Saturday, January 31, 2009

Wonder Food

Photo from flickr: terri_tu

Mr. Dunbar and I had this conversation a few days ago about how broccoli is a wonder food. If you eat it consistently you will just feel better. As is the case with most dark green veggies, but most especially broccoli. So I was feeling energized to start eating broccoli or something green, but I was totally going to try to remember to eat broccoli.

My lunch yesterday:
tortilla chips and Valentines Day heart candies, specifically the green ones.

I don't think I hit the mark exactly.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

It started out so well...

I had an amazing morning. Well busy, as my Thursday mornings are. Get up, get dressed, get boys dressed and fed and out the door by 8:30am. Drop Monkey off at school by 9am, get Bogie over to his childcare by 9:20am and be at my mom's group by 9:30am. (Seriously, I feel like I am running all over town in that one hour of the day. ) We had an amazing time today just sharing what God is doing in our lives, there were lots of tears shed again. But I left feeling full of the Spirit and ready to tackle my day, which included a few errands.

I got to Monkey's school by 11:50 to pick him up. I got my usual "Mo-meee!!" when I entered the classroom, but Monkey was just staring at his play-doh, so not like him. So we stayed, as we do every school day to see all of his friends off. It wasn't until he stood up, I understood why the play-doh had not been terrorized, Monkey had peed in his pants. AGHHHH!!! And does he have a change of clothes in his cubby??? I am the super-organized mom, right?? Yeah, well I guess not so much... there were no clothes in his cubby. I haven't sent a new change in since his last accident, I don't even know when. So now I had to drive home with a kid who's got pee running down his leg. Oh joy. (Just a side note: the school offered us their loners but I most politely declined.)

Anyhow, I drive home get all of our stuff out of the car, get to the front door and realize "I don't have a house key." Its sitting on the shelf right inside the front door. I took it off earlier this week because we had a rearranging of cars and childcare. I had meant to ask Mr. Dunbar to replace it on my key ring, but in my craziness last night it slipped my mind. So now I have a handful of junk, one kid with pee running down his leg, and another who needs to take a nap. Another AGHH!

I get back in the car and call Mr. Dunbar's office. Voicemail. mini-aghh! Call his cell phone. Voicemail. Slightly larger agh! Call office again. Voicemail. But as it clicks on my phone beeps, he's calling me from his cell. Click over tell him the situation, he says okay, I'll be waiting with the key. When I get all the way to his office he asks, "How come you just didn't get Larry's key?" Ummm... because I didn't think about walking the 10 yards to the neighbors house, I'd rather drive 20 minutes and waste gas!!! Now, I am back to another AGHHHH!!

So I get home, get a sleeping Monkey onto his bed, change him out of his wet clothes, and walk out. Bogie, however, never fell asleep and is in no way whatsoever going to let me put him down. He wants to play. I am exhausted, I need to sit. Bogie crawls into what I think is his room. Next thing you know I hear disaster. You know; things falling, kid grunting, and again things falling. I go into his room. He is not there. I look down the hallway into the bathroom and see this:



Like I said disaster. In all of about 18 seconds.

Monkey, my kid who can sleep through anything is now awake. He slept for a total of 10 minutes but now he wants to get off of his bed. I say "okay."

Well, since everyone is awake and nobody wants to take a nap, I think to myself "Well, we might as well go run errands. "

