mornings aren't my cup of tea

Note: Initially, I was going to write, "mornings ain't my cup of tea" but then remembered I don't like the word 'ain't' so I didn't use it, although it would have given my title more oomph.  Is that how you spell 'oomph'?  I am not sure.

The past two mornings have been rough for this household.  Oh, who am I kidding?  Mornings are always rough.  I am not a morning person and although I realize this is not a valid reason for being grumpy, I still use it as a reason.

But yesterday and today have been doozies. 

Yesterday, I yelled at my kids because they were ignoring me.  Actually, I said, "Why are you ignoring me?  Am I not important enough for you?"

I thought about it later and realized that may have been a tad dramatic. 

When I dropped the kids off at school, Rhett had forgiven me but Noah had not.  I gave them a kiss and Noah wiped his off, grunted a good-bye (really, he grunted in response to my good-bye) and slammed the door.  Talk about dramatic. I have no idea where he gets that from.  Oh, wait, yes I do.

This morning, I asked Rhett a simple question.  He answered.  I told him that I didn't think he did what he said he did.  Oh, this is getting confusing.  Anyway, we started arguing and I told him he was stubborn, which he denied.  He then yelled, "You are just making me so mad! And I don't like it when you make me mad!" To his credit, he yelled with such control.

He didn't say anything to me when he got out of the car, except, "Are we bus or car today?"  I wanted to say, "Definitely bus mister, because you just yelled at me!" but I figured that would be too dramatic so I just said, "Bus." Then I smiled my best smile and drove off. 

small reflections while I am waiting

Hi there.  I am waiting for a realtor to get here, so I decided to blog!  Aren't you excited?  Aren't you glad?  Hee. Hee.

Anyway, I think I am going to reflect today. 

This is me, a little more than 3 years ago.  I wanted to show off my beautiful newly painted bathroom.  (I actually can't believe its been that long since I painted that bathroom).  The reason is because I am about to have to repaint my beautiful bathroom a more "neutral" color.  Sad face.  Seth says that I can paint our new bathroom the same color.  I know.  But still sad face.  This was my first color adventure.  And every morning I walked into the bathroom and smiled.  I loved it.

I look at myself now.  Funny enough, I am wearing the exact same necklace I was wearing in the picture.  It is a $12 necklace I found at an after Christmas sale at Dillards, but it is my favorite.  Simple and easy to forget it is on-my favorite kind of jewelry. My hair is much, much longer now and I am loving it long and have no desire to cut it short again.  That must mean I past the yucky "why am I growing my hair long again? I hate it" stage. Yay.

I have a new camera. One with a better zoom.  Although I guess I don't need a better zoom with this particular shot.

I think of where we were three years ago.  My kids still had their baby teeth.  Rhett was in kindergarten and Noah home with me most days.  I hadn't even met some of my closest friends in the neighborhood yet.  The school the kids are going to now wasn't even finished being built yet. My mom and I hadn't pulled out the ugly bushes in the front garden bed yet.  That would come a couple of months later.

I think of all these things to remind myself that a lot can change in three years. A lot can happen in three years. Kids grow up, hair grows out, friendships bloom.  It is as if I am saying to myself,

"I remember what is was like three years ago, in a new place.  It was scary, not knowing many people.  It was challenging, fitting in to a new routine. 

We found friends.  We found a good school.  We found a place to call home. 


And we will again."

moving on, moving up highway 44

This is a picture of Tulsa, OK.  Isn't it beautiful?  Honestly, I haven't seen it like this yet.  When we went a couple of weekends ago, it was cold, not sunny and no leaves were on the trees.  People weren't out on the lake either, but I am sure that doesn't have to be said.

This is where we are moving in a few weeks.  Seth got a new job and he is moving us 100 miles north-eastish.  Which makes this the easiest move ever.  At least that is what I am hoping. :)

Edmond, OK has been good to us.  When we moved three and a half years ago, I never thought I would call Oklahoma home.  And now I do.  (I am whispering this part because my kids are still Texans to the core and Rhett, although excited about the move, was disappointed we weren't moving to Lubbock, home of Texas Tech University, his favorite university.)  Don't get me wrong, I love Texas...I just don't not love Oklahoma anymore.  And I have heard Tulsa is even better.  We are looking forward to it. Change is good.  It isn't always easy but it sometimes brings amazing things.

You may not see me much on the ole' blog between now and when we move.  I just wanted to tell you why. You never know though, I may feel like procrastinating and write.  This blog is a product of procrastination. And tell me if I mispelled procrastination.  For some reason, my blog no longer has spell check and I am too lazy to look it up. 

Back to cleaning...(see, I was putting off cleaning to blog!  I told you that is when I do my best blogging.)

i, apparently, can't handle the heat...

The Pineapple Upside Down Cake that I made didn't turn out quite like I had hoped. 

It was pretty good.  Just not pretty:

Yes, my cake totally broke my cake plate

In many pieces!

What happened? 

Well, the cake was baked in a cast-iron skillet, as per instructions.

I removed the cake from the skillet and placed it on a plate, four minutes after removing it from the oven, as per instructions.

15 minutes later, I heard a loud crack, looked over at the cake and found it in two levels.

That was not in the instructions.

Let this be a warning to you in case you decide to fix that particular recipe.

***
I want to take the time and tell my mother-in-law happy birthday today.  Have a wonderful day Sandy!

This week has been full of celebrations and here is one I haven't mentioned yet:  My friend Christy delivered a heatlhy baby girl on Monday!  Congratulations!  I am so happy for you!

a birthday, the derby and wishes

It's Seth's birthday today.  I made the boys get up earlier than usual to give him a present.  Noah was more grumpy than usual.  But Seth smiled. 

