Forcing the issue

Today Kirsten stayed home from school. She's a bit congested, and it's been building for a few days now. Maybe she got it from me, maybe it's something else. Anyway, I crashed on the couch. Wasn't planning on staying there long, but every time the alarm went off, I reset it. Of course, I checked on Kirsten between my snoozes, and the in-between times when she would wake me to help put a shirt on her Prince (from a Barbie movie, not the REAL Prince!) doll or something. I finally decided to get up around 11, feeling that was enough sleep I caught up on. Where was Kirsten at this point?

Passed out in her room! The little sweetie must've known she was going to nap, because she had her glasses off & safely to the side! I guess she needed some extra rest, and my napping kind of forced the issue with her! Makes me feel less guilty for sleeping the morning away!

This is just wrong

I don't know why I bother looking, but I do. The headline mentioned something about the comparative price that Reese Witherspoon spends on a Big Mac is one penny. I just had to look. Well, I'll take the example of her (and I'll put the answers given for Tom Cruise in parenthesis after hers) and share what the report claimed. These are how high-paid celebs are effected by purchases, compared to an average $30K/year consumer.

Reese Witherspoon, $15M salary (Tom Cruise, $25M salary)

Product - Price - What it seems to cost them

House - $275K - $550.00 ($330.00)
Car - $20K - $40.00 ( $24.00)
Laptop - $2K - $4.00 ( $2.40)
Stereo - $300 - $0.60 ( $0.36)
Hotel - $100 - $0.20 ( $0.12)
Dinner - $40 - $0.08 ( $0.05)
Av. meal - $10 - $0.02 ( $0.01)
Big Mac - $2.29 - $0.01 ( $0.00)

So... how about if I trade my feel of $330 for Tom's feel of $330?!?

New ideas for bag lunches

Hot Pocket, pkg. of mini-donuts (white powdered), new bag of Goldfish crackers, semi-frozen bottle of water, and a small bag of chips. Kirsten's kindergarten class went to the zoo today, and we were supposed to pack a sack lunch for our kids, something that would fare well for the trip. Well, the above mentioned meal was what one girl came with - all in a clear little plastic backpack! So... I wonder what the thought was behind sending the Hot Pocket? Well, our ol' pb&j's did the trick just fine for us, and we even mixed it up a bit by putting Kirsten's in a hot dog bun! I think we'll stick with the tried & true sack lunch for the next trip as well!

Up for grabs still

I had to work today, so I didn't make it to our garage sale until around 3:00. Here's some of what's left...

a desk/table (was for doing nails at a salon)...

a dishwasher...

a sturdy end table (there are a few other tables for sale as well)...

a futon (no cushions)...

our old stroller/car seat combo...

a potty seat and baby toy...


...and a ton of kids clothes, girls, sized 18 months and 3T and 4T. Also some various household items and such - glasses, mugs, picture frames, wall art, dressers, changing tables, crib, lamps, mirrors, Christmas decorations, Hallmark ornaments, PartyLite candle holders, a nice set of golf clubs, exercise equipment, baby toys, baby/kids books, spice rack, coffeemaker, toaster, etc!

The previously posted trunk and sofa are still up for sale, too! So, if you want to come check it out, let me know! One more day left! Sunday from 9-4:00 in Royal Oak!

Sale-ing away

Today was day number one of our big Gross family garage sale at my in-laws' place. We're running it from 9 - 4:00 today, tomorrow, and Sunday. Let me just say, if you have a sudden urge to hire someone to help you do some big-time organizing of your home, or even to set up a garage sale, I know just the person! My sis-in-law Jenn is amazing! That woman has kicked butt with helping me purge out so much unnecessary junk from my home in the past few months, and she did so much work setting up this garage sale and getting it moving along today! Big kudos to that girl!!! (Oh, and she's moving to Texas in a few months, so ya better hurry if you wanna hire her! LOL)

Anyway... a lot was sold, and there's still some bigger items left that I thought I'd share with you. Jenn has this really cool old trunk. It even has a slight scent inside that makes me think of my family cabin up north.

They have a very comfy love-seat that they need to sell as well. It took everything in me to not plant my fanny in that all afternoon today!


