SOLD! SICK! SMILE! And Something Else!

SOLD!
On Craigslist! And the Consignment Sale! This whole week has been about getting rid of things that we no longer need. I LOVE getting rid of things. Admittedly, I'm a trasher. I throw old toys away without blinking. We haul stuff to Goodwill about four times a year. But this time, I made the effort to organize and put up for sale everything worth reusing! I've already talked too much about the CCC sale, but today I'm going back to pick up my leftovers, if there are any. I figure if they are all hung up and organized, surely I can sell them on Craigslist.

Speaking of, this weekend I have sold crib sheets, a Bumbo and a box of boys clothes on Craigslist! These were things that were just up in the attic, not being used. The box of clothes was one that I had missed when I was tagging all that stuff for the CCC sale! Of course, while I was selling, I was also shopping. But I still think I'm going to come out ahead in the end. :)

I think cousin Elizabeth said it best when she said that consigning is being a good steward with what God has given us! You should do it. It's worth it!

SICK!
I love animals, but I don't like spending money on them. Especially when it's because of their own stubbornness and stupidity that they are sick. Bison ate something again. A few years ago, I posted about Bison getting sick because he ate something, and I graciously posted a picture of what it was ... After it came out. :) Well, he's back at it again. This happens a few times a year, but it usually passes by itself after a couple of days. Oh Bison. It's been a week now. We just got some medicine to help with the complicated IBS. But he's just pitiful. I'm going to have to take him back in on Monday if he doesnt have the "guts" to "get through this" on his own. Stupid dog.

SMILE!
Clearly Vocal took new pictures today! These are the first ones with our new tenor, Andy, in them. It's about time; he's been performing with us scince July! I'll make sure and put some up when they're ready. Of course, they will also appear on our Facebook page and our web page!

Something Else!
I just couldn't come up with anything clever that summed up, "I never tried PW's mini brownies," so I just said "something else." If any of you try them, you'll have to blog about it, and I'll do the same.

Kate Evelyn

Most of you know by now, but we are having a girl! And Kate Evelyn is her name, named after my Grammie Kell, Evelyn. She represents strength, confidence and a fierce love for family that I hope will be passed on to this sweet one!

I can't remember if I've mentioned before, but John and I did a lot of research before trying for this baby. We read many articles on how to naturally increase your chances of having a boy or a girl. Well, it worked, I guess. I mean, we got the result we were hoping for. Of course it's a 50/50 chance, so maybe nothing we did mattered at all! Sometimes I wonder if it makes God chuckle when we think we made something happen. Like the baby lion scaring the hyena away, when in reality his daddy is standing behind him! Either way, we're having a girl, and if anyone is interested in the methods we learned about, I would have so much fun telling you all about it!

Sorry for the delay in the blog announcement. We found out on Saturday, and of course this is Tuesday. What happened was that I got such a rush of excitement after finding out that we're having a Kate that I spent the rest of that night and any time I had Sunday, Monday and this morning pulling out, hanging up, safety pinning, tagging and labeling all of the boy clothes I had size 0-2T to take to the big consignment sale! No suppers were cooked and no laundry was done during this time, either! But at last, everything is in its place at the Harvey Hall Convention Center, and I can't wait to start pulling out all the little girl things!!

I was 16 weeks on Sunday. The baby books say that Kate will go through a major growth spurt over the next couple of weeks. I'm STARVING.

I will reluctantly post some belly pics. Eventually. When I'm having an emotionally stable day. I have WAY too much estrogen in my system.

And now for a change of pace

Wow, my last post was really depressing! But like Tiffany said in her most recent post, it really does help to get it all out from time to time. It helps me put things in perspective and sends me running back to God to thank him for so many wonderful blessings that always outweigh the frustrations in life.

So sorry to all those who were afraid that I needed medication or therapy ... or even a chili-cheese coney. I think I'm okay without all of that.

For now. :)

So, today I'll let you faithful readers (and apparently there are a lot more than I realized based on the fallout from last week!) in on some of the near-perfect things about my life right now.

I buy a cantaloupe about once a year. My kids will eat it okay, John doesn't really prefer them, but I'll get a "hankerin'" for one about once a year. So I bought my 2010 cantaloupe at the Buckly Farms farmer's market in downtown Flint just yesterday. Cantaloupes are like watermelons. Mostly they're pretty good, but occasionally, they're amazing. The Hodges 2010 cantaloupe was AMAZING. That ought'a do me until next summer!

I just like to say downtown Flint to see if anyone laughs out loud. It's the four-way-stop.

Speaking of the farmer's market, while I was there, I just happen to let a jar of pear preserves jump into my bag. They are my favorite, and if anyone ever wants to make some pear preserves for me, I will gladly award you with a million points. Did you hear that? A MILLION.

