Randomness

Just some random thoughts from me today - of course it isn't the same as bullets, because I'm going to use asterisks instead!



*Dude - preteen attitudes suck. So, SAM is signed up for volleyball, and all of her games are on Saturdays. Tonight at our mid-week church thing, she finds out that the junior high kids are doing some kind of activity that will start on Friday night @ 11pm and have them playing laser tag, ice skating, and then gallavanting around until 7am on Saturday morning. I told her "Sorry, you can't participate, you have a commitment to your volleyball team." To which she got all pouty and pissy and door slammy and go to bed without saying goodnight-y. Argh. I wanted to smack her...but I didn't, so don't call CPS on me or anything.



*Baby pants pooped and peed on the potty for the first time yesterday. It was a monumental event. Of course my husband was all "Our daughter is going to be the first child potty trained before two." I really wanted to correct him to let him know that I'm sure there have been other children potty trained before two - but I didn't. See, Marriage Mondays are working! :)



*Monkey is going to be 5 on Saturday...FIVE years old people! She was student of the week at her preschool, and I had to go back to the archives to dig up newborn / baby / toddler-ish pictures of my little Monkey - made me get all nostalgic and stuff. I can't believe she was that little - and now she's just a big ball of chatter-face...with all her "Mommy...Mommmy...Mommmy! Remember that one time?"



*Cita is being Cita - she's always tried to be somewhat of a second mommy, and she's very patient with Baby Pants - but with Monkey, she acts like an annoyed, burnt out parent that's worked a very long day. So...what I'm saying is...she sounds like me. I just want her to be 7....I keep telling her that it's mommy's job to be the jerkface, and that she should just be a kid.



*I got my oil changed yesterday, and watched Divorce Court where this lady told the judge she was consistently abducted by aliens. I almost peed my pants laughing...she also imitated her husband eating a bologna sandwich. It was funny. But because I'm still getting over this upper respiratory thing, every time I laugh, I sound like Marge Simpson's sister who smokes 8 packs a day. It's not cool.



*My toenails need painting - I can't reach them - and I don't care.



*Since when did driving EXACTLY the speed limit in the fast lane on the freeway become an epidemic in Phoenix? It really bothers me - in fact, I used the carpool lane 5 minutes earlier than I was allowed to, to get around said speed limit obeyer. (NOTE: In Phx the carpool lane becomes a regular lane from 9am-3pm, and then again from 7pm-6am or something like that)



*I ate a sausage mcmuffin (without egg) for breakfast this morning



*I had a lot funnier random thoughts earlier today when I was thinking about writing this blog



*Oh yeah - I've kept a plant alive in my office for like 10 months! I'm turning into Martha Stewart or something - she's the only person I could think of - I don't know any famous plant-keeper-alivers.



*I love reading other people's blogs - they really make my day, or they make me cry - either one, or sometimes both.



*Why do farts never stop being funny? You know how when you hear the banana knock-knock joke 80 bajillion times when your kids start learning the knock knock joke concept - and you laugh for about the first 10 times they tell it - but then you just look them straight in the eye and say "ok - it's not funny anymore"? But, by the time they are five, you have probably heard them toot about 100 bajillion times - nevertheless the 101 bajillionth time is still freakin' funny.



*9 more days till "New Moon" comes out



*Why do I care about that?



*Because I'm a dweeb, that's why.



*I have cankles.



*Yesterday I caught a glimpse of my butt in these maternity pants I was wearing - and I wanted to cry. I looked like I had a foot long butt, that had been mooshed flat and wide by a shovel. Can I please trade this butt in for my 19 year old butt?



*My husband raises his arms over his head when he sleeps on his back - he didn't believe me - I took a picture

Marriage Monday - 11/09/09

His Sexuality

pp.61-67

So, this week's Marriage Monday chapter is on our husband and his sexuality. I got two paragraphs into this chapter and read this:

"It isn't that the wife cares nothing about that part of her life It's that there are so many other things screaming for her attention, such as raising children, work, finances, managing a home, emotional stress, exhaustion, sickness, and marital strife. In the wife's juggling of priorities, sex can end up on the bottom of her list."

