A Debacle of Epic Proportions

Last year, in an effort to save money, we bought a hair trimmer for The Hubs. His mom has always cut all the boys' hair (four boys in the home) and it's seemed natural to him to do it at home. He can do it all himself, but usually needs me to blend in the back and even out the bottom length so that it is straight across his neck.

Pinkalicious, Hubs, and I have all been pretty sick throughout the entire month of February (Monkey Boy has had his fair share of repeated double ear infections), and thus, there has been neglect in many areas of responsibility around the house. This includes , but is not limited to, dusting, decorating for Valentine's Day and now Spring, cooking, and The Hubs' haircut. As we were FINALLY on the mend the second half of this week, we began tackling life, which was really refreshing. And I was so excited for the haircut. I love his hair done just right - it's thick, dark and glossy!

So yesterday he calls me in to finish up and hands me the razor. He says "even it out" and I'm thinking about the longer shag that he missed at the top and yes, yes, uh huh, trim it so it's even, and up I go with the trimmer and HOLY CRAP WHAT THE HELL?!?!?! I buzzed a 6-7 inch line right up the back of his head!!!!!!!!

Suddenly my life was not my own. The situation was so incredible, it could only be happening on TV! I stood and looked at it in shock and began laughing. Not the bowled-over laughing, but the silent, stifled, shocked, tearful laughing. I felt AWFUL and yet it was funny to me. I may be the worst wife ever, but I didn't mean to be.

And let's discuss The Hubs who yelled, "STOP!!!" just as I was realizing that it seemed like I was cutting alot of hair in those two seconds. Who laughed less than I did, of course. Who quietly commanded my compact mirror to survey the damage for himself. As he looked and then put his head in his hands, my laughing was over, and the tragedy was full-focus. He was so angry and yet nothing but kind to me. You cannot imagine. I could not imagine. There is very little room for compassion, and others in general, when it comes to a disheartened moment in my day, yet here sat a man with love and gentleness on his lips. It blows my mind still. Friends, what a blessing. What a man. What a servant's heart.

We've repaired it as best we can. Tomorrow he heads to school to teach high schoolers. And my heart breaks. I am afraid my actions will bring him shame. Each day for him is a fight for some semblance of respect from upstart students who have not learned authority in the home. What will happen with a racing stripe on his head? I can only pray, and hope that there might be an opportunity for them to laugh together with him at the wife who practices scalping, and who might be visiting detention this Thursday, razor in tow.

Blessings in Spring

In seeking ways to be thankful, it's amazing how my eyes have been opened to try to see everything I can, yearning for another way to praise the Lord in each day.  As Spring is beginning, I am reveling in the beauty of a new season and just have to share it!

 

 

Peeking through the fence in the backyard - purple blossoms wave Hello

Say What?

I played the observer on the way home from lunch today. One sign of interest was the advertisement for "Angle's of Joy Daycare." Do they think Joy is a shape? Is it an obtuse angle? And isn't "angle's of" a little redunant? 

A mile later The Hubs and I found ourselves chuckling about the Mercedes with the license plate frame "Their's No Princess Like My Princess."  How many people did this message go through and no one caught the mistake?  I can only hope it's a gift from a snarky seven-year-old, errors preserved for posterity.

Is this worth blogging about?  Probably not.  But where else can I be bitchy about the trivium of life? 

Moments of Thankfulness 2/16

As I count points of grace and gratitude in my life this year, I decided yesterday to capture a few with my camera.  Pictures always say more than words. 

#137 Winter's Bloom

#138 Morning Tea from The Hubs

#139 New Shoes on Perfect Little Feet

#139 Storms that Promise Renewal

The Greatest of These is Love

My friends have been talking this year about Valentine's Day: what do you buy for your husband?  do you even give him a gift? is celebrating Valentine's Day anything but obligatory?

In the past The Hubs and I have had some memorable Valentine's Days.  When we dated in high school, he bought me a heart-shaped locket (TOTALLY high school!) and we went to see the re-release of "Return of the Jedi" in the movie theaters.  Dating again in college, our first Valentine's Day was during the period of time when we hadn't had the DTR (Define The Relationship), so he gifted me with a red carnation (a flower, but not a flower that is too commited) and a sweet note.  One married Valentine's Day, we went to the mall, put each person on a $25 budget, and shopped for each other for a half an hour.  We met back up and exchanged gifts over an Orange Julius. 

