My baby girl is 10

She was born 3 1/2 years after my first born son. In those 3 1/2 years, I would have 2 miscarriages. I remember sitting in the living room of our 100 year old farm house crying and asking Elliott if this was it. What if I can't have anymore? He just held me and told me everything would be all right and we'd cross that bridge if we get to it. Then she came along. A ray of sunshine in the early morning. She was born at 6:45 am and Elliott has called her his sunshine ever since. She's a lot like Elliott's great aunt 'Iwie' who was a spitfire until the day she died at 92. She's developing quite the sense of humor and loves a good practical joke. Yep, she's a tween now, I guess. I asked her if she knew what that word meant and she couldn't really tell me. Just that she was proud to be one.

She mentioned that her favorite food was 'Chinese' and I just happened to have made it last night so I thought I'd share the recipe, if you can call it that. I first learned of this dish when I married into my husband's family. At that time, it was just hamburger meat, green beans, celery and spaghetti topped with soy sauce and it was called 'Chinese' food. I'll always refer to it with quotes because the only thing Chinese about it is the soy sauce. I've added more veggies over the years and it's become a favorite of the kids.

 Brown a pound or two of ground beef in a skillet. Set aside.

Next, you're going to take whatever vegetables you like or that your family will eat or anything that looks like it's going bad in your icebox, and chop it up. You might need to saute it in batches, depending on how big your skillet is and how much stuff you end up with. I started with onions, celery and bell peppers.  Then I continued with cabbage and broccoli. I let them brown a little in some spots and then I added some soy sauce because the broccoli and cabbage don't really sweat that much when you saute them and the extra moisture helps soften them.

 Then I added some shredded carrots and let them cook until semi-soft.

Here it is. All mixed together in a bowl. Oh, yeah, don't forget to boil some spaghetti while you're doing all that other stuff. It's served over spaghetti. Sounds really oriental, doesn't it? Believe me, I've tried to convert my family to rice, quinoa,  soba noodles, anything but spaghetti. They never go for it. They always complain and ask where the spaghetti is. I give up.

So there you have it. Anna's favorite meal. 'Chinese' food. And there's mine without all those silly, unnecessary carbs. ;)

One Bite at a Time: Bite #23 - Regularly turn off your tv

I sort of chose a gimme task for this past week's project, regularly turn off your tv. It's something we already do, but since it's not that intentional, I realize it has the potential to get out of hand. When we're all at my in-laws, the tv is almost always on. That's really the place I need to enforce this one.

The thing that is intentional, though, is the lack of satellite tv at our house. My husband made a promise that he would never pay for television and so far, he's kept his promise. I've noticed that when I'm at my in-laws there are so many options, some of them very educational, it's easy to pick something that seems harmless and waste a couple of hours. It is harmless if that happens only occasionally, but if we had that many options at our house, it would be a regular thing. Especially with my need to get what I pay for.

So, in our home, where we have about 5 channels of less than mediocre programming, we are content with a regular movie night, provided by Netflix. My husband and I have complete control over what our kids are watching and have the freedom to be intentional about it. Sometimes, it's something fun, and sometimes we have a hidden agenda to educate. No matter, we are all together, popcorn in hand, enjoying something that was a planned event.

Regularly turn off your tv - check. What does your family's tv habit look like?

One Bite at a Time: Bite #3, Establish a morning routine

Get it here

Since I'm only 3 weeks into this 52 Bites thing, it seemed pretty natural to me what project I should complete this week. Project number 3 is "Establish a morning routine." Lord knows my mornings are usually a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of affair unless I have something in my schedule that requires a plan. Schedules, let alone a specific morning one, have never really been on my radar, but I realize if I'm wanting some different results in my life, I have to change some things.

I am not a morning person, per se, but I can easily adapt to something that's required of me over a period of time. That's what happened when I started having kids 13 years ago. Even after all these years, I still wake up a hot, groggy mess, but I can function when I need to. Thank you, coffee. My current schedule requires that I wake one child at 7, fix breakfast for that child and either send him off to school with my husband or take him myself. While I'm doing that, my other 3 sleep until I wake them up.

And that, folks, is about the only schedule I have. It's a little more hurried when I have someplace to be or Tuesdays when I'm hosting coffee, and a little more laid back when it's just a regular day. And on the weekends, I sleep in. Period. Granted, I can't sleep much past 8 anymore, but that one precious extra hour has become golden to me.

