Lego Barack Obama?!

This is a "Lego Inauguration" created by Pun'kin Head this afternoon. Which is really saying something, considering we did not vote for Obama and Pun'kin Head has had his issues with accepting our new president. We have had to correct his negative attitude towards President Obama in the past couple of months and again, today, as we sat before our television and witnessed history in the making.

I am not in the mood to get into the many reasons we chose not to vote for Obama. And I will never be supportive of his stance on issues that are CLEARLY against the Word of God. But I will say that I am VERY proud to have lived in this day and age when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream has been made manifest in such a way that the whole world is a witness to it! And I believe that it is more evident than ever that the God-fearing citizens of our nation need to desperately get off their butts and onto their knees and pray like we should have been all along. We want change? Then PRAY people. When will people come to the realization that hard work and sweat alone will not get the job done. We can toil and work for many years to correct the state of our nation, but if we continue to go along in this life without the inclusion of the One Who IS the Giver of that life, than we are missing the mark!

2 Chronicles 7:14 "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and PRAY, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and HEAL THEIR LAND." Is that not the CHANGE we are wanting for our great nation? This is the formula we need to use to get it to come to pass. He can do more in ONE day with the unified prayers of His people than we can do in many, many years. When will we understand that when we are at our weakest that's when He can move right in and be STRONG on our behalf, if we LET Him?

Whether we agree with the choice that our fellow Americans have made in this election, true submission is when we don't agree. We are called to respect the "office" of the president and to support him with our prayers. We are to be sober and alert in these days of darkness, that the day should not overtake us, for we are people of Light. And we are to offer up "prayers, petitions and thanksgivings on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." 1Timothy 2:1-3

Let us rejoice that CHANGE, is indeed, on the horizon and that God's words CANNOT return to Him void of accomplishing all that He desires, IF WE PRAY!

Caught on tape!

Okay. I am now wondering why did we spend a small fortune on a camcorder for our nine year old for Christmas?? Pun'kin Head has had so much fun the past few weeks making little videos of his Star Wars action figures and learning how to upload and edit videos on the laptop. Didn't know we needed to enforce any RULES for the use of the camera...well, we do NOW!

The other day I stepped out of the shower, dried off and applied my lotion. I forgot to bring my new clothes in the bathroom with me, but as no one else was upstairs with me, I bolted from the bathroom, across the hallway to my bedroom, to fetch some duds. Ah, once in the safety of my own room I proceeded to take my time dressing, as I was waiting for my lotion to dry anyway. There I stood, in the buff, in my closet, when a little red light reflecting in my full-length mirror caught my eye. I slowly walked toward my vanity and noticed that the baby monitor was turned on. My kids always use the old baby monitor as "spy gear" when playing and usually snoop on us when we have people over for dinner etc... As I walked a little closer I noticed not only the harmless monitor, but the new cellphone-sized camcorder also on the table.

In a sound only an experienced mama can make, I screeched "Good Lord! Is that camera on??"
Oh, yeah, it was! I then got a crash course in video editing and the wonderful DELETE button! To make a long story short...Pun'kin Head now has agreed to ALWAYS ask permission of anyone he might be taping. Sigh :)

I am pooped!

Let me give you the exhausting run down of my day, just for sympathy purposes:

Woke up

Showered, dressed, ate

Fed & watered kiddos and pets

Cleaned up dog's throw-up and took him out for duty, scooped his poop

Bundled up and shoveled walkways, cleaned off van

Set kiddos up at table for semi-supervised school work and proceeded to clean the house for a 12:00 p.m. house showing, yay!

Cleaned, dusted, scrubbed, swept, folded, hid stuff etc...

12:00p.m.-Grabbed kiddos and pupster, headed out to run errands while strangers walked through our house

1:00p.m.-Came home, made lunch, put away things that I only take out for house showings, got ready to take kids to piano lessons

2:00p.m.-answered call that someone ELSE wants to see the house at 5:00p.m., yay!

2:30p.m.-Dropped kids off at piano, ran to Kohl's to buy them much needed winter boots

3:30p.m.-Picked up kids and headed home to clean the mess I let the kids make because I didn't know I'd have to show the house, AGAIN, on the same day, UGH!

4:00 p.m.- Got home, fed dog, walked dog, scooped more poop, cleaned AGAIN!

5:00 p.m.-Grabbed kids, dog and boots (which didn't fit Sweet Pea! New motto:never shop for kids shoes without the kid!) and headed back to Kohl's while the NEW people came to look at the house.

6:00 p.m.-Got home with new boots and grumpy kids, started dinner with hunger pains.