As I surveyed this list in my mind a few weeks ago, I determined that 1) all my favorite memories include gifts and 2) I cannot remember how I celebrated HIM those days, but only how I was made to feel special.  So this year was going to have a new focus.  For Pinkalicious, we were going to make treats for friends, make Valentine's for family, make dessert for Daddy, and have lots of fun!  For The Hubs, I would make his favorites: omlettes for breakfast, lunch at Panera, make seafood alfredo for dinner, dessert from Pinks and me, and a special note about why he is my favorite.

This grandiose plan started to run awry on February 4, when I received a call from school that Pinky had an intestinal malfunction and needed to go home.  From that point her stomach flu was passed around to three of us.  Then she came down with the real flu on Monday and despite flu shots, it is being passed around to the four of us, with The Hubs and I getting it on February 11.  My plans have been foiled. All I have to show for my Valentine's efforts are bags of groceries and crafts, and a copy of Goldalicious, the third book in the Pinkalicious Series for my Pinkalicious. 

Reflecting on this list of failure, I scavenged my mind for anything I could do to make tomorrow special.  I have decided to do what I can.  Although we are both riddled with fevers, aches, and exhaustion, I will let him sleep in and nap as much as he can. I will nurse him.  I will not ask for my turn to rest or be resentful in doing what needs to be done.  I will put his needs before my own, and be happy in it.  This Valentine's Day, I will celebrate love by excercising love.

Turkey Day!

I hosted Thanksgiving at my house for the first time this year. My mother- and father-in-law (how do you punctuate that? It's not my "mother and father-in-law" is it? Wouldn't that mean my mom and Hubs' dad? ...) came with two of my brothers-in-law, Phil and Nathan. It wasn't my first time cooking turkey, but it was the first time I'd cooked it for anyone but our little family, so the pressure was on.

If you've never done turkey or are intimidated, I would highly recommend the Reynold's Turkey Bag.  There's no need to baste at all; the bag keeps it moist and the clean-up is a breeze!!  This how I have made it each year since the Martha Stewart Debacle of 2007.  Have any of you ever found yourself successful with a Martha Stewart recipe before?!  I am just waiting to hear a success story... from ANYONE.  Martha began her TV talk show right about the time that I began staying home with Pinkalicious.  I had grand aspirations of being the perfect wife and mother now that I could dedicate all my time to it.  The answer was of course to become Martha. [There are many stories to share on this subject, but they are for another time.] Fast forward 2.5 years and it is my first opportunity to cook a Thanksgiving meal for our family of three. Why ask for help from my mom, aunt, or grandma, whose turkeys I have enjoyed all my life, when Jennifer Garner swears on a Martha Stewart recipe for cranberry turkey?  Certainly I will overcome my dislike of cranberries because it's Martha Stewart and when I produce this turkey, beams of light will extend from around my head and my turkey resulting in the first sainted turkey dinner my husband has ever had, and Jennifer Garner and I will become BFFs!  I learned several things from this experience:

1. I don't like standing in front of an open oven every 30 minutes 
2. There isn't time to shower in between cooking and eating a turkey dinner 
3. If you glaze a turkey with cranberry whatevers, it will be in the drippings and therefore the gravy
4. Martha Shmartha. I still don't like cranberry... ESPECIALLY in my gravy 
5. Who in their right mind eats parsnips?!  Why would anyone serve that to people they like?
6. In the end, presentation and method mean nothing if the food isn't what you like to eat

Serving this monstrosity, I discovered that Martha and Jennifer were nowhere to be found and had abandoned me to another crap recipe that The Hubs had to endure.  It was a Thanksgiving of failure and what I had most to be thankful for was a husband with kind words and a large trash can.  Since then, Mom's directions have become my guide, and the Reynolds bag, my trusty tool.

Beyond the food (yes, my brain does get there eventually) we had a nice time with our company. Although, the gifted banana from my father-in-law was ... special.

