Not-Me-Monday: Not My Child

My child never wears her breakfast, has bad hair days, or makes strange faces. And she certainly doesn't do all three things at the same time. Nope, not my child!
My child never ignores her grandma, whom she doesn't get to see very often, choosing rather to play with a plastic toy. My child would never choose things over people. No way!

My child did not learn to pull herself up in her crib, and then proceed to scream because she couldn't figure out how to get herself down. Nor does she like to play with elastic ribbons, only later discovering how much they hurt when you snap yourself with them. Nope, not my exceptionally bright child!

She definitely would never crawl around the house naked, while I drew her a bath. Nor would she leave little puddles of urine behind. That's disgusting. I'd never let my child do that.

And my child definitely wouldn't end up with more corn on her lap than in her tummy, nor would she throw a tantrum when she dropped the corn on the restaurant floor and I refused to return it to her. Nope, not my child.

Hmmm . . . I wonder who's kid I had all week?

~~~

Good News

So here is the good news (in no particular order):

• It's Friday.

• Juliette figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position in her crib this morning.

• My in-laws are on their way for a visit.

• Seth's doctor appointment went well yesterday. They don't think it is his liver but actually his gall bladder. They will confirm with an ultrasound on Monday.

• It is easier to live without a gallbladder than a liver.

• We've been enjoying cilantro from our garden.

• Jesus is always faithful.

• I'm about 2/3 of the way done with writing my lessons plans for Northern Colorado Christian Camp.

• It is not too late to sign your preteen and junior highers up for camp.

• I made a hair appointment to take care of my current "mop".

• The sun is shining, and there is only a slight breeze today.

• God is on the throne.

Yessiree, I like good news.

A Good Cry Never Hurt Nobody

Last night I just needed to have a good cry.

My grandmother says that everyone needs to have a good cry everyonce in awhile "just to wash your eyes out".

My eyes are much cleaner now.

I was crying in part because this has just been a crazy week, and I haven't had enough sleep (that will do it to me everytime!). In my "weakened" state, I was also a bit overwhelmed by Juliette's cranky "my-gums-are-super-swollen-and-I'm miserable" attitude.

Then to top it all off, Seth's lab results FINALLY came back from his life insurance screen yesterday. We found out last week that he had been denied coverage due to his blood work, but we weren't sure what the results were and/or why he wasn't eligible. After a few faxes, a few phone calls, and a few days, we finally got the results.

And they don't look good.

At least according to our internet research, however accurate that is. But it is all we have to go off of at this point.

So, according to the results, it looks like he has something pretty severe going on with his liver. He tested negative for Hepatitis A, B, and C, and excessive alcohol consumption. But there are still a lot of other factors that need to be ruled out, such as fatty liver disease, genetic weaknesses, medication or environmental poisoning, etc. All of his liver numbers are high, but one of them is 10 times the usual clinical range high. Yikes!

He heads to the local physician today to get retested. We're praying the new numbers better. Ultimately we trust that God is in control, and that He has a plan; but I'm not going to lie, part of me is pretty scared.

Last Sunday we were studying 2 Corinthians. How appropriate this portion is for us today:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor 4:16-18

These bodies of ours aren't made to last forever, but we were made for eternity. No matter what the test numbers are, good or bad, it doesn't change that truth.

So I had my little . . . er, I mean big cry last night. And my eyes feel much better now.

Running Thoughts

I was supposed to run this morning.

Somehow, when the alarm went off, I just couldn't get up.

It didn't help that Seth begged me to just snuggle (a.k.a. go back to a deep, snoring sleep) a little more with him.

Nor did it help that Seth turned off the snooze function on our alarm.

Oh well.

Maybe if I talk about running today, I'll feel better about the fact that I didn't run.

Maybe.

~~~

• Running in my childhood town: Silence. Not many people around, no one to see you running.

• Running in the town where I did my student teaching: Cat calls and whistles. Few people run in the heat. Anyone who is running must look "hot".

• Running in The Big City: Considered normal. No one looks twice. Every one's doing it.

• Running on the High Arid Plains: What is she doing? Stare. Stare. Polite Stare. Do you think she's right in the head?

~~~

A great running resource: http://www.mapmyrun.com/

A free way to track your course and see how far you ran. Much better than wasting gas and trying to measure things with your odometer!

