Fabric Paint: $41.23; Bonding with Oldest Child, Priceless

Almost. This week was Spirit Week at the middle school. When I heard the words "Spirit" and "Week" mentioned in the same sentence, I should have ran hard and fast in the other direction. But I didn't. I held out on "silly sock" day. When I saw her, she was wearing green and white striped toe knee knee-socks wth a snowman on each one. That's pretty silly. But not according the Oh, She Who Must Be a Fashion Statement. So she did the next best thing, or so I'm told. She went shopping at the "Best Friend Store" for something "silly". I'm sure when I do laundry this weekend that I'll see some silly pair of socks, wash them, put them in her bookbag, and remind her two or thirty-eleven times to return them to the "Best Friend Store".

Today was "tacky day" - she chose to dress normally. Not sure if that was a hint or a fashion statement. I ignored it.

Tomorrow is "spirit day". What better day to cap off Spirit Week than spirit day?! She was on the dance team, so she has plenty of spirit shirts, right? WRONG! She hates the dance team shirts, she misplaced her spiritwear t-shirts, so she needs to make a spiritwear shirt. Which for all intent and purposes, would be fine. Except by the time I got home and finished running errands, it was, oh, about 6:23. Dear Husband and The Dude were working, Youngest Child (otherwise known as Homebody) didn't want to leave the house. So I decided to go against my better judgement and take Oldest Child to get something to eat and stop by the dreaded Wal-Mart ont he way home.

There is a reason I don't go to Wal-Mart except for once a week...and when the new Kroger opens up at the end of my street, I will go to Wal-Mart a lot less than once a week...money just jumps out of my checking account. But off we go. I needed some cough medicine for Youngest Child and ingredients to make vegetable soup for DH for this weekend. In case you've forgotten, the girls and I will be with our second family this weekend. So Oldest Child got fabric paint (3 colors, because one color would be...hmmm...boring). A t-shirt. And walked out a mere $41.23 later. Nevermindthefact that I have bought $78 milk at Wal-Mart before.

But I will be able to live with myself all day long tomorrow knowing that OC will be all decked out in her homemade spirit shirt tomorrow and all is well with the world...for now.

Note to self: how bet next time there's something going on each day, we write it down in our agenda the week before, decide on Saturday what we want to do each day, and make a list and get everything at once...what a concept.

EDITED TO ADD: She wore the tacky dance team shirt afterall...oh, to be 13 again...(NOT!)

I'm Old

Not officially...not until tomorrow. But tonight I'm feeling every bit of my 21 years times two. You see, Lynne had to go out of town unexpectedly. And nothing happens unexpectedly when you have four children ages 4 and under. Luckily for her, I have no life and a husband who was working all weekend, so I was able to move in to her house and play Supermom for a mere 24 hours. I have just one request: pray for Lynne. I honestly don't know how she does it, especially with a husband who travels like Clif.

It has taken me, Oldest Child and Youngest Child, and we all feel like we've been run over by a Mack truck. For her to be as organized as she is, and have the kids on a schedule like she does, and have them all eating healthy like they do, she has to work at least 26 hours a day! Her house looks like a tornado has come through it (but don't tell her; I'm hoping to have it all clean by the time she comes home!). The kitchen is the cleanest part - thank goodness she has a working dishwasher! Hopefully when the kids go to bed tonight, we can at least get all the toys back in the toy room instead of the toy room, the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, the master bedroom, and the stairs. Hopefully I will get my second wind and have her house in recognizable condition when she walks through the doors late tonight. Hopefully, she will walk in to a clean house, with four soundly sleeping, clean children who will sleep until at least noon tomorrow.

