Thursday, September 4, 2008

Surprise, surprise

Yesterday was a rare day filled with (good) surprises. They're so unrelated that I am going to employ ye olde list format.

1. Scrappy mail! Several months ago Donna Downey created this fabulous fabric album which made me gasp with delight. You know I love me some mini-albums. She made kits available on her site (seriously though, Donna, $55?!?), but noted that the stamps she used were no longer available. I was crushed. Without them my album wouldn't be as cute as hers. The stamps had been a CK kit of the month and had sold out. Naturally their unavailability kindled a burning acquisitive desire in me. I did find several sets on eBay, selling for three and four times their original price of $29.95. To make a long story short because your yawning makes it clear that this is only fascinating to me, I waited it out and finally was able to buy them for the original price. My only concern now is where I am going to store these things. There are a lot of them and the border stamps are 12 inches long. I can't wait to use them!



2. After a meeting at church I was stopped by a friend who gave a lead on a new small private school that might be a good match for Annamarie. So far the only drawback is that driving the two kids to different schools in different counties would mean 180 miles of driving every day.

3. I heard from a very dear old friend that I haven't spoken to in 20 years. We have known each other our whole lives, and his dad baptized me when I was a baby (he was our pastor, so he was qualified to do that). He and I became good friends through our church youth group and oh my soul do I have good memories of those times. I am so excited to catch up with him.

4. I should have given this one top billing. Thomas had a wonderful day and cleaned the entire kitchen on a whim while I was chatting with my old friend via email. He did a great job and seriously, this news is about as unlikely as hearing from someone after 20 years.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Cool cat



With his mom's sunglasses on.

The kids and I spent Labor Day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the park was surprisingly uncrowded. Thomas and Annamarie would get off a ride and holler, "Can we ride again?" as they ran by me to get in the short line again. I would look up briefly from the book I was reading in the shade, nod and turn up my iPod.

It's not hard to be an Awesome Mom on days when you can provide amusement park rides and overpriced sodas and bags of $2.99 a quarter-pound candy. Yesterday we were back to the real world where the PlayStation 2 is grounded in the garage and rooms had to be cleaned, and I needed a Word. (Beth Moore often says that when she's concerned about something, she prays, "God, I need a Word." I wish I could say that the Words that sustain and comfort me unfailingly come from the bible like Beth's do, but truthfully they often come from the pages of bloggers far more eloquent than I. I don't think that necessarily means that God isn't giving them to me, though.)

The words that I needed to read today were written by the amazing Jennifer Mattern at Breed 'Em and Weep. An excerpt that made me weep because I could have written it myself assuming I had Jenn's talent:

I yell. You yell. We all yell. We are absurdly loud, at times. Even the dogs flinch and stare.

I hope you will be all right, now and forever. Your hearing, and your hearts.

I love your hearts very much. I yell because I love you. I really do. That can be true, it turns out.

I yell because I know you can do better.

I yell because I know I should do better, be better to you, but I don’t always know how. And I hate that. More than I can say.

It's not just that it's nice to be reminded that I'm not the only imperfect mom in the world. It's more that even in Jenn's posts about what she sees as failing her children, her overwhelming love for them is what shines through the most. I hope that's just a little bit true of me sometimes.

The Booya Girls are at it again





Four SUPER new articles up at Busy Bee this week...check them out. I swear my acrylic album addiction is getting bad! They are just so much fun to create. For this one I photographed some of my children's school art, printed it on photo paper, and um, archived the originals.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Counting Down

1. Doctor visit to get my stitches out (itching like crazy). 3 days
2. Thomas goes back to school. Alternative title: Welcome back, sanity. 12 days, 17 hours, 7 minutes
3. Trip to Key West for our 15th anniversary. 37 days
4. Ultimate Scrapping Cruise with my BFF Mary Beth. 129 days