MY VALENTINE

I have been thinking about writing this post for a week or two.

Since it is this close to Valentine's Day, I am going to dive right it.

This post comes from over 20 years of "love experience". That just made me giggle.

I have been in love with this man of mine for over half my life. It is a privilege and an honor to love someone this long.

Through out this post make sure you think of the word love as a verb.

I still get goosebumps when Mike looks at me a certain way, I still get a flutter in my stomach when he brushes my hand or hugs me, I have a playlist on my iPod entitled "Mike's List" (I have it playing in my ears right this second) and it's not all sappy love songs. Some of them are songs we listened to over and over while riding around in his '66 Mustang convertible:)

I have our song as his ring tone on my phone so anytime you are around me and "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge starts playing you'll know that it's Mike.

I know that sometimes those "feelings" are not there. The days when you and your spouse are just trying to keep your head above water. The days when you don't even like yourself let alone someone else. The days where you JUST. CAN'T. TAKE. ONE. MORE. THING.

Those days are the days that you need to make sure you connect with your husband more than ever. It doesn't have to be much. When you're sitting on the couch just reach over and touch his hand or bring him a snack or make sure he knows in some way that you are still there for him.

Ladies, we are just as responsible for the way our relationship is going as he is. You can sit there and stew about him doing or not doing something all day, every day and that is not going to help things at all.

Oh, and here's a little lie that the world would like us to believe.....are you ready?

.....IT'S NOT OUR "JOB" TO CHANGE OUR HUSBANDS.

What???? Really?

You heard that right.

Guess what? You're not perfect and everything you do is not the best way of doing things.

Shocker, I know. I am speaking from that experience I was talking about up there in the beginning of this post.

When your husband does something for you, don't go behind him and redo it. Don't say~"I'll just do it myself." and please, please don't talk about him to your children.

That will just make them lose respect for him and they won't ever look at him the same way again.

My girls think their Daddy hung the moon and I never ever want to be the reason they don't look at him that way anymore.

When we watch TV at night they are stuck to him like glue and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is, after all, their first male relationship.

Okay, back to the changing thing, your husband will never look at everything like you do and vice versa because we're different~males and females.

That's the way God designed it. And I for one DO NOT want my husband to act, think, or be like me. Oh my! That would just be disastrous.

Sometimes I need him to bring me back to earth when I am spun up about something stupid or when I am so emotional I can't even remember my own name.

This Valentine's Day don't sit around and expect your husband to give you the moon one day out of the year when you give him grief and disrespect the rest of the year.

Pray that this will be the year that every day there's a way to show him just how much you appreciate, love, and adore the man God gave you.

It's a process, this love thing, and it can only work if you are willing to be changed instead of always trying to change him.

Grocery shopping today.

Morning date with my sweet husband:)

Go to the Y then breakfast then 4 different stores for groceries.

Doesn't sound very exciting, does it?

With my husband it was fun.

Any routine thing is better when I have him with me.

I am thankful he likes to be with me too.

Even when we just shop for groceries.

Have a great weekend.

SNUGGIE TIME

My husband got the gag gift of the year this year~~ a Snuggie.





Yeah, yeah I know. He keeps telling me I need one and I say if I need one I'll take his:0)

We were sitting on the couch watching TV and he looked over and said something so sweet about us being married. I responded to him by saying, "Thank you for choosing to be married to me."

I've been thinking a lot about the words we exchanged last night. They were simple yet honest.

There are so many married couples today that aren't choosing to stay married. Oh, they have plenty of excuses. Most of them a 5 yr old could blow holes through.

I can't stand to hear "We just fell out of love." If you want to get my blood boiling just say those words as you are CHOOSING to walk out on your spouse and child(ren). That falling in love thing is a myth. That's right you heard me~ A MYTH.

LOVE is not about falling anywhere it's about putting that person AHEAD of your own comfort and your own needs. It's about fixing supper when you feel like you have a 50 lb weight on your back and you just want to sit down.

It's about not spending the money you don't have just to make yourself feel better for 15 minutes. It's about doing what the other can't do for themselves without complaint or condescending attitude. It's about living through richer and poorer, sickness and health and CHOOSING your marriage above it all.

My marriage started off hard. I was selfish and insecure. I still am sometimes. I was immature and unwilling to compromise. I still am sometimes. I know that I can be a pest and unreasonable. I am flawed and I know it.