~~~

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.

It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve.

It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle,

When the sun comes up you'd better be running.
-Anonymous

Look What A Little Birdie Left Me

I found this feather in the yard a few days ago, and just couldn't resist picking it up. It is such a vibrant blue - the picture doesn't do it justice.

It must have come from one of the mountain bluebirds that have been hanging out in our tree.

Those birds have been busy "unloading" themselves on my car for the past few days. It is quite humbling, driving around town with poo piled high on the hood of your car!

In fact, Seth said that was how he recognized me, when I surprised him on the golf course the other day. He said he could see me in the distance, and thought to himself, "That looks like our car." When I got closer he could see the birdie doo, and he said, "Yep, that's definitely her."

That's me - one classy gal with a pile of poo for a hood ornament.

Not-Me-Monday: Pickles, Pooches, and Unpacking

Yeah - Not-Me-Monday is back! I certainly did not skip it last week because I was still in 'vacation mode' and continued to be until the end of the week. 'Vacation mode' did not include any of the following: sleeping in, slacking on chores, eating left-over junk food. No, I would never practice any of those bad habits!

Apparently my husband was not ready to come back to real life either, because he definitely did not wait to unpack his bag until this morning - more than a week after our trip! I never nagged him about it either. Nope, not me!

This week I did not let my child play unattended in her bedroom. Nor was I surprised to discover the reason why she was so content.

I did not whack my bangs this week, because I was just having a bad hair day. And when I tried to fix them with hairspray, the thought didn't dawn on me that I was using the same hairspray(and eyeshadow, and blush, and lipstick!) that I used for our wedding. Our wedding was over two years ago, and that stuff has to get bad - or at least less effective. But I would never be so miserly as to keep stuff around past its prime. Nope, not me!

I did not ask my husband to bathe and dress our child, so that I could go on a long training run Saturday morning. And I certainly never walk during my training "runs". Not even on my short runs. No sir! I'm in serious training.

Seth didn't dress Jewel in a dress AND jeans, and I definitely didn't think that the combo was so cute that I just left her in the outfit the entire day.

And when Seth asked if I like the outfit, I definitely didn't ask him if he knew that the 'shirt' was actually a dress. And he wasn't at all surprised to find out that he doesn't know the difference between the two.

This week I didn't transport Seth and some of his friends to go fishing, which included dropping off the trailer at the pull-out, only to find that I could not disconnect the trailer. Nor did I frantically scan the horizon for any able-bodied men to help. Seth had said that the trailer would be light, and the idea that maybe his faith in my physical abilities might be a little skewed did not cross my mind. Nor was he absolutely right in that the trailer was really light, and all I had to do was drive our SUV forward a little bit to un-stick the ball and hitch. I mean I wouldn't try to lift the weight of the trailer AND the SUV. Nope, not me!

I did not change my Facebook profile picture several times - mostly because I kept thinking that my shirt made me look a little too chubby in the middle in this one, even though I really think it is the best picture of all of us. I mean I don't care one bit if someone thinks that I might still have a baby pooch. I'm not vain like that! Definitely not.

I did not give Juliette a pickle, while we were enjoying a dinner out this week. I mean, are pickle's even okay for babies to eat?


Speaking of eating, I definitely didn't find Juliette eating a used q-tip this week. I mean that is REALLY gross. Nope, not me. Certainly, not me.

~~~

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Going Bananas

Maybe all of you expert mommies out there already know this trick, but I just stumbled upon it. Since Juliette started eating finger foods, I've tried to get her to eat bananas, cutting them into thin slices and setting them on her highchair tray. The trouble was that she couldn't pick up the slices, as they tended to sort of suction themselves to the tray, and she didn't have the manual dexterity to pick them up.


But today I had the bright idea of cutting them into wedges instead of slices. Like this:

(You really should just ignore my reflection in the knive - yes, the reflection with the really big nose.)

Anyhow, the good news is that now she can pick them up easily.

Now I just have to figure out how to get her to stop. . .

. . . shoving so many in her mouth.

Any ideas?