There are moments like tonight, when I get to the end of my day, and I just feel like I squandered it. I look at my sleeping children and I wonder why I was so upset with them. The truth is, they were difficult this evening, but so was I. I was grumpy and tired and dealing with things in my head that shouldn’t have played into my interaction with them, but they did. I wish I could have a do-over, but since I know can’t, I tucked their covers up around them and kissed them on their sleeping cheeks. Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully we all wake up just a little bit happier!

We are going to spend this weekend in the new house, and we are excited because it is a long weekend for me and the kids. Tomorrow night can’t come soon enough!!

I’m really tired this evening and I was running low on ideas about what to write about but I came across this list of random questions so I figured I’d answer some of them. Be prepared to know more about me than you’d ever care to. 😂

Have you ever been in the opposite sex’s public toilet? Yes… California Pizza Kitchen. Not sure how I missed that I was in the wrong bathroom until I was about to leave and saw a urinal. Oh, and there was absolutely someone in the other stall. 😳😳

Have you ever written a poem? Yes. I signed up for a creative writing class at the community college once and showed up to class only to find out it was all poetry. Ended up being published in the college literary magazine. 

Do you like catsup on or beside your fries? Beside, but I prefer honey mustard.

Have you ever been a boy/girl scout? No.

Have you ever written a book? No.

Would you rather eat a Big Mac or a Whopper? Fast food burgers freak me out, so neither.

Have you ever gone skinny-dipping? Yes.

Would you ever parachute out of a plane? Not likely.

True or False: You would rather eat steak than pizza. Probably pizza

Did you have a baby blanket? Yes. It was raggedy Ann and Andy. My dad used it as a rag at the shop. There were tears. I’ve forgiven him.

Have you ever tried to cut your own hair? No.

Have you ever had a birthday party at McDonalds? No, but my sister did and I was super jealous.

Can you flip your eye-lids up? This is a thing?

Are you double jointed? No, I’m the least flexible person in the world.

If you could be any age, what age would you be? 24

If you were in a car sinking in a lake, what would you do first? Wait for it to fill with water.

Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? Yes.

How many times have you flown in an airplane in the last year? None. I hate flying.

How many foreign countries have you visited? Three. Canada, Germany, France

If you fell into quicksand, would you try to swim or try to float? Is there a right answer for this? I guess float.

Do you ask for directions when you are lost? Without hesitation.

Have you ever held a Mexican jumping bean? No.

Are you more like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland? Alice, more likely.

Do you talk in your sleep? Yes. I once asked Tim to stop making kittens with his feet.

Would you rather shovel snow or mow the lawn? Shovel snow. It would mean I had a day off!!

Have you ever broken a bone? My ankle and my finger. 

Have you ever locked yourself out of the house? All the time as a kid.

Do you need corrective lenses? Yes, but I hate the way I look in then.

What is your favorite fruit? Grapes

What is your least favorite fruit? Grapefruit

If you won a $5,000 shopping spree to any store, which store would you pick? Amazon

What brand sports apparel do you wear the most? Ha ha ha!

Have you ever had surgery? Seven times

What do you like to collect? Books and sharks teeth

We drove by the beach on the way to the post office this evening, and I was not at all surprised to find it deserted. With temperatures barely peaking in the teens for the past week, most people have tucked themselves away in the warmest corners of their homes. Today, however temps reached into the low 40’s and the contrast made me more than eager to soak in what warmth the last rays of sunshine could yield. I noted that the water in bay looked frozen and the kids begged to go down onto the beach.

The water was frozen, at least the section I normally let the children wade in during the warm summer months. The sandbar extends about 50 yards, and all 50 of that seemed to be a solid sheet of ice. There were a few people walking out near the edges, leaning down, talking to ducks and taking photographs.

I told the children they could walk on the ice- not far, no more than ten feet in. In amazement they gingerly stepped onto the frozen water, testing the strength before jumping on. The ice was very solid indeed, especially that close to the shore. They slid their feet along as they walked, pretending to ice skate, and marveling at the fact they were above the water. They smiled and giggled and pleaded to go further, but I stood my ground. (Secretly I wished Tim were with us, as he would not have hesitated to take them out further, but I’m the worrying type, so we stayed close to shore.)

When we had exhausted our icy adventures, we dropped by the library for more books, and this evening after dinner we curled up on the couch and read seven of them. We had made a plan for the kids to get through 50 books this month, and both C and E are sitting at 23, so if we keep up our momentum, we should be able to reach it.

The kids had an unexpected snow day today. We had woken up to a 2 hour delay, but due to all the ice on the roads and sidewalks, school got cancelled, much to the delight of my children. And while I still had to work, Baby E was very excited that C and Big E would be spending the day with him. With the warmer temps, we will slide back into our normal routine in the morning.

 

 

I chose a table tucked away in the corner of the coffee shop, less for its solitude and more on the merits of it being the only unoccupied table in the establishment. As I waited for my name to be called and my drink to materialize, I pulled the hardcover book from my purse. I had dedicated the next hour and a grande peppermint mocha to the first ten chapters of the book, thankful that 35 miles away, my work had closed early due to an impending ice storm.

