The Power of "Thank You"

I think we underestimate the value of two little words...Thank. You. There is no better way to express our appreciation, than a sincere "Thank You"!

Let us all not forget, it's not just for those who we feel deserve the praise. Yes, we try to express our gratitude to our loved ones every chance we get. Sometimes, we get the kids right on making those nice handmade cards, sometimes not...but the point is we keep trying, witht the best of intentions. Actually, that wasn't my point. The real point is, EVERYONE deserves a thank you. The person working at the store where you are making a return, is not obligated to to perform miracles on your behalf. However, when you are treated with kindness, or heck, let's get crazy and say the clerk has his/her grumpy shorts on that day, smile at the end of your transaction. Tell him or her "Thank you". If it was an especially tricky request/problem, and that person was able to help you, live on the edge and throw out a "Thank you so much. You just made my day a little easier".

I've worked in customer service, and I'm pretty sure most of us have at one time or another. If you haven't, you should. At least for 30 days or so to get the "flavor" of dealing with the public. It isn't always pretty. Go out there and be that customer that defies the rules!

(Darn keystroke! Who knows on Windows 7 why this keeps happening?) Anyway, I can not stress enough, you children are watching. Every word you say, every move you make. They are learning from you! That is a huge responsibility. Kindness and consideration ranks pretty high in my book. Now I know my husband and my mom may be reading this...quit making faces. We all have our grumpy days. However, if my children grow up as self-centered individuals...I will have failed. Flat out F.A.I.L.E.D. I really do try to show them a way of life that puts others first. I remind them often, you're part of a family, and families do things for each other. I heard one time, if you are dating someone, watch how they treat a waiter/waitress. That will give you huge insight on the way they respect people in general. I don't wanna raise a naughty kid.

I hope this doesn't sound preachy. That wasn't what I intended. This topic has just come up in my house recently. (No. It wasn't my children or husband. Husband is very considerate. I just ignore the kids.) Just two little words. That's all I want to hear...

(These blogs would totally get all marked up with a red pen in English 101. Yikes! Hopefully the flow improves soon! My sincere apologies :-)

Spring is in the air!

A few things that say spring is right around the corner:

*end of basketball season
*time change
*raindrops instead of snow
*the countdown to two birthdays in the next month
*flannel sheets are finally feeling too warm (hard to believe!)
*muddy boots
*welcome call from Gage's Little League coach
*meatless Fridays
*spotting items in the yard I forgot we even had
*Daddy Daughter Dance
*beautiful Michigan potholes



This winter seemed very long this year. Even spending a week in Florida, didn't seem to shorten it too much. I lost count of the number of mornings that it had snowed/iced just enough to make for slippery conditions. So glad that we seem to be coming out of the doldrums of winter and into the new life of SPRING!

Looking so forward to putting the furniture back on the front porch, opening up the pool, weekends at the cabin, and the breeze blowing through the windows. This time of year I always swear I will never turn the air on again, once we are able to open the windows. Well, and I promise to water my flowers in August too, that occasionally (!) doesn't happen...I'm glad you all aren't the judgemental type :-)

I HAVE. GOT. TO. figure out what keystroke on this silly laptop makes an entire paragraph delete. It completely just deleted everything I had written on my Facebook fast, oh well. Guess you weren't meant to read that. PS. Holly, I definately miss you!!!

I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful sunshine. Getting ready to fire up the oven for a loaf of bread (I know! Very domesticate of me!). Might have to crack open a window to inhale that first smell of SPRING!

Enjoy the weather while it lasts!

Wacky Week

The last week has been one of those that feels like Ground Hog's Day, well I guess that would be week. After Brady pulled the ER shenanigans last Wednesday, Claire came home sick from school on Thursday. We then woke up Friday morning to a light layer of ice, which closed school for the day.

Saturday morning Garth and Gage left for Camp Copneconic. They spent 24 hours in blissful, boy heaven. They did tons of outdoor activities that involved rain, sleet, snow, and mud. They were fed and treated wonderfully by the staff of Camp Copneconic...and can NOT WAIT to go again next year! The night they were gone, a true miracle occurred. Claire and Brady both REQUESTED to go to bed at 7:00pm. They were all set up for a slumber party in my room, so I guess they were excited to settle in? I don't know. All I do know, is I could not get to sleep for the life of me that night. It was nearly 2am and I was STILL tossing and turning.