I'm not sure what this was about.  It was a bit like Jerry and George bringing the bag of oranges to the Japanese.  

The best part of hanging out, for me, was playing the game Balderdash.  The six of us played for a while and then The Hubs and I played with Phil and Nathan later that night.  I laughed SO HARD!!!  In Balderdash, there are strange laws, movie titles, names and words. The object is two-fold; first, to try to determine what the right definition is, and second, to write a definition that other people will think is the right one and vote for.  For example, the movie title we were given was "Weekend with Lulu."  The four choices were:

1. An English adaptation of the existential play "The Theater of the Absurd," where George waits for God.
2. All the circus freight is en route to the next town except Lulu The Dancing Bear.  Leo, a cab driver, does his best to get her there and in the process, makes a friend.
3. When a young man is stranded in the mountains with a psychopath, he is pushed to his limits and must make the hardest choice of all!
4. Planning a romantic escape with his girl, a guy instead finds himself driving around France in an ice cream truck with his mother-in-law.

Can you guess the real plot of the movie? The Hubs wrote #1, I wrote #2, Nathan wrote #3, and the right answer was #4!  Seriously!!  So if someone votes for your answer, you get a point, and if you guess the right answer, you get two points.  One person is in charge of collecting the answers (this round it was Phil) and he would have received three points if no one guessed the right answer.

I love how creative each person can be and how ridiculous the right answer is - we just laughed every time!!! If you're looking for a new group game, I would highly recommend Balderdash!!

Full of laughs, moist turkey, and not a cranberry in sight, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving for us!  I hope yours was wonderful, too!

The Getaway!

Last Christmas, The Hubs and I received some money as gifts. We decided we would try our best to save it and use it for a vacation. We will be married for 10 years in June, 2012 so 2.5 years seemed like enough time to save for something nice. But then we debated about whether we should go off by ourselves on a big celebration when we haven't even taken one as a family. As this conversation came and went a few times, we had our second child and suddenly some time away became imperative.

We've never taken a weekend away just the two of us. Partly because we have been on one income for 7.5 years of our 8 year marriage with Steve working on his grad degrees and then my staying home with the children.  But also, Steve and I have been very good about carving out time for each other in our daily lives. There's never been a big push to get away and finally have some time together... until Mr. Monkey. Thankfully each of our parents were willing to take a grandchild so we could get some time alone for a WHOLE WEEKEND!!!  Here are some highlights of our highly anticipated 72 hours.


We had some fun family time on our way down to SoCal which was sweet. =)

After we dropped off the kids, we headed to The Orange County Mining Company for a nice dinner. I had purchased a coupon from Restaurants.com, which was buy $50, get $25 off. We were ready for some prime rib and a view!

That's right! No Restaurant.com gift certificates!!  I will be blogging against them soon, but I won't spoil the splendor of my weekend with my angry raving.

The view from our table.  If it was later, we could have seen the Disneyland fireworks!

Our Westin Heavenly Bed that SOMEONE ELSE made [insert maniacle laughing here]!!!

Cable!  Sports!  The Hubs had to check the Fresno State game =)

Two minibar offerings that together would have cost the same as another night's stay. 

Strawberry Shortcake at the Cheesecake Factory

If you can break from your cheesecake order, I would highly recommend this! I think it's my fav. Definitely a dessert for more than one!

I am smiling for several reasons. 

1) My kids are elsewhere (I mean that with all love!)

2) I slept in until 10am, baby! And then, I laid in bed and watched the rain pour outside our window!

3) We're in line for Harry Potter - the movie I've been most excited for in 2010!

If you love HP, you know what this means...

HeyO! I loved every minute of it!  Except for maybe that weird part.  If you've seen it, you know what I mean.

My attempt at looking like Harry, with a straw for a wand. I can't really pull it off.  And that's probably good for both of us.  

Honestly, it was so good to have time together that was relaxed and uninterrupted.  We could finish sentences!  We could be quiet!  We could sleep in!  We could renew our friendship, which was getting lost in the business of life.  This weekend was the highlight of my year, as it made me thankful for every aspect of my life.  It was a true vacation which energized me to come back stronger. =)