What Kind of Friend Are You?

What Kind of Friend are you?

If someone asked 3 of your best friends what would they say?

Kind, giving, generous, funny, their rock.

Or would it be more like this...

doesn't return my calls, no time for me, downer, needy.

Oh, I know that's not any of you - I can tell my blog readers are most likely great friends in real life.

Would do you hope they say?

What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind as a friend?
The epitaph would read something like this:

Dedicated Mother.
Loving Wife
______Friend

What would you want it to say?


So, this is part of a talk that I am giving on friendship in the morning to a MOPS group. Actually it's the end of about 20 minutes on how friendship adds so much to our lives. That's where I've been. I only have so much creative juice and it's all gone into writing that. Plus, the weather is absolutely amazing here. Any free time has been spent outside enjoying it with my sweet kiddos.

I'll be back this week - hope all is well in your worlds.

So, what kind of friend would you like to be remembered as?

Me?

I hope that I make my friends feel worthy and encouraged. So, Encouraging. That would be my word.

Compassion Bloggers In India

Are you following these bloggers on their trip to India with Compassion International. You should! They will be sharing some amazing stories of their experiences in Kolkatu (Calcutta) and hopefully meeting some of their own Compassion kids.

Robin at Pensieve wrote this today. Wow, the girl can express her heart through words in a most beautiful way.

Of course, I am following Anne Jackson also. She's there, too. Actually, the first time I ever read Anne's blog, FlowerDust, was when she was on the Compassion bloggers trip in Uganda. I guess now I kinda love just about everything she does.

Check her out here

Town Hall For Hope - my take

I watched this last night at my church. All I can say is THANK YOU, Dave Ramsey!

I have to admit that while I can see my friends losing jobs and people struggling all around me, I really have wondered if the economy is as bad as the media plays it out to be. I just think the media thrives on sharing bad news or at least people just listen to bad news.

What about the good news? It seems to get lost in all the mess.

So, I appreciated Dave's honest and factual answers to what is really going on in our country. I like his no nonsense approach to taking responsibility for where we are financially and his grace-filled approach to getting out of it.

I mostly appreciated the message of HOPE!

Get your real deal answers about our economy from Dave HERE.

I choose hope.

Mom's Not Missing From This Picture! 3/52

Time for another edition of Mom Missing from Forever Blue Jeans. The object of this carnival - find photos with mom in the picture which we all know is harder than it sounds. Mom is always taking the picture!

So, this week when I went to find a photo with me in it, I found this one that my son took. He was really proud of himself for taking this photo.



Mom's Not Missing here...well, most of her anyway.







You see what happens when Mom hands over the camera and tries to get in the picture? Well, at least I tried!

Go Canes!!!!

Yay Carolina Hurricanes!!!

Read all about this exciting game HERE!

Wordless Wednesday - Roses are Dead

These are my roses from last year.

They died over the Winter.

:( This is me so sad.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but I am so done with roses. May these rest in peace.

(With the exception of Knock-Out Roses - they rock. )

For More Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom

What I Learned This Week - Weekend Away

Hello out there! Long time, no blog. Spring has Sprung, y'all. It's hard to sit at your computer when the sun is shining it's pretty face.

I'm back just in time for What I Learned This Week! I love this carnival over at Musings of a Housewife because it's really a super way to reflect on the week and summarize just what's really important. Join in if you have a blog and if not, hop on over to check out what others learned this week.

So, I learned that time away with girlfriends is like food to my soul.

I went on a women's retreat with my church this past weekend to the beach. I just think that laughter and tears among a group of women at this stage in my life is akin to eating the best piece of chocolate in the world.

Decadent but, oh so necessary!

Funny that I would compare time with my girl friends to eating chocolate since most of the time you can't have one without the other!

It was a beautiful time at the beach. The weather was cool but sunny. The hotel was nice, good food and lots of it! No, I did not stay on my WW diet during, but I'm back on the wagon today!

I learned that Hubby does quite well without me with our kids. Bubby even woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and Hubs was able to handle it all on his own. Not happily, but really who would be?!?

I learned that if I leave Hubby alone all weekend that he might just go out and buy a major appliance. Like a new dishwasher. Yes, he did. Thanks, honey.

So, how about you? How was your weekend?

Read all about it...

