Face Mask

My daughter, AbiLyn, doesn't need a whole lot of sleep. She goes to bed between 9pm and 10 pm, and is up ready to go anywhere from 7:45am to 9am. Compared to her brother, that's not much. If she takes a nap, lately, it's only about 45 minutes. Well, as she's gotten older, it has become more and more difficult to get her to go to sleep. It's been a struggle for years, but the past few months, it has become extremely frustrating. I wouldn't even bother with it except that on the days she doesn't get a nap, she starts to absolutely LOSE IT over everything beginning at about 6pm. Well, that's when Eric gets home from work and we have dinner, so our daily family time isn't very enjoyable for ANYONE!

Last weekend I went on a Girls' Trip to Chattanooga with my sisters, mom, and AbiLyn. Well, in the excitement of getting ready to go, I wanted to buy AbiLyn a little something. She is so girly and prissy, I decided to get her a little sleeping mask from the $1 aisle at Target. She LOVED it! She sleeps in it all the time. Nap time is a complete breeze now. As long as I make her lay down and put it on, she goes right to sleep.

Eric and I decided that was the best purchase of the year!

By the way, you can read about our trip to Chatt on my sisters blog by clicking on "Girls' Trip" above.

New Job

I got a job at Cyber Cafe on MTSU campus. I will be a night and weekend supervisor. (don't be fooled... it barely pays more than minimum wage) It's the only late night venue on campus, and is centrally located to all the dorms, so they don't get really busy until the night. We currently have a Subway and a Kirkenburts. We are in the process of getting a Smoothie Bar and a Starbucks. Those may not be ready til after Fall Break though. It should be fun. I really want to learn how all of this works since Eric and I want to have our own coffee shop, eventually.

I was sooo relieved to get a job that would work with our schedules without having to put my kids in some type of childcare. Eric will have to do dinner and bedtime alone, but I'll be able to be home with them during the day. It will probably be tough for a while, but it will provide some much needed progress in our finances! I'm sure I'll have lots stories to tell about it.

Sugar Babies Results

I got my check in the mail today for what I consigned in the Sugar Babies Consignment Sale a few weeks ago.

I sold a lot of the fall/winter clothes AbiLyn and Lex had outgrown from last year. In order to have very first choice of clothes in the workers sale and have the consignors' entrance fee waived, I worked 10 hours the last day of the sale, breaking it down.

After selling last years items and purchasing, pretty much, a whole fall/winter wardrobe for this fall/winter (including 2 pairs of shoes, each, and winter coats) I ended up with... drum roll please... a +$60 balance! I'm pretty pleased!

Guilty Pleasure

I love to litter. I haven't done it since I was a teenager, maybe early twenties, but I do still get, and suppress, the urge now and then.

It all started when I was about 15. Dad bought my sister, Michele, an older mustang convertible to drive/tote me and my other sister, Carla around in. It wasn't super nice, but it was a CONVERTIBLE!

One particular time, I distinctly remember my mom telling us not to make any extra stops on our way home from church. So, what did we do? Naturally, we pulled though the Checkers that was on our way. They have the BEST french fries. Knowing mom, being the wonderful mom she is, would have dinner ready when we got home and having the added bonus of being told not to make any stops, we had to dispose of the evidence. It was so easy with the convertible. It was a back road that, at the time, wasn't even in the city limits. All you could see were empty fields in both directions. We just raised our Checkers' litter above our heads and let it go. Unfortunately, now I associate the freedom of that time in my life and the "badness" of that small disobedience with littering. Oh well, it's a battle I'll fight the rest of my life.

Gods Rollercoaster for Parents

Today has been one of those days that makes me want to run away from home. Luckily, my husband is so hot, I would never seriously consider that.

Why, oh why, do children have random bursts of mental retardation? I can't understand it. Nap time... such a simple concept. A 4-almost-5-year-old should be able to grasp this, right?
Easy steps to a good nap: Turn on humidifier and ceiling fan, close blinds, pull hanging curtains over window, lay down on top of fluffy white down comforter, pull today's favorite stuffed animal close, cover up with personalized "Abigail" blanket, close eyes... sleep!

It's even easier when your (smirk) beautiful, hip mother does everything for you to have this perfect nap. BUT WAIT... I need to sing, potty, put on lip gloss, read, sing some more, tell a story to an empty room, brush hair, tangle hair in lip gloss, put sponge rollers in the mane of Lex's stick horse, stare with a blank look at my beautiful, hip, mother as she threatens me with a paddling, ("If I hear one more sound -look at my face- coming out of your throat, I will -look at my face- spank you with the paddle. AbiLyn, -look at my face- what will happen if -look at my face- I hear one more -look at my face- sound coming from your room?") endure 2, YES 2, paddlings, in spite of said warnings.

Finally, I give up on thinking she will be able to fall asleep simply out of fear of yet another spanking. I just sit on the end of her bed, stewing about the stubbornness of this disobedient child, and reading my book... It crosses my mind, that I am reaping what I sewed as a child, but I quickly push that out of my mind. Then this crazy thing happens... My intense anger at this obstinate child evaporates. I happened to look at her face at the exact moment her eyes finally dipped closed and stayed closed. I stare at her beautiful eyelashes as they rest against her cheek; her lips that, when relaxed, stay in a bit of smile. I realize that I'm looking at complete peace: a 4-almost-5-year-old, asleep on a white, down comforter with the glow of the closed pink curtains from the window making the pink of her cheeks and the red of her lips resemble a fairy tale princess, listening to nothing but the humidifier and ceiling fan. I wonder, is there anything more beautiful than her?

That's when it hit me, God knew what he was doing when He made kids so darn cute! He was ensuring that the human race would exist past Cain and Abel!

I Can't See You!

My daughter, AbiLyn, LOVES to sing. She sings all the time... real songs, made up songs, instructions I've just given her, etc. She just flutters around the house singing. She really loves to sing about Jesus. It's so pure and sweet that I can't help but smile when I hear it coming from another room while I stomp around, taking care of my daily chores. It softens me and I'm so thankful for that.

The other day, she was singing about Jesus and how much she loves Him. Then I heard, "Jesus, you're in my heart. I wish you could come out of my heart because I can't see you when you're in there." I just had to laugh, albeit quietly, to myself. I would never want her to feel self-conscious about it, but it was so funny. Ahhh, kids.

Who's the Real Victim?

I was going to blog on this incident that occurred while my husband, Eric, was taking our 2 kids and our dog for a walk yesterday, but he did a great illustration of it today and told the story wonderfully.... so here it is:

Even though the file is huge, when I tried to expand the illustration, the words were still blurry. Below is a direct quote of the story above:

"Sometimes we let Caesar run loose in the fenced off intramural fields behind our house. The kids are NOT supposed to go in because I can't fit between the gates held by the chains. Yesterday, however, everyone decided to throw a coup against me and run in the fields like wild animals. After being penned up all day, Caesar was especially rambunctious. He knocked AbiLyn down and stole her flip-flops. She started screaming at the top of her lungs, frozen to the spot in the middle of the field, and apparently instantly deaf as she would not follow my instructions from beyond the fence. People on the track were stopping to stare at the child mauling scene as Lex walked up to Caesar and started whacking him with the little stick pony he brought along. I had to 'jump' the fence and stop the madness before the cops came. I can barely walk today because I bruised both of my heals when I 'jumped.' Oh well, a small price for saving my 4-year-old from my dog, my dog from my 1-year-old, and myself from serious jail time."