Terry Dean, my other mom, surprised me with a phone call a couple of days ago saying that she wanted to take me to Stork Vision to get an early look at the gender of this new baby! I am so excited! We're going on Saturday, which will be the day before I'm 16 weeks. If this baby cooperates, it will be the earliest I've ever gotten to find out the gender of any of my babies!! It's really for practical purposes, though, since that consignment sale is next weekend and I need to turn in my stuff by Tuesday, and if I know the sex of the baby, I can get rid of all of my other baby gender stuff, too! See how practical we are? ;) Of course I will keep all of you up to date as to pink or blue!

Speaking of baby, I'm feeling the first little flutters of this child! This, for sure, is going to be our last child. We're going to take drastic measures to make sure of it. We, of course, means he. :) So, I have just been treasuring each day. This is my last time to do this, and instead of being sad like I always thought I would be, I'm just enjoying it! I don't want to be pregnant again and I don't want any more children than these four. This is a great place to be, mentally!

And speaking of consignment sales, of course I'm going to sell my stuff, but I'm also going to get to take advantage of some really great deals! It's such a good way to clean out those closets and fill 'em back up again. Um, that didn't come out right. Anyway, I can't wait!

John does NOT have a meeting tonight or tomorrow night! These days, two nights in a row without a meeting of some kind is almost unheard of. So we're going to make the most of this time at home together as a family, because it will be another week until we're all home together for dinner again! Right, focusing on the good. Tomorrow is also John's day off, so we'll get Johnathan and Kalleigh off to school and just have Jonas at home with us. Very nice.

Speaking of Kalleigh, she got her little cast off yesterday! She's still limping around as if she had the cast on, and the Dr. said she would do that for a week or two. Poor thing. Limping without a cast makes people worry more about her than when she had a cast on! But this morning, she was begging me to let her jump on the trampoline again. Of course I let her! She did just fine.

Tonight I'm making PW's pan-fried pork chops and I might try those little mini brownies that she had on her page yesterday. Anybody else try them yet? They look so good!

So see? No need to worry about me any more. I'm just me. Plain, happy, hormonal me. :)

Feeling compelled to write

Except I don't know what to write about. Is that so weird? I mean, I dropped my second major in college because I didn't want to write the 50-page paper. Seriously, that's all I lacked to complete that major. And I still don't regret it.

But why now do I feel compelled to write? Perhaps the purpose will unfold if I just keep my fingers moving.

Maybe it's just the two cups of coffee I drank that makes me a little manic.

I feel like a little bipolar today. In some ways I'm so very bummed. The preacher search is not going at all like I would prefer. But then again, I'm not in charge. The committee isn't either, but sometimes they forget that. I'm speaking in harsh generalities, but it is how I feel today. The bullies have won. And they're going to get away with it, too. Man. I'm really sorry if I've offended anyone. Please come talk to me about it if you feel that way.

On the other hand, my coffee did fully kick in and I'm ready to conquer the world. The Children's Clothing Consignment Sale is in two weeks, and I have a load of stuff to tag and sell! The organizing of that stuff will get done today. Tagging, tomorrow. That's exciting!

John has a meeting tonight, so I'll see him just before bedtime. I'm also car-less, which feeds my feelings of helplessness. Thankfully, I have Tina who runs with me in the mornings and takes Johnathan to and from school, so I don't really  have anywhere I need to be.

Jonas is wanting to potty-train. He's giving all the signs that he's ready, and I've been dragging my feet for months. Well now, the Pull-Ups have been purchased and he's been keeping them dry as long as I initiate going potty, which he is glad to do. Except for the poopy part. That's still a little scary for him. The first time he actually pooped in the potty, he jumped when he saw it fall in! I guess he wasn't expecting that! We'll see what happens.

Tuesday was a rough day for the kids. Someone was crying at least 80% of the day and I had had it. When I picked John up from work at 5, he said, "You okay?" He got "the look" and I proceeded to whine to him the same way my children had been whining to me all day. Wonder where they get it. Anyway, rather than John pointing that out to me, he said, "Sounds like you need to get out of the house tonight." I just nearly cried right there. We ate the supper I had prepared, and after I pulled the dessert out of the oven, I went to Starbucks. I drank a smoothie, I talked to my mom, I read my book for ladies Bible class and I played games on my phone. About an hour and a half later, I was a totally different person! When I got home, the kids were bathed and in bed. I do love my husband. God, thank you for blessing me and our children with John!

The laundry sits on the counter, almost all folded, the coffee pot is empty, the younger two children are napping and Johnathan will be home in a little over an hour.

Thanks for letting me get all that out. I don't know what the purpose was for that string of nonsense, except that I do feel better. I'm hormonal and if I could just have a foot-long chili-cheese coney from Sonic, the world would probably be perfect. Sounds like I was a little more down than up today. Time to count blessings: John, kids, this precious new one growing inside, a house, rain, church family, blood family, God providing for us always, a God that understands and listens and loves anyway. And coffee. And chocolate. And coffee and chocolate.