Sunday, Claire and I had our "girls day out" with Grandma Patti, Aunt Laura, Skye, and Gennafer. We got to go see the Flint Young People's Ballet (I think I've got that right) perform Cinderella. It was great. So great, in fact, Claire is thinking about taking ballet lessons again next year...well, and Girl Scouts, piano lessons, horseback riding lessons, etc. I think the only thing she hasn't mentioned is Yiddish. I'm sure that will eventually be added to the list!

The Ground Hog's day thing came into play yesterday, when Brady decided to celebrate Wednesday "Brady style". He got out of bed yesterday morning, puked, and proceeded to spend all day on the couch with a fever. Today he's at least 90% back to normal. Hopefully, the crud doesn't sweep through the house. So pretty much, when Wednesday rolls around again, I will make sure I don't have any big plans. Apparently we like to acknowledge the middle of the week in some sort of "big way" around here. How do people with more than one child find time to work? I would have been totally fired by now. Since the first of the year, I can't think of one week that has gone by without some sort of "irregularity" to our schedule. I guess that secures my "job position" here though. It doesn't pay very well, but heck, you can't beat the flexibility.

Can't really think of a catchy ending to this entry. I'm kind of feeling just a little tired and a little zapped. This cloudy weather doesn't help. The countdown to spring IS ON!

On a side note, looking very forward to attending a book discussion at church tonight, finishing up the last of the basketball season this weekend, and welcoming my parents home on Saturday. Things are looking up!

This was incredibly choppy and not very exciting. But it's what we've been up to. I'll try to come up with something catchy or, better yet, controversial for next time!

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Last night, after a very eventful day, I updated my Facebook status with a complete and utter lie. In my defense, I didn't realize this until the middle of the night. I advertised my trip to the emergency room with Brady, as my first trip to the ER. However, that is not true.

My very first trip to the ER was with, you guessed it, Brady as well. When he was 2 weeks old, we were wisked to Hurley after a brief visit at the pediatricians office. He arrived by ambulance and went directly to the ER. I eventually figured out where and how to park my car, that can be challenging for a person who was probably in shock at that point. His heart was racing and he needed some immediate TLC from the lovely people at Hurley's PICU. That little incident created more worry, than long term harm. It's not even relevant to put on his medical forms at this point. Technicaly, our FIRST trip to the ER.

Fast forward almost 4 years, and he shoves a purple crayon tip so far up his nose, no one in Genesee county can manage to get it out. Off to the Genesys ER. (Love you Hurley, but was sooooo happy we didn't have to take a field trip to your lovely establishment.) Now follow along. This is sort of like a really, really not fun board game. Remeber every time you pass the space that says "Medical Professional" you pay $40. So the crayon is stuck, I can't get it out with any of the mom tricks. Fine, we'll go to the peditrician (Wednesday...by far our most chaotic day. FYI) Pediatrician tries, can't get it out. We should go to an ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat). Fine. That was actually getting us closer to home. Dr. Robins. Highly recommend. Met us at the office after his hospital hours. His office is closed on Wednesday. He swaddles Brady. I lay on top of him, holding his head. Hoping it's not SUPER easy to snap your own child's neck. After 10 or so minutes of this, we were all exhausted, kicking, and screaming. BRADY, not me...geesh!

Which is how we ended up in the emergency room. Again, other than the above mentioned, I had never been a patient of, or taken the children to the emergency room. I didn't even know how. I asked the Doctor. He probably thought I was blonde. So (I'm thinking) we really just go up to the desk (past the bleeding woman and the very, very stout woman in the wheelchair with all of her earthly belongings) and just say "Hi. He has a crayon is his nose?" That just seemed...too easy. Won't they want to know if this is REALLY an emergency. I mean, they have huge letters on the outside that indicate you should only be here in an EMERGENCY. For the record, I'm no doc, but all the people there were not experiencing an emergency. That sign is false advertising. Just so you know.

So long, painful story short. The crayon is out of the nose. I did not choose to keep it for the baby book. I did however take a couple pictures of him in his minature hospital gown with my camera phone. You have to document those exciting days somehow.

