Burning Down the House

We've had problems with our hot water heater for quite some time. We knew the thermostat was going out, but instead of looking into what it would take to fix it, we just kept hitting the reset button whenever we needed hot water. It was very annoying when you woke up and realized that the hot water heater needed reset, but you needed to be somewhere NOW. Looking back, I'm really embarrassed that we rigged it for so long. But after a while, we stopped talking about fixing it and it just became part of our day.

Knowing our hot water heater was on the fritz, you would think that when I smelled burning plastic I would immediately check there first. Negative on that. I unplugged EVERYTHING. Smelled every outlet. Walked around the house several times to investigate the scent. I finally determined it was the furnace, which is close to the water heater. I mentioned it to Jeff and he checked out the furnace and found nothing wrong. So we just figured it was one of those weird things and stayed on alert for a few days, sniffing around to see what it was. Fast forward to Christmas Day when our water would not heat. At all. So we start thinking of how we're going to squeeze a hot water heater out of our budget while calculating how much hot water you can get from the kettle on the stove. We FINALLY decided to actually take a look at the hot water heater and found this:

This is the lower thermostat and plastic covering from our hot water heater that had apparently CAUGHT ON FIRE. The thermostat is completely gutted and you can see the plastic is melted. We are seriously lucky we didn't catch the house on fire! We think the only thing that prevented it was the fact that since we kept hitting the reset button, we didn't have the front panel on the unit. The fire burnt itself out because it didn't have any where else to go. With the panel on it, it would have immediately caught the insulation and Styrofoam and who knows what else!

So this goes to prove, delaying home improvements CAN be helpful sometimes! (or just really stupid and lucky!)

Theme song for today's post: Burning Down the House by The Talking Heads

Save a Place for Me

I had several family members lose loved ones this Christmas. It's hard to lose someone at any time, but I can't imagine losing someone during such a happy season. I pray for their comfort during this hard time and that they are always able to see the joy in the season despite their loss. Will you please pray the same for them?

Menu Plan Monday

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We certainly did, but now I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet week. We're going to put away Christmas decorations, relax at home and probably watch "Dispicable Me" a few hundred times.

Here's what we'll be having to eat this week:

Breakfasts:
Pancakes
Scrambled Eggs
Cinnamon Toast (a very popular favorite!)
Oatmeal
French Toast Sticks

Lunch:
Grilled Cheese
 Frozen Pizza
Soup
Quesadillas
PB&J

Dinner:
Chicken and Rice Bake
Enchilada Cassarole
Beef Stew (crock pot meal)
Bow-tie lasanga
Chicken Spaghetti - the last time I made this, I froze the leftovers. So all I'll have to do is thaw and heat up!

One of "Those People"

You may remember that recently I hit a deer. During this fiasco, I was given an ultra cool, red 2010 Dodge Charger to drive while my car was being repaired. I had originally hoped for a minivan from the rental company, but I was SUPER excited to ditch the "mom boat" I normally drive and speed around (to preschool). The excitement didn't last long because as it turns out, a 2010 Dodge Charger is small and not at all practical for a mother of three kids. I know if I would have gotten a van, I would have done whatever I could to buy one for us. My car works for us now and is nearly paid off, so buying a new van 'just because' wouldn't have been a good financial decision. Also, my husband loved Dodge Chargers and really wanted one. But he drove the rental once and didn't like it at all. It was so small! Putting all of this together, I remember thinking, "God must have really had a hand in this!" And then I thought, "WHAT?"

Flashback to about ten years ago -  I was telling a friend about how our neighbor's house caught on fire but ours wasn't damaged at all. She responded with, "Oh, Praise God!" and I thought it was so weird. Really? Praise God that my house didn't catch on fire? I suppose so, but I'm sure he had better things to do that night. And I thought, "Man, I'm glad I'm not one of 'those people'." You know, the people who think God has a hand in everything. That nothing is a coincidence. And who make people who don't have that kind of thought process feel uncomfortable.

As it turns out, I am turning into one of 'those people'. I'm not sure what has changed exactly, but I no longer see things as luck or circumstance. I think He does have a hand in everything. (And I sincerely hope that I don't make people feel uncomfortable!) So when I came across not one, but TWO blogs about unrealistic expectations at Christmas, I knew He was telling me something. And He is so right.

I read this post first and felt like I'd been smacked in the head with a holy 2x4. Did I have some out of body experience and write this? Because I could have...

