It is funny how life and what is really important never really changes all that much. When I was a kid we used to spend every Sunday at my Grandma's. First my Dad's Mom, where I had a lot of cousins and we would play and run around and have tons of fun. It was generally a very relaxed atmosphere with plenty of aunts and uncles and children and food. Sometimes we played outside and sometimes we played in the basement, but we always played the entire time. It was always loads of fun.
Then my Mom's Mom. Here it was more formal. Until I was ten, my sister and I were the only grandchildren. This meant there wasn't a lot of running around and playing. There was a lot of sitting quietly and doing a puzzle with my Granny. The football game was always on. We were supposed to be careful and "try not walk in front of the TV". We always had a BIG sit down dinner, I think, at half-time. There was always a lot of food. Then after the game we would play games, usually cards of some sort. It was a lot of fun because we received all the attention. No cousins to compete with!
This weekend we had family visiting. The entire weekend was a whirlwind of family and cooking and eating and fun. While sitting in my Grandpa's chair and watching football on Sunday I was reminded of all those Sundays from my childhood. The game is on, people are milling around, there is a hint of all those good food smells drifting out of the kitchen, and I am trying to quietly remind my children to "try not to walk in front of the TV". I was literally watching history repeat itself.
The point is that nothing ever really changes, at least not what is truly important. Family and tradition and food, things that are passed from generation to generation. Traditions and memories, these are the things that really matter. These are the things that I am truly thankful for. This is what puts a smile on my face!
WonderWoman
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
My Day in a Nutshell
Everyday, Monday through Friday, my alarm goes off between 6:15 and 6:30am. I get out of bed, turn on the coffee, and wake up any children who are still asleep. Then I sit patiently drinking my coffee and hand out directions, such as, it's cold outside - wear a coat, don't forget your lunch, and do you have your homework? These are then followed by, in a much less patient tone, hurry up, you are going to miss the bus! Most days that is as far as it gets. Then, while making my breakfast, I empty the dishwasher and reload it. Somehow the sink has filled with dishes overnight. I really wonder how that happens sometimes? Now I put away everything the tornado's (children, mostly daughters) have left in there wake. Dirty clothes, curling irons, make up, etc...
Time to get the clothes out of the dryer, get ready for work, and then fold all the clothes. This is usually 2 - 3 baskets of clothes washed the night before. Now I have about 30 minutes before I have to leave for work. This is when I read my email and catch up on Facebook, as well as, write this little blog. 8:30 - 8:40 I leave for work. I almost always make it to work by 9:05, somehow this is acceptable to me. I don't know why, because I HATE to be late! Skip to end of work day...
Arrive home in time to deliver my little cheerleader to practice by 5:30. Then I have an hour and a half to make dinner, pack lunches, eat, clean up, and then pick up my cheerleader at 7:00. Don't forget there is homework and other directions being handed out at this time as well. There is a reason dinner time is so hectic for most families. It has way too much stuff going on! So after I pick up my cheerleader and arrive back home it is close to 7:30. Now we have to tie up any loose ends, homework and things, all while herding everyone in and out of the shower. My husband will be calling me between 8:00 and 8:30 (this is his lunch time at work) some days this is the only communication we have, so I try really hard to be available and not distracted when he calls. After speaking to him I take a shower and then start a load of clothes in the washer. I usually will watch television or read until those clothes are done so I can put another load in the washer, which my Awesome Hubby will then put in the dryer when he gets home at midnight. I usually go to bed between 9:30 and 11:00pm, just so I can get up and do it all over again tomorrow!
Time to get the clothes out of the dryer, get ready for work, and then fold all the clothes. This is usually 2 - 3 baskets of clothes washed the night before. Now I have about 30 minutes before I have to leave for work. This is when I read my email and catch up on Facebook, as well as, write this little blog. 8:30 - 8:40 I leave for work. I almost always make it to work by 9:05, somehow this is acceptable to me. I don't know why, because I HATE to be late! Skip to end of work day...
