Not Me Monday

Welcome to another fantastic addition of Not Me Monday, the day where we all get to be brutally honest about all we did not do during the week. I, for one, feel so much better getting this stuff off my chest, well, if I actually did do this stuff, which I did not. :) Enjoy!

I did not notice that my sweet one year old son had stolen his big sisters pb&j sandwich and wound up smearing grape jelly all over the couch and his body. I absolutely did not run for the camera instead of a towel. Of course the batteries were not completely dead. I then did not try to take batteries out of toys in order to get a picture of this lovely mess. With all of the work I put into this picture, it absolutely did not get deleted off of my camera. I did not wind up with grape jelly on my other couch, toys, books, and carpet because I was so adamant about getting a picture. I am not that obsessed with capturing EVERYTHING in photographs. One picture of this debacle is not more important than no stains on my brand new couches. Nope, not me!

I did not walk into my living room after doing dishes to find my son playing with toilet paper. I absolutely did not encourage my son to continue unrolling the toilet paper so that I could get a picture, see above "not me". We did not waist a brand new roll of toilet paper in the name of fun. I completely did not enjoy my time with my son and realize that toilet paper can be enjoyed in a whole new way. Who knew?!? That would be weird and embarrassing.

My sweet son, who will be 2 in March, absolutely did not lean to the side in his booster seat at the table and "let one rip" during dinner time. My husband would never have taught him this disgusting trick. His Mommy, Sister, and Daddy so did not laugh our heads off in shock at what he just did. Said sweet son did not let out a big sigh of relief after all the laughing was over to only induce more laughing. My sweet son did not think he was the funniest thing ever. We do not encourage this kind of behavior at the dinner table and it is only met with quick discipline and never laughing. I do not often feel as though I live in a zoo. And even if all of this did happen, I certainly wouldn't let anyone know about it. Sheeeeeshh!

During dinner Wednesday night, my beautiful family and I never sat at the table with the laptop on so we could watch live video of a police chase taking place in Los Angeles. Any form of technical entertainment is not allowed at dinner time because we love talking to each other and completely enjoy one another's company. We would also never subject our precious children to something that may have a possible violent outcome. Our children live in a complete bubble knowing nothing of evil. If we had watched this live video, we would not have all been standing around the computer as the criminal jumped out of the U-Haul. We would not have been yelling at the computer for the police to catch him/her. And since we were obviously not watching this video, we would not have stood there and debated if this was a man or a woman. My sweet beautiful daughter would not have said "Of course it's a woman because she has big boobies like mommy". I did not need to put that in quotes because you only put things in quotes that were actually said. I would not have joined in the laughter along with my family while my sweet daughter tried to convince me that I do have big boobies. Goodness, I love that child.

Finally, all that screaming you heard last night, well that was definitely not me losing my voice while screaming for the Steelers to win the Superbowl. I do not care about football nor do I scream at T.V.'s. I am a dignified quiet, traditional woman who spent her evening doing dishes, laundry, and taking care of my family's every need. Ha Ha! Yeah Right! I was probably the loudest one on the block. I think I have a cramp in my wrist from swinging the terrible towel so much. GOOOO STEELERS!!!! (Or as they say in Pittsburgh, Go Stillers!). I do not speak Pittsburgese (but I'm learning) :)

Leave me a comment and come back for my next blog on all the fun crafts I have been doing. So fun!!

Not Me Monday

Golly Gee I love Monday's. It has become a day where I can be honest about all the things I did not do the previous week and know that this week will only bring more great stuff to write about. Join me in celebrating all you did not do. I did not take over 400 pictures of the inauguration on Tuesday in order to practice photo techniques only to throw most of them out because the inauguration made me cry (not tears of joy). I did not reheat my cup of coffee 4x by 3 in the afternoon and still not get to drink it. I was not completely sad about the waste of coffee and creamer. I do not care that much about coffee. It has not become my breakfast and lunch for the last 2 months. I. am... not.. addicted!!! I absolutely did not slam my finger in the car door and only realize it when I started walking away from the car. I did not have to unlock the door to get it out. It did not come out at a sideways nearly 90* angle at my middle knuckle. It is so not taking me nearly an hour to type my weekly not me's because it is my right index finger that is broken. I so totally did not want to slap the nurse at urgent care who rolled her eyes at me when I asked her to be a little more gentle while cleaning off the blood from my finger. I did not have a horrible experience and will absolutely not tell everyone I know not to go to this urgent care. I am completely not bitter. :) I am not asking that people start following my blog and send me comments because I am completely above groveling and begging. I do not care if people follow my blog because I have zero insecurities. Ha Ha!!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