Because nobody ever lives up to my expectations.... By giving the perfect gift,  I’m showing that I know them better than anyone else...I’m showing them that I can love them (love as a verb, of course, not a mere emotion) better than anyone else...I have perfectly ridiculous expectations of those who give me gifts. Because if they can’t give me something that illustrates how well they know me, how much they love me, how important I am, then clearly something is wrong.

The first Christmas Jeff and I spent as a married couple, he bought me the movie "Dumb and Dumberer" for Christmas. And I cried. How could the man I just pledged to spend the rest of my life with buy me that movie? I didn't even like the first one! It was like he didn't know me at all.  (To this day, he swears I told him it looked like it would be funny. I'm pretty sure I didn't.) Instead of our first Christmas being sweet, it will forever be remembered as the Christmas that I cried. (We can joke about it now, thankfully!)

And then there was this post. I'm pretty sure I'm the Grinch in this whole situation. When things don't live up to my expectations (which are impossible) I steal the joy from the season and my negativity leaks all over everyone. (Enter sad trombone sound - whhaaa whhaaa) I am officially a holiday Debbie Downer. After reading this, I put up the white flag and surrendered. Okay God! I get it!


So this season, I'm working extra hard at remembering the importance of gratitude and trying to be less Grinch-y.

“Gratitude is the key to happiness and anything that undermines gratitude must undermine happiness. And nothing undermines gratitude as much as expectations. The more expectations you have, the less gratitude you will have.” -Dennis Prager

Have you learned any hard lessons this year?

Book Review: A Time To Dance by Karen Kingsbury

A Time To Dance focuses on Abby and John Reynolds, a couple that has been married for 20 years. Now that their children are grown and starting to leave the nest, Abby and John find their marriage crumbling. Just as they come to the conclusion to end their marriage, their daughter announces her engagement. The Reynolds decide to try and keep their plans to divorce a secret until after the wedding, but their anger and suspicion of infidelity make it difficult to keep the peace. They both turn to God for the first time in a long time to seek answers and direction during this difficult time of their life.




This was my first Karen Kingsbury book and I wanted to like it, but was very disappointed. The characters were frustratingly stubborn and clueless. I felt like the book could have been half as long as it actually was because the author kept repeating the same things over and over again. The book wasn’t as predictable as I expected, but instead of being intrigued by things I didn’t expect, I just didn’t care. I couldn’t find a character to relate to or even root for. I had to force myself to finish the book and was relieved when it was finally over.



* I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.*

It's So Fluffy I'm Gonna Die!

Saturday afternoon, Jeff bravely took Brenna and Riley with him to finish Christmas shopping for me. We all met up afterwards for lunch together. During lunch, I kept teasing Riley and asking him what daddy bought me. He was so good and kept saying, "I can't tell you! It will ruin the surprise!"

So Saturday night as I was putting them to bed, Riley comes running out of the bathroom, rounds the corner into his bedroom (where Brenna and I were) and says:

Mommy! I'm gonna tell you what I bought you! Aspicable Me! You know, the movie where that yellow guy says, "WHAAAA?"

And then ran back into the bathroom. It was like his little body could only hold the secret in for so long and he just burst.

So we watched it this afternoon and really enjoyed it. Here are two scenes that were our favorites...

Three Months

• Almost 13 pounds (according to my bathroom scales)
• Falling into a routine finally
• Sleeping better at night
• Still hates to take the bottle

• Still cries quite a bit
• Smiling sporadically - especially at her big brother

Gracie's shunt is still pretty visible, but I feel like I've found a way to handle the questioning looks. Recently we were at a party and the gentleman across from me kept glancing at Grace's head, then quickly looking away. He wasn't gawking or pointing, but I could tell he was curious. So I just struck up a conversation with him by saying, "She gave us quite a scare before she was born..." and elaborated from there. It turned out to be a very nice conversation about Gracie and her health. He admitted that he was curious, but was afraid it would be rude to ask. I hope that I'm able to handle other situations so well.

Grace is doing really well health-wise. So far she's meeting all of the milestones but one. Her eyes wander quite a bit and she has trouble focusing. Her left eye is especially weak and doesn't always move with the right eye - as you can see in the picture. Her pediatrician in the NICU said she may experience some weakness on her left side and it seems that weakness seems to be mostly in her eye.   (While not as bad as Gracie's, I also have a weak left eye and had to wear a patch in kindergarten to help strengthen it - some of you may remember that :-) ) Physically, she moves her arms and legs quite a bit and shows no weakness there. She also has a very strong neck and can hold her head up for quite a while.

She tends to favor laying her head on the left side and we were told to expect that. It's something that happens quite a bit with babies who have been shunted. Both 'issues' are most likely things that will just take some strengthening exercises and we'll be working with First Steps to help her out as much as possible.

