Friday, September 12, 2008

Fill your bucket!

So the other day I had "one of those days". I don't know if you can relate, but it was one of those -after cleaning up the cereal off the baby, rushing kids out the door for school, then walking to go get one, and coming back to make lunch, cleaning up the living room, finish my second..or third( I lost count) load of laundry, only to come home make dinner for an hour and then kick everyone out the door for soccer @5:30, then coming home to an even messier house and trying to get homework done before bed, Is this all I do? - days. Sounds like everyday huh! Well I had had it! It meaning EVERYTHING! I wanted to check out. I'm so exhausted I could cry!
I realized I hadn't done anything that I enjoyed for a while. I needed to create something! Something that would stay together in one piece for more than 5 mins--or could I wish it.... indefinitely! I needed to let my creative juices flow and rejuvenate myself once again so that I didn't lose my sanity forever. So yesterday I gave myself that "gift". My mother in law calls it "good self care". Ah yes, (sigh) good self care. Sometimes the pendulum swings too far the other way and we get off balance -easy to do when you take care of so many other people. I have decided I am happiest when I can do all my responsibilities and do something that I enjoy. The guilt isn't there because in a way I know I have "earned" my fun. Plus Newsflash! I am so much less irritable when I don't look at my life and say, "Is this all I do all day"? You gotta have something to look forward to. Anyway, I found my bliss designing my blog yesterday/last night. It was so wonderful! and somehow my house managed to stay clean, It was part of the rejuvenation I needed as a wife and mother.
So... If you are reading this and feel like you need a break from the normal routine, give yourself a break and find what makes your heart sing and do it. It's not about being selfish-It's good self care and after all, even though we've all heard it a hundred times, you can't fill anothers' bucket until you have something to give! It's so true. And I submit that the more you fill your bucket constantly the more you can give constantly. There won't be the big drought season until you are thirsting so bad you are gagging (and crying). And your family won't be left out in the desert to wander either.
So I want to hear your comments, what do you do for yourself, what are you passionate about and then go do it and let me know your experience.
Stephanie

Monday, September 8, 2008

Our Christmas present!

Yeah, so I have been known to eat my words before, and this time I ate a mouthful! Most of you already know this but for those of you who don't, We kept it pretty quiet for some time...See you have to go back about 6 months ago when we had our dog "Jacks". I sincerely didn't know how much work a dog would be and I joked saying, "Hey, If I wanted another kid right now I would be pregnant" Well, little did we know that we were. We didn't find out until about 2 months later. Still trying to get over the initial shock we still hadn't announced our joy for quite a while. But we are all very excited to welcome our new baby (girl) due on (Christmas Day). I put girl in parentheses because I could have sworn that we were having a boy. I still need to see to be convinced. I put Christmas Day in parentheses because if you know me, this baby will probably come about 2 weeks early. I don't know, she could surprise us and go full term like Britton but I doubt it. This pregnancy has been no cake walk that's for sure! Even though I didn't know that I was pregnant for the first 2 months, I had an uncontrollable itch that about drove me mad. It did drive me to tears a few times. Thankfully, through the grace of God it subsided and it doesn't bother me anymore. My varicose veins are something to behold! You know it's bad when little kids come up to you and tell you that you have dirt on your feet or ask you why your feet are purple. (Warning! graphic image) Even worse than that are the 5 or so blood clots that I have developed in the past few months and I just discovered a new one yesterday. They sting to the touch and are pretty dang painful. I have been really blessed though that they are superficial and not in the veins that can move to your lungs or heart and kill you in a matter of hours or days. I also have been blessed not to have any morning sickness-although I have been on Unisom for the past 4 months and tried to get off of it the other day and discovered that was a bad idea. There's no way I can be sick and be a mom to 4 other kids. There is just not enough time in the day, or money in the world to eat out every night if I were sick. So I'm just groggy in the morning and next month I will try and get off the medication again. Anyway, I could go on but I won't bore anyone with anymore details, as long as our baby is healthy and happy so are we. We all feel very blessed and are excited to have another little one in our home.

Yes I CAN!

Oh the second go-round was so much more fun! It was about 11:00 pm. I stress that because the kids were in BED! Love it! and I knew I had to finish my marmalade before it started to go rotten. I don't know what I was thinking when I ended up starting my marmalade with out my pears. Anyway, long story short, It took me a few days to get it bottled. So on Sat night after Bill kicked my bum in Rumikub twice, I told him I had better bottle my stuff. So there we were at midnight, he turning over the boiling hot bottles for me to fill them and then he would put the lids on and secure them with rings that we robbed from the freezer jam. It was great fun and some good bonding time. We made a great team and it was so satisfying to see the 14 bottles of Orange Marmalade sitting there on the counter, Bill thought so too. I'm sure that I will have ample opportunity to teach my children how to can, but while they are so young , I so much prefer canning like this!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

"Can" I really do this?

Oh my heck! My legs (esp. one) hurts, my back and hips hurt and I just don't know what I was thinking going grocery shopping and canning salsa and marmalade in one afternoon. It's only 9:55 pm, and it feels like about 12:55 (am that is). I've got mascara stained eyes from dicing onions (even with a food processor)and burnt jalepeno hands and anywhere else I've touched ...But hey I got some food storage out of my garden so I am pleased! It brings me back to the good ol' days canning with my mom. Funny though, my kids were no help unless you count Britton spilling monopoly money all over and Emma pulling out wipes...amongst other things and throwing them into the toilet. Maegan was somewhat helpful with making hotdogs for the kids but then she informed me that she was bored and didn't want to help anymore. Oh the joys of home canning!