First stop, Staples, the printer is out of toner.
When we get there I ask the first sales associate I can find what I am looking for, he needs to go look it up because my printer is not one of the most popular ones that has toner on the first aisle. As he heads off I look down to find Monkey doing the "I am going to hold it" pose. (Knees together, butt out.) I look at him. He looks at me. I look at him again. He looks at me and says, "I'm going to hold the poo poo Mommy. I'll wait till we get home." Oh, no your not! I'm not letting you in my car with poop! So we trek off to go find the bathroom. Has anyone with an infant and a toddler ever gone to a public bathroom? This is more than an adventure, it is an excursion! I"m holding the handbag, infant, toddler and don't anybody touch a thing! This was not an easy task. I won't go into detail, just imagine me squatting, holding Bogie in one arm, holding Monkey up with the other...
We get out of the bathroom and the sales associate tells me he's found my toner. Great, whats my total? $185. What!?!? Yes, that's right, close to $200 big ones for TONER. Do you know what I could buy for $200 bucks? No wonder, my toner wasn't in the first aisle, nobody can afford it! I can buy a whole new printer for that amount. But of course, I just smile, while my brain is about to go in a fizz mode, and hand over the American Express. Then I tell the cashier, my husband has a business account here... she looks it up and says, he just called and put one on hold are you sure that you only need one? Uh, yeah. Any more that this and I won't be able to buy groceries this week. Again, two hundred dollars for TONER.

Next stop, post office. I drive up to the post office but are there any close up parking spaces? No. Lucky for me, while I was whining about not finding a close parking space, I was also on the phone with Mr. Dunbar (retelling my Staples story) and he told me about the secret post office boxes in the back, where the parking spaces drive up to them. Hooray for that. Chalk one up for Mr. Dunbar! Post office task, complete.

Third stop, we headed off to the local community college to get transcripts that I have to order.
Of course, EVERYTHING has changed since I took a few classes there a DECADE ago... where am I supposed to park??? Well in the first open space of course. Remembering, this is a college campus, you need a parking permit everywhere... I took my chances. Unloaded both kids, grabbed my handbag and figured it can't be that far to walk. WRONG. Bogie and his 20 pound self was swapped from arm to arm all the way to the Admin Center in the middle of campus. I filled out the form for the transcripts and headed towards the window, in the middle of which was a bright green sign that said, "All transcripts must be paid for at the Business Office." What?!?!? More hiking?? Don't these people know I'm carrying a 20 pound chunk and I have a whining 3 year old in tow? Okay, folks, we can do this. I felt like the little train that could, only my arm was about to fall off but I was not about to give up, we came here to accomplish something, and by golly we will. So we hiked all the way to the other end of campus, got to the Business Office, get to the front of the line, put my form in the window, and the 18 year-old student says to me, "Did you turn in this form at the Admin Office?" "UH, No, the sign said I had to pay for it here." He then proceeds to tell me, yes, you do pay for it here AFTER you submit it there. You. have. got. to be. JOKING! At this point the little train that could was about to blow some steam. Remember the AGH!! Yeah, well, it was back. AGHHH!!!
We trek back to Admin, turn in our form, hike back to the Business Office pay for the transcripts and barely stagger back to our car. I swear I thought my arms were going to fall off, I could feel blisters forming on my feet, and trying to convince Monkey we were "almost to our car" was a bit dubious, but we made it. Barely. Did I mention I was wearing 4 inch high shoes. No joke.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ummm...

I have nothing to say. Nothing interesting at least. No cute pictures. No random thoughts. Nada.
So, I hope you have a bright and cheery day!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

I cried

I was going to post this last week and never got around to typing out all of my thoughts...
working two days, really throws a wrench in my schedule now. But working last week, didn't keep me from tears. And let me just preface, that I am not a crier. I'm just not.
So here was my week, starting from last weekend... at a beautiful memorial service.




(This is Nolan, Mark's son. Please continue to pray for him as he realizes that his dad is in Heaven.)

Angie, his wife, wrote a beautiful blog post here.

Saturday- My mom and I went to Mark Lamberth's Memorial Service. The slideshow and the music, I think, captured the man that Mark was. And even though we were not friends, merely the slightest of acquaintenances, my heart still hurts for Angie and Nolan, my heart is broken for them. I don't know what she is going through, I can't fathom how she picks herself up each day. I know she does it for her son. I know she knows God is with her. But Angie, has a hard road ahead of her. For us, the saga is over, Mark is with the Lord, but for Angie, her saga continues each minute of every day. Please pray for them and if you can, they have a fund set up for the Lamberth's.