Meanwhile, we'll keep cuddling, playing and we'll soon be breaking out the 3-6 month clothes. She's growing so fast!!

*Post Theme Song - "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift*

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I have been unbelievably good this year. And while I don't necessarily need anything this year, if I were to wake up and find a few of these things under the tree - I'd be totally okay with that.

Old Navy Boyfriend Cardigan * Converse Sequin Oxfords * The Pioneer Woman Cooks * Kodak EasyShare C195 * Amazon.com Gift Card * Mechanical Kitty Coin Bank * Fiesta Serveware

Safe travels Big Man. We'll leave the cookies out for you.

xoxo,

Mighty B

I'll Be Bald for Christmas

During each of my three pregnancies, my curly hair grew into this beautiful, lush mane of curls. Unfortunetly, about three months after giving birth that lush mane falls out. It's not just a few hairs here and there. It's clumps. Drain clogging, disturbing looking clumps. The first time it happened I freaked out. I called my doctor and was not so nice to the nurse because I was convinced this was not normal and that she wanted me to be bald. (So sorry Dina!)

As it turns out, it's not exactly 'normal'. Hormones combined with thyroid issues makes my hair fall out at an alarming rate until everything gets regulated again. That takes about three months. My bangs are already nearly gone and you can see quite a bit more scalp than before. While it's still unsettling to see clumps of my hair in the shower (the kids got scared and thought it was a big spider the other night!) I do my best to hold tight and wait for it to grow back in.

I'm bald ya'll!

So if you see me before it's grown back, please know I haven't gone all Britney Spears and shaved my head. It's just a lovely side effect from having my beautiful baby.

How I'm Saving Money This Christmas

In my previous life working for an insurance company, I would speak to at least one person everyday who would complain about their rates being increased because they were "on a fixed income". It used to both crack me up and get under my skin. Who ISN'T on a fixed income? I don't know anyone who has an unlimited amount of cash flowing in, except maybe Bill Gates.

I'm so rich!

Since my funds are certainly not unlimited, I found a few ways to save on Christmas this year that I thought I'd share.

• No Clothes - I think the least popular gift for children under the age of 13 is clothing. It gets feverishly unwrapped, frowned at, then chucked behind them to move on to the next present which will hopefully be a toy. My kids could use clothing, no doubt about that, but we're saving it for our normal purchases after Christmas and saving the good stuff for the presents.
• No adult gifts - Jeff and I are not buying for each other. We both have everything we need. There are certainly things we want, but we're at the age where if we want it that badly, we'll just go buy it.
• Make it - I'm making each kid a blanket and hooded towel. The blankets are being made with panels, so basically all I'm doing is sewing two pieces of fabric together. The hooded towels are SUPER easy and really cute - I'm hoping to do a post just on them soon!
• Go straight to the source - Brenna's main gift this year is a Little People House. I thought it would be nice to get her the Little People SUV and Backyard Playset to make a complete home for her people, but found the SUV and the Backyard nearly impossible to find in stores and SUPER expensive on sites I normally shop at like Amazon.com. So I went to Fisher Price.com, they had both in stock and I bought both pieces for $30 - what I would have paid for just one set elsewhere. I also got free shipping and it arrived in just a few days. (Now if anyone can find me the Dance 'n Twirl Palace for a reasonable price, I'd be willing to part with a finders fee!)
• Make a List - this one seems like it should have been a no-brainer. But for me it was like a huge revelation. Normally what I would do is go to the store with a few specific things in mind, but mostly just pick up whatever I thought would tickle their fancy. This left me with lots of craptastic toys they barely played with and nothing left in my wallet. This year Jeff and I sat down and thought about what we wanted them to have, what would be helpful for them and what they would play with for a long time. And we are only buying those things. We're going to end up spending about $100 a kid (except Gracie. Since she's a baby and doesn't know any different, she will have practically nothing under the tree. We'll make up for it in years to come I'm sure!)

What are you doing to save a few bucks this Christmas? I'm sure I could use more tips. I don't see unlimited funds in my future.

Dinner and a Movie

Here are my favorite Christmas movies:
-  A Charlie Brown Christmas - classic, perfect Christmas movie. And you can watch it here!
-  Olive the other Reindeer - So cute.

 -  Mrs. Miracle - I read this fun story last year and was excited when it came out as a movie. It's a guilty pleasure, but not too cheesy. Doris Roberts is brilliant.