What a crazy week this has been. There are so many things that did not happen and I am excited about getting these things down, especially since these things are a complete figment of my imagination.

During this beautiful week, I definitely did not have to deal with a sweet little boy with pink eye in both eyes who also gave it to his darling sister and loving mommy. We do not teach our children to share in this house therefore there was no reason we would have a household full of double pink eye. Oh What Fun!

I did not tell my amazing 5 year old the horrible words of "Shut Up" because she had been talking and whining non-stop for over an hour. I would never say those awful words to my child, or anyone to that matter. And of course I did not cry uncontrollably after apologizing to her over and over. I did not feel like the worst mother in the universe because I know that I am a perfect mother. YEAH RIGHT!!

Finally, I did not and would never allow myself to get so excited when the Steelers played in the AFC championship last night. I absolutely did not allow my 5 year old to watch the game with us until nearly 11 p.m. We did not jump up and down on the bed when Troy Polomalu caught the game changing interception and run in for a touchdown. I am not that obsessed with sports and could really care less about the outcome of some stupid football game. Ha Ha! That's a funny one. I crack myself up. Not really!

I wonder what things I will not do next week. Hhhmmmm!

White as snow

"Come now, lets settle this,"

says the Lord.

"Though your sins are like scarlet,

I will make them as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson,

I will make them as white as wool."

Isaiah 1:18

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. I was reminded of God's beauty, grace, and promises. I went outside and walked around by myself and just breathed in the beauty of God. Sometimes I just need to be alone with God, clear my mind, and listen. These are a few of the sights I captured. I am always blown away by his attention to details.

On my walk back I started noticing the mucky mess that was becoming of some of the snow piles. These were places that cars had driven over or where days worth of snow had been piled up by dirty snow shovels. I started to think of the Bible verse in Isaiah that I posted above. I am so grateful that my sins are "white as snow". You see, I know that underneath me is dirty, ugly, and unworthy. I don't deserve the beautiful grace that God has given. I think about how Jesus took ALL of my sin upon himself, all the sins of the world, past, present, and future, and sacrificed His precious life for us. No one deserves that free gift, that immeasurable and priceless gift. But God loves us so much that he gave us this opportunity to accept Jesus as our personal Savior and have everlasting life with Him. I am so thankful for that. I praise Him because he has covered that dirt, grime, and ugliness, washed it away and covered me so that I am white as snow.

"But to all who believed him and accepted him,

he gave the right to become children of God.

They are reborn - not with a physical birth

resulting from human passion or plan,

but a birth that comes from God."

John 1:12-13

"Thank you Father for my new life. Thank you that you have washed me white as snow and that all the yuckiness and ugliness beneath me is washed away. Thank you that your Grace falls down on me so that I may be pure. Thank you dear Heavenly Father for the beauty outside my window, under my feet, and all around me in my life. You are so precious Father and I praise your name."

Amen

Observations of a 5 year old

Matthew is sick. Part of him being sick involves a very red and swollen eye. Tonight at dinner, Haley mentioned that Matthew looks like Prince Zuko from the show "Avatar The Last Airbender" It is one of her favorite shows.
We thought it was a pretty good observation. What do you think?

Rebecca....This one's for you!

Rebecca, thanks for your comment. This is a post just for you!
For everyone else, I cut my hair, check out this post. This is the after picture, after a day of cleaning house, taking care of a sick baby, and a sick husband.

