Category: Life

How To Break A Habit

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This week as “Mom”… I was an Accountant, a Dentist, a Mood Changer and a Loser.
…

I have a habit of procrastinating the things I should be doing in exchange for pretty much anything else…

So this week, guess what I was doing on Tuesday, April 17th?  That’s right, you guessed it!  I was playing accountant and finishing up our taxes.  There’s nothing like waiting ’til the last minute to keep life interesting.

So, taxes are done and the good news is – we don’t owe as much this year as we have in previous years.  All the paying ahead and keeping track of our crap has paid off. Go Me!
…

Even though I have a habit of procrastinating some things, I did not procrastinate being a dentist this week.  Soleil’s loose tooth that was hanging on for dear life, finally started to show signs of letting go.  Now this tooth has had an attachment to our sweet Soleil for some time now.  It’s been lose for forever, and we were beginning to think she would never lose it.

But after school on Monday, she was eating a snack in the car and the tooth was finally ready to come out. And even though blood and saliva make my stomach church for the worst, I jumped right in at the opportunity to pull this tooth out, cause it was just barely hangin’ on by a bloody thread.

Thank God that tooth is gone.  Go Me.
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Today I was a mood changer. Sometimes, I hit a slump and become a grump.  So today, I was in the worst mood this side of Columbus and I just couldn’t. move. on.  
I woke up feeling great.  We’d had a great day on Friday.  And I had big plans for this stay-at-home-yucky-weather-Saturday.  I was gonna get a “bunch of stuff done” around the house. But it never happened.  It was just one of “those days”… and as the clock ticked onward, I felt my mood quickly. spiraling. downward.
I prayed. I read my Bible. I was hanging out with the wee Babs and trying not to worry about the “stuff” I planned to accomplish. I talked about it with P.A…. and he’s really good at understanding my “emo” side and encouraging me thru it.  But it just wouldn’t. go. away…
Until around 6p.m., P.A. sweetly strongly suggested I would feel better if I worked out.  So, I walked on the treadmill and started praying. 2 miles and 100 sit-ups later, my mood completely changed.  The negative crap swirling around in my mind just lifted off of me and the rest of the evening was much better.
The habits of prayer and exercise are good habits, that I plan to sustain for a lifetime. Go Me.
… 

This week I was a loser.  I lost Selah’s plug (binky) and she was immediately forced into breaking a habit she’s had for 2 years and 3 1/2 months all of her life.

I never looked up “How to wean your child off the pacifier”… or “10 Tips on taking away your toddler’s binky”.  I just lost it.  Over the past 2 years and 3 1/2 months of her life, we have lost plugs or thrown them away because she got into a habit of chewing holes in some of them.  But this was her very last plug and we kept declaring, “After she’s two we’ll take away this plug once and for all…” And we kept procrastinating taking away this plug… because that’s what we do.  Procrastinate.

The first night was rough.  She cried for nearly an hour before finally falling asleep. At one point, P.A. offered to run to Target and buy another one, but we decided to deal with the tears. She woke up a few times that night and woke up at about 5a.m. the following morning.

I don’t do well with little sleep because I {heart} sleep. So, it’s been an interesting week with less sleep and no plug.  But every night and nap time has been a little easier.  And Selah has asked me to hold her as she’s falling asleep, which I don’t mind at all.  She has also started holding her bunny that says a prayer when you push on its tummy, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, that angels watch me thru the night, until I wake in morning light. Amen.” After about 30 times of pushing the bunny’s tummy, she falls asleep.

Salem did find the lost plug a few days ago, mixed in with his toys.  We threw it away before Selah saw it.  But she’s a creative little chick.  She did try and and use this toy she found at a friends house last night as a replacement.  However, it didn’t really work out…

So, the taxes are done, the tooth is gone, I’m in a better mood, the plug habit is officially kicked, and I am looking forward to the new roles I will play in the new adventures I am bound to have, this week as Mom.  Go Me.
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Are there any habits you need to kick?  

My advice: Prayer. Exercise. Go Cold Turkey. Procrastination is for the Birds. 

Stinky Pants

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Sooo…. yesterday at church I wore a dress that I totally dig.  it’s a Goodwill vintage treasure.  and not just any ol’ Goodwill, but the Goodwill in Bend, OR.  and I LOVE it!  Never mind the fact that I look about 3 months pregnant in it. who cares?  it’s just the style of the dress, but it’s too CUTE not to wear!  So today i wore my dress with new leggights (Definition of Leggights: a pair of leggings and tights blended together) from Target, b/c I love Target and I buy many things that come from Target. These leggights were $5 and heather gray, which P.A. says is not a color.  but i wholeheartedly disagree, i love wearing gray. and since i’m wearing it, the color exists. The outfit was completed by a braid in my hair, awesome brown earrings that my friend brought me back from Columbia, AND my tall brown MIA boots, which came from Marshalls, which look cute even on my large size 10 feet, which I expound on more here.

