Challenge 31 Day 2

What make you uniquely you?
That's a really good question that I probably don't have a good answer to. I guess I'm the only one who can be Kaleb's mommy. And I'm the only one who can teach my students the way I teach them. I'm the only one who can love my husband like God's planned wife. But these things all define me in relation to someone else - Kaleb, student, Eric. If I'm going to think about me not in relationship to anyone else, it gets significantly harder. I am unique because, physically, I have one eye that has a little twitch (I blame teaching) and a freckle on one of my cheeks. This is tough. I'll have to think about it some more this week and amend the post later.

Date Day Part 2/Our Odd Discovery

Eric and I got to have another January Date Day today because we had to go to Biloxi for a bridesmaid's dress fitting. We met my mom in Hattiesburg around 11:15 and gave her Kaleb. Then we went to eat some sushi for lunch at Sakura. I think they've changed their recipe for the snow crab roll because it definitely wasn't as good as it used to be. Plus, it was warm and it's never been that way before. After we ate we started our journey to Biloxi. I can't speak for Eric, but I know that I really enjoy when we go on car trips and we talk about any and everything we think of. I feel very blessed to have a husband I love and can talk to about anything. We got to Biloxi and drove to Gatlins for the bridesmaid's dress fitting. I'm a size SIX! What the crap? That's awesome! Now all I have to do is not gain any weight AND lose a few extra pounds so I'll be able to breathe in the dress. After we put the deposit down for the dress we drove along the coastline and decided to stop and walk around on the beach. It was pretty deserted, but it felt really good outside. We had to put on light jackets, but we took our shoes off and walked in the water a little bit. The water felt cool, but it wasn't freezing so it was kind of nice. We ended up with tar balls on the bottoms of our feet so I kinda feel like I'm a part of history now. Anyway, I found this thing in the sand that I thought was a sand dollar but when I picked it up it had teeth and eye sockets! We still have no idea what the heck it is because it also has a kind of a pig nose snout. We've been trying to figure it out all afternoon and we've still got nothing. Eric's going to give it to the biology teacher at the high school to see if she has any insights, and if not we may take it to the marine biology department at Southern. I'm going to be really disappointed if it turns out to be a cat skull or something. After we left the beach we went to Books A Million and then headed back to Hattiesburg. We went and saw The Tourist, which I liked even though a lot of people didn't. Then we went and picked up Kaleb from Haley and Josh's apartment (they called my baby birth control! Ouch!), went to Krystal, and came back home. Pretty successful date day if I say so myself.

Challenge 31 Day 1

This is a fourth generation blog idea. I saw it on a blog I read who linked it to a blog she reads who got it from a blog she reads. Who knows, it may go back even further. The basis of this post series is to challenge yourself to look at and apply Proverbs 31 by giving a post topic. If I can stick with it I'll have all 31 done by the end of February. This will mean that I'll have a couple posts a day somedays when something interesting happens. This is going to be a challenge for me because I've never been a very consistent blogger.

Day 1 What does beauty mean to you?
In the totally honest, superficial, and shallow aspect, it means clear skin, flat stomach, and well-groomed. In the not-so-superfcial aspect it has many more meanings. It is a pregnant woman playing with a child. A dead tired daddy taking time to spend with his kids. Someone who is totally in love with something and isn't afraid to show it. Children are beautiful because they are innocent and trusting. Elderly people are beautiful because they have lived a full live and have a peace about them. The thing about beauty is that it is so broad that, in someone's eyes, everyone is beautiful. You are beautiful to someone...your husband, your children, your parents, the person you never knew was looking up to you, your siblings, etc. Even on our "ugliest" days, we should remember this. We Are Beautiful.

