7 Quick Takes Friday: Aftermath of the Early Bird Drug

--- 1 ---

Somehow, it's always Friday when I just happen to wake up early.  I wonder, at the end of my blogging "career" just how many of these Quick Takes posts will end up mentioning how I'm usually a night owl and like to sleep in, but just happened to wake up early and stay up this morning.  And how many will end up mentioning that the neighbors are having a garage sale.  But yeah, they do host an inordinate number of garage sales each summer. 

--- 2 ---

Speaking of being up early on a Friday and the neighbors having a garage sale, I JUST bestowed the 25-cent Thomas the Tank Engine toy to my delighted little boy this past Tuesday.  Guess it only took 2 months...  And he was only momentarily delighted because it was his consolation prize - literally - as he was undergoing some skin testing to rule out a few additional food allergies.  At least they didn't have to do a blood test.  He's been enjoying it fully since then, so I have no regrets.

--- 3 ---

Did I mention I got up early today??  I'm always so excessively energetic when I do that.  I got a whole lot of gardening done this morning between 6 and 8 am, it's not even funny.  Too bad I didn't have an early bird morning two weeks ago when I came into possession of the plants that finally got put into the ground this morning.

--- 4 ---

After the productivity explosion came breakfast, and after breakfast, the sloth.  Oh yes, I was busy, but I wasn't getting anything important or Idunno, beneficial to my family accomplished.  I was fighting with Picasa trying to get my blog header in order.  Then, when that was finally a success, I had to revamp my color schemes because my label links disappeared into the new background.  But I do like it - feels a little less rough around the edges. 

--- 5 ---

I told myself I was going to write these Quick Takes as little breaks during my weekly checkbook balancing.  Hmm, maybe I should actually start that...

--- 6 ---

Only 2 Takes left - better get a Silver Lining in here somewhere.  Ah yes, the sale of Mom and Dad's cabin, now finally final.  The cabin on a river with shipping freighters going by, with the gazebo and a pontoon boat moored just offshore - the one place I've stayed that felt peaceful - like a real vacation, regardless of what else was going on.  (Not sure how much the distinct lack of cell phone reception plays into this - perhaps quite a bit.)  It's no longer in their possession, and thus no longer accessible to us for beautiful, quiet, lazy summer weekends away.  But here's the Silver Lining - no more worry over mortgages or maintenance or troublesome neighbors for my parents, and many many happy memories for our family, including first boat rides, babies in life preservers, bonfires, and a gleefully infamous mud-fight along the shore during our courtship (talk about twitterpation!)

--- 7 ---

Time for random adorableness, courtesy of our last (final, never happening again, waah!) trip to the cabin.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Trouble labeling... and concentrating. {p.h.f.r}

Had a heck of a time deciding which blurb to put under each heading.  Can't concentrate.  Must be the HEAT!

{pretty}

This is what I'm planning on making for Jelly Bean's 1-year old pictures.  Already got my fabric picked out - it's a beautiful watercolor-y rose print in magentas, pinks and yellows.  Still trying to decide on the contrasting fabric - pink, yellow or maybe both, and pink and yellow tulle.  So girly!  (Hopefully I won't drive her to refuse skirts and dresses later on - I have gone pretty crazy with all things girly in her life!)

If you just have to make one of your own (can't blame ya there!) the directions can be found at

Fleece Fun:  Little Fun and Frilly Jelly Roll Skirt

{happy}

Now how is that anything but delightful???
(Just ignore the bread machine running in the background.)

{funny}

 "Mama and Daddy kissing?"
My son's voice just came out of the blue.  He was pointing at our wedding portrait on the wall.
"In the church?" 
 "Yes, honey."

Where does he get this stuff?  Recently, my husband reported that he took the two rubber ducks from this years Easter baskets (his is green, Jelly Bean's is pink) and squished their bills together and exclaimed "Mama and Daddy!" 
(I just wanted to know if I was the pink one or the green one.)

Currently he's howling in a theft-induced time-out:  "Brown sugar please!!! Brown sugar Please!!!  Mama, BROWN SUGAR!  BROWN SUGAR!!!  ::pause::  How 'bout a cookie?"  What do you say to that?  The answer's obviously going to be "No" - especially when helping himself to brown sugar is what landed him in time out.  But it's really hard not to laugh!

{real}

Challenge of the day:  What to do with a head of cabbage.  AKA Why does my husband hate coleslaw?

Or maybe it was trying to figure out a good layout for our family room with 3 recliners, an armchair and a decrepit loveseat.  Kind of an awkward assortment.  Especially when the recliners are blue-multi velour-y fabric, brown leather and black leather.  The armchair and loveseat are green velour-y fabric - and (gasp) they MATCH!
Plenty of seating options, but none very desirable for post-kids'-bedtime/movie-watching snuggle time.  We're looking into a futon-y option to solve this, and the guests-sleeping-over problem.  Futon = color customizable!  (What technicolor option can we go with next - something orange, or purple perhaps?)

