Cinco de Mayo!

Posted on | Thursday, May 5, 2011 | No Comments

"You don't have to brush your teeth - just the ones you want to keep."

Posted on | Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | No Comments

Let me start of this blog post by saying that Kael in no way likes to have his head touched. This includes his face, ears, mouth, and neck. The boy just doesn't dig it. Usually we can bypass this -- brush his teeth while watching a movie, make it a game to wash his hair, heavily sedate him for his haircuts. Okay, maybe not that last one.

Last week, however, Kael and I went to the dentist. It was time for his annual check up. I won't lie, I was dreading it. The last time we went Kael bit one of the hygienists and screamed like he was being murdered. We barely got a glimpse of his teeth.

Duck, duck, goose

Posted on | Saturday, April 16, 2011 | No Comments

I woke up this morning feeling better than I have felt in a week. It was so nice to be able to breathe again! I'm still coughing a lot and feeling cruddy around the edges, but it's so much better than it has been. I see the light at the end of the tunnel! I actually had the energy to clean my house today! There's something about a clean house that is calming to the nerves. Besides, if I have energy to clean my house I have to be getting better.

To celebrate my body's turn back to good health Kael and I decided to go for a drive (and maybe pick up some fruit slushes and fries from Sonic, don't tell anyone). The weather was absolutely lovely today and it just seemed fitting to do more than be couped up in the house. During our little trip we ran into another family enjoying the warm weather.

A family/gaggle of geese! Papa Goose was standing in the road honking loudly at me, as though daring my behemoth of a car to move and harm any of his exceedingly adorable babies. As if I would ever! I mean look at them, who could ever harm something so cute?! Two of the hatchlings were struggling to get back on the grass (they were in the process of crossing the street as we approached and quickly changed plans). As we waited I pulled out my cell phone and tried to snap a few pictures of the cute fowl family.

Sometimes I really mentally kick myself for not bringing my camera with me everywhere I go. Oh, well.

Kael distinctly counted nine geese, although he kept calling them "duckies". He was mesmerized by the fluffy babies more than anything else and gasped in alarm when one of them tripped over their little feet and face-planted it in the dirt. As the last little gosling made its way onto the grass Papa Goose honked loudly again and followed his little family back to the grass. We sat and watched them for a few more moments before driving away.

Sometimes, it really is the tiny things that make bad weeks so much better.

Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!!

Posted on | Wednesday, April 13, 2011 | 2 Comments

I realized after posting my last blog post that this would be my 100th blog post. I’m honestly shocked I’ve reached the one hundred mark so quickly. I thought I would have time to plan for something splendid and wonderful, but I seemed to be a little bit pressed for time. That, and I'm still sicker than a dog and not up for doing anything flashy.

Fair thee well, Madam

Posted on | Saturday, April 2, 2011 | 2 Comments

I name my cars. Likewise I also tend to name my laptops, and occasionally my toasters. But my cars always are given a name.

My Honda's name is Madam. For almost a year she didn't have a name, but Madam suits her perfectly. She an older car, she doesn't always work like she should. She has a temper and isn't afraid to show it. She also has her moments of insecurity (losing your A/C will do that) and she's been put through the ringer more than I'd care to admit as her owner. She's reliable, if not a bit rough, and although her outward appearance maybe be a bit haggard I truly love her.

Madam has been with me since I reached adulthood. She is in essence the only car I have ever truly owned. She's seen me through cross country moves, marriage (and a divorce), being pregnant, having a baby, and going to college. I've cried into her steering wheel when times were hard. It was while I was driving in this car that I came to the realization that I was a Christian. So much has happened in my life with this car, I feel like she's family. Like some key element in my life that bookmarks my entering the real world and surviving it.

Sadly, Madam isn't what she was when I bought her almost a decade ago. And the cost to make her the car she deserves to be is more than what she is worth (at least monetarily speaking). With a big move looming this summer and very life-altering changes following, the question arose if Madam could survive such a journey.

Truthfully, she can't. And it's silly of me to think that she can. Which meant that it was time to let Madam go and to find a new car that can drive me into this new chapter of my life. So today we went and traded in Madam for a new(er) car and let my darling Honda go to greener pastures.

It's strange how emotional it is, getting rid of your first car. Or maybe it's just me. I feel so emotionally tied to my vehicle, it's a testament to everything I've done since I reached the age of 18. I've done a lot. Far more than I thought I would. And although friends and living spaces have changed, my car didn't. Buying a new one was almost a surreal experience. It's like severing who I was with who I am in the most tangible way possible.

One benefit to all of this though (aside from owning a car that has functioning A/C and a muffler) is that I truly love the car I have as of today. It doesn't have a name yet, but it fits me. It's a car I can take four kids to soccer practice in, a car for VBS and for house projects. It's fancier, comfier, and most certainly bigger. I have gotten mixed responses from others as to the kind of car they think it is -- I have heard "old lady car", "undercover cop car" and "ghetto car" in the past 10 hours -- but when I look at it I don't see that. I see my car.

Mine. And it is absolutely perfect for me.

The name 'Buelah' came to mind as I was driving it home and I could almost hear the engine say, "If you even try calling me that I will break down in Tupelo Mississippi, so help me Chrysler."

Well, Madam took almost a year to name. I think we have time.

Where am I going?

Posted on | Tuesday, March 1, 2011 | No Comments

Last week the campus I work at was having a transfer fair. A bunch of colleges and universities came and set up tables so they could explain to students why they were the best choice for one's academic career.

Which led me to asking, where am I going in the next few years?

I've considered social work periodically. But I don't feel the passion for that like I do for medicine. I fear I would be burned out from the constant and unceasing number of people who need help or worse, those who refuse to help themselves.

Perhaps I should just throw that all out the window and lable myself as a Life Coach. The world needs lots of those, right? Is there a degree for that?

Opening week

Posted on | Saturday, January 22, 2011 | No Comments

Three weeks out of the year the college I work for has an eruption of students. Fall is by far the worst week, but Spring is a close second. Students needing help locating classrooms, professors, schedules, and books. Working at the Information Desk means I will talk myself hoarse for several days as I try to calmly explain that I cannot give a student their professor's cell phone number, or that the Biological Science Lab really is on the second floor.