Freezer Burn

I had an event for work and ended up with some left-over popsicles,  which made their way back to my house. Not to worry, they were purchased with my own money - it was just a return on the investment.

This was kinda a big deal in the Mitchell house because I don't buy popsicles. At least it was a big deal for M. So she's been asking for one after dinner.  She's smart too because she always waits until after M2 goes to bed.  The girl understands supply and demand.

So Sunday I go to get her one and...what? Why aren't they frozen? Hummm, that's interesting.  So I was hoping that maybe the freezer had been left open accidentally - not enough for me to notice but enough for the popsicles to melt.

Yeah, it was a stretch.

The next morning I check and nope, still not frozen. This is not good. Since the sole purpose of a freezer is to freeze this could only mean one thing - the fridge has officially died.

We are fortunate - we have an extra fridge outside on our back porch. It isn't as redneck as it sounds.  We have it because we're too lazy to go inside to get something to drink when we're outside. Technically, anytime you have an appliance on a porch that qualifies as redneck, but I'm justifying this based on sheer convenience.

And thank goodness for our trailer park ways, we were able to save a lot. It's just crazy to me that it went out so quickly - it was fine one day and completely out the next. And it was only 8 years old. Which I know is old, but shouldn't they last longer than that?  The one outside (OUTSIDE!) still works.  And it's really old.  

And I must be the most unwife wife in the world because I have absolutely no preferences on appliances. My only requirement is that everything has to be the same color. Benny picked the first fridge and picked our replacement too. Not that he didn't ask and keep asking me what I thought ...but seriously, I don't care how many shelves it has or how the drawers work. If it keeps the food cold then I'm good.

So we'll have the memorial services on Sunday - pallbearers courtesy of Lowes. Or Home Depot.  I can't remember.  We'll say goodbye and send her off and get another 8 years before we have to do it all over again...

Lazy

So I've been bad about working out. Two weeks ago I was kinda spotty and then last week I didn't work out at all. Not once. I don't know what was wrong with me...it seems like I cylce in and out with my  motivation...some days I'm hardcore committed and then bam - I can't force myself to get up and do it.

I did work out this morning. I got my lazy behind up and dressed and had the dvd started at 5:08.  And I increased my weights just because I felt like I had been a sloth and I wanted to get back into and not mess around. My triceps are a teeny tiny bit sore but other than that I'm good...which just tells me that I should have increased my weight before now. 

So once again here I go, back on track. For about the 100th time...but I guess it's better than never getting back on track at all. And really, that's kind of representative of my life - I stumble, fall, get a little banged up but just pick myself up and keep on trekking...I know I'll fall again but what else can I do?

Are You Ready For Some Football?

What a day! It has flown by - busy, busy, busy! But I love it - it's the kind of pace I enjoy!  My desk is a wreck and I have notes everywhere but I'll take it!


Had a busy and good weekend. We celebrated M's birthday with a party at a gymnastics center and spent Sunday with my Mom.  Benny was out of town so I was looking for something to do and we had a little shopping that needed to be done.  My mom is having a picture done with all the grandkids and she wants them all to wear Thunder apparel...and we have none. Actually, we have one little night shirt that M2 wears but it's faded and not in good shape so off for new clothes we went....we had no luck.  Not that we tried that hard - we hit three stores and then the kids were done.


The original suggestion was to do our football teams - OU and OSU but only two of the grandkids are OSU fans so that was vetoed pretty quickly. Although, I think we should have gone with it....what's wrong with drowning in crimson and cream?


Speaking of - I am SO ready for football!  I cannot wait until the season starts!  I am getting so excited!  Let's go Sooners! I love everything about it - the weather, the smack talking, the intensity of the game....I. CANNOT. WAIT.  I'm hoping we have a great season and really hoping we get to go to a few more games this year...maybe even Red River again?  We shall see...

Surprises

God is SO good! Thank you Lord for your grace and mercy!

Today was nothing like I expected. I had played out every possible scenario and was ready for everything.  I just hate being unprepared for situations and I had no idea what today's encounter was going to be like so that was a bit of a struggle. But I woke up today and felt like whatever happened, happened. And life goes on. There really isn't anything outside of death that I can't recover from, right? And not that this situation was anything near that dramatic but I just needed to put it in perspective. So yeah, it might suck but then it's over and what? In a month I wouldn't even be thinking about it.

And that is the absolute beauty of life - each day we get to wake up and start new. Not that we can ever erase our history but it's just that - in the past and over. And we don't have to relive it or be tied to it if we don't want to be. 

