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Usually when moms get sick (or this mom, anyway) everything falls apart.  The house is a mess, nothing gets done and no one gets fed.

But today, I’m thinking that maybe I should get sick more often.  Derek’s out of town but cleaned the kitchen last night before he left.  This morning Jacob helped with breakfast and even cleaned everything up.  There was no fighting.  And when we were dropping Jacob off for school he gave this little speech to his brother:

"Ok, Boo-Boo, you’re going to have to take care of mom while I’m gone, because I won’t be there to help her.  You be good, ok, boo."

Aaahhhhhhhh…I love those boys. 

Doing a heaping load of laundry today!  For a long time I’ve been wanting to post a picture of "things I find in the laundry"…rocks, notes, sticks, acorns, etc.  But I always forget and just throw stuff away.  But today’s find takes the cake for laundry finds.  At the bottom of Jacob’s basket, I find this…

Not just a couple of rocks in his sock, but a full quarry of rocks bulging the sock!!  Cracked me up!  What gave him the idea to put a bucket of rocks in his sock!  Church socks, none the less!  Oh boy!

Thought it would be fun to faux finish the kitchen.  And it is…but after 7 hours of work and just one wall finished and a hand that is cramping and a shoulder that is sore, I have to wonder, as usual, WHAT WAS I THINKING?

What do you think?  Don’t judge it until you see it in person.

I’m on my way to change the marquee with my 3-year-old.  It’s 33 degrees outside according to my Weatherbug.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I’m such a Texan.  When there’s a winter storm advisory coming I secretly hope it will shut down everything and we’ll be able to stay home all weekend…no birthday parties, no soccer game, etc.  Here’s hoping for ice!

Not really.  But today I had a moment where I wish I had chosen that profession.  And this is why:

I was up on the ladder faux painting the kitchen, and Jacob said (I can’t remember the context of the conversation) to Caleb, "Girls can’t be pilots."  WELL…that caught my attention.

ME:  "Oh, yes, they can!"

Jacob:  "No, mom, only boys can be pilots."

Well, that set in motion a good conversation about all of the things that girls can do just like boys!  We decided that girls can’t be daddies and boys can’t be mommies, but those were about the only professional gender limitations.

I want so much for my boys to respect women and the capabilities that women have.  And although I don’t work out of the home, I want them to know that it is a decision I have made consciously, not a fall-back job because it was the only thing I was good at (which is debatable)!  It’s funny how children perceive things based on what they see.  They’re pediatrician is a woman so in our conversation today Jacob instinctively said "Most doctors are women".  Funny how I wouldn’t ever think to have this conversation with them unless it was brought up.  But what an important dialogue for little boys…actually…for all boys!

it’s funny.

Saw this on someone’s blog today.  I have been trying for 5 minutes, and still can’t do it.

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot
off the floor and make clockwise circles with it.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the
air with your right hand.. Your foot will change direction!!!

And there is nothing you can do about it.

This forecast makes me laugh…only in Texas!  We’ll enjoy the 80 degree days while we have them.

I think that retailers must love me.  I’m exactly what they’re hoping for, and exactly what my husband is hoping against! He, he, he.

This is what causes me to buy things:  If something comes into my line of vision, thought, hearing, etc., three times or more in a relatively short period of time, I instinctively think I am supposed to have it.  Crazy?  Maybe. 

Example:  This book (Parenting with Love and Logic).  I’ve heard about it a million times.  No big deal.  But lately my neighbors have been talking about it.  And I’ve heard about it on the radio. And I’ve seen it referenced on a blog.  And it’s all been in the span of 3 weeks.  Ok, ok, I give…I’ll get it.  Bought it yesterday.

Another example:  THESE…ugly, kind of.  But comfy, YES!  And kind of cute too.  And very stay-at-home mom with cool fashion sense-ish.  I had never heard of them until about a week ago and then all of a sudden I’ve seen them twice on a blog, once on Oprah with Faith Hill and on Martha Stewart’s show.  MUST mean I’m supposed to have them if they come up that much in a week!  I got them in a conservative, go with anything, black.  Maybe this summer I’ll get them in PINK!

Here’s my day:

J to school, C to school, home to fulfill marquee duties and get paper for Kinder party, to Lowes (painting the kitchen), to Half Price Books, to mall (oh let’s see I have 25 minutes I’ll hit Barnes and Noble, Z Gallerie, Elegant Interiors, Dicks Sporting Goods, Overland Trading Co, Nordstrom, and back to B&N…my legs were tired from speed walking), to Tom Thumb, get Caleb, to Kroger, back home.  Take C to friend, go to school to choreograph a V’day party for 22 Kindergarteners which includes an overzealous craft and messy cupcakes, go home, cook special V’day meal (chicken parmesan) for 12 (Supper Club), try to have a calm, but meaningful meal with my boys, babysit Jacob while he does his homework, get boys ready for bed, sit here looking at a kitchen full of dirty dishes and painting supplies in my kitchen………………..

It’s a blessed life…but a busy one.  I’m worn out!

Love this Valentine that Jacob made at school.  (Ignore the weird scanning things…I don’t have a cool program that erases all that stuff.)

On Valentine’s Day in 1997, I was in college.  And I hated this holiday…nobody real exciting to date or share the day with.  In fact, I just assumed we skip it altogether.  But that evening my roommate and I were making dinner and had the TV on…we were watching Entertainment Tonight (ahhh…such a quality program!).  And at the end, with the credits rolling they played a song by Jim Brickman and Martina McBride called "Valentine".  It stopped me in my tracks! I loved that song!  I am (was) a romantic deep down, but don’t like to admit it.  I ran out that night (nothing else to do) and bought the CD and decided that one day I would play that song at my wedding…it renewed my faith in Valentine’s Day!

Fast forward to August of that year and I met Derek.  In Jan of ’98 we started dating.  In July of ’98 we got married.  And my mom played "Valentine" on the piano as we took our first (albeit clumsy) dance. 

I still love this song…even more now than in 1997.

Download martina_mcbride_jim_brickman_my_valentine.mp3

And today (sitting here wearing my red shirt, heart socks, red shoes, and heart earrings…overdone, I think not!) I think of my Valentine, somewhere in a meeting in California, sick with a cold and wishing he was here with us.  I love you.  The boys have assured me that some kind of surprise is coming via delivery today, and they’ve said it’s "not flowers, mom" several times with big smiles on their faces.  Hmmm…I wonder what it is.

I’ve been looking in my Disney photos trying to decide which ones to have printed for the scrapbooks.  Found two that I haven’t shared that I think should be the next "Come to Disney World" print ad pictures.

What can I say, the boy loves beautiful women!

Fatigue was setting in, but he still had the ears and a smile on!