When I read over the section about establishing a morning routine, I started to dread it. I know my day will go a lot smoother if I have some time to myself every morning, but I've just never done it so I can't imagine being able to establish a habit in that area.

Here are some suggestions, from the book, to include in a morning routine:

Take a shower
Pray
Exercise
Drink a glass of water
Stretch
Make your bed
Read your Bible
Meditate
Journal
Take Vitamins
Read encouraging quotes or a devotional
Review your family purpose statement
Listen to a particular song
Sit outside for a few minutes with a cup of coffee
Dump your brain

Hmmm, I can see I'm going to have to wing it. Which is what I should be doing anyway because no one can make a morning schedule for another person. It has to be personal. The only thing I do regularly is drink a cup of coffee so that has to be in there somewhere. And a list. I love making lists so maybe I'll sit with my coffee and make a list for the day. I guess that would be considered dumping my brain. I do remember a time when I used to sit on the edge of my bed in the morning for about 10 minutes doing nothing. My husband used to call it 'sitting', but I think all that was was me waiting for my brain to wake up so I could actually function. Eventually, with the increasing needs of my children, I didn't even have 10 extra minutes to sit on the edge of my bed. Things have calmed down a bit since then and now my kids are more predictable sleepers so maybe I'll revisit the sitting. I'll just have a cup of coffee in my hand and I'll make a list for the day.

So here's my new morning routine:

6:45 Get up, wake John up, sit, drink my coffee and make a list until John comes in for breakfast at 7. (He takes a shower every morning)

Since this morning routine just involves me, it seems pretty simple. Fifteen minutes of me time may not sound like much, but I think it might be just what I need. Then, when everyone else wakes up, I'll  start my regular chores and things that involve everyone else. I'm not very good at keeping to a routine so I guess having a simple one to begin with is the way to go. If I can keep it up, and it helps, maybe I'll add some things to it. We'll see.

I guess I should change this week's project to 'come up with a morning routine'. I can't really say I've established it yet, but it's written down. Now, to do it.

What is your morning routine?

One Bite at a Time: Bite #6, Create a family purpose statement

Get it here

After last week's haircare post, I wasn't sure where I wanted to go next in the 52 Bites book. There's no set format for doing the projects. There are 52 of them, but they can be done in whatever order and at whatever pace you prefer. I like that flexibility, but I also have a hard time making decisions when faced with a lot of options. I was still undecided during church yesterday when we stood up to do our declarations. After saying them out loud again, I realized they had become more of an empty mantra rather than something I was intentionally living by. I remembered that there was a project in the book about creating a family mission/purpose statement and decided that that would be a good place to start this week.

In the book, there's a link to a mission statement builder on Franklin Covey's website. I went through it and came up with a rough statement, but wanted to start our family with something more foundational. I'll be working on a more practical, day-to-day statement, but this is where we're going to put our focus for now. I've listed the point, and then expanded on how I've interpreted it's meaning and how that will apply to our family.

1. We experience love daily.

In our home, there will be an atmosphere of love. Love will be something we can always count on. My children can be confident that they will feel loved every day.

 2. We give love on all occasions.

In our interactions with each other, we will make love our highest priority. We won't be controlled by fear or anger. We will let love dictate how we should handle situations.

3. We open ourselves to be fully known.

Our home will be a safe place to be completely open and honest. We won't hold things back because of the pain it might cause to share it. We will trust each other with every part of ourselves.

4. We see others through the lens of love and destiny, not condemnation and judgement.

In our family, we will do and say what's best for each other in a loving way so that we can be the people God created us to be. We will not condemn or judge each other, but speak truth so that we can overcome the areas that are holding us back.

5. We value family, no matter the cost.

Our family will be our top priority. We will do what it takes to know each other fully and be intentional about our time with each other. Even if that means sacrificing things like lots of extracurricular activities.

6. We are free from the weight of performance.

In our family, love is not based on how well you perform. There will be freedom to try new things and explore what we are passionate about, knowing that if we fail, that will not determine our worth. Each one of us is a valuable member of the family based on who they are, not what they do.  

7. We value people over purpose.

We will pursue our dreams, but not at the expense of our relationships. Success can only be achieved if we can go after the things we are passionate about, while maintaining full and healthy relationships with the people around us.

This year, I will be going through all the projects in the One Bite at a Time book and sharing my experience on Mondays. You can keep track of my progress here.


