Tag Archives: Marriage

Manic Monday

After the whirlwind weekend comes crazy Monday….

Starting off innocently and with bright hopes for the day with a great boot camp, shower, some quiet time and then off to wake up the littlest (our older girl had a sleepover) and then…..at 7:22 a.m. as I was gently waking her and asking what she wanted for breakfast….I realized….I……was the early person.  Yes, the person who “opens up” at 7:30 a.m.  Oh.  crud.  Bless her heart,she opened those eyes and joined “Team Mom” and dressed and got ready in record time as I made lunches and got myself ready.  I made it to work @ 8:06 and FORTUNATELY had NO patients waiting…..phew!!!

Nothing like a little adrenaline to start the day.

The evening was apparently a bit of a peek into what the next few months have in store for us with dueling sports/practices/games going on.  We’ve done this before and I guess enough time must have passed that I forgot how psycho that time was….kind of like being pregnant/giving birth/babies.  So….here we go again.  Lord, have mercy on us.

We have a cheerleader for a Pop Warner football league and a soccer player entering the club bracket for the first time.  We will have NO.  LIFE.   for the next four months. So call me.  maybe.  or text.  or email.  or Facebook me.  or read my blog, it may get interesting as the seasons start (because we’re still in “practice” with no games until September)….on a plus side, I’ll be getting lots of cardio in during the practices, so there’s that.

I thought it went fairly well with Hubby on “deliver-the-girls to practice” duty and me on pick-up.  I had son #2 put dinner in the oven and Hubby would be home in time from his swim to dish it out and get the sides ready, except………somehow…..the oven didn’t actually get turned ON.   Therefore….pancakes, eggs and hash for dinner.  And it was ready.  My Hubby rocks.  and he makes great pancakes, too!  😉

So…..little speedbumps to smooth out…but that’s what practice runs are for, right?   Boys and girls we learned a few good lessons today:

1) Make sure you know WHEN you are supposed to be somewhere.

2) Make lunches the night before.  Time saver here.

3) Teach the boy to push the button PROPERLY…

4)  Always have  pancakes, eggs and hash on hand.  oh, and chocolate chips.  they go good in pancakes and in a REAL crisis you can just eat them by the handful.

Friday: caffeine, cooties and chicken edition

All I can say is T.G.I.F.!!!!!!  It’s been a full and exhausting week and I pray, Pray, PRAY we have zilcho going on this weekend—-even though I know it’s doubtful….I’m still going to pray for it!  Read about Sunburned Jen who also enjoys her coffee (especially when it’s free!) and her other friends/groupies/bloggies and their week HERE!!

  • The Olympics.  Holy.  Cow!  I am loving it.  Every bit.  Diving, swimming and gymnastics take up most of our viewing time due to our TV window in the evening, but a little beach volleyball, rowing, biking have snuck in and I’m really looking forward to track and field.  Anyone else  completely in awe and inspired by all this athletic talent?!?!?!?  The only down side is that with such a time difference here in the States, many of the results are spoiled before we can see the contest AND I’m up WAAAAAAAAY too late and am taking in seriously increased amounts of caffeine to make up for it.  I’ll suck it up.  It’s worth it.
  • The Chicken.  Holy.  Non-cow.  I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken biscuit for breakfast the other day, but I REALLY enjoyed all the pics and news coverage of people all over the country waiting in MASSIVE lines supporting Chik-fil-A, traditional values (crazy, right?), and freedom to speak DIFFERENTLY.  Political correct-ness, be damned.
  • Strep.  Round 2.  What the FUDGE!??!?!  Our youngest is going to have her tonsils yanked (by me!!!) if this keeps up.  OY!  And then dear ole dad/Hubby succumbed to the cooties for a double dose of fun.  Let’s just say the week started off quite bumpy and grumpy but THANKFULLY is smoothing out.  Phew!
  • Adoration.  For a dear friend’s daughter.  There is simply NO better way to spend a lunch hour…although with the drive to and fro it’s a more like 30 minutes, but….I’ll take it!!!
  • Boot Camp.  I make it back.  One day anyway.  (planned on this morning, but last night’s Olympic-viewing killed me for this morning…apparently I didn’t hear the alarm)  I did get some walking in the evening though this week during soccer and cheer practices.  So there’s that.
  • Cloning.  Can we reconsider this?  I’d like a clone of me.  To send to work.  Then I could shuttle kids to and fro to practices/games and work on dinner….OR.  OR.  OR.  I could learn to LET GO and share tasks with my Hubby, my helpmate, my love.  (but it’s so haaaaaaaaaard to not do it all, I say!!!)  Either way, something’s gonna give since with soccer and cheer our fall will be full…right up to January.  I do believe I will begin a love affair with my crock pot, otherwise our family will surely starve to death these next 4 months!
  • Back-to-school will be what kills my weekend.  We start the 20th (yes, 17 days away) and this weekend is “tax-free days” and with 4 kiddos to supply we’ll take every percentage we can get.    I’ll need some beach time to recoup from it for sure!

How’s YOUR week been?  What’s YOUR weekend shaping up to be?  How’s YOUR Olympic experience going??  Check out Jen and the throngs @ Conversion Diary and see what’s going on around the world!   If you haven’t already seen this, I’ll leave you with this tasty idea in caffeine enjoyment! Blessings and Happy Friday!!

What?!?! A cookie coffee cup! Yum!

 

Eat mor’ chik’n

Breakfast….because I only get an hour for lunch, I knew this was my best shot at making the CFA run!

