Perspective – Year after Year

As 2009 draws to a close, I find my perspective of the past two years to be quite an image of opposites… without appearing so at first glance.  I remember sitting on New Year’s Eve 2007 with great expectations and excitement for the coming 2008.  I was absolutely giddy for all that was to follow…. and it did not disappoint.  We were booked on a cruise for my parent’s 50th anniversary with my siblings and their spouses.  Our first trip without kids….. as adults.  We were overjoyed. 

Early 2008 I was in the throngs of getting our first book published, my website up and book signings arranged.  It was a whirlwind of activity…. and it did not disappoint.  I still love my website, even though it desperately needs to be updated.  The motherhood book was cuter than I could have imagined and the book signings were so much more than I hoped they could be.  I was overjoyed.

Looking at 2009, you would think my anticipation and responses would be nearly similar, as our second book was published and Rick and I again escaped to a cruise ship for five days… alone this time.  There were plenty of book signing opportunities and speaking engagements to fill my calendar.  But my summaries of the two years are not at all alike. 

2008: thrilling, awesome, love to relive it all. 

2009: emotionally draining, glad it’s over, can’t wait to start a new year. 

WOW!  It makes me feel better just knowing that today is the last day of my most frustrating year ever.

Why? you ask.   It seemed that all things that I hold dear to my heart took a beating this year…. my family, friends, church and homeschooling.  It was a year of trials, disappointments, changes and a realization that we were on the wrong track.  That in itself is a good thing as we begin our new year aiming in a different direction.  Sometimes I like change…. like the change from a $100 bill when I only bought a pack of gum.  I also like change when it comes to dirty socks, sheets and past season flowers in my backyard pots.  I don’t appreciate change when it comes to churches, friends, or finances. 

Typically I’m not an emotional wreck, but most of June I spent crying and hiding in my room.  I read more Christian western 1850′s romances this summer than the past five years combined.  Why? you ask.  Because I needed to escape.  I didn’t want to face the facts that were dumped upon me and our family. I didn’t want my life to change.  I relished feeling secure in how things have been for years and there was a huge rock in the road that upset the apple cart.  My apples were everywhere but in the cart for many months.  I still don’t have them all gathered back.

One thing we realized (remembered) is we are becoming who we surround ourselves with… and we needed to seek out others who were truly like minded with us in regard to our family beliefs with church and school.  We slowly, over years, came to the place where we couldn’t even talk about our calling to teach our kids at home for fear of offending those we spent the most time with.  Not that we are abandoning friendships of old, we just needed to be encouraged and prodded and slapped on the back by others who understand our calling…. our lifestyle of homeschooling.  It truly encompasses all we do as a family.

After much soul-searching and over a year of prayers, we felt the time was upon us to find a new church.  For those who know me well, this is not how I roll.  I am not a quitter, and that is how it seemed to me at the time.  We have been at the same church for ten and a half years.  Our boys don’t remember any other church.  Our dearest friends were there… scads of them.  But I can honestly say that the day we walked into a different church for the first time, it was like a breath of fresh air that I didn’t know I needed so desperately.  I haven’t exactly embraced it wholeheartedly, but I know we’re in good hands, even though I can’t quite put their sticker on my back window of the van at this time. (Are back window church stickers only the rage in Phoenix???)

I haven’t come full circle with the challenges that arose, but I do see how the Lord has provided friendships for me along the way.  Awesome women of God to come along side of me.  God allowed challenges to force us to see the error of our ways and our need to seek His face.  So, for that, and for the bumps in our 2009 road, I’m grateful.  Supremely grateful they’re over!

2010… let’s roll.

Christmas Camp Crosby

The years that my sister’s family comes for Christmas are filled with crafts, cooking, games and frivolity to the max.  They are visiting from Washington state for two and a half weeks.. and we are taking advantage of every single minute.  I spent a day cooking with my nieces and nephew creating all new recipes that I’ve never tried before (get this one) Gingerbread Whoopie Pies with Lemon Peppermint Filling, Polar Bear Snickerdoodles, Eggnog Truffles and Rocky Road Brownies.  YUM!  The truffles are a sure repeat from now on.  I’ll post the recipe soon.  It’s delectable.

