Miscellany

1. I am sick. Coughing, aching, stuffy head, fevery sick. Boo.
2. Don't get excited Gregsons. I'm still working out and eating (or not eating as the case may be) right.
3. Last night at dinner (Brent took us out because I was sick) Riley commented on how efficient the waitress was at keeping my water glass full. "You don't even have to ask her," he marvelled. "Maybe she likes you the best." "Yeah," says Dylan,"or maybe it's because you're rich now." Hmmmmmmmmmm . . .
4. Brent (sweet man) used a portion of our tax return to buy me a new camera to take to Colorado so I could take really good pictures of my murals. It is faaaaarrrrrr nicer than our old one. I just don't know how anything works on it. It seems a waste to just set it on "easy mode", but that may be what I have to do for now. Boo.
5. I'm going to miss everything fun while I'm gone: Sydney's 5th Grade Music Performance, a baby shower for my friend who's having triplets, the Mommy/Daughter Date for activity Days, the free Chipotle burritos with the brown bag "coupons" that came in Sunday's paper. I don't even want to imagine what else will go on in the 8 days I'm slaving away.
6. Did I mention I'm sick? Oh. OK.

Whoah, Nelly!

So, I leave Friday evening for Lone Tree, Colorado. Yep. THIS Friday. As in 4 days from now. And I won't be back until the following Saturday. And this will be my home away from home. I'm a great big ball of nerves, for sure.

What will my family do without me for a whole week?!

What will I do without them?

Will I be able to finish in 6 full days?

What if I forget something important?

But, more than that, and please don't tell my precious spouse, I'm sooooooooo excited. And flattered. And humbled. You know, you get married and have kids and bury many of the hopes and dreams that you once had for yourself. Not that it's a bad thing. It is what it is. I wouldn't have traded the past thirteen years for anything in this world. But I had truly made peace with the fact that my "career" was a thing of the past. And then there's this . . . this bright, shiny reminder that my Heavenly Father loves me and wants me to have all the wonderful experiences that this life has to offer. He wants my hard-earned education to be put to use. He just wanted me to have my priorities in order. First (and essential) things first, then the fun adventures. Yee-Haw! Colorado, here I come!

Guess Who . . .

is being flown to Colorado next month for ten days to paint some murals. So. Flipping. Exciting!

The Entrepreneur.

For about a year now Sydney has been wanting to "start a business". She loves animals. I do not. Our house is only 1300 square feet and our yard just a fraction of that. Pet ownership is not in the cards for this young lady. She also loves babies, but has been WAY too young to babysit. And thus began "Sydney the Petsitter".

She came to me a year or so ago with this flier she had made all by herself and kindly asked me to make copies for her. I know you can't read that dark line in the middle. It happens to be my favorite part. It says, "I will take as much money as you are willing to give." A girl after my own heart. Well, somehow the flier got tossed by the wayside and forgotten. By me. Sydney still periodically asked when she was going to be able to "start her business". So a few weeks ago I got on the Vista Print website and made her some cute little business cards (for free). She has been thrilled passing them out to every pet owner we know. In fact, she keeps a few in her pockets at all times just in case she runs into someone. I love it!!! But from where does all this ambition flow?! Certainly not from her mom and dad. Maybe these things skip a generation . . .

The Wall . . .

Week #3 in the Gregson Family "Working Our Masses Off" Challenge.

Me: Ready to throw in the towel.

Reason: Freaking Snickerdoodles!!!

To date I've been cruising through this competition. Workouts? Hah! I laugh in the face of sweat and exhaustion. Sweets? Never liked 'em anyway. Celery? My sweet, sweet friend. This week, however, I've hit a wall. And hard. Brent's mom kindly sent some Snickerdoodles down for the kids. They loved them. They savored every cinnamon-sugary bite. Every last milk-dunked, delicious bite. While Brent and I sat and watched and had nothing. Because it was sugar. And it was after dinner. Both no-no's. I've watched this scene unfold before in the past few weeks and I've been fine. Last night, not so much. I wanted one of those over sized circles of sweet freedom. I needed it like I needed air to breathe. I knew to the very center of my being that one of those cookies would make me happy in a way I've seldom felt. Just. One. Cookie. Please . . .

