Comment from Taylor

After sending Wesley to fetch Taylor for dinner, Taylor bounded into the kitchen exclaiming: “Somebody needs something in the kitchen. .(pause here). .. MEEEEEE!”

I couldn’t stop laughing!

Another Week!?!?

Yup — my Durango isn’t due back until Friday of this week!  I’m really not enjoying this Kia Sedona, aka gas-guzzler.  I swear every time I push on the accelerator I can actually watch the gas gauge decrease!  I really miss MY car. . .

It’s in the Shop!

The body shop, that is!  Ken and I took advantage of Monday’s MLK holiday and headed to the auto shop/insurance adjuster to have them look at the damage to my car.  Our appointment was at 9:30am and by 10:20am we were heading home in our rented Kia Sedona van from Enterprise.  They had estimated the damage at about $1400.  We got a call yesterday from the Geico adjuster who said that once they’d gotten my Durango torn apart, there was another $800 worth of damage.  I’m supposed to turn the Kia back in tomorrow but I haven’t heard whether or not my SUV has been fixed.  I’m anxious to get my own vehicle back!

BK Joe

I used to be a fan of McDonald’s coffee, particularly after dropping off the children at latchkey and having a good jolt of caffeine before my students arrived.  Until yesterday.  I had heard that Burger King had redone their coffee shortly after McDonald’s had done theirs.  I had my first cup yesterday and even though I’m more of a tea drinker than coffee, this was absolutely superb.  Even Ken who thinks the stronger the better, agreed that it was good.  What a shame I don’t pass a BK on the way to school.

Effective Parenting

We usually go to church on Saturday evenings. It’s less crowded, we’re usually out and about already anyway and we don’t have to get up early. The past couple of weeks the kids have been begging us (!?) to go to Kids Church, held on Sunday mornings during our regular worship service. Last week when we went on Saturday, the Pastor informed us of a new Sunday School class starting called “Effective Parenting in a Defective World”, authored by Chip Ingram but facilitated by one of my favorite pastors, Tim Kraft. Today we went to Sunday School for the kick-off of this class and I am excited about going to the rest of them! Now that we know the principles for positive parenting — positive clear-cut objectives and practicing what we preach — we’re set for the rest of our journey. Neither Ken or I are fond of discussing with other parents, but we did enjoy a cup of coffee at Cafe Central and discussed our focus and what we need to work on.

Our verses we need to reflect/study on this week comes from I Corinthians 4:14-16: I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus i became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. I’ll keep you posted as to what happens next week!

Apparently, I’m in denial!

My 36th birthday is fast approaching and I’m resigned to being 36 already.  One more year closer to the big 4-0.  Birthdays are no big thing to me anymore; just another day, another year older, and a rare date night!  That is, unless I’m working out!  Today when we were at the Y, I was on both the elliptical and treadmill and both time when I put in my age, I entered 35!  I was even more disheartened, however, after showering and blow-drying my hair (something I rarely do; I air-dry.) I noticed how many more white hairs I have popping up!  Back to Nice’n Easy!

My Fender Bender

Only it wasn’t my fender, but the driver’s side back door. And it wasn’t my fault!

Yesterday the weather turned nasty and a layer of ice covered the roads along with some blowing snow by the time I finally left school. I passed one wreck on Kellogg, one just finishing up on Harry, and then avoided another one by sliding but recovering in time to not hit anything. I was less than a mile from home, waiting for the light to turn green, when I saw a red car turning the corner and starting to slide. He slid across 2 lanes and headed straight for me, coming to a rest after banging the side of my car. My first wreck. In all fairness to the guy who hit me, although he was young (22), he kept his cool and I kept mine; we exchanged our info and went on our way. Later that night I got a call from his mother saying that he had already filled in his accident report (Emergency Accident Reporting Plan was in effect) and called their insurance company. Not long after I hung up with her, Geico called and I now have an appointment for the adjuster to take a look at the damage.

A Choice?

