Agenda:

Cook a pork tenderloin roast for the first time.
Attend Maundy Thursday services tonight.
Take chubby puppy for a walk.

Today is a gorgeous day! Flash and I are really enjoying our time together this week. We’ve played a lot of games together, we’ve had so many laughs he keeps saying that should be a blog post in itself (if only I could remember them all!) and we’re getting some much needed rest! No homework, no trumpet, no stress of any kind! This has been such a wonderful reprieve (can I admit now that I’m getting a little antsy about getting back to school? I’m missing the kids!)

I’m trying to decide what tattoo to get. It’s a rather spur of the moment decision, but the timing is right and I want to take advantage of the opportunity.

I’m also thinking about a piercing of some variety. I’ve ruled out one in my navel. All those stretch marks would surely offend everyone who saw it. Maybe my lip? Or my eyebrow?

And I’m planning a vacation. Somewhere out of the country. Somewhere exotic. Dad has a timeshare in Mexico, but that seems too tame. I mean, if you’re going to go for it, you really need to live it up, right? Maybe Argentina, or Zimbabwe, or perhaps Africa.

It’s a lot to decide right now, but you see, I have this chance, and I just feel as though I should seize it! I went to give blood today and in answering the questions I shared that I had been accidentally poked by a used needle. One that we use to check the blood sugar of a Kindergarten student at my school. I was poked sometime this winter, I don’t even remember now, but it was before I gave blood the last time because I remember talking about it with the woman who took my information then. She said it wasn’t a problem. As it turns out, it is. A big one. Not only am I banned from giving blood for a year, but they have to track the blood I donated last time and monitor the patient that received it.

I am hoping beyond all hopes that they don’t TELL that patient that there is reason to be concerned about the blood they received. I know we can never be too safe, but a little five year old girl from a very good home who happens to be diabetic just isn’t really a big cause for alarm in my book.

But, now that I have a year of not being able to give blood, I figure I should take care of all the other things on the list of prohibited activities that would have otherwise banned me. So, a tattoo, a piercing, travelling somewhere exotic,…I’ll leave the other questionable activities for someone else.

Okay, I’ll admit, I’ll leave all of these activities to someone else.

And I’ll be more than just a little sad that I just started giving blood regularly and now I can’t. But I’ll be back next year. I’ve already marked it on my calendar.

Agenda:

Give blood.
Contribute creatively to a meeting later today.

And for the sake of accomplishment, I will run a couple of errands while I’m out and about. I’ll deposit a check, I’ll mail a card, I’ll return a few items that need returning and I might even drive by a couple houses. Just to look, ya know.

And if it’s a warm 50 degrees today, I might even take the chubby poocher for a walk.

How’s that for a plan?!

… so hard to close a door in your life that it seemed to take all your energy and focus? And you knew that the door had to be closed, that wasn’t the struggle. It needed to be closed and locked. There was no doubt in your mind, it was just that the actual closing part was far more difficult than you imagined? As if the force from the other side kept pushing it back open, pushing it open to hit you in the face one last time, or to throw daggers one more time?

I finally feel, after months of pushing a door closed, I finally feel tonight as if the weight is lifted from me. As if God has said, “I’ve got it from here” and He is holding it shut.

I can’t promise that there still won’t be knocks from the other side, or shouts, or even notes slipped under the door (although I pray for none of the above) but I truly believe as if it’s been handed off, handed to the one who can handle it far better than I can.

And I cannot begin to explain the relief.

While the cousins were here, we’ve learned a few things:

1. The cousins don’t like beef stew.
2. They don’t like Mom’s French cookies either.
3. Birdy will ditch out on Girl’s Chick Flick Time to go play Spore with the boys.
4. Mom (Aunt Fred) will have to repeat, “I am the shoe!” over and over during Monopoly to remember which game piece is hers.
5. Everyone will enjoy eating dinner in their pajamas.
6. The dog will be ready for bed before anyone else is.
7. The lack of common sense in the group will become overly apparent during a game of Yahtzee.
8. George will get a Yahtzee during your explanation of how you don’t really take a turn to go for a Yahtzee unless it’s your last turn.
9. When you check on the kids sleeping in the living room, you will find George snuggled up on Birdy’s couch. When you gently wake him to move him back to his own, he will explain, “there were too many cats over there” for why he had to move.
10. While EA Sports might have designed the NASCAR game to include racing strategy, the boys will simply use it as a demolition derby.

“Flash?”

“Yes, Mom?”

“I’ve just spent $200 on new glasses for your eyes, $50 to re-enroll your brain in gifted for next year, $85 on your teeth, $10 on new socks for your feet, $150 for the summer mission trip to enrich your spiritual soul…”

“Yeah, Mom? What’s the point?”

“The point is, I don’t have any money left for your ears.”

“My ears?”

“Yes, Flash. Please turn your ipod down.”

“Oh.”

(Because I know this post series is riveting!)

Agenda:

Shower: CHECK! (This was mandatory for everyone who participated in Pajama Day yesterday!)

That’s all I have for my agenda today. I might take Flash and go drive by a few houses later. Oh, and I’ll balance the checkbook as my one chore for the day. My “extra check” arrived yesterday so that will be a more pleasant experience now!

Agenda:

Spend the day having fun with Birdy and George: CHECK!
Enjoy a crazy sleepover night with the three cousins: CHECK!
Never get out of our jammies: CHECK!!

Just for kicks: Make a big pot of beef stew (since there’s snow on the ground!) CHECK!

Another great day! If it weren’t for the lack of pay, I’d say we should do this vacation thing more often!

At church this morning, he not only HELD a baby (not exactly his choosing, but he still did it) but he FED a baby, too. I would have stood there longer, taking it all in if only two other toddlers hadn’t been potty training and needed my dire assistance in the bathroom.

And then…

We were standing in the grocery store, by the dairy section when he hugged me. For no reason at all. I looked around for a witness, but there was only the lady from the meat counter, pushing a cart of meat out to the refrigerated displays. She didn’t stop and stare in shock so I figure she either a) doesn’t have a teenager; or b) didn’t see what happened.

But even if none of that was odd…

We’ve been home for more than two hours and Flash hasn’t eaten a thing. He hasn’t declared himself to be starving. He hasn’t ambushed the fridge and pulled out a third of the groceries we just purchased. That means all he’s consume today is a bowl of Rice Krispies.

Something is very very wrong with Flash indeed.

Agenda:

Hold babies: CHECK!!
Worship God: CHECK!!

I threw in a little grocery shopping just for kicks and I’ll do another load or two of laundry later today, but basically, I’m going to turn on the ballgame (ahhh, I love ESPN360) and I might even nap.

It’s exhausting, isn’t it?