Popcorn Kernels Don't Go There

Today was just one of those odd eclectic days that seem to happen rather frequently with young children.

I thought for sure my husband was supposed to be to work at noon today. So, I cook and serve lunch at ten-thirty, we were out of diapers, so the girls and I take him to work so I could get some (outgrew our cloth ones, haven't been able to afford more, yet I know if I wasn't spending money on disposables, I could. Hate the irony of it.). Ended up getting a small package of diapers for night use and a had a great coupon for Pull-Ups which made it cheaper than the store brand so I got those. Hopefully soon we won't be needing those and I can save up for a better stash of cloth diapers. Anyway, we get home and I put the Beans down for her nap and get the laundry started for the day when Hubbs emails me on his first break. He told me that he was supposed to have been in at two, not noon, but they let him work two extra hours (I thought for sure he was to be there at noon. Until I checked my day planner and found out I was the one who messed up...I don't mind the extra two hours of pay, but it meant I could have gone shopping alone for the first time in ages). After Beans woke up, I gave the kids popcorn for a snack. They have always been good about eating popcorn so I wasn't worried. I called my mom, who wasn't home so I talked to my dad for a half hour. While I'm on the phone, Bugs comes over to me and says she has something up her nose and to get it out for her. I look into her nose and discover an unpopped kernel of popcorn in her left nostril. I bid Dad a hasty farewell and try and get Bugs to blow through her nose while I'm holding the right nostril shut. She blows through her mouth instead. She really starts to freak out a bit and starts to sniff in as hard as she could and sticking her finger up there in an effort to pry it out herself. I take her to my bedroom and lay her down on the bed and pull out my tweezers, praying I could get a good grip on the kernel. The second Bugs saw the tweezers in my hand she starts throwing her head back and forth and flailing her arms and legs and screaming "Don't hurt me!!! Don't hurt me!!!!. I quickly see that talking to her about not moving and I won't hurt her isn't doing any good, so I decide to try to get her to blow one last time. I show her what to do with my nose, offered up several desperate prayers to please let it come out, plug her right nostril and tell her to blow through her nose. The popcorn kernel came shooting out of her nose and bounced off my chest. I had hoped we had passed the stage where random items are shoved into odd orifices. She's almost three and a half. I guessed wrong. Now to survive this stage with Beans....and hopefully Bugs learned her lesson...My dad called back five minutes later to check on the Bugs.

After playing EMT, and being relieved that we weren't out the ridiculous copay for urgent care, I was very shaky the rest of the day. I didn't get half of what I had planned to do done for the day. Oh well. My kids survived today, at this point, that is what matters.

Going to have to pick my husband up from work in about an hour. I can't wait to have him home for two days in a row next week. Tomorrow and Monday. Haven't had two off in a row in over month except for his requested vacation days over New Years.

Speaking of husbands, what out of the ordinary nice thing have you done for yours lately? Not to brag, but last night I gave mine an hour long massage after he got home from work (he closed). He really enjoyed the surprise of it. And he's thanked me several times today, mentioned how great he feels a several times and I think he really appreciated it. Have you done something to show your husband how much you appreciate him lately? It doesn't have to be an hour long massage, or anything expensive. Maybe just baking him a batch of his favorite cookies and slipping them into his lunch as a surprise, or maybe a copy of that new book he's been wanting to read and then you take the kids out for a few hours so he can get a start on it. Really, it could be anything to make him feel special. I want to challenge you to do one thing as a surprise for your husband this week to make him feel special and cared for.

Have a blessed Sunday and into next week. I've got a busy few days coming up between church and small group tomorrow and then Monday we are going to the salvage grocery store for our monthly stock up. I still have cereal and bottled juice from the last trip. Opened my last package of cheese today. I love the salvage grocery. It basically is just items that got damaged while waiting to be put on shelves at the big chain stores. Cereal boxes that got whacked with a box knife while the pallet was being cut open, boxes that got crushed and dented cans. The one we go to also gets restaurant overstocked items and things that are no longer at the restaurant that were limited time promo items. It is a great way to save a ton of money. I can totally fill the trunk of our car for a hundred dollars. I can't do that anywhere else.

