My Day in a List

1. I woke up at 7:45 this morning. This never happens on the weekend. Getting up this early, I mean. I was just too excited by the thought of there being no children in the house.
2. I worked on jewelry stuff while Chris slept.
3. I made a pot of coffee.
4. He woke up and we cleaned downstairs.
5. We watched the movie The Hangover in the middle of the afternoon and laughed a lot (and loudly since there was no one here taking a nap).
6. I stayed in my pajamas until 4pm then took a shower to go over to Frankie and Greg's for dinner.
7. We stayed out late and came home to an empty, quiet house.
8. I miss my children.

A Day With No Children

It has been a VERY long time since Chris and I have been without all 3 children for an entire day with no time limits on what we plan on doing. We met my parents at Perimeter Mall for the hand off, so since we were already there, we decided we should do a little window shopping. They have an Anthropologie there. This is my happy place. Although I have never bought anything there, when I win the lottery, I will shop there exclusively. Just so you know. Today I fell in love with the above hat (oh so cute!) and the below glasses. One of my friends went through a phase where she wore fake glasses...everyday...and even reached for them before she would read something. Today I considered joining her. I don't need readers, but I wanted them. Badly. You would not believe how cute I looked in these. And then with the hat.....big sigh.
And then for lunch we went to The Cheesecake Factory. The one in Atlanta (when there was just one) used to be a very hot date night when I was in high school. It was a "special occasion" restaurant. Today felt like a special occasion to me, so we ate there. I believe that I could eat their avocado eggrolls every day of my life. Seriously. Heaven on a plate. And the roasted vegetable pizza that I had wasn't too shabby either.

All Is Well

All is well. It is true. I have a list of things to worry about, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that really and truly, all is well.

We went to church this morning and I realized as I sat there, looking around me, that when tragedy (of one kind or another) strikes me or my family (because all families face some kind of tragedy at one time or another), I know that these will be the people that I will be able to turn to and lean on. Even looking at the empty space where certain families were missing today, I counted them on my list. I watched the girls sing with the children's choir, surrounded by their little friends, and realized that the mothers of these children know where I am in my life and understand because they are there too. I know that this sounds like a no brainer, but really, it consumed my thoughts as we sat together in worship. We have been regularly attending our church for almost 7 months now and I had yet to have this feeling. But I had it today and I don't think that it is one that will pass. I am grateful for their friendship, for our shared faith, for the strength and comfort that I find sitting next to my dear mother-in-law more Sundays than not. And again, all is well.

We came home, fixed lunch for the kids and then I hit the gym. The first person I saw when I walked in was the husband of one of my best friends. He and his wife helped me through some of the most trying times in my life and I was genuinely glad to see him. We talked while we walked on our neighboring treadmills then his wife and daughter met him up there. We had our normal, catching up, conversation...again, it hit me, all is well.

After the gym I did our grocery shopping for the week. I stocked up on our usual veggies and even threw in some fruits for good measure. Peaches. I do like a sliced peach. Perhaps I will eat them (with some whipped cream, of course. What do you think? That I was seriously going to make the jump from potato chips to fruit without a step in between???) tonight instead of my chips. Chips were even buy one get one free and I walked right passed them. At that point I figured I need to hurry on home....Chris was probably thinking that I was running away.

Q was down for a nap. I ate my salad and read a little and now this. No matter the worries, fears or anxieties that I have in my life, I know this one thing to be true....all is well.

***note - this statement can also be found on a most delightful necklace here.

Snow Day '10

Yes, its true. I am home from work because our county has a snow day. I actually live in a different county where there is no snow on the ground...much to the dismay of my children. We did let the girls go outside yesterday before dinner to run around in the flurries. When they came back inside, Chandler was very disgusted...

"There wasn't even enough snow for a smidge of a snowball!"

Yes, I know. I failed to mention to her that Grandpa got at least 5 inches of snow just yesterday in Chicago...and it was just yet another day with snow for him. As a child, snow is wonderful. I know this because I spent the first 8 years of my life in Chicago. And even more than that, I was super lucky - we lived on a corner lot in a subdivision and when they plowed, they dumped it all in my front yard! Yay! I spent many afternoons creating tunnels through the 6 feet of snow in our front yard (wearing snow boots, ski bibs and a ski mask - things my children have never had to wear before). As an adult...thank God we don't live in snow! I can't imagine how my parents felt about the 6 feet of snow in the front yard. Yikes!

So, I am preferring to call this my "Cold Weather Day." This justifies me staying in my sweatshirt and fuzzy slippers all day. I am not going to leave the house (even though I did contemplate it) because it is my Cold Weather Day. I am not going to the gym today because today is Cold Weather Day.

I did, however, spend the morning dreaming of spring. I love spring. Let me say it again, I love spring. I love my skirts and cute sandals. I love wearing a cardigan over my t-shirts and feeling plenty warm. I love bright colors and the promises that I spring always makes to me. You know, the one that says the school year is winding down, a visit to Chicago is on the way, my children will get to swim soon...those promises? And because of my thinking of spring, I felt that I needed to put these lovely lime beads to good use. You should click on my etsy shop link and take a look. It will make you dream of spring too. :)

Snow Day?