I'm thinking of making a pineapple upside down cake for him.  It doesn't have any frosting, but Seth's favorite cakes usually don't.  As long as there is ice cream, I am sure he'll be happy. 

Last night was the Pinewood Derby for cub scouts.  The boys' cars both came in 2nd place for their dens.  Yay. The Den Leaders' sons' cars came in first.  Is that fair?  I don't know.  What I do know is that Rhett was disappointed because his car came off the track once.  And if it weren't for the fact that only two kids in his den, including him, showed up, he probably wouldn't have gotten a trophy.  Is that fair for the dens that had 20 kids show up?  Probably not.  So I guess the unfairness all evens out in the end.

I wish I had pictures for you but I only took a couple with my phone. I wish it was sunny so I wouldn't feel so tired and sick of the cold.  I wish I could have gotten Seth something cooler for his birthday than work-out gear but I didn't.  And I wish pineapple upside down cake had frosting.

Mostly, I wish that my sweet husband has a wonderful day and a fantastic year.  That is more important than frosting. 

Happy Birthday Seth!  I love you!

my date with three perfect gentlemen

Saturday night, we took the boys to a steakhouse because we had a gift certificate.  It was pretty fancy.  I say this because my children were the only children there.  But they were so wonderfully polite!  We were so impressed.

When we first were seated, Rhett looked at all the silverware and folded cloth napkin (which we use all the time but ours are never folded nice and are also wrinkled because I don't iron napkins) and fancy water glass and just got so nervous.  He played with his forks and then played with his napkin.  I told him to relax and he put his hands to his face and said, "I'm sorry!  There is just so much pressure!"  He recovered enough to order a filet mignon and was, at first, disappointed by the size.  Too small he thought.  He ate the whole thing and then realized it was exactly the right size.  He was so happy.

Noah, on the other hand, was cool as a cucumber.  He listened intently to the server as she told us the specials and he even nodded once and awhile as if to say, "Oh, yes, those sound wonderful."  Too bad he really doesn't like steak (too chewy) or seafood (too gross, except the kind that tastes like chicken) and the only chicken dish they had was supposed to be slathered with a mushroom sauce.  They offered to go next door to a neighboring restaraunt to get chicken strips, but we said no thank you.  He took the chicken sans the sauce and mostly ate the complimentary bread they brought out to the table.  But he didn't complain once. 

I think steakhouses are wasted on me because you could just give me pasta and I would be happy.  But I ordered the steak because I always hear my dad's voice in my head:  You ordered that when we are at a steakhouse?  (that being pasta or chicken or anything but steak).  So steak is what I had and it was good.  I had the bearnaise sauce with it which was just delicious in every way.

Seth also had a steak, but his was huge and he enjoyed every bite. He is a steak and potatoes man through and through.  I feel bad that I hardly fix meat for him.  And never potatoes.  But I don't make him watch the vampire shows on tv with me, so it balances out.  (Did you see that commercial last night?  Dodge Charger's Man's Last Stand was pretty funny).

It was a nice date. 

warning: random, mostly useless information ahead

So, I am sitting here in our lovely guest bedroom/office (Hee, I almost spelled out the word "slash" as I was thinking it in my head), freezing.  This room is cold to me.  Even my toes that are in my toasty warm Ugg boots, are cold.  That means my hands are rather cold too.  Hence, I am wearing a pair of gloves.

You know the kind- the cheap $1 pair at the store that supposedly fit any hand? I doubt that but that is not what this post is about.  It is about the things you can't do well while wearing gloves.  (You were warned).

• Type.  Do you know how hard it is to type with gloves on?  You should totally try it sometime.  No telling how long this post will take me to write.  I have to constantly go back and delete mistyped words.  It makes your fingers seem big.  But I have noticed the longer I type, the better it is getting. 
• Blow your nose.  Because, eww.
• Read a book.  It is nearly impossible to turn the pages with gloves on.
• Make a sandwich.  Not that I have ever tried, I am just thinking that it would be difficult.
• Wash dishes.  Your hands would get wet and then wearing gloves would prove pointless.  Unless you wear rubber gloves over your gloves. That almost seems silly.

There you have it.  In case you were wondering, I do have things to do today, but aren't you glad I took the time out to post this blog?  I hope I saved someone who was wearing a pair of $1 gloves that don't quite fit from wondering if they can blow their nose without taking their gloves off. Now they know they could do it, but they could not do it well.

:)

Have a great day!

groundhog predicts six more wintery weeks

Today is Tuesday.  This is the fourth day of school that has been called off due to icy conditions on the road.  4 snow days.  That is 6 days that we have been stuck in the house.  Sure, we could go out.  But that would just irritate me when I realize that the streets, aside from the neighborhood roads, are fine, just fine.  So here in our house we stay while trying not to go stir crazy. 

It has been nice.  We sleep in, we eat a late breakfast, we watch tv, play video games, Noah gets mad when I force him outside where he proceeds to have fun for 45 minutes with his brother, the boys talk about going into football card selling business (they don't want two of the same card!) where they talk about selling the cards for $1 a piece.  Maybe $2 for the good ones.  (Maybe I should have not given them my 1991 Joe Montana card yesterday.  Hmmm)

We have also read books and wrote thank you cards (long overdue), cleaned out some closets, stayed up late, watched the Winter X games (go Shaun White and Bobby Brown!), played vollyball with a small beach ball (the large one kept knocking things over), done some laundry (drying winter wear over and over), tried to get over our colds and planned some plans.

Six more weeks of winter. 

Here is a peek of what our day will be like: 

Rhett:  Ow, stop punching me!

Noah: Sorry.

Rhett:  That hurt!  You really have to stop doing that.  I have feelings you know.

Noah:  I already say sorry.

Rhett:  But you don't have to always punch me.

Noah: Okay! Sorry!

Sigh.  I wish the sun would shine.