Housekeeping and Spiritual Life are Intertwined

Over the past few weeks I've been doing a LOT of thinking. And being hit with realizations that I don't necessarily want to make. I have never been a great housekeeper. I have always wanted to stay home with my kids, be the housewife and such, but I never thought of all the work involved. Work that I don't particularly like. So, of course I let it slide, and the house gets to be a mess. I started really cleaning at the beginning of winter, and I would just find myself gravitating to the cleaner rooms of my house. It was more peaceful there and I could think more clearly. I started to check out some books from the library, such as Restoring Order to Your Home by Vicki Norris and Keeping House, The Litany of Everyday Life by Margaret Kim Peterson. Both are Christian books in their perspectives, both come at the issues of keeping a home a little differently. I highly recommend both. In fact, I hope to someday own them.

Keeping my house is a reflection of my spiritual life. I am going to just say it, I've been rather lax in maintaining one. I haven't had personal devotions in a rather long time. I haven't been too consistent with prayer time (I am improving on that one). My spiritual life is a mess, just like my house. It isn't that I don't care, for me it is to the point of being overwhelming. Something I need to strive to do better at. And if I can start to reclaim time to read the Bible regularly, the rest of my life will be more in line also.

My home is slowly getting more organized (interestingly enough, it started getting more organized around here when I started praying more consistently). We did get our room cleaned, decluttered and un-kidded (banned their toys) and hung up and put away all the clean laundry (I hate the putting away part of the laundry process, it is the most redundant for me for some reason). Then, on Wednesday we got the girls' room cleaned up and reorganized. Next up, not sure which room to tackle next. I am thinking the bathroom as I can totally overhaul that one by myself and we aren't going to have a day in the next week to tackle one together. This week, we are using Hubb's day off to run the hour and a half over to the salvage grocery to do our major shopping for the month.

We host small group at our house the end of February, so this massive cleaning and organizing purge will have to be done by then. And the youngest turns two in a month and I don't know if anyone is coming out family-wise for it or not yet.

More reflections on why one should strive for their best in the realms of house work another time. My husband just got home from work, and I want to spend precious time with him.

I'm Back (Finally) and I Guess a Formal Introduction

So, it is obviously way past the first of the year when I thought I'd be on blogging more regularly. Well, I've spent the past week and a half playing catch up with housework. And random child squabbles and potty training mishaps and, well, you get the picture. I apologize and hopefully at least once a week, (I want to a few times a week) I will be posting. I have all sorts of ideas and thoughts that are just dying for a place to come out and be expressed.

First things first though, I never did formally introduce myself, did I? Quite rude of me, I know. So, I'm Crystal. I'm 30 years old now, and frankly, I don't understand the fear of 30 now that I am that old. It isn't too bad, in fact, it is like being 29. I am married to the most wonderful man of God ever (ok, I'm a tad bit biased). We've been married for four and a half years now (July 8, 2005). We dated for nearly two and a half years before our wedding day, and were friends for like three years before that. I honestly can not imagine being married to anyone else. Hubbs takes care of me when I can't or refuse to take care of myself. He has helped me through some really rough patches in my/our life and I know I am who I am today because of him and his thoughtfulness, caring, and support of me. I'm a mom to two wonderful daughters. Bugs is three as of last September and Beans will be two next month already. They are both beautiful and smart. As it is, we are looking at starting kindergarten with Bugs next fall. I have the best two daughters anyone could hope to be given (again, I may be a wee bit biased...)

I am a believe in the One True God. The denomination we attend doesn't matter. Jesus is all we need and to follow Him. Everything else is secondary. My husband used to be an associate pastor at a church until budget cuts eliminated his position. We are looking for a new ministry and we do have our application in at a church we both really like so we are praying that we are called there.

I am also a homeschooling mom. I believe that God gave us our children to raise up and teach. It is up to us if we are going to delegate the education of our children to others or take it upon ourselves. No matter what we choose, we will be held accountable for what our children are filled with. We have decided that we will be better stewards of our children and their future if we teach them at home and instruct them in the ways of the Lord. We are open to the possibility of putting them into school in the future, but at this point in our lives we are convinced this is the best choice for us to make. It isn't the easiest or cheapest, but the best for us and them. I do not aim to start a debate on homeschooling, public schooling or private schooling, whether you can change your mind on what you have chosen later and all the politics involved with the decision.

I prefer cloth diapers over disposeable, I love a great baby carrier/sling and I am a proponent of natural and home birthing.

Pretty much, I am just a stay-at-home wife and mom who is more than just that. I am a human being, created in the image of God who has many facets to her being. If I tried to totally explain myself, this blog post wouldn't ever get finished, and you would be extremely bored. Besides, I've got a slightly cranky Bean on my hands. She didn't wake up well from her nap today and is acting like her molars are bothering her. I intend in the next couple of days to post what I plan on doing on this blog this year. Just don't have time or space for it now.

Until we meet again,
Crystal