After over 18 yrs of marriage I feel like I have learned a whole lot and I have a lot more to learn. My prayer is that I always to choose my marriage and that I am continuously looking to the needs of my husband. Because he's as much a gift from God to me as my children. And I love him dearly.

NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES

We celebrated our anniversary last night and it was so fun!!

We went to this restaurant and ate like kings!! Kings, I tell you!! This is not your typical chain restaurant. It is a Cajun place from N'awlins and it was AWESOME!!!

We started out with homemade bread and 4 different kinds of butter. There was alligator, garlic, strawberry, and regular butter. After that we had fried green tomatoes with crawfish and cheese on top. Then came the salad with the Creole vinegarette. OH MY WORD!!
Then the main course~Mike had a filet mignon and lobster tail rock~that is lobster tail and steak stacked on top of each other with veggies on the bottom. I had blackened prime rib with crab meat on top and a twice baked potato~~my mouth is watering just from typing all this out!!!

It was the best. It isn't a place we could go to every week but it is a special place that we could go to every once in a while. Oh and did I mention the live jazz music!!

AUGUST HEAT

UGGGGG!!!!!

Anyhoo~now that that is out of the way~we have been trying to stay cool and have fun. Somehow they just don't go hand in hand in the summer so we have been having the fun.

Things are going good here and we are thankful for it. I am reminding myself daily of this post. I am also aware that I have friends and family that are not doing so well. I am praying for them daily as well.

We are still faced daily with Mike's challenges but we are so grateful for the blessings we have been given through this ordeal.

Tomorrow is our 17th wedding anniversary and we are in complete awe of that!! We keep saying to each other "Can you believe it??" and the other says "No!! Wow!! 17 years!!" OR we just say "17 years" and sit in complete silence, in awe of it.

Have a great Saturday my friends! A great Saturday, indeed!!!

HAPPY LOVE DAY!!!

Here is how we are spending this day of love:




I decorated with things we already had, and so, my expenses for Valentine's Day were low.

I only spent $8.00 and that was for candy for the girls' parties at Tutorial.

I found the tablecloth with Winnie the Pooh and Friends in a bag I got from a store that was going out of business. (It's a piece of fabric, it works!!)

The pan for the cupcakes I got here.

I like to use books that we already had to decorate the mantel. I sometimes use books from the library. I think I got the idea from here.

I got some sweet stuff from my Honey.

It has been a "lovely" day.

CAN IT GET ANY HOTTER??????

For three days straight we have had triple digit temperatures. This is the reason I am not a fan of the summer months. The thermometer in the van has gotten as high as 108!!

Needless to say, we haven't been doing anything outdoors. We walk to the van, get in, and turn the AC on full blast. When you are coming from indoors to out it is like hitting a wall of scorching hot air. It is hard to catch your breath for a few seconds.

Mike and I had a good anniversary date on Saturday. We went to see Hairspray, then we went to The Cheesecake Factory. It was so fun. We are cheapskates when it comes to the movies. We go to matinées and we don't buy any of the high priced junk food; so, when I say we would go back and see Hairspray again, that should tell you something!!! We laughed and laughed.

The food was heavenly at TCF. We were early enough that we didn't have to wait long for a table and it was nice just to sit and talk. We topped off the evening by sharing a piece of Snickers Cheesecake.

Our last Sunday at the church Mike is preaching at is coming up. We are kind of sad but we know we will go back and see everyone. They are having a Kids Day. The first one they have ever had. We are excited to see how it goes on Sunday.

Okay, so.........

my parents and sister are on their way here and should arrive around 10 pm or so!! Am I excited?? You bet your sweet bippy I am excited!!! I still have some cleaning to do but other than that I am so ready for my parents and sister to get here.

I am glad I get to spend all day with them tomorrow and talk to my Mom till we forget what we have talked about and start repeating things that we have already said. I can't wait for the kids to absolutely fall over themselves to get to their Grandma and Grandpa!! Can you tell I am excited?

Mike has to work two more nights and then we go away!! Away, meaning gone from the house and sleeping in a bed I don't have to make, eating out of dishes I don't have to wash (by hand, I might add, NO dishwasher at our house). A friend of ours asked if I would be calling and checking on the kids and I said, " Do I have to?" She probably thought I was kidding!