Taylor is fast approaching middle school and with it comes the choice of where he will be attending middle school. That choice, however, is becoming a problem. Since Taylor attends a traditional magnet school, he automatically qualifies (with application, of course) for the middle school equivalent of a traditional magnet. This is where Taylor wants to go. That ISN’T, however, where Ken and I want him to attend. Another school in our district offers a Pre-IB program for the brainies out there. Taylor is in the gifted program and would easily qualify if he applied himself. He would still need to apply, be tested, and then they weed quite a few others so it’s not a shoe-in situation anyway. Taylor doesn’t want to leave his friends although that’s what he said when he left his other elementary school! He makes friends easily enough, isn’t his education more important? And so the battle continues . . .

Make Ahead

In an effort to stay South Beach friendly (Ken and I are coming up on our 1 year anniversary of SB!), I’m trying to plan some make-ahead and freeze meals for during the week.  Our time is so short in the evenings that I don’t want to spend all this extra time making dinner.   Tonight, for example, I made sloppy joes (with ground turkey on 100% whole wheat buns).  I doubled the batch so we had tonight’s dinner and then froze the rest for another night.  Awesome.  All I need is the extra buns!  (Which are hard to find!  I used to buy some from Wal*Mart but after finding them moldy on the shelves – yuck – I buy them elsewhere now.)  Tomorrow I’m planning a double-batch of chili for the same routine – eat and freeze!

While browsing the internet tonight, I found an awesome website that I encourage all of you to try, if you haven’t already!  It’s at about.com under busy cooks:    http://busycooks.about.com/od/makeaheadrecipes/a/freezecasserole.htm.  I can’t wait to get started filling my freezer again and having new recipes to try! If you have any to share, please feel free to!  Anything South Beach friendly would be much appreciated!

I’ve Been Bit by the Bug!

. . . the organizing bug!  I try to keep things tidy and picked up as it is anyway but now I’m REALLY cleaning out!  Today we went to Target to buy some tubs.  I stumbled across 90% off at Target and immediately got light-headed with all of the deals!  I couldn’t help but buy 5 packs of white boxes (I use these to put the kids’ school work in and they stack great in my storage closet as well as for wrapping gifts.)  They were regularly $1.99 for a 3 pack and I paid $.19 for them.  I also got Christmas cards for less than $1, candy canes per Taylor’s request for $.09 for a 12-pack, and a wreath hanger for $.19.  Can’t beat that!  Then I got tubs for cards.  Yes, cards.  I mean, over the years the kids get tons of cards, whether they be birthday, Valentine, etc.  What am I supposed to do with them?  They’re not mine to throw away so I now have them in 3 tubs, one for each child with their cards in them.  If they want to toss them when they get older, fine!

Yesterday I worked on the boys’ room and put their bunk beds back together in an effort to make their room more clutter-free.  I had bought 2 wheelie crates for under the beds earlier in the year but today bought 2 more.  Not only does this help keep the room clutter-free, it keeps the dog out from under the bed!  It also hides what the boys put in there and as long as it’s not food, I really don’t mind.

Jocelyn even cleaned up her room and earned back her bed frame today.  Since I can’t remember if I’d blogged about it or not, let me tell you how that happened.  Jocelyn is a slob.  A major, major slob.  In an effort to make her more concerned about her room, I gutted it, literally.  Her mattress was on the floor, her desk was taken out, all of her toys were taken downstairs, and she was left with an organized closet and 3 cardboard drawer set in her closet.  Oh, and a side table for her clock and lamp.  She was told that she could earn back her furniture if she kept her room clean.  Well, that back-fired big time because she liked her room being so bare!  Now she’s seeing me get into the action and wants to do it too!  Now that she got back her bed frame and headboard, it’s motivated her to keep it cleaner.  We’re going to get her some under-the-bed storage to help her keep it clean, too.  Whew!  Hopefully this will work!

Now I’m planning ahead for the consignment sales and a garage sale this year!!