Tackle it Tuesday: Randomness

OK, this isn't going to seem like a Tackle post, but maybe I will get around to that.

I'll start by saying that I hate to go to bed. I don't know why, because I am tired and I know I won't want to get up in the morning, but I hate to go to bed. I didn't like it as a kid either. I don't know why, exactly. It's not like I am going to miss anything.

Next, I may have found evidence of a mouse (gasp) in our pantry! (gasp again!) So, my husband set a trap and I am too afraid to look at it before he does. In fact, I am too afraid to even open the pantry door.

I started a new book, Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson yesterday.

So for my Tackle this week, I am going to first, get up. Try not to think of me as an overachiever. Then, I am going to wait for my husband to tell me the news about the mouse and probably scrub the kitchen and pantry from top to bottom (Updated to add: There was no mouse this morning.) and finally, curl up later with my book and hope to make a big dent in it.

And if anyone wants to know about last week's tackle, we survived the doctor with 4 shots for my four year old and a shot and a finger stick for my two year old. I was the only one who cried.

The Best Contest Yet!

5 Minutes for Mom is giving away a 37 inch Flat-Panel LCD HDTV!!!

This is a TV valued at $799.99 and you can see all of the details about the TV by clicking here. The contest will be open until August 17 when they will announce the winner. Oh, I hope it's me! I can already see it hanging on my wall.

Thanks to Best Buy for sponsoring this great contest. Now go check it out and enter to win!

Wordless Wednesday: What Big Brothers Are For

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Check out the Official Wordless Wednesday HQ


Also, feel free to read the rest of my blog and leave me some feedback! I love comments!

Tackle it Tuesday: Doctor Goodwill

Today, I am tackling going to the pediatrician with my two and four year olds for their annual check-ups. I really hope they don't need any shots. They change the immunization schedules so often that I really can't keep up.

Also, I am donating a bunch of clothes to the GoodWill that my mother in law gave me. There are over 30 pairs of pants in there. They are all too long for me, even though they all come up ABOVE my natural waist, and in case you're not familiar with the fashion trends of the last few years, that is just not in style now. See below:



It is my natural inclination to keep all of them just in case they ever come back in style, but our house just isn't big enough.

That's it. Have a fun Tuesday!

Last Friday, my husband cut the grass early in the morning. On one of his trips through the house from the front yard to the back yard, he passed by me and casually said, "Somebody stole the gargoyle."

I was left with my mouth gaping open in complete disbelief. I could not believe that anyone would come into our flower garden/bushes right under the window of my sleeping daughter and within 10 feet of our front door to take a 25 pound cement statue of a gargoyle. (Not that I am really that attached to it, but it was our gargoyle. My husband had it for years and actually used it for it's intended purpose in a fountain he had at one time.)

Anyway, I told our neighbors, my mother, I sent an email to our neighborhood association and basically anyone who would listen long enough to hear that SOMEBODY STOLE OUR GARGOYLE! RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE! If you've ever had anything stolen, you probably know the feeling I had. I couldn't get it off of my mind.

This morning, when my husband got home from work, he was getting in the bed and as casually as he told me that somebody stole it, he said, "Gargoyle's back."

Again, I was open mouthed saying, "REALLY!?!! YOU'RE KIDDING!?" I then told him that I had prayed about it just last night. He said, "You must have really wanted that gargoyle back."

I explained, "I didn't pray about the gargoyle. I prayed that God would convict the heart of whoever took it and God answered that prayer. That's UNBELIEVABLE!"

Then, he asked, "Well that's why you pray, isn't it?"

And I answered, "Well, yes, but usually you don't get something so concrete!" (Pun intended.)

Get it? So CONCRETE!

I'll wait for you to get it. And laugh.

OK, so in my Daily Devotional this morning, the first sentence reads, "It is the unbelievable, supernatural replenishment that awakens the world to see the mighty power of God." And I believe that even applies to stolen gargoyles. And I'm telling the world. Or anyone who will stop long enough to hear (or read).

Act Like It

Today I was riding in the car and for some reason, my son decided to turn on his whiny voice and cry and fuss. So, in my most unprofessional mommy thing to do, I said to my 2 year old daughter, "Do you hear the baby crying?"

This, of course, sent him off the edge and he protested, "I'M NOT A BABY! I'M FOUR YEARS OLD!"

I said to him, "Well, you wouldn't know it by the way you're acting! If you're such a BIG BOY, you should ACT LIKE IT!"

Things got quiet in the car after that, but during the quiet time, it reminded me that there is an example of the same thing in adult life. For example, if you have ever, or do proclaim to be a Christian you should act like it. And I don't just mean superficially running around singing "Praise the Lord" with a fake smile. I mean really. I mean a real live imperfect human being who is saved only by the grace of God and not by anything he or she ever has ever or could ever do for him or herself. I mean a person who knows that being a Christian is not walking down the aisle during the chorus of "Just As I Am" and getting baptized, but an ongoing relationship with God Almighty and striving daily to enhance his/her personal relationship with His perfect human son Jesus Christ. And I mean someone who knows why it is important to do that. Someone who knows what an awesome responsiblity and privilege it is to be a Christian; to build a Christian home, and that they need the support and fellowship of other Christians to do that.

