And the WINNER is.....

Thank you all so much for entering my first giveaway! Your comments made my day! Each and everyone of you is so special to me.

The winner of the TWENTY FIVE DOLLAR credit to CSN Stores is...

#6 KATIE FLOOD!!

I used the random number generator to come up with the winner. I just don't have the widget to prove it partly because I am running out of time before the WINTER STORM OF THE DECADE hits and I am a computer retard. But trust me, it was #6!

YAY! Katie.

I will send you a facebook message with all the details for your CSN Store credit.

Congratulations. I hope you find something awesome!

It's not you. It's me. Promise.

I would love nothing more than to bring you to our church. A beautiful log cabin in the middle of the woods. A building so unique that a church is the last thing you think of. It's a home. A home for my family. A home for my children to find a real Jesus.

It's perfect for us.  We have had birthday parties, slumber parties, baseball games all in this facility.  I love to show it off.

So, if you come there are some things you should know.

First, the people are amazing. Our seats are full of the most wonderful, servant-minded men and women you can find. Humble hearts united to make our small body unique. We don't play church. These are real and imperfect people.  And, boy can they COOK.  Today we had the most amazing pasta dinner and in two weeks, FRIED TACOS.  You will want to come for that!

Second, the worship is powerful.  The team is very talented.  Every Sunday you can bet you will experience God.  It's not about the performance, it's about the moment.  The music and the atmosphere usher in an intimate time where you can let go of your junk and BE with the King.  Very powerful and always emotional.  The perfect opener to solid teaching.

Thirdly, if its your birthday you can bet we will make you stand on a chair so we can sing to you!  Growing up in a major denominational church, this was one of the hardest things to get used to.  We can stand on chairs!!??  GET OUT!  But this silly tradition is a way of telling you that you are family.  You are important to us.

Our church does a lot of things right.  I could go on and on about all the things I think we are good at.  But, if I could change one tiny little thing it would be our propensity to hold hands.  We are a body of believers that like to close almost every Sunday with a little cross the aisle hand hold.

And that's probably fine if you aren't me.  Sweaty McSweaterson.

My hands are always sweaty.  *eww*  For a long time I wouldn't admit that, but hey.  I like admitting socially awkward things on my blog.  I'm deaf and my hands sweat.  Hold down the jealousy.

So if you sit by me, please know that I won't hold your hand.  I will hug you, link arms with you, "rock up", but I won't hold your hand.  It's not you.  It's me.  I hope that doesn't make you feel awkward.  I promise you that it's not the fact that you coughed 347 times in 10 minutes.  It's not a germ thing.  It's a temperature control thing.

Trust me.  I am saving you from five minutes of embarrassing weirdness.  Not to mention significant wetness.  Apparently I am not the only one who thinks this.  You must take the time to read this post and all the comments. Hilarious.   

I love my church and I want you to come. 

Sit by me and we will knuckle bump for Jesus.

The sun is shining and I have a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

I am so excited today to offer a fun giveaway to a very lucky person...hopefully, YOU!

(This is my first one so bear with me. I am more than a little nervous!)

A few days ago I was contacted by CSN Stores to offer a giveaway on my blog. So that means that the five of you have an excellent chance of winning! Just kidding.  (See, I told you I was nervous!)

Seriously though, if you aren't familiar with CSN Stores they sell almost everything you are looking for. They have over 200 ONLINE STORES where you can find anything you need whether it be swingsets, fitness equipment, or even cute cookware!

Remember my lovely yellow teapot?  I won a giveaway from another blogger and selected that item out of literally thousands of wonderful choices. 

Today, I am offering $25 to a very lucky person.  Twenty five dollars could go a long way in getting something for yourself, or as a gift.  The other beautiful thing about CSN Stores is that it offers FREE SHIPPING on just about everything.   I don't know about you, but that is a wonderful offer when you are shopping online.  I am somewhat of a shipping snob.

Here are some of the things I would look at with this TWENTY FIVE DOLLAR credit.

Need Chaco sandals?  OK.

How about a new yoga bag?  Sure thing.

Kids break your apple slicer?  No problem.

Need a pretty platter to impress your in-laws?  Yup.

What about organizing that huge mess in your garage?  Check.

Need a new rug to cover the fingernail polish your toddler spilled?  Absolutely!

Baby safety becoming an issue?  Not anymore!

Your man needs a new shop vac to detail your mom ride?  OH YES HE DOES!

All you have to do is leave a comment.  Tell me something about yourself.  Let's get to know each other!

That's all!

Giveaway is open until SUNDAY, JANUARY 30 at 11:59PM central time.  I will use the random number thingy to select a winner and notify you by email.

I am in list mode today.

Giving up coffee may not have been the smartest thing I have ever done. The detox is KILLING me. Throw a bad cold on top of that and I am struggling to make it. Since my head is being squished and my lungs are collapsing, a list is all I have to offer.

Pathetic.

