Another Update:

The lens just busted out of my old glasses and the frame is bent. It may or may not have been done by me....or Henry. Okay. I'm finally feeling justified in buying new ones!

Wednesday

Well, it's Wednesday and you know what that means. I really enjoy these days, but it's just the mental part of knowing I won't see RJ for a very....long....time.... So another post! Henry and I are upstairs playing away and having fun. I'm wearing some "new" glasses. Do you like? Yes or No? I wish I would have brought a couple more home to sample, but there's usually only a couple that fit my crooked ears and googly eyes well. I hate having to spend money on glasses/contacts and normally wouldn't buy new ones, but my others were in really bad shape and that was before Henry ripped off one of the sides. So they're kind of MIA and wearing my contacts from the second I wake up to the second I go to bed is rough on my sensitive eyes. Can you tell I've had a hard time justifying this??? I have. Boy, I have. RJ's been trying to get me to buy some for months and I'm just now giving in.

Okay, it was probably mean of me to put you in that type of suspense. Let's just say I'm not letting this exciting news out for another week and a half or so. And NO, the news is not completely about me.

Holy Canoli. We're thinking strongly about going to John Piper's conference at the end of Sept and I just read about it and who's going to be there. Forget about a "vacation" for us, this is SO what we are doing instead!!! Check it out here. Hopefully we'll be going with some couples from our church. It sounds amazing. And of course we'll squeeze in some fun time in my favorite city ever in my favorite state ever. I think it's one of those things, but the grass in Minnesota always seems so green. Though, I'm sure we'll forever stay in Iowa!

I found out the MOST exciting news last night!!! But.....it's a secret.....hehehhehehehe.

Happy Wednesday!

Insomnia?

Do you guys have trouble sleeping too?At different times in my life, I have some major insomnia issues. This morning, for example, a morning not too unlike many others these days, I've been up since 3:45 am. I'm not even exaggerating. I have no problem getting to sleep and I sleep well, but if I wake up anytime after 3, I'm usually up for the day. I hate it. It's not like I don't need as much sleep as some of you. I really do need sleep. I, for some reason can't help it! I've just learned to function well on a low level. I feel fine for the first half of the day and I get around to Henry's nap time and it's hard to resist a nap myself, but I know if I do I'll have a hard time sleeping again.
Yawn, yawn, yawn. No more about my stupid problems, unless you have som advice about how I could fix it!

We had a great weekend here with not much to do. We were on a mandatory no-eat-out kind of weekend so I made homemade pizza Saturday night. Super yummy. It's just a basic dough recipe I found on foodnetwork.com. It's best with fresh basil and fresh mozzarella, but I just used what I had and it was still good. We also played out by the amphitheatre behind the Art Center. Quite possibly one of the most beautiful areas in town. There was a wedding up by the rose garden. Beauty.

Henry is taking an early nap today, so I'm off to paint!

Friday Thoughts.....

I fear that if I had a tape recorder play back to me an entire day, that for every 20 "no", "stop" "you must obey", "stop NOW", "no", "no", "no" 's, there would only be a few "yes", "good job", "awesome" 's. I watched a bit of that Nanny 911 the other day and the mom was a complete nagger. I would hate for my children to grow up and remember my nagging characteristic. I don't want to lighten up on the discipline or redirecting by any means. He's well old enough to know his boundaries and knows very well what he is doing, but I'm going to try and squeeze in a lot more positive reinforcements so it evens out more. I am a natural nagger though, so it's going to be hard. Sometimes when I get together with other moms, I see how much more relaxed they are (in a good way) and it makes me feel like I'm too uptight about every little thing. I went to a friends the other day and her and I were sitting in her living room chatting and the kids were roaming around playing. A great thing! But the whole time I'm thinking in the back of my head that Henry is probably chewing on a knife somewhere, so I just can't relax unless I can constantly see him. You see, I need to lighten up a bit!

I just went to a garage sale close by. Didn't buy a thing. There were gobs of toys. Lots and lots of toys. Junky toys. Just like the junky toys we already have at home. On the way home, I had a thought to seriously consider getting rid of a majority of our toys and take seriously my "pledge" to buy handmade toys or make our own. I know this can be more expensive, but so much more exciting. It's just another idea that I might not do, but I'm seriously thinking about it. Etsy is a GREAT place to buy things and there's a ton of craft shows around too. And, hello?!? We can all be creative and make things, right?

That's all for today. Henry was up once overnight crying and woke up early so he's "resting" in his crib right now.

Could I USE anymore " " today?

Sticks!!

I'm way pumped right now because we just came up with the most genius idea. After having success selling a small Sticks piece on Craigslist, we decided to sell the big activity board I bought when I worked there. I have it in Henry's room above his changing station and nearly every day he grabs for it and I fear it's going to fall on him constantly. This thing weighs a ton, and I'm a little tired of it. SO we thought if we could sell it for some good money we could go on a fun vacation this fall! We were already planning on doing something in Minnesota so we could leave Henry at RJ's parents house, but this way we could really have fun. Maybe Minneapolis AND Duluth!!! I guess I should see if it actually sells before I get too excited, huh. Yeah, wish me luck.

I'm starting it at $950. Don't you all want to buy it?? :) The prices for Sticks pieces is pretty incredible, but once you realize how many people work on each piece and how many hours are spent on each piece, it makes sense. The crazy thing is, is that $950 would still be a pretty good deal!

This week went incredibly fast and I really excited for this weekend. Nothing really planned, but that will be nice. Have a great Friday!