I am so totally ready for this trip and I am not worried in the least about the kids. Come on, I mean they are going to be in the capable hands of the parents that raised ME!!! My kids will look up from what they are doing when we get home and say "NO, IT'S NOT BEEN LONG ENOUGH!! GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM!!!!!"

My Mom said she brought her sewing machine and lots of material so these girls are going to be busy helping Grandma make curtains for their room. Also, she is making Abby a dress from the movie White Christmas, you know, the dress that Judy wears when she is dancing with Wallace when they are outside on the dock. Abby loves that dress and she asked my Mom to make it for her, so that is what they will be working on~along with the bonding and snuggling.

I probably won't be posting again until after the weekend. I will post as soon as I get a chance and let you know how the get away went.

Summer Plans And Other Drivel..........

The son found out that his summer camp that he absolutely can't miss is the week after we get back from Disney AND his music camp is the week after that. SO~~~ let's put this in perspective~we will be gone for something like 12 days to Disney then the day we get back he has to pack for camp. Then~~ he comes home on Saturday and gets packed for music camp on Monday. That is almost a month of traveling for this kid!!! That is a lot of running.

The stress for me is getting school done before Disney because let's face it we are NOT going to want to go back to hitting the books after that trip. Besides, from the looks of things the son is not going to have time to do anything after May 24th.

On a much more selfish note~ it is exactly 3 weeks til the BIG VALENTINE GET AWAY!!!!!!!!! Can you tell that I am EXCITED?????? I just can't wait to have my honey all to myself for 3 WHOLE DAYS!!! And when I say whole days, I mean 3 whole days. We are leaving as soon as Dh gets home from work on that Thursday morning at 7 am and I am hoping not to return til LATE Saturday night!

We are going to use the gift card that the son gave us for Christmas to eat out on. We are going to shop for the bedroom decorating project. BUT, most importantly, we are going to sleep late and do WHATEVER we want!!!

You know, couples need time alone together to stay a couple. I can't remember the last time we had a WHOLE 3 DAYS to ourselves and that is bad. We are long overdue for a weekend getaway.

Tonight is the last night of revival and it has been so good. The Pastor that is preaching is awesome. This is the first time that I have heard him speak and I will be visiting his church website and listening to his sermons. He has been preaching "where we live" ( to steal a phrase from our pastor). Meaning, his messages are pertinent to what we go through on a daily basis. I am glad I made a commitment to go every service.

Is it okay to brag?

I saw my 15 year olds' boss today and she was so full of compliments for him. She said that he is very responsible for his age and that she has 18 yr olds that are not as responsible as he is. She also said that when he is there she knows that the customers are being taken care of and that the list of chores get done. He is a good kid with only a little of the teenager attitude sometimes. He doesn't like to be home schooled but we have asked him to trust us and I think he does. He misses seeing friends everyday and we have dropped the ball on getting him into a co-op or something where he can make some friends. That is on the top of my to do list.


We have 4 weeks, one day before the big romantic getaway!!! We are still looking at places to stay but we have narrowed it down and so I told Dh to surprise me. I just want to go out of town with my hubby so don't bother me with the details.

The girls haven't felt good today. The oldest Dd ate breakfast climbed up on the love seat and went right back to sleep for about an hour. That is so not like her at all. Dh has classes 5 days a week this semester and it wouldn't be so bad but he has to dress up every time he goes to class. Can't go to class with t-shirt and jeans on, his usual attire. AHH, the sacrifices of a soon to be pastor! LOL! He is pretty much a pastor now. The church he preaches at considers him their pastor, even though he is not ordained. He is doing so well. I love to hear what he has been working on all week. He always makes me laugh with something he says. I am so comfortable with him behind the pulpit.

Mall Walkers

My Dh and I are mall walkers. Yes, I know, we are not the average age of walkers! In fact, the average age is twice our age. So what!! We like it!! As soon as Dh gets off from work, 7am, we head over there. It is a half a mile around and we go around three times. We get to be together and talk uninterrupted for at least an hour!! AND we exercise without guilt!! Can't complain about that at all!! We are trying to get some weight off and have a bit of couple time in the process.


We have been researching places to stay in Gaitlinburg and I think we have narrowed it down to a couple of places. Reading reviews online takes a lot of time!!

Exactly 5 weeks and counting!!!! Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait!