Cuts

My boys got their hair cut.  Not a big deal, right?  Wrong.  They wanted very different cuts than we've ever done before.  It's nerve racking.  They looked through a ton of photos online before deciding on anything, but they went for it.  My older one's is much more drastic and, I have to admit, I was skeptical about how it would turn out.  No need to worry, Mama.  He looks fantastic!  Very short on the sides and asymmetrical on top, with a blue streak.  Yes, blue.  He looks so freaking adorable!  Definitely going to be trouble, that one, when it comes to dating.  yikes.  The younger son took a more conservative look.  short on the sides and spike-able on top.......although, by the end of the day it's totally flat and just looks.......normal.  Bittersweet to watch them grow and decide things!

Boyfriends and Bul-go-gi

So....I'd like to say today I went out on a date with the hubby, but alas, I'm already failing at the challenge.  Too much to do on Saturday.......and I missed my B!  So, here goes.  Nice, sweet, but short.  We saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2........awesome!  Best lessons to come of it........always have someone you can rely on to pull your neck flab back for you (and you for them) and.......before I was a Mommy, I was a girlfriend.  I was a freaking great girlfriend too!  I've slacked off a bit.....a lot.....kids do that to you.....if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be a constant source of material for writers of all genres.  I'm going to attempt to remember to do something romantic at least once a week.  Here's to my boyfriend!!!

..oh...and after the movie went to Dad's Deli (if you're ever in Stafford, it's next to Wal-mart) and got a Bul-go-gi sandwich.  It was super good!

Adulting and Acceptance

Welcome to my 5th attempt at the A-Z Blogger Challenge!  I honestly have no idea what direction I’m going to take you in this year.  It's 6:45 at night and I have only a vague idea of what I’m writing about tonight.  

 Simple Definition of adult: 

·         : fully grown and developed

·         : mature and sensible : not childish

·         : of or intended for adults

There have been several memes cropping up in the last year or so (at least flowing across my Facebook feed) about the definition of being an adult or re-establishing the word as a verb. I will admit, these seem to be more popular with certain generations than others.....primarily those of us in our late 20's/early 30's....as we chase our little ones around, figure out bills, buy houses, take notice of our health (I mean REALLY notice) for the first time...........you know.....all those ADULT things!  

Some of my favorites:

                            

      

*side note - you ever notice there is a progression of memes as one changes generations?  I guess my next step is those involving who's got more wrinkles, sagging..umm...parts, retirement, etc.

Anyway, it turns out, I’ve pretty much always been ready to be an adult.....well.......until I recently got sidelined......put in time out......forced to stop.  "What?!" You say.  Yep, had been having headaches for a while.......chalked it up to getting older, changes in my body after my last child, weather......

Went to the doctor, visit #1: "well, you may have some infection, here's some amoxicillin" (like I’m 4yrs old).  3 days later, I felt even worse.  Took some Motrin, went on with life.

Doctor’s visit #2 (1 month later): got an x-ray of my neck, got a BS diagnosis and sent to the orthopedist, who said I was having muscle spasms and gave me flexural.  Like a working mother of 3 has the luxury of taking something to knock her on her a$$?  Whatever.

Doctor's visit #3 (2 weeks later): I walked in with my chest hurting in addition to headaches.  I figured I had finally developed a full-blown case of pneumonia.  Anticipating my Z-pack......and then there's nothing showing up.....chest x-ray, negative.  EKG, negative.  Blood pressure, excellent (win!).........pulse. Mm....elevated.  "We need you to go to the ER".............umm...stop, wait, what?

ER:  EKG, Blood work (like a vampire was on duty), cat-scan.........boom.........2 clots.  Excuse me?  "This was caused by your birth control, so here's your gown, you're staying here."  but...but...but....there's karate....and dinner.....and and and.........

*side note - I was on BC for ovarian cysts......so goody

Luckily, I have the best support system ever.  Hubby and Mom to the rescue!  Only had to stay in the hospital one night.  Got 2 shots of Lovenox and then a prescription for Xeralto.  And, off I went.....

Got hooked up with a real PCP (instead of the oh-so-convenient Patient First)......here we go.  Did I mention I was stilling intending to go on a 3-day backpacking trip with my hubby and boys?  Oh yes.  Nothing is stopping this Mama!  Do you know how many people are on blood thinners???  A FREAKING LOT!  and they don't stop their lives!  

1 week later........back in the hospital because I overdid it while my lungs are still healing.  Only stayed half a day this time and determined that my clots have totally resolved and just about everything else is tip-top shape........I just have to slow down........let my lungs heal.....wtf.  That’s right, I, super-mom, have to take a temporary break from my usual.  Let me tell you, this sucks.  

Apparently, being an Adult, also means you face Adult problems and sometimes you have to accept that you can't always be the Adult you intended for yourself to be.  So, I’m on time-out.  I still go to work, yes, but I’m taking it slower.  I'm still mothering my children, but trying to let up a little more and not stress so much.......and, well, we rescheduled the backpacking trip.  Sigh.

So, while I'm being Adult and accepting my temporary limitations.....I would love to hear your stories of PE (Pulmonary Embolism).  How long was it until you felt like you could go full throttle again?  

Planning for Chalica!

Tis the season, y'all!  Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and Christmas after (even though the stores would you lead to believe the reverse), but there is a little known UU holiday tucked in the middle.  Chalica.  I left the Presbyterian Church at the end of 2006 and found my UU Church nearly a year later in November 2007 (i use 'found' loosely since I just followed my parents).  My oldest was 5 weeks old when we walked through those doors.  8 years and 2 additional kids later.....we are fairly active in our faith community.  As you may or may not know, UU-ism is, well, complicated.  There are many backgrounds, beliefs, feelings all coming together with one united feeling of connectedness.  However, with many backgrounds and stories.......there is always a bit of fuzziness surrounding some of the traditional holidays such as Christmas and Easter.  My family celebrates these as we always have.....with a few tweaks, of course, but it is a time of family and tradition.  This said, I still wanted to find something that connected my children, husband and I to our UU culture.  2 years ago, I heard about Chalica.  Created in 2005, it starts on the first Monday of December and lasts 7 days.  Each day we focus on one of our 7 UU Principles.  At first, I was interested, but didn't really know what to do with it.  Last year, I decided we were doing SOMETHING.  So instead of 1 candle on my chalice that we light every night, I replaced it with 7 different colored tea lights and each night we would talk about the principle for that day and light a new tea light.  That was totally a last-minute attempt.  This year, I'm pre-planning.  I want to make this a tradition we can sink our teeth into.  I'm heavily relying on two sources:

Chalica Facebook Page
Chalica.info Blog

1) Day 1: The Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person - Restated for children: "Each person is important."

We will choose an individual we would like to show appreciate for and be a "secret admirer" and improve their day somehow.

2) Day 2: Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.  Children’s translation: “We believe that all people should be treated fairly and kindly.”

I'm going to try to find a shelter or soup kitchen we can volunteer at.  All are welcome to join us!!!  Stay tuned for info.

3) Day 3: acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” Or, translated for kids: “We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together.”

What does and doesn’t it look like to ‘accept’ another person’s faith outlook? What is spiritual growth? What are ways that one person can ‘encourage’ another person’s spiritual growth? How can this idea be applied even outside of one’s congregation?

Not sure what I'd like to do with this one yet.

4) Day 4: Free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Or, in children’s parlance: “We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.”

I think we'll look at and discuss the "Elephant and the Blind Men" parable and talk about keeping an open mind and trying to find out all aspects of a truth.

5) Day 5: The use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.” The children’s translation reads: “We believe that all persons should have a vote about the things that concern them.”

Going to have to think some more on this one.

6) Day 6: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.” The children’s translation reads: “We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world.”
We're going to sign up for an International Pen Pal program

7) Day 7:  Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” The children’s version: “We believe in caring for our planet Earth, the home we share with all living things.”
We're going on hike!


What have you or are you doing for Chalica this year?  Want to join us one night, comment me and we'll see what we can do!

Faerie Birthday

My daughter, my only baby girl, turned 2!  I decided to do a Faerie Birthday.  I wanted to make it fun, but not go too overboard like Pinterest kept screaming at me to do...here is what I went with:

Colors:  Pink and Yellow and i stuck with just some balloons and tablecloths and the tableware
Food:  various wraps, some chips, veggies, and of course, pickles (my little one LOVES pickles!)
Activities:  We made faerie gardens and played with bubbles.

As the kids arrived, I had them paint little birdhouses i found at Michael's for their faeries.