Linking up here:

One Bite at a Time: Bite #29, Switch to gentle, eco-friendly haircare

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. We had a city-wide power outage this morning that slowed everything down. And this is a small town so things already run a little slow.

I mentioned last week that I'd be doing a weekly post on the One Bite at a Time project. You can still get the e-book by going here. It's only $5 and you can print it out or keep it on your computer's desktop, however you roll. I've got mine in a trusty binder because I have a love affair with binders.

The bite I'm starting with is #29, Switch to gentle, eco-friendly hair care. This was the perfect place to start for me because I haven't been happy with my current hair care regime for some time now. When I was single, I had a roommate who was a hair dresser and I got Aveda products at cost so I was a little spoiled. Now that I live with 5 other people, we're on more of a Pert Plus budget. The problem with most shampoos, from cheap to expensive, is that they are full of chemicals. And with skin being our largest organ, and extremely porous, all those chemicals can enter the bloodstream and stay there for quite a while.

There's a lot more you can read on the subject here. It's the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep site and it has loads of information on all the products we use on our skin from day to day. You can even look up the products you're currently using and see how they rate.

So, at the beginning of December, I stopped using shampoo. Yep, I quit cold turkey. I figured with the holidays being just around the corner, I wouldn't be going out as much so I could try it out and see what kind of results I got. I don't get out much anyway. I started by using baking soda and water mixed in a squirt bottle. I can't remember the amounts I used, I just poured a couple of spoonfuls of baking soda, added water to the top and started squirting it on my head. Be warned, there are no suds. That was hard for me to get used to because I've been programmed to think suds=clean. I couldn't really tell if it was doing anything so I rinsed with a mixture of vinegar and water that I had poured into another bottle. That was it. I had read on some sites that your hair can easily become dry while you find the perfect amounts for your hair type. Well, mine stayed a little oily for a while. No matter, I kept going. I didn't leave the house for a few days unless my hair was up in a pony tail and I washed it again about 4 days later. I gotta tell ya, even after those 4 days, it wasn't much oilier than the day I washed it. Not near as bad as when I let my hair go an extra day on regular shampoo and conditioner.

This was my hair before I washed it.

This is after I dried and straightened it. I'm obviously not all that impressed yet.

Over the next few weeks, I kept at it, tweaking my recipe each time until I found the perfect combo for me. I researched a lot of sites and YouTube videos to see what others had done. There's a lot of advice out there. Eventually, I settled on what this girl does.

It's been over a month and I have to say, I feel like my hair has adjusted and I've settled into a routine. In case you didn't watch the video linked above, I'll share what I'm currently doing.

I have a bottle with a small squirt spout that I use for the baking soda mixture. I add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and fill the rest with warm water. Then, for the vinegar rinse, I fill it about a third with apple cider vinegar and the rest with water. I marked my bottle so I wouldn't have to measure every time.

 

When I first started, I was washing my hair in the sink. This got to be pretty messy because the baking soda mixture splatters everywhere. And you can't tell where it's splashed until it dries.

Little white water spots on everything around the kitchen sink.

Plus, I knew I wanted to eventually do this while I was already taking a shower. So this is how I do it. I get in the shower and instead of wetting my hair down, I use the baking soda mixture to wet my hair completely. That way, I know that when it's wet all over, I've got the baking soda everywhere. Then I start scrubbing. I do this for a few minutes and then squirt the vinegar mixture all over my scalp. That part is actually kind of nice. The vinegar acts with the baking soda and creates a fizzy sensation all over the scalp. Once that's all worked in, I just rinse with water and continue with my shower.

Here's Mr. Park feeling my hair to see if it's too oily. He's a pretty health conscious  guy, but he doesn't get the shampoo thing. And he's a little afraid if you start telling people you don't use shampoo anymore, they'll think you're one of those people. Too late. When I told my sister what I was doing, she rolled her eyes at me as if to say, "You're always doing something weird." She's right about that.

Yesterday morning was the first day I was really satisfied with the way my hair felt. They say that it takes several weeks for your hair to adjust to this new method. You won't be stripping away every bit of oil on your hair every time you wash it so your body won't need to produce extra oil to compensate. I curled my hair before church, got a few compliments and it felt great. I will say that the squeaky clean feeling you get after you wash your hair in shampoo is long gone. That took a little getting used to. I would say that washing your hair this way takes it to a 2nd day feel. You know, the first day your hair is squeaky clean and then the next day it has a little oil in it. I could never get my hair to cooperate with me until the 2nd day anyway, so this works perfect for me.

