Green Pens....

today i've been cleaning out the cabinets above my desk in the kitchen -- getting the old stuff out and making room for the new stuff..... Kids bring homes lots of papers, and when you have multiple kids, the paper stacks become enormous. I hate keeping too much, but as soon as I toss something, I need it (Murphy's Law). Today I took things from last year and put them in cardboard memory boxes -- one for each kid. Now I have room for the next wave.

I'm one of those folks who begins to clean out one area, and if I leave the area to go find something or put something away, you can bet I'll be cleaning a new area without finishing the first one..... I get pretty aggravated at myself sometimes when I do that. Today I ended up in Brennan's closet -- disaster! While in the closet looking for a green ballpoint pen (odd place to look, but I know I saw one in there), I started cleaning up. His closet is awful. I mostly avoid it. It's the place where Brennan stashes EVERYTHING when I tell him to clean up his room. While in there, I kept telling myself "only look for the pen.... don't start cleaning." I didn't listen, but the closet looks better, and I did find one green pen.....

The green pen? Brennan needs several for school. Why? Apparently, green pens are used in the classroom when the kids are checking their own work or each other's work. Try to find some green pens today -- someone bought them all! I can order a case from Amazon at $21 -- no thanks. I'm hoping this ONE that I found in the closet will have an endless supply of ink.

Speaking of green pens and school supplies..... our schools have this great option for purchasing school supplies for each grade at the end of the school year. I love this option, especially with four kids to buy for each year. It may be a little more expensive, but I figure at the rate of gas these days, I've saved some money in travel expenses -- not to mention time! One year, the "buy ahead" option wasn't available, and I remember taking all four kids to Wal-Mart to buy supplies. Fun times -- not!

Oh my gosh, the kids wanted EVERYTHING. I had four lists to look at, and four kids asking for four different kinds of notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. The menace, though, was the one list that requested a specific kind of red folder -- easy, huh?! -- not so easy when three pre-school teachers have picked every single RED folder off of the shelves and have filled to shopping baskets with them all! I need ONE -- not four -- just ONE. Forget it! Those teachers weren't willing to share -- no spare to share. I guess I understand their need, but I was so wiped out! I don't remember how or where we finally found the folder, but it wasn't at Wal-Mart -- and, yes, each one of us considered swiping one out of their baskets -- could've been so easy......

This year, I ordered school supplies ahead again. Great move -- until Tuesday when 2 of the 4 kids come home with additional lists -- more stuff each day! I don't know how many times I had to run down to Walgreens..... the manager started to smile the last time I walked in and asked me if I hadn't been able to get it all the night before -- umm, "no... that's why I'm here AGAIN!" Good thing Walgreens is close -- it's no Wal-Mart, but it has certainly saved the day -- except on the part of green pens..... no green pens.

So, that leaves me lacking -- green pens. Hmm, I guess it could be worse. Certainly, it could be worse -- I could have had to find a pack of green M&M's..... ahh, that takes me back

The Crew

Walking

I've been trying to get back into my walking routine. So far, it's been a successful week. I've been walking every morning again.I leave right when Baker gets on the bus and get back in time to get the other 3 kids ready for school. It's nice to get the exercise done early and out of the way. It makes for a better day.

Twice this week, Cara has walked with me. She's been doing a great job getting up and hanging in there with me. Today both Brennan and Cara walked with me. I felt a bit like the Pide Piper (is that how you spell "pide" or am I totally wrong....) with all my little chicks following along, but it was great to have that time with my twins. The mornings have been so beautiful and cool lately. It's very energizing to get out.

Walking this morning reminded me of the week that the kids and I walked to vacation Bible school in the mornings -- about a 2 mile walk. The walks made for good summer memories and turned into a bit of a lesson on conservation -- not that two miles is a huge gas sucker -- more just the principle.

At any rate, on one of our morning walks to VBS, Brennan decided to jog about a 1/4 of a mile. When we finally caught up with him. He asked me if I knew how he could keep up the jogging pace and make it to the end. I asked him how he did it. Here's the gist of what he said that morning: "When I'm running, I don't look ahead at how far I have to go. Instead, I keep my eyes focused on where I am and think about how far I've already come." Whew! That one blew me away. I was recounting that story the other day to a friend, and she asked if I had written it down. My answer was "no;" although it is a tag line at the end of my email signature.  Consider it written down now.

Children are certainly a gift from God. You never know what kind of profound words are going to come out of their mouths -- I prefer the inspiring ones -- they are usually so applicable and so innocently stated. God asks the little children to come unto Him, and He asks us to have faith like a child. What a simple request? What a hard reality to fulfill. Imagine living each day focused on the "now" and abiding in the confidence that God is in control of each second, minute, hour, day and year. We aren't asked to live any where other than in the present. God is here in the present with us. When I'm too focused on the "what ifs" or the concerns of the future, I'm not in the present with God. It's in the present where we find our greatest comfort and source of peace -- Our present should be in His presence.

Big Decisions

I've spent the latter half of the day trying to decide on a new haircut. My hair has been long for years. I need a change. Have you ever been to the hairstyler website? Fun. You can take a photo of yourself and try on all of these different hairstyles -- some look pretty ridiculous on me! 

Warning...

Okay..... here goes. Am I going to completely engulf myself into the viral world? My husband enlightened me this morning by mentioning the "social evolution" of blogging and twittering! I like staying connected, and apparently, this is a good way to do it. We'll see. My goal, though, is to not spend all of my morning setting these things up.... So far, I'm into it for a couple of hours now.

When I walked in the door this morning from my early morning walk, I told my husband that i had been texting while walking and that I would now need an unlimited texting package. My best friend with whom I used to walk with daily until she move a year ago sent me a text this morning, and we proceeded to text for just about our whole walk "together." 

I'm thinking this could be dangerous to my health -- not like smoking and walking but like falling into a ditch or getting bit by a dog while walking. I'm a mom of four, walking my neighborhood with my "Walk Yourself Fit" playing on my iPod and my thumbs "twittering and texting" away -- cool? not cool? Perhaps embarrassing for my 12.5 year old should he see me :>) after his bus takes off. I'll be careful, though, to make sure he's out of sight before I hit the aggregate sidewalk with all of my gear in tow.

This is a good enough start. I'm sure that I'll get more creative as I incorporate blogging into my lifestyle, but I don't know who'll be interested other than me!