Arrive home in time to deliver my little cheerleader to practice by 5:30. Then I have an hour and a half to make dinner, pack lunches, eat, clean up, and then pick up my cheerleader at 7:00. Don't forget there is homework and other directions being handed out at this time as well. There is a reason dinner time is so hectic for most families. It has way too much stuff going on! So after I pick up my cheerleader and arrive back home it is close to 7:30. Now we have to tie up any loose ends, homework and things, all while herding everyone in and out of the shower. My husband will be calling me between 8:00 and 8:30 (this is his lunch time at work) some days this is the only communication we have, so I try really hard to be available and not distracted when he calls. After speaking to him I take a shower and then start a load of clothes in the washer. I usually will watch television or read until those clothes are done so I can put another load in the washer, which my Awesome Hubby will then put in the dryer when he gets home at midnight. I usually go to bed between 9:30 and 11:00pm, just so I can get up and do it all over again tomorrow!
Keep in mind that this is how it would go if everyday was perfect, but well, YEAH RIGHT!
There is usually another child who wants dropped off or picked up, probably both, somewhere. There is occasionally the project that we have waited until the night before to do, and of course we do not have the supplies to make it happen. So, now we are making an emergency trip to the store to purchase supplies. Any one of these things, and any other possible scenario you can imagine is likely to happen and mess up the whole process. The thing is no matter what time I actually get to bed, I love my life and all the crazyness it brings!
WonderWoman
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Karma...My friend!
Karma..."What goes around comes around." That's what they say. (Who is they?) The older I get the more I believe in this. There are so many mottoes, life phrases, colloquialisms, whatever you want to call them, that go along with this whole karma theory, which is based I think, on the biblical classic - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"Patience is a virtue" goes right along with my favorite, "if you give someone enough rope they will hang themselves." Imagine if you will, that I LOVE to be right?!? Who doesn't? I have spent years remaining diligently patient and handing out rope while waiting for someone to hang himself. Might I say the noose is getting very, very tight. I am INSANELY HAPPY my patience is paying off. Bonus - I have taken the high road, which is not always easy. I have treated this person the way I would prefer to be treated. Since this person refuses to treat me this way, I feel as though the universe has finally said "enough!" I am feeling very justified by my friend Karma.
I know people who feel if you believe in karma then you can't believe in God. That karma is kinda of like slapping God in the face with your lack of faith. I do not feel this way. Whose to say that karma is not God's way of being there for people who aren't quite sure about Him, on the cusp so to speak? Quietly proving himself in a way that these people can understand, patiently and gently nurturing their faith.
I would never claim to know what God is thinking, but I do know that he is patient and kind and just. Like a father should be. In my experience there are people that would prefer to not think of the just part. They only want a nice God. Justification and punishment are what keeps the world in order. I believe that justification and punishment are karma.
I do not currently attend a church, although I have in the past. I am a deeply spiritual person who does not feel it necessary to go to church and sit with a bunch of people who love God only on Sunday. Be clear, I do not think that all church goers are this way but, "it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole cart", right?! I know I am not the only one who feels this way. I have personally spoken with and led several people to Christ who left the church because of the hypocrisy they experienced there. I love my God with a force that is not to be reckoned with!
Please be aware that the opinions expressed here are exactly that. My personal opinions and thoughts and are not written to offend anyone. Thank you for reading.
WonderWoman
"Patience is a virtue" goes right along with my favorite, "if you give someone enough rope they will hang themselves." Imagine if you will, that I LOVE to be right?!? Who doesn't? I have spent years remaining diligently patient and handing out rope while waiting for someone to hang himself. Might I say the noose is getting very, very tight. I am INSANELY HAPPY my patience is paying off. Bonus - I have taken the high road, which is not always easy. I have treated this person the way I would prefer to be treated. Since this person refuses to treat me this way, I feel as though the universe has finally said "enough!" I am feeling very justified by my friend Karma.
I know people who feel if you believe in karma then you can't believe in God. That karma is kinda of like slapping God in the face with your lack of faith. I do not feel this way. Whose to say that karma is not God's way of being there for people who aren't quite sure about Him, on the cusp so to speak? Quietly proving himself in a way that these people can understand, patiently and gently nurturing their faith.
