Thursday, January 31, 2008

Full Days, Tired Nights

Tonight is the first night in many that I have had the energy to do anything. Must have been the extra jolt of caffeine I injested at 7:30pm.

My days have been extremely full. Full as in not even getting my task list near complete by the end of each work day. Which means tasks are overflowing into the next day and things are snowballing. Some days it is like dodging bullets not knowing what or when the next thing is coming. Hectic to say the least--and this is our 'down time'??!! Ha...no such thing--that's a myth, trust me.

Our days go a little like this around here. Everyone up showered, clothed, fed, packed and bundled and out the door by 7:15am or so. One dropped at daycare and one dropped at the bus stop to go to school. I head to work and put in a very full, draining, mentally taxing day. (All while keeping a smile on my face and displaying nothing but patience, patience, patience.) Honestly, I love serving my community the way I do, but citizens will try you, test you and push every button you have. Day in and day out. You have to be numb to negativity and not let that attitude be contagious. I have learned not to take jabs or attacks too personally. If you do you will sink faster than the Titanic. I love my job, my Department, my co-workers. We are a team, a family, a support system all striving for the same goal. Making a difference. One positive impact makes every bad day worth it. Ok, enough of that soapbox.....

I get off work. Go get kids from daycare or practice or wherever they might be on a given night. Then at this point we begin our evening tasks. Many times by this point I am ready to fall into my bed never to leave it. But, we come home, I prepare dinner (if it hasn't already been picked up on the way home :), we eat, do homework, pack the backpacks back up with the next days necessities, try to have a little fun, free time and then the bedtime routine. I get everyone tucked in. This is where I again want to fall into bed without moving before morning. No, I can't. Too many things have to get done between the time the kids go to bed and I go. Cleaning up dinner mess, picking up the house, putting in a load of laundry, checking email, going through mail, returning phone calls, getting clothes out for next day, etc. etc.

Then I find five minutes to relax. Sometimes with a book, sometimes on the computer and sometimes staring senselessly at some stupid show on television. Time for bed. The alarm is set. The process will begin all over again in approximately 7 hours.

And I thank God for this. This is what I do, this is what I love. And I am thankful.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A nice day...

There isn't a nice winter day that goes by without Creighton tearing around on the 4-wheeler. I just dread the condition of my yard come March. Spent lots of time outside today. Colby took the dogs for a walk down to the neighbors place. Creighton rode the 4 wheeler and I hung around taking pictures and stuff ;) I messed around with Blazey boy today too. He was so funny watching Creighton ride the 4 wheeler. He watches him so closely. I was standing with my back to the fence and he (Blaze) was rubbing his nose on my back, sniffing my hair, then he grabbed a hold of my hood and pulled. Then when I turn around he puts his nose up in the air and looks away like he didn't do anything. I swear this horse has some humanness :) I love him!


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Saturday, January 26, 2008

just like the picture....

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Mom and Me

Creighton and I had a little mom and me time this weekend. Colby spent the night with a friend on Friday and was just plain wore out after her game this morning. So, she came home to rest and he and I went out to sled while there was still some snow. We enjoyed each other so much!



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Hittin' the slopes....




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Snowboarding

Creighton attempted to do a little snowboarding today. A little tough for him, but he laughed when he fell so all was good....



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perfect day for sledding...

 

 

 

 
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Nothing we do can change the past. Everything we do can change the future.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Angels

No...not taken today. Too cold even for my kids. Just now getting around to loading some old pics. (old as in a couple of weeks ago)....



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Living it out

Mohandas Gandhi is reputed to have said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I read this today. No idea if Mohandas really said it or not, but it hurts nonetheless. Our actions can impact our community, our people, our friends and strangers alike far more than our words can.

Huge reminder to myself: Let them see Jesus being lived out in me.

Longing to make this the rule and not the exception.....

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Nothing

Not sure if that is good or bad, but I have nothing. I have been a delinquent blogger this week. My work week was full and busy and flew by. The kids had their usual activities. We had friends out for dinner last night and engaged in some friendly Wii competition. Tonight the kids are staying with Greg while I go out with friends to celebrate a 40th birthday. I feel old now that I have friends that are turning 40 even th0ugh I have 4 1/2 years to go before I hit it myself.

