Cinderella Reflections

Let me start by saying... I miss blogging... I wish I had more time to blog other than the middle of the night when my brain is fried and all the good things I thought of earlier in the day disappeared in the mountain of laundry that is either dirty or in need of folding, or went up in smoke with one of the many fires I had to fight that day... But here I sit again... trying to give you something to read... or maybe just purging my mind... whatever works...

Anyway. I have OCD tendencies. I am OK to admit that. Always had them and they come in spurts and I am not OCD about everything... just some. Like the way I make my bed - has to be perfectly even on both sides. When I use a public restroom I have to go to the middle stall. If that one is taken I start to the right and alternate right to left until I find the vacant one closest to the middle. I alphabetize EVERYTHING. I count when I walk... Just to name a few. Now that you all think I am completely nuts...

So during one of my OCD moments I decided I was going to scrub the kitchen floor. With a toothbrush. I clean the floors and mop on a semi-regular basis. And generally speaking my kitchen floor is usually clean. Wouldn't recommend eating on it, but it's still clean. The grout had begun to get gunky. It was no longer Delorian Gray... it was a combination mud muck and whatever else gets stuck in there over the years. I got out the bleach cleaner and the old toothbrush and sponge and went to town. Still not done but I am about halfway. Refer to opening paragraph about why I don't blog as much as I would like...

So I am down on my hands and knees scrubbing away when John comes walking thru the front door and almost runs me over... "Well Hello there Cinderella."

After my little chuckle at his observation, I started thinking. Cinderella got dealt the crappy hand in life and she didn't complain at all. She had it all. Was Daddy's Little Girl. Then when her dad died and Old StepMonster took over the chateau, she got shoved out to live in the tower. She didn't complain. She made friends with the animals and did her chores with a smile on her face and a song on her lips.

Then ol' Prince Charming needs to get married so they call all the eligible maidens in the land. To keep her excitement at bay her step-mother gives her a huge laundry list of chores to complete before she can go. A little disappointed, she does her bidding. With no time to spare to make a gown her animal friends make her a beautiful dress to wear to the ball, only to have it ripped to shreds by her jealous conniving step sisters.

Here she cries a bit, but she never gets angry and lashes out. More restraint than I would have had.

Enter Fairy God Mother. Man I wish I had one of those. Hooks her up with the gown, the coach, and the chauffeurs. And a CURFEW! What the Heck?!?!?! You are telling me I can go to the Royal Ball and have an opportunity to meet the Prince and possibly fall in love and live happily ever after and finally leave this wretched place and I have a curfew?! What if I can't meet the Prince by then??? What if I need more time??? UGH!

Well... that's what I would have said. But Cinderella doesn't bat one pretty eyelash at that stipulation...

She enters the Castle and is immediately the envy of every maiden there. She has caught the attention of Prince Charming and they dance the night away and fall in love. And wouldn't you know... the clock starts stroking midnight. What luck! Keeping to her obligations to be home she rushes off only to be halfway home and sitting on a pumpkin.

Back to everyday life the next morning. Only this time with a new song to sing. Does she think she's going to fly away with Prince Charming? She knows he's probably not coming for her. She can't even tell anyone it was she who was dancing with the Prince. Even if she did, no one would ever believe her. But she doesn't care. She got to be a princess for a few hours. And she has a souvenir.

Well, when The Kingdom comes calling she gets shoved away in her tower. Her pals, the animals, break her out just in time. She comes down and all her dreams have come true. She is whisked away to the Castle to become Mrs. Prince Charming.

Side Note: So one thing that always makes me wonder... Out of all the eligible maidens in the Kingdom, Cinderella is the only one with her shoe size???

I could really use a reality check from Cinderella sometimes. I like to complain about a lot of things. Laundry, cold weather - snow specifically, the fact that I can't sleep in anymore... to name a few. Some of my complaints are petty and selfish (let's just be honest here). But some of my complaints are rightly justified - as were Cinderellas. But she didn't complain. And good things came to her. Now I don't think my life is a fairy tale or will it end up like one... But I believe in Karma and reaping what you sow.

