It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

We've got Christmas cookies....and Christmas cookie batter.....

And presents wrapped....

We even have sleigh rides! (They hooked a monkey on the car for Maddie to pull Eden around with!)

Hope the season is warming your home, too!!

Blogging Safely

It was pointed out to me that I have been very careless about personal information on my blog. Once I looked through my blog with that warning in my mind, I immediately some down right foolish things I had said in my posts. I think that if I had read them on someone else's blog, it would have stood right out to me. But as I write my posts, I only think of my small circle of readers, mostly family and friends, and not about all the potentially bad guys out there who also have access to my blog.

I have gone through and deleted some things. So if you are wondering where things went, this is why.

In my efforts to focus on the bright side of life, I can not forget how evil our world is, and that God has entrusted my little girls to me for safe keeping. I feel so foolish for not being more discerning from the start.

I guess this was just a public announcement! Maybe I'll get a real post in tonight.

Bad Days. They Happen.

We all have them, don’t we? Things go wrong- that’s just part of life. What REALLY constitutes a bad day is when my reaction to those negatives reveals the flaws within myself. It’s not so much the burnt dinner that ruins an evening. It’s the frustration, tears and complaining that usually spew out of me afterwards.

Today, I was having a rough day. I am still not feeling well, and I tend to seriously use the ol “I’m sick” excuse for a bad attitude. We women (and I guess some men) are really good at using physical discomforts to justify a crabby mood, aren’t we? I woke up all stuffy and uncomfortable. I think I must have about 5 pounds of mucus lodged in my chest, throat and sinuses. You’re thrilled to know that, aren’t you? Sorry.

With a 3 yr. old and a 19 month old, first thing in the morning is not a quiet serene calm time of day to slowly rouse oneself. They woke up whining and wanting Daddy, who is not here and is only here on Sunday morning but 6 days a week we go through the same ordeal of explaining that Daddy is at church. There are soggy diapers and pull-ups, usually a wet bed or two, changes of clothes, demands for breakfast, demands for sippy cups, finding the lost valve on the sippy cup, explaining to Maddie why we cannot use the same beloved cup every day, negotiations over which color bowl which girl will get, etc etc etc. By the time Maddie declared her belly was too full to finish her bowl of Cheerios… after eating 2 puny bites… after dramatically exclaiming that she “ver-wee ver-wee hungweee”… I was out of patience. Instead of pulling them out of their early morning crankiness, I decided to join them in it.

Grouchiness prevailed all morning long… I would describe my terse behavior but it’s too embarrassing. After a few hours, toys were everywhere and we were all still in our jammies. Over the course of the morning, a half full mug of tea was spilt and my cereal bowl was knocked off the counter and shattered. I was getting uglier and uglier with each passing moment and then... my unsuspecting wonderful husband called me… something I usually enjoy. But with the girls acting up as soon I as was distracted from them by a phone call, I wasn’t exactly the breath of fresh air he might have been hoping for. He was calling to let me know about funeral calling hours that afternoon. So my choices are to a. get all dressed up, which would require actually taking that much needed shower, drive about 45 minutes and try to squeeze a “I’m so sorry for your loss” in between my mucus filled coughing spells or b. stay home all day long with no car with a disaster zone of a house and two very disobedient children? As you can tell, my attitude wasn't exactly a reflection of all those hundreds of Godly wife classes and sessions I have sat in over the years.

I’ll pause here to say that when ever my kids have obedience issues, I get so flustered and upset by them… and at them. When truly, whose fault is it?? Mmmm hmmmm. M.I.N.E.

After hanging up with Seth, I began to really feel like a big fat louse. I hate being curt to him. I hate myself with I am that way. At that point, I decided that mommy needed a time out. So I gave in to putting a movie on for the girls and secluded myself in the office for a while with a bag a peanut butter M&Ms.