And then it turned out that it was just an easy encounter without confrontation, without drama.  Which is SO good because I really didn't went to have to get ghetto....

I Might Be Pregnant

Okay, actually there is no way in hell that I am pregnant but I have had some random, crazy cravings tonight. As I was cooking dinner (Chinese beef and broccoli) I opened the fridge and saw a jar of sweet midget pickles (insert short joke here) and they looked SO good and I wanted one SO bad. But since I was making dinner I resisted. But then about 10 minutes later I had an overwhelming desire for cereal. I mean really, I had to have it and I had to have it right then. That I could not resist. I got one of M2's baby bowls and had some and the  milk was soooooo good. And I don't even like milk. But I could have drank half a gallon if I would have let myself.  And then after dinner I had some pickles. See, doesn't that scream pregnant? But I'm not. And yes, I'm sure.

I have spent all night cleaning the house. I'm in super clean mode - scrubbing the oven with a toothbrush mode. I do that when I'm pissed or stressed or upset. And sometimes just for the heck of it. But usually when I am upset.  And tonight I am upset. Well, not really upset...but my heart is heavy. It's not anything I can share - it involves a student and a disciplinary matter. It's big and will impact the student in a significant way. I've really struggled with it.  I know what occurred was unacceptable and needed to be addressed - to me it's something that can't be tolerated. But there is also a tremendous amount of pressure from being responsible for impacting someone's life in such a way. I don't have a lot of tolerance for unethical behavior - if it's wrong, it's wrong and needs to be addressed and dealt with. And I realize I need to operate that way in order to effectively run this program. But it's never fun and it's never easy.

In addition to feeling bad about what will happen to this student I am also  feeling a lot of anxiety because I'm expecting some confrontation tomorrow. I hate confrontation. I guess everyone does. Not too many people wake up thinking "Gonna have a great confrontation today!"  I can do serious, I can do uncomfortable but trying to deal with someone who is irrational and hyped up on emotion is something else. And it may not even be an issue, I'm hoping it won't  be but I feel like I have to get prepared just in case.

The positive is that my house is clean. So that's a plus. This is especially nice since Morgan's party is this weekend. We're not having it here, no one is going to see the house at all but since we'll be busy it's nice to have it done already. Especially since the week has been a little crazy and I've been slacking big time. We were gone all day yesterday on our birthday date. We took M to see Cars 2 in 3D. The movie was pretty cute. I've never seen Cars so I wasn't sure if I would like it or not.  The 3D was eh. I don't think it was worth the extra money - there just didn't seem to be that many effects. The 3D previews were awesome. They are releasing Lion King in 3D and that looked amazing...I guess I was just expecting the same effects. And M didn't want to keep her glasses on. She said they made everything blurry. That probably would have concerned me except I took them and put them on and they were blurry. Blurry from popcorn butter fingerprints.  She must have touched every inch of those glasses. We had a super good time. But she wanted to pick M2 up from school - she really, really missed her. She's such a great big sister. When we got in the car the other day M told her "I love you so much M2. I love you so much I can't stop thinking about you." She's not dramatic or anything...  So we picked up sister and went swimming. We hadn't been swimming since July 4th. It's interesting - when you can swim any time you want, you don't swim as often as you would think. It was fun for the kids though. Not so much for me. Benny had to run an errand so I was solo. It's a lot to handle when you're in a pool and outnumbered.

Tonight M got in trouble and when we were discussing it I was outlining my expectations and I said "M, you are five years old blah,blah,blah..." and she got this look on her face, kinda smiled and said "I'm five years old? I'm five?"  So after our conversation I said "M, your birthday was yesterday. Remember?" and she said "Yeah, I know it was my birthday but I didn't know I was five!" and she was so super excited. And then she looked at me kinda confused and said "Why was there not cake at my birthday yesterday?" Oh baby, if it was up to your Mommy there would be cake everyday!












Favorite thing to do is play with my phone and take pictures. That gets interesting sometimes.

Her favorite shoes. She wore them all day.

Obsessed with shoes. Wonder where she gets that?

It's a Girl!

Five years ago today I was packing my bags and preparing for a trip to the hospital for the arrival of my sweet baby girl. Actually, at this exact moment I was in the bathroom taking care of my bikini line...I didn't care that I was 9 months pregnant and bigger than a house - I was going to be exposed to a bunch of strangers and it had to be done.  That was an interesting grooming experience which involved some tears, a spatula, and a lot of humiliation. But I digress...

