Stand By Your Man

Remember that old Patsy Cline song "Stand By Your Man"? If not, here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Stand by your man
Give him two arms to cling to
And somethin' warm to come to
When nights are cold and lonely

Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep givin' all the love you can
Stand by your man

Bill and I have always been super supportive of each other. If one of us is sad or upset, the other is as well. As a matter of fact, when we were first married, I felt treated very unfairly at a little gift store. I don't remember all of the details now, but when I got home, I was visibly upset. Bill was upset, too. He was so upset that he called the store and asked to speak to a manager about the situation. We laugh about that now. How silly to be that upset about something that happened at a store! Newlyweds....*sigh*
Anyway, ever since Bill has become a principal, I have found myself to be extremely sensitive. His job is not easy. Not easy at all. When I hear of certain situations, my blood boils. My blood boils so much that I find it extremely hard to find the Godly things to think and do.
Does anyone else feel this way? Does anyone else have a spouse that is continually in the public eye; the critical, accusatory public eye? It drives me bonkers!
I am so proud of Bill, and I think that any school is extremely fortunate to have him on its staff, in a leadership position. So, when I get upset, I just have to remember that it's my job to

" Stand by your man
And show the world you love him
Keep givin' all the love you can
Stand by your man"

p.s. If you're looking for a post about Luke's new bed, keep scrolling down...it's there!

So Grown Up

Hi, all. What a week it has been! Fortunately, it's Friday! We started out the week with Luke being sick. It turned out to be a 24-hour bug, but it seemed like that just put me behind the entire week! How in the world does one setback put me so far behind? It has been one of those weeks that I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water!
Anyway, like I mentioned, it's Friday. Praise the Lord! I'm looking forward to a rejuvenating weekend...hopefully!
My Dad put the final touches on Luke's bed, and we brought it home Monday night. Luke LOVES his bed! I wasn't too worried about it, actually. He loves any bed, like his mom! Here are a few pictures of him and Bill putting it together. Luke felt so special that he got to help Daddy!

I'm Still Here

Yes, I am still here. Unfortunately, Luke had been sick a couple of days and now that he's better, I'm trying to play catch up around the house. I am working on a new post, though. Luke is in a big boy bed tonight. *Sigh* I cried.

Not too much to say...

I really don't have one single iota to blog about, but at the same time, I want to blog. I just got home from a high school volleyball game, put Luke to bed and now am sprawled out on the couch with my trusty laptop in hand. I was reading a friend's blog when I began to think about all of the amazing friends that I have. God has truly blessed me. When I think about it, I think that some parts of my life God ordained just so that I could have friends that would last me a lifetime.
I think back to my days at good old Northwestern. I can't really think of any other good reason as to why I went there. It was a great school and all, but I met some of my best friends there. The kind of friends that no matter how long you have been apart, it feels like you had just seen each other yesterday when you finally do reconnect. There is no explanation for that kind of bond other than the bond that us sisters have in Christ. We have an eternal bond. It's fabulous, let me tell you (I love you Milk, Les and Julah!)
God has also blessed me with several friends in this small town too. When we moved here, I had never felt so alone. Seriously, alone. Then, out of the blue, I was was invited to join a mommy's group that meets once a month. These women are awesome! We share stories, laughs and even heartaches. Through that group, I have connected with my walking-partners-in-crime, Kels and Rachel. I depend on these ladies a lot to help me keep my sanity each day! We have fun together and get frustrated together. What can beat that?
Then, there's my church family. I have bonded with women who have been through what I am going through. They know me and love me for who I am. Isn't that a great feeling? My great friend, Jill, is my twin. We just "get" each other. We are exactly alike and she is the only one who understands my OCD tendencies.
Amazing. God is awesome. I am living proof that wherever we move or wherever life takes us, God will continually provide friends for me because He knows that is what I need. Companionship with other women. Good thing He knows what I need more than I know myself!

So, to all of my friends mentioned or unmentioned, I love you and feel continually blessed by each and every one of you.

Nesting...

A little more "nesting" chat...
Here's my philosophy about nesting, especially as I am just 6 months along...I may as well satisfy my motherly urges to get things done while I feel like it, you know? I had Bill bring up my 0-3 months totes of baby clothes and all of my baby supplies. Of course, as I went through it, I cried.
Anyway, I washed all of the clothes and other supplies, including a ton of blankets, and folded them neatly in the baby's dresser. I feel good.
Back to the "blankets" issue. I love baby blankets. I especially love ones that people made for Luke after he was born. I have one beautiful quilt made by Bill's grandmother and another made by a dear friend that still hang on Luke's crib. At the same time, blankets must have been the thing to give to newborns when Luke was born, especially those really soft fuzzy blankets that you can get at Target. I love soft blankets, but as I was washing all 15, yes 15, I began to wonder, why in the world didn't I take some of these back? Luke never used even a fraction of these. I must have been so caught up in "baby bliss" that I felt bad returning anything that had to do with babies. What was wrong with me? I could've returned all of those blankets and got a really cool swing or something. Ugh...
The moral of the story is...a handful of blankets is plenty. Cherish the ones that people make for the baby and return the rest of them!!!
Oh, and one more thing...if anyone needs really soft baby blankets from Target that have never been used (even though the tags ARE cut off...geesh), I have them. I will be taking them to Goodwill this week, so let me know if you need any before I donate them to someone who finds them as irresistible as I did. Good golly. Holy Mother blankets!