1. Zeb is currently looking for a new home. We had a falling out in front of the Pizza Hut man at Target so now he is wants a new family. Any takers? He's nine. The age of reason.

2. Yesterday we almost lost Wit. Skip thought he was with Zeb and Langley. They thought he was with Daddy. Panic ensued. We rushed in and out of every room, upstairs and down. I was crying, the kids were yelling. We found him in a dark closet eating candy. It took me about two hours to calm down.

3. I made banana bread today. Nothing smells better than that.

4. Today Langley's school celebrated 100 Man Lunch. The goal is to fill the building with great daddies, grandpas, or uncles. They served corn dogs and hugs. Skip was having a horrible day so it was a nice relief to spend some time with his favorite girl.

5. Surely by next week, this caffeine headache will be gone. Right?

6. American Idol. I am thrilled with the judges. I think this will be a great season.

7. Speaking of TV. Skip and I borrowed six seasons of HOUSE, M.D. from our nephew. We have been watching 2-3 episodes a night and just started season 4. It makes me feel snarky all the time. Someone once compared Skip to Dr. House...now I think that was an insult.

8. There is no way I can make it to #10.

9. Remember my pretty yellow *French* teapot that I won from another blogger? Well, the company contacted me yesterday and asked if I would be interested in hosting a giveaway. It took about 3 seconds to respond...YES, YES, YES!!! THANKYOUVERYMUCH!! So you will have to come back tomorrow and enter to win a $25 gift certificate to CSN Stores. Fabulous! They have EVERYTHING!

Good night and see you tomorrow! 

Daddy's little girl.

Why in HEAVENS name would I do this?

This pretty much confirms that I HATE myself and love self-torture. I am giving up coffee.

Actually, that's not true.

The coffee, I have no problem with. The amount of cream and sugar it takes to make that coffee tasty, that's the problem.

I think there is a direct correlation to my cup of cream and my waistline.

Anyway, I am giving it two weeks to see.

Pray for my family.

The year of the Apple.

I know Christmas 2010 was SO LAST YEAR, but I wanted to share Langley's letter to Santa. I just love this list, her writing, her thinking and all the hard work put into it. Someday in the future, when she is jetting around the iEarth in her iBug, drinking her iCafe, connecting with her friends via iMind she will remember the year she gave Santa her iList.

"I want for Christmas is a pool and a Ipod and a ds and a computter, and a gutar, and a dsI and a Ipad and a Itouch.  How do your reindeer fly?  I have blue eyes my name is Langley and my brother Zeb wats a Ipad.  Love Langley."

And she got exactly one of those things.  A guitar.  A real one...not even an iGuitar.  There are many reasons why she didn't get all of those things on her list.  The obvious being FINANCIAL ONES.  Pair that with the fact that Skip hates anything with little i.  He is a PC man.  But that is a whole blog post for another day.  Suffice it to say, it's so not gonna happen.   Santa did, however, bring her great things.  Things that were fun but also things she needed.

(I will go on record to say that a pool is a definite NEED.  I was kind of hoping that would work in her favor. Maybe next year!)

Part of me wonders if this was her "is Santa really real list?"  Her Santa litmus test.  Give Santa the impossible.  If he delivers then he must be real. 

Hopefully, not. 

It's probably just Apple's mad marketing genius that got her hooked!

You can bet that her daddy is going to spend this year trying to outplay, outwit, outlast the power of the little i.

IT'S CRAMPA!!!!!

"Mommy. Mommy. Mommy. Wook. It's CRAMPA!!!"

Ending on a high.

I am going to be completely, shockingly honest here. Today stunk. Big time. I do wonder what I expected when I took away all media privileges the night before in a BOLD DRAMATIC gesture that fell flat on it's face at 7:15AM when I practically begged them to turn on the TV.

Lordy.

Soon after that a half gallon of milk spilled and took out three dining chair cushions, one curtain and covered half of the dining room floor. And exactly zero kids ran to help clean it up.

But I thought I had the perfect remedy for an already frenzied 30 minutes.

MUFFINS!!!! It seems to work wonders for other mommies, so why not? But FOR THE LIFE of me I can't keep a muffin from burning on the bottom. Every. single. time. But they are kids. They should like muffin tops, right?

TOP OF THE MUFFIN TO YOU! Not. Two of my kids thought I was feeding them poison and proceeded to push me over the CRAZY LEDGE I was already on. Martha White would have hung her head in shame to hear such contempt over her Blueberry Cheesecake muffins.

For shame.

I put myself in TIME-OUT for yelling and possibly throwing a muffin top at them. If things didn't change soon, it was going to be a VERYLONGDAY.

Yada, yada, yada.

Long day over. We made it and even ended up on a high note. This was the perfect snow for Snow Ice Cream. We all pitched in with some cleaning and then made this yummy treat together.

Here is what you need for this treat.

gallon of fresh snow packed tightly in container, sugar, milk (we used half & half), and vanilla.