I am amazed by what happened next. While the girls watched happy little seals on the DVD, I went to my blog dashboard. Of all things, the two blog posts I came across in my reading list first were these:

Journal for Women: Please Join Me in Failing

Daily Pleasures: My Resignation

Apparently, there has been a bad day epidemic! Somehow it was comforting to know that a couple of women that I admire also fall victim to the occasional BAD DAY. Well I guess they are human after all. And I sure am too!

I hesitated to describe my morning because I don't want to my blog to turn into a "whine-fest" and I don't want to be guilty of verbal birth control (I defined that in my very first post if you're confused). But the majority of my readers know me in "real" life and have seen my short coming face to face. There's no point in pretending I'm perfect. Or even close. So I shared with you my morning in it's raw, unattractive glory.

After reading these two posts, I thought, Okay, Kayte. It's been a rough start. But don't do when you tend to so: let a bad morning equal a bad day. Start again now. This time, with the Lord on your mind and a smile on your face. Change the tone in your voice and for Pete's sake, take a shower, girl! =) Just for your info, I am usually showered and dressed by that point every day... something about being sick and grouchy makes me want to stay in cozy jammies all day I guess!

So the girls and I got clean, dressed and attacked our messy living room. In actuality, the house wasn't exactly a disaster zone after all. By the time Seth got home, the atmosphere was much improved. We ended up all going for the drive out to the funeral home since it was a beautiful sunny day, a treasure not to be wasted in wintery Upstate NY. The girls dozed off in their seats so I stayed in the van listening to Christmas music while Seth went in to visit with the family. We had a nice quiet drive home and were able to talk while the girls' slept. My mom came over for dinner, as is our usual Tuesday night custom, then she baby sits for an hour or two while Seth and have a date. We almost always go to Barnes and Nobles, get a couple of ridiculously expensive drinks: Mocha Latte for him and Chai for me. This week, he grabbed a revolutionary war book and I snagged Elizabeth Elliot's' Let Me Be A Woman. I love it!!! I read through about a third of it on our date and it's officially on my "Books I want To Buy" list. Elizabeth Elliot has such a beautiful writing style. It was profound and yet so simple. Can't wait to read the whole thing.

So the day was saved... just as I am saved. By the Lord and His Grace.

Learning to stand still

I am back to the land of the living with the help of my antibiotics. I know antibiotics are bad for a person's immune system in the long run, and don't like to take them but it was most definitely necessary with this little virus. Although I feel better, I am still hacking and coughing like an old smoker and my head in foggy. So it was a low key day; my biggest feat simply catching up with the weekend's laundry. I never would have thought that having two children meant that even one day of not taking care of at least one load would result in a substantial dirty clothes pile up. I guess I naively thought I wouldn't battle the never ending laundry heap until we had a bigger family. However, it is true that after 4 days of no laundry being taken cared for, I had a ton to do today. But how can I really complain about laundry when all I have to do is throw it down to my basement, shove it in one machine, then another, fold it and put it away. No scrubbing by hand on a washboard, no filling tubs up with water from a well, no hanging each piece up to dry on a line (how would that work out today... it snowed all day!). I don't even have the inconvenience of a laundry mat. My washer and dryer are two of my bestest buddies!! They were actually a wedding gift! Can you believe that? Nice gift, huh?

During the girls' nap time, I had some quiet time around the house. I was just about to grab a cozy blanket and curl up for a snooze when I thought I would rather take advantage of the time to read my Bible. It got neglected in the past few days right along with laundry, bathing, getting out of jammies, and walking. My Bible was in the office with a lightly sleeping Eden so I settled for my devotional which was in the living room. A good friend and missionary wife, Heather Giley sent me the most beautiful devotional a couple of years ago: Streams in the Desert. I wish I could buy a bunch of them and give one to every friend of mine. It is a treasure.

The Scripture for December 7th:

"And he [Elisha] said, Thus saith the LORD, Make his valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts. And this is but a light thing in the sight of the Lord; he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand."

