Our Great Girlie-Time With An Odd Ending

I'm here. Been lookin' up lots of blogs enjoyin' everything I see! Lots of sweet ideas and gettin' more ideas for Christmas presents. I have a family quandary for Christmas every year and it's always the same... what to get the people who 'need' nothin' and want for nothin'? So this year, I'm gettin' creative. I'd much rather give people experiences and somethin' homemade than somethin' they don't need just to 'put a check in the box'. So, Buglette's takin' her nap and I'm sittin' here.

You may remember a few blogs ago (or have no recollection at all!) I wrote about medication I was taking and said that 'that was a story for another time' well, here's "the other time". And here's the story...

I took Bug up to Solvang, CA which is a small Danish town full of pretty shops and eateries and beautiful scenery and the drive up there is just too beautiful for words. I took her there because she had had a different sort of summer (she got to do lots of great stuff including summer Christian camp) with no real family vacation. I was getting cabin fever and Hubby suggested we go somewhere for a few days... just the my nine-year-old and I, her proud and grateful Mama. We got online and searched for a room in Solvang (Bug had never been and I knew she'd love it) and found an adorable room at the Wine Valley Inn; a loft room with a soft king-size bed and separate living room downstairs. The manager gave us a great price so Hubby said to go stay two nights instead! So off we went.

We had a wonderful two days filled with shopping (there is a perfect charity shop in Atterdag Square as well as a women's clothing consignment shop... love them both!) and we bought books at the bookstore (yep, several books, she has my love of reading) and we ate at some yummy places. We would shop, get tired, go back to our loft, nap, read, go eat, shop, read, you get the delicious idea. Well, the first night was restless for me. My arms and hands were awfully achy for some reason and I woke up all stiff and swollen for some reason. "Hmm, must've had something with too much salt yesterday". We got up and repeated the day before's events to our delight and I "just knew my body would bounce back after some walking and movin' around". Nope. Next night was even worse. Next morning was even worse than that. I was very stiff, now achy, swollen all over and could feel it getting worse. Long story short, after much debate with Hubby and then Mom and Dad I went to the emergency room there in the Santa Ynez Valley. Hubby stayed with Buglette and Mom and Dad drove up to be with me and especially Bug since we had no way of knowing what 'this' was or if I would need to stay overnight. 

Now, until Mom and Dad got there it was just me and my nine-year-old at the hospital waiting to find out what was going on. God sends angels just when we need them. I knew enough to not eat anything that morning so I would be fasting but I made Bug eat breakfast. By the time I was in the bed in the ER she was hungry and thirsty. A nice lady next to us was there with her twenty-something son and she offered Bug a bottle of water and a donut from what she had brought in. So sweet. Next, the lady from our hotel called to make sure all was well and make sure Bug was doing ok too. She had grand babies and Bug could go play with them. So sweet but of course Bug wanted to stay with me. Next, a lady in her mid-late sixties came in to be seen. She was so kind to us both... making conversation. I didn't realize maybe God had me there for someone else when my new friend confided in me that her best girlfriend of fifty-some years was dying that very day in another town from cancer. I was shocked, here this woman sat in an ER because of heart palpitations and her BFF is loosing her life to cancer. I felt so bad for her. I asked if we could pray and we did. Thankfully she was able to move on and go get to her friend.

As for me, I just watched the world around me change, beds open up, people fill them, doctors and nurses checking on me/us the whole day. My parents got there as the doctor was releasing me after tests showed nothing conclusive. He put me on Prednisone, a steroid to control my

swelling and achy joints. This was the medication that was keeping me up at night. 

I have yet to know what caused all of this and I am having another "swell" day today, ha ha. I am achy and swollen, especially my hands and feet. We are waiting for test results and a referral to a specialist so here I sit! My energy is also zapped which is a bummer after getting so many great ideas from other blogs.

We did go to church last night and were so touched when the pastor began talking about difficulties in people's lives. He asked people to stand and share some. I just knew no one would do that but before long there were people all over the congregation standing and talking about real difficult issues in their lives. Everything from needing a job to being a single parent to dealing with their pasts to mourning the death of a parent was mentioned. It was so moving and touching. There were big, burly guys who were being so transparent in their need for prayer (which we did as a congregation for everyone). It made all of our 'issues' seem so small. They are small in light of the big God we serve. So, I will be fine, one way or the other! I got two glorious days with my daughter and it ended on an odd note but I still got that time with her before school started!   We are blessed!