What have I learned this weekend? It takes a village. No, I am not endorsing any political candidate, but noone can truly do this alone. I have forgotten that toddlers have a boundless amount of energy from the time they wake up until the time they fall asleep. I have forgotten that toddlers like to "help" you do everything. I have forgotten that four year olds think that just because the sun is shining it means it's OK to go outside and play...nevermind the fact that it is 45 degrees outside; the sun is up, so we need to be outside. I have forgotten that wintertime in toddlerville means noses...lots and lots of noses. Everytime someone sneezes, I have to find out (a) which one it was and (b) do they need a tissue. Teenagers have one thing going for them: they can wipe their own noses.

And to think, I get to do this all over again next weekend! Next weekend has been on the calendar for awhile; this weekend just came up. So I get six days to rest and recouperate before I get to come back over and spoil these amazing miracles that are running around like wild banchees.

Starting High School off with a BANG!

Yes, you read correctly...in exactly 12 weeks, I will officially have a high schooler on my hands. The sappy, sentimental stuff will come later (maybe). Tonight was parent night at the new high school. When did I find out about the parent night, you ask? When the phone tree called the house and left a message. Tomorrow, schedules with elective classes selected are due. When did I find out about schedules being due, you ask? When the teacher across the hall from me who also has an eighth grader going to the same school asked me what electives Oldest Child was taking because she knew I was so on the ball and so organized that our schedule would already be completly filled out and waiting anxiously in the agenda to be turned in.

Oh, geez, am I ever going to survive high school?? If I were a mean mother (reminds me of another Erma Bombeck post for another day), I would complete fill out the electives section with courses she (a) hates, (b) doesn't need, or (c) that none of her friends will be taking. But I'm not a mean mother. I'm a rather giving, kind, caring, considerate mother who only wants the best for her Oldest Child (Youngest Child, too, but she's severely low-maintenance right now). So Oldest Child and I will talk about the electives issue while we are driving 20 minutes...at 7:30 on a cold, rainy night when DH and YC are curled up in their jammies watching a movie...to Bible study. If I remember correctly, I think somewhere in the Old or New Testament I read about getting an extra star in my crown for stuff like this...

Valentine's Day

Every year, DH asks me what I want for Valentine's Day. Usually, he's not surprised to find out I want to go out to a fancy resturant, no kids, just me, him, and 4,634 of our best friends. Everywhere in Atlanta is crowded on Valentine's Day. Everywhere in Atlanta is usually crowded when it's NOT Valentine's Day. So I started thinking about it early this year; afterall, he hasn't given me a present since Christmas, so time was of the essence.

Imagine my surprise when I started tracking the Nascar season back in early January. I live for Nascar; I love Nascar. I can get so much laundry folded (or sleep so soundly) when there is a Nascar race in the background. Imagine my excitement when I found out the Gatorade Duals would be held on Valentine's Day.

My perfect, romantic evening was planned: Record the Duals because they start at 2:00 - hellooooo, most people are working at 2:00 in the afternoon. I love my DVR. Order pizza. Get in our comfy jammies...sit in front of the TV watching Nascar.

And it was a night to be remembered. Nothing says romance like delivery pizza and Nascar.

Prayer Updates

Thank you for your continued prayers for William. He is on the mend from the flu, and so far, all of his family is flu-free! But as a side note, Matt Galley, another Barth boy, continues to struggle in the ICU in Australia awaiting a heart transplant. One of the complications of having Barth syndrome is that the heart is a muscle, and can be drastically affected by the simplest illnesses. So please say a prayer for Matt today; say a prayer for William's continued improvement; and hug your little ones a little bit closer today.

Pray for William

Back in the fall, I sent out a request to help a mother of a Barth Syndrome boy win air miles to their conference this summer. She won. Tonight, I'm asking that you send up prayers for William, who is also a Barth boy. But William is a personal friend and William has the flu. Luckily, they didn't keep him in the hospital tonight, so he will be able to rest at home. But knowing his mom and dad the way I do, they won't do much resting; they will do a lot of praying.

Specifically pray that William is able to battle this illness without losing his strength. Pray that his heart will stay strong during the process. Pray for his parents and brother and sister, that they remain flu free and this is short-lived in their household.

