The One with a Gingerbread Village

I found a gingerbread village kit at Target a few weeks ago. It had 5 houses in it... perfect for the kids to each have one! I promised them we'd do it right after Thanksgiving, so right after school on Monday we got to it... I didn't get many pictures of them actually decorating because I was doing my own... I mean helping. :P

The One With a Sermon, Shopping & an "At Home" Date.

Pastor Roland had a really good sermon on Sunday. He preached about doors... yep. Doors. He started w/ explaining the difference between your front door and your kitchen door. The front door is for salesmen, strangers or acquaintances that aren't real familiar with your home & your family. They knock, you stand in the doorway and talk and then they go and you go on with your life. Then there's the kitchen door... the people who come to the kitchen door are your friends and family. The people you say "Come in! Let's sit down, have a cup of coffee/tea and chat." The people you gladly give up part of your life to spend with them. His point was... what is Jesus to you? A front door kind of guy or a kitchen door kind of guy?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

My husband took the WHOLE weekend off this past weekend!! It was WONDERFUL! Saturday we shopped @ Moms store. Between Fri night w/ Rachael & Saturday w/ Matt we are 95% done Christmas shopping!! WOOHOO!! After shopping we came home and decorated the house. Everything except for the tree is done. Matt is never home for that part of Christmas decorating so it was a lot of fun to have him here this year. He was very helpful for getting things up high and coming up w/ ways to make things stay in place a bit better.

Saturday evening we put the kids to bed around 8 and then made cookie monsters. Warm homemade chocolate chip cookies (which Matt made) with ice cream & toppings on top. Yumm... and soooo bad for you! We watched Fireproof together. We had been putting it off expecting it to be hokey... but it wasn't. It was pretty good. It was encouraging to us both. While we don't have the problems the couple in the movie had, we do tend to take each other for granted or forget to put the romance in our marriage. There were some really good points in the movie like "fireproof doesn't meant you won't have fires... it means you can withstand them." It was nice to have that time to spend together. He's been working so much that I've forgotten what it's like to have him home in the evenings... it was nice. :)

Another Rambly One

It's Monday! It's a new week... Thanksgiving week to be exact! I'm excited because this week my brother, who is in college, is coming over for a few nights!! And Matt gets Thursday & Friday off work! It will be good to spend that time together.

We were unexpectedly blessed this week... I got the electric bill to find that we had overpaid and owe nothing until mid-January!! Yay!

Today I clean and get ready for Siah's visit. Hoping for no showings this week. Matt & I are debating renewing our contract when it's up in Feb/March. This is a lot of stress... and the area we want to move to is expensive for housing. We could put an addition on our home for less than a new mortgage would be in VT. But the drive. And the schools... etc. It's hard to decide waht to do... We're just waiting to see what happens at this point. We are still under contract w/ our realtor and won't pay to break that, so if it sells before the contract is up then we'll move. If it doesn't we may just stay put and put an addition on... It's crazy not to have a clear direction... kinda drives me a bit batty at times.

The One Where I Explain Myself

I think I really do have the best husband around. I've been in quite a funk lately... just overwhelmed, exhausted, grumpy... not myself. Tonight he brought dinner home AND is doing the grocery shopping for me so I don't have to go. Let's see how close he gets to the list! LOL! But it's worth it even if he buys a little extra. I'm home hanging out w/ 4 of my kiddos and the shopping is being done for me. He took Levi with him... Levi was so excited as it's been a while since he has been on a "Daddy Date".

I need to make some changes in my life... I'm just not feeling strongly motivated. I don't like it when I'm in this place. I feel as tho friends are only tolerating me and that they'd really rather not be friends. I feel fat and unattractive. I feel like an awful parent, a bad student, a bad Christian, just over all very yucky. I'm not being whiney here... just stating the facts.

Beth is interrupting me for some Mommy/Beth time. She wants to Mario Kart on the Wii. LOL! Guess I'll go see if I can beat her at it. :)

A Discouraged One

I would really love to pretend to have it all together. I'd love to pretend to feel upbeat and confident all the time. I'd love to pretend to put my full confidence in the Lord. The reality is I'm so beaten down right now. I'm so discouraged, frustrated, unsure of direction... I feel like a fish out of water with no way of knowing how to get back in. I feel like yelling and crying and throwing a tantrum to rival those my 3 y/o throws. I feel like crawling into bed and not getting out for a few weeks. I feel like running away from all the stresses of life.

Unfortunately I cannot. I know all the right things to think. I know all the prayers to pray. I know the scriptures to pray or read for encouragment... but my prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. My prayers seem to reach the ceiling and plummet back down to earth.

Don't get me wrong... I'm thankful for many things in my life: my children, my husband, my home. I'm thankful that we have a loving, supportive family. I'm thankful for my salvation and for the knowledge that tho I may not feel Him all the time I know God is always there. I am thankful... I'm just having a hard time focusing on the good at the moment....

One With More On Whole Foods

So, like everything in life, switching to a whole foods diet is going to come slowly. It's going to come in spurts and as we can financially. I have chosen to spend a little extra $ on whole grain pastas and flour, which sacrifices some of the quicker snack items and bread I usually get. It may have to change some weeks when I know how busy life will get.

Anyway... tonight's experiment is with apple pie. Crust made with white whole wheat flour (I know, not ideal, but still better than white) & instead of 1 c. sugar I put in 1/2 c. honey along with the apples, cinn, etc. Will let you know how it turns out. ;)

Dinner is hot pockets!! Before you think anything negative... they are homemade and a recipe from my "Naturally Healthy Cuisine" book. I made & froze 2 doz on Monday and am reheating them for dinner. I took whole wheat bread dough and put different toppings in them. The kids liked theirs dipped in pizza sauce (also homemade). Mine had chicken/broccoli/cheese so not so good w/ the pizza sauce.

I think the key to switching to eating more healthy is that I have to make it feasible for us. I can't cook things the family won't like or it will become a battle. I can't only make things that take all day to cook or it'll become impossible. And I can't completely rule out home baked cookies and other goodies or it'll become boring.

I keep thinking of this when it comes to eating (and many, many other areas of my life right now): Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

Another Venty One About Home Selling

I am trying so hard not to get discouraged right now. Yes, I'm using this blog as a sounding board at the moment... and won't post this one to my FB page as I just need to vent.

I'm frustrated with this whole selling the house thing. A dozen showings, 1 crummy offer... and all we keep hearing is "we like it, but it's too small." or "it's #2 on our list" Our entire lives are disrupted... to the point that I DREAD the phone ringing these days. 2-3 showings/week is exhausting us and having nothing coming of them is so discouraging. We have come home on various occasions to find our computer power bar had been flipped to 'off' (umm.. it was under the desk behind the lock box... WHY was anyone there?), windows left partly open on cold days, the crawl space access in the garage left open, doors left open, lights left on, the REEK of cigarrette butts (we don't smoke, so it's really icky to me)... the list could go on. I know it's the "hazzards" of selling a house, but I feel like my HOME is no longer MY home already, yet I have no excitement of hoping to find a new home yet because it all hinges on the sale.

I'm discouraged. I'm frustrated. I'm worn out. I want life to return to some semblance of normalcy. It has *only* been 5.5 mos.... but those 5.5 mos seem like a long time when your life is disrupted so many times.

Vent over... back to cleaning... yes another showing tomorrow.