 

 

 

My hair really is soft and manageable and all the things you want it to be while being healthy for my skin. I'm sold. One bite down, 51 more to go!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and anything else I missed

Wow, what a break! My last post was a craft project I did as a Christmas gift to my girls and I didn't even end it with a Merry Christmas! I guess I was thinking I'd be back before now. Oops, I took a longer break than I expected.

This past holiday season was a little different than any I remember. Everyone I encountered seemed to be extremely laid back. It was like the Christmas season was happening in slow motion. I decided early on not to stress about the things that I normally stress about so that meant some things inevitably fell off my list. Things like putting out my favorite vintage silver Christmas tree, sending out Christmas cards and making salt dough ornaments. Oh well, in the end I didn't really miss those things. I just enjoyed relaxing with my family and doing a whole lot of nothing.

I'm not sure what I want my blog to look like this year other than a meandering stroll through the daily minutia of my life right now. I'd like to post my 52 Bites progress and maybe a craft now and then. I'm probably going to just let it happen as it happens. I'm learning to be a better planner, but right now, this blog is not one of the things I feel called to be intentional about. In saying that, I'm giving myself permission to let it go sometimes. I don't want to be up late trying to get a post finished for the next day when I have lesson plans to work on. Or laundry to finish. I don't want it to be an afterthought, it's just not at the top of my list right now.

That being said, I'd like to start this year off with a list. You know I love lists, and evidently, I'm passing that on to my children. Here's a list I found when I was cleaning my daughter's room over the holidays. It's one that my middle daughter, Autumn, made.

I don't know if she got distracted and wasn't able to finish it or if that's it. If it were me, I'd consider it done. After eating fudge for lunch, what else is there?!?

A Perfectly Random Thursday

This past week has been a hodgepodge of activities. On Friday night, I wanted to take my girls to the movies since Mr. Park and my boy were hunting. At first, I planned on taking them to the dollar movie, but the only movie playing there was the smurfs. Thankfully, I remembered the historic theater in town that usually plays old Christmas movies around this time of year. I checked their schedule and sure enough, they were showing White Christmas. Oh, how I love that movie. And to see it at The Paramount really makes it an experience. Here's a shot of the girls before the movie started. This was taken right after April said, "Oh my goodness! This place is so romantic!"

I was really proud because the place was packed. It seems like so much is vying for our attention these days, especially with movies, so it was refreshing to see a theater almost completely filled to see a Christmas movie from 1954. And the audience ranged from little kids to senior citizens with lots of college students in between.

On Saturday night, our family had a date to watch Rudolph on CBS. Of course, we all know the words and say them out loud along with all the songs. When April was just 2 1/2, she cried at the part where Rudolph didn't get to play in all the reindeer games. We thought it was just a fluke, but when we asked her what was wrong, she said she felt sorry for Rudolph because he got left out. Now, whenever we get to that part in the movie, everyone looks at April to see how she's doing. This year she got a little irritated and said, "Stop looking at me. I'm not gonna cry this time!"

After Rudolph, we watched It's a Wonderful Life and I cried like I always do. It's such a good movie to watch to reset yourself if you're feeling overwhelmed with the commercialism of the holidays or just hopeless in your situation. It reminds me that I always have something to be thankful for.

Speaking of being thankful, I got my Christmas present early this year. And this is it.

As you can imagine, I've been making smoothies like a mad woman. I'm sure one of these days I'll get around to watching the DVD that came with it so I can get my money's worth out of it, but for now, I'm happy to make a delicious smoothie every morning for Mr. Park before work and have him tell me that it really hit the spot and he didn't even think about food until well after noon.

One evening this past week, Mr. Park played a game with the kids where he would hide a little elf ornament while the kids sat on the couch. Then the kids would open their eyes and try to see who could spot it first. It turned into a story time where Mr Park told the kids about the mean side of Santa's elves. And then my boy, who is always looking for an opportunity to liven things up, dressed up as what he imagines a scary elf would look like, quietly went out the back door, walked around the house to the front door and knocked. The evening ended in screams and running around and eventually a request to be walked to bed because they were scared. I always say our kids are either going to be the most well-rounded kids on the block or they're going to need therapy.