I would never claim to know what God is thinking, but I do know that he is patient and kind and just. Like a father should be. In my experience there are people that would prefer to not think of the just part. They only want a nice God. Justification and punishment are what keeps the world in order. I believe that justification and punishment are karma.
I do not currently attend a church, although I have in the past. I am a deeply spiritual person who does not feel it necessary to go to church and sit with a bunch of people who love God only on Sunday. Be clear, I do not think that all church goers are this way but, "it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole cart", right?! I know I am not the only one who feels this way. I have personally spoken with and led several people to Christ who left the church because of the hypocrisy they experienced there. I love my God with a force that is not to be reckoned with!
Please be aware that the opinions expressed here are exactly that. My personal opinions and thoughts and are not written to offend anyone. Thank you for reading.
WonderWoman
Friday, October 1, 2010
Climbing the Rope
It occurred to me today that life is kind of like climbing a rope. Some days you can see the top. You can't wait to get there! You are full of energy! Oh the things you can do and see when you get to the top! Other days it's all you can do to just hold on, clinging tightly till your hands bleed, swinging in the wind.
Do you remember having to climb the rope in gym class? I dreaded the rope. I have the weakest arms ever created in the entire history of the universe. I can remember in 6th grade we had to do some presidential fitness BS, and I couldn't do one pull-up. Everyone had to do one. The WHOLE class is standing around, because of course, I was last. So they are all waiting for me to get done, and the teacher was all "Come on, you can do one can't ya'?" No, apparently I could not. I recall being rather humiliated. - Then in middle school we had to climb the rope. I knew I was DOOMED! I couldn't even get on the rope, let alone climb it. To make matters worse I had developed a healthy fear of heights by this time. (PETRIFIED would be putting it mildly) I don't really remember how, but somehow I got out of climbing that rope. I think maybe the teacher turned around and I got some friends to lie and say I climbed it when he wasn't looking, maybe I was humiliated and I've blocked it out?! It doesn't matter now. I, literally, have never had a need to climb a rope in my entire life. Not really sure who does, but it ain't me!
Figuratively, I have climbed a million miles of rope. I can honestly say I was always glad when I made it to the top, but I often thought that I would never get there. When you are buried in a situation you can't see your way out of, you just have to hold on. Tomorrow is always going to come and bring new things. You will get to the top before you know it, and once you get there you will wonder why you thought it would be so hard. Holding on is hard, but it is always worth it. There will always be more rope to climb, but it takes real strength to hang on and swing in the wind, while waiting for tomorrow and the new attitude it might bring...
WonderWoman
Do you remember having to climb the rope in gym class? I dreaded the rope. I have the weakest arms ever created in the entire history of the universe. I can remember in 6th grade we had to do some presidential fitness BS, and I couldn't do one pull-up. Everyone had to do one. The WHOLE class is standing around, because of course, I was last. So they are all waiting for me to get done, and the teacher was all "Come on, you can do one can't ya'?" No, apparently I could not. I recall being rather humiliated. - Then in middle school we had to climb the rope. I knew I was DOOMED! I couldn't even get on the rope, let alone climb it. To make matters worse I had developed a healthy fear of heights by this time. (PETRIFIED would be putting it mildly) I don't really remember how, but somehow I got out of climbing that rope. I think maybe the teacher turned around and I got some friends to lie and say I climbed it when he wasn't looking, maybe I was humiliated and I've blocked it out?! It doesn't matter now. I, literally, have never had a need to climb a rope in my entire life. Not really sure who does, but it ain't me!
Figuratively, I have climbed a million miles of rope. I can honestly say I was always glad when I made it to the top, but I often thought that I would never get there. When you are buried in a situation you can't see your way out of, you just have to hold on. Tomorrow is always going to come and bring new things. You will get to the top before you know it, and once you get there you will wonder why you thought it would be so hard. Holding on is hard, but it is always worth it. There will always be more rope to climb, but it takes real strength to hang on and swing in the wind, while waiting for tomorrow and the new attitude it might bring...
WonderWoman
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