P.S,

A little update...my shower is fixed!
AND.......LUKE IS POTTY TRAINED! GOOOO LUKE!

Oh For The Love Of A Chia Pet

I have been on a mission lately. Some call it "nesting". I call it me just being my normal OCD self! Anyway, my mission is to clean out closets. This has been very enjoyable for me (I know, I'm a psycho) because I feel a sense of completion and accomplishment.
As I was cleaning out one of our utility closets, I found a Bart Simpson Chia Pet that we had received as a white elephant gift last Christmas (thanks, Clint). As I was getting ready to pitch it, I saw the sheer horror in Luke's eyes. "Mommy! You can't throw that guy away!"
He tugged on my heartstrings. Fine. We'll try to grow it. Oh, Lord, please forgive me. Of all of the tacky, red-necked things to do, this is right up there.
It was a fun project for Luke and me to do together. And, after it was completed, we promptly took the...head...to Luke's room, where it sits proudly on his dresser. I thought I'd show you a few pictures of our prize-possession.

Pulling My Hair Out-Literally 1

First of all, let me preface this post by saying that I absolutely LOVE my son. He is the best thing that has ever happened to Bill and me (is it bad that I'm starting out a blog by prefacing that?)
Luke is a great little guy. He is sweet, minds his manners, is easy-going and overall, minds us very, very well.
But, the past two days have been everything but lovey between him and me. Maybe he's just sick of me. Maybe I don't play enough, or get rough like he does with his Dad. Maybe his boyish aggression is becoming a little overwhelming for me.
It's almost as if my little angel is out to lunch while I have to deal with the little boy who finds it way too fun to be mischievous. He is whining, being defiant, throws fits, and basically thinks he can get whatever he wants. He's in timeout at least 5 or more times a day. Again, what happened to my angel? Boo hoo!
I know things will get better, they always do. Every mom has great days, good days, and extremely horrible days. My extremely horrible days just happen to be occurring right now.

OK...it's off my chest. I'm going to get over it now. I'm going to stop being a baby about it.
I do have to say, however, I am looking forward to "alone time" at Hy-Vee tonight. I have plans to get a bundle of groceries (much-needed), sip on some Starbucks and look at absolutely everything on each of the shelves. I'm leaving my angel with....his Dad.

Projects Update

So, I promised an update on our home projects...I've stalled in writing because our projects have seemed to stall too! We got the mantel put up on the fireplace. Now we just have to wait for the plumber to hook up the gas line. You can also see pictures of my bathtub fixtures...well, half of them, that is! The shower head is in, but Bill is having trouble with the faucet. Who knows. I don't ask questions. All I know is that I can't use my shower until my faucet is in. This is not a big deal except for the fact that the other shower upstairs is slow to drain. The plumber is supposed to be fixing this when he comes to hook up the gas line for the fireplace. Why the big deal, you ask? The shower is so slow that you have to get out every 2 minutes to let it all drain and then get back in. Now repeat this about 3 times. Frustrating! So, I've been going downstairs to shower. This is fine for me, but Luke is afraid of the shower. Needless to say, "I NEED MY SHOWER FIXED!!!!" Did I say that loud enough?
The other thing that went very well is my fall decorating and the painting of our front door. I hope all of this comes together very soon!

The Joys of Owning a Home

Home projects...always seem fun and easy, but do they ever turn out that way? Bill and I finally had a weekend with absolutely no agenda. Perfect! Maybe we can get some of those little home projects done. We had a long list of things that we needed to do...paint the front door, get some more landscaping done, scrape the trim in preparation for painting, change some light bulbs, pick out some tile for our new gas fireplace, install the carbon monoxide detector, install a new shower head and let's see...did I miss anything? Nope, I think that pretty well covers it. Now, we did get a lot of our "fixing" done, but now it's 6:00 p.m. and we have to run back to Columbus to take back the light bulbs (wrong size) and exchange the shower head because it's not working out. Ho hum....well, the front door does look nice, even though we still need another coat of paint on it. And, we will have to save the trim for another weekend. Usually, these projects that don't go well lead to at least one argument, but I have become wiser with age. If I just don't expect things to go well, then I won't be disappointed if they don't and I'll be really excited if they do. Does that sound completely bad? Am I a bad wife? Bill does a great job with home projects, but it always takes a little longer than planned. I guess I've just learned to not get my undies in a bunch about such things. Anyways...I'll give you an update Monday with pictures so that you can see our progress on projects...wish us luck!

GOOO BIGGG REDDD!!!

Ah...the sights and sounds of the first Husker game. This is, by far, my most favorite time of year. And mainly, because of Husker football. And, of course, there is an excitement this year about all of the changes to the program. No matter what all of the buzz is, it will always be just "dear ol' Nebraska" to me! We had a great weekend of relaxation, and caught the game on Pay-Per-View with some friends. I'm glad we got to watch, but does anyone else think it's a major rip off to pay $30 to watch a college football game? Can I get an "Amen"??? Here are some pics from the weekend. Luke was excited about his first game, but was more excited about playing with friends and root beer floats! Go 'skers!