Work Hard, Enjoy Later

Sometimes my brain is 'a ticking... sometimes it's not. Today is a 'not' day. There's no reason, just not sure what to blog about. I read some of my favorite blogs and even found Beth Moore's blog from Living Proof Ministries. I love her... I've done several of her bible studies and we are big-hair kindred sister spirits. I am getting ready to do another one of hers by chance this fall (Oct.). You have to prepare yourself to do one of her studies. She gets so deep sometimes I tell ya, my heart hurts. Plus she's notorious for homework but I do love how she thinks and how she delivers God's word, so I'll do the work required to get the benefits I know will be waiting for me at the end. That's a little like life, huh? Put in the work now and reap the benefits later. Work hard at raising your kids now and they will hopefully repay you with fruitful lives later (not to mention grandbabies! I think those are babies you can hand back to your kids when they are poopy) Work hard at your marriage now and hopefully enjoy retirement without wanting to kill each other, ha ha. Thinking about you, Mom and Dad. Work hard at your career now (or your husband's career) and hopefully be able to retire in the first place. We are always telling Bug, "work first, fun afterwards". But, sometimes rules were made to be broken... last summer Bug and her BFF were at our little house we were staying in till our new, big one was ready for us. It was hot, Buglette was an infant and those two eight-year-old peas-in-a-pod had played inside all day while I took care of Buglette. They did pretty good at entertaining themselves and keeping the noise to a minimum. It was a weird day for all of us, especially them because they are used to being able to swim (no pool where we were), or play outside (it was really hot) or at least go out for a little adventure (no way, no how, not with a cranky infant). Well, once dinner time rolled around I took great pleasure in telling them we were going for ice cream, no, not for dessert, but big, gooey scoops of the kind they can 'make' themselves by choosing the toppings to put in it. For dinner. Plus, if they wanted a chocolate-dipped cone it was theirs. Their jaws hit the floor and they kept saying, "really?" It felt so good to break that rule! What fun, for them as well as me. Here's to occasionally breaking the rules!

Today is Wednesday so that means I must be very organized tonight. I get Bug from school at 3pm to head straight home so she can do homework. I must get dinner going, we all eat, Buglette takes a bath and gets in jammies and Bug gets her stuff ready for Missionettes and school tomorrow. While Bug is in Missionettes we will be in church tonight and Buglette in the nursery. We won't get home till 8:30-8:45pm. It's our crazy night of the week.  

Lifted Up, Touched and Tickled

Ok, Women of Faith was awesome! Just imagine 15,000 women all in the same arena all singing and praising the Lord at the same time! Wow! I especially loved Marilyn Meberg, Patsy Clairmont and of course, Luci Swindoll. We got to also watch Christian comedian Anita Renfroe who made us all laugh so hard, I'm sure kegel exercises came in handy. We listened to Stephen Curtis Chapman who made me cry with his beautiful songs about his daughters and then one about his wife changing the world because she was home taking care of the children all day even though she felt like she got nothing done on some days. Whew! I was lifted up, touched and tickled all in a day and a half. We had an opportunity to sponsor a child in need from an impoverished country with Christian organization World Vision. I am very glad I answered the tug on my heart and decided to sponsor an eight year old little girl from Uganda named Juliet. Bug has just been beside herself with joy that she gets to write to her and that we are helping Juliet. Last night she cried gently into my chest and said, "Mama, I'm so blessed". I thought she was saying this because she realized how much she has and is grateful but she then said, "I'm so blessed because we get to help Juliet". Now that's the right attitude! Go on to World Vision.com to sponsor a child in need. $35 dollars a month gives them food, clean water, education and medication. So, for the cost of going out to eat one night you could give all that to one of God's children. 

Our weather the last few days has been unseasonable cooler. Yea!!! I know I've told you all this, like a million times but I am a very seasonal person! We got to 72 today. I decorated for fall outside today on our front porch and just in front in general. I put a fall wreath on our door, a scarecrow (a girl, of course, no boys in this house), a fake pumpkin by the front door (till we pick a real one) and a fall 'flag' in the shrubbery by the front door. The girls played out front while I 'worked', riding bikes and 'riding' tricycles. Buglette loves being outside and doesn't care whether it's in the front or back. Then we came in to do dinner.

I hope to be decorating the inside tomorrow... I will post some photos when I'm done. And now for your laughing pleasure (because I love to laugh) and it's Monday so someone should make you laugh...