 

 


Then while they dried, they ate and then we played with bubbles using special bubble wands that my nieces and i put together. Bubble Wands

Then we put the faerie gardens together.  I found plastic bowls at walmart that were just big enough.  We put in just a bottom layer of dirt then we sprinkled glitter all over the dirt to make the garden magical so the faeries could find them.  I found small bottles of glitter at the dollar store near the nail polish.  they are supposed to be for nail art, but they fit the bill here!  Then we covered the glitter with more dirt and then added the houses.  I set out bowls of glass beads, rocks and shells and let them go crazy.  I even found some butterflies in the fake flower area of Michael's that we could attach to the little houses.  I think the kids loved them!

 

 

For the cake, i tried playing with fondant for the first time.  Found out i need some practice, but i don't think it was too bad for my first attempt.

For favors, we made hidden faeries flowers.  I used an idea I found on Pinterest and then, instead of just stuffing tissue paper in the center, i hid a faerie that i got from Amazon in it.  Each flower was different so they would have their own special friend.  Flower tutorial

Here is my step by step guide to make these: Faerie Favors

Faerie Favors

Start with a small square of tissues paper, this is about 10x10

place the faerie inside and wrap it up

 

Tuck it inside the toilet paper tube

now, fold up a longer piece of tissues paper, and cut the top to look like a single petal.

Unroll the paper and attach it to a side of your tube.

 

Roll all the way and tuck the bottom end into the tube

 

Then fluff your petals

My Faith Journey

*This was shared at the BRUU Journey Service on July 5, 2015.

You are looking at the youngest ever former Deacon at "my former church".  Also, probably the youngest Sunday School teacher.  I was a Presbyterian.  I became a Sunday school helper in the 8^th grade for the 3^rd grade and a full teacher in the 9^th grade, teaching 4^th, 5^th, and finally middle school, where I stayed until Christmas of 2006.  I was a member of the youth group, the youth choir, on the activities team, assisted with curriculum development, and was made a deacon at the age of 23.  I knew my parables and my readings and was a model ‘Christian’.  I didn’t question anything.  I even, at one point, applied for the position as Youth Director, but alas, my collection of Christian rock cds wasn’t extensive enough to give me all the answers they thought I should have. 

At 25, I had been married for 1 1/2 years and was planning to start a family.  I had also started becoming aware of some things at the church that I wasn’t particularly proud of.  There were comments made about individuals that weren’t very nice and having witnessed them come from the pastor’s wife and associate pastor, well, irritated me to put it lightly.

Now, I need to back up and tell you a little about S.  When we moved back from Scotland and started attending "the church", the other kids weren’t all that welcoming.  They had grown up together and weren’t used to new kids.  S, however, approached me, welcomed me, and even set it up between our moms so that she could drive me to school and I wouldn’t have to ride the bus.  Sarah is also bi-sexual.  Well, on Christmas Eve of 2006 (at which point I had been at the church for 10 years), S found me in the sanctuary and she was in tears.  She had been informed by the pastor’s wife that she was no longer allowed in the Sunday school wing because parents were afraid she would influence their children.  That was it for me.  I couldn’t stay and let it be ok.  So, I left.  In the middle of service.  My sister-in-law and niece were with me and I said, we’re leaving, and we left.  I went back a week later to get my stuff from my room and have never been back.  I left a note for my kids, but they didn’t get it and I later found out that they were told I had to move away suddenly. (I did find some of them later on Facebook and tell them the truth).

Moving forward, 2 months later I found myself pregnant and excited and ……without a church family.  So, we started looking.  We looked for nearly a year.  My parents had already come to BRUU, so we decided to check it out.  We walked through those doors the morning after Auction (a rather quiet day) with our 5 week old baby and found welcoming arms.  Bea offered to keep Mikey in the nursery, which had seen very little use at that time, and we fell in love with the congregation.  5 weeks later we signed the book.

It has taken me some time to find what UU means to me and what that means for my family’s lives.  Raising first generation UU’s is no easy task.  There isn’t a rule book or a traditional church calendar.  I’ve picked apart the routines I knew and found no meaning.  Slowly, though, we have found some new ways.  We have UU prayers to the Spirit we say over dinner and light a chalice.  We celebrated Chalica for the first time this past year.  Principle 1 is repeated often in our house usually as a behavior reminder and we talk about Jesus as a cool dude who had some great ideas on how to live our lives.  And I finally rejoined the religious education world and am a member of the middle school team. 

And that’s where I am now, my journey continues.  And, many days, starting over with what that means today.