I don't know about you ladies, but these few sentences describe me. This is kind of a personal subject to talk about - but, I'm pretty sure there are many other women out there that feel this way. It's not like I don't WANT to have sex with my husband, I just have so many other things going on, it's like...when do I have time for THAT? And it sucks, because I know for him, he would probably want to have sex every day, multiple times a day if he could. So, where do we find a balance that works for both of us, you know?

On page 62, the author goes on to say "A man can easily be made to feel insignificant, beaten down, discouraged, destroyed, or tempted in this area of his being. There is probably no more important means of fulfillment for a man, and no area where he is more vulnerable."

Wow - I knew dudes liked sex, but it's sometimes hard to grasp that it is SO important to them.

This chapter talks about praying in this area of our lives, so that we can get somewhat on the same page as our husband as far as desire. And if there are times when we aren't quite feeling it, that we would pray that we would have renewed energy, strength, vitality and a good attitude. And then to take 10 or 15 minutes and prepare ourselves physically and emotionally, by doing things that make us feel pretty and desirable - fix our hair, put on lingerie, put makeup on if you want - I know I don't feel too in the mood or sexy when I'm my sweatpants that have 8 holes in the butt and a ratty old tank top, and my pits stink from a long day. :)

Page 64 talks about the flip side - what if our husband doesn't seem to care about having sex? The author suggests that we pray about this as well for insight into what's going on - she says "If there is no physical problem hindering him, maybe he's having deep feelings of failure, disappointment, depression, or hopelessness that need to be addressed - prayer can help reveal what the problem is and how to solve it."

So, to wrap up today's Marriage Monday - I will be honest and say that this area is something I definitely need to work on. I pray that I can meet this need in our marriage better, and that I can do it before things take a turn that I don't want it to take.

Next week we'll be talking about "His Affection" - have a great day everyone!

What A Week!!

Phew - TGIF, seriously! This week was certainly crazy, and I'm pretty glad it's over....well, I guess we technically still have the weekend - and heaven only knows what joys that could bring with some of the drama that ensued this evening.

But - the week started out with everyone in the entire house being sick. I thought we would just tough it out, since any fevers that presented themselves were pretty much gone by Monday. But we all sounded like a bunch of barking seals with our coughs, so I took me and the 3 younger girls to the doctor first thing Tuesday AM. My oldest said she didn't need to go, she would just take some cough medicine - and she actually did sound better than the rest of us.

So - 4 copays and 1.5 hours later - we were all diagnosed with upper respiratory infections, with my 4 yr old, Monkey, being kind of the worst out of the bunch with bronchitis. They sent us off with our prescriptions for Amoxicillin (for the girls) and Cephalexin (for me) - those were promptly filled at Target for $4/piece, thank you very much - and now here we are....on day 4 of our antibiotics - still hacking up a storm, but 'feeling' a lot better.

Yesterday was actually my first day back in the office in 4 days - I stayed home on Friday because that's when Baby Pants started getting sick - and then I stayed home Monday through Wednesday of this week. By the grace of God, some of the high priority stuff that has been burdening me over the last several months took a bit of a breather this week, so I didn't return feeling COMPLETELY overwhelmed - just a teensy bit. :) Next week I'm sure it will be taken up a notch - I don't think I've ever wanted to see a project get completed as much as I want this one to be over with. It is very brain intensive, and my brain just isn't up for the challenge with all this baby growing I'm doin'.

And BOY am I baby growin'. I think I'm at a total weight gain of 25 pounds so far - and I still have 3 months to go. I really need to start getting some exercise in - even if it is just taking a walk around the block every night. But with everything going on with the kids' mid-week activities, and my job and everything - I just don't have the energy. But I'm going to have even less energy once the baby comes if I don't get to somewhat of decent pregnancy shape. Also - my belly is so HUGE - it seriously looks like I have a basketball stuffed under my shirt - an extra large one. I waddle like a duck and I have sleep with a pillow underneath the side of my tummy when I sleep on my side. I had an appointment this week, and they did an ultrasound to follow-up on my placenta previa that they had detected at my 18 week ultrasound - but it 'resolved', according to the doctor - so I don't have to worry about needing a c-section or anything - which is awesome. They said the baby weighs 2 pounds - and we're having a bit of confliction going on with the due dates - from the get go, I have been using Feb 10th as my due date because I used a due date calculator online with the date of my LMP - but apparently the doctor had put in my chart Feb 1st - and then after my first ultrasound, they bumped it to Feb 8th - but according to my measurements of this latest ultrasound - it looked like Feb 3rd. So, I guess somewhere between Feb 1st and Feb 10th I'll be having a baby. :) OH - I also had to do my glucose test with the sugary drink and getting my blood drawn - that was a blast. I actually don't do too bad with the needle poke thing.

