Monica_Writes on Xanga

Sunday, 08 November 2009

Currently
Glee: The Music, Volume 1
By Glee Cast
see related
SAD MOVIES

Tonight Corey took the girls out to their annual West-Perry Girl Scout's Father-Daughter Bowling event. Can you hear the quiet....it's delightful!
Anyway, earlier we were talking about what Mommy would be doing while they were all out.
And Lonna said: "Oh, you'll probably just watch a sad movie."
I replied: "Why a SAD movie?"
Lonna: "Because that's what mom's do when they are alone, they watch sad movies!"
I don't know where she go that idea from, but I found it amusing!

Friday, 06 November 2009

Currently
Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman : Member
By Beth Moore
see related
PATIENT'S NAME: COREY

Many woman say that men make for horrible patients. Many of these same women say this because the find their men to be whiney and cranky and needy as patients. My husband, Corey, is opposite, in that he doesn't let me nurture him enough for my liking! I am happy to help and care for him, but I think the Registered Nurse in him just prevents him from totally giving in to that. He's always "fine".
You see, I just brought Corey home from his Vasectomy. I know this permanent form of birth control might be frowned upon by some Christians. But it's something we knew we wanted to do clear back when we were pregnant with our second child. Six years later, it's finally been accomplished. I keep thinking that I should have a sense of saddness that this step means we have officially decided that two children is our limit. But ultimately, I just don't. I don't have a longing for more babies. I've felt that my family was made complete six years ago when Eden arrived. This procedure just allows us some breathing room and freedom in that decision and heart's desire, (That is presuming that they got the job done right...we won't know for about 6-8 weeks at the follow-up testing.)
I'm at peace. And so is Corey...although, he is a bit uncomfortable physically. You can pray for his recovery, please. But, I can hear him snoring in the other room as I type. I'm glad that he is resting up. Maybe later he will let me take care of him....maybe.

Thursday, 05 November 2009

Currently
The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children, No. 1)
By Gertrude Chandler Warner
see related
I ALMOST LEFT XANGA

I almost did it...I almost left Xanga. My heart just has not been into blogging. I thought maybe I just needed a new venue. Maybe I just needed a new place to blog and that would renew my old zeal for it. I even went as far as setting up a Blogger account. Well, for starters, I hated the lack of freedom and creativity in the layouts...Xanga calls them Themes...Blogger calls them Templates. Well, Blogger's Templates are boring and few and far between, and very hard to manipulate unless you know how to write codes. That alone left me feeling frustrated. I already deleted the account!
And then there is all the history I would leave behind here on Xanga. I really have documented SO many major events in my family's life over the past few years. Was I really ready to leave that all behind? In the end....NO. This is where I started my journal, and this is where I shall stay.
I realize that everything in life rolls in cycles. I've just been in a blogging rut. I'm sure the same thing happens with those that journal in paper notebooks. And like any good habit that we let fall by the wayside, we must choose to put it back into practice. So that's what I am doing. Choosing to blog first and "status update" second. I started by refreshing my theme...made a new banner for the top of my page! I'm already happier about my Xanga. And I'll look forward to decorating my Xanga for Christmas...something I can't do over at Facebook!
I almost left Xanga...but in the end I just couldn't.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

HALLOWEEN 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

From
Lonna the Native American &
Eden the 50's Poodle Skirt Girl

Friday, 16 October 2009

SCHOOL DAYS

Lonna and Eden's school portraits came in this week. The scanner is not hooked up, and I'm not 100% sure how to do it, so I just took pictures of their pictures (hence the big old flash spot on them!).
Lonna ~ 3rd Grade

Eden ~ Kindergarten

I always enjoy looking back that the old photos in the frames when I put the new ones in...can't get over how very grown up they look this year!
And speaking of growing up...tonight I am going to my High School 15-Year Reunion! Wooohoo...Class of '94! I'll have to bring back some senior pictures to share from my parents house....you'd probably get a huge kick out of that! Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing some old school pals tonight! There are so many of them, that I've known since these young years my girls are at...since kindergarten, since 3rd grade. How wild!

Friday, 09 October 2009

EDEN ON DATING

THE SCENE: After school snack and sharing about the school day
EDEN: Alex was telling everyone at recess that I was his girlfriend! So, I went up to him and said "I've got bad news for you buddy, I'm breaking up with you!"
ME: (trying not to laugh) I hope you didn't say that in a way that hurt his feelings.
EDEN: (with much attitude) Well, Mom, we are NOT at a good age to date!
I guess I should be thankful she knows that!