We’ve played many games of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride (a new game to us… and a real winner!) and Trivial Pursuit.  Can I just add here that since I’ve been homeschooling my kids for over nine years, I’m SOOO much better at Trivial Pursuit than I used to be!  I almost won!!!  I don’t know if I’ve ever even come close before.  Thrills a minute.

We started the first week with sleep-over after sleep-over rotating from my parent’s, my brother’s and our home for the nine cousins.  It hasn’t stopped yet.  The littlest boys are at G&G’s tonight and the middle boys are at my brother’s house.  Last night we had girls night here at our house.  Yes, I’m tired.  Yes, I’m going to bed soon. 

We did tie-dye last week with the kids and they’ve all been wearing their cool shirts since then. 

Before girls night, we went to a ceramics super store and bought all sorts of items to paint.  Then at girls night, we painted to our little hearts desire…. and kept painting the next morning.  I have a friend with a kiln and I’m dropping off all the masterpieces tomorrow.  Here’s some pictures of our family fun.  That’s my mom, my sister (right), my sister-in-law (left) and my daughter and nieces.

Yes, my husband took the previous photo… and that’s me on the right… with half a head.  Thanks, Hon.  My sister-in-law painted a beautiful platter… just like Mary Engelbreit.  I can’t wait to see that one when it’s been fired.

Mom painted a large square platter with a flower in the center.  They don’t look too exciting pre-kiln, but just wait a few days!!!  I’ll post the finished products pictures.  There were also vases, mugs, a doggy, a bread plate, a heart-shaped dish for a dresser and a guitar pencil holder.

These are my ornaments that I painted.  I finished them with a snowy glaze so they will be flecked with little white dots…. on the royal blue:

So fun!

Cruisin’ Together

OK, so I was slightly spoiled last week.  Rickey gave me an early Christmas gift and took me on a five-day cruise…. see??? Spoiled!  It was relaxing and wonderfully un-chaotic.  This Fall, with my traveling and his hockey coaching, we have not spent much quality time together.  So we decided to get away for a few days, being that he’s been saving his holidays at work for our trip to Colombia to get our little Zaza…. but that hasn’t materialized at present….. and the vacation days keep piling up.  So we used four of them.  Whooo HOoo! 

One of the ports of call, TOTALLY exotic beyond belief, was Catalina Island!  (ha ha)  Rick and I haven’t been there together for 22.5 years, as our honeymoon was the last occasion.  We were able to find the hotel that we stayed in and it literally looks exactly the same.  The little town, however, has dramatically improved and is quite charming with shops and shops and more shops.  So we went in the shops since they were plentiful. 

One of my brilliant pre-cruise plans was to dig out a little bag of white and black rocks that we picked up on the beach last time we were in Catalina… and made a backgammon game on a grocery bag. No one told us to bring games or reading material on our honeymoon.  Duh!  But I forgot to take it along.  So, being incredibly sentimental and bored once again, we once again picked up 15 white rocks and 15 black rocks and made a backgammon game on a piece of paper.  It was much more advanced this time as I used a brochure to make the lines straight.  We played many games of Acey-Ducey on this trip. 

The highlight of the cruise, however, (if you can beat a homemade backgammon game!) was Rick taking the championship medal for the on-board ping-pong challenge.  He beat several people to come out victorious and he wore his medal to dinner that night.  He made sure everyone knew that you couldn’t BUY the medals on board.  You had to WIN them.  Makes me so proud.  As we were leaving the ship, he kept pointing out people whom he had decimated at the green table. “See that guy in the blue pin-striped shirt?  I beat him.”  A few minutes later, “See the tall guy with the dreadlocks?  I beat him.”  I asked him if he wanted me to stop the line to immigration, open the luggage and find his medal so he could wear it.  He said no. Party pooper.

Thank you, Rickey, for a fun-filled week on the water.  XOXOXOXO

AND the WINNER is…… (the envelope please)

I apologise for my tardy posting of today’s winner of my fantastic book Laughing in the Midst of Marriage.  Of course you have the privilege of hearing some entertaining stories before I announce the winner.

