the weekend can not come soon enough

by teresa

I am always triple busy around this time of year.
No time for blogging, reading or cooking (my three favorite things).
MOPS, church functions, Christmas shop at Ben's school, band concert, board meetings, soccer practice, basketball practice, etc. All things I love, but when combined, suck the life out of me.
The end of this week will bring sweet relief.

band geeks rule

by teresa

Nick had his "winter" band concert at school tonight.
Chris was out of town until late evening, so I went solo.
It was the usual seasonal song lineup.
Jingle bells, rockin' around the Christmas tree, etc.
After each piece the crowd would give a little clap.
Then they played *get this* Jesus Loves Me.
Jesus. Loves. Me......and it was so beautiful. Soft, intimate and then building up and powerful.
I didn't breathe the entire song. People all around me were singing and humming along. I cried. I was so proud (Nick had told me the director had told them to keep the playlist a secret to surprise the parents).
When the song came to an end most of the crowd leapt to their feet, applauding and cheering.
Take Christ out of schools? Ha!!

Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy

by teresa

The cashier at the thrift store asked me if I was 55.
"There's a great discount for seniors", she said.
heifer.

give until it hurts?

by teresa

Up early this morning to get ready for the MOPS Christmas party.
I can't believe it is almost Christmas.
I have done about half of our shopping.
Just Nick and Ben left on my list.
Luckily, we (Jackie, Mom and I) go lots of things checked off in the OBX.
My theme this year?
"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give."
It's funny, when I had the least (money), I gave the most. Towers of gifts for the kids, most of which they hardly ever used. It was space filler...."look how many gifts you have!" But, when you actually have a lot to give, you are more thoughtful about the things you buy.
Maturity, I guess.

whistle while you....

by teresa

Ben learned how to whistle this week.
*sigh*

In the car.
From his bed at night.
At the grocery store.

It annoys the dickens out of me. I lost it in Food Lion, snapped at him and scared the man walking beside us. Not one of my best parenting moments.
I'm gonna start walking around with my ipod in to save my sanity.

•"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will."

by teresa

Re-read my favorite book of all time this week.
Jane Eyre.
Funny...I was assigned this book in high school to read and write a research paper on.
I only read through the first couple of chapters (under duress) and squeaked out some generic report. Why do we only like to do things under our own free will?
I picked it up later in life and fell in love.

What is your favorite book and what age did you read it?

got socks?

by teresa

Got a call today while I was out.
It was Ben.
"Mom, can you bring me some clothes?"
At recess, he was running and slipped in the mud.
I ran up to school (with a clean outfit) and found him sitting in the office waiting.
By the looks of him, the mud puddle was 3 feet deep.
He was soaked from head to toe.
On the phone he had just said to bring pants and a shirt.
We changed in the bathroom and I felt bad because his sock were dripping...and I had not brought clean ones.
Can you imagine how uncomfortable that would be for the rest of the day?
So I did what any good mom would do. I gave him mine.
Unfortunately for Ben, I had wore my brown/green/orange argyle socks today.
He reluctantly slid them on and prayed (aloud) that there would be nothing in his teachers lesson that involved taking his shoes off for the rest of the day.

let the lights shine

by teresa

Ben has channeled his inner Clark Griswold again this year.
It clicked in as we pulled up from Thanksgiving vacation and our neighbor had put up some of her decorations. It was a slap in the face...a challenge. She was first....and he likes to be first. So he vowed to be better.
He dragged out all our decorations, with the help of big brother and so it began.
Christmas lights 2009!
He walked around muttering things like, "I have a vision" and "we need more chords!"
Eight hours, three stores (Walmart, Garden Ridge and Walgreens) and ten chords later, he was done. Well not completely, his "vision" has a Charlie Brown manger scene around our front tree. That $60 shout out to baby Jesus is still sitting at Garden Ridge (I'm so mean).
The two of us sat on the porch last night. Me, staring at the hideous spaghetti of extension chords across all parts of my front lawn....him, reveling in the glory that only proper exterior illumination can give.
A car drove by...very slowly. He squealed as they drove off and said, "they were pointing at my candy canes!".
too funny.