This Materialistic Combo = Awesome!

Now comes the dilemma with my super cute outfit.  The new leggights from Target STINK!  I noticed their smell during church but was too busy flapping my jaws with people, running back to the children’s ministry to do worship with the kids, and chasing my own kids after church, since they run around like they live there, and basically church is like their second home… and doing everything else a Pastors wife does on any given Sunday… My nose was sensitive enough to be bothered by the smell of the leggights during church, but I was too busy to worry with it…

Until I came home.  I couldn’t handle it anymore.  I couldn’t take the leggights off fast enough.  That is until after I had P.A. take this picture of me and Selah, so you could see the super cuteness of my outfit… and her outfit too 🙂

Sooo… the only thing I could relate this smell to is the same smell from stinky jeans i recently purchased – and then returned – to Old Navy.  Seriously, these leggights stunk so badly the smell rubbed off on my dress and tank top. i couldn’t stand it.  then i did some research on stinky jeans and found out that the smell could be formaldehyde. Yuck!  Now i’m not sure how reliable all of this internet research is when you google “stinky jeans”, but something is wrong.  and my search for “stinky leggights” didn’t produce any results… hmmm… not sure why, but jeans, leggights or any clothing shouldn’t stink that badly.  Some of the information i found suggested washing the stinky jeans several times in baking soda to get the smell out, but that seems like a lot of work for a $5 pair of leggights.

Well, I sure don’t want to wear anything that stinks like chemicals.  Which brings me to my point.  We should not have to wear clothes – or eat food – made from chemicals. But. We.  Do.  whatever happened to good ol’ fashion cotton?  why does everything have to be synthetic, chemically enhanced or FAKE?  and why do we – why do I – keep the demand going for the supply?  why? why? why?

Our planet is so over run by chemicals we don’t even know what “natural” is anymore. Our food has been so depleted from its natural form.  Even when we eat “naturally” it is a “been trained to eat corn instead of grass” fed cow, chicken or pig that has been treated like an incredible hulk, pumped with antibiotics, expected to grow exponentially over night in order to feed our over fed stomaches faster than we can even process our last meal.  The demand creates the supply.  So why? why? why? do we settle for chemically processed food and clothing and who knows what else?

I mean seriously… maybe the Amish are onto something… but i like my car, electricity, phone and my zippers too much.

It makes me want to live off the grid… but since most everything that we purchase is synthetic or chemically produced in some form, this STINK is going to be hard to avoid.  Still, i long for the days when we can all live more naturally… in the woods, eating tree bark and bugs.  Not really… but at least natural enough so that our jeans and leggights don’t STINK, and our food isn’t so overly incredibly hulk pumped and processed.

Yes, i long for the day… so until then, and this will be tough… i am going to wear leaves and twigs for clothes.  Not really… but i am returning those leggights and avoiding clothing that is overly synthetically produced and stinky, while eating only organic chicken or beef, and I am planning to spend most of time in my all natural stretchy pants.


Profoundly Noted by: Les Babs

Selah’s Outfit
Shirt ~ Walmart Organic Cotton
Skirt ~ Baby Gap / Thrift Store Find

Leslie’s Outfit
Earrings ~ somewhere in Columbia
Dress ~ Free People / Goodwill Find
Tank ~ Target 
Leggights ~ Target… you just read the whole story

