Sunday afternoon rituals

So I'm sitting here watching Sex and the City, one of my Sunday afternon rituals. Okay actually, it's a ritual whenever it comes on. I'm totally into this show. That's something I've learned about myself in the past year--I discover and fall in love with shows about a decade after they are cancelled, or at least a few seasons into their life! I didn't have HBO when this show came out or was popular and at the time, I had small children and was married. I had NOTHING in common with the characters and though I still don't fit in with their desire for fashion or shoes but I find the relationship humor, even after a decade, RIGHT ON THE MARK! It's both therapy and relaxation at the same time! Plus my vocabulary has now expanded to include such words as "Manolo Blahnik", "Jimmy Choo", "Vivian Westlake", "Dolce and Gabana" and many others. :)

I'm also lounging around the house, telling myself and anyone who asks that I'm taking the day of Sabbath seriously--I'm resting! Though I should have gotten my fat butt up this morning and went to worship with my brothers and sisters at Church of the Highlands. I always rationalize my desire to sleep late on Sundays with the fact that my church DOES broadcast online and even archives the messages. But honestly, I hardly ever watch when I tell myself I will and I feel badly about that! I DO need to be a better Christian. I need to be in the Word more and live like I should. I don't necessarily see anything wrong with anything I'm doing. I haven't been "convicted" about my occasional cocktails, humor or anything else. I just know I need to make it more of a priority. Just like everything else that I need to be doing in my life.

Exercise would be another example of that. Most of the time, I feel like I don't have the energy. But really it's just laziness. Yes, my knees hurt a lot but I know that once I get moving the exercise actually helps. It's just the getting moving part that is the problem.

And all my little projects...I pin and pin on Pinterest but I haven't even started anything in a long time, let alone completed something. Until today.



I rescued this from a classroom where I work. It is an old console tv with the tv knocked out of course. It was being used as a puppet theatre for 2 year olds. I do not know who came up with the color scheme because even as a puppet theatre the colors are hideous. But I saw on Pinerest where an old console tv had been upcycled into a tv/dvd stand and that is my plan. I started sanding it today, even though I haven't exactly decided what color to paint it. A shelf will be added in the center for the calbe box, dvd player and other items and the tv will sit on top. I hope it turns out like it's supposed to.

One thing I DID manage to get done this week was my new haircut.



I keep trying to let it grow but it gets to a point where I just can't do anything with it so I went to Katie and as usual, she worked her magic. I love it.

Brooke started soccer again and they had their first game yesterday in Hoover. That was quite an ordeal finding the field and I'm usually not directionally challenged but I was already stressed for some reason and the trip over just made it worse. We finally made it there with the help of the ex and she played well, though they did not win.

I've spent a lot of today on facebook and that is one thing I have GOT to stop. It really does steal a lot of my time. Though I like keeping up with the kids and friends, I get caught up in the games and then I will comment on a post or two or make a comment myself and it gets taken the wrong way, someone gets pissed off and I find myself with less friends. Granted, most are not the friends I care anything about keeping anyway. But I'm afraid of a trend here. So I'm cutting my losses. I have my blog, Pinterest, and I need to spend time in the Word, working on my writing and taking care of my body. I always said the when the cons far outweigh the pros, I would be gone and it's taken me awhile to get to that point, even though it was a tool in the destruction of my marriage, but I have finally arrived.

I know it won't be easy. But nothing worthwhile ever is. The ones that want to stay a part of my life will find a way to do that. I'm not dropping off the face of the earth. Just channeling my energy into more productive avenues (I hope!).

So if you're reading this, please pray that I will have the courage of conviction and the strength to follow through.

On that note, I will leave you with some pictures of me and some sweet faces:




This is Riley, one of my favorites. She happens to be the daughter of a high school friend and I have fallen completely in love with her. She is so sweet!




And this is my Bell boy! lol Actually, Andrew. He is the youngest of the three kids I take care of in the mornings every other week and also in my class. He is smart, funny and cute as a button!

And that's another thing I need to concentrate on--my little ones! I love being a teacher and it's time that got more of my attention as well!

Everyone have a blessed week!

Bucket List--one down, a million to go!

Last Sunday, me, Dede and Frances FINALLY went white water rafting--or weight water lifting, as Hayden put it--on the Ocoee!

Dede bought tickets back in April for my birthday but every time we planned to go, something kept coming up. We finally decided we HAD to just go before the tickets expired and fortunately for us, Frances has moved back to the 'ham so she decided to tag along with us.

I wasn't scared of the rafting itself. I started to get a little nervous when he started going through the commands--one in particular: hit the deck. That is when everyone drops to their knees in the bottom of the raft as we go over a rough rapid. That one made me a little nervous because of my weak knees. But "oh well" I thought. I'm here now. I either do it, endure the pain and risk falling in the river or back out and admit I'm getting too old and too fragile for strenuous activity. Ha! You guys know me. The latter is NOT going to happen ANYTIME soon! So I sucked it up and got in the boat!