This is what I found when I walked in from taking a short trip to the store yesterday. I wonder if this is what the rapture is going to look like.

Here's some random things I've heard from my kids this past week.

On music:

(With Kenny G's version of Silver Bells playing on the radio)

Autie: Can you change this, please. I don't like jazz.

Me: I didn't know you even knew what jazz was.

Autie: Oh, yeah, I know about jazz and I don't like it.


On travel:

April: (with a sigh) I can't wait to go to France someday and see the awful tower.


On being efficient:

The kids' Papa came over to cut some wood and when April went out to see him he had his foot propped up on his truck tying his shoe.

April: Hey, Papa, whatcha doing?

Papa: I'm tying my shoe, darlin.

April: Why'd you come over here to do it?


On respect:

Me: Anna, I need a response from you. When you just shrug, I think you're ignoring me.

Anna: Yes, ma'am. (rolling eyes)

April: Ahhhh, I remember when I used to say, yes ma'am. Yes ma'am, yes mam, yes ma'am."

A few Christmas traditions

 Sunday afternoon, Mr Park and I loaded the family in the suburban and headed to the big city. First, we stopped by the zoo to see if the ice skating rink was up like it has been in past years. No go. The kids were a little upset but I was relieved because I don't ice skate anymore and it was too cold for me to sit and pretend I was interested in anyone iceskating. Next we headed to our favorite chinese restaurant and ate steaming hot bowls of hot and sour soup and stuffed ourselves at the buffet. Well, ok, I stuffed myself. The kids have learned their lesson with chinese food and are starting to get the concept of moderation. Plates were cleaned, ice cream cones finished off and fortune cookies cracked open and read. Here's what mine said...

I'll let you know if anything crafty develops around here this week. After supper, we drove through some old neighborhoods known for their Christmas lights. Mr Park popped one of our favorite Christmas cd's in the player and then, as we passed a house decked out in old school, traditional house lights, he announced that the Christmas spirit had hit him. Here's how the conversation went...

Mr Park: Ahhhh, it just hit me.
Me: What?
Mr Park: The Christmas spirit. Just now. Ohhhh, I love it! Has it hit anybody else yet?
April: I got it! It just hit me!
Autumn: Me, too!
Anna: Ooooh, me too!
Me: Really, Anna?!?
Anna: No, I'm just kidding. I don't feel anything yet.
John: Let's roll down the windows until we're freezing to death.
Mr Park: What about you, Pam.
Me: I've had it since October 31st.

Right as we were all getting hit in the face with the Christmas spirit, one of my children announced that she had to go to the bathroom. And not just a little. She was in emergency mode when she decided to tell us. (Aren't they always?) We finished the tour in super sonic speed and went to search for a bathroom. The first place we saw was a donut shop. We pulled in and Mr Park decided that we needed to add another tradition to our list. We let the kids pick out a donut, drink hot chocolate and use the potty. Speaking of traditions, weren't they just made for kids? My kids love them and are always looking for more to add. On our way out of the donut shop parking lot, they saw a carwash and said, "Can we make it a tradition to get a carwash when we look at Christmas lights every year?" That's about how often I wash my car, but no, I gotta draw the line at a carwash tradition. 

This year, the gas station where we usually get our tree, didn't have any. So we went to Lowe's because we needed some other things, too. We picked out a tree, got a couple extra strands of lights, some beautiful half priced poinsettias and a water filter for our icebox.

I know I said I wanted to be fully present when we did all of our Christmas stuff, but I have to confess, I did lose it a little toward the end of the night. The kids were getting tired and irritated with each other and I knew the night wasn't near over. We still had to get the tree in the house, put it in the stand, pull out the lights and string them on the tree. And by the time all that was done 2 out of our 4 kids had fallen asleep in front of the fire. I let my oldest girl put some ornaments on the tree before we called it a night.

We woke up to a light dusting of snow on Monday morning, so I decided we only needed a light dusting of school work and a heavy dusting of the house. We did laundry, cleaning, organizing, and more decorating. But first, my girls started the day with a science lesson. Namely, water and it's different forms!