-  The Grinch - The animated story is great, but I don't think it compares to this version. The telling of the Grinch's backstory is perfection. It makes me want to crawl inside my tv, braid my hair in funky ways and become a Who.

-  Love Actually - This is my favorite movie of all time. So many sweet, sweet scenes.  So many lovable characters. Even the unlovable characters are wonderful! I found this video remake of my favorite scene in the movie and thought it was super sweet. Enjoy :-) 

And the menu for this week:
Tonight is taco salad
Tuesday is Southwestern chicken
Wednesday is cavatini
Thursday is baked chicken
Friday is pizza

So close!

We couldn't find a tree topper of Santa mooning us. But I DID come across this gem...



The Tootin' Santa Farting Santa Butt Holiday Ornament
(Yep, that's it's actual name!)

You can buy it here.  Because nothing says "Let's celebrate the birth of baby Jesus" like a good mooning. Right Bridget? :-)

Spread the Love

Here are some articles I've really liked recently:

Learn about gifts of service and love with Mom Life Today.

Ten easy ways to give to others from Life As Mom

A post I have read over and over again when I needed a pep talk.

We can't watch tv without hearing, "I want that!" with every commercial. So I found this post helpful.

And last, but absolutely not least - I don't want "at least" faith.

Video Friday

I took this video of Brenna while we were waiting for Riley to come out of preschool. (At the end, I am driving, but I was just moving my car forward in the pick-up line at the preschool and I was facing forward...I was not driving while recording!)

P.S. I never meant to insinuate that the Matthew West song was in any way a BAD song. It's a very good song with an excellent story. But it is SAD. I don't want to be sad at Christmas!! (And Chelsea, your comment wasn't mean at all :-) )

Christmas Music Fails

I told you about my top 5 Christmas songs. Now here are a few things that drive me CRAZY about Christmas music.

1.) When the artist has children sing. I don't know these kids and I can't see how cute they are. It's not precious, just irritating.

2.) When the artist pulls a "patriotic swap". It's nice that Beyonce and her friends want to honor our troops, but a "Red, White, and Blue Christmas"? Come on! You can do better Beyonce! (On the same note, "Sending You a Little Christmas" by Jim Brickman and Kristy Starling is one of the most beautiful songs ever and never fails to make me cry. So maybe it's not the patriotism I have a problem with...maybe it's just Beyonce?)

3.) SAD Christmas songs - "Do they know it's Christmas time at all?" Matthew West has a new one that will make you want to lock yourself in the closet and cry for days. "Christmas Shoes" is the absolute worst - it's depressing AND has children singing. Can I get a little joy please?

What are your Christmas music pet peeves?

The Mighty B's Top 5 Christmas Songs

I adore Christmas music. I start listening right after Halloween and I never get tired of it. So here, in very specific order, is my top 5 Christmas songs.

1.) "O Holy Night" - Words cannot describe how much I love this song. So beautiful - and the lyrics, UGH! "The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices....fall on your knees, oh hear the angel voices"...it stirs my soul. This is BEST when Mariah Carey sings it, although Josh Groban does an excellent job as well.

2.) "Sleigh Ride (Instrumental Version)" - Such a bouncy, fun song. I have nothing against the lyrics, I just have very fond memories of playing this with my high school band. (There were no band geeks at my school - we rocked! And I played trombone!)

3.) "Merry Christmas Darling" by The Carpenters - Karen Carpenter had one of the most beautiful voices. This song has so much emotion, "I wish I were with you..."

4.) "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayle Peevey - so cute. I have a vivid memory of sitting at my Aunt Emily's kitchen table with my cousin Samantha and hearing this on the radio. Now it's one of Riley's favorite songs too.

5.) "All I Want for Christmas is You"  by Mariah Carey - classic, fun Christmas song that is in my favorite Christmas movie...which one is that? Guess you'll have to wait for that post. :-)

Forgiveness

About a month ago, I recorded a movie called Amish Grace.  It's a Lifetime movie, so it's not groundbreaking material, but I would recommend watching it. The whole theme of the movie is forgiveness. As one character points out, you don't forgive to condone the behavior or make the other person feel better. You forgive because otherwise the bitterness and hatred can consume you. It's not something that you can just say, "I forgive you" and all is forgotten. It can sometimes take a daily - maybe even hourly - effort to forgive.

It made me think of forgiveness in a new way and try to forgive some people I thought I never could. In this season of love, family and peace - who do you still need to forgive? Do it for yourself. There's no need for the anger to consume you anymore.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that prisoner was you.
 -Lewis B. Smedes

The Logs On The Fire...