At the first "hit the deck", I hit the deck. It did not hurt. It was not even uncomfortable. Now, getting back up--that was a little hard but luckily I didn't have far to pick my fat ass up and scoot over to the edge of the boat! Maybe I wasn't the most graceful rafter ever but I don't think anyone was studying me. Everyone was too busy studying the other woman--an experienced rafter--that had fallen out of the boat and lost her paddle! Bwahahahaha

Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't laugh at the time but I did after we got back because it wasn't the only time she went over or lost her paddle. In fact, it got to be a little irritating after awhile.

Dede and Frances did not fall out or lose their paddles either. We had AMAZING fun! We even hopped in and swam for a bit. We absolutely loved every minute of it and cannot wait to go back again!

And as much as we rowed and as much kneeling and up and down as I had to do, I was not even sore the next day. So...I'm NOT as in bad of shape as I thought! Other adventures, here I come!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Weeding...

No, this is not a blog about gardening. Anyone who knows me well knows I SUCK at gardening. I try. I really do. I absolutely love getting outside when it's not too hot and digging around in the dirt. I love to see a beautiful landscaped yard and over the years I have gotten better with my attempts to grow something outside my womb! I've done well with azaleas, bogonias, impatiens, hostas and anything that doesn't require a lot of maintenance. Houseplants, if they are lucky, can survive up to a year if they are very hearty. But most living things...if it doesn't bark or cry, I forget about it. It's not my gift and that's okay. I have other gifts.

But one thing I did learn from my few feeble attempts at gardening was that for beautiful things to grow, you have to remove the bad things. Weeds. The creep up in the middle of something nice and wonderful, suck all the oxygen and nutrients, grow bigger and bigger until it finally kills off the pretty stuff and leaves something big and ugly that you never wanted growing in the first place. That is unless you pluck it out! And sometimes you have to keep plucking the weeds time and time again.

I have found this to be true with friendships and dating as well. The only problem is that with this type of weeding it's sometimes difficult to tell the weeds from the flowers. Some weeds can be very attractive. And you think that you want the weed to grow. So you spend time caring for the weed and neglecting the flowers. Then you find out that the weed wasn't so lovely after all but by the time you find this out it's REALLY huge and can be hard to get rid of. Or either it's multiplied and there are a LOT of them. Either way, the flowers have been neglected and now you have to spend a LOT of time and energy nurturing them back to health.

If you're lucky, the flowers you had are hearty enough to survive you having played with the weeds for so long and they will forgive you and let you nurture them back. Sometimes not. At any rate, I have had to do some weeding this week.

Too many facebook friends, too much time spent worrying about what people I barely know think or getting aggravated because they don't get me. Too much time put into wanting to be with men that just won't ever be any significant part of my life. I don't put the blame on these weeds. Some of the weeds were very upfront about the kind of attention they were looking for and I was okay with it for awhile. Or maybe we thought we were on the same page about things but it turns out for whatever reason, we have different ideas about what certain things mean.

Regardless it's time to start putting the FLOWERS first again. My most important flower right now is my relationship with the Lord and spiritual growth. I have a LOT of studying to do and I am very excited about the two small groups I have joined for the Fall. I realize we as human beings need the fellowship of like minded people but like I mentioned before, we have to be careful about letting too many people in. But I'm not approaching the groups as a means of finding new friends. If that happens great but that's not my main focus. I'm hoping to learn so that I can be a better friend to the ones I already have. I want to be a better Christian, a woman whose heart belongs completely to God.

My second flower that needs some attention is me. Although I still feel young in my heart and act young most of the time, I have to admit, my body is starting to betray me in some ways. It's time to focus more of my attention on my health. I need to take care of myself so that I can take care of others the way I want and need to.

Then there are my three most important flowers: my children. Though they aren't babies anymore, they still need me and I still have a need and a desire to mother them. These are some very important years and I already know from Dylan that they FLY by. I'm excited about the decisions and choices that they have to make and I want to be around and be an important part of their making them.

And my true friends. My wonderful, absolutely amazing REAL friends. Dede, Tammy, Anji, Angela and now Lara. They are always in my corner no matter what and I love them dearly. I love their honesty, their wisdom, their kindness. I love hanging out and having fun with them. They teach me so much without even realizing it and I love that they get me and accept me for how I am--nerdy, goofy, harsh at times, bold and brazen, but always full of love for them.

Sometimes we don't make the conscious choice to weed out the negativity and bad things from our lives. Sometimes God has to start the process for us until we realize what He's doing and jump in and do our part to get the tedious job done. It's not always fun. But it is always worth it!

Happy Gardening!

The rest of the week...not so much

It's been a very trying week. I have argued with people I dont care anything about and for no reason at all. I've gotten irritated with people I should have more patience with and have gotten REALLY agitated with my little ones!

I know they are three! I've taught three year-olds before but ugh...I guess it's because I feel so helpless because of this "love and logic" crap we're supposed to be using and my lack of respect for certain people that it's clouding my judgment and patience levels are being adversely affected. I DO love my class and I DO love my job so I have GOT to get a grip and find a balance.