I also had an opportunity today to sing Kirsten a song from Hans Christian Andersen! The photo's a little blurry, but if you look close you'll see a little inchworm on her finger!

Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigold
You and your arithmatic
You'll probably go far
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigold
Seems to me you'd stop and see
How beautiful they are

Goodbye, Jordan!

No, I'm not talking about the crowd-favored Jordin Sparks of American Idol fame. I'm talking about the show Crossing Jordan - which had it's SERIES finale just this Wednesday night! I'm so glad Matt informed me - I just had no idea the show was canceled, let alone showing it's final episode this week!

My friend Darla got me hooked on the show a year or so ago. Too bad I didn't watch it earlier... I really enjoy it! I'll admit, they really could've done so much better with the last episode. To end the series on that was a bit disappointing. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't horrible, but I know they could've done much better. I've seen other episodes more interesting than this one.

So, thanks for the laughs and the good times, cast & crew of Crossing Jordan! It's been fun!

Restoration

Today I had the good fortune of having moments of deep thought that lingered... usually they leave my head faster than I can start mulling them over! One such topic, restoration, stemmed from a decision I made this morning to go to the gym. You see, I haven't been there since August. I've been paying my monthly membership fees, but have basically just been too lazy to go. I lost my exercise partner. I got sick. I've been busy. I've been too tired. The excuses are numerous, but the real reason is that I've just been lazy. Sure, it was rough getting back into it. My breathing was a little labored (didn't use my inhaler, tho), I was sweating a little (of which I absolutely HATE), and my knee hurt. But it was good! It really felt good emotionally to overcome this issue. In a heartbeat I could rattle off a list of reasons why I want to... NEED TO lose weight, but for some reason I've always let those slip my mind. I want to be able to play more with my active child without feeling pooped. I want to attempt a swimsuit at some point so I can swim with my daughter. I want to be a little less uncomfortable in the hot season approaching. Even deeper - I'm tired of my poor self-image. I want to begin seeing me like my daughter sees me. Like God sees me. I want my husband to see me happier with myself. And I want to be able to at least entertain the thought of one final attempt at pregnancy. I want to just feel better.

I feel a bit of some restoration has happened today. God's enabled me to see how this is a step in the path of healing. A simple, mundane step to some, but I need to remind myself of how large of a step this really is. Psalm 23:3 - He restores my soul. Restoration takes time. It took me years to get my body in bad shape, so why do I feel like a failure if I can't see changes instantly? Funny how we fail to notice the little steps in the process of restoration. Think of cars, houses, photos... those all take time (and precise attention to detail) to fix. Then why don't we really get the idea that restoration of our body, mind, and soul will take time, too? I'm glad God cares so deeply about me that He wants to take the time to help me heal. He's not up for a quick fix so He can leave. He's been in for the long haul from day one (I know, even before!). He desires to have me talking with Him along this path we're on... sharing with Him my struggles & frustrations... and these simple moments of positive steps like today.

Reflections

Twelve years ago today Matt & I were married. It's weird to hear that number out loud... makes me feel kind of old! Lots of life has happened in that time, and I'd just like to take a moment to remember some of it out loud...

* Matt's made comments on occasion that we/he were/was too young. He turned 21 a week prior to our wedding, and I was 24. Not that it was a mistake, but we/he were/was still immature. I guess in retrospect, it would've been nice to have had more time to stabilize careers and such... that's the main thought of the age factor. We could've had Matt stay in the broadcasting field - we just thought with marriage we needed jobs that paid a lot, not necessarily looking at the big picture of the future. Hopefully someone will heed a bit of our advice someday!?!

* For as much as society tries to lighten the seriousness of the sanctity of marriage, I can firmly say even now that the grass may on occasion to us look greener on the other side, but there's bound to be nasty grubs at the roots of it! Funny, I just did a quick search on grubs, and found that they "...eat at the roots of grass, causing the grass to die and form brown patches." The same applies to an affair - on the surface everything may be beautiful and lush, but at the roots is the future death of the relationship (the marriage and the affair). And the brown patches - I think that can symbolize the way it can effect us on the outside after the death of the marriage. Yeah, no matter how scrawny the grass over here may seem at times, it's actually the lawn that will last for all time for me. And I'm not allergic to this one!

