Don't Say I Didn't Warn You...

This is what I know:

It is ill advised to eat an entire bag of dried fruit and then go to a Pilates class.

Until next time.

Matrimony in Our Front Room

Im a sucker for a wedding and this one is no exception.  Please don't anyone tell her that she can't really marry Josh. I think she'll die.

New Camera, Y'all!

2013 Kicked Butt/2013 Kicked Our Butt

Dear 2013,

How could we have ever anticipated that we'd end up here? After ten life-filled, laughter-enjoyed, dirty, wonderful years, you brought me to my knees. You led us to the most courageous decision of our tenure as parents: To sell our family home and seek the new. Our venture has brought us anticipation, hope, sadness, grief, evaluation, loss, new horizons, growth, potential, and peace. You've brought us closer as a family and ever-nearer to our LORD. For all of these things we are thankful.

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

And now for some 2013 Picture awesomeness:

We "enjoyed" art

We kissed bananas

We took a bath in the sink

We enjoyed the simple things

We travelled together

We met our Great-Grandma

We welcomed a hatchling

We celebrated the Risen Lord

And gave thanks for HIS many blessings

We received our First Holy Communion

… and we Grew!

We made new friends

We sold our house.

We ate delicious food,

and went to building school.

We dressed up for Halloween,

and celebrated 40 glorious years at the top of a mountain.

2013 brought us to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. To 2014, we say, BRING IT!! We have Our Lord, we have each other - we've got this.

Look at This

This here article

Take a look at this, my friends. It takes my breath away that there are still lists like this in circulation. "The 10 Most Hated Celebrities in Hollywood" and if you look closely, you will see, that 9 of the 10 are women.  Read the captions: "hated for her face," "hated for not being able to gain weight," "hated for her money," "hated for being stupid."

So, when we wonder why anorexia still exists; when we wonder why women still hate their nose,  or wish they had thinner thighs just remember this.

Keep your daughter away from the television.  You will be glad you did.

A Stream of Consciousness

Today, I heard an advertisement on the radio for a casting call catering to young girls.  They asked if your daughter likes to "sing and dance," and has ever "dreamed of being on their favorite shows such as Wizards of Waverly Place or The Suite Life."  I wondered who falls for this load of bull anymore. Don't we have a collective awareness that turning our kids into commodities is dangerous - if not fatal?

A friend (who I've actually never met, in real life) posted the following video on Facebook.  I have to confess that I loved it.  Miley Cyrus strips down We Can’t Stop! And while I am a huge lover of the party anthem and dance music, if you look at the poor child who is at the literal center of the music, you will see an addicted, broken shell who needed protection about ten years ago.

I've had an uncharacteristically difficult time transitioning from Homeschooling-Mother-of-5-Kids to Public-Schooling-Mother-With-Only-One-At-Home.  You can hate me or think I am a baby when I confess to you in all humility that I don't know what to do with myself. This is not something that I think is cute or humblebragging.  I am wont for a purpose and those are difficult waters to navigate. So, in an effort to get out of the house, Lucy and I went to H&M where I purchased a pair of MC Hammer pants, or what the upstarts like to call harem pants. Here's the thing friends: they are hella fresh.  I am fairly certain that they will be my new uniform until such time that Doc Martins and prairie skirts come back "in" and then I WILL BE ALL OVER IT.

I am contemplating using natural deodorant.

This week, I joined Twitter because, I don't know.  My foray into the Twitter-verse has forced my sweet husband to shut his own account down.  Sometimes I feel like Pepe LePew and the Cat with him on the internet.  Good thing he loves the daylights out of me, IRL.

Sometimes I feel guilty if I don't blog for a long time.  Like, someday when my kids are poring over my writings after I have gone to Jesus, they will wish that I had continued my tribute-journal to our life together.  So, if that is indeed the case, dear children this is my contribution to our posterity.

Figures.

Today I learned the following:

Jon Knight of New Kids on the Block is gay.

I have had exactly 2 (TWO) celebrity crushes in my life. The first, and most meaningful, being Jon Knight. It really burns my ass that I never really had a chance with him in the first place.

I have no idea why I am so pissed about this.  The only thing worse than this would be if Ralph Macchio is gay.  If he is, please don't tell me.  The 11 year old girl within simply cannot take it.

I PROMISE to start blogging again.  My life is gaining some modicum of normalcy these days, and I always find that reflection makes for good story telling.

Way to string me along, Jon Knight.