Falling in love with Fall. Now if i can find those boxes....

I want my front yard to look like this....complete with picket fence.   Isn't this just the sweetest pic ever?  I believe this was on the Southern Living website.  My girlfriend Susan has a sweet picket fence and has put her halloween decor out and mixed in the Southern Living touches - and it looks great.  I might have to ask her if i can post a few pics of her yard - it's awesome.

I haven't gotten that far yet.  I am still weeding through the moving boxes.  However - i will say that i have now taken 2 more car loads to goodwill, AND an entire trunk of canned goods, dry goods and misc items to the food pantry yesterday.  I finally have room to breath. I think it's the claustrophobic thing and being overwhelmed with all the crap in my house that is causing me to long for this in my backyard.  I feel my entire body relax when i look at this picture...(southern living again)

I will never have that slice of heaven - we don't have that kind of cash - but i know i could do something smaller, more appropriate for both my wallet and the house...i just need to convince my dad and hubby to be.  But i can do little things....  like this (country living)

or this... isn't this so simple and elegant? This came from a blog called My Cottage of Bliss...it's to die for.

 

I also love this....from Rate My Space...gorgeous. warm. cozy.

 

and while we're talking dining rooms - i realize this isn't fall-ish - but i am in love with these barley twist candlestick and honeycomb candles. sigh.  ignore the flowers and picture mums instead.

 

and just for good measure....let's not forget Halloween is around the corner!  This is the only picture i've seen that makes orange look good on a house! (Pottery Barn)

and because we're headed to Savannah in a few days...yes, again!!!!  I'll go all Paula Deen on ya  - Happy Fall Y'all!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Rebel Yell

I missed Open House at the school last night.

Ok, that's not exactly true.  I ignored Open House at the school last night.

I don't know if you can tell from some of my previous posts but I'm kind of over that whole school thing.  I know, mother of the year, right?

I also have a parent teacher meeting to discuss my oldest son's EAP plan for this year.  I'm not going to that either. His dad can do it.  

I was walking the kids up to the school yesterday ( it appears my youngest son was embarrassed to be seen climbing over the pillows, comforters and other misc crap i was taking to Goodwill to get out of the car in front of the patrols so i had to park and walk him in.  Princess. hrmph.) and one of the other moms that i know asked me if i was going last night and when i said no, i could see it in her eyes.  Jealousy.  

Oh, sweet girl, trust me, you too can just.say.no.  It's ok. 


And did i tell you they ask you to get a sitter for your kids so that this can be 'quality time' between you and their teachers.


I'm sorry, are you saying you want me, a working mom, to get a sitter, and give up my time after work that I spend with my kids in order to spend it with you so you can tell me about my kids? Uhm...no thanks. I'll pass.

Oh, and they only allow you 15 minutes in the class before they ring the bell and you're supposed to change classes and go to your other kid's (or kids') class to spend another 15 minutes of quality time with 30 other parents and the teacher.  Whatev.


The last time i went to open house, i wrote it about here.  I don't think much has changed, but i wasn't going to risk my time finding out.  Just say no, people, just.say.no.

A thought for today

    Grace Lutheran Church between Wytheville and Rural Retreat, VA.  - courtesy of yours truly while driving (not me driving, promise)

You know, you could look at this picture a couple of different ways.  You could think, man that church is all the way across a couple of farms, and down in the valley - kind of far.  

Or, instead, you could forget about how far it seems away and take in all the beauty in between;  Like that great red barn, and the pretty golden color from what's left from this summer's corn harvest.  

I'm choosing the latter. 

    Same church, now off of the hwy, from the country road that leads to it.

We are going through some stuff in our house.  Nothing a lot of you haven't been touched by at some point, nothing dire.  Just stuff.  And that's how i'm going to approach it. It's just stuff.  It's not worth the worry - I've already turned it over.  Vance has turned it over. Not our battle.  It is truly a blessing to be equally yoked.

If you truly wanted to, you could go as far to say that worry itself is a sin. One of my girlfriends said that to me, and i personally hold that statement close.  Sure, that might be a little bit of stretch, but if God calls you to have faith, and yet you're worrying, are you really obeying God? 

   getting closer, and the sky seemed to lighten up - isn't that awesome.  now if i could only figure out how to make my camera do that.

I have, in the past, had a tendency to think that some of things i have prayed for are not worthy of His attention.  I have been corrected, and i'm not doing that anymore.  That's really a silly thought.  I'm following a devotion on Lysa's site about praying audaciously.  Being bold in your request and having the faith to believe.  

 "...For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future..."
  - Jeremiah 29:11

It will all work out, like it's supposed to.

   

And another thing...

Dear Elementary School that my kids attend. In Maitland.  In the middle of the neighborhood that's brought to you by the letter "D",

First let me say this, there is absolutely NO WAY I could do your job.  I could not, will not even pretend, that I could be around 500+ munchkins a day and not be batty.  I love them.  I really do. But that job is all yours.  And I do realize that us parents, we can be a trying lot.  "Little Jimmie doesn't like his teacher, can you move him to Mrs. Smith's class?"  Blah blah blah.  Batty. I would be batty and want to tell all of us to take a hike. Truly.

