I've never really been one for New Year's Resolutions.

Perhaps that's because I only ever think of the usual stuff like: "journal more" or "eat veggies".  Ick (to the veggies, not the journaling).  As it turns out, I've been resolving several areas of life for the last six months or so, and therefore I didn't really have any new and improved resolutions for 2012, just a continuation plan.

I'm going to share what I've been working on for the latter part of 2011, and then I'll elaborate over the next few posts...which will actually happen soon, because I'm going to type them now and post a little at a time, thus outwitting myself.  Hopefully.

1.  Be intentional with my time.  Don't waste it and then complain that there's not enough time to get things done.

2.  Simplify our stuff.  (Remove clutter...ugh!)

3.  Save money.  (Make Emily's food, for starters.)

4.  Do my job.  (Make meals each night, do laundry, and generally have a presentable house.)

5.  Deal with the little stuff in my life that's keeping me from being who God wants me to be.  (Ahem...Dr. Pepper.  Don't underestimate the power of addictions!)

6.  Raise Emily as well as I possibly can to know and love God, His Word, and His ways.

7.  Create traditions for our family. 

8.  Look nice for Matt and Little Bit.

9.  Make cute stuff.  (Crafting is important.  I'm a recent convert.  I'm still working through this one, but I will post cute things as I steal ideas from other people and make them.  Thanks primarily to Tara and my in-laws for sucking me in with your adorable-ness and making me say, "I can do that."  Sigh.)

So, that's what we'll be discussing over the next few posts.  Stay tuned.

Friendship

Friendship is...

1.  Backing out of the parking space at McDonald's and feeling a sickening feeling in your stomach as you realize you've just rear-ended someone else with your rear-end...  

...Then looking up to realize you're both friends, no damage was done, and everyone can finally let out that big breath they were holding in...phew!  Btw...Emily was fine.  Her car seat works beautifully.  She simply let out an ignorant squawk and went back to sleep.

2.  Helping friends celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, whether fishing, free babysitting, or dinner out together, or disc golfing tips.

3.  When someone leaves a Dr. Pepper shirt on your front door step because you're mildly obsessed, and she knows it.

4.  When your Poweraid-drinking friend gives you all of her Coke points so you can get cool free stuff.

5.  When you have over a friend for dinner because their spouse is gone for the weekend.

6.  When your friends bring snacks without being asked and help you clean up before they leave.

7.  When you can get together with another couple for games and all be on your worst behavior (and acting out of your grumpiest moods) and yet love each other enough to let it blow over by Sunday. 

8.  When even after you move away, your friends still stalk your facebook wall a little too often and send random notes and cards and such to remind you you're not forgotten.

9.  Having someone pick food up for you on the way to a party you're hosting because you're a loser at remembering to get ALL of the necessary ingredients.

10.  Praying for someone consistently because you love them.

11.  Not seeing each other for months or even years and picking right up where you left off without missing a beat.

12.  Getting your friends into theme-parks (ok...we could be friends without it, but you know who you are, my moochable friends!).

13.  Looking out for job openings and opportunities as well as sharing helpful tips for those going the "creative route" in employment.

14.  Hand-me-down baby clothes (and other stuff your kids have outgrown).

15.  Game nights!!!!!  (Actually, ours are usually "game-all-days-and-nights")

16.  When your friends invite you to dinner and have created the whole meal to work with your dietary needs and wants.

17.  When your friends help you move and still love you.  (We have a TON of books y'all.)

18.  When your friends are "brutally honest" and sharpen you for the better.

19.  When your friend calls to tell you to look at the sky because it's blue with gorgeous clouds, and she knows you can see it from where you should be right then, too.

20.  When your friends send random anonymous Marmaduke comics to your house just because it's funny to watch your husband's response.  (Long story.)

Sharing life together - the good times, the bad times, the boring times, the random times, and all of the in-between ones.  This is friendship, and I'm thankful to say, we've got some of the best friends ever. 

Thank you friends, near and far, for being you. 

Damp, Dirty, Messy Gratitude

Today, I became a REAL mom.  Today I...

• ...cut my finger on a razor (I was searching for something else in a spot I couldn't see clearly, and I grabbed it with my finger.) *This is not a real mom moment, but it's relevant to the second bullet point, and my finger is still throbbing, so I counted it a bullet-worthy-event on it's own.

• ...fed Emily a bottle instead of nursing for timing reasons (I let her sleep in and then cut my finger, thus skewing my exit strategy a bit.)

• ...witnessed my body go into overflowing mama mode (not nursing overnight OR in the morning apparently has consequences.  Duly noted.)

• ...may have fed her a tiny bit extra in an attempt to stem the surplus. 

• ...received my surplus "gift" back from my generous daughter.  Repeatedly.  (I went through two burp cloths and a receiving blanket.  Oh, and my previously wet shirt became even soggier during this hour-long process of re-gifting.)

• ...had an awkward social encounter as I attempted to use humor to deal with the situation.  Don't ask.  