The county that I work in has already decided to make tomorrow a half day. We will released at 12pm, so that everyone can make it home in time before the big snow hits. I am kind of excited about it - the getting out early - I'm still not 100% convinced that it will actually snow. Time will tell on this one, right?

I did stop by the store on the way home today. (I was all off schedule with my grocery shopping from the break, so it had to happen, snow or no snow.) Chris picked up all 3 kids. I beat them home and was unloading the groceries (while talking on the phone to my MIL) when they pulled in. Chandler flung open the door, walked into the kitchen and greeted me with this...

"If it snows tomorrow, can we ride our boogie boards down the hill in the backyard?"

Um, hi Honey, how was your day? Really? That's what you've got for me? Yes, Chan. Yes, you can ride your boogie boards down the hill in the backyard if it snows tomorrow. So, following the directions of her teacher she has done a snow dance and is sleeping with her pajamas on backwards and inside out. We'll see if that worked in our favor or not.

Chris took his turn at the gym tonight. He is an overachiever and ran 3 miles in 45 minutes. Jerk. I am quite sure that he will be sore tomorrow and then I will laugh at him. Sheesh. *shaking head*

Aren't you proud of me? Six posts in six days. How am I finding time for this? you might ask. Well, I've decided to stop folding the laundry. Instead, I am just making large piles on top of the beds and we are sleeping under it for added warmth. Yep. No more folded, winkle-free clothes in this house. But we do have lots and lots of blog posts. Chris might not agree, but I think its a fair trade.

Yes, well, um

On my way home I saw a horrific accident happen right in front of me. Literally. At the inter by the Kroger - the light was red, very red, and I slowed down to join the cars that were already waiting at the light. The big gray truck next to me was still speeding along and then drifted in front of me. I thought to myself, he must be getting in the turn lane. And then I thought, maybe his brakes are out and he is going to swerve around everyone to get through the intersection. Only he didn't swerve and he didn't slow down. He didn't tap his brakes even once, and he plowed into the two cars ahead that were stopped at the light. He was going at least 65 mph. They all crunched together and then slammed into the intersection of cars that had the green light. I have never heard the sound of a pile up before and I wish that I never had now. The glass that exploded all over the road was amazing - in a non-amazing way. People were instantly out of their vehicles running through the intersection, cell phones in hand to try and help people. I sat there in shock. I was now the first person in the lane when I should have been the fourth. It was not an ok feeling. My arms were numb. I didn't know what to do. There was already a slew of people on phones, doing what they could to help. Smoke poured from the engine of the big gray truck. I eased over to the right lane next to me and just sat there. And then the police arrived. I turned rt and went through the Kroger parking lot to bypass the accident and get back on my way home. I cannot even begin to tell you the guilt that I feel - I should have stopped. Not to help - I know that there was nothing that I could do - but to tell someone that the big gray truck never even tried to stop. I think that I owe it to the other people in the accident. They did absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing. Big sigh.

I went to the gym tonight. I walked on the treadmill - 1.65 miles in 33 minutes. I did a warm up and a cool down. I have watched enough Oprah to know that this is what I should do. I felt very awesome in my sports bra, work out pants, and new running shoes (Yes, I did also wear a shirt, but that wasn't new, so why mention it?). I called my mother on the way to the gym. This is how our conversation went...

Me: I'm going to the gym to work out.
Mom: Oh. *shocked and speechless*
Me: Yeah, Chris and I thought this would be a good thing to do for ourselves.
Mom: Oh, well, um, don't hurt yourself, Honey. *oozing with honest to goodness concern*

Ahhhh, such confidence in me. But, I did not hurt myself. Although I do have some things to remember for the future, like, I should not try and look at the back of the treadmill while walking. I felt like I needed to know how close I was to the edge. I almost threw up, and I wasn't close at all. Not a good idea. My legs are currently burning. Burning is good, right?

It's About Time...

I must admit it...I am a blogaholic. I LOVE reading other people's blogs. I pretty much check my friend Jessica's blog everyday (and usually laugh out loud), along with a variety of other people's, blogs for school, blogs in the SLM field, random blogs that I stumble upon...essentially if I know that you have a blog, then you can count me among your readers. Why has it taken me this long to start writing my own blog? I have no idea. So, it is definitely about time.

We are actually in the middle of a busy weekend and I am procrastinating. I have a TON of homework to do for grad school (class on Monday night) and we have been on the go, and are of course, watching the Georgia game, but starting the blog sounded like a really good idea. :)

The girls went to softball camp at the high school today. They have decided that they definitely want to be cheerleaders more than they want to be softball players. Chris and I were completely expecting a phone call this morning to come and get them because of some crazy injury. There was an injury, but no phone call. :) Casey decided to catch the ball with her forehead - she has a lovely purple bruise. She wanted to know why its called "softball" when the balls are not soft at all.

The weekends are hard with Quinn. He was 4 1/2 weeks old when I went back to work, so we never really got an "at home" schedule worked out. At the sitter's he takes good long naps everyday and we have a pleasant evening together, but over the weekends we're all off schedule he sleeps in these little nap segments that end up not doing anyone any good.

We had a great long weekend last week - I'm going to attempt putting up some pictures from it. :)