The drama of the week revolves around the living situation we had with my 21 yr old brother-in-law living with us again. Not going to go into great detail, we're just all sort of at our wits end as to what to do. I've received some great input from some friends, and we've tried to offer some solutions to the guy, but he refuses to want to take responsibility for himself - and his mom keeps covering for him, so he doesn't really have a reason to. My poor husband feels like he can't win, because he's got me, a mother of four that works full-time and is hormonal and pregnant - dumping my emotions out about the situation - and then he's got his mom crying to him about how he needs to take care of his brother. So, this morning I apologized for making it worse, and that I would support him in the arrangement he had made with his brother which was to allow him to stay until mid-January, which is a few weeks before the new baby is born. But, apparently tonight his brother didn't fulfill his end of the arrangement which was to pay $100 in rent - and he is now 'kicked out', aka homeless...which is making his mother very upset, which is making my husband very upset. So, I'm just praying for something positive to happen.

Anywho - that's pretty much my week in review. I'm trying not to make any other plans for the weekend besides going to my girls' volleyball and soccer games, church and maybe a new bible study on Sunday night. But it is my hubby's birthday tomorrow - I gave him his presents early because I got him personalized riding gear for his motocross racing series, but it ended a couple weeks ago and I wanted him to have it for his last race. So, not sure what I'll do for him tomorrow - he's out riding right now with some buddies. He doesn't like sweets, so I can't bake him a cake (not like I'd be any good at that anyhow...hehe). I'll probably just make him some bacon & eggs in the morning. :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Marriage Monday - 11/02/09

Power of Praying Wife

Chapter 3 - His Finances

p55-59

So - I was on a hiatus last week with Marriage Monday - but I'm back - I may have to do a mid-week edition as well, so I can catch up.

Our whole family is sick - I spent today disinfecting the entire house - I felt pretty good earlier, but as the night wears on, I can feel the congestion building in my throat again. Good times. Not.

So - Chapter 3 is on His Finances. To be honest, I don't think the chapter was long enough - and it didn't really go into a lot of detail. I think the prayer she included at the end about our husband's finances is way better, so I'll probably end with that.

I have been married once before, we shared a bank account, and my ex-husband had a gambling addiction. This was not good. So, when Aaron and I got married, we were two very independent people, and I think we were both on the same page about keeping our finances separate. The cause of so much strife in marriage is due to finances, and my Dad had mentioned before that he and my step-mom kept their finances separate and they've been married for 15+ years. I think it depends on every couple. But, I had 3 children before I met Aaron - and I will obviously have expenses for them that I wouldn't expect him to pay for. He also has vehicles and toys that he had before he met me, and wouldn't expect me to pay for. So, we share the common household expenses - rent, utilities and groceries - and once those are paid, we are pretty much free to do what we wish with the rest.

Fortunately for me, I think Aaron does a pretty good job of managing his finances. He knows when to cut back on extras if he needs to, and he is very generous when additional funds come his way. But I understand not every man is like this - the author mentions that there are men that are miserly with their money and men that are reckless with it. The best thing that I think we can pray for our husbands is that they truly come to an understanding that everything they receive comes from God - it's ours to steward, and we should be the best at that as we can. We all have areas to grow in concerning our finances. I recommend a book called "Money. Purpose. Joy" by Matt Bell - it's been very helpful to me as I try to get my own finances in order.

So, as I said I'm going to end this Marriage Monday with the prayer from this chapter:

Lord, I commit our finances to You. Be in charge of them and use them for Your purposes. May we both be good stewards of all that You give us, and walk in total agreement as to how it is to be dispersed. I pray that we will learn to live free of burdensome debt. Where we have not been wise, bring restoration and give us guidance. Show me how I can help increase our finances and not decrease them unwisely. Help us to remember that all we have belongs to You, and to be grateful for it.