• ...went through two diapers at once during a diaper change.

• ...had the privilege of testing out our "Wee Guard Car-Seat Saver" (a handy contraption for protecting the car seat from exciting diaper issues) on a massive diaper blowout.  It worked!  Car seat saved!  Em's outfit...not so much.  It didn't come home from lunch with us.  Neither did 18 wipes.  

• ...was outsmarted by a feisty gas pump...almost!  (We got along once I finally remembered to enter my zip code.  Today's events plus gas fumes apparently overwhelmed my brain cells --- or my "read-the-tiny-beeping-screen-and-follow-directions" cells).

• ...gave Em and myself mid-day baths (and trimmed her nails for the second time in 3 days).

• ...plunged a toilet.

The craziest part is that, despite all of these REAL mom moments, I'm extremely grateful.  Not so long ago, such events would have resulted in a massive meltdown with serious entitlement issues (i.e. "I deserve a vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic" --- hey, I didn't say I have expensive entitlement issues!)  Instead, I'm content and even a little happy.  All I know is that I'm quite thankful for God's grace.  I'm pretty sure He gave me a double scoop today.  Hopefully today's extra grace wasn't taken from tomorrow!  Either way, I didn't melt down today.  Not even once.  (Stay tuned about tomorrow, though.)

I know there will sometimes be melt-down-y days, and frankly, today would have been understandable, but I'm filled with damp, dirty, messy gratitude that today didn't ruin life.

Pleased to meet you!

Welcome to my first-ever blog!  Wait...that's not true.  I had a Xanga account during college.  Now those were scattered thoughts of a random redhead!  Let me tell you...

Anyway, I thought it might be nice if I introduced myself for this first post.  You know, to ease you in gently.  The following is what I almost posted to my "About Me" profile, but there was a word count limit.  *sigh!  So, here is the un-edited version.

About Me:

I'm a newly minted momma of one (Emily).  I'm also a wife of one (Matt).  We are learning to do life together with Little Bit slowly but surely.

I am a great fan of Spanish.  In fact, I used to teach it.

I'm also a fan of middle schoolers (most of the time).  I used to teach them, too (when they would let me).

I love to count, but I can't do math very well, despite making it all the way through first semester Calculus in High School (what was I thinking?).  I'm really good at adding numbers through six.  Adding anything over three to a seven or eight is stressful to me, and I have to whip out my fingers and toes.  I think it's because I played Yahtzee and Monopoly and Parcheesi a lot with my grandma as a kid, and I got really amazing at doing "dice math".  Unfortunately, the average die does not go higher than six, hence my inability in this area.  (At least that's my theory.)

I have a cat named Gurgi.  He's kind of a punk.  We have a love/hate relationship.

If you're going to read much on this blog, you need to know that God has been amazingly faithful to us, and He's a pretty core part of our lives.  We've prayed lots of prayers, and He's done lots of answering.  He's definitely worthy of His role (God of the Universe, Creator, Father, Provider, Righteous Judge, Truth-Giver, Healer, Holy One, Friend, etc.), and I'm growing closer each day to being worthy of calling myself his daughter...well...occasionally the path forward is more like a slip and slide for me, but I'm more or less heading in the right direction.  When I don't, we have a "come to Jesus" (literally) meeting and things get back to the way they should be.

I'm a recovering junk food addict.  I fall off the wagon sometimes, but I've made great strides toward healthy living.  In fact, I ate my first-ever BLT two days ago!  It's not that it's an awful sandwich, but until recently, I definitely only liked the bacon.  Lettuce, tomato, and I were not friends.  Frankly, I still feel they steal bacon's glory by cramming their healthy selves into the sandwich spotlight.  Since meeting my husband, however, I've learned to enjoy a myriad of fruits, veggies, eggs, and sometimes beans (but only sometimes).

I like sleep, Dr. Pepper, fiction and chocolate.  I also occasionally crave broccoli, which is a minor miracle (see previous paragraph).

Oh, and I definitely know a lot less now than I did ten years ago. 


**Now for the part that provided a great surprise and delight for me:  The "Random Question" feature of the profile page!!!!

What was the best time you ever had licking stamps?

Oh my goodness!  I love this random question thing!!!  I am most definitely, without a doubt, addicted to licking stamps and/or envelopes.  Always have been.  When I was 5, my parents' friends gave me a box of envelopes for my birthday.  To this day, my mom, grandma, and husband (when he remembers) give me birthday cards in unsealed envelopes.  Now that's TRUE love!

So...best time licking stamps?  When my dad's business had to send out mailings a few times each year.  No wet sponge for me! 

P.S.  In case you've not followed this ramble to it's logical conclusion, one of the worst days of my life was when the stupid post office invented stupid sticky stamps that don't need licking.  Not cool USPS!  Not cool!


Alright.  That's a little bit of random trivia regarding moiself.  Most posts won't be me-centric (ideally), but rather a log of thoughts, experiences, and sometimes (but only sometimes) emotions through the scattered lens of a random redhead.