That being said, I think it should be noted that at the end of the day, we parents try to do things the right way.  We have jobs that start at 8 and end at 5 but we still work around getting our kids to school at 8:30 and picking them up at  3. For time lost at work we start on our laptops at 6 in the morning and take our blackberry to baseball practice in the evenings.  We review homework, sign papers and generally thank our lucky stars that we escaped 5th grade before the year of the FCAT.   We're trying.

Place a little more trust in us that we've got this thing.  

I know it was the first day of rain after school yesterday and things were a little chaotic for everyone.  We were all frazzled.  But it wasn't necessary to call me on my cell at 10 minutes after dismissal to find out if i was in the car line and not that I had just forgotten to pick up my kids.  I mean really, i have been doing this for 6 years now.   I'm sure you didn't see my car because it was in the pickup line that was 2 lanes thick and went past the middle school and snaked into the neighborhood a block to the back and a block to the front of the school. 

But since we're talking about the pickup line, I have some comments.  If you're going to change the way car pick up works and go from the single lane to the double lane, you might want to use this nifty thing that the PTA raised money for last year (you know, that thing that has only ever been used to tell us to get off of our cell phones (which, you called me on while i was IN pick up line) and to pull up bumper to bumper)

Because after the question of "had i forgotten my kids", the last thing I needed was this little exchange in the car line after changing lanes:

PE coach in rain slicker making awful face  - like, are you kidding me??!? face - when he saw me change lanes.  

Me, putting window down, thus dousing my cell phone: "Yes? Is there a problem?"

Coach: "We're using BOTH lanes"  (and you could almost feel the disgust oozing off him. STUPID PARENT)

Me: "Ok, I wasn't sure because this lane hasn't moved and I thought that i had gotten into the middle school pickup lane by mistake since they get out in 15 minutes"

Coach:  "Didn't you get the outbound message last night????"

Me: "Obviously not, or we wouldn't be having this conversation."  Insert charming laugh that comes up when i'm getting irritated.

Coach, smirking. " Well, we messaged everyone what we were doing."

Me: "Why didn't you put it on the roadsign back there - that's what it's for, right? Messages about pick up line?"

crickets.  crickets and jeopardy music......

Coach: "I'll tell the prinicipal you had that suggestion...(reads my pickup sign on dashboard)...Mrs. Simasek."

great...now i'm gonna get another phone call.

An Army of None!

Sometimes to get to "peace" you have to stop waging the war or engaging in battle.  Remember not every fight is your fight.  This is where I am right now.  I needed reminding yesterday.  

For those of you certain that you are in battle;  in your job, your marriage, maybe a family issue, maybe with your teen - maybe, instead, it's time to read this.  

Pray the words in bold. As the scripture says, set yourselves. Stop fighting.  It's His battle to fight for you.


2nd Chronicles, Kwikscan Read.

Chapter 20, verse 15
And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.


Chapter 20, verse 17
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, Oh Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

                                   all pics from google images, these speak peace to me.

Here's to an army of none, they aren't needed. 

Am i twirling or spinning?

For you writers out there.... you know when you have a million different thoughts buzzing around in your head - or maybe it's the same thought coming at you from a hundred different directions ...  but you want to get it out...so you start writing it, and then you stop.  Because it's rambled, and it doesn't make sense on the screen even though you know what you want to say, and darn it, why can't my thoughts just JUMP into order already, i mean it's 7am, I've been sitting at this computer with my coffee for well over an hour.  GAH...my coffee's cold, I should have put this in the tumbler, not my favorite coffee cup...what IS that on the side of this cup?? Didn't i get this out of the dishwasher...why does it smell like pickles...ok WHO FORGOT TO TURN ON THE DISHWASHER AFTER DINNER LAST NIGHT.......   and so it goes.

Sidetracked. again.  I get this way when I'm conflicted and I really get this way when I'm about to write what it is I'm conflicted about.  

Last week, Emily from Jones Design Company, blogged this post, labeled Twirl. There is no way to possibly put in my words what Emily so eloquently put in hers.  Just go and read it. Please.  In my not so eloquent fashion I will tell you this - she reminds us that God wants us to take delight in what He has blessed us with and He in turn takes delight in seeing us so happy.

He wants us to twirl.  

I want to twirl.  But more and more, I'm finding that I'm not so much twirling, as i'm spinning like a top out of control.  Running here and there.  Managing a million different tasks for work. Packing lunches, scheduling pick up/drop off, you get it, right?  But still, I want to twirl. 

Have patience with me over the next little while, and pray for me as I pray about this post that wants to be written but my words are still all jumbled up.  It's important for me to get it out, and I will eventually,  but I also know that I need to study the bible more and spend some more time on my knees praying about it. 

In the meantime, I'm going to twirl.