About Getting Older – A Little Bit of Inspiration

So I have been busy lately – very busy.  I went back to work.  Then I started gaining weight. More on that another day.  Then I decided to lose the weight.  The plan – I did it before so I know I can do it again – eat better (low carbs – that means no more candy, cake or ice-cream -  and more protein) and EXERCISE.  I’m not a fan of just exercise.  For me the activity has to produce something you can see, so I’m doing yard work – for now weeding and mowing. 

Today I’m mowing the back yard.  Half way through the job I notice that my thumbs are stinging - blistered with peeling skin.   Am I turning into a dainty little pansy in my older age?  Not that my age is anywhere near old. But I have to say that NEVER BEFORE have I EVER gotten blisters from just holding onto the lawn mower.  What’s up with that?  Is my aging skin not tough enough to take it?  Am I going to have to slow down and give up physical hard labor just to protect my suddenly delicate hands?

Next year I will be 40 but part of me still feels like I'm 15 and invincible, capable of doing anything.  This is good and bad…good because I’m not afraid to do physically hard labor, but sometimes very bad when I over exert myself to the point of near self-crippling mutilation.  Sometimes I just don’t realize my limitations until WAY AFTER the damage is done.  This I blame on the sweetest, toughest, most inspiring woman I ever knew – My Grandma Huff.  Sorry mom, you’re still a very close first runner up.  So, I had to stop in the middle of mowing to bandage my owwies, document the moment, and write this story before I cripple myself for the rest of the day.

About my Grandma -This spritely, slightly hunchbacked woman was a machine when it came to hard work.  She shared stories of her childhood picking cotton every day in the Texas summer heat.  As an adult she got out of bed before the sun almost every day of the 22 years that I had the privilege of sharing this earth with her and worked outdoors long into the heat of the day.  She was like an army of one in my eyes.  She worked the earth with her hands and never complained about scrapes, cuts, bruises or being tired.  I once caught her pouring LEADED GASOLINE on a bleeding, cut thumb and she didn’t even flinch at the pain.  Then she bound it with a rubber band until I thought her thumb was going to turn black.  No booboo strips or anti-bacterial ointment for her.  At that point I was old enough to stop her – so I took her inside and dressed her wound with ointment and a band-aid.  She told me that was how it  was done in the old days.  I would never have survived that because I’m a total coward when it comes to pain.

Its a wonder she survived her childhood to live well into her 80s, but Grandma was tough, resilient, hilariously funny, loved to pull pranks, and could guilt anyone into doing whatever she wanted.  She drank at least one full pot (sometimes more) of fully caffeinated coffee every day – even in the summer. Every year she decorated her house inside and out for Christmas, grew about two acres of garden and worked most of it herself from beginning to end.  Her house was immaculately clean.  She never owned a microwave or dishwasher, cooked almost everything from scratch using lard as one of the ingredients, and every  year she told us this would be the last time she would every be able to do any of it because she probably wouldn’t be with us next year.  I grew up just knowing she was going to die at any moment and we would never see her again, so when I was eight I decided that if and and when she died I would be buried with her because I couldn’t imagine living without her.  This went on for about twenty years that I can remember.  I don’t know how many years she said that before I heard it the first time.  I was blessed to know her and to learn everything that I could about the importance of hard, unglamorous dirty work.

And now back to me.  My thumbs are bandaged and I finished mowing the back  yard – not yet crippled, but I’m sure I’ll be feeling (regretting) this in the morning.  I’m also inspired to aim for my goal (the weight loss) and I’m not going to let something like the Texas summer heat, blistered thumbs and a few sore muscles (from head to toe) stop me.   I will lose this weight and my yard will look better as a result.

The Boy and The Balloon

This is the story of a boy…

and a balloon.

The Boy got a balloon at a car dealership where Mom told Dad not to go because she wasn’t interested in trading in her van for an Expedition or any other vehicle.

Instead of coming home with another vehicle, dad came home accompanied by offspring #3, #4 and #5 – all bearing huge car lot decorating balloons. Yeah for Dad!

