Friday, May 25, 2012

A good night for grilling…

 

It’s a lovely night out for grilling. We decided on Teriyaki burgers (much like the Banzai burger at Red Robin which I adore!), corn on the cobb, and baked beans. 

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Jeremy’s back has been doing great! It’s been nice to have him do “guy” things again, like grilling the food, fixing odds and ends, and fixing things at the church. It makes my “girl” things that I do seem to be not such a chore when he’s able to contribute. Back pain is not a fun trial for anyone.  It throws off the whole flow of a house because one person is disabled to a point.  It’s rather depressing, too.


At work this week, the kids have been insane a little rambunctious. Of course with it being so close to school ending for the year, there are still funny things going on, and funny things that are said by the kiddos. Here are some funny things said that I still remember to this day from the past year:

*The kids were playing in the camping center, and 2 of them were inside the tent playing “family”. (Disclaimer: there are two sides of the tent open so we can still see them….if anyone was wondering.) As I was over at the easel getting out books, I hear girl #1 yell out from inside the tent “I can’t go! The baby’s constipated!!!”.

*I have a sweet boy in my class who has a speech delay in that he pronounces words incorrectly. On St. Patrick's Day this year we had colored their snack water green and read a couple of cute leprechaun books to the kids. At the end of the day we were reminiscing about all of the things the sneaky leprechaun did in our class, and the boy spoke up and said in his own sweet incorrect way “I went potty, and someone forgot to flush, and maybe that was the leprechaun too!!”.

*We have a boy who “gets” humor really well in our class, and says funny things ALL the time, but this week he said something that just cracked me up!  We have little plastic blenders that actually spin and that the kids can turn on, and I had looked over and saw that the boy had water inside the pitcher part of the blender. I was a little confused because we hadn’t put water into the water table yet, so I thought maybe it was left there over night or something. I asked him “where did you get the water from?” and he replied matter of factly “Where do you think I got it? From the sink!”  Little stinker!!!

*We have two boys who are cousins in our class, and they see each other quite a bit. One was working at the table with me while the other kiddos had gone off to their centers. When the other cousin walked past him, he leaned back and quietly said “Trout sniffer!”  Obviously I had to question him as to if he had heard that from Home Alone 2…and of course he did….and of course he was shocked that I, his teacher, had seen that movie.

It’s been a good year! Hopefully with the move of facilities, it will work out to be another good year!  I’ll miss all of my current kiddos who are moving on and going into kindergarten! Boooo! We have SO many of our kiddos moving on! 


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The other night the cat was laying right next to Jeremy on the couch, and he decided that he was tired, so he leaned his face and nose up against the laptop screen. It was too cute!  It was hard to get this shot on my camera, because any little creak in the floor made him move his head. So I’d have to wait for him to put his head back down.

 

Until next time,

Lisa

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Almost a Mom……

I’ve wanted to write this post for a while, but it’s really hard to sit down and do it because it means I’d have to think about it.  But then again, I’m confronted with it time and time again through conversation.  Conversation that I have to bite my cheek, and conversation that I have to smile, shake my head, and sheepishly say “not yet”.  I almost didn’t write about it, but I know there are lots of women out there like me. Women who were almost a Mom.  I didn’t think I’d have such a hard time with it today, but I did. I saw all of the “Happy Mother’s Day” posts on Facebook, and thought about my own sweet Mom.  And then I saw a dear friend’s post that also acknowledged people for whom this holiday brings grief.  Dang it. Tears came.  Even before I got out of bed. 