This weekend, I'll be climbing up into the attic, pulling down all those familiar red and green plastic storage boxes and decorating for Christmas. I'm not much of a holiday decorator, or even a regular decorator for that matter, but for Christmas, I try to make an effort. I do like the way the Christmas season has a look all it's own. But, I don't want to go crazy with it. I want my kids to remember the warmth and coziness of this time of year. I want them to remember the time we spent together doing things and enjoying each other. I don't want them to remember me snapping at them for stepping on the Christmas tree lights, again. I don't want them to remember sitting around the tree, amazed at how those little colored lights can make you feel like all is right with the world, while mom was in the kitchen clanging dishes into the dishwasher. I want to be fully present this year.

With that said, I feel a scale down coming. I have a lot of things that I take out every year and stick somewhere just because they were in the box. A lot of it I don't even like. I don't want it to look like Father Christmas threw up in my living room. I want it to look simple. And inviting. Without all the fussiness. I'm even seeing visions of the expensive nativity set my mother-in-law gave me several years ago, painted white. Can I do that? Will I? I guess we'll know soon enough.

So, this weekend, I'll be weeding out the things that I don't love. And I feel like I'm going to be really strict. It's gonna take a lot to make the cut. (I can see all the ornaments in the box right now, like in some movie from Pixar, discussing who'll get to stay and who'll get tossed. Some will start to say their goodbyes early just in case it's them and in the middle of it all will be our old, vintage elf doll, reassuring them just like Woody would do.) I'll try to find something simple to do with my mantle and maybe even make some new stockings. I hate the ones I have that I picked up from the dollar store years ago.

On Sunday, we'll head out to buy a tree from the local gas station, eat out at the kids' favorite chinese restaurant, come home and start to decorate. I'll fumble with the lights a lot longer than I expected to and we'll end up sending the kids to bed before the decorating has even started. But it'll be different. I'll be there for real this time. I won't just trudge through it because it's something on the list that needs to get done. I don't want to try to fabricate idyllic scenes hoping to ensure good memories for my kids. I think we all know how well that works. They'll know. Kids are too smart for that.

I guess what I'm wanting to do more than anything this year is create an atmosphere where my kids feel loved, wanted and worth my time. And of course, I want them to know what it is we are celebrating in the first place, the simple fact that we were loved, wanted and worth His time.

Today, I'd like to talk about my husband. Mainly the fact that, 43 years ago yesterday he was born. His dad was playing football for the Oakland Raiders, so he was born in California, but they got back to Texas as soon as they could and I'm so glad they did!

I thought I'd give y'all a little photo tour of some of the things I love about my husband.

1. This is his favorite time of day. If he's outside working or goes outside to do something around this time, he'll almost always poke his head in the door and say, "Y'all come outside. It's gawgeous out here."

2. Same goes for an evening with a beautiful moon out.

3. His amazing ability to solve problems. He made this dog house several years back for our dog, Dixie. Last summer, one of our chickens fell in love with the spacious living area and thought it was the perfect place to lay eggs. As in 2 dozen of them by the time we realized she was in there. Consequently, a bull snake kicked her out because he found it to be a lovely place to lay around and eat eggs. With all those unwanted residents and the smells they left behind, Dixie decided she'd find another place to sleep. She's flexible like that. Since my husband had put so much work into the dern thing (it even has insulation between the walls) he was not going to let it go to waste. This past weekend, he took some hot coals from our fire and threw them in the dog house. He tipped it this way and that until the coals had rolled all over the place and thesmoke came billowing out. After about 20 minutes of this and a new paint job, it was good as new. Once we got Dixie's dog blanket in there, she thought so, too. Problem solved.

4. He's frugal, like me. Actually, he's only frugal in the areas he educated about, but that's why we fit together so well. Take for instance, energy efficiency. I don't know a whole lot about it so I leave that kind of stuff to him. I don't build fires, I don't change air conditioning filters and I DON'T touch the thermostat. We built our house 6 years ago and one of the things we were most proud of was the fireplace. But, as you probably know, fireplaces aren't the most efficient form of heating a house. Since our kitchen is across from the living room, my husband started using our gas range as a second heat source. This is what he created to direct the heat away from the stove so it could be circulated. Nerdy and engineer like? Yes, a little. (I am so attracted to the nerds!)

5. His ability to create. Not just beautiful art and music, but practical things like bookcases. And he's not a carpenter. He just sets his mind to doing something, researches a little, gets to work and viola, there it is. (If you know us personally, you know that this bookcase almost caused us to split up, but everything's good now! I'll tell that story another time.)