On the way home from California yesterday, the highway was closed for several hours due to an accident and the 100 mile detour was not very tempting.  So we after getting off the cruise ship at 9:00 am, we arrived home at 10:00 pm.  It’s only supposed to take 6 hours.   Bhhaaaaa!  Anyway, glad to be home and that’s why I didn’t post yesterday.

Today’s plans were to put up the real live Christmas tree in the family room for all of the precious handmade adornments that my children have crafted with their talented little hands over the past 16 years.  Well, to make a long and agonizing story very short, we HAVE put up the $5 real live tree…. several times now.  (It pays to wait until Dec. 19th!!!! It’s a nice tree!)  Currently, however, it is leaning at a 40 degree angle and is propped up between the wall and the entertainment center.  We have also picked up all the ornaments several times, shop-vacced the water out of the carpet and thrown away several glass ornaments that didn’t take well to being smashed to smithereens when connecting rapidly and repeatedly with the floor.  This is so FUN!  I can’t wait to do it again and again until we get it right.  I’m ready to hammer an ugly nail into the wall and tie the tree up with a bright orange bungee cord.

So, there was a slight delay in getting the names cut and folded for secrecy for the drawing of the winning name.  We also needed eggs, milk, bread, bananas and cheese…..  but I digress.  Child #2 hand wrote all the names. Child #1 verified that he did indeed copy all of them correctly.  I folded them all to improve the random choice.  And child #3 chose the winning name.  I bet you’re wondering who it was, aren’t you??? 

First one last bit of unimportant trivia from my day…. in the midst of the $5 Christmas tree fiasco (which is still not concluded) Besides the Christmas tree I also purchased petunias, lobelia, pansies and alyssum for my naked flower pots.  Keeve and I yanked out all the summer vinca and he asked if he could transplant his peas to bigger pots or a plot on the ground.  “Yes, of course, my little gardener.”  We readied a huge cement pot with new dirt and moved some empty pots of his that didn’t sprout.  Keeve sadly said, “A seed is not a promise!”  as he moved the dirt filled pots.  I previously read the story A Seed is a Promise to him.  So cute! (and depressing when seeds don’t grow!) Well, the peas were planted in peat moss pots and the pea’s roots grew through the pots and down into the soil of my raised flower bed.  BIG roots.  Deep roots.  So instead of transplanting, he just filled in the area with dirt and the peas will stay where they have put down roots.  (I told you it was unimportant!) And the winner is Valeera, aka Gram.  Congratulations.  Please send me your address via email and I’ll send out the book. 

Please come back for more scintillating Christmas tree stories and heart-filled holiday trivia from our home to yours with love.

FREE Christmas Book Drawing!

Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad!  In the spirit of giving and Christmas, I’m giving away a copy of my new book, Laughing in the Midst of Marriage: Finding Joy in Being a Wife!  Whooo HOoo!  It is a devotional for wives of all ages, full of true life stories to inspire you and make you thankful for your husband.  To enter just LEAVE YOUR NAME in the comments section.  My contest committee will hand write them… hand cut them… hand them into a bucket… and hand select a winner from the pile.  This is all done quite officially, really.  The winner will be chosen on Dec. 18th late at night.  So that makes the official cut-off time “when I get home on Friday night.”  Good luck!!  and God be with you!!

Side note:  this will be the only post this week until the winner is announced…. because for my Christmas present, my sweet hubby is taking me away for five days…. without children.  Am I excited?  YES!!!  So, pass the word about the free draw and I’ll be back on Friday night.

If you’re one of those people who never wins anything, you can buy the book at www.cbd.com and probably be reading it before the winner!

Ila’s Fancy!

A little red birdie just alerted me to a new children’s line of clothing that is now available called Ila’s Fancy.  Ila is my friend’s mama and it is simply darling clothing.  When I know Zaza’s sizes I hope to get an Ila’s Fancy outfit for her to prance and play in.  Ila’s Fancy is on facebook and you can see the clothing line at etsy here: www.ilasfancy.etsy.com.