It occurred to me that just like my son backslides into acting like a baby, Christians backslide into unchristian-like behavior. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to act like what we say we are. Are you a Christian? Are YOU acting like it?

Contest for a Scanalizer and I want one!

One of my favorite web sites, 5minutesfor mom, is giving away TEN NeatReceipts Scanalizers!

"What in the world is a Scanailzer?" You ask? Well, let me tell you that it is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. You can see all about it here.

I think it is the answer to alot of my household paper clutter taming. I like to keep so many receipts, bills, insurance papers, pay stubs and other papers that would be so much easier to keep track of if they were in one nice neat file in my computer instead of in so many piles all over file drawers in my house.

Not to mention that it could be a way to track prices at grocery stores. I posted here about our rabid grocery spending and since then I have started keeping receipts and clipping coupons. The Scanalizer looks like a perfect way to keep up a computerized price book for sales and good deals.

Click here to see the NeatReceipts website and view the demo video. I think you'll like it too!

Wordless Wednesday: God Bless America

For more Wordless Wednesday go to Five Minutes For Mom or
Check out the Official Wordless Wednesday HQ

Tackle it Tuesday: Accomplishments

1. I bought the circus tickets. Saved $18.80 for not just doing it on the phone.
2. Went to the furniture store. The stuff that was on sale was junk. Saved gobs of money for not buying anything. At all.
3. Started reading a book. I read 3 chapters. This book is HEAVY DUTY. Have to think about it. I'll review it when I finish. Hopefully soon.
4. Did a load of laundry. Hey, it's better than nothing.
5. Closet 6. Computer desk and 7. My desk will have to wait. Oh well.
8. Bought 10 pounds of potatoes. We'll fire up the fish cooker tomorrow and boil them. I also bought a new potato masher today. I was thinkin' ahead.
9. Web page will wait for another day.
10. Kids and I played outside for a little while this afternoon. We read some books. Sang songs. Listened to our Bible school song CD. You know, all of that fun stuff.

All in all, it was a pretty productive day.

Tackle it Tuesday: Top 10

This is my list of things to do. I wish I felt motivated to do even one of them.

1. Go to colleseum and buy circus tickets. (If you buy them online or on the phone it costs $18.80 more for 4 tickets. That's ridiculous.)
2. Go to furniture store. (They're having a sale.)
3. Read some of my to be read list. (See my posts on Spring Reading Thing. I was quite ambitious and not so successful, so I still have a bunch of books to be read. Not to mention that I've bought more books since then. I think it's an illness. I just love buying books.)
4. Get a handle on our laundry epidemic. (Nothing new or different.)
5. Clean out my son's closet. (He piles all kinds of things in there. There is no telling what I'll find.)
6. Clean off top of computer desk. (Its a real mess.)
7. Clean out my desk. (It's full of stuff from 3-K and other "important" stuff. If I need anything "important", I'll never find it.)
8. Fix mashed potatoes for 50 people. (We are supposed to bring the mashed potatoes to the July 4th festivities tomorrow. I don't have a clue how many pounds of potatoes to get.)
9. Learn how to make a web page. (Something I've been wanting to do ever since I started blogging. I really want to learn how to design without having to enroll in school for it. I wonder how you do that?)
10. Play with the kids, maybe go swimming this afternoon. (Find something engaging and/or educational for them to do.)

I'll post again if I get anything done.

The Reason for the Name of my Blog

The last time I went to church was on April 1st. (I feel very bad about this and I figure that confession is good for the soul so I am telling any/all one of you in the bloggy world.) But I'll tell you why.

On April 1st which so aptly is also April Fool's Day, I had nursery duty with the 2 year olds, which is a good thing since it is the room my daughter is in. What I didn't count on is that there would be about 15 or 650 OTHER 2 year olds in there too, one of which was carrying some vile nausea/vomiting and diarrhea virus and another of which was carrying a sinus infection, which we caught by Tuesday night/Wednesday of that week. And kept for the next, oh, month.

I swore that I would never take her back to church until she stops putting toys in her mouth. Or until I thought all of the children would be well and not carrying germs. Ha.

Anyway, every week after we got well, either I would get my son and myself ready to go and something would happen or my husband would not be home to keep my daughter. So of course today is no exception.

I got up and got myself in the shower before the kids woke up. Actually my daughter was awake, but she can usually entertain herself until I get in there. So, as I am rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, my son comes into the bathroom. I said, "Good Morning!"

Instead of hearing the "Good Morning Mommy" that I usually hear in response, he said, "MOM! You're never going to believe this!"

I thought he had a dream to tell me about.

He continues, "Sissy went POOPIE in her BED!"

Oh great.

So, I go in there and find a mess, but one that is manageable. (I had envisioned her with her diaper in her hand and poop everywhere.) Thankfully, it was just a little leakage. So, I get her all cleaned up and before long, I smelled it again.

I was still planning to go to church with my son, until after breakfast when he was supposed to be brushing his teeth. He ended up having some sort of crying jag for no reason discernible to anyone except for him. I still have no idea what happened to him. By the time all of the excitement died down, it was 15 minutes AFTER the beginning of Sunday School.

Next week it is my turn to be in the nursery again. I guess we'll see if any of the 2 year olds who are there have icky bugs to give to the rest of the kids, because if there is one present, we will get it and bring it home and have it for the next month.

At least I'll make it to church.