6. His ability to see usefulness in natural objects. He was so excited when he found this piece of wood that looked like a wood carrier. So naturally, he started using it as a wood carrier. He calls it his wood wood carrier which started a whole round of "How much wood could a wood wood carrier carry if a wood wood carrier could carry wood."

And this rock he found years ago. He pulled it out of his pocket and handed it to me and said, "Here, you can use this as a spoon rest next to the stove." And you know what? That's where it's been ever since. I couldn't get rid of it if I tried. It makes me smile. 

7. His love for Christmas and the magic of Santa. Even though we're nearing the end of the Santa-belief time, he's always gone all out to make Christmas special for our kids. From phone calls from the north pole to having someone bang on the roof while he told the kids to listen for Santa's reindeer. This is a note he left for the kids after he ate the cookies and milk they left for him. 

8. I love that a perfect day for him in the summer, is to have a slow, soaking rain and the Ranger's on a winning streak. In the fall and winter, it involves a pot of chicken soup on the stove and his favorite Adidas slicky pants. (by the way, they're about 20 years old, those pants.)

9. He's convinced that skinny ties are going to come back in style and when they do he'll be totally prepared.

Actually, he looks pretty awesome in a skinny tie.

10. He's confident, dramatic when needed, he's still got it on the basketball court and I love him!

Happy Birthday, honey!

Adventures with the Tooth Fairy (Part 1)

Today I went to the dentist. For the first time in over 10 years. I must say it was a really pleasant experience. I got there at 10:30 and filled out all the necessary paperwork. Then, Elizabeth, took me into a consultation room to discuss my goals for my dental health. I told her that I wanted to start having regular checkups again and that I wanted to maybe get veneers for my two front teeth. She was adorable. And she knew her stuff. I had about 15 x-rays taken and then computer pictures of all of my teeth. I got to see all of them up close. The last time I was in a dentist's office was about 2 years ago and I was not a patient. We all know how that went. Anyway, this was a much better experience.

While Elizabeth was checking out my teeth up-close, she said that they looked very good for not having been looked at in over 10 years. She said that I hardly had any tarter build-up. What she didn't know is that I can't stand to feel stuff on my teeth. I like my teeth to feel smooth like they look. Every once in a while, when they start feeling "not smooth," I get out my tools and scrape away. Sorry if this is gross. I have been doing it for as long as I can remember as an adult. I wondered for a minute if I should let her in on my secret or if I should just let her think that I have super tarter-impervious teeth. I decided to tell her. She was pretty impressed. She said I had been doing a pretty good job. After getting all the pictures she needed, she left to go get the dentist.

After a few minutes, she came back and said that it would be a little bit longer since the dentist was still with another patient. Normally, they don't do this on the first visit, but since I had to wait a little while, she had one of the girls from the spa come in and give me a hand and forearm massage. Wow! My whole body felt relaxed. I bet they do that again just before they tell you how much everything is going to cost!

The dentist came in a little while later and can I just say that I love this woman?!? She is so maternal. I just wanted to crawl up in her lap and ask her to tell me the story about the big bad cavity one more time! She is the wife dentist of the husband/wife dentist team at Abilene Dental. Her specailty is cosmetics. She said that Elizabeth told her about my tarter eradicating skills and she thought I might have a hidden talent as a dental hygienist. She went on to look at my teeth one by one and call out the number and some descriptive terms I wasn't familiar with about the condition of each one. She also felt my jaw muscles and asked if I slept with my mouth open (yes) and if I ever grind my teeth (yes, again, usually when I go shopping). I also told her that with all of my four pregnancies I craved ice like some people crave pickles. She said that explained some of the wear that she thought was from grinding.

The verdict on the whole thing was that I have some cavities that are in early enough stages to catch before needing root canals or crowns and that I would benefit from veneers on my front teeth. Not only for cosmetic reasons, but to prevent tooth decay in the places where my old bonding is wearing away. She also told me I might want to consider Invisalign to straighten my teeth out a little. I think that might be unnecessary. She agreed that my dental health would be fine without having my teeth straightened, so I'm pretty sure Elliott is going to say no thank you to that! I have an appointment at the end of the month to discuss what direction I want to go and how much it's going to cost. All in all, it was not a bad way to spend two and a half hours away from the kids. I'll keep you posted on the rest and maybe when it's all over, I can post some before and after shots on here. Who knows, maybe you'll see them on KTAB when they do their dental segment on Mondays!