Thursday, 08 October 2009

OBSERVATIONS WHILE SHOPPING

I'm just home from some shopping and I have all these random thoughts and commentaries in my head. I'm just going put them out there....and hopefully I will not offend anyone in the process.
First stop was JoAnn's to get fabric for the girls halloween costumes. I spent more than I anticipated, even with fabrics on sale and using two coupons. So after, I stopped in the nearest Halloween store that had taken residence in the old Circuit City. I wanted to see, if I had bought their costumes, if I would have spent less. Well, maybe by $10, I would have. But after looking at the costumes, I decided that the extra $10 I just had spent at JoAnn's was money well spent. YUCK! Most of the costumes look so chinsey for the price I would have had to pay for them. And WAY too many of the costumes geared at Lonna's age group (pre-teen) were down right trashy...why can't a girl just dress like a witch....why does she have to be this sexy witch with a short skirt and fish-net stockings?
Next stop, I went to Target. For the record, costume prices were pretty much the same there.
After that I stopped in Burrlington Coat Factory. Lonna needs a new coat and I wanted to scope the selection out. I was disappointed. But that's not even what I wanted to talk about at Burrlington. I decided to peruse the shoe section. My word!  Burrlington carries some serious "hooker heel" shoes! Maybe I am just getting old, and Lord knows I am not of the cutting edge of fashion, but I wonder, why do women buy these kinds of shoes? Heels that are 4 inches high on top of a half inch platform. They look positively torturous. Why do women do this to their feet and bodies? Do they really need to be that much taller? I was simply fascinated but it all.
And so that's that. Just a few random observations while shopping.  What have you seen lately while shopping that makes you gasp and scratch your head in wonder?

Saturday, 03 October 2009

HAS IT REALLY BEEN...?

Has it really been 2 weeks since I've posted? What in the world? There used to be a time when I could post mutliple times a day. (Darn Facebook!) Anyway, I'm trying to think about what happened in the last two weeks that you would find interesting. And I'm kinda blank. I guess I've just been relishing normalness after the completion of our September birthday mainia! Anyway, here are some tidbits....
SCHOOL: The fall school routine is in full swing. Eden is loving kindergarten and has had all "clear" days on her behavior calendar. She seems to be excited about everything she does in school! Lonna, on the other hand, is off to a slow start in the 3rd grade. This week we were informed by both the teacher and the evidence by her poor grades that she had been making the decision not to pay attention in class. After a firm and rational discussion, we think she has seen the error in her ways, and she has till November Conferences to turn things around and prove so!
WEEKENDS: Corey made some adjustments to his working schedule, so that he has more weekend time off, now that both of the girls are in school all day. I'm loving it! It's just nice to have hime home of Friday and Saturday nights! This weekend the girls are with his parents and after some fun out last night just the two of us, we've been busy around the house getting things in order for winter...yard stuff put away, plastic on our drafty windows, fans put away etc etc. It just feels so normal...something that is hard to achieve when your hubby is an RN that works 12-hour night shifts.
ANNUAL DOCS VISIT: This is for you GrandmaJill, the girls had their annual pediatrician well-visits and are doing a-o-k, gorwing right along their growth curves, which in both cases are below 50%-tile: Here are the stats:
Eden at 6-years: 41 pounds (a gain of 1 1/2 lbs) and 44 1/2 inches (a gain of 3 ins)
Lonna at 9-years: 54 punds (a gain of 4 lbs) an 50 1/4 inches (a gain of 2 1/4 ins)
MY STUFF: After a quiet summer, things that I'm involved with have kicked into full gear. It is nice to have the days to work on these projects....co-leading for Brownie and Daisy Girl Scout Troops, PTA Newsletter, Yearbook and Book Swap and caring for Calvin and Emmett one or two days a week. Plus keeping up with things around the house. Who knew I would have so much to do?!?
ESTHER & CROSSTOWN KIDZ: I'm doing Beth Moore's Esther Bible Study for small group this fall! Love it!!!! Plus I'm working through the book of Ephesians with Lonna and the book of Matthew with Eden for their Crosstown Kidz reading assingments. I write this, mostly as a reminder to myself later: I'm reading lots of the Word and I feel SO good. I know the phase will come when I am distracted from this kind of good daily study of the Bible and I hope I come back to this post and remind myself of why I need to get things back in order! I just feel so much more level when I am in God's word!
K-LOVE: Yes! Pittsburgh recently got a K-LOVE Christian Radio station. I am also loving this! And it too is contributing to the peace of my spirit. And the girls are coming to enjoy it too! We were listeing to it recently, and they were having people call in and share testimonies of how K-Love had impacted them etc. So a man called in to share his story. When he was down and out spiritually, he had bought a car, and ALL the radio presets had been set to his local K-LOVE. He said he was hooked right away and has turned his life around and found a church family etc. Praise God! Later Lonna said when she turned 16 and bought her first car, she wasn't going to buy the car unless it could play K-LOVE. I thought that was too cute!
So that's just the loose highlights. We are in a rhythm around here and things for the most part are good. Now it's time to enjoy all the things that Autumn brings, and I'll be sure to take more time to blog about it!