Sickly

This week has been crazy. I got the stomach bug somewhere around 2 am on Thursday. I felt sick all day and stayed home from school. Eric did such a good job taking care of Kaleb and bringing me what I needed. I was so sick feeling and weak that I could barely lift my phone to text people. Everytime I changed positions it took about 5 minutes for the naseau to wear off. I never could lay on my left side. That sick feeling never went away in that position. By the end of the night I had eaten a handful of Wheat Thins and had a small glass of gingerale. I felt a little better by the time I went to bed, but since I'd slept all day it took awhile to doze off. Thankfully I still had some compazine from when I had my kidney stones, and those made me sleepy. When I woke up this morning I was still a little woozy but so much better than the day before. I went ahead and got read to go to work even though I was terribly weak. I only made it half a day before I had to go home and go to bed. I probably shouldn't have gone at all to be honest, but the school system engrains it in you that you can't miss school...EVER...upon penalty of death. Honestly, I feel guilty for being sick or for staying home with Kaleb when he's sick. Anyway, I came home and slept for a couple hours then Eric came and picked me up. We had to go to William Carey so I could register for my Spring class. For some reason it won't let me do it online, so I had to drive down there this afternoon. (Today was the last day to register without paying a $50 fine.) I'm all set for EDU 640 now. On the way back to Waybo we decided to go see the new casino just a few miles from our exit. It was pretty funny. It looks like a warehouse. Not worth the drive in my opinion. We came home, ate supper, put Kaleb to bed, did the taxes, and now I'm procrastinating working on some homework that's due Sunday for the class I'm taking right now. I won't be able to do it tomorrow because Eric and I are headed to Biloxi for the day. Hopefully I'll have a post on that tomorrow or Sunday. Well, enough time wasting. Back to work.

Book Review: Corelli's Mandolin

I just finished the book Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres. It's about the small Greek island of Cephallonia during World War II. It focuses on one small family consisting of Dr. Iannis and his daughter Pelagia. It tells about Greece's occupation by the Germans and Italians during the war. Oddly enough, it depicts the Italians as being innocent bystanders. You're almost on the Italian's side. We all know that Mussolini was a terrible man and ordered his Italian troops to do terrible things, but this division of Italian soldiers spent their occupation time fending off Germans and falling in love with Cephallonian women. As the book progresses we see a truly unique picture of life in a small town in Greece. I'll admit that the book took a while to get into because there were a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary words, some Italian, Greek, and German, and I honestly didn't know much about the basics of WWII. Once I got into it, it was very good.

Girl's Night

I LOVE girl's night. I haven't been to one since November and I've really missed it. It seems to follow a similar format. Gossip, I mean, catching up, Bible study, then sharing way too personal information. All of this is accompanied by lots of good food. This week we had fruit pizza, spinach dip with Hawaiin bread, brownies, apples with some kind of caramel whipped cream dip (SO good), hot bacon dip, salads, pizza rolls, and chicken fingers. The book we're reading from now is all about encouragement, which is something I know I need daily. We go to LeAnne's house and she ususally facilitates it for us but we all chime in with thoughts and questions and we all read verses from Scripture. This week it was Leanne, Jessica, Erin, me, Carrie, Jenci, Marae, Mel Ann, and Jac. We're going to have to start planning our girl's trip pretty soon. I've been looking forward to it since we got back from the one last year.

January Date Night

One of my overall New Year's resolutions was to go on more dates with Eric, so we started January off during Martin Luther King Monday. I wish we had more family close by so we could have our free babysitters. That's one thing I'm jealous of about the people who live here. They live here, their parents live here, their grandparents live here, their brothers and sisters live here, etc. But luckily we have Aunt Haley and Uncle Josh who live in Hattiesburg and can keep Kaleb if they aren't working. I know Aunt Millie would love to keep him more, but that's not really an option. Okay, so that was a total detour from our January Date Night, but here we go!
We drove to Hattiesburg in the late afternoon and headed to Seattle Drip to meet Aunt Haley who was getting off of work. The movie (I'll get to that part) didn't start until 5:30, and we go there around 4:00, but we were so hungry that we went to the mall for a snack. Plus I needed some khakis. We headed to the food court and got a meal from Chick Fil A to share. It was so good. I wish we had one in Waybo. Anyway, I went to look for khakis because my whole dress pant wardrobe is dark colored and I wanted to lighten it up. I went to American Eagle and GAP just to learn that khakis are out of style. No one had any!
After that we decided to go ahead and head to the movies so we could get some popcorn. Good thing too because our 5:30 movie really started at 5:05. We got a bunch of Grand gift cards so we went to get popcorn and drinks. I got a kiddie pack because it only has a little bit of popcorn PLUS it has gummy bears and a drink. Who cares that I'm 26? There's nothing really out right now that I want to see, but Eric wanted to see a lot of it so I let him pick. Our whole family has seen True Grit and really like it so he picked that one. Let me just say that I'm not a fan of Western movies. I find them very beige and boring. This one wasn't so bad though. Granted, it was still a Western and not really my cup of tea, but I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. The acting was really good and it was funny (like everyone else said it would be).
We went out to eat at Oishi so we could get some hibachi. It was going to be a long wait to sit at the hibachi grill so we sat at a regular table and ordered hibachi from there. (You can do that!) By this point I was feeling a little nauseous but the food made it better. Kaleb had been with Aunt Haley for a few hours by this point so we grabbed some Starbucks (sorry Haley, but they're open past 8) and headed back to get Kaleb.
I miss my baby even when I'm away from him for only a few hours, but it's so nice to get out and be with Eric. We get to talk and laugh and plan and just have fun. Our February Date will be to Biloxi because I have to get a bridesmaid's dress for my sweet friend Heather's wedding.