The Boy played with his big beautiful balloon with great joy and delight all afternoon.  He played in the front yard…and in the house…and in the back yard… until alas the flossy red ribbon tied to the balloon slipped out of his nimble fingers and floated up, up, up and away into the balmy evening sky.

The Boy was suddenly inconsolably heartbroken because his shiny new blue car dealership balloon was going,… going… gone.  Huge crocodile tears streamed down the Boy’s cheeks.

THEN, big sister……

quietly and lovingly – and extremely generously – comes to the rescue with her shiny new yellow balloon.  “Here Boy.  You can have my balloon.” she said, with a smile and a gentle consoling hug.  And the Boy was happy again. 

See the Boy smile :-)

Thank you big sister:-)

Easter – A Declaration of Independence

Its Easter Morning. 

  Last night I had insomnia and didn’t sleep all night.  After realizing that I wasn’t going to sleep I spent most of the night with Della cruising the information highway, reading news and other inspiring blogs. Then I watched  Huckabee, CSI NY and Madagascar (My kids call it “mad at a gas car”.)  let the cat in and out, did a load of laundry, made breakfast for the Mister, loaded the dishwasher and baked cinnamon rolls for the kids to eat for breakfast.  I feel like that old Army commercial where they say “We do more before 8:00am than most people do all day.”  Only, I don’t think it counts unless you actually go to bed and then get up to do all of those things.  Finally, around 6:15 my batteries were running low and I climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep listening to the soothing sounds of the thunderstorm in the distance.   As the night turned into day I settled in to a deep sleep.    It was cool outside so my bedroom window was open.  This morning’s alarm clock was the sound of church bells ringing behind my house.   They don’t normally ring the bell on Sundays but today is Easter – the most sacred of days for Christians around the world.  It was a welcomed sound of joy and I could hear the words ringing in my heart

He’s alive!  He’s Alive! He’s Alive!

For Christians this is our declaration of independence, our very own special 4th of July.  Jesus sacrificed his life for us.  He took our place, our punishment for our sins, so we could be re-united with God who created us.  No longer separated from Him.  Set free and forgiven from any sin, no matter how great.  They beat him beyond recognition, crucified him by nailing him to a cross and then mocked him while they waited for him to die.  BUT THEN…on the third day…THIS DAY that we celebrate HE AROSE FROM THE GRAVE.   He said He would and He did.  Neither Buddha nor Mohamed can offer this.  And because of this -  WE ARE FORGIVEN FROM EVERY SIN – AS IF THEY NEVER HAPPENED, and all we have to do is ask.  Its FREE for all who ask.  This is our day of rejoicing, OUR DAY OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Another song comes to mind: Free at Last!  Free at Last!  Thank God Almighty! We are free at last!

Enjoy your Easter celebrations but remember what it is really all about.  Jesus is alive and he lives in my heart today.

For more information about forgiveness and why you need Jesus.  Or, if you need answers to life's tough questions:

http://www.iamsecond.com/

http://www.needhim.org

http://nothingstoohardforgod.org/

Do the Hokey-Pokey

We all know that childhood song where you put your right foot in and out and shake it all about.  Eventually,by the end of the song, you end up dizzy and breathless on the floor.  In the ProlificMom house we have our own version, and it made my life and my marriage a little bit easier.

Going way back…First, Gary Smalley wrote a book Keyes to Loving Relationships. 

  It  explains that an important key to a good marriage is good communication, and every person has their own communication style and language.  Its difficult to have a meaningful discussion with someone who doesn’t speak the same language.   Its even more  challenging  if you’re trying to communicate what you want someone else to do.  You need to make sure that you are speaking their language or they are not going to get it.  In marriage there are often many (mis)communication challenges that usually end with someone saying “you just don’t listen to me” or “you just don’t get it.”  Once I understood the communication gap I started figuring out how to get what I wanted by using an entirely new set of tools.  ( I wish they would have taught me about this important piece of information in college.)