Who remember President Bush's face when they told him of the attacks on 9/11?

Tuesday- Well that was a day of American History. I'm not sure why I cried. I can tell you it was not why a lot of others were crying. When President Bush waved his last wave and headed into the helicopter, I knew that a chapter of American history was closed and a new one has been opened. I'm not sure I agree with our new President on many facets, actually I can say, I DO NOT agree with him. But I am remaining hopeful. And I am remaining prayerful, because this president will need all of our prayers. My tears were not tears of joy, nor were they tears of resentment, but tears for the unknown.




Wednesday- I cried because I was coming home and I saw six people with signs at street corners. I don't know why I counted them that day, I just did. The last man I saw, couldn't even hold his sign he was shaking so much, I thought it was terrettes. Someone else I spoke with said he probably had Parkinson's. He was wearing a Dodgers jacket. It made me cry. What happened in these people's lives that would make them resort to sitting on the corner holding a sign with no place else to go? Where had they gone wrong? (And where had their parents gone wrong?) And how can we just look the other way? Don't get me wrong, I do it too.
May be I'm just horomonal. May be God is trying to get my attention for something. Stress was getting to me, but today, I got an answer to prayer. Peace is a stage I'm entering. Understanding and wisdom is what I want. And tears, remind me that I am human, that my heart has grown since I've become a mom, and that Jesus shed tears over me.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Winner, Winner


Number 3...




You are the lucky winner.


Email me and I mail out your gift card.


Thanks for playing.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

100 and a Cup of Joe

Hey, I've reached one hundred posts. Unbelieavable how the time flies. Well, in honor of my 100th post, I am going to host a giveaway. Now, I don't create anything on Etsy, I can't decorate anything like the Nester or Kimba, I don't have tons of money like... oh, I don't know. (But if you do have a lot of money and you'd like to share, I'd oblige.)


Anywho, back to this giveaway thingy... Oh, yea, I'm giving away a Starbucks Gift Card and something else, but I don't know what yet. I guess the second thing depends on who wins.


So in order to enter leave a comment telling me what your favorite fashion pick-me-up, decorating, cooking, or parenting trick is. Or sign up to follow this here lil blog.


If you do both you'll get five chances. Am I making this too complicated? Figures...
I'll keep the giveaway until Friday night and announce a winner on Saturday morning.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Comrads

These boys are true comrads. I hope this is always so.



How close are you with your siblings?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday Thought

Surely You desire truth in the inner parts; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.


Psalm 51:6

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Book Crazy

One thing I love to do is read. I can seriously finish a chick-book (as my husband calls them) in a day or a matter of hours. I love to delve into those Christian Women books, you know the kind; be more hospitable, true joy, Proverbs 31, how to have the marriage you've always dreamed of. Once in a while I'll read a biography or a history book. I'm always on the hunt for a new book. Something to ponder before I head off to dream land..

Then I found this blog a few weeks ago and I think that Cathy's great. She actually has really neat decorating ideas and she teaches at her local university. (So you know she's really smart.) And she's been a missionary to Alaska, where there was no Internet. What, no Internet in the USA? I didn't think that was possible. Oh, how ignorant I am.
ANYWAY... she just added this fancy schmancy widget of her favorite books to her blog. So go visit her HERE and see if you share any of the same favorites. I know we do. And now I have some ideas of books to add to my list of "To Read's."

Leave her a comment if you've got a minute.

PS Does anyone have a copy of The Shack I can borrow??


Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

You'd think after last weeks post on a Wordless Wednesday, I'd change my parenting tactics.
Please don't call the authorities, I really am a good mom.
Honest.





Pillow Style

I completed my first project that I learned about via blogs.
Hooray.
I have a few more in the works, a few that have turned into disasters, and tons more on the brain.
So a few days ago, Kimba from A Soft Place to Land posted a picture of a pillow cover she had created without sewing. My kind of project, you know, since I don't own a sewing machine and even if I did I don't know how to sew. Even though my mom signed me up for sewing classes when I was twelve and spent hundreds of dollars on supplies, and well the only thing I ended up making were the most hideous pair of drawstring green pants; and I have not turned on a sewing machine ever since. (Now that I'm 30 perhaps I'm ready to tackle this learned talent once more.)

