an ode to humidity (and other things)

humidity, how i hate thee.

the only good thing about this 200% humidity that we're having is it makes max's hair soo cute and curly in the back. if ben's were still long it would be doing the same thing. i seriously felt like i was living in the rainforest at the zoo today.

(insert pic of max's cute curls. use your imagination.)

on the other things front....

i can't find the charger for the camera so i hope y'alls have good imaginations if you're going to be reading round these parts. (it's important to add the "S" to y'all to heighten the effect. otherwise it might seem like i actually like the word(s?) y'all.)

sawesome is fitting into our family well. she is making me do all kinds of things i said i would never do and i haven't even wanted to take her back to the shelter for making me do these things. (that really does say quite a lot because i have honestly wanted to return my boys at times. but then the whole dilema of where to return them comes into play. "ahhhh, uterus, can i get a refund on this one. he's a bit much for me." and i'm yet to find God's drop box......

with sawesome, it's very interesting to me that i handle her much better than tim. (if i do say so.) or is it that she knows he will love her unconditionally so she can totally misbehave, whereas she knows that if she misbehaves with me, well, let's just say i'm not as forgiving. when she sliced my leg from mid-thigh to mid-calf i didn't go within her reach for days and gave her the "you know exactly why i'm mad at you" look.

on top of being really sweet and patient, what the shelter didn't tell us was she's part sled dog. she easily pulls ben and max in the double stroller if i let her. today she pulled ben, max, and the kid i watch after school-i'm guessing a good 75ish pounds. at first i was having a hard time keeping up with her because, although impressive, i really don't like her pulling that much weight by her collar and try to give her some slack. and we were going downhill. but when i get her a harness, i will have no guilt and might even hop on the stroller myself.

the end of the walk is always the kicker. she is tired and not as pully, we are walking into the sun, and there is a hill right before our driveway. today, it was made much more challenging because there was a dead squirrel that she really really REALLY!!! wanted and just couldn't forget about. so at that point i'm pushing the 3 kids with her trying to pull us in the Other direction. i just had to laugh.

(insert pic of max "holding" sawesome's leash. i hold it at the back of the stroller, but because she walks in front of us, max likes to grab her leash and hold it as we walk. totally precious.)

let's see, do i have any other cute pics i want to share. ha! oh, i crack myself up.



stay tuned. next post to be titled "deals". it was interesting to see your comments about coupons. i had a very interesting day last saturday deal hunting and i have to figure out how to properly bring it to life without the much needed voices, scowls, and sass.

coupons and hair cut

i LOVE a deal. it's a family thing. in some families it's valued to be ambitious about money, make a bunch of it, and then show it off. in my family, thrift is the name of the game. one dear uncle will occasionally awe me with his most recent side-of-the-road findings. and he finds some good stuff. all i ever see is single shoes.

this summer i 've really enjoyed garage sailing. (no it's not sale-ing. for me it's sailing.) i've scored some great treasures, even with two little boys in tow. maybe i'll chronicle them here sometime, but not tonight.

our whole house is furnished almost completely with second hand furniture, mostly free. (that has more to do with generous family and friends, good timing, and God's small blessings, than my own thriftiness.)

so in seek of more cheap thrills and because garage sailing season is winding down, i have become intrigued with the idea of couponing. i don't know that i can completely get into it, but enjoy the ease and possibilities that this site offers: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/. today i went to target in pursuit of some free thrills and did okay.

for these four items, i paid $2.20 with tax. the bread alone would have been $2.49. not that i would have bought it for that much, but it is a fun treat-blueberry strudel (or strussel?). according to the receipt i saved $4.50. yikes. groceries can be so expensive. i often think i'd rather eat beans and rice and spend my grocery money on fun things instead. oh what a dark day that would be for my dear husband who 1.)doesn't like beans and 2.) doesn't like rice.

so we'll see how couponing goes. i might just have to use craigslist in place of garage sailing, although part of what i love about garage sales (it's not sails, of course) is the walking and the summer weather. we'll see.

in other news, i cut my own hair last night. which means, i went and had my awesome stylist fix my hair tonight. i say stylist because she does too great of a job to be called my hair gal. the idea of me having a stylist is quite hilarious though. because, since i love a deal, before going to said hair cutter, i had rarely paid more than $7 for a haircut in the last five years. but she is worth it and i love knowing that all my money goes directly to her instead of to a corporation or to pay a rental for a booth. and her little boy is soooo cute. it's quite the entertainment i get in addition to my cut.