For those of you who hunt, or those of you with hunting spouses (yes, Big Mama, that would be you!), William is also David Blanton's nephew. He recently took William "hunting" and wrote a wonderful article about it on his blog. If I were technologically savvy (Lynne, you can stop laughing now...), I would link you directly there. But since I'm not...I will tell you that you can go to http://www.realtreeoutdoors.com/blanton/ and scroll down until you see a post titled "My Hunting Buddy".

Julie, William's mother, has passed on prayer requests from time to time for other boys and their families. There are only about 100 boys worldwide who have been diagnosed with this so they have a very close group. Recently, a 10 year old boy who had just been to the cardiologist and got very good and encouraging results died of a sudden arrhythmia. So they are always holding their breath. Please say a prayer for William.

Spring has Sprung

Not according to the calendar, of course, but according to my daffodils. Yes, you read that right...I have a daffodil blooming in my front yard. If I were multi-talented, I would take a picture of it and show it to you just to prove it. But since I'm technologically challenged (actually, I think I'm a hopeless case!), you will have to picture it in your mind.

Spring is my favorite season of the year. I love the way God makes all things new in the spring. I love the way we usually have birds build nests near our house so we can watch. I love the way the days get longer and the nights get shorter. I like the way I can sit on my front porch and drink sweet tea and watch the girls play...and not swealter in the heat and humidity. I love the smell of fresh cut grass at the beginning of the season.

And if my daffodils are blooming, can my azaleas and iris' be far behind?

Jobs

I've had this post in my head for some time, but am just now sitting down to write it. I've thought a lot about jobs lately. Mostly jobs I could never hold. Mind you, I've been working since I was 16 - at the local Dairy Queen. It was THE place to be in my small town. Then in college I worked the switchboard - yes, I was even "the mayor" back then because I even knew what was going on at my college. Then I was an administrative assistant for a large athletic company. Then I was a SAHM for 4 years. And now I teach in a public school.

What job could I not do? The top of the list is mail carrier. Stop and think about it for a minute - how much junk mail do you receive on a daily basis? If I were your postal carrier, I could take care of over half of that because imagine...the postal carrier is loading the mail into the truck in the early morning. Junk, junk, junk...credit card application, junk, sale flyer...it's all going in the trash anyway. I'll just go ahead and throw it in the trash now. Yes, I know it's illegal and I wouldn't last very long in that job.

Convenience store clerk. I would be convinced everyone coming into the store had a gun and was going to rob me.

School bus driver. I can teach the kids, I just can't transport them to and from school. In the classroom, they're in front of me. On the school bus, they are behind me.

Any armed service, God bless them. That's not even an issue since I would never be able to pass the physical to get into the service, so that one is a no-brainer.

Nurse/doctor. First of all, the studying it requires for either is astronomical. Then you have to look at all that blood.

The person who stands and holds the "stop/slow" sign when they're doing road work. Do you know how hot they get on the hot days? Or how cold they get on the cold days? And all that standing...I'd have to bring one of those port-a-chairs you carry with you so I could sit and hold the sign while I was sweating or freezing.

So what about you? What job could you not, for all the money in the world, be able to do?

Mom of the Year

...for a minute anyway. I didn't go to school today; I was "sick". But I had to venture from my "death bed" to run a couple of errands. While I was out, even in my "deliriously sickly state", I remembered that the new Clique book came out today. And if you're a regular reader, you know that I go to great measures to keep Oldest Child happy. So I found the new book and waited in the extremely long line...or behind two other people...and her book was waiting in her room when she got home from school.

Needless to say, she was proclaiming accolaids to me/for me/about me for a- whole five minutes at least!

It lasted until we got to the eye doctor and I hugged her daddy (you know, my HUSBAND) hello and it totally embarrassed her and she couldn't believe we would do that out in public and the huffy breaths and eye rolling started.

Oh, the joys of living with a thirteen year old - kinda like the weather in Georgia...if you don't like it, stick around for five minutes because it will change.