         A little boy was paging through the family bible when something fell out of it. He picked it up and looked closely at it, it was an oak leaf that had been pressed between the pages. "Mom, look what I found," the boy shouted. "It's Adam's suit!"

And, no, Bug, sweet girl... Noah's wife was not Joan of Ark, good thinking, though! 

What My Paddle Got Me

Hi everyone! I will be away for a few days... Mom and I are going to the Women of Faith event for 2 days! Yea!!! I wait all year for this or for women's retreat! I'm sure I will have either funny stories or at least inspirational stories to share with you. I actually bid on our tickets at Bug's big fundraiser for school back in March. What fun it was to lift that paddle up in competition (I'm a VERY competitive person) to achieve 'winning' success! Well, I didn't actually 'win' them, I had to pay for them but I got to bid on what I would pay. For our two tickets for the two-day event, a $100 voucher for our hotel and $25 voucher for a restaurant was $300! Not bad, not bad if I do say so myself! The auction took place during a dinner at Bug's school and there were tons to bid on and baskets full of goodies to win. We came home with a ton of neat stuff! We also bid on and won my dad a golf package complete with custom-made clubs! To see his face as Hubby and I kept raising our paddles was priceless! 

Now, don't go thinking we are made of money and just spent a ton for the fun of it. Nooo, nooo, nooo, we decided to use the money we spent as our tithe to help Bug's school and gave away much more than we won. But the winning and raising my powerful paddle were awesome! I can't wait till next year's event! Hmmm, what kinds of great things can I bid on while wielding my powerful paddle this time?!?! I'm addicted, I tell ya, addicted! I will be donating something to the event this year but have yet to decide what, any thoughts?

I won't be here till at least Sunday, maybe even Monday. I'm off to go get my spiritual tank refilled... have a good weekend yourself.  

My Most Mortifying Moment

Just found another blog that I am totally in love with... it's called Pioneer Woman and she's on blogspot.com also. Seriously, go check it out! She's hilarious! She has a whole section devoted to embarrassing moments. I read a few and it got my juices flowing! I'll share my most embarrassing moment if you'll share yours... c'mon, it'll be fun... plus self-deprecating humor is good for the soul and laughing till you wet your pants is the best way to have a good time! "What, you're asking, the beetle-bug-down-your-blouse wasn't your worst moment?" No, very funny. Here goes...

Hubby and Bug and I were with very good friends and their kids in Hawaii, specifically Kauai. We loved to have fun with these particular friends and let our hair down a bit; laughter always accompanied the four of us wherever we went. Now, if you know me you know that I can come across a little prim and proper, I don't mean to, it's just how I carry myself. Hubby, though, loves to see me let go of that 'stuff' and be myself (ok, the prim and proper me is myself) and just have fun. So, we are there on vacation, relaxing, enjoying ourselves at the beautiful pool where there are waterfalls all around and lush foliage. My best-girlfriend-in-cahoots and I are looking fetching in our suits with something with an umbrella in it in our hands when a 'local' strikes up a conversation with us. We are flattered, he's not being overtly flirty just talking to 2 beautiful looking bathing beauties (read; almost middle aged married women who take kindly to stranger's ways) and our husbands are right there anyway! So, he turns to BOTH of us and says, "ok, who's going to step foot into the waterfall just for fun with me?" Now, mind you, said waterfall was all of five feet from where we were sitting and completely within view of hubby, no questionable tactics for me. And hubby just said he wished I would be a little less reserved so, and yes, you're right to shout at your computer, "don't do it, Mindi-girl, nothing good can come from this", but, alas, it is my most embarrassing moment... I walked over to the fake waterfall put one foot on a very slippery rock under the water and, with my hubs, my bestest girlfriend and her hubby watching (not to mention flirty stranger man) I went down like a sack of potatoes. There was a hedge around the waterfall and all my traveling companions said that one minute they could see me, the next I had just disappeared out of sight, quickly. Mortified and drenched and hurt (ok, the ego was bruised too) I hobbled back to hubby who looked just as mortified that I actually belonged to him. 

After healing some scrapes (and my ego, a bit) in our hotel room we all decided to go out karaoke-ing that night. It was good to get the day's events out of my head! We walked into the bar/grill and guess who was there??!?!! Yep, flirty stranger man! Thank the good Lord he wanted to forget he ever 'knew' me just as much as I wanted to forget what he saw... he ignored us the entire time! Whew! 