II Kings 3: 16-18

I can just imagine myself being there. My first instinct would have been to grab a shovel and start digging those ditches myself. Maybe I would even decided that a well would be a better idea. I usually do think my ideas are better than God's... of course I don't come right out and say it like that. I dress it up in more acceptable lingo, full of rational reasons (to human thinking) of why my idea is going to work faster or better than God's and a carefully laid out plan had to carry it all out.

And ya know what? I would knock myself out to do it. That's why I love verse 18 : "this is a but a light thing in the sight of the LORD:" It's easy for God to do His work. No biggie. I would burn myself out trying to accomplish God's work on my own, my own way. My intentions probably would be good, but pride would be at the center of it. A failure to yield. A failure to let God be Lord.

This is what my devotional said:

If we have seen the miraculous workings of God in some marvelous case of healing or some extraordinary providential deliverance, I am sure that the thing that has impressed us most has been the quietness with which it was all done, the absence of everything spectacular and sensational, and the utter sense of nothingness which came to us as we stood in the presence of this mighty God and felt how easy it was for Him to do it all without the faintest effort on His part or the slightest help on ours.

That says when I am trying to convey well. There is a song I've only heard once called "Stand still and let God move". That is surely not my strength. I get impatient. I don't see the wind and rain, I hear no thunder.... and my faith wanes. So I attempt to make up for a lack of faith by doing doing doing and trying to create or produce an impersonation of the working of God in my life. It's actually a frustrating and tiresome practice.

"stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God."

Job37:14

Sick

Well, I am sick. SICK. Ugh. It was a really wonderful fall as far as weather goes but totally terrible concerning sickness. Our whole church had the nastiest flu ever and just kept passing it around and around. We just love to share! ; ) And now I have a yucky cold. Thankfully, it is just me (so far!!!) that has it. When every member of the family is sick at the same time, things can get dire in a house! But today Seth has done what he could to let me lie around in my pathetic state. I think sitting here to write this is the first significant amount of time all day that I have not been vertical. I don't usually bother to take a lot of medicine when I'm sick but today I've been popping mucinex, Motrin and sudafed all day, as much as the package says you can. I am glad to not be pregnant right now simply because I can be drugged up. It seems like every pregnancy, I get a horrible cold and can't take anything stronger than Tylenol. So although I'm sick, I'm highly medicated and that helps!!

Seth was very kind in taking Maddie out with him on visitation so that I could nap while Eden napped, and he even asked his mom if she could take them both during the youth meeting (right now). One thing I have realized is that I would have to be on my death bad to motivate Seth to do two things: 1. bathe the girls and 2. fix their hair. So I rose from the dead to do those things and he took care of rest. What a guy!

And now, I think I'll crawl back into my bed. I'm beginning to miss it already.

Christmas Socks

We have a 5ft. table top tree due to space limitations. If we ever have room for a full sized again, we would love to go back to a tree farm and cut one down ourselves. I say that as if I actually help. Seth does all the work.

We have a swag thinggy that goes the entire length of the pillars (up the wall of both sides and accross the ceiling).

And my Christmas socks. You like?

It's become a little tradition of mine to pick up a new pair each year in the post-holiday clearance shopping. They satisfy three of my basic needs: to be warm, to be fabulous, and to be ridiculous. Wearing my festive socks brings peace and tranquility to my being. Okay, not really but if only it were that easy!

In actuality, Christmas festivities can stress me out in a way. Don't get me wrong: I love it all. But my task oriented to do list making borderline OCD personality can only handle so much of the schedule wrecking, mess making fun. With our girls getting older, I enjoy it more and more each year.

My sister in law, Tara is like the holiday guru. She has seasonal and holiday decorations galore... trinkets everywhere, festive salt and pepper shakers (I think I saw at least two "fall-ish" sets at Thanksgiving), throw pillows, wall hangings, Christmas dishes, etc etc etc. I tease her that she has a Christmas couch and then a Valentines couch and so on. While I once was VERY bare in my decorating (the empty look is the clean look, right?), I have begun to feel the need to add a little more here and there. No trinkets! Nope. Can't handle it. But I did snag that cute little "Noel" wall hanging for $2.50 at the craft store. Now I feel like I am no longer a Scrooge. The outside is decorated as well. I'll have to post pictures soon. No icicle lights on the roof this year though. =(

I've been very busy working on church projects: end of the year things, beginning of new year things, youth Christmas party, new Sunday School class, logo mat for the church foyer. Oy! Slowly but surely, it's all being completed and with each task crossed off the list, I feel better and more able to enjoy the season.