Earlier in the day, when I looked at the weather map only two counties weren’t colored in purple, and mine was one of them. While the schools around my job were shutting their doors, my children were still in their classes with no chance of an early dismissal. We were only getting rain. So I sat in a coffeeshop, sipping my drink and devouring sentences as fast as my eyes could chase them. The quiet din of the coffeeshop and the occasional opening of the door were the only reminders that I wasn’t actually traversing the countryside of Newport, Rhode Island or searching for the details of an unexplained suicide deep within the safe confines of one of America’s oldest think tanks.

At the end of my hour, I drained the last few cold drops of my coffee and shut my book. It was time to get the kids. I knew they would be disappointed that my mom’s group was cancelled this evening, but I hoped the prospect of a visiting cousin at Grandma’s house would be enough to cheer them up, and it was. We got home with some time to spare before their cousin got picked up and we ended the evening with dinner and a few books.

My quiet solitude at the coffeeshop this afternoon was a godsend, and I reveled in every moment of it, thankful for the stolen hours. I’ll read a few more pages in my book this evening, maybe enough to learn the significance of the forgotten room or the burnt photograph found in the ashes of its fireplace, but the rest will have to wait for tomorrow evening, for I doubt we’ll have time to meet again before then.

 

Clearly I am going to regret staying up this late on a work night, but the truth is I wasn’t ready to let my weekend go. I had a hundred pages left in a novel I picked up yesterday and I was determined to finish it before bed, and so I did. That makes three novels in a week. Three new worlds bouncing around in my head.

Tim worked a lot this week, and didn’t get home until yesterday evening, so I decided to make the best of our one day together before the crazy starts again tomorrow. The result was  a truly lovely day that I got to spend with my sweet family. Nothing big happened. Just church, lunch, and a trip to the grocery store, but by the end of the day I felt utterly happy, watching my family scarf down dinner and work their way through ice cream.

Complete contentment.

I hadn’t planned on taking any time off today, but I had noticed a rash and some swelling on Baby E yesterday and when he woke up this morning it hadn’t gone away. I had already dropped the kids off at the sitter on my way in when I called the pediatrician’s office. I explained the issue and they said he needed to be seen today and gave me an appointment time of 10:45. So on the heels of my snow day, I turned around and picked him up. I was relieved they could fit us in. We’ve had enough sickness come through our house to know that if something pops up towards the end of the week, it’s better to be seen than not and risk ending up at the Urgent Care or worse during the weekend. 

The last time Baby E was at the doctor’s office was when we had to forcibly remove the bead from his nose, and he seemed to have remembered the experience. Thankfully the rash and swelling were nothing contagious and not a big deal and he was prescribed a cream. 

The highlight of his visit was that he was put in his favorite room, “The Finding Dory” room, and it held his attention most of the time we were there. It was a quick in and out and I got to work after that.

We woke up this morning to learn that school had been cancelled for the kids. Since my work is further north and west from where we live they didn’t receive as much snow so they were on a delayed opening. After surveying the 2-4 inches on the ground, and a bit worried about traveling the back roads with my kids in the car, I decided to call out for the day. And so began our first snow day of 2018!!

It was spent watching TV, reading books, and a short playtime outside in the snow. C decided to forgo our outside adventures, opting for a book and the fireplace, but the boys and I braved the cold to clean off the car and do some quick sledding. 

Mommy was definitely the first one ready to come in, but I was able to coax my reluctant children with promises of hot cocoa! The kids are off again tomorrow, but I’ll be heading into work in the morning so it’s time I head for bed. 

When rumors of snow hit my ears, I swear I become 10 years old again, staring out the window willing the first flakes to fall. I received a call from the school this evening saying the kids would have a two hour late arrival tomorrow with the possibility of a full closure, so now we wait.

 I love the excited giddy feeling I get before a snowfall, and I hope my kids feel it too when they are grown up. 

In anticipation of a possible snow day, we stopped at the library on the way home and I picked up a book. At least I feel prepared just in case!

When I got home I saw that I had a package delivery. A gift I had bought Tim for Christmas finally arrived. In fact, it had taken so long I had completely forgotten about it. But let me tell you it was worth the wait! 😂😂 The kids and I opened the package and tried it on. It’s so perfectly ridiculous and fun!

I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions, mainly because they are typically designed to fail, so I usually avoid them. If I make a promise to drastically change my life I can guarantee that it won’t last more than a few days. 

But as the new year approached I started thinking about gradual steps and small changes I can implement in my life that can be built upon in the months and years to come. The end result was the phrase A little less and a little more.

And that is exactly what I’m aiming for this year – A little less and a little more…

A little less-

Sugar consumption, staying up past my bedtime, jumping to the worst possible conclusion, worry, passive aggressiveness, and eating out.

And A little more-

Bible reading, prayer, communication with my husband, listening to (not just hearing) my kids, reading, and laughing.

There is no benchmark set, no impossible goal to discourage me… Just a little less and a little more of the things that bring our lives balance. 

In the spirit of A little more, this evening I took the kids to the local library where I renewed my long expired library card, and got the two older kids cards of their own. If we plan to do a little more reading, this seems like a good way to do it. The upside is that after the kids played on the computer and then checked out some books, they asked if going to the library could be a more common occurrence, almost like the beach was during the summer. And while I’m not committing to going there daily, we will definitely be visiting a little more!