Spring

No kids at the grocery store

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I went to the store today withOUT the ratbabies. 

It was quiet. It was peaceful. I could read my grocery-list in its entirety and not have to peel a small person off a merchandising display.

It was lovely.

Except
Nobody told me ANY jokes.
Nobody fought over who got to hold my hand.

There was absolutely no one at the store that got so excited about anything (and everything) they literally jumped up and down and screamed with joy.

Nothing embarrassing (but funny) happened. At all.

No one danced by the frozen foods.

There were no fights over the shopping cart.

I got zero hugs, and zero kisses.

It was normal, and boring….and a little bit lonely.
Good golly …. I think I actually missed grocery shopping with my lovely children, and all of their talkative, distracting, messy glory. 

This doesn’t mean taking them to the store in the future won’t eat at what little sanity I have left. 

But part of me will sure be happy they are there. I’m certainly going to work on appreciating what I’ve got.

Have a great week friends. 

Convictions from kid-fights.

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Now, when I don’t like something I typically grouch about it. So this isn’t a sermon. I ain’t no preacher yo.
Last night my girls were griping and fighting about doing the easy tasks I asked them to do. (think, set out paper napkins and pick up trash they just threw on the floor)
Tired, with a headache and having enough of the squealing, fighting, and whining I bellowed (you know, like the graceful southern belle I am) at them 
“STOP IT RIGHT NOW AND GO TO YOUR ROOMS AND-DON’T-COME-OUT-UNTIL-YOU-CAN-BE-NICE”
Left to finish shredding the crockpot pork for BBQ sandwiches in relative quiet – Bible verses I memorized (which I only memorized because I was bribed with candy) in a church program popped into my head…made more relevant since these days I am both the one asking people to do things, AND taking “orders” at work.
This one from Phillipians 2, verses 14-16 (NIV version)
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.
Grumbling and arguing. Just like my ratbabies I tend towards that. Oops. Might ought to try to do better there.
And this one from Colossians 3:23 (Again, NIV)
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Well. Lunch break is about over. I need to adjust my attitude and get back to work. Pray for me please. It’s going to be a hard thing to work on.
HAPPY WEEKEND FRIENDS!!

Fertilizer

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Seeing the farmers (in our case, hubby and father-in-law) out spreading fertilizer brings me mixed emotions. On one hand…YAY, it’s SPRING. On the other hand it is the start of their long spring hours, that leads to long summer hours, which leads to long fall harvest hours. Basically, I’ll see Lynn while he is working and after dark until fall.

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We amused ourselves driving around on the 4-wheeler and waving at those still working

Still, spring brings hope. And I am an independent type of woman and I think it would bother me to not be able to do my own thing like I’ve grown very accustomed to.

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Plus dusk is my favorite time of day, so I don’t mind at all getting outside, in spring, at dusk. I don’t think the girls hate it either.

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It's like taking a selfie with a couple wild animals

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Peaceful dusk.

It’s Friday. Do you know where your kids are?

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Since I’m in the running for mom-of-the-year (sarcasm) I’ve kicked my kids outside while I brown some of our farm raised hamburger (that sounds fancy and might win me back some mom-points) for tacos tonight.

These pitiful neglected children have tons of outdoor toys, a soccer ball I asked Caroline to practice with tonight, a playset/swing and various and sundry other things. Know what they are doing?

Burying Carolines bike in the garden by hand.. and occasionally using their
shoes as shovels.

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Also the are climbing (and breaking limbs off) the cherry tree.

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Don’t fret. The yard is fenced and the gates are locked…so it will take them at least 45 seconds to escape.

Hopefully I can look up from dinner-making at least once a minute or so and they won’t get too far.
Kidding. It actually takes them about 2 minutes to scale the fence…so we are good.

Whatever. I’ve got dinner to cook and it’s nice and quiet in here. So frolic away wild girls, tonight you get baths with SOAP.

Spring!

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I planted flower bulbs back when I had time. (aka – pre-kid) Several were killed by errant weed-killer (Ah-HEM husband). But quite a few were not.

Daffodils are the first to bloom in our yard every year, and to me they signal spring is approaching which means HOPE that the nasty grey wetness of winter is almost over.

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