Marriage – Year Five:  So, the Mister and I were finding it ‘stressful’ to discuss the laundry.  Actually, I would call the Mister from work and ask him to take the clothes out of the dryer.  And just like I asked, he would take the clothes out of the dryer and that was all.   I was constantly infuriated because he didn’t take the clothes out of the wash and put them in the dryer after taking the clothes out of the dryer, then take dirty laundry and start the wash.  Why wasn’t he listening to me?!!!  We had been arguing about this for years and he still didn’t get it that when I asked for him to “take the clothes out of the dryer” I wanted him to do the full laundry cycle.   Why did I have to explain the full cycle of laundry every time I wanted his help?

ProlificMom said:  “Take the clothes out of the dryer – interpretation: Do the full laundry cycle.

What the Mister heard: “Take the clothes out of the dryer. – interpretation: Take the clothes out of the dryer.

Then, one day, I realized that we had a communication gap.  He couldn’t read my mind and I didn’t like having have the patience to explain the process in detail every time I wanted it done.  Four years after watching the video series (I’m a little bit slow on the uptake.) the light bulb came on!  We weren’t speaking the same language.  This occurred to me at work after calling the Mister at home to once again ask argue about the laundry.  I just couldn’t stand the thought of wasting my energy on something so small or stupid.  That was the a-hah! moment.  I needed to find a word that I could use to define the entire process.  So, I called the Mister and told him that I didn’t ever want us to argue about the laundry again, and I was going to think of a word that we could use to define the entire laundry process.  Any time one of us used the word the other one would know exactly what to do. Then I had to figure out what the word would be.  An hour later I had it – the perfect word to describe the process – DO THE HOKEY POKEY! 

Eleven years later, (marriage year 16) everyone in my house knows what this term means and we also use it to define loading and unloading the dishwasher.  To differentiate we say “do the hokey pokey in the kitchen”.

This is only one small victory in the communication battleground of marriage, but a victory for sure.

(I Am) Smarter than a 5th Grader

I love the internet!

To whoever created the internet – I THANK YOU.  Its a most helpful tool when trying prove that you are  (I am) not an idiot. 

For instance, when the Misters insists there is another Baldwin brother named Adam. I can sit on the couch next to him, swiftly type ask.com, and voilla! prove that I do actually know what I’m talking about. 

Adam Baldwin is an actor currently appearing in Chuck on the peacock channel and he is in no way related to the famous Baldwin Brothers.  

Then, there is his assertion that it NEVER rains in LA. 

According to Ask Weather they receive 11.3 inches (as apposed to 33.9 inches in Dallas) of precipitation (rain/snow) per year.   While they only get 1/3 of the precip, its still more than NEVER.  And finally IMDB to the rescue – Scott Bacula or Richard Dean Anderson is MacGyver?      For the big ‘I told you so’ finish:

By the Way the above screen captures were created by Della with her snazzy  “snipping tool” as I created this  posting using Windows Live Writer.  I love this new computer and I love the internet!

Snazzy!

Victory is mine! I yelled as I opened the door to greet the FedEx man on Thursday.  My brand new ruby red Dell Inspiron laptop had finally arrived.  She is so pretty I’m going to name her Della.  I’m sure we’ll spend many countless days and nights together cruising the information super-highway as well as many well spent hours blogging.  She has all of the bells and whistles – fully equipped with the latest business software from Microsoft, Windows Vista (which isn't bad at all – Yeah! Vista) and a built in video camera  which I just used to take this photo.  Great camera but the model needs a little bit of work.

Oh, happy day!  And if my children even think about touching it….. :-)

Back Blogged

I've been all blogged up for the last few weeks. Oh the stories I could have been telling. They often visit me in the middle of the night, or when I'm in the shower, or when I'm driving. But when I sat down at my computer there was nothing. So, here is a truncated version of what I've been up to for the last few weeks.

I just spent the last 5 DAYS working on my laptop trying to resurrect it from the near dead. Can you say VIRUSES!!! Not just one. This was me defragging at about 11:00pm last night. After several days of worry, praying, pleading, groaning, more prayer, more tears, deleting programs, installing and running new anti-virus software, scanning, scanning, rescanning, rebooting about 500 times, crying, praying and pleading with God to save my laptop and one final defrag followed by one final complete scan - I THINK ITS GOING TO BE OK.

I'm very careful about what I open or download, so you ask - how does something like this happen to someone like me. I HAVE FIVE CHILDREN - enough said.