I took what I blogged about yesterday and did something about it. I cleaned the living room. Then I stopped because in about 2 seconds Kaleb had his toys all over the place again. Oh well. Such is the life.
We've started a series on prayerin "big church." I have to say that I really need this because I am a terrible pray-er. I know that I treat God like Santa Claus or a Sears catalog. I know that I don't have an intimate prayer relationship with God like I should. What I don't know is how to change it. You wouldn't think prayer would be so difficult, but it seems like there are so many rules to it that I just can't follow. Hopefully I'll learn some things that I can share with whoever reads this and it'll bless you.

Blog Envy

I don't really like reading blogs by people I don't know. I'm sure if I read the same one every day I would feel like I knew them, but I just can't do that. I like to know the face and personality of the person who's blogging. Anyway, I like reading blogs about other people's lives, but I find myself getting envious of their lives when I see pictures posted of a perfect house with a giant kitchen and how they're always having parties or being productive. Then I look around my house and, honestly, there's no room to even sit down for all of the junk. There's clothes, dishes, papers, books, cereal boxes, silverware, puzzle pieces, rotten banana pieces (that Kaleb threw down for Lucy to eat), and who knows what else is UNDER the furniture. Sorry if I grossed you out with the banana thing, but this is what my life has reduced to. I can't blame it all on Kaleb. I can't blame it all on work or school or "me time" or Eric. I just have to do better. I am the queen of excuses. I tell myself that there's no point in hanging stuff on the wall because we'll probably be moving in another year, but why not hang them up for a year? It's better than having them sit around in our "guest bedroom" that is actually a storage unit. I tell myself that it's just going to get messy again so why clean up? I would be so embarrassed if anyone came over to my house and saw it looking like this. I'm going to stop living like this! Off to clean up....

The Obligatory Resolution Post

Most resolutions only last for a month...two at most. In order to combat this resolution failure phenomenon, I've decided to make 12 short-term resolutions (obviously one for each month) and just a couple year-long resolutions.

YEAR LONG RESOLUTIONS
1. Read 30 books.
2. Save at least $50 a month for Christmas gifts.
3. Go on a date with my husband once a month.

MONTHLY RESOLUTIONS
January - Be nicer to Lucy. She's a pain in the butt, but it would be hard to go from being the only "child" to having a super cuter baby brother.
February - Use an encouragement tablet. Basically, this means having a legal pad set somewhere consistent (like the kitchen table) where I write words of encouragement to Eric.
March - Stay on budget. I can do it for one month. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.
April - Stay positive.
May - Walk at least twice a week.
June - Make As in both my summer classes. This will be the first time I've taken two classes at once. I think I'll be able to do it as long as I stay focused.
July - Totally plan Kaleb's birthday; including gifts. Last year we got his presents the day of his birthday. Talk about a lack of planning.
August - Keep a prayer journal. By writing down my prayers and responses or feelings, I think I'll see God at work in my life.
September - Put others first.
October - Celebrate fall/Halloween. I've been a slacker mom with dressing Kaleb up and taking him trick-or-treating, but I've had the excuse of "he's too young to even remember it." This year he'd probably enjoy it more.
November - Cook something for Thanksgiving dinner. My mother-in-law slaves away making an endless number of dishes. This year, I'm going to contribute something.
December - Follow through with my Christmas Traditions. I have to set those in stone so that I'll know what I expect of myself. I know that I have a few like stocking with pomegrantes and toothbrushes in them, opening one gift before we leave our house to go to our parents' houses, making cookies, and creating a Family Photo Collage with a picture for each month.