But I resisted and, today, I'm happy with that choice. I've had a good night's sleep and I've worked out and I feel better. This begs the question, do I want one of those cookies so bad because I'm depressed, or am I depressed because I can't have a cookie? Will we ever know?

Oh, and I've got one of those Snickerdoodles carefully wrapped in the back of my freezer to pull out on Saturday (my next planned "cheat" day). Some things are worth the wait (weight?). Dock me the three points right now.

The Man For Whom I Have Forsaken All Others . . .

. . . surprised me this Valentines Day with these beautiful little earrings. I had pointed them out to him on Etsy in passing a month ago. He went to the trouble of logging into my account (after figuring out my user name and password), locating the earrings, bookmarking the page, logging out, creating his own account, buying them, and having them shipped to our friends' house just so that I would have a good day. A good day on a holiday that he has made no bones about despising for the past twelve years. But he wanted to make me happy (and, let's be honest, probably hoped to get lucky) and did this nice thing for me. He loves me . . .

Thanks, babe.

This is Jackie Robinson.

This, too, is Jackie Robinson.

Awe inspiring resemblance, no?

In third grade the kids get to pick a person who made a difference in the history of the world and do an oral report. It's supposed to be like a "wax museum" so the kids dress as the person and tell about their chosen historically important figure, as if they were ACTUALLY said historical figure. They line up in the main hallway of the school and then ALL the other students in the school come and tap each child on the shoulder when they want to hear their story. (I'm being verbose in my description of this event, but you get the gist, right?) I must have heard the "Jackie Robinson Story According to Riley" about a hundred times . . . "Hello! My name is Jackie Robinson. I was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. My grandfather was a slave. When I was sixteen months old I moved to 121 Pepper Street, Pasadena, California. etc . . .

He wrote the report, in it's entirety, by himself. I just helped him tweak it a teeny little bit. Like taking out the part about how he was married in a small church to a girl named Rachel on such and such date . . . and adding the part about how he was the first African American to play for a major league baseball team and how he was Rookie of the Year and was the first African American in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Minor changes. He LOVED the part about 121 Pepper Street so we left that in. Whatever. He was cute as can be and it was SUCH good experience for my quiet little guy to do some public speaking. Fun day in the Third Grade. Whoop!

Does Anything Feel Better Than . . .

1. . . . new work-out clothes? Sure, they're just yoga pants and sports tanks, but I feel decidedly cuter (and more comfortable) in clothes that fit and flatter my body NOW rather than my body three years ago. Very similar to how good it feels to get new underwear. Or clean sheets.
2. . . . filing your tax return? Another year done. Another direct deposit on it's way. Another chunk of old debt soon to be gone forever. I feel 100 pounds lighter.
3. . . . hitting spell check on a blog post and seeing "no misspellings found"? I'm a simple girl, really.
4. . . . laying in bed next to a big, warm teddy bear of a man on a cold night after a long, busy day? OK, so Brent will hate being referred to as a "teddy bear" and our room is only slightly cool and only that because we run the ceiling fan all year long, but it still feels good.

Origami Mania!!

You may recall a certain child of mine who displayed a fondness for paper creations a while back. Yeah, he still does that. So when he came us and very logically and reasonably asked for an origami calender at Christmas time how could we say no? I'm all about expanding his paper folding horizons and adding some variety to his repertoire. It has turned into a family hobby of sorts. However, there are some draw backs . . .
This is what every single horizontal surface of my home looks like now. Small price to pay to nurture creativity in my children, I guess.

Every parent should have a day like we had today. A day where you just celebrate your child's strengths and successes instead of nagging and nitpicking about the mundane things they don't do so very well. Maybe other parents already have these days more than we do. Sad.
Sydney was a delightful, amazing thing to behold in her play tonight. Take that with a grain of salt if you must. I fully admit to being a proud, proud mommy. She WAS . . .

Spectacular. Radiant. Talented. Beautiful.