Brandy :)

My new song....

It would come as no surprise to those that know me that music does it for me. I NEED music like I need water to drink and air to breathe. It is how I communicate, how I express myself, how I get out of my yucky moods, and even how I clean my house. I need my music and I need it loud. Luckily, I have a decent voice so it's not like I destroy anyones hearing capabilities when I sing. However, I much prefer to sing without anyone around so I can blast it up loud, raise my hands, and praise my Jesus.
I am not big on New Years Resolutions. I am sure it has something to do with the past and seeming to "lie" to myself with the various resolutions I have made. The last several years I pick things that I am going to work harder on. Maybe that's the same thing as a resolution, I just feel less pressure. My goals usually revolve around improving myself, my relationship with Christ, my husband, children, and myself. I picked a word in an earlier post that I want to focus on this year. INTENTIONAL. Living intentionally in 2009 and beyond is important to me.
I was looking around on GodTube.com and found a song that I have heard many times by Point Of Grace called How You Live. I knew most of the words and have sung the song in my car and in my kitchen but listening to it today, it all clicked. The words made so much sense to me and put into words exactly what I am feeling lately about my life, my goals, and the direction I want to go in (if it is God's will). I have decided to adopt this song as one of my "focus songs" for this year to help guide me in my goals. I hope this song speaks to you as much as it did to me.
What songs speak to you in your life right now? I would love to hear. Send me a comment and let me know.

Rough Day

Today was a pretty pathetic day. It was rough, to say the least. Have you ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed? Today, I think I woke up on the wrong side of the planet. It didn't help that I only got about 2 hours of very restless sleep after a tough late night meeting the night before. To top it off, the kids were loud, cranky, needy, and overall obnoxious. I don't normally say that about my family. They are usually extremely well behaved, sweet, and happy but, as I mentioned before, wrong side of the planet. The kids that live on the side of the planet I woke up on today were not so fun.
We headed over to Goodwill after taking the husband to work. I thought we could get them a small something new to play with and I could get out of my funk with a new craft project to work on, not that I don't have a plethora of projects already at home demanding my attention. But, I figured a little retail therapy couldn't hurt. Matthew cried the entire time at the top of his lungs, kept dropping the little car we found for him, and was overly whiny. Haley kept yelling, her version of talking, and trying to show me different things. Really, I just wanted to be left alone to wallow in my feelings so I could get over them. I didn't want the responsibilities of being a mom, wife, house cleaner, woman, etc. today. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I think I even tried to sell my kids to the cashier. No takers. (Partly kidding!)
We went home so that I could feed them lunch, get Haley on the bus to school (Hallelujah!) and put Matthew down for a much needed early nap (Double Hallelujah!) I needed some "me" time to collect my thoughts, read scripture, and pray these feelings away. The more the day progressed the tougher it got.
Craft projects weren't going right, I kept crying while praying, and I couldn't memorize my Bible verse for the week (a new goal of mine I will tell you about later.) I had five phone calls one right after the other, including one from my husbands doctors office that let me know on top of the pneumonia he can't seem to get over, he also has mono. I think when she told me that, I just started laughing. Do you ever do that? She surely didn't understand me.
Tonight was not much better. I have secluded myself in the kitchen while my family is enjoying each other in the living room and happily watching t.v. I would like to go to bed and wake up when I am back on my side of Earth. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
Do you ever have days like this? What works for you to help you get out of it and back to who and what you know you are? I would love some ideas.

Word for the Year!!!

UPDATE: - After staying up after three debating my word and praying about what God want's me to focus on this year, I feel that God laid a specific word on my heart. I have decided to change it to


INTENTIONAL
done with intention or on purpose; intended


I think to many times we just let life go by, let things happen and not use those situations in life to learn from. I want my life to be for a purpose and to live the way God intends for me to live.

I want to be intentional with my children while parenting, be intentional in my time and conversation with my husband, intentional with relationships with family and friends, and most important, intentional with my walk with My Lord and Saviour - Jesus Christ.

