End of Summer?!

I feel like it can't possibly be the end of summer already. Besides the fact that I feel we need a few more pool playdates,and, hasn't summer just started?, the high temperatures do little to get me in the mood of getting back to regular routines and 6:30 wake ups. I feel like the summers are great ways to measure where the kids are at in their lives and the end of it is always a good time of reflection on what made the summer so special... Here are a few things that are peaking into my memory at the moment...
* M and K playing well again together just like last summer. Their favorite "games" to play are school, swim lessons, puppy, and hunting for froggies.
* K learned to really swim this summer. Head underwater, jumping in, big arm scoops, and the list continues, but, my favorite part of watching her swim is her coming up from underwater with her blonde hair wrapped and tangled around her head, seeing her push some of it out of the way to reveal those long eye lashes all stuck together and soaken wet.
*M toted a Junie B. Jones book with her in the car for errands this summer. I loved it when she would tell me about a funny part she had read and I must say I did enjoy the quieter car rides :)
* M and K (and me!) experienced one of husband's favorite places; Kennywood. We learned that K loves roller coaster, and after a bit of coaxing M will ride most rides her older cousins will.
And alas, summer ends...school bag is hanging by the back door, lunch is packed, outfit is laid out nicely....thank-you God for another great summer, praying many more memories on the school year to come :)

A Note on Couponing

In a life where day to day stresses including waters rising, raising children, and other serious issues it is almost "fun" to worry for a moment, just a moment, about something not so important like the general craze happening right now with coupons. I feel like everytime I turn around a new mom has started a money saving blog/website/facebook following, and, let's discuss the TLC show for .2 seconds. I have two main problems with the show. #1 Do you really need 345 candy bars in your home at one time? The whole stockpiling extravaganza seems more like hoarding to me on many levels. My other issue with the show is that what percentage of the items that they buy (using coupons) is remotely healthy for you? Probably less than 2 percent, scary.

All of this being said, I will be the first to admit I have an envelope for coupons, but darn it, if by the time I get through the trek that is a grocery store trip with a week long list and one or two "helpers" with me it is a miracle if I remember which coupons I have, where they are located in my purse, and finally if they make it to the cashier, pitiful i know, but oh so true.

Although I will never be stockpiling toothbrushes underneath my child's bed (yes, check the show) I would like to be a bit better about my coupon discipline. What are your strategies or do you even use coupons?

Ok, back to the bigger worries like the topic that my six year-old came up with today for discussion, THAT will have to be another blog for another time :)

friends in low places

So I just heard this old Garth Brooks song on the radio (my first country song I ever did like) and I thought with all of the flooding and low elevation here in my great state what a great title for today's blog :)

We are coming up upon six (yes six for those of you who knew us when we were packing our boxes with Katrina news on in the background) years of living in the Rouge. With our original game plan of no more than four years here and hopes of moving back closer to home with a better job for husband, this can be chalked up as yet another bit of evidence that #1 we are not in charge of the "game plan," and #2 He has so much more in store for you than you could possibly ever imagine.

It is true that this place does feel like (as the narrator on Swamp People so nicely put) "the far corners of the world" sometimes. Street names, town names, and last names (Arceneaux, Naquin, Taliaferro, Fontenot being M's kindergarten teachers last names) did at one time haunt me and made me feel like I was living in a place where my language wasn't going to cut it. However, after living here this length of time I don't know if I could stand living in a place that doesn't know how to spell geaux correctly and I now would eat a po-boy (fully dressed) over a hoagie anyday.

There is such a sense of pride here. Pride in our city, our university, and the culture of families that I feel thankful to get a glimpse into when people from here willingly, lovingly open their family to yours and make you feel like one of them. I also feel a sense of nothing being taken for granted. Between hurricanes and right now a bulging Mississippi people love what they have today and appreciate each day, knowing tomorrow they may not be so lucky.