So I went to bed and the next day my life was changed forever. We left our house a little before 4:00 a.m. to head to the hospital. We stopped at 7-11 so Benny could get coffee and I grabbed a Dr. Pepper. Yes, I know that was horrible but I did.  I remember thinking that this was the last time I would ever go anywhere in my life as a woman without a child. It was such a profound realization.  And then I thought it was funny that I had that kind of moment in a 7-11.

We got to the hospital, they got me hooked up and we waited. And waited. And it just wasn't happening.  M was starting to get distressed so the doctor came in and told me that I could keep trying but she believed ultimately I would have to have a c-section. So we changed our plans and I was rolled back into the operating room.

At 2:36 p.m. she came into the world with a loud, fierce, furious little cry. The sweetest sound I have ever heard and she's had my heart ever since.

Happy birthday MJ!  Thank you for filling my heart and renewing my spirit, thank you for asking me why and making me think, thank you for teaching me patience and showing me love, thank you for extra hard hugs and big wet kisses and for every time you have ever whispered in my ear that you love me.

I'm so blessed to be your Mommy!  I love you from here to the moon!

Hanging Tough

I feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  There is just so much to do; I don’t even know where to begin. And what do I do when I feel like I’m drowning?  Ignore everything and blog!  Because if I just pretend hard enough then it will all go away…

I’m allowing myself 10 minutes to just process and then I’m jumping right back into, I promise. And really, thinking about it I realize the only reason I feel this way is because I don’t have a list. I’m not sure why I don’t have a list today. This is usually the very first thing I do - open my drawer and pull out a Post- it (neon colors are my favorite) and start listing away. By the afternoon I usually have several stuck in various places on my desk or my computer monitor. And I copy them over too because I like starting with a clean list.  So, 10 minutes to process and then I’m making a list and then I’m jumping right back into it.

I had a wonderfully fantastic weekend.  Saturday was pretty low-key. I ran a couple of errands with the girls. We weren’t out too long though because it was so hot and I felt bad about dragging the baby in and out and putting her back into a hot car.   It was miserable!  I felt like being out and just doing something though; we needed a change of environment.  So we hooked up with my Mom and sisters and spend the rest of the day hanging out with them.  That’s always fun.

Sunday I headed off for some girl time! Met up with some friends to see the NKOTB and Backstreet Boys concert.  It was so much fun!  NKOTB was actually my very first concert – almost 20 years ago. Geez, that makes me feel old!  It was just as good this time around. They really do put on a good show – high energy and very entertaining.  And of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are all attractive.  But I will admit that I had to laugh at some of their costumes. I know they have people that handle that but….ohhhhh, it was so not doing it for me.  First of all, I don’t think men should wear hooker boots. You know what I’m talking about – the tight, knee high boots that should belong specifically to the female gender. Unless you’re a jockey, and then it’s okay.  I also am just not a big fan of men wearing sparkly shirts. Or sparkly anything really. Even as a grown woman I feel like I have to be careful about the amount of bedazzled attire I can get away with…anyone over the age of 15 should be careful about that. In their last set they even wore sparkly basketball jerseys!  Oh my goodness, I was cracking up.  Of course, that’s just me. I’ve always been attracted to manly men.  I like rough and tough, which is probably why I’ve always liked country boys.  And it just doesn’t scream tough to be wearing a glittery belt…

But I think I was in the minority because there were women going crazy. It was so much fun to watch – the concert, the fans…it was all one big show for me.  And really, most the women were pretty tame. There were a few who were flinging around underwear…which was interesting since it was apparent that the underwear they had in their hands could not fit onto their bodies.  And doesn’t that kinda defeat the purpose of flinging underwear in the first place?  I thought the whole point of something like that being sexy was the thought that you slipped off your panties and were handing them over – that they were fresh off your body.  It seems like something is lost when they come straight out of the WalMart bag…

I did have a super great time. And we had awesome, awesome seats – second row!  Afterwards we grabbed some food and headed back to our room. I stayed up all night talking with Brina – such a great conversation.   I love connecting and sharing with people I care about.  I think the world of her so it was nice to have that time together.  I’m not so sure Stephanie and Autumn appreciated that we kept them up though. I am so damn loud. I tried to remember to be quiet but that’s a special challenge for me, especially if I’m laughing. And Brina made me laugh a lot.



My pictures of the concert were all crappy because I just took my phone so I won't post those. They really aren't worth lookig at...but here are a few recaps from the weekend….good times!

On the road for some girl time!





The girls - Autumn, Stephanie, Brina and me

Not sure what I was doing with my arm...

Beautiful ladies!

I stole this pic from Brina. This girl rocks!



Notice the crazed fan in the background and her oh-so-happy male companion lol