Brent and I were beaming all night about this marvelous little girl we have raised. This girl who is what she is in spite of us. This girl who came straight from heaven into our family with a firm resolve to be the center of attention. This perfect, perfect little daughter who has had us wrapped around her finger since the first time we laid eyes on her. And yet, somehow, we were both smitten again tonight watching her, for probably the first time, really, truly in her element.

It was lovely.

Craftiness Revised

I couldn't help myself. I had to fix them. The only one I trashed all together was the red bird. The paint was too thick and weird. And I LOOOOVE the "Cutie Patootie" design. I also added some teeny red hearts above the head of that swirly bird at the last minute. I just can't stop.

More Craftiness . . .

I made these girlie onesies tonight for Alina, who gave me a fabulous haircut today. I tried the two color thing and I'm sure that I don't like it. I'm unsure of whether or not I'm going to go get a new pack of onesies tomorrow and try again.

Father, Forgive Him.

Seriously dad, Brent wants to still be the "favorite". On Friday, Brent and his buddies lucked into tickets for the FBR Open here in Scottsdale. They were thrilled. By all accounts they had a fantastic time. Mostly. Until Brent and Mitch almost got themselves kicked out. Ummm . . . oops. They were watching a Canadian golfer putt and when he was finished they shouted, "Nice putt, Canada!" They didn't notice, however, the golfer still out on the green. Nor the unearthly silence of the crowd. No. Nor the man with the big Quiet Please sign in front of them. Nope. Didn't notice any of that until the man with the sign turned to them and said, "People have been removed for less than that". Luckily that last golfer made his putt and they got to stay. They were mortified when they realized what they had done. If you ask me, it would have been a better story if they had been kicked out. Whatever. Again, older and wiser . . .

Forgiven.

Sooo, my baby boy has pneumonia. No wonder when he saw me in the hall at church yesterday during Primary he burst into tears and wanted to go to my class and sleep on the floor. No wonder he did actually sleep on the floor when I let him come with me. No wonder he has had such comparatively little energy for the past few days. He could still run circles around me on my best day, but for him . . .

Sometimes you can really feel like you have dropped the ball as a mom. He's had a cold and a cough since his birthday. Three weeks ago. But no fever after the first day. I thought it was just lingering symptoms. Oh well. Lesson learned. Older and wiser, right?

Too Smart for His Own Good -- OR -- Oh No He Didn't!

In order for me to have my beloved craft closet (pictures are forthcoming) we moved all of our family games up into the boys' closet. It seemed like a safe and sensible choice. Until my sweet little punk of a first grader set his mental wheels a-spin. I didn't see how it all went down , but here is how I imagine it based on the evidence: He sees the Battle of the Sexes game. He takes a Sharpie. He cleverly inserts an I so the game now reads "Battle of the Sexies". Upon further thought he also adds a T, leaving the box, forevermore, to read "Battle of the Sexiest". That is pretty advanced work for a little firstie. I thought public education was supposed to be sub-par. After scolding him firmly, Brent and I silently adjourned to our bedroom for a good, LONG laugh. Where does he come up with this crap?!

One Fine Day . . .

I got a head start on the Gregson Family Biggest Loser contest this week. Whatever. It's not cheating. I started last weekend BEFORE Kristen even suggested it. So, this week: no soda, no sweets, few snacks, lots of water and exercise. I even didn't have the crepes that Brent made for family night Monday. I had an orange instead. And I feel FANTASTIC! I'm energetic and I'm emerging from the slump I've been in. (Sorry for all the boring, mopey blog posts lately.) Today was my planned "cheat day" where I ate whatever I had been craving all week and now I'm ready to get back on the wagon tomorrow morning.

Also good about today: Free Chipotle burritos since the Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. I LOOOOOVE me some Chipotle. And I made these cutie-patooties for a baby shower Brent went to. (That sounded weird . . . couples shower, Brent is their home teacher, I was putting the boys to bed . . . ) Thanks again to Daina for the tutorial at Christmas.

I adore them!! In fact, and don't tell, I wanted to keep them for myself. *sigh*

(No, I am NOT expecting. I just like to look at them. 0-3 months is so very teeny!)