Yesterday was Chick-fil-A appreciation day.  A day where people supported the fact that a restaurant or business is just as entitled to their beliefs as any other person.  Sadly, because Chick-fil-A, a Christian company (I’ve mentioned this before) supports the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman the entire liberal world is up in arms because (gasp) someone doesn’t agree with their view.  It’s not a hate thing, it’s a differing of opinions and I loved to see all the pictures from around the country of people supporting the same idea of FREEDOM OF SPEECH, freedom to express one’s faith and freedom to disagree RESPECTFULLY with one another.

 

 

 

abcnews, fresnobee and abclocal web pics

Hypochondriacs, UNITE!!

Sometimes it’s a problem working in the medical field.  For a lot of reasons.  First, let me assure you, I enjoy my job, taking care of patients (I’m a nurturer), hearing their stories and seeing what’s going on inside the body (I like to pretend I’m a doctor and figure out what’s the problem–makes the day more interesting).  Buuuuuuuut……sometimes I get a little over it and have to dig DEEP for some compassion, because after the 20th whine story I’d rather get a spinal needle in the eye.  Just sayin’….that’s when my friend and I encourage each other with these kind of things:

you are never too old for a “Gold Star”…

The bad thing is that when people get sick at home and I’ve been dealing with sick people all day, sometimes I have to dig even deeper.  Pathetic.  I know.  And this week I’ve had to pull out the big shovel and dig for flippin’ China because we’ve had round 2 of our youngest getting sick AGAIN with a visit to the After hours Ped clinic and diagnosed with a virus lasting 5-7 days. Nausea, fever and all the good stuff that goes with it (if you can read between the lines).  After recent strep throat and treatment for that, I was less than amused to deal with a virus.  Nor was she.  <sigh>  Then it gets good….

Hubby becomes violently ill the next night with our daughter’s symptoms.  Great. (here comes living out that “in sickness and in health” part…. So after a night of holding our daughter’s hair back a few times and about 3 hours of sleep next to the human furnace, I was thrilled to head to work, leaving our 14-year-old in charge of doling out Tylenol and water.  Both of them were basically out of commission the entire day.  I came home from work and went to work bleaching both bathrooms, kitchen and doling out more fluids and meds.  They were rallying, then….

Dearest daughter complained of peeling feet and achy joints.  I made the fatal mistake.  yes.  I web-surfed her symptoms.  I know better.  Let me STRONGLY encourage you.  DO.  NOT.  DO.  THIS.  EVER.  SERIOUSLY.  Every symptom has a bizarre and rare disease to match on the web (this is why you DON’T surf the web for medical advice, people!).  I found a disease for her, too.  I did what any mother would do.  I made her another doctor appointment.  Hubby took her (he is now recovering somewhat).  She did not have Kawasaki disease despite the matching symptoms…PHEW!…she DID (they are pretty sure after the swab)…have another round of Strep throat, so it’s another visit to Publix for free antibiotics and hopefully we are all on the upswing…… but…..

There are 4 other people in the house still, so we will see how it goes!

St. Raphael, the Archangel, patron saint of illness and healing, Pray for us!

A little education is a dangerous thing….

I know it’s not for everyone (though it really IS)……however, knowledge is power, peeps!!  For us, NFP frees me up from remembering to take a pill, get a shot or have something foreign in my body.  NFP is openly communicating with my hubby and growing in faith whether we decide to abstain from (SUPER challenging, BTW…and in my opinion, probably one of the main reasons people don’t want to practice NFP) or embrace the marital bed.  There is ALWAYS the possibility of a new life, plain and simple.  The fact is, life is FULL of unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises.  Life is fluid.  Always changing.  Never the same.  The more we try to control it, the more restless we become in this futile act of “control”.  Life IS.  The better we become at “rolling with it”, the easier it becomes with ALL unknowns, unplanned-fors and surprises.  For us, that is the bedrock of our faith, trusting that GOD has plans for us that we may not understand now (or ever), but His plans are ALWAYS far better than we could imagine and NFP fits right in that belief.  

NFP.  Natural Family Planning.  For some, these words strike fear deep in the hearts, for others its a lifestyle.  That lifestyle can be one deeply entrenched in faith and trusting in God’s plan for family size and being open to the children He provides us with (complete with sleep deprivation, dirty diapers, tantrums and potty training…..as well as that sweet baby smell, soft coos, chubby cheeks, and reliving life through all the “firsts”) OR perhaps it’s a lifestyle of eco-consciousness and organic living.  Whatever the reasons, it’s worth learning about if you are stuck in the mentality of the “rhythm method” or would rather just trust in this amazing body we have and learn to understand it in regards to our health and reproductivity.  One of the places you can learn more about “NFP” is on the long-awaited site, iusenfp, there is a wealth of information about the various methods of NFP, HOW to implement NFP as well as a blog (of course!) and a “real life” section on folks like you and me and how NFP works in their life and in their marriages.  There’s even a great article by Simcha Fisher–in her usual sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek manner on NFP and marriage. (**all cute little buttons are from their site)

 

There’s also 1Flesh.org a site filled with (more) blogging, stories and conversational topics anti-pill, pro-life, etc, etc, etc.  Geared toward a younger generation but a truly In-Your-Face, Let’s-Dialogue on the benefits of an NFP lifestyle.  It’s all kinds of confrontational….in a good and positive way.

There’s the Faith and Family website, where not only are there a myriad of articles each day on, yes, faith and family, as well as each day a forum geared toward a specific topic and today is….NFP.  And trust me, the questions are raw, honest and eye-opening.  You can learn a lot.  I sure do!!

And Catholicmom.com for a variety of topics and columns filled with testimonials, advice and information on NFP, in addition to news, homeschooling, prayers, crafts, parenting and faith topics galore!

These are but just a few areas to look around, feel free to leave your own link in the comment section if you’d like to share.

Blessings!