i don't have a before pic. it looked like i had grown puppy dog ears in the form of hair. it was not a good look and in a rather annoyed mood last night, i decided i could fix it. then realized i couldn't. it really wasn't that bad. and if i had enlisted tim's help, it just might have worked. but we weren't friends last night and i was more than happy to have a good reason to go have my hair cut.

this is the after.

that's what happens when i try to take my own pic.

tim said i try too hard. i say, i don't generally like pictures of myself. so at least if it's weird, it's obvious. instead of it trying to look nice and turning out weird. (it's also a family thing. i have pictures of many generations making odd faces.) plus he didn't give me many chances. he was busy.

i am a blessed woman.

warning: this post is much more sentimental than other posts. caution: if you read this, you might realize i'm slightly more substantial than my random, frivolous posts would imply. READER BE WARNED.


it's true. i am so very blessed. i have been absent from this space because i've actually been socializing with real people and doing real things. (not all the time. i've also wasted my fare share of time online, but been too soggy-brained to write.)

i am blessed to live really close to my arnold family. if i really, really needed them, i would have at least two brothers, a couple of sisters, and maybe even a strapping, handsome nephew at my side at a moments notice. i can literally look out my back door (like i am right now) and see my beloved oldest brother's (and godfather-a role we take VERY seriously in our family) house. inside it are some of those wonderful nephews and one of the loveliest sisters. they are the best neighbors i could ask for.

arnold can be a strange breed of people at times, but i really do have the best family in the world-for me.

i am blessed to be part of the woodburn family. so welcoming and fun loving. i feel so blessed when friends muse (or vent) about their in-laws. heck, sometimes i like tim's parents more than i like him. i don't like to call tim's mom my mother-in-law because that so often has an unpleasant association. so i call her tim's mom. (not to her face obviously.)

i am blessed to have a man who is a fantastic daddy. upstairs, wrangling max and building yegos with ben. the dialogue i am listening to has my heart a practically explodin'. (i'm just trying to not think about the fact that max has eight lego helmets in his mouth. fortunately he doesn't swallow, just packs and hoards.)(cancel that. they came down, and he only had one very small wooden bead in his mouth.)

i am blessed to have a man who knows that i need some quiet alone time, and makes me have it, even when i don't know-or won't admit, that i need it.

i am blessed to have two incredibly hard, intense, beautiful little boys. they bring me so much joy and fill me with such awe and wonder. i marvel at God's creation through them.

i am blessed to have good friends who share pretty much all my important beliefs. because i need that sense of understanding and agreement.

i'm also blessed to have just a couple, maybe even just one, who doesn't agree with me. and it makes me crazy. but i love him. and it's good for me. until he comes around, finds the truth, and oh what a world it will be then.

these blessings are so above and beyond...true gifts from the Creator.

but some of them have also been conscious decisions and have resulted from hard work. tim and i chose to raise our family close to our own families and in the Diocese of Wichita. we opened ourselves to His will and have been gifted our boys as a result. my ancestors and my parents worked VERY hard to give me this family and to preserve the Faith. and marriage...oh marriage. i know i can get an amen to how much work it is. and sometimes it is so not fun and romantic and not what our world tells us it should be. but when it is the sacred, the sacrament, what it is truly meant to be, it is so good.


so there it is. this is meant to balance all of my whining. and my whining about whining. don't say i didn't warn you. my time is up. and no pics, because i just can't find the time to upload, position, and write.

and the winner is....

monica. yes, monica, you are the official winner of my "i'm trying to buy your love" drawing. if you could send me your real live postal address and then check your mail in 6-8 weeks, you will find a surprise. to everyone else, hang in there. maybe someday you to can be as lucky as monica.

no pictures tonight. i'm tired and going to bed. i just tried to conquer the toy takeover that has become of our house, but i don't feel like i made much progress. ugh, tooo much STUFF. every time i get our house cleaned out, more STUFF seeps in to clutter my world. my fantasy these days is to live in a clutter free house for one whole magical day. (okay, if i'm fantasizing it would also involve a cook, a maid, quiet children....oh i better just stop thinking.) the crazy thing about the toy takeover is that we don't buy the boys toys.