It is cold. It would have been a good weekend to stay in and hang out in our pajamas all day, but still a lot on our plates for the next 36 hours. And, then the workweek begins again. Sometimes it seems to be a vicious cycle, sometimes a nice routine.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

BBall Video

I haven't had much luck posting videos from Blogger, but I'll try to get a basketball video posted....

This isn't the best quality video--the lighting is pretty poor in the gym and I must not have focused very well. But, you get the idea anyway :)

BBall

Colby had her first basketball game yesterday morning. She had a smile on her face the whole time. I really think she likes the fact that she can score a lot in a short time period vs. soccer when she scored only a few goals in her whole 'career'. Lots of instant gratification here. I loved seeing her play something she enjoys so much. Way to go Colby--you were great :)

She looks a little like Stretch Armstrong here during shoot-around....
She was 'the tall girl' under the basket...I know that position all too well
Quite the defensive specialist :) I was impressed that they were guarding man-to-man and even did some blocking out, etc.
A steal by Colby (#8 yellow) and a break-away lay-up that was in and out, but she was happy anyway!
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Friday, January 11, 2008

Surviving Prosperity....

Lately my focus has not been on what we don't have, but on the 'too much' that we have. We have too much, we expect too much, we want too much, too much, too much, too much. And I am, we are, sooo guilty. Throughout the last few months I have often felt myself wanting to scream "STOP THE MADNESS". I want to downsize, I want to simplify. I want to organize. I want to focus on relationships, interactions and community not stuff or things. I want to be truly happy with little. I want to give and not receive. Today while doing some reading on my lunch hour I read this...

The human race has had long experience and a fine tradition in surviving adversity. But we now face a task for which we have little experience: the task of surviving prosperity. Alan Gregg

Surviving prosperity, not as easy as it may seem on the surface. The depths of prosperity can be daunting and dangerous.

Also came across this....

The Achilles' heel of consumer society is that is hasn't made us as happy as it promised it would. Although Americans have tripled their prosperity since the mid-1950's, the percentage who say they-re "very satisfied" with their lives has declined. When you think about it, this is pretty sad, considering the unbelievable amount of resources and energy that we have consumed and waste we have produced in the last fifty years. We've pursued the American Dream to no real apparent end. Bill McKibbin

I am not looking for debate. I am not looking for controversy. I do know, however, that consumerism has gotten the best of me and that I am ready to start making a change in the way I live. I am VERY guilty. And I know I am. I want to stick to the basics. It may be small changes, baby steps. I will work hard at defining and differentiating the fine line betweeen 'want' and 'need'. I will fail miserably at times. But, I will try. And I hope that my eyes are opened to a whole new view. One that I don't even know yet.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

A Check Up and Basketball

It's been somewhat of a whirlwind of activity this week. Just a lot of running around being on the go days. Work has been VERY busy for me this week. Seems like I am going from one thing to the next without ever taking a breath.

Tuesday afternoon Creighton had his 5 year physical. He is all set for kindergarten in the fall. He was pretty proud of himself for his perfect aim when he had to pee in the cup and for not crying when he got his finger pricked and chicken pox booster shot. A couple of stickers and we were on our way. I was feeling a little guilty because I promised him no shots. He got his kindergarten shots at his 4 year appointment just to get them over with, but since then they came out with a chicken pox booster shot. So he got that one. Of course he got a Happy Meal and a chocolate shake out of the deal. I opted out of the Hep. A shot for him. Not necessary as far as I am concerned. He is 95th percentile on height and weight. 3'10" and 51 pounds. They said he is the same size as an average sized 7 year old. Looks like he's got some of Grampa Kaalberg's genes after all :) How happy we are for that!

Colby had her first basketball practice on Tuesday. She loved it and is looking forward to tomorrow's practice. When I asked her how it went she said "GREAT!". I said did you play well? and she said "I don't know, but I made a lot of new friends". I guess that is what matters most. Later when prompting her for a little detail on how she played, she said she towered over everyone and just kept shooting. I know the feeling....I was that towering girl in my day too. Although I silently prayed that somehow I would magically become shorter because I despised being the tall girl. Thankfully, she thinks it's great.

So the first half of the week is over and plenty on our plates to keep us busy the rest of the week. This weekend hopefully we can get a couple little things finished up and get this house officially on the market. We had planned on waiting until Feb. 1st, but it sounds like there have been quite a few lookers out there in the last couple of weeks. I don't want to miss the boat.

That's all I got for now. The kids are asleep and I am headed to sit down in front of the TV with a hot cup of tea. Ahhh....

