I wish...

I wish that I could blame this on my child.

Unfortunately, I can not.
I was walking into the kitchen (for some forgotten reason) while shaking my fingernail polish bottle so that I could paint my nails and decide whether I liked the color or not, when it slipped from my hand and broke into pieces on the floor, spreading pink spots all over the floor.

I guess I don't have to decide about the color anymore.

Already?

Has it already been ten years since I've graduated from high school?

Apparently so, since my ten year high school reunion is this weekend. Argh.

I want to go for purely evil reasons, and a couple curiosity issues, but we shall see which ones win out this weekend.

I will get to hang out with a few people that I don't usually get to hang out with, though, so maybe that will make up for the whole "showing-people-how-much-weight-I've-gained" thing.

Full Circle

In high school, I had a pretty good job at a kid-friendly place called Discovery Zone. I got that job because my best friend, Megan, worked there too. Eventually, we got our other friend to work there, too, and we had a grand old time, planning parties and bouncing with the kids in the tubes and balls and arcade games. It was loads of fun. Then we graduated and I went off to college. My friend, Megan went off, too, but she found another job that she could take with her when she went off. So, like the good friend she was, she got me to join her again. So, I started working for a company named Vector. They trained me to demo and sell Cutco cutlery. This was supposed to be the easiest job ever, because I could go off to school and take it with me, and build my own customer base in a different city. There was only one problem. You have to be a salesperson to sell things. I am not a good salesperson. If you didn’t want it, I didn’t make you want it, but Megan sure did. She was good at all of this selling stuff and really did a good job at recruiting other people to do it too. So, she was making much better money than I was. I just wasn’t motivated at all. So, I quit selling and moved on with my life, to more fun college related things of course, and the job that put me in the right place to meet my husband.

Ten years later, I get a phone call from a former student, telling me that he got a new job with Vector and he wants to know if he can come to my house and do a demo. I laugh and tell him that would be fine, but I leave out the part where I know have the same set of knives that he’s going to show me, and that I won’t be buying anything today. I will, however, get the address from him where I can send my wonderful set of cutlery to get re-sharpened, because ten years later, they’re just starting to show some wear, and they are under a lifetime guarantee! J

So, if anyone else needs a really good set of knives, I can set you up with a couple people that can line you out with the best in cutlery there is. Or, I can get you lined up with a summer job for a couple quick bucks.

Specificity

My son's latest "thing"/fascination/ultimate happiness is his cars. Everywhere he goes, he finds any vehicle with wheels and immediately wants to "hold it." In fact, any time we leave the house, he HAS TO bring a few cars with him, one for each hand to hold as he goes along for the ride. He knows to leave them in his seat when he gets out of the car, and he looks for them again when we get back in. This fascination has even been known to last at naptime and bedtime, when he wants to take one or two to bed with him. Luckily, it's not to play with them, only to hold them.

But, in all this car/truck holding, there's not a specific pattern to his wants. He knows EXACTLY which car or truck he wants for specific trips. Long trips need different vehicles than trips to the store, apparently. You can't just pick up two cars and hand them to him and expect that to appease his wants. No. You. Can't. They have to be the specific ones he's looking for. The white police car, the red race car, the yellow car, the green truck... you name it, he's got it, and the OTHER yellow car will not be good enough, because that's NOT the one he wants.

I knew that my child was opinionated, and I know that he likes things in certain orders, but MY GOODNESS! I had no idea he could be so specific in his needs/wants. Wow. We have a long way to go.

It's Not November

Due to financial constraints lately, our budget has been stretched pretty thin, even though there are still mouths to feed, and not a lot of money to go buy loads of food. So, I decided to get creative with what we had in the pantry and freezer.
Every year, our school gives us a certificate for a turkey for Christmas. So, we usually use it at the time they have the buy-a-turkey-get-a-ham sale. Then, the husband got a turkey given to him last year, too. So, now we have too many turkeys and not enough holidays to eat them.
So, this week I decided to cook one. My thought is that it will be a really good dinner, and then it will be really good leftovers for the rest of the week. I can think of lots of things to do with turkey... sandwiches, on top of bread, with rice... lots of things...

Anyone have any other ideas of what to do with my leftovers?

Figure It Out

About a week ago, I attended two different weddings. They were very different, and I noticed something very important about the difference as well. Let’s see if you can figure it out, too.

Wedding #1 vs. Wedding #2

Date:
Wednesday
Saturday

Place:
Outside locale, both weddings

Time:
6 p.m. summer heat, in the sun
7 p.m. summer evening, in the shade

Length of service:
3 minutes, tops
15 minutes

Friends and Family attending:
No more than 40
More than 150

Theme:
Renaissance
Summertime flowers

Bride Wore:
White Satin dress with black belt and rainbow fairy wings
White Satin dress cinched at the waist that made her look like an angel

Reception:
6 tables with no interaction, only traditional part was the cake that was white
Beautiful layout of food, friends and family all talking and dancing, and two beautiful cakes

Conversation overheard from guests:
Keeping the bag from her tummy tuck hidden, even though she (and her girlfriend) was telling everyone about it anyway, along with how drunk they were going to be that weekend.
How they knew the couple or anyone else in attendance… fun, family-friendly conversations.

When I left:
I felt sorry for them, wondering how they’re going to make it
I felt excited about their new beginning.

Can you tell the difference?

I can.

What a difference God makes.