7:00 p.m.-Finally got dinner cleaned up, (HH's working late again!) put dog out, played "coffee shop" with kids

8:00 p.m.- AHH! Sitting with feet up for a few minutes, catching up on blogs, waiting for hubby to arrive and kids to go to bed!!

P.S. Realtor called. Hoping to hear about an offer...but no, just wanted to know if I can show the house AGAIN TOMORROW. Sure, looking forward to it, sigh!

My Must Watch Christmastime Movie List!!!

Not all of these are "Christmas" movies, but here's the list I try to watch while wrapping gifts, baking, or folding laundry at Christmastime :)

It's A Wonderful Life (Hubby will attempt his best Jimmy Stewart impersonation throughout it)

The Grinch (both versions of course)

A Christmas Story (never gets old)

Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming to Town (for the kids of course)

The Family Man (kind of a modern It's A Wonderful Life)

Sleepless in Seattle/You've Got Mail (don't know why, just love that Tom Hanks at Christmastime!)

Little Women (The Susan Sarandon version)

National Lampoons Christmas (those Griswalds still crack me up!)

While You Were Sleeping (need at least one sappy romantic movie)

Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas (It's classic Jim Henson and you can't go wrong with muppets!)

A Charlie Brown Christmas ( no explanation necessary!)

So, I hope I've inspired you to rent a couple you haven't seen yet and snuggle up next to a fire, with a bowl of popcorn and your favorite kiddos and take a well-deserved break from all the "hustle and bustle" Enjoy :)

Where in the world do all the socks go??

I read many, many blogs and most are written by incredible moms of many children. I am a mom to only two children, so far, yet I still can't seem to keep up with the laundry. I suppose it doesn't help that my kids find it offending to wear only ONE outfit per day. And, if clean, pants and bathrobes do not need washing EVERYDAY, Sweet Pea! It's not the washing I hate as much as the folding and then the dreaded putting away. (HH is great at the putting away!) Once the laundry is finally done and folded it could sit in the basket for Lord only knows how many days. If I still don't find or make the time to put it away and you come over to my house for a visit, that basket of clean, folded clothes will end up in the walk-in closet. Don't tell.

Requests for this or that are usually answered as "I don't know...check in the basket!" But the most common request is "Mom, I can't find any socks!" Where in the world do they go? Do they up and escape their dreaded life long duty of covering up sweaty, stinky toes? When we do locate a pair, I am then informed of their less than desirable quality...aka...holey socks.

My boy has been literally begging for new socks. Trying to stave him off until payday when I realized I might as well get some extra hats and mittens too. The first few days of snowfall here has left my basement flooded with wet winter gear on the drying rack. My boy can't just use his gear to keep warm. No. That would be too simple. He must roll in the snow like a dog until his stuff is sopping wet. Then if we need to run an errand he's got nothing dry to wear. Extras are necessity.

Upon my return tonight from the weekly grocery shopping, Pun'kin Head was "over the moon" that I managed to pick him up a new hat and snuggly socks. He put them on immediately and I must say looked very fetching with his jammies and hat on! I just checked on him and found him sleeping soundly and right next to his pillow, folded nicely of course was some of the new socks and hat! I guess you could say he's thankful for them. Gotta love simple pleasures :)

Welcome to NY...Grab a shovel!

I'm not sure where we got these kids. They may look like us, but they are definitely nothing like their dad and me when it comes to cold-weather, outdoor activities. In other words, we HATE to be cold! Even as a kid, I was the one sitting in the middle of the ice rink crying and begging to go home while my sister and three brothers whizzed past me. At the first sight of those soft, downy, goose feathers floating down from the sky, they don their coats and boots and run for the door! "Put on a hat and mittens!", I yell to no avail. There's nothing on the ground but they just leap across the yard and spin and squeal as they try to catch them. The kids and I have an ongoing contest 8 months out of the year. They try to wish snow upon our lawn and I try my best to will it away! As we live only 10 minutes south of Lake Ontario, they usually win. But Mama still tries! We have a monster of a silver maple, smack in the middle of our already tiny back yard and every year it's the last tree to bloom and the last to shed. Therefore we usually still have leaf piles to be bagged when the first of many, many snowflakes hit. The lawn was totally covered in white this morning. The kiddos cheered, "We're winning!" I just heard them exclaim as they passed by the window, "Oh No! Mom's winning, she made the sun come out!" I wish I had that kind of power, but of course I don't let on! Happy Shoveling! :)

All You Need Is Love...And A Little Chocolate Doesn't Hurt!

