Working Dryer!

Last Wednesday, my dryer finally got fixed! It originally broke on January 26, so we went almost two months without it. But my persistence paid off. Didn't pay a penny to get it repaired.

The broken dryer threw off all of my Flylady routines. A big Flylady no-no is big piles of laundry. After all, a load a day keeps the CHAOS (Can't have anyone over syndrome) away. =) Without a working dryer, I had no choice but to let it accumulate. All my other routines went right out the window, too. As I start feeling better, I'm hoping to jump right back into my home management routines.

Bitter fruit

I came across this verse in Proverbs 1:30-31 the other day. In this passage, Wisdom is crying out to the people in the streets, venting that they don't heed her correction.

"They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes."

I thought the New Living's use of "bitter fruit" was a very interesting and accurate description of those negative, life-changing consequences that come from making unwise, ungodly decisions. It's hard to watch people you care about having to eat the bitter fruit of their decisions and choking on their own schemes. What a helpless feeling not to be able to "do" anything. Once you have stated your position on the issue, what more can you do? Getting preachy will only drive a wedge. Ultimately, we have to realize we are not in control of anything and that praying for God to work in their life is the best thing we can do.

Contrast that to the fruit in Galatians 5:22-23:

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"

House full of sickies

We have been bitten by a nasty cold virus. Sam got it first, several days ago. It seemed like the worst of it has passed for him, with just some congestion lingering in his chest, as often happens with him after a cold. A few days later, it got Isaiah and I. We've had the sore throat, sinus congestion, etc. Earlier today my throat hurt really badly when I tried to talk or swallow. Ugh! Dan even admitted he has a sore throat. He usually takes the if-I-don't-admit-I'm-sick-then-I'm-really-not approach. =)

So I took the day off of school, and we had a pretty low-key day. I did manage to dry four or five loads at the laundromat. (Update: Final dryer appointment scheduled for tomorrow!!!). Then we pretty much just chilled out at home. During Sam's nap, Isaiah and I both slept on the couch for over an hour. So nice. Our appetites have been down to about nothing. It was all I could do to get Isaiah to eat half of a Pedialyte freeze pop for dinner.

The hardest part about yesterday was that Sam definitely relapsed in his potty training. He had about three accidents yesterday, including one really bad one. But hopefully as he's feeling better, he can get right back to it.

I'm feeling better tonight than I was this morning. I'm planning on making it back to musical practice tomorrow, especially since one of the other directors injured herself and has been out for the past two days. I haven't heard the full story yet, but apparently it involves crutches. Not good!

Just plain craziness

The Spring is by far my busiest season. Between the ACSI music festivals, rehearsals for the musical, spring concert, and graduation, time just flies by! So I'll give you a few hopefully brief updates...

Choral Festival in Ligonier:

• Left home at 6:45 a.m. and returned at 10:30 p.m. Very long day.
• Learned that Ligonier is a very lovely little town with a very observant meter maid. I managed to get two $5 parking tickets while I was there. After the second one, I was out of quarters, so I asked someone on the street if she knew of anywhere I could park for free, and she pointed to the next house over, saying that I could park in front of her ex-husband's house, and that she would let him know. I'm telling you, it is really tough to find somewhere to park in that town! Even Subway and the bank had metered parking! Sheesh!
• The 5th-12th graders did an outstanding job performing music that was clearly suited for advanced high school or college choirs.

Saturday:

• Decided to go to Supercuts to get my hair done. I've been going to a salon in Mars, but thought I'd save some money. At one point my highlights were the lightest shade of blond possible. Not good!!!! Then the stylist had to try to darken them, then use something else to darken them to a shade I still consider too light. And apparently the toner she ultimately used to darken the highlights is temporary and will wash out, leaving me with rediculously light highlights. Sometimes I don't think stylists know how to highlight dark hair. But honestly, after being there for 3.5 hours, I just wanted to get out of there! Oy. Now I remember why I went to the salon in Mars! Haha!
• Went to my mom's to see my boys (That sounds just wrong doesn't it!) because I didn't see them at all yesterday. Played with them for a few hours, then made it to musical practice which went until 8:30.