And at home...I will just say raising teenage girls--especially when they have emotional issues, eating disorders, self-esteem problems or are just argumentative little smart-asses--is rough!

But since I always try to end my blogs on a positive note I will say, I'm heading out to lunch with the ex (to discuss the above) and a drink with the bestie (to pick her brain about the above) and then I'm gonna settle in for some Alabama football! Can't believe it's finally here!

Roll Tide!!!

Marvelous Monday

It has really been a great day! No, I didn't win the lottery. My house is still a mess and there are still things that need my attention.

But instead of my typical manic Monday, it's been a marvelous Monday instead! And I really needed it because yesterday was really pretty crappy! I had plans to lay by the pool all day and then grill out. But the pool I went to has a patio paved with red brick (wtf?) and I burned my feet. To cool them off I jumped in the pool and as soon as I got out I was stung by a wasp!

Now normally, I'm allergic to wasp stings. Not allergic in that I need an epi-pen or I die. But generally I swell terribly around the site of the sting and have a lot of bad side effects for the next several days. But I immediately started pumping benadryl into my body to try and head it all off and it apparently worked because this morning there was no swelling or itching at all.

But then there was the side effects of the benadry--it knocks me on my butt! I knew I would probably be very sleepy so I had called my co-teacher ahead of time and told her I may be late. I tried to line up a sub but to no avail. She actually texted me this morning and said we only had half our class so if I needed to just take off to go ahead. So I did. I had planned on doing some much needed chores and things around the house but instead, the bestie called!

We met at Logans for lunch and a nice order or shrimp and two cocktails later I was feeling fine! We went to the Y, which she recently joined, and swam some laps, I did some water exercises for my knees and just relaxed by the pool. She went in early because she had schedule a massage and I just relaxed in and out of the water. It was WONDERFUL!!!

I decided to go ahead and get started back walking because there are a few 5ks coming up that I want to do and after a little bit of time on the treadmill, my knees were feeling great! I have got to find a way to do some regular swimming and walking because it is apparently the only thing that relieves the pressure and pain, especially in the right one (don't ask me why that one is worse, I dont know).

Now I'm looking at an early bedtime. Not because I'm tired but because I want to reward my body with the rest it needs to stay healthy. Maybe a detoxifying bath before...I've already enjoyed a nice big glass of milk!

So nothing spectacular, just a nice day! Thank you, God!

Just a typical bitch-fest....

No, I'm not in a bad mood but once in a while, I need to get the things that irritate me off my chest so I can focus on more positive things.

Here is a list of things that have irritated me this week:

1) construction on I-65 North through Fultondale...granted I don't have to travel that way often but it wasn't even a year ago that I lived in Brookside and had to quite frequently. I went through there last night and o em gee...the cranes and equipment look like they haven't been moved since!!! The lanes are still all messed up and hard to navigate, no room to pull over if you needed to, it is just a MESS!!! C'mon already! Get 'r' done!!!! How long does it REALLY take to build a new interstate anyway? They threw the Pinnacle shopping center and Trussville High School up in less than half that time! Get it together already!

2) Jefferson County sewer bills...not only are they outrageous but why in today's technology are we STILL not able to pay them online???? Our government sucks!

3) Politics in general. Sick of people spewing crap about Obama and sick of hearing about Romney being a mormon. They BOTH suck. The only hope for this country is the return of Jesus Christ and with that I'll just add, come quickly, please!

4) Taylor Swift. Her new song sounds about as stupid as all her others. How did she get a record deal? She is such a talentless hack and not even that cute to look at...

5) Wedding/bride shows on tv. How many do we need, honestly?

6) People griping about gun control. You want to hunt? Fine, get a rifle or shotgun. You want to protect your family? Fine, get a revolver, 9 mm or some other kind of handgun. NO ONE NEEDS ASSAULT RIFLES!!!!! (except for the military) And yes, I know criminals do not follow laws, I'm not asking for more laws to be passed stopping them from purchasing these weapons of mass destruction (and yes they are!) Just gather them all up and destroy them, please.

7) Doctors that want to "see you" before they will authorize a refill for medicine they KNOW you need!

8) People I have to see every day because of where I work (not talking about my babies or their mamas)

9) Men and the stories they peddal to try and make themselves look better when they are really just huge douchebags!

10) Student loans. Enough said.

11) Disorganized people

12) Landlords that won't update their property

13) couponing...I just can't do it

14) losing weight...I just can't do that either, apparently.

15) needing more knee injections--getting old sucks!

16) people with more money than they know what to do with but STILL can't be happy or without drama!

17) people that CAN NOT DRIVE!!!

18) teachers that request supplies that as a teacher myself, I know they won't use!

19) hangnails! Especially when they become infected! Time to get my acrylics back on!

20) Hurricane Isaac!!! If this hurricane destroys my beach when I have two beach trips planned in the next two months I am NOT going to be a happy camper!

Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled progamming!