the truth is…

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i didn’t know what a blog was until this past summer.  in fact, i didn’t even know they existed.  and now i’m all about blogs.  bloggin’.  lovin’ the blog life.  blah, blah, blah. blog, blog, blog.
it can be hard to write blogs, but i am lovin’ it.  the truth is… i was planning to write a blog with P.A. (in honor of v-day) about having a marvelous marriage; in all areas-friendship, communication, trust, selflessness, respect, intimacy, sex, etc… but i changed my mind.  as usual.  but look for it soon. 
so the truth is… 
i have coffee breath 90% of the time, and if i don’t… i will check to see if I have a fever, because there is probably something wrong with me.  i don’t typically chew gum or suck on mints, so if you talk to me, most likely you will also be talking to my coffee breath.  hope that won’t affect our relationship.
i carry a cup of coffee with me 90% of the places that i go, and if i don’t… it’s because i am on my way to buy a coffee… OR, i might have a fever, because there is something wrong with me.  if it’s the latter, i will probably not go anywhere and just stay at home, where i have access to a coffee maker as soon as i’m feeling better.
i LOVE driving fast.  contrary to what we are taught in drivers ed, i like to drive aggressively, not defensively.  we live in central ohio where most of my life consists of driving up and down a 2 lane road, that turns into a 4 lane road with tons of traffic lights along the way.  the truth is… it takes me longer to get out of town than it does to drive down the highway into downtown.  i love the challenge of getting from my house to the highway as fast as i can, speeding up to coast thru the yellow lights, and weaving in and out of the slower drivers around me.  which are basically all the other drivers. 
i miss driving in new york city.  for the 3+ years we lived there, we were those crazy people who wanted to live like suburbanites in the city; and also keep our car and deal with all of the parking tickets, lack of parking places, and all of the stress that comes with driving in nyc.  i loved the challenge of finding and fighting for parking places, cutting people off and weaving in and out of lanes.  never too fast in the city though, because you can’t drive much over 20 mph due to traffic.  
our house is medium sized (about 1,800 square feet), but i wish it were a little bit smaller. our fam of five loves being together.  with the exception of school and work, we spend most of our time in the same room.  or within a few hundred feet of each other.  i rarely go to the bathroom without the pitter patter of little feet nearby.  and i really don’t mind. wasted space makes me cringe.  
if you come over to visit and my house IS clean, it’s most likely because i transferred the piles of papers and moved the dirt from one part of the house to another.  out of sight, out of mind, ya know?
i wish my fam didn’t have to work or go to school.  i love and long for the days when the wee babs are out of school and P.A. is not working.  i wish we could just be together all the time.  the truth is... i would love that!
i think way.  too.  much.  about.  clothes.  and shoes.  and wish i didn’t.  it takes up to much brain space in my head.
i waver between insecurity and confidence.  shocking.  i know you probably thought i had it all together.  just keep reading my blogs, you’ll see the ‘real me’ 😉
i trust GOD, but i also worry about all of the things i can’t control.  which is a lot of things.
and this is the truth about me.  what are some truths about you? 
with love, happy valentines day.

Perspective

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Perspective – a particular evaluation of a situation or facts, especially from one person’s point of view.

Perspective is the lens thru which we view the world.  It’s how we view what happens to us.  It’s how we view other people and what happens to them.
My prayer is that I will have a Kingdom Perspective for my life and for the lives of others.  My hope is that my perspective will be challenged and motivated by Jesus.  His Kingdom come.  His will be done.  On earth as in Heaven.

It’s something as simple as a shirt.  Salem has a shirt that says, “World’s Best Brother”.  And he is.  It’s my favorite shirt of his.  Recently, we painted the girls bedroom.  I told P.A. “make sure Salem doesn’t paint in my favorite shirt.”  And guess what?  P.A. didn’t change Salem’s shirt before they painted, and he got paint on it.  Aaaaarrrrrrrgh!!!
I was upset.  seriously.  for a few hours, I was ridiculous.  My perspective.

My Kingdom Perspective– I am reminded of those who only have dirty or torn shirts to wear.  Or those who don’t have any shirt at all.  Salem still wears his red “World’s Best Brother” shirt with pride and the green paint on it.  Who cares?!?  He surely doesn’t.  And I don’t either… anymore.
It’s something like those days when momma is sick, helpless and can’t take care of herself or her wee Babs.  This sucks.  I hate my life.  My perspective.

My Kingdom Perspective– I will be well again.  I am blessed to have P.A. and friends who surround me, call, text and check on me.  Offer to go to the store for me.  Help to  take care of me and the wee Babs.  I can lean on the Lord in my weakness and He will give me strength. Matthew 11:28-30.
It’s something like road separation.  Living 1,000 miles my family in Oklahoma & 2,500 miles away from P.A.’s family in Oregon.  This really sucks.  Something huge is missing.  We see our families once or twice a year.  The wee Babs are not growing up around their Grands.  This is wrong.  This can get me really. down. in. the. dumps.  My perspective.
My Kingdom Perspective- We are not alone.  We are financially and physically able to see our families once or twice a year, with Skype internet chats additionally sprinkled on top.  I am overwhelmed by the church family that God has surrounded us with.  He has placed us here for this time, and for His purpose.  Jeremiah 29:11.  God can do great things thru us when we are surrendered to His call on our lives.  No matter where that takes us.  His Kingdom Come. His will be done.
It’s something like almost dying.  When Salem was 3 mos old, he almost died.  He turned blue.  He was barely breathing.  Sometimes I forget this.  I take our little man for granted.  I have never been so scared in my life.  My perspective.
My Kingdom Perspective– P.A. had a “nudge” to check on Salem that night.  If he hadn’t… well, we don’t know.  We trust the Lord.  Our wee Babs are gifts from God.  Our response is to surrender and parent them back to Jesus.  No moments for granted.  God rescued Salem.  He is now a 5-year-old prayer warrior.  If anyone is sick, his response is To Pray.
It’s something like a “Soul Surfer”.  We watched this movie last night.  A lost arm.  A lost dream.  Or the losses we’ve experienced [insert list here… I will, in time…] Any loss can cause hopelessness.  Anger. Despair.  My perspective.
My Kingdom Perspective– Loss can cause Gain.  The “Soul Surfer” realized her purpose of “embracing more people with one arm, than she ever did with two.”  She was able to bring her love of the water and share it with the people of Thailand; removing fear, bringing life back into water, after the water had brought so much death.  Reflecting on loss, I am reminded of what I have.  The breath I take.  The gift of today. The people I can love.  The sight of God movements and Everyday miracles.
What is your perspective?