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Audrey turns 10. These are her birthday shoes. They are really cute for about a week and then they start to fade like crazy. By the way, Hannah Montana is no longer cool. I think its all about Demi Lavato now.

Notice the "fire starter in the lower corner of the photo. This is a "childproof" device (adult-proof incendiary device commonly used by five-year-olds to start fires in closets)

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Jeremey turns 13 - and he likes a girl!

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The Mister has a birthday. Not saying how old he is but next year he will be 40. Here he is blowing out the imaginary candles on his birthday cake.

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All girls weekend road trip to San Antonio to start spring break.

A favorite niece has a baby shower. I only have two nieces and they are both my favorites.

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Cousins - self portrait by Natalie.

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Me and Natalie at the Alamo.

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Caught having fun during Spring Break - 52 degrees outside but they just had to "swim".

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And best of all SPRING HAS SPRUNG :-)

He Said, She Said

Bread, Bread and More Bread!

And even MORE BREAD

Alternate titles: He Bread, She Bread or What Men Hear

Tuesday Morning 5:00am

Mister: You should go shopping today while I’m at work because we are out of everything but please only spend about $100.
ProlificMom: How about this - I will wait until you come home from work and we can go shopping together so you can be the “grocery cop”. (First, I don’t really like shopping with the Mister, but for the last few months I have insisted that we shop together so he cannot criticize what I did or did not get, or what I should or should not have gotten, or how much I spend on groceries. Second, his shopping technique drives me crazy because he starts at the back of the store with the milk and takes about twice as long as me to make his selections. Thats 90 minutes of unrefridgerated milk before we even make it to the register, and that is just the beginning of what drives my crazy. So, I was being sarcastic when I called him the “grocery cop”.)

1:00pm Phone call from The Mister
Mister: I have to work a little bit late and then I’m going to do some things before I get home….so I will be a little bit late.
ProlificMom: Where will you be going?
Mister: …….just places…you’ll see when you get home
ProlificMom: OoooooKaaaaaay? So, I will pick up the kids and I’ll see you when you get home - whenever that is.

3:15pm ProlificMom picks up kids from school and heads to the bread store. Its just down the street from the school so I shop there before or after school pickup. We buy bread at the Mrs Bairds retail store because we save a lot of money that way. $23 worth of bread products later we are on the way back to school to pick up 6th grader and head home. All is well with the world or so I thoght.

3:55pm Phone call from The Mister
Mister: When you get home there will be tater tots cooking in the oven for the kids to eat as a snack. I’m on the way to the grocery store to do the shopping.
ProlificMom: Well don’t bother to get any bread because I just came from the bread store where I spent $23. We are stocked up for the next two weeks.
Mister: What? NOOOOOOOO. I already went to the bread store and I spent $22. You need to go back and get your money back because we don’t need all that bread! You told me I could be the grocery cop today.
ProlificMom: OOOOOOh Nooooooooo! First, I’m not taking the bread back. We will just have to freeze it. Second, when you called me earlier and said you had places to go, I asked you where you were going and you just said places. If you had told me you were going to the bread store I wouldn’t have gone there too. Why didn’t you tell me where you were going when I asked? I did not fail to communicate on the subject. While I didn’t tell you I was planning to shop for bread, you didn’t tell me where you were planning to go when I asked “where are you going”. THIRD, when we had our discussion about groceries this morning, I SAID WE SHOULD SHOP TOGETHER so you could be the grocery cop AND I ASKED YOU WHERE YOU WERE GOING AFTER WORK. You should have told me you were going to do the shopping. I ASKED!!!!!!
Mister: But you said I could be the grocery cop. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to buy bread.
ProlificMom: I didn’t JUST SAY you could be the grocery cop. I said we should go TOGETHER so you could be the grocery cop. Helloooooo? Is anybody in there?

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What ProlificMom said: I will wait until you come home from work and we can go shopping together so you can be the “grocery cop”.

What the Mister heard: bla bla bla bla bla you come home from work bla bla bla bla bla bla you can be the “grocery cop”. (Translation: After you come home from work, I would like for you to do all of the shopping.)