Fresher Breath, Whiter Teeth, Shiny Lips. Read all about it over at Chic Critique. I'm over there today! :)

The Directions

"Mom, I need the directions."

My 5 year old Bubby, says this every time we open a new toy from his birthday.

Oh yeah, let me get those out of the trashcan.

I am finding this pretty funny considering Hubby pours over the directions before he puts something together, where I am more of a figure it out as I go along kinda gal.

Funny thing is that I never have parts left over. The other day I found a box of tools and in it were left over parts from a shelf that my husband was putting together some time ago.

A. Whole. Lotta. Parts.

This is with the directions.

See, why do you even need them?

Me Versus the Dogs

Some days, I feel like all I do is clean up after my dogs, chase them off the couch, feed them and train them. Okay, only Elmo is trainable - you really can't teach an old dog (Buddy) new tricks.

On top of that he is deaf = lost cause. It's a good thing he is only 7 pounds and 10 years old. At least I can pick him up and he moves slow.


Here are some pictures of what they have been up to lately. Well, mostly Elmo. Buddy just sleeps a lot and tries to stay out of Elmo's way.
This picture is a rare moment of quiet with Elmo and this is about as close as Buddy wants to be to our new addition. This was taken right before Elmo noticed Buddy behind him and pounced on him. I obviously was correcting that and could not take a photo for you.

More...

I guess if you chew up your bed...

And your older "brother" sleeps on the couch...

Then you think you can sleep there, too.

I'm much happier with this behavior, though.

Of course, this was before he chewed up this bed, too. I was so mad that I couldn't take a picture. I was in the other room for maybe 5 minutes when I came into the room to find each of these beds shredded. He now has his third bed and seems to be okay with not destroying it. It will be his last - I can promise you that. Well, until he is over the puppy thing.



Here is a little of what he likes to do in the yard. Thank goodness this was before I planted anything in here. We've redirected him to do this in the wooded area of our yard. No telling what he will find out there. I only hope he doesn't bring it to me.

He is a mess but very sweet. He has the softest ears ever and the tilts his head in the cutest way when I talk to him. Buddy is adjusting and spends a lot of time on my lap so not much has changed, I guess!

What I Learned This Week- Trust Your Instincts.

What I Learned this week...

You can never be too over-zealous when it comes to the health of your children. The last couple weeks as my B has been sick off and on, I worried a little bit about taking her into the doctor for a simple virus that they wouldn't be able to do anything about. I don't know how many times I have taken one of my children into the doctor only to be sent home because "it's viral" or "we just need to wait it out."

I do believe that sometimes doctors dismiss mothers too much. I do believe that we jump to conclusions often because they are our very own precious babies. But last week when I called the nurse at our pediatrician's office to see if I should bring B in or not what I really wanted to do was just take her in to be checked out. I'm over the guilt thing (kind of) but my initial instinct was to bring her in and I ignored it.

So, I learned - don't ignore my mommy instincts. Even if they turn out to be wrong I know I will feel better next time that followed my gut.

And some other random lessons learned...

• I learned that Spring Break was fun with my kiddos and it went way too fast. We spent some time at a museum but mostly just hung out at home. It was pretty low key and that is just fine by me!

• I learned that I am EXCITED to be leaving for a women's retreat this Friday! Hello beach, here I come. I've missed you so much.

• I learned that I HATE dieting and that you should probably not start one the week before the Easter Bunny brings chocolate bunnies and jelly beans to your house.

• I learned last night that the show "24" just might give me heart failure. What is T thinking?!?!? I don't want to spoil so I won't spill any details here but if you watched it last night, you know what I am talking about. I'm actually so bummed! Seriously, that is one kick-bahooty show!

For more lessons learned this week, head on over to Musings of a Housewife

Insert Mommy Guilt Here

I hope everyone had a very Happy Easter. Ours was quiet and relaxing. We missed church (boo hoo - read on) but still were able to enjoy time as a fam and spend some time outside gardening.

Sunday proved to be the most low key day of the weekend and a perfect end to a very busy Spring Break.

One highlight of the weekend was the 7 hours in the ER with my sweet B on Saturday. I think I mentioned last week that she was sick with what I thought was the stomach virus. So, at first I thought it just must have come back. At many times during her sickness I even told her that there was nothing I could do for her hurting tummy. Insert serious mommy guilt here.

