31 Days

Well, this is the week of our big PTO fundraiser, plus D brought the stomach bug home from school, so I haven't been able to get on my blog much. I'll try to catch up!



Things I Love About Where I Live

• I've made some amazing friends here.


• It only takes a couple of minutes to get anywhere in town.


• It's quiet and laid back.


• I've had the chance to get to know people who've lived in this little town their entire lives.


• When you ask where someone lives, you don't get an address, you hear, "Well, you know where so-and-so used to live?"


• Our undefeated varsity football team won the state championship last year. It was INSANE!


• Wherever you go in town, you see someone you know.


• The young Christian families are hungry for God and that has created quite a bond among us.


• I can call the florist and say, "Perry, this is Jill. Can you send something to..." I'm pretty sure I'm the only Jill!


• Half of the hometown crowd still has an account at the grocery store. They get a bill each month!


• Most of the people here are down-to-earth farming families, business owners, and educators.

There are certainly more things I love about this little town, but I've run out of time!

32 Days

More Things That Make Me Smile

• sharpies - no, really
• hanging out with little girls
• and old ladies, too!
• AE Drake Relay ice cream
• AE party dip
• going to son's school and getting at least 27 hugs from kiddos
• proving that a woman can be a good pastor's wife & be REAL @ the same time
• knowing I'm doing the very thing God told me I'd do back when I was 13
• seeing Miss E run up my sidewalk every morning, grinning and giggling
• hearing a nephew or niece say "Aunt Jill" for the first time
• seeing the combines cutting wheat
• listening to these cotton farmers tell their "stripper" stories!
• the way the snow and mountains look at dusk at our family getaway in Colorado
• hearing my best friend and her kids sing "Jingle Bells" because it's the first snow in Des Moines
• hearing Brandon call me "Mr. Jills"

33 Days

Things I Hated about Childhood

• scorpions!
• hearing young coyotes howling at night in the spring
• doing Christmas at an ungodly hour because Dad had to leave for work (didn't happen every year though)
• camping in "the bus"
• hearing my parents argue
• knowing older brother had messed up again, causing parents more grief
• not ever knowing what older brother would do
• having a big brother I loved, but feared at the same time
• RIDING THE BUS!
  

34 Days

Some Things I Loved about Childhood

• camping with my family
• going to church
• having my brother as my best friend
• finally getting a baby sister
• my girlfriends
• going to Dad's "firehall" on Halloween to be frightened half to death by other insane firemen!
• looking at store Christmas window displays in downtown Fort Worth
• attending Grandview Zebra football games
• visiting grandparents - more of that later

35 Days

Some Place I'd Love to Visit

• Prague
• Ireland
• Israel
• England
• Italy
• Canada
• Alaska
• Seattle
• Chicago (especially the Chicago Art Institute)
• Nova Scotia
• New England in the fall
• Savannah
• Jackson Hole
• Lake Tahoe
  

There are so many more, but that's all I could think of right now.

36 Days

Bad Habits

• not completing projects
• not cleaning up after myself RIGHT AWAY
• staying up too late
• not listening well
• procrastinating
• hitting the snooze button way too many times
• talking too much
• neglecting relationships
• telling everyone BUT hubby what the plan is
  

This is by no means the complete list. The rest will show up later, I'm sure. I'm just feeling very much like a SLACKER and need to find some chocolate to consume!

37 Days

What Would I Do With a Whole Lotta Cash

• tithe to my church
• pay off all debt, then invest, blah, blah, blah
• buy hubby a pick-up and an awesome drum set
• build a dream home...with a sound-proof music studio!
• build a dream backyard for the boys...get those monkeys outta my dream house!
• support the people, ministries, and organizations I've always wanted to help
• help out some family members
• anonymously meet people's needs
• start ministry to pastors' families - providing vacations/retreats they couldn't afford, but desperately need
• get rid of all my furniture and clothes...then start fresh
• pay someone else to manage it all!
  

It's a Boy Thing

This is what I discovered one day after the boys got out of the bathtub. Obviously, a very fierce battle had occured in the Land of Bafftub. The poor, headless snake never had a chance.

I immediately thought, "Do girl-moms find such things in the bathtub?"

Why do I love these pictures so much? They capture the essence of boy-dom, boy-hood, boy-ness...all things BOY! They make me laugh because the predator still has its kill hanging lifeless from its clenched teeth.

But most of all, I wonder which little testosterone-filled man-child left it on display in the corner of the tub?

38 Days

Instead of continuing yesterday's list, I thought I'd go in the opposite direction.

