-50 F

I didn't know that it could possibly be so cold right here in MN. I though it was only 50 below in Siberia!?!??? And I hear about global warming every day...really folks, I understand that it's an issue, and I don't mean to offend here, but 50 below does not sound like global warming to me.

Thankfully, it's not 50 below where I am, but somewhere to the north in this frozen tundra they are experiencing 50 below 0 weather.

To me, this weather is kind of like Chinese water torture, or pulling out your fingernails torture...ok, just plain torture! It's a wonder we mothers have any sanity left by the time spring comes. We're confined to however many square feet we own or rent...someday, if I keep living here, I think I'd like a big house with a large play area to amuse ourselves in.

Blessings and cursings

I guess life comes with both right!?

Last night I had a very enjoyable birthday dinner with 7 of my favorite and/or soon to be favorite girlfriends. We had a blast talking, laughing and eating some good Mexican food! It was so much fun and I loved getting to know the ones I don't know so well and getting to know even better the ones that I do.

At the end of our meal each of them went around the table and encouraged me with words of affirmation (love)! I was so blessed and surprised even with some of the things that were said, things that I guess I haven't really noticed in myself. Anyway, I'm so glad that God has been working on me and I know that even though it took ugly things to do that, I'm all the better for it. I love my Lord and He loves me and sometimes being loved by Him is painful, but so so good in the end. I felt refreshed and renewed as we left and so very thankful that I have such great friends here and all over the place.

The cursing parts aren't very fun though...this morning I was shocked to speak with my still-husband's now ex-girlfriend. Sounds kind of like something for day time tv doesn't it! Anyway, he told her he'd been divorced for over 2 years and that's why she felt at liberty to date him. He also told her that the reason he left me is because I have a drinking problem and couldn't get off my tushy to take care of our daughter and that now our daughter is living with my parents and he sends them money every month to take care of her! HA! AND, this is the sucker punch-he also left because I was cheating on him with cowboys!?!?!? I laughed out loud, seriously, he needs help.

I am humored. Praise God that I know who I am in Him!!!

2 days in a row!

Look, I'm posting 2 days in a row!

Anyway, I don't have anything brilliant to say...in fact, I come here with more questions than I do answers! The main question being: what happened to my obedient little girl? All evening yesterday, H would not stop playing with my cell phone. I understand that this may not be a big deal for others but since she was around 7/8 months she's known that mommy's phone is a "no touch".

Every time she touched it, mommy would take her aside and 'remind' (discipline) her that she was not to touch it. And what do you know but 2 minutes later there she was again, cell phone in hand, all smiles. Over and over, I reminded her until I was just as sad as she was. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she was distracted by some old headphones and tapes and cds and that kept her away, but seriously we were both wiped out by the whole experience.

I know that raising a child isn't always easy but it really does break my heart when I have to 'remind' her over and over again of the same thing in such a short period of time. Thankfully, I am able to remember that I am doing the right thing by disciplining her and that this is what God wants me to do in order to raise her up in Him with Godly character otherwise I'd give up. On days like these I have to remind myself of the long-term benefits of discipline because in the short run, when I see her little face devastated like that, it makes me want to cry too...and sometimes I do.

Coping Mechanisms

Ok, so I've gotten really bad at blogging lately. I haven't been on here in ages except to check out everyone else's pages. I decided this morning on the way to work that I would sit down and write something, anything even if it was short. So, here's why I haven't written in a while.

When I get behind in something it usually ends up piling up, like mountains of dishes and laundry and emails and so on and so forth, well it turns out that blogging falls under this too. I used to pride myself on being able to be so organized and all...and well, I guess it just goes to show that pride comes before a fall!

When I look at these mountains of things to do, they all seem SOOOO big that I'll never be able to get to them all so I resort to avoidance, coping mechanism #1. I avoid my kitchen, laundry room, email inbox, phone etc until there's no possible way to do so any longer. Finally, when dishes have piled themselves as high as they can go (I actually do have a reason for this, my dishwasher broke this week and it hasn't been fixed yet, so I had to take everything out of it and pile it next to the pile that was going to go in there next etc.) and H doesn't have anything clean left to wear (behind on this because of stupid dishwasher) and when I call my voicemail and it says, "You have 20 new messages..." I know I need to buckle down and do something.

Coping mechanism #2 is: reasoning/explaining, see last paragraph. :)

Coping mechanism #3: is procrastinating. So now I know that all these things are needing to be done, we need clean dishes, clothes, I should return my messages...etc. I find all sorts of other things I'd rather do, like read...falling back into C.M. #1: avoidance. Then I finally buckle down and start one project: write down all voicemail messages. Ok, ok and start calling people back. (C.M. #2: I'm on the phone ALL day at work so I don't really enjoy talking on the phone much if I'm not required to. Don't get me wrong, I love talking to all of you, it's just overwhelming at times)

I probably have many more C.M.'s but, can't think of them at the moment and really 3 is enough to list here right!? So, this is why I haven't written, or called you back or invited you to dinner or etc etc. :) But, I can tell you that all the dishes in my house are now clean as well as our laundry and I am making my way through my list of calls/emails to respond to so hang on and I'll be in touch soon...if you're waiting to hear from me.

This wasn't as hard as I thought it would be! Have a great day!

Just one of them days...

Tuesday was one of those days where everything just seems to go wrong. It was a perfectly ordinary, warm January day until I got to work...and then things quickly went down hill from there.

My assistant's computer wasn't working and just as soon as we'd fixed that we couldn't network the two computers. Then we gave up on that project only for my computer to start having it's own tantrum. And then my student assistant said she couldn't work there anymore so we are in the process of juggling students from one dept to another. Good times. Sorry Bernt and Jason.

Then, when I've finally made my escape from the office, I go to pick up H only to find her and Erin and Brevin in tears. H wasn't hurt, she was just sad for Erin, who'd just cut the top of her finger off while peeling potatoes. (You can read more about that in their blog link to the right.)

I walked into their house to find Erin crying and H sympathy crying with her over her finger which was gushing blood and wouldn't stop. Brevin was crying because he'd been startled awake by Erin's scream of pain. Kind of funny now as I'm writing this, but definitely not in the moment. So I went into Nurse-Mom-Rescuer mode and tracked down a first aid kit, medicine, crying babies and pulled out some funny jokes / things that had happened during the day to take Erin's mind off the finger until Bernt could get there to take her to urgent care. I stayed with the two kiddos and cleaned up the accident site! Saving the finger tip as a souvenir of course.

Anyway, it was one of those days that I had to remind myself that God is in charge and sitting on His throne and all will be well. One of those days that I'm thankful for His never changing character.