Let’s bring this all to a circle.  In January of 2011, I had a miscarriage. (Typing the word even makes me cringe.)  It sucks.  Plain and simple.  No. Not plain and simple. More like gut wrenching and difficult.  Add in the fact that once it happens, EVERY couple around you gets the great news that they are expecting, and you want to shoot yourself in the foot pull your hair out and scream. But let’s talk about that later.  After we had gotten the news at the doctor’s office, I had the horrible job of calling my Mom and telling her that she would have to wait longer to be a Grandma. (Dang it. That still sucks to type! Because I know she has the same pulling hair out and screaming reaction I do when her friends tell her about their new grandchild. This freaking sucks people.)   So I stood in our living room just sobbing/bawling because I didn’t want to call her. You know in the Bible how their grieving was described that they pulled their hair and tore their clothes? Yep. They got it right.  I would rather have pulled out every hair on my head then have to make that phone call.  This seriously went on for about a half an hour before I could dial.  After she answered I think I blurted it out in half sobs, half yells.  I felt a little better after I got it out.  So then I sat there still crying as I came to the realization that the process of MC was not over. There was cramping. And blood. A lot of it.  Then I had to call in to work to let them know that I wouldn’t be coming in that day or the next. This is the part where I also realized I had to tell all of my friends and church family that I’d had a MC.  I got a couple of lovely phone calls from my friends giving me their encouragement which helped.  But then there were the “everything happens for a reason” people.  I know they meant well, and at times like this you really don’t know what to say, but gosh it felt like a stabbing knife in my heart.  (Here is a good part for a plug for my church. Pastor Dan DeMey just gave a fantastic sermon on how to help people who are in a pit.He talks about ways that may not help as well. Check out the podcast dated 5/12/12 here .)  Here are some things that the doctor doesn’t tell you about the “after” of having a MC. He doesn’t tell you that when you watch a show or movie that has a birthing scene in it, it’s going to cause your cheeks to grow red-hot, and your eyes will undoubtedly begin to cry.  He doesn’t tell you that a year down the road, you’ll still cringe on the inside when people ask if you have any children.  He doesn’t tell you that it takes a hell of a lot of good character to congratulate a friend on the birth of their child while on the inside you’re screaming “It’s supposed to be me!!!!!”. He also doesn’t tell you about the strange, empty feeling you get when you see a newborn, or hear the cry of a newborn. Maybe there should be a pamphlet they could give out to families on what to expect after suffering a MC. It would have been helpful to be a little prepared. 

So here I am. A year and a half out, and still dealing with what I thought I’d be over by now.  I’m glad I finally wrote this post.  It’s nice to get it all out on the table as hard as it was. 

I now find myself thinking how to end this blog post.  I know I can say that I haven’t lost hope.  The past year and a half has been the hardest of my life, and I’m so glad that I have a wonderful husband, and a supportive family to help me get through it all. We’ve got gnarly chipped nails and bruised fingers from crawling out of many pits on our journey, and at the end we still know that God’s got our back. Time and time again He proves this to us.  It’s because of this that I continue trucking on and moving ahead. 

Lisa

Friday, May 4, 2012

The Good Things…

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted. Mostly because I’ve had my soul sucked out of me by a Dementor been dealing with a range of emotions. I had a whole posting planned, but I didn’t want to bore everyone with another sob story about how crappy my life was for one weekend.  The good news is that I figured out that the Lord is my patronus puts people in your life for a reason. I got some much needed prayer, and all is better. The End.  Well, almost.  Jeremy didn’t get the job that he had applied for. It would have been a perfect fit for him, but alas, it wasn’t to be. So we’re still waiting for the blessing at the end of our adventure. Life isn’t boring around here that’s for sure!

 


Today I had lunch with my good friend Laura. We met back in the good old KinderCare days and I’m so glad to say that we’ve stayed friends ever since.  I’m not sure if she really knows how glad I am that we kept in touch, but I want her to know it. While at lunch today, she presented me with a fabulous scarf that she knitted! What a lovely surprise!  Here is a photo of it:IMAG0331She’s really good at it, and she does sell them at a reasonable price!  I can get you connected if you’re interested! I’m in the process of trying to persuade her to create an Etsy account to sell them on! Heehee! I’ll let you all know if she does it! 


Did you ever see the movie “Untamed Heart”?  I was recently reminded of a certain part in the movie when I had to buy crappy cheap-o pencil eye liner instead of the  expensive kind I usually get.  In the movie, the main character is getting ready and she takes her eyeliner and holds it in the flame of her lighter to get it soft. Here, take a look.  (Disclaimer-She does appear in her underwear, but it’s nothing you haven’t seen on a television commercial for undies and bras.)

Watch for the Eyeliner part! It comes around the 1 minute section.

 Well as I was trying to scrape on  apply the new pencil eyeliner, it just wouldn’t make a mark!! So I thought of the movie, grabbed my candle lighter, and gave it a shot.  It totally works!!!!  You do have to blow on it for a couple of seconds because if you apply it too quickly it looks like you melted a chocolate chip on your eyelid! (Yes, it did happen to me!)  So thank you, Marissa Tomei for helping me be successful at saving money!


Our cat has a shoe fetish.  He loves to lay in my stinky ballet flats for some reason.  Here he is in all of his glory, sitting with his paws tucked inside my stinky old shoe that just came off of my foot after a long day at preschool. Lord knows what kind of germs are inside that thing!!

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I just heard that MCA from the Beastie Boys died today, so in homage to him, I’m going to post the video to the very first Beastie Boys song that Hetty and I performed on stage the deck at the house in Arvada.  It was around 1987, and we dressed in our hideous 80’s clothing, and used the dome of a barbecue grill as a drum. I don’t even remember my Mom protesting when we would put on fashion shows and rock concerts for her.  Anyways, here is the video:

The good times….

Lisa