own special way.
My plan this week is to work on my huge backlog of laundry & start to plan my packing list for next weekend. We have a family reunion coming that I've been looking forward to for a year. More on that in another post though.

Warning**husband rant in progress**Warning

Ok so Chris is staying with my sister & her family 1 night a week so we can save on gas money. He's at a new jobsite that's just as far away as the last one but this has the advantage of being an 8 hour day & it's close to my sis.

(begin rant)

I get extremely wiped out when I have to do the night routine with the kids so him being out of town is hard on me. Chris called me at 9:30 this morning to tell me they got rained out today & were sent home. He mentioned how it's a good thing he's staying with sis cos if he had to come home it would be a huge waste of money.

Yes that's true but my selfish wifeyness says "dagnabit that sucks!"

K, got over that, but as I was doing homework with Sam tonight my phone rang repeatedly. I was not about to answer cos Sam was actually concentrating (very unusual) so I forged on & pretended I didn't hear anything.

After we got done I checked my phone & I had 437 2 missed calls from Chris. I call him back & he says all sleepy sounding, "Where were you? I called twice."

"Ummm, doing homework with Sam & I'm not going to answer when he's on a roll."

"Oh. Well, I'm totally exhausted so I want to say goodnight to the kids now."

Wha??

I comply like the good wife I am (snicker) and he says an extrememly short good night to the kids.

Now, when he's out of town we always talk right before we go to sleep & read our bible chapter over the phone. Not so tonight.

"Honey? I'm going to say goodnight to you too. I just can't stay awake anymore."

Again, wha??

How the heck is he so tired after hanging out at my sister's all day? I'm here at home, working my fingers to the bone for his children spending meaningful time with our kids, making them waffles with strawberry sauce a highly nutritious, balanced meal for our scream fest nice quiet dinner, and he's tired from sitting around doing nothing?

What-the freak-ever!

(end rant)

I'm SO looking forward to seeing Chris tomorrow night, I've missed him so much!

Love you honey!!

Milestones & memories or Celebrate big time (come on)

On Saturday we had a huge celebration in our home. Well, not really huge, it consisted of Chris, me, the couch & a couple'a movies. We had planned on a much bigger shindig, like going on a train through the Canadian Rockies or just getting away to a B&B for a day or two. But our resources don't allow for any extravagance so we contented ourselves with a cozy night at home, snuggling (a'hem) on the couch.
What, you ask was our reason for celebrating? None other than our first really big marriage milestone...our 10th anniversary!
I can't believe it's been 10 years already, the time goes by so fast! Was it really 10 years ago that we lived in that 430 sq ft apartment in Seattle? That our (now) teenage niece was our cute lil 3 year old flower girl? That we had our first Thanksgiving, Christmas & all those other 'firsts' together?
It's been a great 10 years.
We've weathered a few storms. The miscarriage of our first child. The recovery from an addiction to porn. Chris getting fired (for NO reason, 2 mo after getting a huge raise for doing a great job) and getting through 6 months of no paycheck.
We've had a lot of wonderful times too. Buying our first home. The birth of Sam, our first child. Finding out we were having twins halfway through my second pregnancy (zoinks!)
We've had lots of fights & lots of kisses. Lots of big family celebrations & quiet nights at home. A few vacations & lots of visits.
I have to give some big kudos to my wonderful husband. He is so perfect for me, not always in the ways I want but always in the way God has planned. Chris is so supportive of me, he always brags on me & never talks badly about me to anyone...even when he's mad (oh the guilt - I do it all the time!) He spends lots of time with the kids & steps in when I need him to take over. He is always there for me, loves me no matter what & is 110% committed to our marriage. And the best thing of all? That he always puts God before me. God being the center of our marriage is the reason we are still married after 10 years. And the reason why we will be married for 25, 50 or how ever many years God gives us together.
I love you honey & I'm ready for another 10 years & beyond!
XOXOXXXXX...


By the way, the movies we watched were No Reservations and Elizabeth: The Golden Age both awesome flicks that I recommend.