One more point that should be noted: I like to talk to people, just a little. Even in the worst situations, having someone to talk to makes me feel tons better. There we were, in what I believe is the triage area. Really trying to block out the moaning woman who needed a bed pan and had a CHARLIE HORSE (her emphasis, not mine)...and what to my wondering eyes should appear? One of my neighbors! See? Our God is good...all the time! He gave me someone to chat with in the emergency room. How cool is that?

I'm sure now that we've "let the horse out of the barn", we will surely experience multiple trips to the ER in the next several years. The good news, I now know where to check in and what to expect. Maybe I'll see you there? (For the record. I really hope not.)

Step #1-Review the Budget

Probably a year ago I stumbled onto the Money Saving Mom website. She has so many incredible ideas, coupons, etc. I think she's one of those people who feeds her family of 26 for 37 cents per day. I long to be that person. To find all those great deals, without really having to look or exert any effort. Oh, the problem is becoming a little clearer. I do need a "plan".

So I've decided to try following her http://moneysavingmom.com/31-days-to-a-better-budget-series. It's a little step-by-step plan to steer a person toward making better use of her grocery dollars. It looks doable to me. Lots of examples. Written in a nice tone. She doesn't seem "freaky" at all. Don't pretend you don't know what I mean....

Who knew buying groceries was right up there with rocket science? I did pass college algebra, so let's hope I can pass this "challenge" as well. I will keep you all updated. Not to impress you (although that would be fun), more to hold me accountable.

My rationalization (I think)

When I announced I would be taking a "breather" from Facebook land, I had hinted I might try and do a little more blogging. A great gal, I like to call her O'Malley, called me out on that. I know what she's saying, saying I'm never going swimming again, and then thinking maybe I could just stay in the shallow end.

However, I have my reasons why I think this will work. A friend of mine, the fabulous Rachel K., once pointed out that sometimes our egos get fed just a tiny bit too much from our dabblings in Facebook. I'm not saying this happens to everyone, but some of us have egos that thrive on all that attention. Egos who are giddy when their post gets positive attention, and so disappointed when not even one person comments. Facebook should not define me. Not goood...

Sometimes what I read on Facebook just makes me angry. I'll be checking in and read something that I find just down right irritating. Which 9 times out of 10 leads to. My child: Mommy. Your shirt is pretty. Me: umm-hmm (still trying to figure out why the idiot on FB posted what they did. Child: May I please... Me: Would you just find something to do! Ok folks, that just can't be healthy. In that case I'm giving Facebook a little too much say in my emotional state for the day.

So in blog land it's the best of both worlds. I get to share whatever is rattling around in my mind at that time. It's sort of out of the way. Like those cookies you actually have to get the step stool out to reach. My blog is here, if you want to take the extra time to click on it, it's available. You might decide after all that effort, it really wasn't worth the time to read. That's ok with me. I will never even know.

My hope would be to share something that someone else can realate to. Maybe something positive. Maybe a no-good, horrible, bad day (love that book). Motherhood can be a lonely place sometimes. Ultimately, we're all in it together. Nobody gets to win. Don't waste the energy trying to. Until next time...

Don't get too excited...

So I thought I would check up on my blog today. I found that it has been over a year since I last made an entry. Funny thing is, reading that last post, I sounded ready to take on the blog world. Makes me wonder what happened directly after that. Maybe someone got sick, too many snowdays? Who really knows? But clearly I got off track.

I'm thinking of trying to really get blogging as part of my Lenten resolution(s). As in most areas of my life, I like to make lots of BIG changes all at once. Instead of the recommended small, one step at a time changes. You know, the type a person can actually follow through on. Instead, I pretty much set myself up for failure. So for Lent I'm giving up Facebook, adding in more time to just BE, and then thought maybe I would completely try to redo our finances. As part of a "less is more" campaign I'm preparing to wage. That seems like a lot to do in a 40 day period. It does all tie together though, in MY mind anyway. Pushing out the UNNECESSARY to appreciate the gifts (in all ways) we've been given. Please tell me this makes sense to someone else and it's not just me?

So we'll see. Maybe we'll chat again tomorrow...but if all else fails, 2012 is right around the corner.