* Parenthood has definitely changed our relationship. Sometimes it's felt as if the marriage has gotten lost in the shuffle, but we've always been completely focused on the needs of our child. And there's been a deep joy in seeing how much we each love and just adore our little girl. Parenthood hasn't been easy from the beginning, starting with the struggles of infertility and all the doubts and questions that come with that. Then with Kirsten's early arrival and numerous medical issues, it's been a challenge. But it's been so cool to see how we don't really mind the sacrifices we've made for her. We've driven one car for years... and we still live in an apartment! Sure, a lot of that was from poor choices we've made with our finances, but a lot of it was also just simple sacrifices. Parenthood has been good. Oh, and we also have known from the beginning the importance of making time for our relationship. Even if we don't seem to have the time or money, at least we're aware & keep talking. That's been good.

* We still don't seem to have the proper grip on our finances as we would've hoped by now. Sure, we definitely have learned thru the years and have grown a LOT in this area, but I wish there was a magic pill we could take & suddenly wake up with a determination that we'd have no problems following through on. Yes, I know many others struggle with this, too... it's just one of those things we have to remind ourselves of often!

* God has definitely been good to us. I know, a lot of garbage has happened in our lives. But there's no denying that God has definitely been a strong glue in the strength of our marriage. When we've been so nervous on days of Kirsten's surgeries, God's given us the strength to stay calm for our little girl. When I dealt with the death of my sister, God gave me a peace that I can't see possible aside from Him. When we've fought and thought our relationship couldn't make it past whatever struggle we were going through, God sent us reminders of His perfect love for us and how He had great plans for our future together... and we remembered that divorce just simply wasn't an option. It's been nice to see each other growing in our relationship with Christ and to see how that has been effecting every area of our lives.

* Matt's made some comments (trying to be funny, but he was serious) from time to time about how he could never find another that would put up with him. Well, I feel the same! Believe it or not, I'm not the easiest person to live with! LOL (You can stop laughing now!) I'm still amazed at how it can seem at times that we don't make a good match (for example: we both are procrastinators!), and yet we really really do. Even with how we hooked up in the first place - that was something neither of us would've ever expected. Definitely a God thing! He had something in mind, and apparently He still does! Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future! I can't wait to see what the next 12 years holds!

All you have to do is close your eyes
And just reach out your hands and touch me
Hold me close don't ever let me go
...More than words...

Happy senses

For those that know, you can understand what a nice thing this was for me... I woke up, lazily put my feet on the spacious floor next to the bed, and then walked to and out the door without complication. After I was done showering and stepped out, the aroma from my obedient coffeemaker (I love the timer function!) made me smile. Aaaah, what a great start to my day!

May 1st

Some random facts about today, May 1st, that I found of interest...

Events in History -
305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor.
1328 - Wars of Scottish Independence end: Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton – England recognises Scotland as an independent nation.
1786 - Opening night of the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna.
1886 - The start of the general strike which eventually wins the eight-hour workday in the United States. These events are today commemorated as May Day or Labor Day in most industrialized countries. (I learned the 8-hr. day was a good thing... especially in comparison to 10-16 hour workdays - 6 days a week! - forced upon people prior to this!)
1930 - The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.
1941 - Orson Welles's Citizen Kane premieres in New York City.
1945 - A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler had "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany".
1956 - The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1978 - Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
1978 - The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as "spam") was sent by a DEC marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
1989 - The coat of arms of Greenland is adopted.
2004 - Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
2006 - The Puerto Rican government runs out of money, forcing the closure of schools and all other government agencies.

Births -
1852 - Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)

Deaths -
1118 - Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (b. c. 1080)

Holidays & Observances -
~ May Day, Labour Day, Workers' Day, Day of the International Solidarity of Workers.
~ Switzerland - official feast of Spring.
~ Czech Republic - "National Love Day" – couples tend to flock to the memorial of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague and kiss.
~ Lei Day - Hawaiian holiday for the Lei.
~ Beltane, Lá Bealtaine, the first day of Summer in modern Ireland was celebrated by the Celts, and is now also celebrated by Neopagans and Wiccans.
~ Northern Europe - Walpurgis Night.
~ Roman Empire - all-female festival in honour of Bona Dea.

Oh, and it's Judy's birthday! Happy birthday, Judy! :)