So next time I start to complain about something I am going to remember my time as Cinderella scrubbing my floors with a toothbrush and maybe I will stop and think and give myself an attitude check.

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life - in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." ~Philippians 2:14-16

Happy Mother's Day and Clean House Here I Come

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! Mine was super fantabulous. We had brunch at one of my faves Louis Benton Steakhouse. Reminisced about Mother's Day brunch from the previous year... Woke up having contractions, went to brunch, then made a quick stop by the hospital to have a baby. All in a day's work, right?

No babies this year... Just a perfect little family that gets on my nerves sometimes but I would not trade any of them for the world. Maybe for an Aston Martin... :)

So I am getting ready to head out to our brunch and I hear John asking Caleb if he told me Happy Mother's Day yet. He says no, so I hear John giving him the low down.

"You need to tell Mommy Happy Mother's Day. This is the one day of the year we tell Mommy Thank You for all she does."

Priceless... I know.


So we have this ongoing discussion at our house about how clean it is or mostly isn't. My husband and I have 2 totally different ideologies on this subject. He wants the house to look sparkling and spotless like it has just been "Spring Cleaned" when he walks in the door. Let's face it... realistically, that ain't gonna happen. I have 2 kids... even if I didn't have kids there is just no way I can do that. You might be able to... but not me. Just not wired that way I suppose. Now don't get me wrong... I am not a slob, I am just distracted.

So anyway... I have been busting my tooshy to keep up the last few months trying to make a noticeable difference. I feel like I am barely treading water with just my nose poking through the surface allowing me to breathe.

Then I run across Christin's blog about her "Incompetent Housekeeper Binder" and I was able to take a sigh of relief. I was not the only one out there. In her blog she talked about her binder and posted a link to FlyLady's website.

So I cruise over there and Oh My Gosh!!! I have only been doing this about a week and already I feel like my life has been transformed. It's so simple I feel stupid for not thinking of it myself... Basically, you break your house into Zones and that is your focus for the week. You still work on other areas of your house at the same time but you are only "surface cleaning" those and you do the "deep cleaning" and de-cluttering in the current Zone. Check it out... it's pretty good stuff.

This week we are working on the Kitchen which also happens to be the entry way to my house. I have gone out 3 times this week and each time I have come home has been the most relaxing entry to my house I have ever had. Even with a few things out of place it just feels good the sense of accomplishment knowing what I have done to make it sparkle and I am not overwhelmed by the chaos that usually comes rushing at me when I walk in.

My Challenge to You

So my friend David posted this on his facebook status the other day:
"Church Marquee: 'Haven't seen you lately'. Thought: That church's model is more attraction than missional."

I was about to post an argument defending the church by saying it was still being "missional" but then I stopped to think a little deeper... and I realized he was right.

We all are guilty of this at some time in our lives. How many times have I said to myself "I haven't heard from Her in a while. I wonder what she's been up to?" And then the thought is filed away somewhere in my obviously unimportant file and I don't act on that thought.

Then there is the friend I haven't talked to in ages and I get upset because THEY haven't called ME. I mean seriously... the phone works both ways. How can I be so hypocritical as to get upset with someone else for doing the exact same thing that I have done.

I have seen so many relationships die because of this selfishness. That's right... I said selfishness. You can candy coat it however you want... but I call it like it is. (I am totally pointing the finger at myself in this post.)

So I challenge you, my faithful readers, to reach out to at least one person you haven't spoken to in a while. With Facebook, Myspace (does that even still exist?), Twitter, text message, AIM and the like so prevalent in our culture today this should be an easy task.

Comment on who (no names, please) and how it went.

Christmas Tree Pictures

So I promised pictures of our Christmas Tree Cutting

Memorial.

Here they are... sorry it took so long to get these posted. By the time I got to downloading my pics I had 1100 on my memory card... three and a half hours later... here they are.

This is our chosen tree. Its a little small... but who cares. One thing I found is that tree farms in Oklahoma and tree farms in Michigan are worlds apart.

Here's Caleb cutting the tree down. He was so cute. Huffing and puffing... back and forth back and forth... Finally asking for help.

Finished product. No decorations... just lights. Dad's decorations were on the other side of the garage... unobtainable.

Age is Just a Number... Right?

So a few weeks ago on January 19 I turned over a new page in my life. I can now no longer consider myself among the ranks of twenty-somethings. That's right... I turned 30! It wasn't as traumatic as I thought it would be. I mean, really, 30 feels just like 29...

Someone asked me if I felt grown up now? Not really... But in some ways yes...

I've thought about my life the past 10 years. I've been married for all of it. Moved 1000 miles away from home. Bought a house. Started a business with my husband.

The past five years are a little different. I've been pregnant five times. Had two miscarriages. Had twin girls where unfortunately one was stillborn and one only lived 6 days. And I have two beautiful, energetic, boys. Caleb almost 3, and Zachary almost 9 months.

If I had to say when I felt grown up and put on my big girl panties I would have to say it was when the twins died. Something about that experience changed my perspective on life. Things I thought were important were no longer on my radar. And other things became more important. Relationships changed. I changed. My whole world changed. My relationship with God changed.

Anyway... that's another blog for another day.

So for my BIG 30, John threw me a big party with 35 of my friends at our favorite restaurant, Louis Benton Steakhouse. So much fun! John took Caleb the whole day and they ran all over town buying me flowers and balloons and Monica's Best Gourmet Cookies which I shared with my guests.

I went to Heidi Christine's Salon and Spa and got a much needed pedicure and spent some Mommy and Me time with Zac.

It was such a wonderful and memorable day. I could not have asked for anything more.

Thanks to all my friends who came to help me celebrate. And a HUGE thanks to John for organizing the whole shindig. Love you!

Holy Cow It's Been A Long Time!!!

Well... ladies and gentleman... all my faithful followers... I am back from hibernation. I just noticed that my last blog was posted on December 9... I knew it had been a while but didn't realize it had been THAT long... Thank you Thank you Thank you for sticking by me. I didn't lose anyone and somehow I pickup up another along the way. Bonus!

I totally thought I would have blogged much more than I did over the holidays. We went to Oklahoma day after Thanksgiving and stayed until New Years. Fun times. It was good to see my fam and the boys really enjoyed hanging out with the grandparents they rarely get to see.

We were constantly going back and forth between my mom and dad's house that I barely had time to situate everyone before it was time to pack up and head back to the other house.

All in all it was a good trip.

That said... I am SO ready for January to be OVER!

John and the boys got colds right before we left to come home. Zac - the youngest - had his cold turn into an ear infection four days after getting home. Got that cleared up and I came down with the worst cold/flu ever on Sunday night and Caleb got it Tuesday afternoon. We watched a LOT of movies that week. Its hard being so sick you can barely function... taking care of an equally sick 3 year old... and a quite healthy full of extra energy 8 month old... We all got well and rejoined the living on Saturday night. John threw me the most amazing 30th Birthday Party on my birthday Tuesday the 19th. Then last Saturday I got food poisoning at lunch and spent 7 hours Saturday night paying homage to the gods and all day Sunday in bed. Never had food poisoning before... let me tell you... not fun. My stomach still isn't quite right. The extreme cramping finally faded last night but it still hurts a little when I eat. I guess the silver lining in the whole mess is that I lost about 6 or 7 pounds between the flu and poisoning.

So I guess that about brings us up to date. We just changed the location of our computer so I should be able to blog a little more often. Bear with me as I get back in the groove of things.