Yet, at another point this weekend, I even gave her Pepto Bismol because I thought she ate too much junk food while with Gramma. She promptly threw that up and every other thing in her tummy. Insert even more mommy guilt here.

But you can see where I thought it was the stomach bug, right? RIGHT? Please say yes and make me feel better.

Anyway, after two weekends in a row of the same exact symptoms my hubby made the suggestion I take her to Urgent Care. ( I did call the doctor last week but they really thought it was the stomach virus, too and she actually got better for about 4 days. And yes, I need to tell you this to reassure you that I am not as bad at this mommy thing as it may seem. )

The doctor at the Urgent Care told me he could not rule out appendicitis because of the pain in her lower right abdomen. She had pain in all of her abdomen but since it was also in that lower right area in addition to the fever, nausea and vomiting, I was directed to immediately take her to the ER for a cat scan to rule it out.

At the hospital, they ended up giving my sweet 8 year old daughter morphine for the pain and make her drink this yucky stuff so they could see inside her belly for the cat scan. Since she was throwing up everything she put in her mouth they gave her some anti-throwing up medicine. It did not work. She threw up about half of the meds for the scan. I freaked out a little bit and called the nurses who PROMPTLY cleaned it up.

After they cleaned her and the room up she said, "Mom, when I get home, I'm going to send them a thank you note." She is so good about thinking of others - even when she is sick.

So, after we settled in, I just curled up next to her in the bed and stroked her little face so she would fall asleep. She actually thanked me for staying at the hospital with her. Like I would be anywhere else.

At last, I was able to sing out an ALLELUIA when they told me the results just showed a very very bad UTI, possible kidney infection and NOT Appendicitis. No surgery. Just antibiotics and a trip to the Urologist later this week.

The crazy thing is that I then remembered her complaint, from couple weeks ago, of pain when she went pee. But she never complained of pain again after that morning, so I didn't take her to the doctor. Insert major mommy guilt here. Maybe it could have all be avoided if I'd just been proactive then. She must have a pretty high tolerance for pain, though. In the last 2 weeks she only complained about that pain once. By the time we reached the hospital on Saturday she told the nurse the pain in her tummy was about a 6.

Break. My. Heart.

We finally got home and put B to bed after 11:00 that night. I still had to make a trip to Walmart and finally finished my preparations for the Easter Bunny around 1:00 in the morning.

So, that is why the next morning after everyone found their baskets from the good ole' Easter Bunny, that I went back to bed. At this point, recuperation for everyone was in order. We ended up having a quiet little family dinner by ourselves which was nice for a change. My daughter said, "Mom, this is nice because usually all the kids are at one table and the adults at another. This Easter we all get to sit together!" Sounds good to me.

How about you? How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

He's Alive!

Mark 16 - The Message

Blessings to you on this beautiful Easter morning!

Good Friday

Mark 15 The Message

May this day be one of reflection and peace for you.

What I Learned This Week - The Pool Opens in Less Than 2 Months

I learned that if you don't exercise on a regular basis and join your husband (every single night) in his new found love for ice cream that you will gain weight.

I could tell that my clothes were getting tighter. Actually, that is an understatement. I seriously cannot fit in to a couple pairs of my favorite jeans. As it warms up here in North Carolina and I start to pull out my Spring pieces, I am finding that many of them are not fitting well.

I carry my weight really well, actually. It sneaks up on me where I can't even tell I've gained. That is until my clothes don't fit anymore. Then it's kinda hard to deny.

At first I blamed it on my dryer. Surely it was shrinking all my clothes.

Then I rationalized that I just was not working out and probably became a little loosey goosey.

Then I got on the scale. The kids must have been messing with that thing.

Then I got another reminder from my doctor that my annual appointment is due and it occurred to me that I was putting it off so that I did not have to get on his scale. You know, the one that tells you the truth.

I'm just not brave enough to tell you how much weight I have gained since August. Since my high school reunion. Yeah, I wish I had one of those every year - I might just stay in shape. Let's just say it's about the weight of a very small child or a medium size dog. On my 5 foot 6 inch frame. Not Good.

So, I joined Weight Watchers this morning and am committing to being back in the gym. My beautiful haven of a gym that I don't take nearly enough advantage of.