In an effort to cut back (WAY back!) on our grocery bills, I'm cooking from what we already have in the pantry. So all I'll need to pick up from the store this week is a pound of ground beef and milk. And NO Christmas Tree Cakes! Here's what we are having, in no particular order:

Crock Pot Chicken
Spaghetti
Tacos
Chicken and Noodles
Chili
Chicken Spaghetti

One of my FAVORITE things about Christmas is the music. I have a whole post written up about my favorite songs - but I couldn't wait to share one of my absolute favorite Christmas songs with you, "Merry Christmas Darling" by the Carpenters!

(My favorite part is the very end, "Merry Christmaaaas, Daaaarrrrrliiiiing!")

Just Another Manic Sunday

Today had a very rough start.  I woke up with a migraine, but I was determined we were going to church (because we skipped last week). We rushed everyone to get ready and Jeff goes out to start his car only to find his battery is dead. So we load up in my car and Jeff notices I have a flat tire (And I was severely low on gas). After a trip to the gas station we were super late for church, so we decided to skip again, go get some lunch and look for a topper for the Christmas tree.

Menard's was a disappointment in the tree topper department. We bought a star that promised to change colors, but really it just flashes red and white. So it looks a little like some kind of landing beacon for airplanes - not exactly the look I was hoping for. We did find some cute stockings for all of us there though.

Thankfully our church posts their messages online so we'll get to hear the start of the new series. Truthfully, we've felt a little disconnected from our church lately. I think it's unrealistic for a church to have a message that moves you every week (the pastors are human after all) but it's getting easier to make excuses to not go. We talked about looking for a new church today, but we really haven't been attending this one very long. When do you know if it's time to move on? Or if we just need to stick it out? Maybe we should become more active so that we feel like we are more of a part of the church? (It's a pretty big church. We've been going since April and know a handful of people - there just isn't much of a chance to get to know people on a personal basis.) I'd really be interested in hearing your thoughts on this!

Food is Expensive

I was reviewing the bills/budget for the month today and realized that I spend waaaay to much at the grocery store. I was doing pretty good for a while, but now it's getting out of hand! So we'll be going back to basics - menu planning, shopping at Aldi for most things and NOT buying 14 boxes of Little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes every week.

Seriously. Have you had these things? They are like little bits of holiday crack.

So how do you save money on food each month? Couponing? Mooching? Do you also have an addiction to Christmas Tree Cakes?

*I'm participating in the Blog Post Every Day for December challenge (I just made that name up) so you'll be seeing a little fluff from me several days a week. Substantial posts require more brain power than I have to give right now.*

O Tannenbaum

Want to know an interesting tidbit about me?  Thanks to Frau Moore and the two (or three? I can't remember...) years of German in high school I can sing "O Christmas Tree" in German. If you're lucky, I may just sing it for you someday. I used to be able to sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", but all I can remember now is the first line (Rudolph mit roten naschen!)

This weekend we are going to look for a new topper for our Christmas tree. We have always had fiber optic angels, but they tend to die easily and frankly are a bit kitschy for our tree. I'm hoping to talk the family into something classy like a star or a Santa that moons you.

Oh Cindy Lou - what happened to you?

We were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas the other night and I thought I saw something about Taylor Momsen. Being the pop culture junkie I am, I immediately thought of the gothic blonde she is now and could not figure out why they would think she was in my beloved Grinch. But alas...

What happened to the sweet Cindy Lou??

24 Days Until Christmas!

December 1st ...can you believe it? I certainly can't. But I'm excited! I narrowed down my list of 24 things my family will do to countdown until Christmas. Want to know what they are? Here is what we'll be doing for the rest of this week.

1. Eat on the Christmas dishes. Jeff got me these dishes for Christmas a few years ago and I love them. Everything tastes more festive on a Christmas tree plate.

Thank you Christopher Radko and Target!

2. Read One Baby Jesus. Patricia Pingry writes really great children's books for the holidays. We got this one from the library a few days ago.

3. Take the Family Christmas photo. My Christmas cards are already addressed. Makes you sick, doesn't it? Yeah me too. :-) Now I just have to take the picture, print and send!

4. Watch The Polar Express. We've never watched this together as a family. Since Riley is OBSESSED with trains, I think it will be a hit! The evening will include pizza, popcorn, m&m's - a perfect Friday celebration feast. Thanks to the fine folks at ABC Family and their 25 Days of Christmas for the free entertainment all month! (The Polar Express is playing Friday at 8:30 EST)

Do you have any special plans for the beginning of December? Want to join in on our 24 days? Feel like it still should be September?