Tag: life

Going Down in Flames on Three

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Mama

I almost got to three this weekend, as in “you better do as I say by the count of three, or else” kind of three; and momentarily, I panicked. A thousand and seven scenarios rushed through my head in just a few brief seconds as I realized I had no idea what the “else” should be for this particular offense.

You see, I’ve never actually made it to three, so I’ve never really fashioned any worthwhile punishments for any of his various acts of disobedience. In fact, for some reason just counting to the number one usually makes my little man jump to it and at worse, I’ve barely ever made it to two.

I’m not sure where or when he realized that counting translated to “mama means business,” but it has come in very handy, especially since I only pull it out as a last resort. I mean, it worked the very first time I tried it and it has worked every time since. . . but Friday evening, in front of the grandparents, I thought I was going down in flames (and it was going to be a spectator sport). Fortunately for me, I was able to pull my chute just in time to realize that he didn’t really understand my request and he was trying to comply, even if it was in a somewhat four-year-old defiant manner.

By slowing down for a quick conversation, we somehow came to a mutual understanding and were both able to float to the ground safely (and with pride intact). . . Of course I’ll need to repack my chute with a little more preparation for future number threes.

photo credit: The Dive via photopin (license)

My 2015 Resolutions: A Step in the Right Direction

Posted on January 3, 2015February 2, 2015 by Mama

So it’s the season of resolutions, and I began these days of goal setting by focusing on three areas of life improvement. . . which quickly became five, no eight, no ten and so on. So I started thinking about how a girl who clearly doesn’t have it together can possible narrow it down to so few areas of change. I mean there is always do these things less, do these things more, finish this, be a better that and lose weight. Yes, the weight thing is always a given.

For example, the wonderful photo collage hanging in my living room was a great, yet slightly expensive, project of mine this year. The conglomeration of frames is nice, but when your four year old starts asking who all those people are, it’s probably time to fill them with actual family photos.

I have three partially started scrapbooks begging to be touched, but instead I keep creating cards because they take far less focus to finish. Of course if I wrapped up the remodel of my craft room, I might find more space and time to work on said projects. Oh, oh, I also want to create one of those cute little “Favorite Moments” mason jars posted all over Pinterest. . . for three years I’ve wanted to make one of those cute little mason jars.

Oh, here’s a good one. . . we have a bathroom light, heater, fan combo for our master bathroom that has been sitting in the floor of our closet for over a year. I can install it, but I can’t wire it because of it’s special needs, so instead of calling the electrician I just look at it longingly and wipe the steam off my mirror after every shower.

I bought a gym membership in October but I haven’t worked out in three weeks, and apparently I partook of way too many Christmas cookies and candy canes. So included in my list of “do mores” is to exercise more, along with read books more, study my Bible more, be a good mom more, finish projects more, scrapbook more, clean house more (that cleaning thing is kind of just an alternate goal). More, more, more, but when I’m already behind, shouldn’t I be more focused on less, less, less?

Ah yes, the “less” column, which includes eat less, procrastinate less, start fewer new projects, lose my cool less, bite my nails less, go to bed with makeup on less, watch TV less and how about go out for family dinner less. I mean these lists could just go on and on.

So after some thinking (which apparently doesn’t need to go into the “more” column — I find plenty of time for just that), I finally came up with a few life-changing resolutions for this year. Mind you, I’m not holding my breath that I will permanently be able to mark any of these items of my to-do list, but I figure if I’m at least headed in the right direction, that’s a good place to be.

My 2015 Resolutions:
• Put God and Others First
• Simplify
• Follow Through

The Bait and Switch Christmas Tree

Posted on December 22, 2014February 2, 2015 by Mama

We opted for a real tree this year and planned a whole family outing to the local farm complete with sleigh ride, hand saw and cocoa, but when we suggested the idea to our four-year old he immediately wanted to know how we would get the tree out of the ground. When I explained that we would chop down the tree and bring it home, he became upset at the thought of hurting a poor live tree just for our Christmas wishes. Although I tried to explain that this was a Christmas tree’s destiny and they were grown for this very reason, he still had problems seeing it my way.

So instead of visiting a farm, obviously hurting a tree and crushing my poor son’s heart, we decided that a lot with already chopped trees might be a better choice. So off to the Boy Scouts’ place up the road we went one very cold night. Our little man ran around the lot and through the trees more than once and settled on the ugliest, short and plump tree with a severely crooked top for way too much money. Hmmm, what’s a parent to do?

I’ll tell you what we did. We suggested a dinner break, went to Ace Hardware and picked out a cheap tree by the glow of headlights for a lot less money. In the immortal words of Jack’s Big Music Show, “It’s win-win, baby!”

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