I already measured 1 cup sugar and put in the bowl while the kids were gathering the snow off the top deck.

When they AREN'T fighting, they are pretty cute!

Put the gallon of snow in the bowl with the sugar.

Pour in 1 cup milk or half/half. This batch seemed to take more liquid, so just keep eyes on it.
Pour some vanilla over the top and KISS THE COOK for being such a good sport.

Get a couple of cute things to stir it up.
Ready to eat. Langley loves hers with Hershey's. Well, duh! That's my girl.
Bowl should look like this.
They should look like this.
Do the dishes. Put them to bed and drink a box of this because you get to do it AGAIN TOMORROW.

A day full of winter.

This is how we spent the day...

Snow Day Wish?

Laying in bed with Zeb tonight.

Zeb: "Mom. I have four words for you. NO-SCHOOL-TO-MORROW."

Me: "Hmmm. I think I see the need for school TOMORROW now more than ever."

Numbers.

To the world, I am just a number. A series of unrelated digits strung together to form an identity.

I am a Social Security number.
A birthdate.
An IQ.
An address.
A zipcode.

I am a phone number.
An account number.
A patient ID number.
A test score.
A grade point average.

I am a dress size.
A shoe size.
A checkbook balance.
A number on the scale.
A driver's license number.

All of those things are "true" about me. But they are not the TRUTH about me.

To God, I am not FEMALE PERSON # 978478923864892834690203. My Lord knows me so intimately that He knows the NUMBER of times I rise and sit.

The NUMBER of hairs on my head are counted by Him.

He knows the NUMBER of my days.

He knows me as who I am. The one He made for a specific purpose. The one He loves with a passion so deep and wide that only He can calculate.

The one He wants to be friends with.

But my favorite thing about God is that He isn't counting the NUMBER of times I fail. He keeps ZERO record of my wrongs. There is NO spreadsheet documenting my shortcomings.

Who I am is enough for Him.

That is a good thought for this messed-up, imperfect woman who spent most of the day fretting over my jean size and my credit card balance. The rise and fall of both these EARTHLY NUMBERS has made my self-worth nose dive into enemy territory.

It's time to go stick my nose in the Bible and have God tell me how high I rank in His eyes!

His math makes me look good.

Nobody knows my sorrows.

Two guilty, as charged.
One in lockdown.
The other staging a prison break.
Jailhouse blues humming on the harmonica.
The icon of every good incarceration.

The meaning of friendship.

Secret telling.
Truth revealing.
Judgement withholding.
Arms hugging.
Time investing.
Tears drying.
Laughter exploding.
Differences understanding.
Viewpoints clarifying.
Junk food splurging.
Mood altering.
Thoughts sharpening.
Clothes swapping.
Advice giving.
Hope wishing.
Needs serving.
Feelings protecting.
Moments celebrating.
Safety securing.
Words encouraging.
Fun expecting.
Treasure seeking.
Problem solving.
Struggles praying.
Sisterhood bonding.
Sometimes fighting.
Always loving.
So worth having.

I blew it.

Monday morning. Fail.

I sent my first-born out the door deflated and rejected.

I am sick to my stomach.

I wake the kids up at 7:15 so they can shower, dress, eat and brush teeth all before 8:20. The reward for doing things fast is to have a few minutes to lounge and watch TV. Langley always moves fast. She is a worker. I love that about her. So she always gets time on the couch and her pick of shows. Hard work pays off for her.

Zeb, on the other hand, is just like me. Procrastinate, much? But even for him today was pretty extreme. He fell back to sleep until 8:00 which left only time for RUSHING AND PANICKING AND TENSION.

The curse of the procrastinator.

My anger rose to the top today. No matter how much I tell myself to stay calm, I can't with him. He pushes all the buttons in me that I have recognized as defaults in the way I am wired. My weaknesses are his weaknesses. And together we ride the tide of emotions and failure.

The same minute that our sweet neighbor pulled up to take them to school, he realized that he messed up his hair putting on his sweatshirt. It wasn't bad but he is a perfectionist and a FREAKER-OUTER. He lost it.

I lost it.

I yelled things at him that I wouldn't say to my worst enemy.

I shoved him out the door and slammed it behind him.

No hug.

No "I love you".

No wave.

Nothing.

I saw him turn back once just to see if I was there.

I wasn't.

Shoulders down, he walked towards the car.

I am a JERK sometimes.

As soon as they drove off I went to find my phone. I needed to call him. I needed him to know that I loved him. Just then, the phone rang. It was Zeb. I cried as I told him how sorry I was about the way I handled this morning. I reassured him of my love for him. But I wonder what damage this might cause. Is this how he will remember me?

I had a choice. Today (*most days*) I chose wrong. I am embarrassed and ashamed.

How can I stop myself from choosing wrong tomorrow?

Jesus, help me. I can't do this without you.

Tonsillitis

Nicely played, McDonald's. Nicely played.