Anyhow, here are pictures of my NO SEW pillow cover.

Doesn't it just look so girly and comfortable, with ratty edges and all?

It really would look nice on a cream colored chair, but you won't find one in my great room. I live with men, who use everything, like its a man's.


The flip side was this solid green that I found at $JoAnn's for $2.50 a yard. Little did I know what a steal I was getting. I only bought 3 yards... like I said, little did know.


Here she sits on my brown leather chair. I need something else to pull it all together.
Any ideas?

PS Kimba's post has all of the directions on how to do this project. A word of warning, if you are not used to cutting with scissors, your hands will be sore after one pillow's worth of cutting.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Just like any other day...

this is not. Today is Mr. Dunbar's birthday.

Happy Birthday, Honey.
I love you.
This picture is of Mr. Dunbar, Monkey, and in the background is Mr. Dunbar's brother and his daughter. (Both of which are great dads.)
This is Mr. Dunbar in his element... outside, with his son, in his flips and a t-shirt.

Can anyone guess where we are headed tonight to celebrate?

Sunday, January 11, 2009

About Me



My days include playing baseball, soccer, basketball, making mud pies and searching for worms. I am a mom of boys. Rachael Ray is my BFF (even though she doesn't know it), I am so thankful for 30 Minute Meals. Flip flops, jeans and a favorite tee, along with some bracelets are my usual attire. Life's good things, for me, are baby giggles, diet coke, fresh roses, answered prayers, clean laundry, magazines in the mail, phone calls from friends, walking through the mall, mango margaritas, fireworks, new shoes and shiny wood floors. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday Thought


Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.
Isaiah 40:31

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Tagged X 4

I was tagged by my friend Casey.
Here's the deal:
Pick the fourth photo from the
fourth folder in your computer.
Post it and tag four other people.


This is mine.

Monkey got into the food coloring. This picture really doesn't do him justice... it was EVERYWHERE. His hands, his mouth, his hair, his legs, my floor. We were calling him the "Blue Man" for a while.
Ahh.. the joy's of parenting boys.




I tag Christian, Lisa, Lisa B. and Jamie.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

See anything wrong with this situation?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Injuries put things on hold

I slammed my thumb in the car door jam. Jeeeez!! I thought I was going to throw-up it hurt so bad.
So my project is on hold.


I've been looking at this blank canvas for two days now.

Any ideas on what I should hang on here?

Monday, January 5, 2009

Kicking the habit...


I'm sure one of the resolutions on a lot of peoples lists every year is "lose weight" "eat healthy" yadda yadda yadda.

I ran across this article on Yahoo today. As I was drinking my Diet Coke for an afternoon pick-me-up. It was pretty interesting and just coincides with a few other articles I have run across in the past month.

I don't have a lose weight resolution this year, thank goodness. After nine long months all of the baby weight is gone, only the flab remains. (Just keeping it real.)

But I am going to add, drop soda, onto my list. Of course, after the two 12 packs in my kitchen are gone...
How are you doing on your resolutions thus far?

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Friday, January 2, 2009

Been busy...



So what have you been up to?
Relaxing or have you been a busy bee?

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Roost Party

The Roost is hosting a party of 10 of your favorite pictures from 2008.
I have taken so many pictures but here are a few of my highlights.
My Monkey when he was still the "baby."

Our first family picture or four.

Grandpa Elias reading with Monkey, I am so glad he got to know my boys.

Mr. Dunbar and I, on our date night.

Hot air balloon races, this was my favorite balloon of all.
Christmas morning, they were working so hard opening each gift.

My baby goes to school.

This was such a fun Halloween, our church put on the best ever Trunk or Treat.
Christmas at the Aunties, there were more cousins there than ever, and there are more on the way.

DJ Monkey