Things That Drive Me CRAZY

• female cashiers @ discount stores who've spent lots of money on their fake nails, yet wear no makeup and have skanky hair
• seeing toothless, illiterate southerners interviewed after a tornado has destroyed their trailer homes
• sitcoms that count on all things sexual to get ratings and keep our attention
• hearing a news anchor report the death of someone famous by saying "John Doe, dead, age 72"
• Disney and Nick shows (aimed at school-aged kids) that refer to girls as "hot"
• watching my kids act appalled when asked to pull their weight around here
• knowing people talk ABOUT my husband without talking TO him
• the Obamas
• Joe Biden
• being micro-managed
• feeling overwhelmed

39 Days

Well, here we go. The first REAL day of this adventure! I thought I'd start with something easy.

Things That Make Me Happy

• warm chocolate chip cookies (homemade, of course)
• listening to articulate women speak - especially Southern women!
• really good, gourmet coffee
• all things autumnal
• playing "White Rabbit" every month
• Blue Bell ice cream (can't seem to choose a favorite)
• Texas Bluebonnets
• listening to my ipod without interruption
• dessert @ Olive Garden with my girlfriends
• my kids' laughter
• drinking coffee on my front porch on fall mornings
• slobbery kisses from babies

I have lots more, but I think I'll save them for another day! Gotta pace myself. 40 is a BIG number, you know! Ugh.

40 Days to 40

Yep, that's right. 40 days from today, I'll be 40! 40...YEARS...OLD. I've heard myself say (without flinching) things like "I'll be 40 this year" or "This fall I'll turn 40". In fact, I like seeing people's reactions to the news...most of the time they're quite surprised. Maybe they thought I was much older! LOL!

But suddenly it feels...weird. That's the only word I can use to describe it right now. All this time I've laughed about it, pretended to dread it, etc. But today, it just feels weird.

For many, growing older, "ahem", hitting milestone birthdays, is cause for reflection. I'm no different. A good friend woke up the morning of his 40th birthday and suddenly felt overwhelmed with regret and disappointment. His life wasn't at all what he'd imagined it would be at 40. I really don't want that to happen to me. By the way, he didn't stay there long, because he began taking action and making changes.

So, I'm issuing myself a challenge. Being one of those very busy, no-time-to-slow-down kind of people, I don't make time for myself. Whether it's soaking in the tub, reading a book, going for a walk, or feeding my spirit, I usually put it off. Just too many other pressing needs. I neglect reflection, solitude, and creativity. So, my self-challenge is...blog 40 things about ME. That doesn't mean 40 straight days of blogging. It really means whatever I want it to mean. The last thing I need or want is the pressure of having requirements & restrictions on this thing. It's supposed to be fun, creative, silly, serious, authentic...ME.

It may seem a bit narcissistic, arrogant, self-centered, prideful...but really, it's just theraputic. I NEED to do this. (I hope this doesn't sound like a put-myself-first, Oprah-kinda-thing! I don't even watch that show!) It will be more like a journal. Some topics include:

• Things I Love
• Things I Dream About
• Hopes for my Kids
• Regrets
• Loved about Childhood
• I've Never...
• Struggles
• Bad Habits
• Embarrassing Moments
• What Makes Me Feel Old
• What Gives Me Purpose
• What Encourages Me
• What Irritates Me

You get the picture. It's something a stranger can read and feel like they've gotten to know me. Something my boys can read someday and know me a bit more. But it's certainly not a eulogy!

Anyway, it should be fun. Feel free to comment. Agree. Disagree. Tell how you've dealt with that very thing. But please, PLEASE don't think I'm doing this so everyone can tell me how much they love me. That's not what this is about. I know I'm loved.

I just hope this isn't the only post in this series. That would be so very typical of me!

And, by the way, special thanks to Kacole for the cute logo!

What My Kids Got from Kacole...

My sister loves making up new words and phrases. My favorite is "crappity crap". It really says so much about her personality and sense of humor! Well, I know she'll be so proud of her nephews when she reads this!

The other day, D was trying so hard to tell me about his day, but his tongue kept getting tied up. He said, "I was so tired today at school. It was hard to foc...concentr...focunstrate!"

I love it! Focunstrate has been used many times around here since then.

When you are almost five, some words are still hard to articulate, like "gespetti" (uh, that's spaghetti, in case you needed help). The mispronounced words have always been so cute, but there are fewer and fewer of them left in G-man's vocabulary.


When he recently discovered his brother and dad would be camping without him, his heart was understandably broken! He looked right into my eyes and said (with chin quivering, I swear!), "But I want to go on the Scubs Scouts Campout, too".


Oh man! It was pitiful...and effective!


He really likes his new Lightening McQueen tent! He stayed in or around it the 24+ hours the "Scubs Scouts" were gone! Since I wouldn't let him eat inside it, I had to convince him to pretend there's a campfire burning right outside the tent door. Everybody knows it's more fun to eat around a campfire.


And yes, we even ate s'mores!