Back in the day, when my first little girl (who is now 16) wore ribbons and lace, I used to receive a catalogue in the mail with Ila-type clothing in it. I would pour over the pages imagining my little angel in the florals and the plaids and the ribbons and the lace and the bloomers and the pinafores.  I can’t remember the name of the company, but they were over the top with matchy-matchy clothing for the whole family.  (Majorly over the top, in my opinion.)  Needless to say, thanks to Zaza, I can revisit ribbons and lace.

So check out Ila’s Fancy and become a fan!

Time Flies when You’re having FUN!

I just figured out that I’m getting old.  Last week, I figured it out.  All by myself.  Yep.  Old.

The KID that wore the pharmacist badge in the drug store couldn’t have been more than 13 years old.  He didn’t even shave yet.  Isn’t pharmacy school the long version of college?  I’m not getting old.  He was probably homeschooled.  Graduated highschool at 9 years old.  Yep.

The nine-inch zipper on the front of my jeans… is quite lovely.  I can’t imagine a two-inch zipper!?!  What’s the point?  And the back!  Gaaawww.  Say ”NO!” to crack!  “Moms will love the nine-inch zipper” is TRUE even if it was on SNL.  We love it for everyone.

Where did these four boxes of Christmas ornaments come from?  We just got married… just a while ago…  seems like last year…. could it really be 23 Christmases ago?  We’ve celebrated baby Jesus’ birthday 23 times as married folk?  That means I was 13 when we got married, if I remember right.  I must still be in my 30′s.  Right?…. Anyone?….

Forty-something-year-olds are almost 50.  That’s half a century.  Old.  That’s the middle ages.  Ouch.

And when did they start letting pre-teens work at the post office?  I thought for government jobs you had to be 18?  I think the postal worker was wearing root beer glossy lip gloss and a training bra.  Goodness.

The phone rang last week.  Caller ID read “Telemarketer.”  Total no-brainer.  Don’t answer.  Well, I knew I needed to clean the whole kitchen and I thought the mental distraction would be proactive on my part.  Plus, with caller ID, who do these poor telemarketers talk to anymore?  The decision was made in a nanosecond. I would take a survey.  I would be the nice person.  I would make Mr. Telemarketer’s entire evening by being cheerful and peppy with my answers.  Come to find out, it was about jams, jellies and preserves!  I love jams, jellies, and preserves!  This would be more fun than I originally thought!  Well, question #3 was “What age group do you fit into?”  I’m always in the third group, I thought patiently, waiting for the age groups.  His monotone voice began, “Group 1: ages 18 – 21, Group 2: ages 22 – 25, Group 3: ages 26 – 29, Group 4: ages 30 – 34, Group 5: ages 35 – 39, Group 6: ages 40 – 44, Group 7: ages 45 – 49, Group 8…..”  I hung up.

The stupid jam guy said I was old.  Group SIX!  Nearing Group SEVEN!  That’s how I figured it out.

It’s the Holiday Season

After all the pictures of my messy house in pre-home visit haphazardness, I decided to let you see a glimpse of our Christmas house decor now that things are put straight and purty.

Jesus and his posse are on the piano this year.  There is far more room in the stable now, because there was no room in the inn.

My favorite part of getting ready for Jesus’ birthday is getting out all of our ornaments and reminiscing of those who gave them to us, or where we purchased them.  When we go on vacations, we try to remember to buy and ornament for the tree.  This is our first year where we’ll have two trees, but the real one that will inevitably drop pine needles in my shag carpet is not being purchased until Dec. 19th, the day after Rick and I get home.  So the fake Jenny Craig blue and silver tree is up and shining, but the remainder of the not blue and silver ornaments are still in their boxes.

My second favorite part of getting ready is finding the on-sale decorations that I bought last year.  I never remember them!  It’s like opening surprise Christmas presents to myself.  This year was no exception.  I found these silver balls and pinecones in their packages… all ready for the silver snowman basket.  So cute… and there’s mirrored disco balls too.  Perfect for the Crosby Christmas Dance-Off.

Because the Nativity scene took over the piano top, the Christmas village moved to the entry table… and of course, any pilot’s Christmas village has a hangar and an airplane or two.  Duh!