Noted. By Les Babs

embrace the suckiness

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Sometimes life can really suck. And there are levels of suckiness. And we all have varying levels of tolerance for the suckiness that enters our lives.

Embrace the suckiness.

This is an anonymous quote (by one our friends).  Sometimes life sucks for a day or two, or a week, or a month or even years… but there are ways we can embrace it.  And grow from it.
Now we are going to explore 3 levels of suckiness and how to embrace them.

Level 1. an Annoyance.  You have a Ginormous zit on your eyebrow line (at least that’s what I’ve got going on the last few days) or it’s cloudy outside and you’re a sunshine kind of gal (or guy) or you had a terrible day at work/school… or your $4 mocha was accidentally thrown away.

Embracing Level 1. Cover up your zit with tons of make-up.  Or let it shine.  Deal with the clouds. Or don’t live in central Ohio.  Get over the bad day, tomorrow will be better.  Buy another mocha.

Level 2.  A strain.  A health strain.  Your kids are sick, up all night puking, so you are cranky b/c you didn’t get any sleep.  Or you are sick and need to work.  Or you AND your kids are sick (this is a level 2.5)  Or there is a strain on your marriage or a friendship.  Or you are having difficulty with your job.  Or a financial strain.

Embracing Level 2.  This can be tricky – one of my examples below.

Level 3.  A loss.  Personally.  Financially.  Relationally.  A loss of trust.  Or loss of a loved one.

Embracing Level 3.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” Proverbs 3:5  This is difficult, and is not always easy to do.  Trust in the Lord gives way to surrender and produces an attitude of thankfulness, which leads to an unexplainable peace and joy, despite circumstances.

Then there are those days I just forget the make-up, pull my hair back, put on my stretchy pants and consume large amounts of coffee to get thru and embrace the suckiness.

Today was one of those days.  It was a level 2.  Selah was up all night puking.  Which meant I was up all night cleaning.  She puked every hour.  I slept a little on the floor at the end of her bed in btwn cleanings.  As I laid on the floor, I kept thinking of funny sayings in the book “Stuff Christians Like” by Jonathan Acuff (a must read btw).  I was embracing the suckiness with laughter.  When I was washing the 6 extra loads of puke laundry, I embraced the suckiness, thankful for our washing machine.  Selah slept most of the day.  She had a fever and was worn out from being up all night.  I was thankful for the extra time I had to cuddle with her, and hold her close.
                                                      
 Then she woke up and had a little bit of water.  And went back to sleep on the floor.  Her brother and sister played around her as she laid in the middle of the living room.  I was thankful she was able to rest, even with her sibs running in circles around her.
                                                                                            
Later she moved into the kitchen and had a few bites of cracker.  I was cooking dinner by this time.  She laid down on the kitchen floor to be near me.  I was thankful to be near her.
This morning, she had her 2-year-old check up previously scheduled – coincidence – so we went to see the Dr.  From the moment we entered the office, she was crying the entire time, “I want daaaaadddddyyyyyy!” and raising the suckiness to a level 2.3.  Then I started crying in the Pediatric lobby while the receptionist stared at me from behind the glass with sympathy… or disgust, I couldn’t tell as tears welled up in my own eyes.  Eventually I embraced the suckiness, thankful that Selah wasn’t throwing up anymore…

After we got back home, I let her have some milk.  Bad idea.  How can I deny my baby milk?  A few minutes later, the chunks started flying again.  Salem comments, “It looks like shaving cream!”  Great observation.  I was thinking cottage cheese.  He’s a bright boy.  Meanwhile, Soleil turns queezy and hides to avoid all physical and visual contact.

Thankfully, today I wasn’t sick.  I’ve been there, done that.  Those days when momma PLUS kids are sick, I try to embrace that suckiness level 2.5.  Being sick and taking care of my wee Babs 
is difficult really sucks.  But I can embrace it…eventually.  If I’m sick, I’m thinking Yes!  I’m gonna lose a quick 5 lbs!  and sure it will come back, but for a few days I get to enjoy being 5 lbs lighter.

We’ve had many opportunities to embrace the suckiness.  On all levels.  Annoyances, Strains and Losses.  Of friendships.  Being a laid off of work.  A miscarriage.  And in time I will share those stories and how we embraced them.  And how we have grown.

How will you embrace the suckiness?