I loathe. I detest. I despise. I just plain and simply hate dieting.

I love. I relish in. I heart. I just plain and simply delight in food.

This is going to be hard but it really must be done. The pool opens in less than 2 months and I feel like poo poo right now.

Extra weight makes me tired and cranky and unmotivated. So, because I NEED to do this - I'm telling you and I will keep you posted.

Nothing like accountability.

I need the WW to help me gain focus on portions and getting back to healthier choices. It's all about habits and I've gotten into some pretty bad habits. I really just need a shift there.

So, tell me if you have done Weight Watchers - do you have a favorite recipe?

For more lessons learned this week hop or run or skip - just do something to burn some calories - over to Musings of a Housewife.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. Please be praying for little Stellan

So, it's Not Me that in the last 3 days has had either one of my two dogs or children throwing up and/or diarrhea. I have Not become best friends with my carpet shampooer and It's definitely Not Me that IS. DONE. with sickness and running the mammals, that live in my home, to their appropriate doctors.

It's Not Me that has nothing planned for our Spring Break. Well, I have plenty of stuff planned that my kids are not thrilled about. So, I tweaked the week a bit and hopefully have a couple days open for nothing but fun! Just. As. Soon. As. B Stops Throwing up.

It was Not Me that got to work in my yard all weekend. It was not a GLORIOUS weekend here. Aside from all the stuff floating around in the air that causes my family to have wicked allergies, the weather was splendid. Have you ever heard the saying Carolina Blue Skies? Yeah, this past weekend is why.

It definitely was not me that had some time to re-pot some plants inside and divide some plants outside. It was not me that got to garden all day and did not buy a single plant! I also started some plants from seed a few weeks ago and they are coming in nicely. I can't wait to get those in pots and beds. I really hope they do well. If I could be successful bringing seeds to plants - the world of gardening would be a whole new place!

And it's Not Me that is working through a meaty issue going on between some people I care about. It's not totally settled but I can say that I see some light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, you just have to realize that people are making the best decisions they can and are not intentionally meaning to hurt anyone. I absolutely cannot live in a negative place for long. I don't enjoy the darkness of that at all. So, I'm glad to see healing begin and people moving on for the best. I am starting to learn that the process of healing and working through situations is often more important than the end result.


No, it was Not Me who just revised this post so I could link up with Not Me Monday and did it too late and could not link up. Such a typical thing for me. Sigh

A Woman Inspired Web Conference

Yay Me!!! I won a ticket to A Woman Inspired Web Conference from Lysa TerKeurst's blog! I'm so excited to be able to listen to her and other inspired women speak this week from the comfy of my own computer and in my jammies. Thank you Proverbs 31!!

Won't you join me? It's costs just $12.95 to attend this conference and you can do it right now. Go Here. The conference starts on Monday and goes through Thursday.

Concealer Woes?

Blogging at Chic Critique today about two of my favorite concealers. Go Here to check it out.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day

I have many friends that are parents of children with autism. I often do not know how to support them except to just love and listen. I hope that by raising awareness for autism there will be more resources for them. Please check out what you can do HERE.

Happy Birthday Bubby!

This picture was taken 3 years ago. I've always loved how he was holding this present.

It's hard for me to believe my little guy will be headed to Kindergarten in a few short months. It really seems like yesterday you were born, yet today you turn 5!

You make me laugh with your quirky sense of humor.

"I got a box! I've always wanted a box!" you exclaimed last night as you opened some of your gifts. The family was quick to laugh and you were quick to oblige with another one, "Look, tissue paper! I've always wanted tissue paper!"

You are both my baby and my big boy. Often when I tell you to do something you will do it without argument. You hang up your coat and bag every day after school and clean up your room each night before bed.

As my baby, you still want me to lay with you each night and kiss on your soft ears and talk about your day.

I love the way you laugh - Eyes squished closed, grin from ear to ear, full from the belly and very very often.

It makes me proud to watch you interact with the younger boys in the neighborhood and count them as your friends even though some of them can barely form full sentences because of their age. Boys just seem to have that natural ability to get along.

My social butterfly.
My happy guy.
My fun loving playmate.

You are a blast and I love you beyond words.

Happy Birthday, Bubby!