I pray that my husband will find it easy to give to You and to others as You have instructed in Your word. Give him wisdom to handle money wisely. Help him make good decisions as to how he spends. Show him how to plan for the future. I pray that he will find the perfect balance between spending needlessly and being miserly. May he always be paid well for the work he does, and may his money not be stolen, lost, devoured, destroyed, or wasted. Multiply it so that what he makes will go a long way. I pray that he will not be anxious about finances, but will seek Your kingdom first, knowing that as he does, we will have all we need (Luke 12:31).

Here are a few reference verses as well from this chapter:

Luke 12:29-31

Ecclesiastes 5:19

Proverbs 28:27

Psalm 37:25

Phillipians 4:19

Writer's Workshop from Mama Kats

OK - so Marriage Monday was on hiatus this week as you may have noticed. My 4 yr old was sick all weekend through Tuesday, and then this crazy project that I've been working on for the last couple of months required I work long hours yesterday and today and in fact, I should probably be doing some work right now, because now my youngest is sick and I'm going to have to stay home with her tomorrow - but I really don't feel like it.

I feel like participating in Mama Kat's Writers Workshop -- you should too, it's fun! :)

I chose prompt #3 - "Write a poem to your child as their Halloween character"


Oh Daphne from Scooby Doo

Dooby Dooby Do, Where are you?

Your Orange Hair...the wig you wear...did you just find a clue?

Not so sure about the short dress

You're only 4, I must confess

You will wear tights...it's cold at night...and skin you'll show much less

You my dear are much too young

To even remember the Scooby fun

But Daphne you'll be...with joy and glee...and in go-go boots you'll run

Squeezin it in

So I feel like the last couple of weeks have been a blur - all I've managed to post is my Marriage Mondays and a funny YouTube video. So, what's been up in the life of Crystal you might ask? Well, you might ask, but then again you might not give a crap. hehe :) But I figured I need to unload my brain now, because tomorrow is Marriage Monday and if I wait until after Monday to post this stuff, it will most likely end up being next Sunday night before I know it. Also, one of my kids has diarrhea and the other has had a 103 fever for the past two days, so who knows if/when it's going to hit me and/or the other two children. So, now for my recapitulation that I do the best via....BULLETS! But actually I think I'm going to change it up this week, and do....NUMBERS!