I think by being intentional then all of the other words that I have chosen will come naturally, including the word enjoy for being intentional in my life with those around me and the situations God presents me with, I will then find joy, peace, love, patience, and everything thing else I desire.


Laurie over at Tip Junkie is doing the word of the year. This is a word you pick to meditate and focus on over the year. So, I need to pick a single word to represent my goals for the year. This was pretty hard. I came up with several words that would really work for me.


FAITH
PEACE
PRAY
APPRECIATE
LOVE
BLESSED
ENOUGH


But I finally decided on one word that encompasses so many things that are important to me right now.

My word is......

to experience with joy; take pleasure in

I want to take time to enjoy all the blessing my Heavenly Father has given me.
My Jesus
My children
My husband
My friends
My home
I want to take a moment to enjoy my coffee in the morning while reading my Bible and falling in love with God more every day.
I want to get away from my daily chores and get on the floor and enjoy my children who are growing up so very fast.
I want to make it a priority to steal my husband away from the day and enjoy spending time with the man I call my best friend.
I want to Enjoy my life because I don't know how long I will be here or how long the things I enjoy will be here.

I hope you enjoy your year as well.

Brandy :)

Not Me Monday...

I will be participating in this idea on Monday's. I got it off of one of my favorite blogs. Click here. I would love for you to join in. Either add this to your blog or comment me with what you definitely did not do.

This week I did not go to Wal Mart in my pajamas and flip flops in the snow to buy craft paint and bananas. Of course I didn't because that would be completely embarrassing.

I did not get extremely frustrated that my car remote (the little thing you attach to your keychain to lock and unlock your car door) would not unlock the front door to my house. I mean, come on, who does that. Of course that remote only works for the car!!! I didn't get frustrated about that after nearly a minute of trying. Nooooo, not me!!!

And I most certainly did not feel a little excited to take my husband to the E.R. with pneumonia because it meant I could have some time away from my darling children and have undivided attention from my husband. That would be cruel and unusual punishment for my husband. And even if I did, I would not tell you about it. :)

Look, no kids!

And I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT allow my five year old to cut 7 inches off my hair while my lovely husband stood by taking pictures and yelling "Oh Good God"! (He tells me this was an audible prayer that my hair would not be as bad as it looked when she was cutting.) Of course I did not do this because that would be completely insane. No one in their right mind would do that, especially a woman!

Hope you enjoyed some of the things I DID NOT DO this week. I would love to hear yours.

The Secret is in the Sauce: Win a Keurig Platinum Brewing System and $50 worth of K-cups

The Secret is in the Sauce: Win a Keurig Platinum Brewing System and $50 worth of K-cups

Win a Keurig Coffee Maker...

Win a Keurig Platinum Brewing System and $50 worth of K-cups. Go here.

Do you love coffee? Or tea? How about Chai? Maybe some hot chocolate? What if there was a brewer that could brew all of the above. ONE brewer that did it all one glorious cup at a time.

That's what a Keurig does!

"The Platinum offers the full spectrum of features including Auto On/Off, Digital Clock, Adjustable Temperature Control and the "Set Your Favorite Cup Size" option. The largest available 60 oz. removable water reservoir holds up to ten cups before refilling and the removable drip tray allows for easy cleaning and the use of travel mugs. The sleek, award-winning design is a unique footprint among Keurig's line of home brewing systems and includes both a blue lit water reservoir and blue lit LCD display."

And Keurig is nice enough to be giving away one of their top of the line Platinum Brewing Systems on SITS (a retail value of $199.99)!!!

So, if you're not a coffee drinker then you can buy tea or hot chocolate. All of the K-cups are big name brands too like Celestial Seasonings, Ghirardelli, and Caribou Coffee.

First, go to Keurig's website and look around. Learn a little more about the benefits of all of their great brewing systems and their K-cups. Come back here and leave us a comment to enter. Post about this contest on your blog and you'll earn five extra entries!!

http://thesecretisinthesauce.blogspot.com/2008/12/win-keurig-platinum-brewing-system-and.html