If you would have told me six years ago that my husband (one of the most pickiest eaters EVER) would anticipate crawfish season almost as much as college football season or that I would love etouffee, jambalaya, and gumbo (and more importantly be able to tell you the difference between them) I would call you crazy. But even more unanticipated is our love for this place, a place we would be proud to raise our girls in and a place to call our HOME.

cleaning

So I'm taking ten minutes (my daughter is counting the minutes because she is wanting me to try a new game with her) to write about something we all do (except for those of you who are lucky to pay someone to do it), cleaning! Especially for those of us whose office space, home space, entertaining space is one in the same, having our surroundings clean is a must and honestly it drives me crazy when things are not.
I follow the principles of flylady who I have mentioned before, but on days like today (oh yes, forgot to mention family is coming to visit for a week starting tomorrow) really digging in is a necessity. I learned early on in my marriage that the one space you didn't clean will undoubtedly be peeked into and my God let's be honest is there much worse things than exposing your own dirt to company? Yuck!
I also should mention that I get this trait honestly. My mother is the most exceptional hostess you have ever seen and I still don't know how she gets her shower as clean as she does.
Do you all feel the same as I do? What are your tricks for keeping things (as so well said by an ex-principal) "company clean?"
Oh and PS before my last minute is up, I also don't think there is a better feeling than finally being done and knowing you can really relax and enjoy your company once all of your dirt is a thing of the past :)

today i'm thankful for...

1. Snow days where no snow is present
2. My older daughter's input on planning K's birthday
3. Cats who love you unconditionally
4. Doing yoga with M and K
5. M's ideas of what to buy at the grocery store
6. Photos of old days that make you giggle
7. Warm blankets on cold nights
8. M laying on my back while I'm typing this :)
9. Children feeling better after sick days
10. Quietness of K's naptime (which are becoming fewer and fewer...)

New Year/New Blog

I used to have "new season/new blog" but obviously life has taken over (not a bad thing) and I haven't blogged in quite a long time. I am thinking for my new blog just to list and make note of those obvious and not so obvious things to be thankful in our lives, and maybe even expand on a couple of them in my spare time in between running children to school and activities, my own activities, and just living a happy southern life :) So, here it goes...TODAY I AM THANKFUL FOR:
1. 2 cats that we prayed for even before we knew them
2. the town i live in. i do not take for granted the mossy oak trees, the college town environment, or being able to swim outside 6 months a year.
3. a neat home. i say this now as i look around, BUT, in two hours i should be thankful for the papers, shoes, and occasional rock scattered amongst our kitchen and great room because it means my kindergartner had another successful day at school.
4. the internet. i can have glimpses into my friends across the country lives in the middle of my day of playing dress up and taylor swift barbie with my two year-old. grown up moments are not to be underestimated!
5. bible verses that creep into your hands just at the moment you need them.

What not to spend your time doing

Worrying! I often, too often, find myself worrying. Worrying about the what-ifs, the maybes, and the God please don't let it be's. I am just a born worrier I think. When I was younger I would worry about my grades, worry if I was good enough, worry if my friends were mad at me, and when I would find out everything was ok (which 98 percent of the time it is) the release of tension and stress (and sometimes migraine headaches) was almost immediate. Now that I am a wife, a mom, and an adult I have tried my best to let go of these worries. I know they aren't good for my health (and who wants more wrinkles from stress? not me). A couple of quotes have stuck with me that I try to repeat when I am faced with a worry. "If you aren't going to stress about it in six months, don't stress about it now." Good one, right? The other one I most recently read definitely has a double edged sword, "Change is coming, prepare for it." We don't live forever, the walls at some point will come crashing down. At this point the what-if's usually creep in, what if this bad change is now? Then, I usually fall back on my faith, "God will never give you more than you can handle," "If He is for me than who can be against me?" Well, unfortunately, just watching the news can make you wonder just how much people can take. I know two of the closest people to me deal with it much better than I do, which is probably why I was put in both of their paths. My mother. I can call my mother crying,worrying, boo hoo-ing to her and she is calm as anything, puts it in prospective, says it will be fine, and 9 times out of 10 I will call her when the issue is resolved and it is just that, fine. My husband. "It is what it is." Great words that often brings things back into prospective for me.
How do you all deal with worry? I would love to know and the lack of headaches and wrinkles from your advice will be appreciated too!