1. My girls' sports activities are in full swing. SAM's volleyball team won their first game a couple Saturdays ago, and then this Saturday, they lost. But honestly, for SAM never having played volleyball before in her life, I think she is doing really well - she does not get this from me. I was a dancer, who tried volleyball because her best friend was playing, and I sucked.
2. Monkey's soccer team tied their first game, and I didn't let her play yesterday because of the whole aforementioned fever thing. I'm one of those parents that actually keeps their kids away from other kids if they don't feel well...go figure. During her moments of Advil relief, we did let her play outside in our front yard though. I taught her some "soccer strategy" that I think was actually kinda cool - with kids her age (5 & 6), soccer is just a cluster of little legs all trying to kick the same ball. So, I told her that sometimes, you just have to run toward the goal WITHOUT the ball, look back at your teammates and see if one of them can kick the ball REALLY hard down to you, and then you are already that much closer to the goal, and you most likely won't have the "cluster" around you, and it will be easier to score. We did some scenarios where she and I were both trying to kick the ball, and she saw how we ended up all over the yard instead of anywhere near the goal - but that if I stopped trying to kick the ball, and just ran up toward the goal, then she could kick it hard towards me, and I could score the goal, and vice versa. I think she got it. :)
3. My projects at work have been extremely crazy, time consuming, stressful and all around yucky. Sometimes I'm not sure if my bosses remember that I'm pushing 7 months preggo here, and that they should be phasing me off of projects instead of making me the lead person on new stuff. I feel like I have a lot of burden on me right now, and I don't see it lightening up until January which is just one month before I am due. I'm kinda stressing about it, can you tell?
4. My brother-in-law is living with us...again...for the 4th time. What was supposed to be him hanging out with us on a Saturday, ended up with him sleeping on our couch for ummm....9 nights in a row now. My hubby said he told him he had 2 weeks to find a place, which would be next Saturday - but I'm having a very hard time with him here. He's 21, and has no respect for anyone or anything, he manipulates people (mostly his own mother) into giving him money or things, and will not take responsibility for anything. I'm trying very hard to have patience with the kid, but after having already offered our home to him, where he eats our food, uses our electricity/water, etc - all without paying us a single dime - it's wearing on my nerves. The first couple of times, I thought I was really getting through to him by offering him encouraging talks and showing him how he could make it on his own - but it turns out he was just sort of humoring me and all of it went in one ear and out the other. Help!
5. I miss my mom - she moved last year with my step-dad to a little podunk town in Texas called "Happy" it's about 30 minutes outside of Amarillo. My step-dad is from there, and he has brothers and sisters that all still live in town. It's definitely a lot slower than Phoenix - and I think they really like that. And they also like being able to have so much family around. But dang it, I miss my mommy.
6. I am getting freakin' HUGE! My belly is seriously gnarly - and my legs are getting fat. And that is usually the ONE place where I don't gain weight - I've always had fairly thin legs - but my thighs are rubbing together, I have cellulite, and my calves are bulking up. I have not been working out...at all...this pregnancy. My last pregnancy, I was taking my hip-hop classes at the gym all the way up until 8 months - and I was working out with a personal trainer. This time I just don't have the motivation - I really just don't. I want to, but yeah, it's not there.
7. OH...my oldest is going to be 12 on Wednesday!! Oh my freakin goodness...TWELVE!!! My baby's last year before the TEENS!! This is seriously freaking me out people. It freaked me out enough that she started junior high this year, but turning 12 seals the deal. She is a texting queen, she paints her nails, wants to wear makeup, shaves her legs, and actually has a really good fashion sense - she always looks cute. I was the one who went WAY overboard during the flourescent color stage of the early 90's - I was not cute. So, this fashion thing she also does not get from me. :)
8. I am "this" close to going public with my business - I've gotten input from a select few people and I've got my LLC paperwork done and am officially official with that. My website is done, I have business cards, car magnet thingies, and am signed up for my first expo next month. Now, I just need to tell my husband about it, and then I can tell the rest of you! heheehe! ;)
9. Speaking of my husband - he had his last race of the motocross series he's been participating in since July - and he WON! YAY!! There were 8 races in the series - and he only raced 6 of them. At each race, you receive a certain amount of points for the position you come in - for example, 1st place = 30pts, 2nd place = 27 pts, etc... ANYWHO - this guy who he has been competing against had participated in all of the races held so far, and he was ultimately going to win no matter if my husband came in 1st place this past Saturday or not - because he had accumulated more points from being in more races. I was bummed because my husband had worked so hard, and had been finishing in the top 3 positions during every race...and this other guy was like a consistent 5th, 6th, 7th place finisher. So - don't throw any stones - but I sorta said a little prayer that maybe this guy wouldn't show up to the final race because that is the only way my husband would win the series. I didn't want any harm to befall him or anything, I was just kinda hoping maybe he had a wedding to go to, or a bar mitzvah or something. hehe. So, we get to the race, and my hubby goes down to the line, and I don't see the other guy's bike - and I'm thinking "Really??? Did the guy really not show up??". And my husband took 1st in that heat (they race 2 heats)....and the second heat the guy didn't show up again, and my husband took 1st again! So, because of the points that he will get for taking 1st last night - he'll end up winning the series! I came to find out this morning that the guy DID show up last night - but that him and his buddy had spent the day rebuilding his engine on his dirtbike - and when they tested it, it was running too hot because of some "insert mechanical reason I don't understand here" - so he didn't want to run the risk of completely ruining his bike. Can you believe that???
10. And now we're at #10, and it's 10pm, and I'm exhausted. You probably are too from having to read all that. :) Remember tomorrow is Marriage Monday, and we're talking Finances (EEEEEEEEKKKKK!)

Wacky Wednesday

OK - since I don't have time to actually write a post, I'm going to leave you with this HILARIOUS YouTube video I found over at Not Just 9 to 5. Laughing always makes my day better...Enjoy!