There's one item you might be able to help with! The ladies of our church has a wonderful Christmas cookie exchange each year. Our hostess, Lisa, does a great job with it. Although I love to bake cookies, I have yet to be totally happy with my contribution to the exchange. The cookies I am good at baking, and bake often are simple chocolate chip and peanut butter, because that is always what Seth requests. But for the exchange, I want to bring something special. Not so special it takes 4 days to make them all (we bring 6 dozen) but special enough to be worthy of a Christmas cookie platter. Any suggestions? What's you favorite recipe? Every year that we've done this, I experiment and try out a few new recipes to narrow my search down, but I just don't have the time or will power to do that this year. I am looking for a tired and true winner!

Hope you are getting into the Christams spirit! Isn't it amazing that a King would willingly come to earth to be born in such humble surroundings? Thank you, Jesus!!

Crafty Girl

I am not really a crafty girl. I really want to be. Maybe deep inside there is a crafty girl trying to escape...? I have a lot of interests in homemaking fields but little knowledge. And even less money! ;) Both are helpful in pursing crafty interests!

I enjoy participating in A thousand words and then some, a fun fun blog with weekly writing assignments. But when I saw the theme Amy picked for this week, I cringed! Handmade? While I would love to show you the latest dress I sewed for myself or blanket I crocheted for a little one, the best I can do is the paper snowflakes I made today to spray snow paint over on the windows! ;) Not exactly heirloom quality!

I do like to try to be a crafty girl once in a while but I'm not the domestic diva I long to be... not yet anyway. Seth and I went out tonight and browsed around at sewing machines. I have no idea what to look for but I am looking! I think I could handle some simple household projects. We shall see... For a while I got a pouty face about how ignorant I am about all the normal homemaking tasks. Homemaking is a dying art in America. I really wish I could teach my girls how to sew, can, bake pies, garden, crochet, arrange flowers, knit and run an efficient home. While I'm at it, I'd like to teach them to sing, play the piano and algebra. But I know none of these things for myself so obviously I can't teach them! How I managed to graduate both high school and college without knowing algebra is remarkable. But, truthfully, I am still young... sorta. 26 is still young right? If you said no, I am sticking my tongue out at you right now. But really, who says you can't learn how to do these things after you're married and a mother? I haven't the time or money that might be necessary to become GREAT at them all... but maybe I can have a general knowledge of them all and possible get good at just one? When I first got married, I seriously couldn't even fry an egg. MUCH progress has been made in that arena, so there is hope!

Baking and cake decorating are probably my most developed hobbies. Nothing spectacular... I haven't made a cake in the likeness of the empire state building or anything! Just bunnies, ladybugs, strawberries, butterflies... and a golf ball planned for Seth's birthday. Stay tuned for that one!

I really like decorating though if you were to tour my house at the moment, you would never know it! Right now, my style is the ol' "make do with whatcha got" technique. Never goes out of style!

I will share this project that I just finished yesterday... I bought this old school desk for $2 at garage sale this summer:

It was pretty cute as was, and such a great price! But with rust and chipping paint, she needed a make over (of-course, it was a girl!). Sanding, a few coats of rustoleum in matte white, painted flowers and a clear protective coat, and here we have it:

I'm not completely thrilled with how my butterflies came out but I admit, I do like the flowers. They are imperfect... just like flowers should be!

When we eventually move, I want to decorate the girls' room in pink and bright green so that is why I choose these colors. I highlighted the leaves by just mixing some of the lime green with the yellow used for the centers.

Ta-da!!