I read that quote recently and I concur! It has been an exhausting week! I feel so tired yet sleep hasn't come easily or soundly enough. I swear we are all still messed up from changing the clocks. Any excuse will work for me at this point. The kiddos have been taking forever to settle down at night and therefore sleeping in, which means we start school later than I'd like. They goofed off the entire time today during bookwork time, but then they wanted to have their free time in the afternoon that they enjoy. Mama had to come down hard and make them finish up their work on their own time. They haven't had much opportunity for any physical outlet the past couple of days and really needed to be wrestled up a bit. Where's Daddy when you need him! Mama's just don't wrestle as well...so I've been told. And I've also been told DAD doesn't have rules when he wrestles. Well, Mama's are built different and WE NEED RULES! Handsome Hubby returned from his FOUR day business trip (hey, no wonder I'm so tired) bearing souvenirs for the kiddos and dirty laundry for me. It's also Thursday and I've come to despise Thursdays, as Fridays are food shopping day in our house, and by Thursday there is not even a mouse-sized morsel to be found. These kids eat up every scrap of everything each week and by the time Friday rolls around, Mother Hubbard's Cupboards are beyond bare! No wonder these little piggies each gained 6 lbs. in one year (they recently had their check-ups)! It's the highlight of the day now to sit and fold THREE loads of laundry. Anyway, in desperate need of a little pick me up after tucking them in and I couldn't find ANYTHING that looked good. In desperate need of one thing in particular, CHOCOLATE! I rummaged until I found some chocolate chips in the baking supply cupboard and downed a handful. Ahh! Much better. I can face tomorrow! Hey, don't judge, you know you've been there. Happy Almost Friday :)

GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!!!

Just want to encourage everyone to make it to the polls today. You may have to stand in a very long line and have your day inconvenienced, but many have paid a high price for our RIGHT to be inconvenienced! There is no perfect candidate out there. They are but mere men and we know God can work through those who get the privilege of leading our great nation. Do not vote based on FEAR of the economic situation we are currently in. The Lord has always known how to take care of His people and will continue to take care of every aspect of our lives if we involve Him. Ask your HEART how to vote. Support the candidates who will most likely uphold the vision the Lord had when he created families. This is STILL His nation and if we humble ourselves and pray, He will lead us. No matter what the outcome, tomorrow morning we will be praying for our president, like always. Let's give the Lord something to work with and continue to pray His word over our new president!

Women Are Awesome!

The Bible calls us "the weaker vessels", but when we are united, boy are we STRONG! I've been thinking about all the great women that I know. I am so very thankful for all of the wonderful women in my life, past and present. I have always gravitated toward strong, intelligent, caring, hardworking women. I've tried to surround myself with women who have the qualities which I hope to emulate in myself. I have been blessed with an incredible mom. She is the most loving, caring, patient person I know. I believe she has enjoyed a life of blessings, because she truly appreciates others. My mom was a kindergarten teacher for many, many years and she enjoyed every day of it. I never saw her at work with a negative attitude, ever. As kids, we were there a lot, helping her after school and playing with the kids. Once I was grown, I worked alongside her as an assistant teacher for a couple of years. What a blessing. We loved being together, all day, everyday. And then we'd go out shopping or to dinner after work :) I have also been blessed with an awesome mother-in-law (or mother-in-love, as I like to call her). She has so many gifts and she gives to our entire family generously. I've learned so much just from simply BEING with her. Gleaning while I quietly watched her pour out her love and compassion for others. There are many, many great women who have and still continue to pour into my life. I'm grateful for my sister, my seven sisters-in-law(who are true sisters to me), aunts, grandmothers, cousins, nieces, friends (some new and some who have stuck by me for many moons), teachers, pastors and mentors. You know who you are! I learn so much, even from the littlest woman in my life, my six year old daughter. I have a part of each of you in my heart. I just feel like encouraging all the women out there, to be a woman of EXCELLENCE. You never know who's watching you quietly, wanting to glean from YOU. Let all those special women in your life know that they are SPECIAL and that you are truly thankful for them. To quote one of the special women in my life, "So many people don't share their feelings and we never know they had kind thoughts about us. Why not give that gift of kindness to others." When they hear kind words, it will not only thank them, but it will encourage them to be the best version of themselves every day. The written word is even more valuable because it can be read again, and again. I like to save sweet emails, cards and notes. I call it my "fuzzy file". And when feeling a little down , I'll pull it out for a heart lift. Something in there is bound to make me chuckle or at least smile. Life isn't always easy, girls, but we've got each other and we're in this together!