Here’s the love birds that are sitting behind the lit archway… it’s so cute.  He’s playing his accordion and singing to her…. probably “All I Want for Christmas is You.”

All we need is a roaring fireplace, some hot cocoa with marshmallows and some snow outside.  Well, one out of three ain’t bad.

It’s Friday Night and the Feeling’s Right

Relief.  Resting.  Exhaustion.  Tiredness. SO glad it’s Friday night.  This week was packed full of activities, as per usual at our house, but when you throw in a bit of coughing and sickness, it is so tiring.  Again, I’m glad it’s over.  I don’t have a thing to do for two days.

Our homestudy update meeting went well. 

I spoke at a MOPS group on Thursday and that went well.

We started a new unit for the boys on Colombia and that went well.

Many of our media drive items sold on eBay this week and that went REALLY well.

(Is anyone else seeing a trend here?)

But the most exciting trivial news for me personally is that I FINALLY found a second little wooden chair for Zaza’s tea party table.  I’ve been looking for one for months.  I sauntered into a second-hand store on a whim and there it sat, shining its happy yellow self at me.  Yes, it needs to be sanded and primed to get caught up with its sister chair and accompanying table.  I’ve been saving pictures of darling hand-painted furniture for inspiration.  I’ve often thought that I would love to paint children’s furniture as a hobby/money-maker… but alas, I’m too busy momentarily.  Maybe when the kids are gone…. but then I’ll be painting the furniture for the grandkids.  So much for money-making.  Here are a few ditties that I love.  I can’t wait to get started, but it will most likely be after Christmas.

 

 

Frantic Frenzy

As I was eating bon bons on the couch watching my soaps this afternoon I got THE phone call. (OK, if you only knew how that is SO NOT me! It simply sounds inviting to me on days like today.) More like: I was STILL homechooling my boys at 4:15 p.m. today at the kitchen table, when I got THE phone call. The news was kind of expected, but the timing was POOR, to say the least.  Our homestudy needs to be updated and the only date our case worker had comfortably available was in two weeks.  Well, in two weeks, Rick and I will be on a cruise ship eating at the midnight chocolate buffet.  The dear is from out-of-town so she looked at her already full calendar and suggested Thursday at 1:00.  THIS Thursday.  I had no choice… I said “ok”.. and then I looked around and wanted to cry.  I have about 39 hours.

Before I show you the highly top-secret photos of the messy state of the Crosby union, I have to let you know what was ALREADY on my schedule between now and Thursday at 1:00.  1. drop off son for car pool 2. visit my mother 3. Bible Study Wed. 1:30 – 4:30 4. speaking preparations 5. pack my book sale stuff  6. fill up the gas in the van 7. speak at MOPS Thursday morning an hour away 8. homeschool   9. pedicure 10. date night with Rick.  As you can see, I had to cross a few things off.  And added to the list: 11. throw all Christmas boxes in the garage  12. scrape piles of stuff under the couch, in the oven and into the laundry room.  We also need to do something about the broken trampoline poles… they don’t look adoption safe at the moment.  Too much WWF from my boys.  They use the poles to swing up on the roof over our patio…. the perfect jumping off place.  (We call it the “fire escape” for the upstairs bedrooms…. out Keeve’s window on the patio roof and safely onto the trampoline.)

OK, just to vindicate myself, these cluttered pictures do not mean our house is DIRTY… just messy… from Christmas decorating that didn’t actually happen yet.  I sadly share tonight’s photo essay:

The kitchen table:

The computer desk:

The living room:

The dining room: (the lamp does not belong there!)

The family room:

The pantry:

Yes, the kitchen is not included in this messy montage… it is unordinarily clean at the moment with freshly baked peanut butter cookies cooling on the racks.  Seriously!

OK, I do realize that instead of taking pictures and writing a blog I could’ve been working on the mess… but that’s no fun ALONE!  Tomorrow I have three willing and able elves to help with Christmas decorating for baby Jesus’ birthday and homestudy cleaning.  :o)  Say a little prayer for the Crosbys, please.