Sunday, January 06, 2008

This young man.....

I always remember my mom calling my brother 'young man' when he was in trouble or doing something dangerous, etc. Well, THIS young man is a daredevil in just about everything he does. He is fearless in the water and on land. Today he figured out that there is enough of an incline leading up to the driveway that if he gets a good running start, goes really fast, stands up and yanks up on the handlebars that he can 'get some air' across the driveway. And as I stood from a distance watching I could hear him yell out a big "WHOO HOO!" every time he did a big jump. He also taught himself how to do 360's in the mud and slush. Oh what am I going to do with this young man????? creighton, creighton, creighton....




It is a sloppy, slippery, wet, muddy, slushy mess out here today. The kids had a ball. I, however, have visions of lots of yard repair in my future.
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A little success goes a long way for a 'feel good day!'

Colby and I, well at least I, just finished purging her room. She lasted most of the way through and then decided that her and Creighton should go out and go muddin' on the four-wheeler. So off they went while I finished filling the five LARGE bags of clothes and one LARGE bag of trash from Colby's room. Four bags of the clothes will be passed on to friends, one bag to Goodwill. We cleaned out every drawer, under the bed, under the dressers and the whole closet top to bottom. The sad thing is that after purging FIVE LARGE bags of clothes, we still struggled to find a place for all that was left. And after the laundry is done, all drawers will be FULL again. But, I will give her this. She parted with some things that she had been hanging onto for quite awhile. It helps that she has shot up this year and she figured out that some of the stuff just doesn't fit anymore no matter how much she loves it.

After that I headed to the bathroom to sort and organize the drawers. Successful there too. Everything is neat and organized, not over-stuffed and lots of stuff to the trash. Amazing how many half-empty or nearly empty bottles of lotions, etc. were found in the cabinets. So, that is good for now too.

Then I hit the video/dvd cabinet. It has been a mess for a long time. The kids rummage through it so often that it is impossible to keep up with. So today I sorted out all of the videos and dvd's that don't get watched or were from the baby stages and I organized what was left. Two large bags of videos and dvd's to head to the Goodwill. Yeah!

So, my car is packed full of stuff to get rid of, a few storage areas of the house are neatly organized and I would call today a success. Makes for a good day around here.

Now, I am off to tackle the shoes. This could be a long afternoon :)

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Mission Organization

Since I doubt that the people from HGTV's show "Mission Organization" are going to show up at my house anytime soon, I guess I will have to rely on my organizational skills to get things in shape around here. I am pretty good about keep most things under control, but it seems that Colby's spaces have gotten a little out of my reach. Therefore, I told Colby that tomorrow has been officially declared 'Organize Colby's Stuff Day'. We will sort, get rid of and organize all of her spaces throughout the house. She tends to be a little packrattish so we will see what we can talk her into getting rid of. A few months ago she broke her favorite flip-flops, but insisted on keeping them because they were her favorite ones. Never mind the fact that they aren't wearable anymore. See what I am up against here??? I am always ready to purge, purge, purge. So the with both kids birthdays and Christmas happening over the last 6 weeks, I am ready to get rid of some stuff. I cringe every time something 'new' makes it's way into the house. My new motto is "if we don't NEED it, we can't have it". Now, we will just see how far I get with all the too small clothes, clothes that don't ever get worn, junky trinkets and Happy Meal toys that I plan to rid of tomorrow :)

Hopefully, we will get our house sold before long. Therefore, if it is not worth my time to pack it, haul it to our new house, unpack it and find a place for it, then it likely will not go with us. Simplicity is going to be a key word throughout this move. I am SOOO ready to downsize our 'stuff'. Not just the kids' stuff, but even my stuff. A few simple, favorite pieces will make their way into our new decor, but the clutter, the extra stuff, will not. I can't wait!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Happy Birthday to YOU!

We celebrated Colby's birthday yesterday with family and tonight it was her choice out for dinner--China Garden--I like her style :) She also received a chunk of cash for her birthday for a shopping trip to the mall. So, Saturday is a girls day out with Kenzie and I. It will be fun!



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Watching the world go by....

one snow plow at a time....
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Happy Birthday Colby!

Today you turn 9. The weather is much as it was the day you were born. After your 6 week early arrival, your little body spent a couple days in the NICU getting some extra help breathing and light therapy to control your jaundice. Although we were scared, you were perfect to us...and still are.