Ok, I thought that would be freeing to tell y'all that but now I'm just mortified all over again of what y'all will think of me but, remember you have to tell me yours now! I promise, I won't think any different of you! And, no, I don't have a picture to go with this.

Lessons in Faith... in many areas

It's Tuesday night, Hubby is gone to Sacramento for the week and I'm here with the girls and Sadie. They are both asleep... hallelujah! Buglette had a bit of a rough day for some reason; she was just very clingy. Bug had to study for a spelling test and that always causes 'waves' for us. She's like her dad... incredibly smart in so many areas but spelling isn't one of them, bless her heart. I, on the other hand don't have any problems with spelling or any language arts but would die a thousand deaths before taking any kind of math class again. Just send me to glory. Hubby has always been great at math (remember, I can say always because we are HS sweethearts) and science but had a difficult time in English etc... seems like Bug is following in his footsteps. So now is my peace and quiet time!

I've been giving a lot of thought as to what to write tonight. I have no funny anecdotes or stories about the family (I have plenty just not in the mood to write them) but wanted to write something a little more serious (I can to be serious). I was listening to my favorite Christian talk station today and heard a great message about how to handle difficulties in life and this particular pastor's perspective really made me think. I'd like to share it with you. He said that the Lord allows difficulties for many reasons, for growth, for a lesson to be learned, for others to come to Him through that trial, for our increased faith, the list could go. But because God allows the struggle, He Himself is there in the struggle. Our natural inclination is to try to escape the struggle, end the pain, stop the process but we should consider that the Lord Himself is there in the difficulty. Just knowing and remembering this can be so helpful when the winds are blowing and the seas are tossing us about. In this day and age there are so many things to struggle with, what with the economy, the lack of employment opportunities, government situations, family problems and this list could go and on. But as long as we are turning to the Lord for His will in our lives and seeking His guidance then in the midst of our trials and struggle He is there. I don't know about you but I just want to learn my lesson quickly, grow in the area quickly, have other's be saved through my trial quickly, and to increase my faith quickly but I need to remember to stop and allow God to do what needs to be done. What a hard lesson! 

By the way, speaking of the economy, does anyone need a home (or two?) we have our home in my hometown (see Small Town Girl) that we would like to sell (4 bedrooms, 2 baths sits on half an acre, 2400 sq. ft) and we have a manufactured home about 30 minutes from LA that needs to sell (2 bedrooms, 2 full baths, nice park, beautiful yard and view, cute interior). We got stuck trying to sell both of these when the economy took it's nosedive. We certainly don't need three houses! Leave me a message on the comment section of the blog if interested! What's that? You say I have no shame leaving that here on my blog? You're right! But it is my blog!   ;)     

The Park, a Clean Car and a Messy Baby

We've been having a great Labor Day weekend at home. Besides my delightful Saturday we have been going to the park in the evenings and playing with the girls and doing things around the house. We are getting ready for Hubby to go away for the week on business. I know for 'law enforcement' that sounds a bit unusual but he is in a specialized unit and they send him for training and to provide training for other agencies as well, so off he goes. In one year he's been to New Jersey, Georgia, Nevada and other areas in California on business.

Today we went to church and then out for pizza. Bug got to play some arcade games for tickets and got prizes for her sister... she's such a sweet kiddo. Then we came home and Bug and I colored! I love coloring and so does she. It's a fun thing for us to do side by side while we talk; aka mom gets to ask questions about her life and 'check in' and she has no idea I'm doing it. Afterwards we decided to wash the car. Now, Hubby is really good at doing the outside and I'm really good at doing the inside... good teamwork. I don't do well on the outside because I reach maybe up to the side mirrors (ha ha) I'm 5'3'' short. It always takes me forever to clean the inside because I'm been carting kids around in there. Sure enough I cleaned enough crackers, pretzels and dried fruit out of there to feed a small nation. Lift the car seat and, holy cow, more goodies! But once I was done I got to put in my new Autumn Wreath scented hanger from Yankee. There's nothing like driving a clean car with a heavenly scent in it!

We promised the girls another trip to the park after all the work so off we went. Bug has a blast on her bike and Buglette actually sat on a 'big girl' swing all by herself and let Daddy sit under her and lightly push her. She held on and everything! To top off our day we went to McDonald's for ice cream cones and because we were in Daddy's truck Buglette got to have her own cone! She loved it, had it everywhere and would hold it for awhile then want me to hold it while she let her hands warm up! What a great day! Hope you're enjoying your weekend too!