Something else very much on my mind lately:  Silver Lining posts.  I'm tempted to want to jump right into making it a link-up party, but maybe I should explore this on my own a while.  Also having trouble deciding if this should be a weekly thing, and if so, what day?  Silver Lining Saturday (or Sunday) has a nice ring to it, but what are the odds I'm going to be consistent with a weekend post?  Any thoughts or suggestions?  I'd love to hear them!

Now my easily distracted mind will go back to pondering cabbage options.

Seeing the Silver Lining {p.h.f.r.}

Well, once again it's Thursday.  In fact it's been 3 (THREE!) Thursdays since I last managed to pull off one of these {p.h.f.r.}s, or really a post of any kind at all.  Been doing a lot of thinking, and a lot of resting (or at least a lot of thinking about resting - or maybe just wistfully considering what feeling rested feels like) since my last on-location hospital post.  Life has been busy!

{pretty}

My adorable Jelly Bean - already 9 months old and already crawling for the last two months!  I know I'm biased, but I do believe her to be the most beautiful baby girl in the world!  I'm excited to start including pictures of my beloved babes.  Hubs and I talked it over, and while we won't be disclosing locations or real names, we decided it would be ok to showcase their beautiful smiles.  And pictures make it a lot easier to convey their sometimes hilarious antics!

{happy}

My little guy (better nickname hopefully coming soon!) recently decided he actually likes to hug his little sister.  Oddly enough, it seems this revelation came at a Greek restaurant near my parents' cabin that I DID in fact get to visit one last time, despite all the recent goings on.  A family sat near us at a large table with three young children, one of which was a little baby girl with a big bright flower headband.  Jelly Bean spent the entire meal backwards in her high chair (checking those people out!) and when the baby was pulled out of her carseat for a bottle, my son instantly asked "I hold her?  Pease?!?"  Well, that was certainly out of the question - the family was very friendly, even when my son barged in and stole their toddler boy's chair as we were leaving, but they weren't nuts!  We got back to the cabin and before bed that night, he asked to hold Jelly Bean!  So we had him sit on the floor, and he hugged and held her and rocked her back and forth.  It was delightfully shocking!  We took pictures, though, unfortunately, they're all on my parents' camera.  Now that we're back at home, he has asked again:  "I hold her?  Take pictures?"  Who can refuse that?!

Regarding the photos above - everyone is having a good time, even though Jelly Bean appears to be punching him in the lower left photo and he appears to be choking her in the bottom center.  Guess that's what happens when you're trying to get good shots while he's rocking her wildly back and forth!

{funny}

The Little Dude will sometimes throw a complete fit over being offered a small bowl of Cheerios when he wants something sweeter ("Gam cacker pease??") but will then turn around and unabashedly swipe Jelly Bean's off her tray right in front of me.  I guess we'll just call that "sharing".  For now.

Also, this morning I sneezed several times.  It wasn't the first time he's said "Bless 'ou, Mama!"  (Be still, my heart!)  But it was the first time I asked him to go find me a Kleenex.  He promptly agreed to go find me one.  I held my breath, not expecting a miracle.  Several moments later, he came back "Mama, I have Kleenex?"  So... you're asking me to find you a Kleenex so you can bring me a Kleenex?  Well played.

And right now he's begging me for cake.  And cookies.  "Mama, what 'bout cake?  What 'bout cookies?"  Not that he gets these things often.  Must be dinner time.
 

{real}

Life being the way it has for the last several weeks, I have to admit that, at times, I've been feeling what I'd have to label "discontent".  And I read something recently (probably in my most recent MomSense MOPS magazine) about contentment - that it has to be cultivated.  And that it essentially means being at ease and satisfied with your situation, without becoming complacent about things that could or should improve.

I got to thinking that patience is a lot like contentment.  Patience is NOT forcing yourself to do things slower, thinking that it might rub off on your sense of urgency.  Rather, it's knowing how long something is going to take and accepting it.  It's knowing your children are being a little difficult and accepting it to the point that you don't lose your cool, without sacrificing their long-term discipline and good behavior.  It's accepting a moment of misunderstanding long enough to get the story straight before blowing up at your spouse.  All things I can work on.

Contentment and Patience also seem to have a connection to Gratitude.  And with a lot of the things that have happened in our family recently, it's sometimes difficult to think of them and be grateful.  My husband's grandmother passed away recently.  My Father-in-law was just diagnosed with lymphoma, shortly after I had been hospitalized overnight for the first time in my life that didn't involve childbirth.  It's hard to find the silver lining.  But - the silver lining is really still there!  For instance, my hospitalization showed me just how much I love being with my children, even when it's so easy to get impatient with them.  My Father-in-law's diagnosis is horrible, but we'll be visiting them a lot more often now.  I'm not saying the silver lining is enough to make you think, "I'm so glad that happened!  Let's do that again!"  No way!  But God does manage to include a little goodness in any situation if you just search for it.  It doesn't take away the sting, but it does soften the blow. 

So in the spirit of cultivating a little more Contentment, Patience and Gratitude in my life, I hereby plan to do a series of Silver Lining posts.

Reflect the Brightness!  Even if there's a bit of cloud blocking your sun.