So we put Sam in underwear (with plastic pants of course!) for the first time on Sunday. He hasn't had any accidents since Tuesday! I honestly can't believe it. That kid amazes me. He has stayed dry in underwear through several naps. I guess the next step is underwear for bedtime... a little scary!

So thanks to our babysitters Marge and Patty for helping to potty train him on Monday and Tuesday! Whatever you did worked!

On to tomorrow... Battle of the Praise Bands at Hampton Presby... 5pm-9pm.

Underwear and oranges

Sam started going potty at Grandma's house this past week. Even though I hadn't planned to potty train him yet, he seems ready, so we're just going for it, busy as we are! With Isaiah, we spent a solid intensive two weeks potty training, and I planned to do the same with Sam. Apparently he's decided he's ready now, so in the middle of musical season, we're doing what we can. In this picture below, he's actually wearing two pairs of underwear. I asked him if he wanted to wear the elmo pair or the cookie monster pair. He said, "Both!"

The other day we got a Sesame Street cooking with kids cookbook. Tonight we decided to try the Frosty Orange Surprise. First, we cut off the top 1/4 of four oranges. After scooping out the "guts" and putting them into the blender, we added two 6 oz. containers of lemon yogurt and blended. We scooped the orange pulp and yogurt mixture back into the orange cups and froze them for an hour and a half.

Then enjoyed! So easy and healthy.

We decided that these would make amazing snacks for a hot summer afternoon.

The great date experiment

A local church is sponsoring The Great Date Experiment. Date #1 (of 6) was supposed to be last Friday night, March 5. The church offered child care from 5-9 so married couples could go on this date. Unfortunately, Dan and I weren't able to go on date #1 that night because I had the band festival. But we downloaded the instructions for the date and went on it on our own last night. Sam went to Nana's and Isaiah went to Grandma's house.


At first I think Dan was a little leery about going on a structured date. But I was able to win him over to the idea.

First we had to choose a place to go for an appetizer. We chose Applebees, because we love their appetizers. We tried their wonton tacos which were delicious, and discussed the questions listed, such as, "When we were dating, I tried to impress you by ____________" and many others. I think the server thought we were weird because we only ordered appetizers and then said we were done. Oh well!

Then we went to Chen's in Cranberry for some AMAZING Chinese food. I ordered a beef hot pot having no idea what that was. But it was a deliciously seasoned combination of beef and steamed vegis served in a hot pot. We did some "would you rathers," talked about the five love languages, and God's desires for our marriate while we ate.

Then we were supposed to go into a store and buy something for each other that cost less than $2. I've been meaning to go into that store Five Below (where everything is $5 or less), so that's where we went. What a fun store!!! It's definitely a new favorite.

Last, we chose Barnes and Noble for dessert, ordering coffee and sharing a piece of cheesecake before browsing through some books. We completed the sentences:

• One of the nicest things you've ever done for me is_____________


• Without you I never would have ______________

and others. There were other instructions between the courses like using three terms of affection and taking pictures of yourselves together on your cell phone's camera. It was a fun date and much different than just dinner and a movie.

I highly recommend going on the great date experiment dates for married couples. You can download the instructions for all six dates here.

Good evening

After dinner tonight the boys played so nicely, in different rooms by themselves, that Dan and I literally sat at the table and talked for an hour. This NEVER happens. Usually we're surprised if we can say a few coherent words to each other without being interrupted by an attention-seeking child. I was able to show Dan all my notes from our MOPS meeting this morning and tell him all about the second passage of marriage (3rd-10th year of marriage), which, apparently, we are going through right now. Our MOPS leader, Nancy, shared with us from a book she is reading called Passages of Marriage, which sounds like a fascinating book.
Then the boys got a bath without fighting and cooperated while getting ready for bed. When we were praying with Isaiah, he said, "And thank you that we got to go to Daddy's house, the Lighthouse today." Hahahahaha. We're still trying to convince the kid that Dan lives here. =)

Exhaustion

Exhaustion has set in as I'm now working seven days a week most weeks until April 24. It's more mental exhaustion than physical. I miss that day or two off per week, just to have a mental break. So I haven't blogged because, at the end of most days, I don't have any mental energy left.

I'm trying to maximize my time with my kids and Dan in between my school and church schedules. I keep telling myself that it's only for a few weeks, and before we know it, summer break will be here. =)